The most important part of any project is the planning and preparation stage. This is doubly true for storage building placement. The placement of your building will effect many different elements of your property. Getting the right location for your storage building is very important. When trying to determine the best location for a building in your lawn and landscape consider these ideas:
Laws and regulations
Check local laws and regulations and be certain that you are not violating any ordinances in your city or neighborhood. Depending on where you live, there may be state, county, city, and home owner association rules. These are usually only minor problems, but they should be dealt with at the earliest stages of the process.
Lawn care
Consider how you mow. If you want to mow between your new building and it’s nearest obstacles, like fences, trees, landscape beds, and other things that might exist on your lawn, you need to sure to leave enough space to get the mower between them. Having a patch of ground that is just a little too narrow to mow can be a little frustrating. Leave plenty of space for safe mowing without having to risk bumping the building or adjacent plants or structures.
Landscape issues
Make sure you have room to work and use any equipment that you may need to move between the building and your landscape elements.
Shade and light
A fairly large object in your lawn will produce shade in some areas where it did not exist before. If you have heat loving, sun loving plants near your planned location, being sure that there will be enough sunlight to allow them to thrive will be an important consideration. There is also a good chance that the storage building siding will produce a good bit of reflective heat on one side. Shade loving plants, and tender plants adjacent to the building could suffer from this. Give due consideration to these elements before deciding on placement.
Irrigation needs
Your storage building will have an effect on your irrigation. If the building is placed between irrigation heads, part of your lawn and landscape may not get the water they need. In such cases, it may be necessary to move and adjust some irrigation heads to compensate for the addition. Make sure your building is not placed on top of any heads.
Solving shed placement problems before placement
If you are having trouble conceptualizing the storage building and it’s final position, there is a simple way to help you visualize the effects of final placement, and make adjustments before the building is placed. Simply determine the buildings floor dimensions, add an extra foot or so to each side to make up for eave overhang, and start measuring on the ground in the place where you want to place the building. You can use wire flags from a hardware store, or even flour from the grocery store to mark corners and outline the building. After this, you can check the irrigation to see what might need to be moved or adjusted. You will also be able to determine whether the building will block a favorite view, block sunlight to important plants, or bake other elements of your landscape. This will give you the chance to discover potential problems and make placement adjustments without having to move an actual building.
Note: Please check with your local authorities for Storage Building Regulations before purchasing a building.
