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I recently bought a house that has a garden around 20ft wide.

At the end of the garden is an old shed (6ft wide x 9ft long), about a ft away from the fence. Given it only takes up half the garden width, I wanted to take this down and put a much bigger one (17ft wide x 9 ft long).

The thing is, the current shed is sitting on a concrete base, however the rest of the bit is just mud and poorly kept lawn. As I'll need to build a base there for the bigger shed, I'm not sure what to do with the current concrete base.

I was planning on putting in a base with paving slabs, as I think that it'll look nicer when the slabs stick out a little bit, but wasn't sure what to do with the existing base.

Is there anything bad about just building my paving around the base, assuming it is all level?

Incase it wasn't clear, the current base is just concrete that's been poured and flattened, not concrete slabs I can just lift up again.

Whilst none of the walls of the new shed should sit on the concrete slab, it will most definitely sit on the paving touching the concrete slab.

Where I live, it isn't prone to frosting. I do live in London so we get a fair bit of rain.

EDIT: Just measured again. There is a chance one of the walls may sit on the slab if I want to keep it the same distance away from the fence.

Kaish
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  • *" takes up half the width of where it sits*" I can not wrap my head around that. Is it like the tardis, it's bigger on the inside ? I take up twice the width of where i sit. – Alaska Man Jun 28 '20 at 18:10
  • @AlaskaMan I took that to mean that there is unused, wasted space around the shed. But I agree it could use clearer language. – Olivier Jun 28 '20 at 18:15
  • Where I live, sheds do not require a Building Permit nor do they need to abide by setback requirements, if they are under a certain size. I’d check with your local Planning Department before you increase its size. – Lee Sam Jun 28 '20 at 18:19
  • Roughly what size shed (old and new) are we talking about? Does the ground freeze where you are? When you say "building my paving around the base", can we take that to mean that the old slab would be in the center of your new shed (ie. none of the walls would rest on the old slab)? – Olivier Jun 28 '20 at 18:21
  • @Olivier that's correct. I have my shed which is around 6ft x 9ft, and built on the left hand side of my garden. There is nothing next to it. It sits on the concrete slab. And yes, none of the walls of the new shed will sit on the slab. Is it an issue if any do? New one will be around 17ft x 9ft – Kaish Jun 28 '20 at 19:08
  • @AlaskaMan sorry, my wording wasn't clear. My garden is around 20ft wide. The shed is around 6ft x 9ft. It's about a foot or so away from the fence. On the other side is the unused space that I want to build a bigger shed on – Kaish Jun 28 '20 at 19:09
  • My 8 X 12 shed has sat on pavers for 20 years and not moved ; likely more rain (50 " +) and much better chance of hurricanes and tornadoes than London. – blacksmith37 Jun 28 '20 at 19:17
  • @blacksmith37 ha, good to hear. Nice to know the paving base will be fine. Do you know if theres any issues with having this alongside the existing concrete base? – Kaish Jun 28 '20 at 19:19
  • @Kaish I was thinking it might be an issue in that your new work might settle a little while the old slab probably will not move. If the old slab is in the center, the worst I can see is an uneven floor in a few years. But I'm no shed expert of course. – Olivier Jun 28 '20 at 19:30
  • Given a very urban setting, do check carefully before proceeding - you may be subject to size limts and/or setback requirements, and they may not permit the placement you have now for a new and/or larger shed (what exists is generally allowed to exist, but new construction or renovations beyond repairing what's there generally have to meet the newer rules.) I have no idea about your specific rules, but you should find out. In some places you might be able to build 3 small sheds but not one large one. Or the large one would need prior permission from authorities that the small ones might not. – Ecnerwal Jun 29 '20 at 02:54

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