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Phil L

wrote:
Hi,
Ive just ordered a shed (3m by 3m) and so need to lay a base for it.
I live in a little terraced house with no rear access so everything
has to come through the house.

I've a flat lawn so have removed a little over 3m by 3m of turf. I had
to move a flowerbed so the level of the base is a little higher than
the surrounding lawn.

This should be the end goal, you don't want water inside the shed, or the
bottom of it resting in water.

I saw 25 paving slabs (60cm by 60cm) for a quid each so I bought them
all - they are heavy duty slabs.

I was planning on leveling the soil, laying some landscaping net to
stop weeds and the like, then laying sand and then laying the slabs on
top of the sand. I was going to hire a compacting tool to try to stop
sinking etc.

If you are laying them where lawn has been then you don't need a compacting
machine, the lawn hasn't sunk in ??? years so why should it sink now? - just
scrape off the loose soil down to a firm base and level with sand, then
sprinkle a bag of cement over it and rake it in, making a weakish
sand/cement bed, lay your slabs on this.

You don't need a weed embrane because:1) they don't work, and 2) weeds won't
grow where there is no sunlight.

So to the question, should I lower the base so it is beneath the
surface of the lawn so that the slabs are a little proud of it for the
final product? I've got loads of pebbles so how about using pebbles
instead of sand and laying the slabs on them? the garden is pretty
well drained.

don't use pebbles under slabs, they don't hold still for any length of time.
Also the higher you can get it above the lawn, the better, preferably a good
four inches (this is to avoid leaf litter and/or snow piling up against the
sides or back and causing rotting of the timbers)

Once Id put the slabs down I was going to put some 50mm by 75mm
bearers across them to take the weight of the shed.....

Some timbers underneath will allow air circulation yes.

Help me please!!! cant decide what to do.