Outdoor Buildings

[Geoff Endacott]

I am thinking about erecting a model railway room in the garden. However, it is obvious that a standard garden shed will not be good enough. I am therefore looking for suggestion as to suppliers of appropriate buildings.

 

With thanks.

 

Geoff Endacott

[AndrewC]

I've got a standard garden shed that is 12 years old. 12 x 24 wood structure. I've insulated the interior and it has heat, light, & aircon. https://www.passmores.co.uk/ is the company that supplied mine. Repaint the exterior every few years and I've had no issues apart from far too many spiders. 

 

The one advantage of a wooden structure is that most councils consider it a temporary building as opposed to a permanent structure. That means unless you exceed height restrictions you don't need any sort of planning or other council involvement. Mine is technically too close to the boundary but I got away with it as it was granted grandfather approval since it was built on the footings of the original garage. 

[TheQ]

I built my own shed, , but from what I've seen this lot seem to have a good reputation.. https://www.cranegardenbuildings.co.uk/

( They are just off the A47 between Norwich and Kings Lynn)

[4railsman]

I designed my own Railway Shed as none of the standard Garden Building suppliers offered buildings with sufficient headroom. What you need is at least 6ft height at the eaves plus the height of the fluorescent lighting in order to avoid hitting your head (it hurts!) when attending to things at the extreme edge of the building.

 

The other thing to remember is that most "off the peg" garden buildings only come with either standard roofing felt or tile-look roofing felt. Neither of these will last more than a few years before needing replacement (although you might be lucky and get 8-years use) before it starts letting in the rain or worse still getting ripped off by a winter storm. When that happens your model railway is likely to suffer from water ingress, probably causing major damage before you are able to make repairs.

 

So, whatever you buy, my recommendation would be to have an additional METAL skin roof installed on top of the initial roofing felt before it starts deteriorating. The sort I am talking about is often seen on farm buildings, both as a roof and side panel. This additional skin is a simple DIY job and will save you much heartache in the long run. The important thing here is to ensure the supplier of your building makes the roof trusses sufficiently strong to enable the roof to take this added weight.

 

Please give the roof specification serious thought BEFORE committing to any new building.

 

Hope that helps.

[Sturminster_Newton]

Bespoke is expensive but be careful with the description as some councils get very excited if they see it described as a workshop...

 

Permitted development allows a degree of fexibility to what you can put up.

 

If I were starting from scratch I am inclined to go with an 'alpine house' on dwarf walls, because:

 

It does not get too hot being an open sided green house.

 

It provides easy shelter allowing operations into the late Autumn and from early spring and any showers or rain don't stop your operational enjoyment.

 

I'd have some custom stainless trays constructed and build the line along thermalite blocks filling the lineside with real plants. Alpines are naturally small and do not require much in the way of soil depth, you could even use Bonsai if you plant into shallow stainless planters plunged into the horticultural grit.

 

I know it sound an expensive option but a neighbour has a desert house for his collection of small cacti and his stone outcrops feature a range of plastic animals from the schleich.

 

A green house is not secure so I'd bring all the high value fittings inside at the end of operations.

 

A shed in the garden is one option in many and by their nature a compromise in more than one way as are shipping containers and other non-standard forms of accommodation.