Care for your Shed
After investing in your new garden building, you want to make sure that it’s life time is as long as possible.
Here are a few guidelines to assist you:
All garden sheds from Fenton Garden Buildings are treated with a water-based base coat, which you selected at the time of ordering.
You should retreat your new building within 6 months of it being installed with a good quality oil or spirit based preserver.
After you have treated it for the first time, we then recommend that you retreat it every 12 months, ideally before the start of each autumn, to protect it from the rain and damp weather conditions.
If you use your garden shed for storing of garden tools or bikes, as a potting shed or any other use where it may get damp inside, then you should also treat the inside of your garden building too to protect from dripping tires or overflowing plant pots!
Fenton Garden Buildings recommends:
Spirit preserver is available from our sales office in both golden and mid brown to suit your base coat colours.
While treating the inside of your building, it gives you the chance to sort through what you have in there.
You should always make sure you take care of your garden shed by not overloading it and by cleaning it when it is required.
This will help protect the wood and help it last longer.
Also, while cleaning and treating your garden building, you can check the timber for any signs of damp. This is normally seen as grey patches and can occur at any time during your shed’s lifetime depending upon the environment and location of your building and its surroundings. Any boards of your building that develop damp patches need to be replaced.
This needs to be done in the warmer weather (when the wood has shrunk after the damp weather) and replacement boards are available from our sales office, cut to size,along with a detailed explanation on how to replace the boards.
As with all timber buildings, a garden shed will take a year or two to completely settle in its outside surroundings.
In the winter the wood will swell due to moist air whereas in the summer the wood may shrink making the timber split.
To make sure these have the lowest impact possible it’s a good idea to slightly loosen the screws (no more than a 1/4 turn!) on the inside of the shed when it gets warmer and then tighten them up again in time for the cooler winter months.
After two years the building should be completely established in its surroundings and should only need tightening twice and loosening twice before being tightened once and for all.
Finally, the felt on your shed probably suffers from the weather more than any other part and so, once a year, needs a quick inspection. Ensure that the felt is clear of any fallen leaves (use a soft brush if not) and that all of the felt pins are secure and that there are no tears or rips.
If your felt is looking like it may need changing then contact our sales office who can arrange to either re-felt your building on your behalf or supply you with a re-felt kit which includes felt and nails as well as new barge boards and diamonds and, again, a detailed explanation of how to refelt your building.
Carrying all of the above out just once a year will help to ensure that your garden building has a longer lifetime and helps your garden shed to continue to do it’s job in the way that we design and manufacture them to do.
DISCLAIMER: You should note that this article is a guide only. Fenton Garden Buildings do not take any responsibility for the care or longevity of your buildings other than our standard guarantee.
This guide should be followed using all safety precautions, equipment and common sense. If you are unsure about how to care for your timber building, contact us or a tradesperson.
