Repairing and Tidying the Potting Shed

As we’re into February, I’ll be sowing some seeds in the potting shed. But, before I can start, I need to get the mess in there tidied up a bit. I’ve also got a bit of water coming in, so looking at sorting that before it gets too bad.

Repairing the Shed

Water stained wood sides and benching in the shed

My potting shed is going to be eleven years old, this month. It doesn’t seem that long since I was excitedly watching the guys from Swallow building it. See my post from 2015 on the potting shed’s arrival.

This winter it’s developed a leak. I think that water is penetrating the side wall, which is pretty exposed, to the side of the window. It’s pooled on the benching I added, and that’s started delaminating the plywood there. Initially, I’ve fixed an exterior door drip bar to the side of the drip bar above the opening side window. Hopefully that will help with rain dripping down the wall.

The shed has been treated with Cuprinol a number of times. It’s not strictly necessary with the wood used for the shed as it is made of Thermowood (See Materials). Treating does extend its life and helps with colour bleaching though, mitigating the greying. My plan now is to treat with Cuprinol Shed and Fence Protector again and follow up with a water-repellent decking oil. Before I go ahead, I’ll ring Swallow and check that’s a good idea.

Tidying Up the Shed

Before I can get into action, I need to clear the decks.

After the greenhouse was hit in the storm, I cleared all the planters and bits out. The larger items, like the Quadgrow planters, went into the big shed and the shrapnel into the potting shed. It’s not too in too bad a mess, but it needs sorting out before the main sowings and so forth start.

Happily I can tidy up in there despite the rain. It’s rather nice with the radio going and the fan heater taking the chill off.