subject: How to keep your shed out the rain and snow? [print this page] Wooden sheds often leak and rot because of rain running down the walls.To minimize such problems,the roof should overhang the sides by at least 5cm and the front and back by at least 7.5cm.Measure from the inside edge of the roof,not the outside.If,as is likely,the overhangs are less than this,the following features can help to compensate-DIY if necessary:
Rain is less likely to run inside the top and bottom of a door if it has a strip of wood(weather bar) over it to deflect the water.Ideally,there should be a weather barat the bottom of the door too.
Windows are prone to rot at the bottom unless they have sloping sills with a dripgroove beneath.It's cheap and easy to make window sills and door weather barsusing what timber merchants call chamfered architrave.It only costs around 70pper metre.If you have a router,cut a groove along the underside to stop waterrunning back.Alternatively,glue a length of wood 6mm x 6mm to the underside.Nail on sills and attach weather bars with screws from the inside of the shed.
When standing in a closed shed,the only place you should see daylight is through windows.Fill any other gaps with frame sealant(mastic).
Less water will run down the sides if you fit guttering and a downpipe into a water butt and/or soakaway.
Wooden roofs soon rot and leak unless covered effectively with roofing felt.Inferiorfelt is likely to need replacing after only three or four years,but decent-quality feltcan last over a decade.When buying a shed,ensure the felt supplied weighs atleast 20kg per 10m roll and has mineral chips on its upper surface.If it doesn't,buysome separately from a builders'merchant-20kg felt will only cost around20.Better still,but very heavy to handle,is 38kg felt.If re-covering a roof,remove ordrive in any protruding nails but don't bother taking off the old felt.
