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Couple of gardening related questions...

GervisLooper
GervisLooper Posts: 445 Forumite
Fourth Anniversary 100 Posts Name Dropper
edited 5 January at 11:09AM in Gardening
Firstly, I want to buy a shed still, if anyone had followed me other posts in the past months.

A new requirement has arisen. As rodents are rife where I want to place it, and they have chewed through even thick plastic bottle lids, I wonder would a wooden shed still be secure from them gnawing through it?

They seem relentless and just bulldoze through whatever is in their path of what I have carelessly left out so far so I wonder if they would even also get through wood, especially as I would like to store dried food in there so maybe they might smell it and get even more motivated, although they seem to gnaw indiscriminately even when there is no food in containers.

Is it better to get a metal shed to be 'belt and braces' that they won't be able to penetrate it?

Also the paths which I have walked on regularly have become very mucky and claggy with mud, what are recommendations to cover those? I will want to cover several hundred meteres of walkways so will have to be cost effective for that scale.

I would prefer some material that would leave no trace over time when rotted. For instance no metal bits after perhaps the wood rotted away. Just thinking ahead but would not want to have to clear lots of stapes or nails suchlike or have them lost on the ground.

Gravel, while natural, seems similar in that it would hang around indefinitely. Maybe an option but I think I would prefer wood even though it rots, and just replace as and when. To get a few years out of whatever would be good.

Is mulch a good option? How long would it be expected to last if so before getting claggy again? I seem to remember from experience in the past that after a while the mulch just ends up itself muddy sooner or later or perhaps just not enough was used?
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Comments

  • KajiKita
    KajiKita Posts: 6,236 Forumite
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    Tbh, rats will even eat their way into a (lightweight) metal shed if they are big enough. With such an entrenched problem / rat family, I think I would get someone in to deal with them - preferably to shoot them, that way the bodies can be eaten by local scavengers as there will be no poison left in their bodies. Sorry to be so blunt, but you can’t do much else to dissuade them …

    With the pathways I buy m2 bags of chipped bark at this time of year to renew muddy paths. They disperse a bit but last a good year, rot down completely eventually and look quite nice as they do so. Good habitat for birds to rummage about in for insects etc. I have found this year that I got a better quality product and more volume for the same price from a timber merchant rather than a builders merchant, if you have a timber merchant near to you. 

    KK
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  • Farway
    Farway Posts: 14,166 Forumite
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    edited 5 January at 11:32AM
    First, your rats.

    They will chomp through any wood eventually.
    I think they “have” to gnaw away just to keep their teeth short, but that could be just fake news from me
    So, strong metal or concrete are the only practical options. I'd suggest if you could cut it with a knife then a rat can gnaw it, this would include thin aluminium for instance.
    Storing dried food in a shed, again you will need all metal, or glass containers

    Paths, hard to recommended, without a lot of hard work by you in prepping the ground first

    Obvious is a very thick layer of shredded wood / bark chips, which will rot away / compact over time, but can be readily topped up as required
    Perhaps try a short run of this to see how it goes before committing fully?

    Eight out of ten owners who expressed a preference said their cats preferred other peoples gardens
  • Wood chip for paths - often available cheap or free from tree surgeons if you have any local to you, and there should be a lot about at the moment with all the recent storms...
  • twopenny
    twopenny Posts: 6,826 Forumite
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    Yes, a nature reserve where I walk they use wood chip. It needs refreshing now and again depending on the weather but it's good to walk on and stays relatively dry.

    There's always the dumping ground in builders merchants where they put broken bits of paving and such for free but unless you were committed to a crazy paving path with sand and cement base that's a long job

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  • ArbitraryRandom
    ArbitraryRandom Posts: 2,718 Forumite
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    edited 5 January at 2:19PM
    Be very careful if you're thinking about a path with just planks - if it gets muddy, then the planks are going to get muddy and slimy (which is a slip hazard as bad as just the mud). 

    I know someone who had a very attractive looking path made from rounds of wood and it wasn't half treacherous after the second winter when they'd started to rot a bit. 

    Wood chips as suggested would compact but not get slippy. As long as you're happy getting more each spring. 

    Similarly if you were tempted to use bricks (which I don't think you would be) - there's special pavers that they sell which are textured, but normal brick gets slippy with algae build up and wear. 
    I'm not an early bird or a night owl; I’m some form of permanently exhausted pigeon.
  • GervisLooper
    GervisLooper Posts: 445 Forumite
    Fourth Anniversary 100 Posts Name Dropper
    KajiKita said:
    Tbh, rats will even eat their way into a (lightweight) metal shed if they are big enough. With such an entrenched problem / rat family, I think I would get someone in to deal with them - preferably to shoot them, that way the bodies can be eaten by local scavengers as there will be no poison left in their bodies. Sorry to be so blunt, but you can’t do much else to dissuade them …

    With the pathways I buy m2 bags of chipped bark at this time of year to renew muddy paths. They disperse a bit but last a good year, rot down completely eventually and look quite nice as they do so. Good habitat for birds to rummage about in for insects etc. I have found this year that I got a better quality product and more volume for the same price from a timber merchant rather than a builders merchant, if you have a timber merchant near to you. 

