Kitchen Garden Forum

I would love to get a shed for my allotment but there is a real problem round our plots with vandalism. Almost all of the old wooden sheds have been broken into and in some cases burned down. Does anyone out there have a metal shed? How secure are they and how do you anchor them to the ground (so that the little toe-rags don't nick it)?

I know that Argos do such things but you can't see how sturdy they are from a catalogue.

Haggis

Hi Haggis,
I have had to build a metal shed as a result of vandalism do as you would with a wooden shed, but put metal profile sheets on the sides and roof and screw them down, you can get these sheets from a scrap yard they can be a bit over priced but well worth it just for the piece of mind

Hope this is of some help

Kevin

Hi there

We have had the same problem on our plots but the management refuse to allow us metal sheds or the suggestion i've put below.

How about a small, old portakabin? I've seen these used on another allotment site and they are great. Insulated, warm and bloody hard to get into. The bloke I spoke to says he buys them for about £70. All you need is a level base.

Had the "Garden Factory" catalogue through the post yeaterday, seem to be linked to "Cannock Gates".
They had several metal sheds and storage boxes, reasonable price, looked to be floorless from the pictures and in need of a concrete base.
Not sure, again from pictures, how sturdy they are.
Look at http://www.cannockgates.co.uk/c/8030/Sh ... orage.html sixth, seventh and eighth items.

weve got the box off a electricity board transit in one corner of the garden it was on the truck when i bought it but came off to fit a flat bed , so effectivly was a free shed, and an old talbot express panel van out by the veg patch, only thing is now we have to fill out a sorn form every 12 months for the talbot , its too usefull to pay the scrapman to collect it.

My shed got broken in to so I dismantiled what what left of it. Dug a hole below it and filled it with a cement hardcore mix and while it was still wet tied a chain round a engeneering brick and dumped that it in. I drilled out a hole in the base of the shed and fed the chain in and bolted it to the floor. I use this to prevent the buggers tipping the shed over. and I chain all the tools to it. I costed the outside of the shed with 3/4 shuttering ply. Couple of tins to the builder when they are finishing on a site and you get the pick of the skip.

Thanks for all of the replies. Unfortunately I think that the stumbling block is going to be the Council. My family had offered to buy me a metal shed as a special birthday pressie (something ending with a zero- aaaghh) but I am really uncomfy about them spending so much cash when there is a fair chance it will get vandalised.

Have decided to get a wooden plant house for the bottom of the garden instead - bit like a fancy upright cold frame. I have spent the last hour browsing websites - speak about a kid in a sweet shop. I am really looking forward to having somewhere to harden off my plants and I will be able to grow a few tomato plants too - and even an aubergine - in the North of Scotland! Maybe becoming well and truly middle aged isn't so bad after all

I'm intrigued by old portakabins for £70...I'm thinking of temporary classroom size things, but think they would cover an allotment. Are these a smaller version, or are they the cabin things car park attendants might get?

Regards the metal sheds our local shed company has one in their display and I wouldn't expect it to withstand a gust of wind let alone a vandal (although it may not be the same make as the one in Argos). But does anyone have any experience of the flatpack galvanised steel shipping containers?

Hi fen not fen

The ones I saw were quite small, a little bigger than a car park attendant one. The bloke said they worked fine. One bloke even had an open fire in his to keep him snug in the winter!!!!

I'm not sure where the bloke got them from (probably off the back of something) but they were surplas to requirements. Think they were used on long term building sites and were sold on when finished with.