Sheds are a great storage or work area to have close to your house. Sometimes, however, you may not have the space that you need for your shed in the garden. There are many places you could locate the shed, but you also want to utilize as much space as possible and leave some garden space for the rest of the family too. You may have some space on a piece of asphalt in your driveway that no one uses. So, can you place your shed on asphalt?
You can place a shed on asphalt; however, it is not recommended for your shed’s permanent placement. If your shed is placed on asphalt for too long, this can damage the asphalt, amongst other potential issues. You will also need to get specialized equipment for the process, like asphalt anchors.
You need to know about multiple things before you decide where the best place is for you to place your shed. Can you place a shed on asphalt safely? Are there particular reasons why you should not place your shed on asphalt? Let us go through the safety and the concerns of placing your shed on asphalt.
Can You Put A Shed On Asphalt?
You most certainly are able to locate a shed on your asphalt. However, this will be a tricky process and will require a lot of preplanning to get it right. Placing a shed on asphalt requires a few specialized tools, and you do need to take multiple things into consideration before tackling this project.
You should, however, only have the shed on the asphalt for a short period of time. It should not be a permeant structure on the asphalt as this could lead to issues later on. If you need a place to keep your shed while you organize a more permeant placement and you only have a place on asphalt, then you can place your shed there while you organize the space.
Most people recommend not placing a shed on asphalt because of how challenging it can be, and even some professionals will not take on the task. But if you are up for a good challenge and you have the time and patience while you organize a permeant placement for your shed, then this just might be a good solution for you.
Is Asphalt Good For A Shed Foundation?
Asphalt itself is not a good foundation for a shed as asphalt is not as strong as you think. Although asphalt feels sturdy and as structurally sound as concrete, asphalt is quite soft and can break easily.
Asphalt can move and start to melt in hot weather conditions.
This can cause several problems if it is the foundation for your shed. If this happens, your shed will move and become unstable; this will affect the water drainage and could lead to wood rot. This will also cause the shed to be unsafe for anyone to enter or work inside it.
You should not place a shed directly on asphalt. If you need to place it on asphalt, you should build a base from other materials first.
How To Put A Shed On Asphalt Safely
If placing a shed on asphalt is your only option, and you are willing to take up the challenge, then there is a way that you can ensure your shed will hold up on the asphalt for the time being.
If your shed has a floor built-in, you should still build a base stand on top of the asphalt for your shed to sit on. This will increase your shed’s durability on the asphalt. You can create this base out of concrete blocks, treated wood, or cement patio stones.
If your shed doesn’t have a floor built-in, you will need to build a base for it on the asphalt, including a floor piece. You can use the same materials mentions above for this base. This is because you do not want your shed to touch the asphalt, as this could cause the wood to rot as there is no drainage for water.
You should also ensure that the base is tilted very slightly to help with water drainage during rainy weather.
Along with building the base for your shed, you need to insulate this base properly; otherwise, the shed will become blistering hot inside.
Next, you will need to anchor your shed in place. Concrete anchors will not work on asphalt as they expand in the anchor’s hole and rely on the pressure that is against the walls of the holes in the concrete around them to create friction. This friction is what holds them in place.
Asphalt does not do this, in fact, the pressure of these anchors will cause the asphalt to flow, and this will cause the anchors to lose their grip. This will take a short period of time, a few days to a few hours before the anchors are no longer in place.
As a consequence, you will need to buy special asphalt anchors. These anchors are installed flush with the asphalt. This asphalt anchor has an internal thread that holds the bolt that attaches the shed to the anchor.
To use this anchor to secure your shed to the asphalt, you will need to drill an oversized hole into the asphalt. Then the hole needs to be filled with a fast-curing grout. Once that is done then you can place the asphalt anchor into the hole until it is level with the surface of the asphalt.
The grout will bond with the asphalt around the anchor and the anchor itself, creating a stronger bond between them both. This process will lessen the stress that is placed on the asphalt, which will allow the asphalt to last for a longer period of time without loosening from this stress.
Why Not To Put A Shed On Asphalt
There are several reasons why this practice of placing a shed directly onto asphalt is not highly recommended by professionals, especially for long-term storage. Let us go through a few of these reasons so you can make an informed decision about where to place your shed.
Placing a shed on asphalt is a difficult process, and you will need to purchase specialized equipment, like asphalt anchors and insulation, to be able to place the shed on the asphalt successfully. It will take you much longer to build a proper, stable base for your shed on the asphalt and secure your shed to the asphalt properly.
The shed may also damage the asphalt. As we mentioned earlier, asphalt will move and flow under stress, and placing a heavy shed onto the asphalt for a long period of time could cause the shed to sink into the asphalt. This will cause permanent lines to form in the asphalt where the shed was placed.
The only way to fix these marks properly is to dig up the asphalt can completely replace it.
Asphalt also retains a lot of heat, especially if you reside in an area that has high temperatures. The heat will then radiate up and into the shed.
If you place your shed on asphalt, heat could be a huge problem for these two reasons. If you use your shed regularly, your shed will be extremely hot, and you could suffer from heatstroke quite quickly if you spend an extended period of time inside it.
The second reason is that if the temperatures in your area get high enough and your shed is not properly treated, it could become a fire hazard. Because asphalt retains heat really well, the heat can radiate up into the wood and start heating the unthreaded wood to dangerous temperatures.
It is quite difficult to get proper water drainage for your shed on asphalt. The only way you will really be able to do this is to slightly tilt the base of your shed, which can be tricky because you do not want to tilt it too much, so you can feel it when you are in the shed. This can be disorientating.
If you need to move your shed because you realize that the place where it is does not suit your needs, moving your shed might be easier than you think.
Conclusion
You can place your shed on asphalt if you really need to for a short amount of time. However, this is not highly recommended for a permanent setup as it can cause more trouble than it is worth.
There are several ways you can potentially minimize the amount of damage that may be caused through various means. These fixes will only help for a short period of time. The best place to put your shed for permanent placement is on a grassy area, this will cause little to no problems, and you will not need to buy special equipment to get it done.
If you place your shed on the grass, you will be able to get more help from professionals in your area to do the setup of your shed.
References
http://www.all-concrete-cement.com/asphalt-foundation-for-sheds.html