Garden Buildings for Small Spaces

Gardens are getting smaller these days and many homes don’t have the space for a large shed, garage or garden studio. Modern houses tend to be built with the premise in mind that people don’t have the time for lots of gardening.

No Space For Garden Buildings

Many older properties that did have large gardens have lost them or had them cut down in size. Many houses are split onto flats and again that means that the garden gets smaller, divided up into a section for each flat. Or the garden is sold off to a developer who builds houses or flats on the space, again leading to tiny gardens, if any, for each property.

Then there are people who might have the space but perhaps don’t want to have a shed or other garden building spoiling a particular view, or it simply doesn’t fit into their garden design. This might leave them with a small space, an alley beside the house, for example, as the only place where something can be put to store garden tools, bicycles and other paraphernalia that’s not welcome inside the house.

So it’s no surprise that there is an increasing number of products on the market that provide storage for smaller spaces.

Materials for Smaller Garden Buildings

The materials used tend to be metal or plastic at the cheaper end of the market but most wooden shed or garden building suppliers have smaller options too. These are generally considered to be better looking but also tend to more expensive, so the choice is really yours.

Bear in mind though that a wooden storage cupboard will breathe, allowing moisture to move in and out of the storage compartment. Plastic and metal structures will not be so good at this and with metal containers in particular there is a good chance that condensation will form, causing rusting of tools.

On the other hand steel will be better at resisting the attentions of petty thieves, particular if the structure can be bolted to the wall it stands against. Plastic will sit in between metal and wood with regard to all these properties so the best option is to look at the type and value of the items that you are going to store in the cupboard before making your choice of material,

Size Up Your Garden Storage

Size is the next thing to consider when choosing your product. Most of the garden buildings in this range are effectively large cupboards, the small ones being about the size of a chest freezer and having either a lid on the top or opening doors at the front.

These can be useful for garden tools although they won’t take a lawn mower. Long tools like rakes, spades and forks will have to be laid down and may not fit at all. If you are considering one of these smaller cupboards, make sure you measure all the items you intend to store before buying.

Larger garden storage cupboards can be six or seven feet tall, with double doors at the front. These offer the capacity to store longer garden tools and sometimes the doors are strong enough for the long tools to be hung up on them. This makes them easy to reach and keeps them out of the way for when you want to get at other things in the cupboard.

Do It Yourself

Of course there’s nothing to stop you making something from scratch and that can be the best option if you have an odd-shaped space that you can use effectively as storage.

Sourcing an old shed from freecycle or the classified ads will give you the raw materials to begin with. You can split it up into panels and cut them to the shape you need. You will have all the panels you need and can probably reuse the hinges, catches and locks too.