65 cheap sheds from trusted UK retailers
Our cheap wooden sheds start at around £225 and top out near £500, so you get proper timber garden storage without paying garden-building prices. Almost all are Forest Garden sheds made in the UK from pressure treated timber with a 25 year anti-rot guarantee, so there's no yearly coat of preservative to buy. Choose budget 4Life overlap sheds, sturdier Beckwood shiplap ones or a Shire Arran, in sizes from 4ft x 3ft to 8ft x 6ft, all sold by Shedstore. Most people want a 6x4 for tools and a small mower; see our cheap 6x4 sheds or, for bikes and furniture, cheap 8x6 sheds.
A budget wooden garden shed is still a real timber shed: a felted roof, a floor, a lockable door and walls that keep the rain off your tools. What changes as the price drops is the thickness of the boards, the size of the frame and how the timber is treated. On this page the cheapest models use 7mm overlap cladding on a 28mm x 28mm frame, while the dearer ones move up to 12mm shiplap tongue and groove boards on a 28mm x 56mm frame. Both are fine for garden storage. The thicker boards are stiffer, keep draughts out better and take shelves and hooks more easily.
The good news for anyone on a budget is the treatment. Nearly every timber shed here is pressure treated, which used to be a premium extra. That is why so many come with a 25 year anti-rot guarantee even at the bottom of the price range.
Cladding is the outer skin of a wooden shed, and it's the biggest single difference between a £250 shed and a £450 one.
Overlap sheds are the lowest-priced wooden sheds you can buy. Rough sawn boards are nailed so each one laps over the one below, and rain runs off the face. They are watertight in normal weather but not airtight, so expect a little light and air through the gaps. All of the Forest 4Life sheds use 7mm straight-cut overlap boards. For tools, pots, a mower and bags of compost in a wooden garden shed that is plenty.
Shiplap boards slot together with a tongue and groove joint and a shaped edge that sheds water. The Beckwood range and the Shire Arran use 12mm shiplap, which feels far more solid, resists knocks and keeps out more draughts. Shiplap sheds are the better pick if you'll spend time inside, potter at a bench or keep anything that hates damp. Our shiplap sheds page has the full range.
Tongue and groove sheds use interlocking boards with a flat face. Shedstore describes the shiplap on these models as tongue and groove too, because the boards lock together and shed water. Flat-faced boards cost more and are mostly found on a bigger timber shed or workshop.
The timber treatment matters more to the long-term cost than the price on the card.
Count the cost of a tin of shed preserver and a free Saturday each year and a pressure treated shed at £330 can work out cheaper over ten years than a dip treated one at £300. You can still paint or stain a pressure treated shed for colour; you just don't have to.
Here's how the main types of wooden shed for sale on this page compare, from Shedstore's own specs. Prices change daily, so treat the bands as a guide and check the cards above for today's figure.
| Range | Sizes here | Cladding | Frame | Floor | Treatment | Anti-rot guarantee | Price band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forest 4Life (overlap) | 4x3 to 8x6, plus 7x7 | 7mm overlap | 28mm x 28mm | 12mm solid timber | Pressure treated | 25 years | £250 to £505 |
| Forest Beckwood (shiplap) | 4x3 to 6x4 | 12mm shiplap tongue and groove | 28mm x 56mm | 12mm tongue and groove | Pressure treated | 25 years | £375 to £495 |
| Shire Arran | 6x6 | 12mm shiplap tongue and groove | 34mm x 34mm | 11mm OSB | Dip treated | 10 years with yearly retreatment | about £445 |
| Forest bike and mower stores | 6'5 x 2'10, 6x3 | 7mm overlap | 28mm x 28mm | None, or 8mm OSB | Pressure treated | 15 years | £225 to £270 |
By size, a 4ft x 3ft sits around £250 to £375, a 6ft x 4ft £330 to £495, a 7ft x 5ft £415 to £480 and an 8ft x 6ft £465 to £505. The spread inside each size is mostly overlap against shiplap, then windows and double doors.
The 4Life range is the backbone of this page, with more than 40 sheds. Every one uses UK timber, 7mm overlap cladding, an 8mm OSB roof under green mineral felt and a 12mm solid floor. Doors have hidden hinges that can't be unscrewed from outside and a hasp and staple for your own padlock. You can pick apex, reverse apex or pent roofs, windowless or with shatterproof PET windows, and a single 590mm door or a 1,090mm double door. Forest Garden has more on the range on its own website.
