24 cheap sheds from trusted UK retailers
Double door sheds give you a wide opening, so a lawnmower, a wheelbarrow or a stack of garden chairs go in and out without a fight. Most here are wooden garden sheds from Forest Garden in three roof styles, plus a shiplap Shire Arran and two slim cycle stores, all sold by Shedstore. They suit anyone who's tired of tipping the mower on its side to squeeze it through a narrow door. Want to compare roof shapes first? Have a look at our apex sheds or the lower pent sheds.
A double door shed has two doors hung side by side that open out from the middle, so you get almost twice the opening of a standard single door. You'll also see them sold as two door sheds or double entry sheds. Inside, it's the same garden storage you know, with a timber floor, a felted roof and room for shelving.
The difference shows the moment you wheel something bulky in. On the Forest Garden sheds we list, a single door opens to about 590mm. The double doors open to 1,090mm. That extra half a metre is what lets a rotary mower, a wheelbarrow or a bike with wide handlebars roll straight in.
Access is the big one. Bulky garden kit goes in head first, you can see everything at a glance and nothing gets scraped on the door frame. If the shed doubles as a small garden workshop, you can open both doors on a sunny day and work with plenty of light and air.
They're handy for winter garden storage too. Folding garden furniture, a parasol base and the barbecue can all go in on their side rather than being wrestled in at an angle. And with a wide opening, it's much easier to keep your storage organised at the back, because you're not climbing over the mower to reach a spade.
The only trade-off is wall storage space. Two doors take up more of the front panel, so there's less room for hooks by the entrance. On a small shed that rarely matters, as most people shelve the side and back walls anyway.
A shed with one door is fine for hand tools, a strimmer and a few bags of compost. Pick double doors if you'll store anything with wheels or anything wider than your shoulders. As a rough guide, measure your mower at its widest point (usually the handle or the grass box) and add a few centimetres either side for your hands.
Height counts as well. The Forest double doors are about 1,640mm tall, so taller people will dip their head going in, as they would with most sheds this size.
Here's how each range compares on size, cladding and door opening, taken from Shedstore's own specs. Prices change daily, so treat the bands as a guide.
| Range | Roof | Walls | Sizes | Door opening | Floor | Guarantee | Price band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forest Garden 4Life | Apex, reverse apex or single slope | 7mm lapped boards, pressure treated | 6x4, 7x5, 8x6, 7x7 | 1,090mm x 1,640mm | 12mm solid timber | 25 years anti-rot | about £350 to £505 |
| Forest Beckwood | Apex or single slope | 12mm shiplap tongue and groove, pressure treated | 6x4 | 1,090mm x 1,645mm | 12mm tongue and groove | 25 years anti-rot | about £465 to £495 |
| Shire Arran | Apex | 12mm shiplap tongue and groove | 6x6 | 1,360mm x 1,595mm | 11mm OSB | 1 year, plus 10 years anti-rot | about £450 |
| Forest 6x3 mower store | Apex | 7mm rough sawn boards | 6x3 | 760mm x 1,252mm | 8mm OSB | 15 years anti-rot | about £270 |
| Forest cycle store | Single slope | 7mm boards, pressure treated | 6ft 5in x 2ft 10in | 760mm x 1,252mm | No floor | 15 years anti-rot | about £225 |
An apex roof rises to a ridge in the middle, so you get the most headroom right where you stand. The 4Life 8x6 apex reaches 2,246mm at the ridge with the doors on the short gable end. It's the classic garden look. Choose it if you want to hang tools from the rafters.
A reverse apex roof turns the ridge the other way, so the doors sit on the long side. That's useful when the shed backs onto a fence, because you open onto the full length of the inside rather than peering down a tunnel. Forest makes this style in 7x5, 8x6 and a squarer 7x7, all with wide access along the front.
A single slope roof sits lower, so it tucks under a window or against a wall. The 4Life and Beckwood models stand about 2,020mm at the front, where the doors are, falling to around 1,885mm at the back. You'll find more lean-to storage designs among our pent sheds.
Most of the wooden sheds here use 7mm overlap cladding from the Forest 4Life range. The boards lap over each other like roof tiles, which keeps the price down. Pressure treatment then forces preservative deep into the timber. Forest says the wood is FSC certified and never needs re-treating, which is why it carries a 25 year anti-rot guarantee. You can read how the range is made on Forest Garden's 4Life page.
Shiplap cladding is the step up. On the Beckwood and Shire Arran, the 12mm boards lock together edge to edge, so the walls are thicker and stiffer. The joints shed rain better too. If the shed will hold power tools or a ride-on mower for years, it's worth the extra. Our shiplap sheds collect every one together.
Plenty of the double door sheds here are windowless, so nobody walking past can see the bikes or the mower inside. That's a simple win for security. Rather have daylight to work by? The windowed 4Life models use shatterproof PET glazing and the Beckwood uses acrylic. Both are safer than glass if a ball comes over the garden fence.
Two doors can feel like a weak spot, but the Forest designs use double-Z bracing to stop the doors dropping or warping and hidden hinges that can't be unscrewed from outside. The 4Life sheds close with a hasp and staple, the Beckwood with a pad bolt. Some 4Life listings include a Yale padlock as a promotion, so check the product page. For anything valuable, add a good padlock and follow the Secured by Design garden security advice, such as fitting a shed alarm and marking your bikes.
Shed sizes are nominal, so measure your space against the base size and leave room for the roof overhang. A wide door also needs clear space in front so both sides can swing fully open. A 4Life 8x6 measures 1,826mm x 2,360mm at the base and nearly 2m x 2.42m over the roof.
Need something bigger for a workshop? Our cheap large sheds go up from 10x8.
If all you need is somewhere for bikes, a full walk-in shed can be more than you need. Forest makes two slim wooden stores for this. Both have double doors 760mm wide and about 1,252mm tall, so you lift things in rather than walk in.
They stand well under 1.6m, which keeps them below most garden fence lines. The 6ft 5in model comes without a floor on purpose, so water drips off a wet frame straight onto the base. Both carry a 15 year guarantee against rot.
Every double door shed here needs a firm, level base. Most come with pressure treated bearers underneath, but none can go straight onto grass, which moves and holds damp. A concrete slab or paving is ideal, or you can add a wooden or plastic base kit at checkout. Our cheap wooden sheds guide has more on bases for a wooden garden building.
Delivery depends on the model. Some 4Life sheds offer next working day delivery and others let you pick a delivery day at checkout. A few listings include Forest's white glove delivery, with installation within two or three weeks. If you've booked installation, the base has to be ready first or the fitters won't build.
Most garden storage buildings don't need planning permission. Outbuildings usually count as permitted development if they're under 2.5m tall within 2m of a boundary, don't sit in front of the house and don't cover more than half the garden. Every shed here is under that height (the tallest ridge is about 2.3m), but listed buildings and some areas have extra rules. Check the Planning Portal's outbuildings guide before you build.
Most of the Forest models here give you a 1,090mm gap, nearly double a standard door. The Shire Arran is wider again at 1,360mm, while the slim stores give 760mm.
A typical push lawnmower fits easily through a 1,090mm opening. Ride-on mowers are a different story, so check the deck width against the Shire Arran's 1,360mm or look at a bigger workshop.
Several Forest 4Life listings include a Yale combination lock. The Beckwood, Shire Arran and the two slim stores don't, so budget for a good padlock with those.
Most metal sheds have sliding double doors as standard. Browse our metal sheds or our cheap plastic sheds if you'd rather never treat timber.
It depends on where it goes. Doors on the long side suit a shed against a fence, while a standard apex puts them on the gable end with the headroom right above you.
