What to do with side shed?

svens

Previous owners built this enormous side shed (must be about 5m long) in the alleyway, and now I need wall access to sort out pointing/spalling bricks. There is also damp/algae growing between the sides of the sheds and the walls (both mine and the neighbors side).

What would you do? I'm tempted to just demo the whole thing and open the alley up. Of course, then I lose a shed - but I really don't need that much shed space. There is a small closet at the rear I can use temporarily, and can look at maybe building a smaller shed somewhere else.

ButterCheese

I would take it down but that's just me.  Is it blocking access to your rear garden, or the neighbours?  What does it say in the deeds with regard to access through the alleyway?  Could be that it's not allowed there, but I would take it out anyway.  it looks to be on a wodden base with concrete underneath, I wouldn't have thought there's more than a few years left in it until it starts to rot from the bottom up.

Have you any room in your garden for a shed?  If it's not essential to you and/or full of stuff then I'd take it out

teaselMay

I'd take it out, I love a shed me but that's starting to rot and won't be doing either wall any good. Isn't the alley for access? Suspect you and neighbour will benefit from it being gone

svens

It's a through shed with doors at both end - no access for my neighbor as it goes into my garden. I suspect they'd love to see it go though given the guttering drops all the water right next to their wall!

Not much room in the garden for another shed right now, but that's in the plans to sort...

Section62

svens said:

....
What would you do? I'm tempted to just demo the whole thing and open the alley up. Of course, then I lose a shed - but I really don't need that much shed space. There is a small closet at the rear I can use temporarily, and can look at maybe building a smaller shed somewhere else.

Do you live in an area where security of the back garden is an issue?  The shed effectively blocking the alley might be acting as a reasonable security feature - although someone could climb on top of the roof and walk over it, that is more risky than jumping over (say) a wooden gate.

Any idea what is under it?  Getting rid of the shed might leave you with broken concrete slabs or something, so budget for possibly having to do some repair/replacement of the path.

The shed looks in decent condition - I don't see enough rot to be an issue - so if you want a smaller shed and your DIY skills are up to it then it would be feasible to reuse most of what you've got already to rebuild it as a shed of your preferred (smaller) size.  Reuse would be a lot cheaper than buying a decent new shed, plus you'd save on the cost/hassle of disposing of the old one.

teaselMay

That's a very good point. Until a few weeks ago I had my landlord's old shed that he'd brought me in pieces over a decade ago. With the rotten top and bottom taken off it did a great job for the cost of a roll of felt for about 12 years. I've just used a bit of it to make half fence panels before the rest went to the tip.