More Screws Than One Man can Handle
Written: Feb 11 '06 (Updated Jan 12 '08)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Quick fix for storing items in a pinch.
Cons: Cheapy material, and a pain to put up.
The Bottom Line: In a quick pinch this product is ok, but not for long term.
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| LILvoyce's Full Review: Arrow Lexington Shed |
We had moved out of our home and into a smaller fixer upper brick home. We made the sacrifice of moving into a smaller home, because we got this place at a great deal and want to eventually sell it and make a profit. In the mean time, his Mom passes away, my Grandmother passes away, and we end up taking in his elderly Grandmother. We ended up with our own belongings and three other households worth of furniture, by means of inheritance. We could have opened a small furniture store with the amount of stuff we had.
There were things that each of us refused to part with, but did not have any room in the house to store. Nanna was talking about renting a storage shed to place her belongings in, in case she had ever decided to move out. She has a ton of antiques, and it would have broken her heart to part with them. I had no room for some of my Grandmother's things, and he wanted to keep a few memories from his mother.
I am so glad we decided not to rent a storage unit. The unit we were going to rent ended up flooding! Thats what happens when you live in Florida. You can't really predict when and what will flood. The storage unit would have cost us about $100 a month. We figured we could just purchase a cheap shed for that price, and end up saving in the long run. We knew we wanted a large shed eventually when we finally finished our remodeling, so he did not want to spend a huge chunk on a small shed. The Arrow Lexington Shed purchased at Lowe's fit the budget, and we were able to put it up in a pinch. We liked the fact that we could have our belongings near us rather than in storage.
Purchasing
At the time of purchase, I was so shocked to see that the hubby was able to fit the entire shed kit, and flooring materials in his small pick-up truck. We saved money by moving it ourselves. The Lexington comes in two sizes: 10 ft x 8 ft or 10 ft x 14 ft.
Construction
I personally did not help in the construction of this shed. My hubby was the one who put all of the hard work into this project, along with a bit of help from my daughter. I sat and watched him put up this shed during a huge part of it. He worked on it over the course of a few weekends. He is a busy person and works midnights, so overall this project was not to bad for someone who has time to put it together. He really did not need much outside help from my daughter. It just made things go by a bit faster if she would hold up a few pieces of the metal on the roof while he screwed them together. The pieces were not heavy, and she was bored more than anything else.
The Arrow Lexington Shed comes with all of the material needed for the construction of the shed, however, does not come with the base (flooring). You have the option of building your own base, or purchasing a kit that was designed for this shed. Don't assume that the price of the shed is all that you will incur. There is the flooring that must be included, as well as the anchors that hold the shed down to the flooring which is a necessity. It is cheaper to install your own base if you know what your doing. This type of shed is made out of what appears to me to be aluminum, (I am not sure,) and contains MANY sheets of enamal coated metal in this kit.
Anchoring
You can't cut corners and skip the anchoring. There is an anchoring kit you can purchase through the place you buy your shed, or there is a order form enclosed in the box of the shed where you can purchase it direct from the company. The directions warn about this, and we did not take it to seriously because we did not feel it was very windy, and thought we would have a bit of time to make that purchase. It wasn't until the third weekend my hub went out and noticed that the shed had moved about 2 foot off its base. We were lucky it was not that windy or we would have had a hard time. Luckily he was able to slide it back.
Screws, Screws, and more Screws!!
I had no idea that these types of sheds would involve so many screws. Our package came with several more screws than what was needed. The screws are easy to drop and lose. Make sure when you are putting this shed together it is not on a windy day, and there are no distractions from children or pets like we had. Not only are there screws to worry about losing, but the thin metal parts from this shed are very sharp. The metal was so thin, that it would be easy for a small child to step on them and really put a dent into them as well. Some of the metal pieces are small, and are able to bend easy. Use care when handling.
The kit itself seems a bit overwhelming, but I will tell you that it is A LOT easier to put up than the wooden type of shed kits we have worked with! After placing this shed up, you do not need to paint it, as the metal comes already finished in white and a brown color. We did notice that we had to do a lot of caulking, especially since we noticed small holes purposely put there, where there was no reason for them to be. If you don't caulk than you will experience leaking. A small ladder, and a few tools was needed to put this entire shed up. We built our own base, so we needed a saw. The base took no time at all to put up. Once the base was formed, the shed seemed to go up pretty easy. The only thing that was the most time consuming was screwing in what seemed like thousands of screws. There was nothing heavy or back breaking about this project.
Location
Before deciding to purchase this shed, be sure you have a place in mind, know where you will put it first. With the way the metal is, I would highly suggest placing this shed where there are no trees, and away from areas where children play and could dent up this shed quite easily.
The Finished Product
The shed looks decent, but nothing really special. Its sort of a plain Jane. Even after the shed was finished we noticed that the metal siding would need special attention. We warned the children not to bump into, or play with there balls and other toys near this shed. It is to easy to dent.
We noticed in our packet and order form that we had the option of purchasing a kit just for shelving. By the looks of the picture it did not appear to have any backing on theses shelves. Maybe I am wrong, but from the picture it did not look that way. We decided to place a few shelves in the shed, and we did put backings on them. I did not want to risk any of our items falling or leaning on the inside walls of the shed. This shed is not a miracle cure, but rather a quick fix for someone in a pinch. It basically keeps your items dry and in storage, nothing more.
Doors
The doors on this shed are very flimsy. I was worried about them bending, and I assume if they do, they will have a hard time following the track that is meant for them to slide open and shut. So we agreed not to placed items to close to the doors just in case they were to fall over and dent the door.
Our Lexington model is a bit different looking than the one displayed in the photo. The only difference is that the doors are plain white and do not have the stripes going around them.
Overall
I would recommend this product only if you understand that going into this, this is just a quick fix. Its not as sturdy, and reliable as a real shed. This shed is not meant to last for years and years. If you don't mind that fact, than you can appreciate only having to pay a fraction of the cost of a real shed. If you are paying storage, than this type of shed would really be worth your purchasing it. It will pay for itself within a matter of months.
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Recommended:
Yes
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LILvoyce
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Member: Barbara
Location: FLORIDA
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Its time to find the Healthy Me...... This is my year to do that:-D
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