Beckwood sheds cost roughly £60 to £100 more than the same size in 4Life, and you can see where it goes. The 12mm shiplap boards sit on a frame twice as deep (28mm x 56mm), the floor is interlocking boards, and windows are 3mm shatterproof acrylic. The doors have a pad bolt rather than a hasp. The panels are modular and smaller than a traditional shed section, which makes them easier to carry through a side gate.
The Shire Arran is the odd one out: a square 6ft x 6ft with planed shiplap boards, wide 1,360mm braced double doors and an opening window in horticultural glass. It's the widest door on the page, so it's handy for a wide mower or a wheelbarrow. The trade-off is dip treated timber, so plan on treating it every year. Shire estimates two people can build it in 2 to 4 hours.
If you only need to hide bikes or a mower, a low store is the lowest-cost of all the wood storage sheds here. The Forest 6'5 x 2'10 bike shed has a pent roof, 760mm double doors and holds about 2,000 litres, but no floor. The Forest 6x3 apex store adds an OSB floor on pressure treated bearers. Both are only around 1.5m tall, so they tuck under a window or along a fence. More than two bikes need a full-height shed with double doors; see our double door sheds.
Shed sizes are nominal. A 6x4 4Life is 1.18m x 1.83m at the base and 1.34m x 1.88m with the roof overhang, so measure your space against the overhang figure and leave room to walk round it.
Need something bigger for a workshop? Our cheap large sheds go beyond 8x6.
A single door on these Forest sheds is 590mm wide, enough for a push mower and the rest of your garden tools. Double doors open to 1,090mm and suit bikes, barrows and bigger mowers. Windowless sheds keep your kit out of sight, which is the simplest bit of security you can buy. No shed here comes with a padlock, so add a good closed-shackle one to the hasp or pad bolt. These are sheds for garden tools, not a safe place for expensive bikes or power tools unless you add a ground anchor.
Every shed needs a firm, level base under it, and on most of these that base is extra. A concrete pad or paving slabs a little bigger than the shed's floor is ideal; Shedstore's product pages say not to put one straight onto grass. A plastic grid or pressure treated timber base kit is the cheaper alternative. Keeping it off wet ground is the best thing you can do for a wooden shed's life.
The Forest sheds come as modular panels with fixings and instructions, and two people can usually build a small one in a few hours. Shedstore sells professional installation on many models if you'd rather not, usually within 2 to 3 weeks of delivery.
Shedstore delivers to most UK mainland postcodes free as standard, and some sheds have a choose-your-day option. Check the delivery details on each product before you order.
A pressure treated wooden shed needs very little maintenance: clear leaves off the roof, keep soil and plants away from the walls and check the felt every autumn. To beat damp and mould, leave a gap behind the shed for air, open the door on dry days and don't stack wet tools against the walls. Dip treated sheds need a coat of preserver every year, ideally in dry, mild weather. All the timber here is FSC certified, which means it comes from responsibly managed forests.
Usually not. In England a garden shed counts as permitted development if it's single storey, isn't in front of the house and the outbuildings don't cover more than half the garden. Within 2m of a boundary it must be no taller than 2.5m (Planning Portal outbuildings rules). The tallest shed here, a 7x5 reverse apex, is 2.3m, so every one can go against a fence. Listed buildings, conservation areas and National Parks have tighter limits; see the government's permitted development guidance.
Yes, if the wooden shed is pressure treated and sits on a proper base. A Forest 4Life uses thinner 7mm overlap boards than a premium shed, but it's FSC timber with a solid floor and a 25 year anti-rot guarantee, which beats many sheds costing twice as much.
The Forest 6'5 x 2'10 bike shed at around £225, then the 4Life 4ft x 3ft sheds at about £250. The cheapest full-height 6x4 is around £330.
A pressure treated shed on a dry, level base should last well beyond its 25 year anti-rot guarantee. A dip treated one lasts as long as you keep treating it.
All the full-size sheds here do: 12mm solid timber on 4Life, tongue and groove on Beckwood and OSB on the Shire Arran. The 6'5 x 2'10 bike shed has no floor.
No. Every shed has a hasp and staple or a pad bolt ready for one, so buy a padlock with the shed.
For light hobby work, a 7x5 or 8x6 with windows will do. For heavy tools and long hours, go for shiplap and think about insulation and a floor upgrade.
