Best Garden Sheds for Australia
Posted by Hugh Frame on
Australians have a love of garden sheds but what are the best Garden Sheds for Australia?
We are not going to knock the traditional wooden garden shed that used to sit in most backyards but garden and backyard sheds have come a long way in recent years.
At one time every home had a shed of some sort and sometimes more than one.The average ‘quarter-acre block’ had the space to have the garden shed at the bottom of the garden.
We all want more storage space - Best Garden Sheds for Australia
Most homes today have 'the standard double garage'. Before they were common, most homeowners had at least a small tool shed to store necessarytools. Lawn mowers and garden tools needed shelter andthe single garage just didn't have the space for a car and storage. Today, as housing lots get smaller and smaller and the house itself gets bigger. There is a much wider choice for garden shed storage.
There are under-eve slim line garden sheds, specific wheelie-bin and bike sheds and compact tool sheds designed for every garden. When gardens were usually much larger, it wasn’t unusual for a shed down the back to be dedicated to storage of all garden equipment, bikes, pots, plants and even fertiliser. Today, it is much more common to have just a slim under-eve shed to take care of garden equipment only. The days of having a dedicated woodshed just for winter logs is over.
The Man Cave and the She Shed
Some still have the luxury of yard space. They may look for their own area of "personal space" by building a garden shed or converting an existing shed. A good shed can make a greatentertainment area. You can make a great Man Cave or She Shed from the off-shelf garden sheds available but we must recommend that you look for something much stronger and up to Australian Standards like those made by Professional Choice Sheds. Your life may depend on it! See below for more details.
Choices of best garden sheds for Australia - Range available
A number of manufacturers produce off-shelf garden sheds. You do not have to be an engineer to see how flimsy most garden shed kits are. The main structural support is usually the imported steel sides, similar to Australian Colorbond. It not as thick as Australian Colorbond. The metal sheets are usually screwed on to a very light aluminium frame. It is fortunate that permission is not usually needed for a shed under 10 square metres. If it was, none of these mass produced sheds would pass any Australian Standards.
Popular Garden Shed Kits for storage
Small to Medium storage
The smallest sheds, excellent for strata developments and small yards are the Slimline Yardstore range by Spanbilt. These range from 1.4m x 0.7 metres to 2.1 x 1.07 metres. These have an all-round metal frame and do not depend entirely on the strength of the thin coloured treated metal and are stronger than those available through the Big DIY Stores.
Medium to Large sheds
The Spacemaker range is the best cheap off-shelf range to fill this size of garden shed. They
come in flat (skillion) roof or Gable Roof. The gable roof sheds come in the same sizes and look just like the equivalent old wooden garden most will remember from their childhood.
Bike and wheelie-bin storage
Easy access and easy to use is the key to finding a shed for your bins or bicycles. The
Storemate range is very well designed with a full wall length front door and a lifting roof/top.They are ideal for wheeling in your bins or your bicycle and take up a small yard space.
Large Secure Lock-up with roller door
Those people looking for looking for a very strong, smart and secure backyard storage unit can't go past the Smartlocker range. These are much stronger than your average garden shed. They have to be to support the weight of a lockable roller door. The Smartlocker range comes in 3 large sizes; the 800, the 900 and the 1100. The Smartlocker offers everything and more of what you would expect from a premium Garden Shed.
They all have full corrugated steel cladding and come with water guttering and downpipe as well as a key lockable roller door. You can also choose your cladding colour and roller door colour from a wide colour choice, even in two-tone if you want that aesthetic.
Premium Sheds to Customise - Man Cave or She Shed
Garden shed kits, as stated above, a generally very cheaply made (maybe with the exception of the Smartlocker above). They are all just capable of supporting their own weight and are all under the legal Australian Standards. A shed that needs to last a life-time and be more than a storage area needs to be a Professional Choice Shed. These will come with site-specific engineering and full Australian Standards certification. They will take the extra weight of cladding or lining and you can add windows, skylights, whirlybirds, lining and much more.
Of course, you always pay a bit more for quality but you can be assured that you have an asset that will give you a life-time of use. You can also be sure that you and your neighbours and children around the installation site will not run the risk of injury in strong winds and bad weather conditions. These sheds will not blow down or fall apart.