The Asgard Flexistore - Hot or Not?

"The Asgard Flexistore isn't a Rolls Royce, but then it's not Fiat Panda either."

I was having a pint with my friend Patrick and explaining to him my latest task.

You see, Patrick is a proper journalist. He works for one of those glossy motoring magazines. His long term test car is a BMW 5 series and some weekends there is an Aston Martin parked on his drive. If anyone knew how to write a review it would be Patrick.

I had been supplied a sample of the new Flexistore by Asgard a company that has evolved over the last few years from making quality steel furniture to making metal sheds as well.

A good way to start John would be to tell me what it is

Now that was a good idea.

The Asgard Flexistore is part of new range of metal sheds made by Asgard. They are approximately 1.5m x1.5m square on plan. They are designed with the intention of being good quality, secure garden storage.

The Flexistore was to fill a gap in the market.

It isn't as heavy duty and secure Asgard's premium Centurion range, but then it doesn't have the hefty price tag either.

At the other end of the market it is about fifty times more secure than the cheapo metal sheds you find in the Argos catalogue. But only a little bit more expensive.

I take it that you have seen this shed

Of course!

I received a sample of the Asgard Flexistore in early January. It was delivered to my Mother-in-laws house using the same delivery trucks that they do for all their deliveries. The truck wasn't small, but Dave, the driver, who came along with his wife, Helga, did a great job of manoeuvring the lorry down the narrow lane to get close to the house.

The shed came in about 10 major parts; roof, walls, floor etc these were wrapped in blankets in the back of the lorry. Dave and Helga carried all of the parts along the last part of the lane through the garden gate and right to the place I was going to build the shed.

Now we are getting somewhere. Why were you building this shed here?

My mother-in-law moved into this house about a year ago and here patio was cluttered and the inside of the apartment was quite cramped. The idea was that having some extra outside storage would solve these problems.

So once the shed was delivered you just started to build it straight out of the box?

No.

I did need to do a bit of site preparation to create a flat level surface to build the shed on. This was quite easy; in fact I wrote an article here about building a shed base.

Was it easy to build?

I mentioned earlier that the Asgard Flexistore comes in 10 main parts. The first step was to put down the integral floor. The sides just slotted in to this and then had to be secured with a series of self tapping screws.

I found these screws were the hardest part of the project. There were a lot of them, at least one every 150mm along each seam of the shed. I found that these self tapping screws were a bit tricky to get in. They did not seem to be sharp enough, to cut their way in to the metal. I tried first of all with a manual ratchet screw driver, and managed to get a few in, I had to come back later with my electric driver to finish the job.

The first wall was a bit wobbly by itself and had to be held by my helper, David (Age 12), this was only to be expected. When the second wall was in place to brace it, it immediately became a lot more solid. By the time the fourth wall was in place I could see that this was going to be quite some shed.

The roof came as one piece

This meant that possibility of leaks along seams would be approximately zero. The roof was fixed to the walls in the same way as the walls fixed to each other. I did however get a bit frustrated with those blunt screws.

Finally the door was fixed into the door frame

The door was very well engineered. It needed 12 bolts to fix the machined hinges into tapped holes in the strengthened plates on the door jamb. No self tappers here, hooray!

The door handle of the Asgard Flexistore has a three point locking mechanism that puts a bolt into the top, bottom and door frame adjacent to the handle. This looks very secure.

How long did it take to build once you had the base?

I had a bit of help, David (Age12) and Simon (Age 9) so that speeded things up a bit with them bringing all the parts to me. I would say that if you allowed two and a half hours from start to finish, that would be about right. This would be for someone who was using a power screwdriver for all those self tappers though.

So, can you briefly tell me the good and bad points of this shed?

Firstly the many good points of the Asgard Flexistore outweigh the bad. The metal that the shed is built out of was solid and gave confidence in the sheds resistance to burglars and also resistance to wind and rust. The parts were well made and really well thought out, they slotted together like a dream.

I really liked that the roof came in one piece, no leaks here.

The door is an important feature and with the strong hinges and three point locking mechanism it would be very secure. But just as important easy to use and lock afterwards.

The only point that I had difficulty with was the self tapping screws along the seams. These did not seem to have sharp enough points and so it was difficult getting them to bite.

But then again maybe if I read the instructions a bit more carefully I would have seen that I should use an electric screwdriver from the start. ;-)

So overall John on the Rolls Royce to Fiat Panda scale where would you put the Asgard Flexistore?

It was well made and well engineered. The design of the shed was quite simple, not going to win any awards for daring design.

I would say that this shed fitted well into the Volkswagen category.

Good, solid, value for your money.

And that was the end of Patrick's lesson in how to review a shed

I am not sure that I have become the Jeremy Clarkson of the shed reviewing world. But I hope that I have given you a bit of an insight into what to expect if you were to purchase an Asgard Flexistore.