Caring For Your Building

About our photographs

Product images are representative of the range, not of the item you will receive. Timber colour, grain and knot pattern vary from board to board and from batch to batch, and no photograph can show that. Buildings are often photographed treated, stained or styled, and the one delivered to you will be in its supplied finish.

Photographs may also show staging that is not included — furniture, planting, paving, lighting, flooring, guttering and shelving are not supplied unless they appear in the specification on the product page. Where a photograph shows an optional extra, the product page says so. The written specification and dimensions are what you are buying. If anything in an image matters to you, message us before you order and we will confirm it in writing.

Almost every long-term problem with a garden building traces back to its base. It is worth more attention than the building itself.

• Level, firm, and the full footprint. Concrete, paving slabs on a compacted sub-base, or a properly supported timber frame. Not soil, not grass, not loose gravel, not a few slabs under the corners.
• Same size as the building or very slightly smaller, so rain runs off rather than pooling against the boards.
• Raise timber off the ground. Bearers, joists or a damp-proof membrane. Timber sitting in standing water will rot however well it is treated.
• Leave room to work. Allow space around the building to treat it, and don't build tight against a fence or wall — you'll never reach the back to maintain it.

A building erected on an uneven or undersized base will rack out of square. The symptoms are doors that won't close, gaps at the corners, and a roof that won't sit down. None of that is a manufacturing fault.

Know which treatment yours has

If you aren't certain which you have, ask us before you treat it. Using the wrong product on pressure-treated timber can seal in moisture.

Treating it

• Treat before or during assembly where you can. Once it is built you cannot reach the backs of boards, the ends of the cladding or the underside of the floor — and those are exactly where rot starts.
• Pay particular attention to cut ends. Any timber you saw has been opened up and needs end-grain preservative.
• Treat in dry weather, on dry timber, above about 10°C.
• Use a spirit-based or solvent-based preservative for protection. Water-based garden paints are a colour coat and usually need a preservative underneath.
• Keep your receipts and take dated photographs after each coat. If you ever need to claim on a guarantee you will be asked to prove the building was maintained.

Normal, and not a fault

• Colour, grain and knot variation between boards, and against the product photograph
• Knots loosening or dropping out, and resin or sap bleeding for a year or more
• Shrinkage and swelling with the seasons — boards visibly tighten in winter and open in summer
• Splits and surface checks along the grain
• Doors and windows binding in damp weather, easing again in dry
• Weathering to silver-grey if left untreated
• Condensation inside. Garden buildings are uninsulated and unheated — ventilate, and don't store damp items in them

Log cabins specifically

• A log cabin settles. The walls will drop by a few centimetres over the first year or two as the timber dries. Your kit includes storm braces or adjustable fittings for exactly this reason — check and adjust them every few months in the first two years.
• Never fix anything rigidly across more than one log — shelving, cables, pipework or a lean-to. The wall needs to move. Use slotted brackets.
• Do not fix the wall logs to the base or to each other with screws through multiple courses.
• Leave the expansion gaps above doors and windows exactly as the instructions specify, and don't fill them.

Every spring and autumn

• Clear leaves and debris off the roof and out of any guttering
• Check the roof covering for lifting, splitting or loose nails
• Check the base is still level and the building is still square
• Cut back anything growing against the walls — plants hold moisture against timber
• Oil hinges, locks and window catches
• Re-coat the treatment if it is due or if water no longer beads on the surface

Steel buildings need far less maintenance than timber, but they have two specific vulnerabilities: condensation and scratches.

• Condensation is the main issue. A metal shed with no airflow will drip onto whatever is inside it. Never block the factory ventilation, keep the contents off the floor, and consider an anti-condensation lining or a breathable membrane if you are storing anything that will corrode.
• Touch up scratches immediately. The coating is the whole of the corrosion protection. A scratch down to bare metal will start rusting within weeks — keep a matching touch-up paint and use it.
• Wash it twice a year with mild soapy water and a soft cloth. Never use wire wool, abrasive pads or solvent cleaners.
• Lubricate locks and door runners with a dry PTFE spray. Avoid oily lubricants, which attract grit.
• Anchor it down. A metal shed is light and catches wind. Bolt it to the base — most manufacturers require it for the guarantee to stand.
• Coastal and salt-air locations need more frequent washing. Salt deposits accelerate corrosion dramatically, and many guarantees are reduced within a certain distance of the sea. Check yours.

