Can I put a shed against a fence or a house wall?

The instinct is to push the shed back against the fence to keep the garden. The consequences show up two or three years later: the back wall of the shed has never dried out, the fence panel behind it has rotted where it cannot be maintained, and there is a slug-and-leaf-mould gap you cannot reach. The gap you leave is the maintenance access for both structures.

Safety

Step by step

1. Leave enough gap to work in.About 300mm is the practical minimum to get an arm, a brush and a paint pad down the back. 450mm lets you actually stand sideways and do the job properly. Anything under 150mm is unmaintainable and both the shed and the fence suffer.
2. Understand why the gap matters more than it looks.A shed wall 50mm from a fence never sees sun or moving air. It stays damp after rain, algae grows, the timber stays wet and rots from the outside in. The fence does the same. Neither can be treated.
3. Against a house wall, check the damp proof course first.The shed roof will discharge water at the house wall, and the shed itself may raise the ground level. The house wall needs 150mm of clear brickwork below the damp proof course, and any airbrick needs clear air in front of it.
4. Check the boundary rules before you site it.Permitted development for outbuildings in England includes conditions about position relative to a boundary and about the height allowed near one, and separate considerations apply in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Planning Portal and your local authority hold the current position — check it rather than assume.
5. Think about where the roof water goes.An ungutted shed roof discharges along its eaves. Against a fence that means a continuous wet line at the bottom of the fence panels; against a house wall it means water at the base of the wall. Gutter the shed, or set it far enough away that run-off lands on ground that can take it.
6. Consider access for the whole life of the building.You will re-treat the cladding, replace felt, fix a window. Plan the access for those jobs at the point you decide where it goes, because the shed is not moving afterwards without emptying it.
7. If there is genuinely no room, change the shed rather than the gap.A shed with a lean-to roof falling away from the boundary, cladding on the back that will not need re-treating — treated then left, or a metal or plastic shed — and no window on the closed side, is a better answer than a timber shed jammed against a fence.

Common mistakes

• Fixing the shed to the fence — Fence panels are not structural and a shed loads them in wind. It pulls the fence over, and it makes both the shed and the fence impossible to replace independently.
• Building up the ground to level a shed against a house wall — It raises the external ground level against the wall, which is the single commonest cause of rising damp appearing in a house that never had it.
• Assuming the fence belongs to you — Access to maintain the back of the shed is your problem, but the fence may be your neighbour's and you have no automatic right to work on their side of it.

Alternatives

• Turn the shed round: Doors on the side rather than the gable end often lets a shed sit further from a boundary while keeping the useful space. It also puts the door where you can open it fully, which people regret not doing.
• A lean-to store against the wall: Where the space is genuinely narrow, a purpose-made lean-to store with its back designed to sit against a wall solves the problem the right way round. Still keep it clear of the damp proof course.
• A metal or plastic shed: Neither rots, so an unmaintainable back wall matters far less. Both condense heavily inside unless ventilated, which becomes the trade you are making.

Questions people ask