sub-base for plastic shed - sharp sand only or cement?

[_p_]

Hi All,
I bought a plastic 6x6 Keter shed that I intend placing in a corner of my lawn; for the base I bought a plastic grid from Pro-Base because it seemed the easier option for a non-experienced diy-er like myself.
The instructions of the plastic base say to lay a layer of sharp sand to level the ground, cover with a membrane then lay the grid on top. Shed will go over the grid.

I already dug the top layer of soil from the lawn, but now I am doubting if sand alone won't wash away over time if I follow the instructions from the base. Am I worrying without reason or should I buy and mix in some cement with the sand before layering it?

thanks in advance for any advice, this is my very first time doing anything like this, so any information will be super helpful!

 

[Mr diy a lot.]

maybe swap the sand for hardcore and then put a thin layer of sand on top of that. The hardcore is more stable than sand as the mixed sizes of sharp stones and sand kind of grips everything together.

It’s only a little plastic shed. The base will still outlast the shed!. But the better the prep done on the base the longer mr shed will likely last. If you want to really do it proper you could shutter a 6 x 6 area and lay a poured concrete pad but might be overkill.

 

[Mottie]

I'd secure it down and perhaps strengthen it where you can. This has how my allotment neighbours plastic shed has ended up, twice, this year in strong winds!

 

[_p_]

thank you for the info! I'm super grateful. I hope that I have not dug up too much tbh, the base is not sitting at the same height as the surrounding turf on all sides; this is how it looks from a few angles, again I may be worrying without reason of it getting flooded, when in fact around it is ground that would hopefully drain the water away...what are your thoughts?

 

[Mr diy a lot.]

looks great - crack on with that - will be a triumph. well done.

 

[_p_]

Thank you for your encouragement! I was worried you'd tell me that I had it too low in with respect to the rest of the surrounding ground, and had to take it out and refill the hole! shed should arrive in the next 1-2 weeks now, so plenty of time to put the pea gravel in and see how the base behaves in the rain. fingers crossed

 

[Mr diy a lot.]

you have done the hard work - if it ends up flooding this winter it will be easy enough to jack it up on some blocks - no big deal.

 

[Agile]

There I was thinking how much junk I could get into a shed 6m square!

But from the pictures it looks only 6 feet square!

I was working for BBC Engineering in 1982 when the UK became metricated and we were well criticised if anyone accidentally used an outdated unit.

Well before I was impressed at an Irish gardener measuring in mm for some concrete steps he was fitting for a neighbour.