An aluminium frame needs almost no maintenance. The glazing and the anchoring are what need your attention.

• It must be bolted to a base. A greenhouse is a large, light, hollow structure and wind will lift one that isn't anchored. Use the manufacturer's base or bolt the frame into concrete. Storm damage to an unanchored greenhouse is not covered by any guarantee.
• Check the glazing clips every autumn. They work loose over a season, and a single loose pane in a gale usually takes several others with it.
• Check and tighten the frame bolts annually. Aluminium expands and contracts a great deal.
• Clean the glazing twice a year — once in autumn for winter light, once in spring. Use warm soapy water and a soft brush. Clean the overlaps between panes, where algae collects.
• Never pressure-wash the frame or the glazing. It drives water past the seals and can blow panes out of their clips.
• Clear snow off the roof. Greenhouses are not designed for heavy snow loading and the roof is the weak point.
• Lubricate vent arms and door runners with a dry silicone spray, and clear grit out of the door track.

Glazing

• Horticultural glass — cheapest and clearest, but thin and brittle. Expect to replace the odd pane.
• Toughened safety glass — the right choice if children or pets use the garden.
• Polycarbonate — light, safe and better insulating, but it is UV-coated on one side only. Fitting it the wrong way round will make it yellow and go brittle within a few years. Check the printed film before you remove it. Clean polycarbonate with soapy water only — solvents, glass cleaner and abrasives will craze it.

• Wash with mild soapy water. No solvents, no bleach, no abrasive pads — they strip the UV layer and the panel will chalk and crack.
• Some fading and chalking over years of direct sun is normal and expected.
• Clear snow off the roof. Resin panels become brittle in cold weather and snow load is the most common cause of failure.
• Anchor it to the base. These are the lightest buildings we sell.
• Don't store solvents, fuel or anything corrosive against the panels.

• Standard mineral felt is a consumable. Typically two to five years depending on exposure, and it is not covered by the building guarantee. If you only upgrade one thing on a timber building, upgrade this.
• Heavy-duty felt, shingles or an EPDM rubber membrane will all outlast standard felt several times over, and EPDM will usually outlast the building.
• Check the roof after every storm. Lifted felt lets water in immediately and the damage is to the whole building, not just the roof.
• Keep the roof clear of leaves and overhanging branches. Debris holds water against the covering.
• Never walk on a shed roof.

• Cure it before you cook on it. Masonry and refractory units need a series of small, progressively hotter fires over several sessions to drive out moisture. Lighting a full fire in a new oven can crack it, and that is not a manufacturing fault. Follow the manufacturer's curing schedule exactly.
• Hairline cracks in mortar and refractory are normal. These materials expand and contract with every firing.
• Never pour water on a hot unit to put a fire out. Let it cool on its own.
• Cover it, and keep it dry over winter. Water absorbed into masonry and then frozen is the single biggest cause of failure. A breathable cover, not a sealed plastic sheet which traps moisture.
• Empty the ash after every use — it holds moisture and is corrosive.
• Clean stainless steel with warm soapy water or a proper stainless cleaner, always with the grain. Not wire wool.

• Timber furniture — oil or treat annually. Hardwood will silver attractively if left; softwood will not and needs protecting.
• Metal furniture — touch up chips immediately, same as a metal building.
• Synthetic rattan — wash with soapy water, never a pressure washer, which breaks the weave.
• Cushions are not weatherproof, whatever the fabric claims. Bring them in or store them dry.
• Over winter, store furniture indoors if you can. If you can't, use a breathable cover and raise the legs off wet ground. A sealed plastic cover traps condensation and does more harm than leaving it uncovered.

Not a fault

Natural timber variation, movement, shrinkage, splitting, knots and resin · weathering and fading · condensation · seasonal door and window binding · deterioration of untreated or under-maintained timber · damage from an unsuitable, uneven or undersized base · storm damage to an unanchored building · felt reaching the end of its life · damage from pressure-washing, solvents or abrasive cleaning · frost damage to an uncovered masonry unit.

A genuine claim

Rot penetrating through the thickness of properly treated timber · structural failure of a component · corrosion through a metal panel · a manufacturing defect · parts missing or damaged on delivery.

Damage or shortages on delivery must be reported within 48 hours, with photographs of the damage, the packaging and the delivery note, and noted on the driver's paperwork at the time. Manufacturers work to short reporting windows and a late report can invalidate the claim.

In every case you deal with us, not the manufacturer. You bought from us, so chasing them is our job.