More bad bases

Previously, we wrote about the importance of a good, solid, level base for your steel shed. There, we showed off what a good base should look like at the start of the blog. It seemed like most of you lot thought that that bit was pretty boring, because it was just pictures of correctly poured concrete, neat tarmac and correctly laid paving slabs. HOWEVER, what really caught your attention were the frankly atrocious, mind boggling examples of bad bases. They were enjoyably awful. I mean, sure, they were also a waste of everyone’s time, but hey, we had some laughs.

The main thing to remember is that if you’re getting a new steel shed, remember to get an appropriate base down. With that said, let’s look at some more delightfully wojus bases.

 

The Oh-So Close

Wonderall by Oasis, Pulp’s Common People, Elvis and Suspicious Minds and The Pogues’ Fairytale of New York all peaked at number 2 in the UK music charts. They all got oh-so close to musical perfection and yet fell just short when it mattered the most. This base, shares the spirit of those songs.

You might think, ‘well it’s not very big’, but it may be a base for a small shed or storage unit. Where it’s really fallen short is in the middle. Those two blank spots have caused unnecessary weak spots in this base that could cause long-term issues with the shed. While not as bad as some of the ones that we’ll look at later, this one is just frustrating to look at because a fraction more care to the planning phase would have made this a little beauty of a base. I’m not angry, I’m just disappointed.

Base Rating: 4.5/10

 

The Little Dipper

Another base that isn’t far-off being useable is this one. If those blocks were straight, solid and level this customer would be onto a winner. As it stands, this could be perhaps the most annoying base for them to work with.

Assembling on this would be so, so, so frustrating. Panels and holes would be mere millimetres off lining up because of the dips and divots in this base. If the shed was one with hinged doors, you could also expect the doors to be off-kilter, or constantly swinging open/closed if they were relatively okay.

Again, this is not the worst we’ll see today, but it could drive you to the edge.

Base Rating: 4/10

 

The 11

Young women with two much time on their hands will tell you that you should make a wish every day at 11:11. If that’s the case, I wish for a less-crappy base than this one.

These two rows of blocks are not enough to support any steel shed. The bars would bend in the middle and the shed would eventually warp and crack – and that’s only IF you managed to assemble it up on these monstrosities. Assembling a steel shed on an uneven base is like trying to thread a needle on a bouncy castle.

This base needs to be scrapped and rethought. A full, solid level base is required – but this could make a decent spot to play a game of kerbs in your back garden.

Base Rating: 3/10

 

The Jedi Mind Trick

There’s a scene in one of the Star Wars films where the impressively-beared Obi Wan Kenobi waves his hands at some guard and says ‘these are not the droids that you’re looking for’, when in fact the guards are indeed looking for those exact droids. The good guys pass on their way without incident. It’s basically space magic.

A less-impressive form of space-magic is the placing two different planks of wood across wonky blocks to prove that the base is indeed solid and level. I mean, they’re clearly not.

If Darth Vader was looking at this base, he’d just slap you. (And you’d deserve it.)

Base Rating: 3/10

 

The Frame

This base is the type of base that people get angry at us the most about. ‘Sure the base is solid and level’, they scream, turning purple in the face. Then we request a photo and we can see that the base is not solid or level. ‘Well it’s solid and level around the edge!’ (Also not true in this case)

This frame of the shed runs around this hollow base. Some people assume that that’s all they need for the frame and that they can then wander into whatever pit they’ve set up inside. However, our sheds have internal floor frames which are integral parts of the structure of the shed. They hold it all together.

You can attempt to make it without it, but we strongly, strongly, strongly recommend that you don’t, In fact, we insist that you don’t. And if you do decide to do it, don’t call us to give out when it doesn’t work.

 

This base sounds like a middle-aged man shouting down the phone (Said respectfully as a middle-aged man in training). Less of this please.

Base Rating: 2/10

 

The ‘No wait, really?’

Have you ever started something and thought, ‘Jesus, life’s too short for this craic’. I did after episode one of The Walking Dead. I can only imagine that this customer felt this way when they walked away from this travesty. Having made my own base, I know that it’s fairly labour intensive to do, but c’mon now. There’s about 14 seconds of work here.

 

It’s not solid, it’s not level – and even if you somehow found a way to get a steel shed up here and stay solid, you’re only asking for a rodent infestation under the shed.

State of your base, mate.

Base Rating: 1.5/10

 

The Hole

Our sales team: Your base need to be solid, and level.
The Customer: Say no more!

.

This is easily the best worst-base I’ve ever seen. Like a great piece of art, it asks more questions than it answers.

• ‘Why is it a hole?’
• ‘Why is the grass white in the middle of the hole?’
• ‘Why are their tyre-tracks coming out of the hole?
• and most importantly, ‘Why is that man in the background just looking at a wall while his feet point in totally opposite directions?

Base Rating: -47/10

 

How to avoid all of this?

We’ve got lots of helpful guides to prevent you scoring -47 out of 10 with your new base. Here are some of them:

 

• How to lay a base for a steel shed
• Good Base Examples
• Can any eejit lay a slab base?
• How Many slabs do I need for a slab base?