    KK

    Well they aren't rats I think, not all anyway. It is on a field and I have seen what look like voles, only little things, scurrying around the long grass now and then in the daylight, only the odd time since they are nocturnal of course.

    Rats chewing through metal? That is the first I have heard that. I just looked it up and it says they can chew through softer metals but not harder ones like steel.

    Also even if it was technically possible it is going to be a case, like with theft isn't it, that it just has to be enough of a deterrent that they go and find easier targets as they only have limited energy to expend.

    As a vegan slaughtering them en masse is not really going to be my first option. :) Only if my life was threatened or something. I would otherwise find humane ways to deal. Besides the ethical question I think that is a losing battle to try and decimate a whole rodent population in a field. I would prefer live and let live and just get a proper sturdy storage shelter they won't get in. I am sure the extra cost of spending more on a formidable shed will be as much or less than calling out exterminators.

    How much would it cost would you estimate to cover a path lengthwise of a couple of acres a couple of times over with the bark chips? I mean just a thin single file walkway end to end and then a few off shoots side to side to get between different sections. I wonder if the cheaper cost of wood chips might be a false economy given that you have to replenish them every year? However even if it is more expensive than something more permanent, not talking concrete or such which would require permissions but like gravel or similar natural porous but none degrading material. Decisions decisions, the wood is appealing precisely because it is biodegradeable but also a drawback cost wise and having to redo it fairly often.
  • GervisLooper
    GervisLooper Posts: 445 Forumite
    Fourth Anniversary 100 Posts Name Dropper
    Farway said:
    First, your rats.

    They will chomp through any wood eventually.
    I think they “have” to gnaw away just to keep their teeth short, but that could be just fake news from me
    So, strong metal or concrete are the only practical options. I'd suggest if you could cut it with a knife then a rat can gnaw it, this would include thin aluminium for instance.
    Storing dried food in a shed, again you will need all metal, or glass containers

    Paths, hard to recommended, without a lot of hard work by you in prepping the ground first

    Obvious is a very thick layer of shredded wood / bark chips, which will rot away / compact over time, but can be readily topped up as required
    Perhaps try a short run of this to see how it goes before committing fully?


    What make of metal sheds are considered good ones as decent quality which will withstand the gnawing as well as the other usual rigours?

    When I search for metal sheds and see the plethora of cookie cutter type shed sites which seem to be online. When I look up the makes for price points of around £500-1000 they have abysmal reviews.

    Metal sheds seem synonymous with cheap tat too from my research so far. I know some quality security focused ones exist but I am not after security, contrary to a previous post I made as now I can store valuables elsewhere, just sturdy enough for the above purposes.

    I would like as big as I can afford and practical to use as storage and a workshop.

  • GervisLooper
    GervisLooper Posts: 445 Forumite
    Fourth Anniversary 100 Posts Name Dropper
    Farway said:
    First, your rats.

    Be very careful if you're thinking about a path with just planks - if it gets muddy, then the planks are going to get muddy and slimy (which is a slip hazard as bad as just the mud). 

    I know someone who had a very attractive looking path made from rounds of wood and it wasn't half treacherous after the second winter when they'd started to rot a bit. 

    Wood chips as suggested would compact but not get slippy. As long as you're happy getting more each spring. 

    Similarly if you were tempted to use bricks (which I don't think you would be) - there's special pavers that they sell which are textured, but normal brick gets slippy with algae build up and wear. 

    They will chomp through any wood eventually.
    I think they “have” to gnaw away just to keep their teeth short, but that could be just fake news from me
    So, strong metal or concrete are the only practical options. I'd suggest if you could cut it with a knife then a rat can gnaw it, this would include thin aluminium for instance.
    Storing dried food in a shed, again you will need all metal, or glass containers

    Paths, hard to recommended, without a lot of hard work by you in prepping the ground first

    Obvious is a very thick layer of shredded wood / bark chips, which will rot away / compact over time, but can be readily topped up as required
    Perhaps try a short run of this to see how it goes before committing fully?


    Yes I was thinking that wood chips offer the same low impact benefits of planks or even round wood which I had both considered, without the slip risk. Also much easier to move about as one person with a wheelbarrow.
  • GervisLooper
    GervisLooper Posts: 445 Forumite
    Fourth Anniversary 100 Posts Name Dropper
    Wood chip for paths - often available cheap or free from tree surgeons if you have any local to you, and there should be a lot about at the moment with all the recent storms...

    Even if they give it away free transport may be an issue no? Similar to how you can get free hardcore but the problem is shifting it! As I will want to lay over a couple of acre (not fully of course, just paths over that length/breadth) would probably be impractical to put in my van, which has very little space due to being living space.
  • LessImpecunious
    LessImpecunious Posts: 510 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 500 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    Wood chip for paths - often available cheap or free from tree surgeons if you have any local to you, and there should be a lot about at the moment with all the recent storms...

    Even if they give it away free transport may be an issue no? Similar to how you can get free hardcore but the problem is shifting it! As I will want to lay over a couple of acre (not fully of course, just paths over that length/breadth) would probably be impractical to put in my van, which has very little space due to being living space.

    Tree surgeons will have to dispose of their wood chip somewhere, and if your field is somewhere they will pass or can easily get to at the end of the day or after a job, and you're willing to "dispose of it" for them, or even pay a little for a tipper load full, that might be an advantage for them...
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