Shed floor material

[B160 AVE]

Morning chums

I`m in the process of building a shed/summerhouse as per my other thread, but seem to be having a real problem sourcing treated tongue and groove for the floor.

I`m going straight onto 2"x4" treated floor joists and am now thinking it might just be easier to go with the exterior ply option.

Has anyone got any experience of this, and whether it`s a good idea or not? Also should I be going for exterior ply, exterior spruce ply, or WBP. Or is it all variants of the same thing

I`m thinking 18mm thickness for best support, and the floor joists will be at 400mm centres.

Thanks
Dave

[dugsud]

I used exterior ply but laid a plastic sheet down first and brought it up at the edges. Seems to have been fine so far a few years down the line.

[B160 AVE]

Thanks for that Doug, unfortunately I`m having to incorporate a trapdoor, as I`m going over a manhole cover (haven`t opened it in 11 years and hope not to, but better safe than sorry!), so cannot seal with plastic. I`m hoping exterior grade ply, means just that and it will be suitable to being outside. Obviously the cladding for the walls will run past the floor, so no direct water should get on it, but I want it last a fair while.

[mgtony]

Just go for exterior ply, it's what all sheds out there will have. If you wanted, you could staple a narrow strip of DPC along the joists first to lay the ply onto, but the chances of it actually getting wet are minimal.

[B160 AVE]

Cheers Tony, I think I`ve made my mind up now, that`s what I`m going to do

[cjs]

I used that big chip board stuff, OSB?? I put some creosote and oil on the back before laying down, been ok for 10 years so far. I have also seen roofing ply used which has bitumen on one side, lay this side down.

Edited by cjs on Monday 23 May 17:41

[-Pete-]

Shed-tastic. I've built a couple but gave into the convenience of buying a decent one the last couple of times, I do wish the door wasn't in the middle though.

Exterior ply would be my choice, but I don't know if anybody else mentioned ground preparation? I'd recommend hard stone or landscaping fabric covered in 20mm gravel below the frame. This will stop weeds attacking your floor from below and hopefully keep rats and similar creatures from nesting there.

Other than that, if you're going to bother locking it, fit acrylic windows too so nobody can easily smash them to get in. Leave enough room round it to treat the wood every few years and fix the roof, if you can.

The difficult bit for me is how to use the space, I need some shelves to get everything off the floor, next job for me I think.