Garden Sheds in Ireland. Choosing a Shed Material and style.

Our Irish Garden Shed Blog.

On our site www.McLDirect.com  we offer a wide range & variety of garden sheds in many colours, sizes, styles and made from many materials.

Often when you are looking for a new Shed you will be replacing an old one that has served you well for many years.  We notice that often a customer who has had say a timber garden shed will look for something different and perhaps opt for a plastic shed or a metal shed and vice aversa.  Often this decision  is for the sake of change and just to try something new.  Every shed material has advantages and disadvantages and I thought I would go through some of these here using the different models and brands of sheds that we offer.  Budget is also another very important factor.  Some of our sheds are great value per square foot and others are quite expensive and these tend to be extremely heavy gauge metal sheds.  We cover the entire budget spectrum stopping short of sheds made from concrete or blocks.   So here goes on our garden shed blog!

TigerBox Shiplap Timber Sheds.

Tiger 6x8 Sheds.

Personally I like timber Garden sheds.  I find them nice and warm to work in.  I like the way I can add and adapt them easily.  Timber sheds usually come with a wood floor so like the Lifteime Sheds once you have it assembled there is no more to be done.   They are very easy to assemble and two people can often have the Main Structure assembled in 30 Minutes after starting.  The only hard bit being the laying of the felt and the fixing of it with the cleat nails!    Again it’s well within the capabilities of an average DIY capable person.   Some customers dislike timber sheds because they do need to be painted every couple of years.  I see that as all part of the attraction of having a warm natural  timber shed in the garden. Another consideration about Timber sheds is if you are going to house a dog inside the shed.   The Timber floors can be hard to wash out and this might be something that might point you towards a metal or a plastic shed. 

Tiger Mini Barn

We only sell the Shiplap grade type of Tiger Timber sheds.  Shiplap is more expensive than overlap timber.  It makes a more airtight and draft proof structure.  Also a more secure shed!    Customers do notice that it’s more expensive (about €100 more)  compared to overlap but it’s just really worth paying a bit more for.  Tiger have some really nice timber sheds in their range.  My favourite is the Mini American Barn because it looks different and it has the double doors so it’s easy to park up the Lawn mower.  The Tiger garden playhouses for children are also very nice and are really huge compared to how they look in the photos! 

Emerald Metal Sheds

Emerald Metal 6x4 Shed.  

These apex metal garden sheds in green or grey are sold throughout the USA and Europe. They are fitted with sliding doors under the apex of the shed roof.  They are a very popular garden shed.   Once assembled and anchored to the ground they are very strong and designed to carry the weight of a full snow load on the roof.   

Emerald Sheds can be extended.

 Our Emerald sheds come in three width sizes (6 Foot, 8 Foot and 10 Foot wide).  The sliding doors are on this side and then the sheds being modular can be extended in length.  Our Rosedale model the 8x6 foot is very popular and many customers opt to extend it with extension plugs.  Each plug is 2 foot long so the Rosedale can be extended up to 8 x 10 foot long.  Duramax recommend a maximum of two extension plugs. Duramax Sheds come with a Non Rust perforation warranty of 15 Years on the panels.

Canberra 10x6 Apex Shed

Canberra Metal Garden Sheds.  Medium Gauge GardenCanberra Metal Sheds.

These metal garden sheds are made in Australia and sold worldwide.  These sheds are slightly heavier and are a taller shed than the Duramax range.   If you are a tall person this is important if you don’t want to have stoop your head when you enter the shed or when you walk to the corner of the shed. The extra height means more metal and this makes them slightly more expensive than the Duramax models.   We have a number of different styles of Canberra Sheds.  The Basic Apex Design with sliding Doors.  There are also sheds with hinged doors and Canberra sheds with pent (called Skillion in Australia)  sheds.  The Canberra Pent sheds work well at the side of Irish Homes. They are more longer than wide and ideal if you want a long narrow shed with sliding doors to store your children’s bicycles.  These come with sliding doors so you won’t lose space to doors being hinged open.  Canberra Sheds come in Green , Mountain Blue and a Wood Vinyl colour.

Trimetals Heavy gauge Metal Garden Sheds.

Trimetals sheds are our most impressive & expensive Metal Garden sheds.  They are hand made in Blanford Forum down in the sunny south of England.   Trimetals are a family owned and managed company and their range of sheds and garden storage boxes are well known throughout England.   The primary difference between these sheds and others and where the extra cost comes in is the thickness of the steel and the way in which it is shaped and formed. 

The Doors and their locks are very strong and some insurance companies offer discounts for Trimetals Sheds because they know the Sheds are strong and secure.   These Garden sheds are really solid and good looking.  Visit any Holiday Park in England and you will be amazed at how many Trimetals Bicycle storage units you will see.  Usually you will see one or two Bikestores behind each Mobile Home. 

The Trimetals Bikestores are available in colours to match the colour of the caravan panels.  Apart from the convenience & security the Bikestores offer part of the reason for their popularity in Holiday Parks is a requirement to be Fire resistant and to comply with local fire regulations.  I have yet to meet a Trimetals Customer who wasn’t delighted with his Bikestores or Trimetals garden shed. 

Plastic Sheds.

Lifetime Garden Sheds (H.D.P.E. Plastic).  Made in the USA

Lifetime Garden Sheds are an American company with a history of making things using HDPE (High-density polyethylene)   which is an ultra strong plastic material.  They started out thirty years ago  making basketball hoops and now their range encompasses sheds, garden furniture, adventure white water kayaks and lots more.  Garden sheds are their main line and again I have yet to meet a Lifetime shed customer who was not delighted with their Shed.  

Many Lifetime shed customers use their sheds as Laundry Rooms and I think the clean sealed plastic floors lends itself to this use.   Sometimes when we mention plastic people think that “it just couldn’t be strong”.  Really the best way to test that is to come and see a Lifetime Shed here in Newbridge.  The H.D.P.E.  plastic is very strong and reinforced by metal formers.  Lifetime sheds have an air cavity in the wall panels and this has an warm insulating effect and your lifetime shed will not suffer from any condensation problems.  Lifetime sheds are attractive and their modern looks blend very well with Irish Homes.    

Assembling a Lifetime Garden shed is faster than Metal shed  and slower than a timber shed.  Lifetime have some Great Videos up on YouTube showing how to it and you will save yourself a lot of time if you watch these 15 minute Videos.  

Additionally for all of our garden sheds we have uploaded PDF Assembly guides at www.MclDirect.com  .  Theses PDF Booklets can be downloaded  by clicking on the download link at the base of every Shed Description.  We would recommend that you download the guide for your chosen shed in advance of your shed being delivered. This will save you a lot of time when it comes to assembling the shed.

Thank you for reading this blog and I hope it will be a help to you when choosing your next Garden shed!

Michael.

www.McLDirect.com

JH Mc Loughlin & Co Ltd

Ballymany, Newbridge,

Co Kildare, Ireland.

Tel 045,447291.