Base preperation

Your timber building needs to be erected onto a surface which is offering both ‘Support’ and ‘Protection’ to the timbers where they come into contact with the ground.

Your Garden Pleasure building is constructed and transported in the form of panels, with your floor being constructed from a combination of timber bearers positioned at 30cm (12 inch) centres.

For example, an 8 x 6 floor will have 7 bearers running in the 8ft direction and your chosen cladding is applied upside down to these bearers and in the opposite direct. This creates a strong panel with a smooth top surface.

Support

Your floor panel needs to be supported across its whole area wherever possible to ensure that there is no ‘Spring’ in the panel as you enter your building and walk around inside.

This can best be described as requiring a base surface which is both Strong and Level.

Below we have detailed 4 ‘Stages’ of cost / options in which this can be achieved

Protection

Your floor needs to be protected from the elements.

1. The rainwater which comes from the roof of your building will ‘Splash’ back onto the walls and floor of your building if it falls onto a hard surface.
2. The ‘Moisture’ which lives naturally in the ground will attack the underside of your timber floor unless you have a ‘Barrier’ of some kind between them.

Garden Pleasure therefore recommend that your base is constructed as close to the size of your building as possible,

Or,

That you position your building so that rainwater from the roof eaves can only drip onto a surface which prevents splash-back and can drain away quickly.

Most important is to understand that Garden Pleasure cannot be responsible for problems which arise from preparation of a base which then directly affects the stability of the building once erected.

Once your intended base position has been cleared and levelled, we consider that the available options for Base Preperation would be as follows:-

Option 1  -  Timber Bearers

Application of Suitable Timber Bearers to the ground.

• Garden Pleasure recommend the use of Treated (or ‘Tanalised’) Bearers at distance of no more than 2ft apart.
• Bearers are best applied in the ‘Opposite’ Direction to the timber bearers within the floor.

This would seem the cheapest method of preparing a base for your building.

The raising of the structure from the ground offers protection from the ground moisture.

So long as you have sufficient bearers the floor will be supported adequately.

Potential Downside   

• Any gap beneath your Building may be a welcome home for Vermin.
• Raising the building will create a ‘Step’ into the building.         

Option 2  -  Timber Base Frame

Construction of Timber Carcassing into a solid Frame. This is sometimes described as a ‘Raft Base’.

Garden Pleasure recommend the use of Treated (or ‘Tanalised’) Timbers when preparing a timber base Frame.

We consider that

• timber dimensions of 3’ x 2’ (75mm x 50mm) are suitable for a general storage shed
• For Heavy Duty Uses you might decide to up-grade timber dimensions to 6’ x 2’ (150mm x 50mm).

Timbers should be connected into a solid frame.

Inside bearers can be positioned to offer best support (this is particularly true where your floor needs to be constructed in numerous panels for transport – ie Larger buildings)

Any floor joint will best be supported with internal bearers to ‘both’ sides of the joint

Once you have created the frame you may then choose to position suitable slabs beneath so that the frame itself is not in direct contact with the ground.

Where the ground has not been ‘levelled’ sufficiently you can also add ‘Legs’ to the frame in order to create a top surface for your timber floor which is level.

Numerous photographs exist within this website showing examples of buildings constructed onto Timber Base Frames (including buildings up to 12 x 30) !!

Potential Downside   

• Any gap beneath your Base Frame may be a welcome home for Vermin.
• Raising the building will create a ‘Step’ into the building.

Option 3  -  Slabbed Area

Construction of a slabbed (sometimes known as ‘Flags’) area.

Garden Pleasure recommend the use of 600mm x 600mm (2’ x 2’) ‘Grey Pressed Slabs’ to keep these costs to the minimum.

• Once you have cleared and levelled the intended area for your building these slabs can be laid either onto a bed of Sharp Sand or onto cemented ‘spots’ (much like the number 5 on a dice !)
• We suggest that it is consistency of the ‘top surface’ of the slabs which is more important than the ‘absolute “bubble” level’ that is achieved when laying slabs for a shed base.
• If your slabbed area ‘dives’ in one corner or ‘undulates’ along its length then your timber building is likely to follow this line and therefore ‘spoil’ the looks of your building once erected !!

Again we recommend that you keep your base to the size of the building, particularly where the Eave(s) of your building deposit the rain water from your roof.

Option 4  -  Concreted Area

Garden Pleasure recommend that a concreted area for any building is not less than 100mm (4 inch) in thickness.

Larger buildings may require a thicker concreted base, and for Garages you should consider also introducing welded-mesh as a further measure to strengthen the base.

Specialist Bases  -  Example Garage Base

Certain structures may require a special base to  be constructed to some ‘specific’ dimensions.

This is particularly the case where your building is intended to have No Timber Floor.

A good example of this is the construction of a Timber Garage.

In these circumstances Garden Pleasure recommend the addition of a timber or brickwork ‘Plinthe’ to be fixed to your base.

Benefits of this approach include

• Your building will be ‘raised’ from the base surface and therefore never be allowed to sit in water
• Erection of the timber building requires that the corners are ‘squared’ in order that your roof system works properly, and
• As a safety feature your timber structure could not come into contact with any Fuel Spillage suffered internally (which could otherwise allow absorbing of  dangerous substances)

For Garden Pleasure Garages we can supply a Base Preperation Drawing which details the dimensions and requirements specific to your project.

Garden Pleasure Erection Service

Erection of your building is only possible if you have a firm level base and please remember we manufacture the building in sections (ie panels) so we need unobstructed access to your garden.

If a base is not yet available we can offer advice and some ideas (as above) about what can be done to achieve a suitable surface for your intended usage of the building.

For local customers we have numerous contacts which we can recommend for preperation of your base. Garden Pleasure offer certain base preperations but this is not always possible at certain busy times of the year. There are also the limitations presented by distance to consider.

Overall,  if you are unsure of what is appropriate for your building then

by all means ask !