If you are in the market for a vinyl or resin type storage building, this is certainly one worth looking at. There are not a lot of reviews posted on this shed at the present, so take your time and do your homework before choosing any of them. I would advise a visit to your local Lowes or Home Depot to look at vinyl buildings first handed. Regarding building the shed, I built my Suncast 10' x 12' on a 3/4" exterior grade, treated plywood platform and 2" x 6" lumber as opposed to a concrete slab. I used "Dek Blocks" to support the platform, which really made the job easy to level and very strong. I used 27 blocks in total or 3 Dek-Blocks per 10' joist. Making sure the platform is square and dead level is key to building this shed. If you do a good job on the base, the assembly of the shed is really quite simple and even rewarding when completed. Most of the shed snaps together which I found unusual. That concerned me with regards to durability but I have certainly overcome that comfort level. The parts are indeed well built, extremely precise and although some of the parts seem to be quite flimsy out of the box "mainly the walls", once the assembly is completed and all tied together, the shed is really quite sturdy. I followed my own intuition regarding the building of the platform as I found Suncast's instructions quite poor in that area. Common sense will help you through that. Personally, I like the Royal Winchester storage building a tad more as the side walls and roof panels are built using 2" thick material honeycomb resin panels. This building is very solid! The Winchester shed which measures 8' x 10' is sold at your local Lowes. I did not choose this shed as the extension kit to make it 10' x 12' was way too expensive. I hope you find this review helpful. Scott
If you don't want to read my complaint in full please understand who you will be dealing with before you buy a Suncast product. Their products have no warranty. If something fails because the part was defective they won't replace it. Remember -THERE IS NO WARRANTY AND THEY WILL NOT STAND BY THIER PRODUCT. I purchased a Suncast 10' x 12.5' shed (model A01B37C03)six months ago. Myself and a friend built a very sturdy floor (2" x 6" joists covered with 3/4" plywood)at some considerable expense. The assembly instructions were straight forward and we completed the shed in one day. The roof of the shed is supported by 3 metal ridge beams (I understand they are using 5 beams on the latest model). The beams sit in "pockets" in the header panels. The pockets are vinyl as is the rest of the material. I was initially impressed with the materials but now for the rest of the story. I opened the shed door this week to find water on the floor. Further examination found that one of the header beams had collapsed the vinyl pocket and buckled the roof causing the skylights that form the ridge to shatter. The roof was open to the elements. There was no severe storm and nothing was ever placed on the roof. I contacted Suncast to request replacement of the failed header panel and the skylights. They informed me that the shed comes with a "out of the box" warranty. Once erected,Suncast will warranty nothing. THERE IS NO WARRANTY. They will not stand by their product. Clearly they recognized that the design was faulty because they now use 5 beams instead of 3 to support the roof. Don't buy a Suncast shed.
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This May 2009 review is for the Suncast Model A01B37C03 10' x 12 1/2' Storage Building -purchased from Amazon. Also see the pictures that I have uploaded.
The most important thing for prospective purchasers to note is that Suncast has substantially improved this shed since it was first released in 2007. While the original shed had only three ridge beams to support the roof, the new Model A01B37C03 sheds now include 5 beams, PLUS an additional header support tube for the rear header. Suncast claims that the roof can now support 15 pounds per square foot, i.e. pretty heavy snowfall. This improvement is significant, and makes a product that was already very good exceptional.
It took only 11 days from the time I ordered from Amazon until the product was delivered to me in the Washington DC metropolitan area. The product is drop-shipped from Suncast in Illinois via freight shipper in my case CEVA who called me the morning the shed arrived in their Baltimore facility and delivered it the same morning. There are four large boxes two of them are perhaps manageable by one person dragging them to the back yard, and the other two are not. The heaviest, with the beams, must be unpacked to be relocated. The CEVA driver was kind enough to help me get the three lighter boxes around back and off of the driveway. The fourth took me about 30 minutes to unpack and repack in the back yard.
I built the wood platform specified in the Suncast manual and used 30 Dek-Blocks (highly recommended) with exterior grade pressure treated 2x6s and 3/4" plywood. Because I was building on a pretty substantial slope, the shed platform took me a full weekend to build and several hundred dollars worth of materials. It is, however, rock solid and level which is critical to the subsequent shed construction. The manual specifies a platform of 10'3" by 12'10", which is what I built. However, the actual shed footprint is only 10' ½" x 12'5 ½', so there will be a bit of platform underhang if built to Suncast specs.
I took a day off from work to build the shed by myself, which certainly can be done. I first unpacked and checked all of the pieces and was extremely annoyed to find that the 4 Male Corner Posts (Part H) and the one Right Hinge Post (Part L) were missing!! However, upon closer inspection, I was relieved to find that the Corner Posts had been snapped together for shipping to the four Female Corner Posts (Part G) and the Right Hinge Post to the Left Hinge Post (Part P). So, if you find that parts seem to be missing, check to ensure that they are not temporarily attached to other pieces! Note that these pieces are only temporarily snapped to the others for shipping, and must be separated and then reinstalled (in the case of the Corner Posts). Once I verified that all parts were present, installation could proceed. As it turned out, Suncast packs EXACTLY what you need in hardware too no more, no less so don't drop any hardware on the ground and lose it.
A few installation observations for those who are interested:
The 42 total Pan Head Screws specified as being used for connecting the floors pieces are accounted for INCLUDING the 4 floor to front/back connecters, NOT the 10 floor pieces alone.
There are no snaps on the roof panels for the U beam connectors on the 2 extra beams now included with the kits. The panels just sit over the connectors, which support them from below.
Make sure you follow the steps for roof panel installation, i.e. second side starts where first side ends NOT back at the rear again.
As others have indicated, the Cupola should be installed BEFORE the last two roof panels are installed.
The roof panels can definitely be installed by one person, because I did it. I wouldn't say it was easy, as there is a certain amount of finessing that might be easier with two persons but maybe not. In any case, they eventually went in and the shed doesn't leak. Make sure the adjoining roof panels snap together you'll need to exert pretty good pressure from underneath with your fingers.
The shutters CANNOT be done by one person even two is a challenge as the 4 screw holes must be lined up perfectly. We used an awl to guide the first shutter screw hole back directly over the corresponding screw hole in the side panel, and then tightened things down from there.
The doors have a nice little feature when they are swung back to the full open position, there is a détente that will engage and keep them from swinging back closed on you. Very nice attention to detail.
My next step will be to hang some 1x4s on the side panels so that I can install hooks, etc. for tools. Since the walls are resin, you obviously cannot put nails directly into the shed walls. Suncast sells metal pieces that snap into the side support rails, but they are costly and I'd need A LOT of them. I suspect that large zip ties threaded vertically through adjacent side support rail holes and then around the 1x4 will be sufficient for this purpose.
Overall I am extremely impressed with the quality of, and value for, this shed. This was certainly my largest Amazon purchase both in terms of size and expense and it couldn't have gone smoother. Highly recommended!!
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I'm beginning to think given the 2 positive reviews, that I must have received a defective product. All structural pieces are fiimsy unfinished single layer, the thickness of an inexpensive plastic storage bin. I own several rubbermaid small sheds and each piece is finished so you can hang hooks or shelves, NOT this item. I doubt it will stand up any strong winds and really doubt it could withstand a snowfall. Yes, I have a $1k worth of buyer's remorse and am trying to assist you in not making the same purchase error.
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Wow. Its hard to believe that Amazon ships this shed for free. It arrived on a large pallet in 4 big boxes. When I saw the manual I was a little afraid of the amount of time it would take to put it together however It was extremely easy. Infact almost all the pieces snap together and I would estimate it took me 5 hours from the time I started. That includes carrying all the boxes to the back yard & unpacking. I read some other reviews about the sturdyness of the shed but once again I was impressed! I could have bought a 8 x 8 stick built kit at my local hardware store for approx $499 but by the time you buy the extra plywood for the floor, the shingles and tarpaper, and all of the screws and nails PLUS the time building it all I decided this was the way to go and I still think that way after buying it.
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