Making a gravel shed base flat and level
Posted: Tue Mar 30, 2021 12:37 pm
Hi – I’m very much a DIY novice but when our old shed collapsed I decided that we would lay a new base ready for the replacement to be delivered and installed. Shed base size is 3m x 3M and access to the garden is very tricky – shifting 2 tonnes of crush and run 30 yards via rubble bags down a flight of stone steps was no fun at the weekend !
Our patio flags already had the hole for the shed base so I hired a whacker and compressed the soil, added a lining then added crush & run and used a whacker to get a solid 4 inch base that is pretty level. We have bought the connecting plastic shed stand squares that click together which (when filled with pea grit) hopefully provide a very solid base for the shed.
Our problem is that, despite our best efforts, the crush & run base isn’t entirely flat – in a few areas there are modest dips of perhaps ½ inch across a 3 ft area. The whacker has now been returned and we can tamp down the rises manually but we were wondering how best to fill the dips so that the stand squares sit flush to the base itself.
I was thinking of getting a few bags of sharp sand, screeding this over the dips and tamping down. On top of this goes a landscaping fabric onto which goes the stand squares so once the sheet and squares are on top, it should form a solid flat base for the shed. Will this work ?
If not, my other ideas include adding some cement to the sand to make a dry mix of mortar for screeding ?
I wonder if anyone has any thoughts on the best way we can sort this out – we’d much prefer a fix to to resurfacing the whole base - adding a sand bed for the entire surface of the base is daunting due to the effort and difficulty of getting the materials on site.
Many thanks
Our patio flags already had the hole for the shed base so I hired a whacker and compressed the soil, added a lining then added crush & run and used a whacker to get a solid 4 inch base that is pretty level. We have bought the connecting plastic shed stand squares that click together which (when filled with pea grit) hopefully provide a very solid base for the shed.
Our problem is that, despite our best efforts, the crush & run base isn’t entirely flat – in a few areas there are modest dips of perhaps ½ inch across a 3 ft area. The whacker has now been returned and we can tamp down the rises manually but we were wondering how best to fill the dips so that the stand squares sit flush to the base itself.
I was thinking of getting a few bags of sharp sand, screeding this over the dips and tamping down. On top of this goes a landscaping fabric onto which goes the stand squares so once the sheet and squares are on top, it should form a solid flat base for the shed. Will this work ?
If not, my other ideas include adding some cement to the sand to make a dry mix of mortar for screeding ?
I wonder if anyone has any thoughts on the best way we can sort this out – we’d much prefer a fix to to resurfacing the whole base - adding a sand bed for the entire surface of the base is daunting due to the effort and difficulty of getting the materials on site.
Many thanks