Customer Reviews

Suncast GS4000 Vertical Garden Shed, 60-cubic ft

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

This is a solid body storage building exactly as advertised. My goal was to store a mower, trimmer, blower, gas and miscellaneous items. I had to build a shelf (not included) notch it to fit and install it before putting roof in place. It works great for gas and miscellaneous items leaving room for taller items but they must be tilted some. If you have a mower with retractable handles (which I do not) it will fit in this building. (So mower is still out) Other than that it has cleared up the mess in the back and locks the flammables up too.

Be careful to read instructions because it would be very difficult to take pieces apart after clicked into place.

If you are planning to store a mower I would recomend a larger unit just for ease of use. This one is great for a lot of gardening supplies but I think they should provide at least 2 or more shelves.

Relatively easy to assemble. Definitely keeping the weather out. Great for storing long-handled tools, not so great for smaller tools. Needs a wire basket or some other way of storing smaller tools such as clippers and trowels, away from the bottom. I'm hoping to solve that problem, and when I do, I will consider this purchase a success. It's not as attractive as a wood shed, but for the money, and if you don't have much space, this is a good solution.

Update, Sept 2009 - we bought one of those "shower accessories" - several wire trays on a pole - modified it just slightly (I think we had to shorten it to fit) and installed it in the back left corner of the shed. That's where we keep our small tools, and it works well.

There are two other problems with this shed. One, if the wind is really strong (we live on a bay), it can blow over. We used a piece of wood to attach it to the side of the house, and that solved the problem. Two, it's a favorite place for wasps and hornets to build their nests. Lots of little nooks and crannies, in the ceiling of the shed and inside the doors. It's not a show-stopper, but if you buy one, keep an eye on it, especially if you have little ones.

You can put up to 6 shelves inside to fully use all the cubic space available. But you may just need 4 and leave the lower two open for big size items to be stored. Rubbermaid has a similar size shed but it can only accept three shelves and waste a lot of spaces. The Rubbermaid shed uses much fewer pieces to assembly than this one. The assmbly is pretty easy if you follow the manu but it does take some time (1-2 hours). After I finished the assembly there were some rain and the inside was try except a couple of water drops. The only concern is its sturdiness since it's assembled with 28 pieces and so far so good. I don't expect it can stand a ternado or hurricane. One thing I wan to alert you: when you buy the shelves do measure the inside and ignore the manu since if you buy the side according it yuo will find the shelves will shift too much to the left or right. You want them more stable, right?

Recommended.

The item arrived about three weeks after it was ordered.
One of the pieces was damaged in shipment.
I called the customer support line.
A replacement part was shipped out to me at no charge.
The broken piece was to be discarded.
Constuction was easy and quick. ( 1 hour )

we had a wind/rain storm a few months after I'd bought this shed.
It blew over, fell forward and the top piece split in two.We threw it out.
I've since purchased 3 rubbermaid sheds mainly because our rubbermaid
composter had withstood many years of use. big mistake to buy anything
Suncast, they're very flimsy.

I received my shed today. It was right on time and the delivery company called twice to be sure I would be home.
The box suffered some damage during shpment, but all the contents were ok. I assembled the shed in about 1 1/2 hrs. If you follow the easy to read instructions one step at a time, assembly is a piece of cake. I had a little help from my wife, but one person can accomplish the assembly.
The shed seems to be very sturdy even though I have it resting against the back wall of my house and will probably anchor it there. I live in storm prone Florida, so anchoring is a must.
I wanted to store my lawn mower(fold down handle), some lawn chairs, weed trimmer and other various lawn tools. No problem storing these items. I may install a shelf for gas can,etc. tomorrow.
So far I would recommend this shed to anyone needing this type of unit. If I find anything that is a problem I will amend my review.

As other reviewers have mentioned, the quality control regarding the warped pieces and moving pieces (i.e., doors) interfering with one another is an issue; however not a deal-breaker. The unit goes together rather easily and the design is quite good. It took me alone no more than 30 minutes to assemble and 15 of those minutes was because of a ghost-hunt for piece "M" which the instructions included as a required step. Then I realized piece "M" had already been installed by the factory.

If not for the poor instructions, the unit could not be easier to assemble. Hint: If you've assembled one, the second one would literally take 5 minutes. The point is to not over-think how the unit is assembled. As for snapping the sides into place, I found laying the unit on its side and sitting on the connection points (with the motion of trying to pop a balloon by sitting on it) worked.

I will need to trim away the door tops with a razor knife since they interfere with the top of the unit. In my case, I also needed to cut a hole in the back of my unit to allow for access to the water bib. TIP: the Dremel Multi-max (or equivalent) is an ideal tool for cutting thru this material without dealing with the plastic-melt result of sawing. As for how well this unit will withstand the outdoor elements' time will tell.


Feedback for Suncast:

1. The need for multi-language instruction is understandable; consider separating the languages into sections instead of trying to run them together. I understand it would require more paper, but, the instructions can be confusing to pick up where you left off. At a minimum, consider color coding the instructions so that English is red, Spanish blue, French green, ...

2. Correct the instruction sheet regarding installation of piece "M"; it may be a carry-over from an older model.

3. I suggest adding an upper-door latch to compliment the lower-door latch.

4. Eliminate the door-handle lock. It's clumsy and creates a false sense of security as it's made of plastic and an easy twist using a pair of pliers would allow easy access (an upper-door latch would provide a better closing mechanism).

5. I'm sure warpage is a challenge when your materials come hot off the press in six foot lengths. If you can solve this issue and consider the above points, you'd have a 5-Star product in my mind.


Final Thoughts:

I recommend this unit and would have given it 3.5 stars if that was an option. As the title indicates, there are some issues but they are not deal-breakers.

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UPDATE AFTER 1 YEAR - I'm happy to say that after a year of use, the unit has withstood the cold winter and the blistering summer weather of 2011.

The Suncast Tool Shed is a small plastic shed that can be kept on a deck or other small area. It is well constructed, very sturdy and waterproof. It's an excellent product that I would highly recommend.

Many of my pieces arrived significant warps. It took my wife and I over 4 hours to assemble. We needed to use our putty knife collection to wedge the warped pieces together (one of us on each side of the each piece). If we had bought this at a store, it would have gone back.

The design is ok and the final product works well but Suncast needs to improve their quality or inspection for warped parts.

Very easy to put together. Did it without help. Plenty of room, especially with two shelves we put in. Definetly wouldn't hesitate to recommend this to anyone. Much better price on Amazon than any where else.