Lots of questions on building a 'wee' lean to

Hi elrosco,

Slabs will make a fine base for your wee lean-to if that's what you have to hand, but remember you need to provide some drainage - perhaps in the form of a bit of gravel or sand between the slabs - or your wood will/may be sitting in water.

Sorry no pics as it has now been dismantled, but we built one a couple of seasons ago, using 2 x 2 tanalised timber which was about 4 x 2 x 6 feet and it sat in the gravel on our pathway. It was a simple box frame construction with a pitched roof added then clad. It was bolted to the wall and had double doors for easy access.

The reason we used heavier wood than you propose is that we are near the coast (also in Scotland ) and it gets a wee bit windy at times. The 2 x 2 tanalised wood is available from builders merchants for about £5.00 for a 4.8 metre length.

Thank you Mark and Argyllie for your help

The project has evoled slightly and I now have the bottom parts of some good fence posts (with the 'pointy bit') that are well treated so I think I'll put these in to just above ground level and anchor the lean to to them, the back of the lean-to will be against a six foot fence so I'll also attach it to the fence posts of that.

I am still trying to get my head around how I will use the lean-to apart from using it like a differrent style of greenhouse.

It is going onto an area of soil which I have treated with very well rotted manure (then changed my mind to put a lean to on it) - so could I simply plant directly into the soil within the lean-to instead of covering the area with slabs?