How to build a brick base for garden shed?

Samc1234

Hi,

I am looking at building a garden shed but having a brick base like the one pictured below.

my main concern is going so high (around 8-10 bricks) without supporting the bricks in anyway. I would use wood to finish the remaining structure.

would I lay bricks in the picture below or would I single layer be suffice? 

In addition, if I was going to use wood to build the remaining structure how would the wood be stuck onto the brick?

And I was also wondering how thick should my concrete slab be? 

MitchellMc

Hi @Samc1234,

Generally, when you build brick walls off a concrete slab, they need to be constructed properly as a double-skin wall (two layers of bricks bonded together) or reinforced, because a single-skin wall that’s 8–10 bricks high will be quite unstable and prone to movement. For projects like this, many people find that Besser blocks (concrete blocks) are a stronger and more practical option than bricks, as they can go higher, be reinforced with steel and core-filled with concrete if needed.

If you did go with brick walls, you’d typically build them up on the slab and then span timber bearers and joists across the top to carry your flooring. From there, something like compressed fibre cement sheet (for example, Fibre Cement 2700 x 600 x 19mm Durafloor) could be laid as a solid base to sit the shed on.

As for fixing timber to brickwork, that’s usually done with masonry anchors or dynabolts into the brick, or with a timber plate bolted down first and the rest of the frame built up from there.

For the slab itself, if it’s supporting both the brickwork and shed, you’d normally be looking at a thickness of at least 100mm with some reinforcement mesh inside. If you go higher with masonry, then 125mm+ would be more robust.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell