What problems might you encounter when assembling a storage building yourself?

As a supplier of self-build storage buildings, we have had customers on the phone over the past 15 years who did not assemble their storage buildings correctly, with all the consequences that entails. If you’re reading this blog before assembling your self-build storage building, we may be able to prevent you from making a mistake. If you’re unsure whether you can assemble the storage building yourself, it’s also wise to read this blog. You’ll gain more insight into how the assembly of a self-build storage building works and what challenges you may encounter. Or, more accurately, what mistakes you need to be alert to.

 

1. When should you NOT assemble the self-build storage building yourself.

If you lack technical insight or aren’t handy, it’s better to outsource the assembly of your self-build storage building. It’s a waste if you make mistakes during assembly, resulting in a decrease in the quality of your storage building. You’ll receive a comprehensive assembly manual with your self-build storage building, including many detailed drawings. To understand these properly, you need technical insight. The two biggest challenges in assembling a self-build storage building are ensuring a flat foundation and installing the overhead door.

 

2. DO NOT assemble a self-build storage building on an uneven surface.

The assembly surface where you mount your self-build storage building must be flat, with a maximum slope of 1 cm per meter and in one direction. Keep in mind a maximum slope of 10 cm, even if your warehouse is more than 10 meters long. Any irregularities may only be a maximum of 5 mm high or deep. You cannot assemble a self-build storage building on a concave, convex, or skewed surface. Also, ensure that no cables, pipes, or other objects protrude from the ground where the base rail will be placed. The requirements for the foundation are clearly illustrated in the infographic below.

 

 

If the foundation is not good, you will never be able to assemble your self-build storage building properly. As a result, the parts cannot be tightly connected, your doors cannot be properly opened and closed, and so on. A good foundation prevents many problems.

Another tip if you use ground pegs: always check the ground to a depth of 1.20 meters. The ground pegs are over 1 meter long and must be able to penetrate the ground completely. You don’t want to encounter rock ground, old foundations, pipes, etc., which would prevent the ground peg from fully entering the ground.

 

3. DO NOT mount the base rail of your storage building in a curved line.

Your foundation meets the requirements. Then you can start building your self-build storage building. You start by laying the base rail. These must be placed horizontally. If there is still a small irregularity somewhere, you can still level it out. The parts of the base rail must lie in a straight line behind each other. If a part is a few cm inward or outward, you won’t be able to fit the spars properly. To make this a bit easier, you can stretch a line along which you lay the base rail and attach it to the ground. If you use ground pegs to attach the base rail, make sure that the base rail does not shift due to the heavy drilling and hammering of the ground pegs. A tip is to have two people stand at the ends of the base rail while a third person drills the holes for the ground pegs and hammers them into the ground.

 

4. DO NOT modify parts of the storage building yourself.

Do not modify the parts yourself because you think something doesn’t fit or the drawing is incorrect. Our self-build storage buildings are standardized, and the drawing is always correct. If you really think a part doesn’t fit, please contact us.

As we mentioned in point 2, a ground peg must be able to penetrate the ground completely to anchor the storage building sufficiently to the ground. Never shorten a ground peg. The same goes for the column of the self-build storage building. If you make changes yourself and do not assemble the self-build storage building according to our instructions, our static calculation no longer applies to the modified storage building. This can lead to dangerous situations. There are some parts that you must modify yourself. This is also stated in our manual. This includes, for example:

• The recess for the door and the sloping edges along the edges of the roof.
• You need to customize the trims of the wind veils in the roof to fit the kink in the roof.
• The drainage trims are supplied straight and sometimes need to turn a corner. You do this yourself.

 

5. DO NOT place a front or rear spar in the location of an intermediate spar.

Once the base rail is in place, attach the columns to the base rail for larger storage buildings (from 9 meters). For smaller storage buildings, the spars are placed directly because the columns are attached to the spars. Assemble the spars according to the manual, starting with a front or rear spar. These differ from the intermediate spars, so make sure you have the right spars. If you install a front or rear spar in the middle, you will have to remove it again. This will damage the spar because you now have screw holes in a spar where they don’t belong.

If you assemble the storage building yourself, you can decide on the spot to exchange the front and rear spars if you want to move the door from the front facade to the rear facade.

