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How difficult is it to build a shed from a kit?

After all, building a shed isn't easy, and if you do it wrong, you make an already flimsy product even worse. Generally, the quickest you'll be able to build a shed kit is a day or two — at worst, building a shed kit can be a whole week of work.

glicksheds.com - Shed Kit Drawbacks | Shed Kits vs Custom Built Sheds | PA, MD, & NJ

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Shed Kit Drawbacks

Promising a brand new shed for the lowest possible price, shed kits are a popular item at any big box hardware store. On the surface, it sounds like an unbeatable deal: for just a few hours of work you can have a great shed for a fraction of the price of a custom built shed. Unfortunately, hardware store shed kits are a classic case of something that is too-good-to-be-true. At Glick Woodworks, we know storage sheds inside and out — that’s why we can’t recommend big box store shed kits. We break down some of the biggest failures of shed kits including the cheap materials, the short lifespan, and the lack of custom options. Let’s dig in.

5 Biggest Shed Kit Drawbacks

Short Lifespan — When you buy a high-quality shed from Glick Woodworks, you can expect to get 20 to 30 years from your investment. A hardware store shed will likely last between 5 and 10 years, optimistically. Difficult Installation — Meant for DIY homeowners, these shed kits claim easy installation, but it rarely works out like that. After all, building a shed isn’t easy, and if you do it wrong, you make an already flimsy product even worse. Generally, the quickest you’ll be able to build a shed kit is a day or two — at worst, building a shed kit can be a whole week of work. No Custom Choices — The main job of any shed is to store your things safely with protection from the elements. However, your shed can also look gorgeous while doing it. Matching the color and style of your shed to your house is a great way to enhance your home’s style. With Glick Woodworks, we can build practically any style and type of shed you like. With a big box store shed kit, what they have is what you’re stuck with. Big Risk of Leaks — Back to that main job of sheds, which is keeping your things safe and dry: shed kits have the unfortunate tendency to leak both around the siding and through the roof. Leaks like that can ruin your stuff and basically undermine the whole reason for buying a shed in the first place. Cheaper Material — That shed kit price is so low for a reason. Manufacturers achieve that low price by using the cheapest materials on the market. Unfortunately, it often leads to a “you get what you pay for” scenario.

Shed Kits vs Custom Built Sheds

The reason some sheds last 30 years and others only last a fraction of that time comes from the materials used. Just like with houses, quality buildings come from quality materials. To get a better idea of what we mean, let’s contrast the materials used in Glick sheds and hardware store shed kits:

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Siding

Siding is one of the main ways you can determine the quality of a shed. Since we build sheds to last, we start with durable siding — either real vinyl siding or smart panel painted siding. Trying to aim for the lowest price possible, shed kits are built using thin lumber or faux-vinyl rubber siding. Fake vinyl siding is one of the reasons that these kits are so susceptible to water-leakage. The fake vinyl expands and contracts in the sun, which leads to serious cracking. Once again coming back to shed style, at Glick Woodworks, we can even make custom colored siding to match something special for you.

Flooring

Glick Woodworks builds our shed floors out of pressure treated lumber. On the other hand, most shed kits use cheap lower-grade wood. Providing a strong floor is a way to ensure that you’ll be able to get years of reliable performance out of your shed. The cheapest shed kits don’t even come standard with flooring material. In those cases you’ll need to buy a separate shed floor.

Roofing

Another reason that inexpensive shed kits leak is the budget-price roofs. As is the case for your house, the roof plays a large part in keeping a structure waterproof. Glick Woodworks builds shed roofs using true architectural shingles, just like the ones on your house. However, most cheap shed kits use 3-tab shingles. Compared to architectural shingles, 3-tab shingles are more susceptible to leaks and are more likely to blow off in a storm.

Pad and Structure

When partnering with Glick Woodworks, the gravel pad your shed sits on is an equally important component of the sheds we build. You’ll have to spread your own gravel or concrete when you build a shed kit — no easy task.

Expert Shed Installers

With a shed kit, you get what you pay for — and that’s why we just can’t recommend them to homeowners. A Glick shed is an investment into your backyard storage — an investment that pays you back year-after-year. Not only does Glick Woodworks build top-of-the-line custom sheds, we also deliver them to your home and remove your old one if necessary. See the wide variety of styles we offer.