 

6. DO NOT let the spars of your storage building fall over.

Make sure the spars cannot fall over after you’ve placed them. For example, place a strut, a sloping beam, against the spar. Or clamp the spar to a pole with a bar clamp. Make sure you secure the spars properly so they cannot fall over or bend and get damaged. Never assemble the self-build storage building in stormy weather. Connect the spars at 3 or 4 points and build backward, creating a tunnel. Then place the profiles of the front and rear facades and screw the cladding onto them. Do not deviate from the construction sequence indicated in our manual to prevent an unstable structure.

 

7. DO NOT forget to make the recesses for the doors in your storage building.

Before screwing the cladding onto the spars, you must already have made the recesses for the doors. If you forget this, you’ll have to cut them out later. If you remove the sheet material for this and then screw it back on with the recess, it’s almost impossible to use the same screw holes. This will create holes in the sheet material that compromise water tightness. Moreover, the sheet material and that of the spars are very thin, and screws can strip. After inserting and removing a screw 2 or 3 times, it will no longer hold. You want to prevent this. If you follow the sequence in our manual, this will go well. If you still need to saw into the sheet material, immediately remove the splinters from the sawing. This reduces the risk of rust formation due to the action of these metal particles on the cladding.

 

8. DO NOT place the waterslag trim of your storage building after the wall cladding.

Before you place the cladding, first attach some of the trims. For example, the waterslag trim must be placed at the bottom before the wall cladding is placed on top. If you do this the other way around, you won’t be able to mount the trim anymore. They must be placed directly against the base rail. This prevents water from running behind the cladding into the storage building. The finishing corner trims and facade trims are placed after you have applied the cladding.

 

9. DO NOT screw the cladding inside out onto the frame of your storage building.

The chance that you screw the cladding inside out is small. You can tell the inside and outside of the sheet by its color. The inside almost always has a gray-white color. The outside of the sheet has the color you have chosen. For the roof sheets, you place insulated roof cladding with the ridges facing outwards. As shown in the image below (the arrow indicates the outside).

 

Insulated roof sheet

 

Uninsulated roof sheets are placed exactly the opposite of the wall sheets. Below you see an uninsulated roof sheet in red. This lies with the ‘narrow ridges’ facing outward. In blue, you see the uninsulated wall sheet. This lies with the ‘wide ridges’ facing outward.

 

Uninsulated roof sheet

 

Uninsulated wall sheet

 

10. Do not tighten screws too hard or at an angle.

It is important to apply the screws correctly. To prevent water leakage, we provide a rubber ring with the screw. Tightening the screws correctly is mainly visual. Make sure that the screw presses the rubber ring in such a way that water tightness is guaranteed, but not so far that all elasticity is lost. If you tighten the screw too hard, the rubber ring will be pushed outwards and sometimes completely out. If the screw is at an angle, the ring does not seal properly. In both cases, the cladding is not properly secured, and the connection is no longer watertight. This is particularly annoying if it concerns a screw hole in the roof. Drops falling inside can damage the items stored in the storage building.

 

11. DO NOT underestimate the expertise required for the installation of an overhead door.

Installing an overhead door is a separate specialty. You can install it yourself, but if you’re not adept, you can easily install something incorrectly. If you have ordered an electric motor with it, the chances of something going wrong are even greater. Installation requires specialist knowledge. We have instructional videos showing you how to install an overhead door. By law, you must have an electrically operated industrial door installed by a specialist and the door must be inspected annually. That’s also why you receive a sticker with the door after installation, indicating the date of the next inspection (1 year after installation). After each inspection, a new sticker is placed on the door. If you don’t do this, it’s unlikely that anyone will check. However, if an accident happens with this door because it’s not properly maintained, you are liable. The same applies to our warranty conditions for the door and electric motor. They remain valid only with correct installation and annual maintenance of the door and motor.

You now have a better understanding of assembling a self-build storage building yourself and the mistakes you can make. It can help you decide whether to assemble the storage building yourself or hire a company for this. Kroftman does not have its own assembly service.

 

We hope the above information helps you make an informed decision. If you want to know exactly what your chosen storage building costs, please fill in our quotation tool without obligation. In the last question, enter your postcode and, if desired, select the option ‘add assembly’. This will result in a quotation that we will send to you by email, showing you at a glance what the assembly costs and transport costs are for your storage building. You can create multiple quotations and check different options. This allows you to compare them effectively.

Do you still have questions? We are happy to assist you.