That sounds like an excellent plan to me and it seems this would work well to keep the shed dry and well ventilated. If you intend to plant bushy things outside that 30 inch perimeter, you may want to put them farther than 30" away from the building so that you maintain a nice clear walkway between the building and the plants. But you probably already thought of that. :)

Karin

Thanks for the input. Appreciate it!

Two sides are landscaped already with bushes - but I had the shed positioned to given me the 30 inches from the dripline.

One one of the other sides I plan for some rose bushes and small ground cover (sunny side) and on the front side I have not thought about it yet :)

Good point though, if I plant right on the edge, the growth would eliminate my walkway! :)

Your plan is good, but only 1/2" of "traffic bond" is nowhere near enough to stop plant growth from growing through . . . unless the gravel is placed over a layer of plastic sheeting. Even with that, a heavy rainfall and successive winter freezing will simply wash that thin layer away.

You will need at least a 2"-3" depth of compacted crushed stone, processed gravel, or "traffic bond" for efficient drainage + weed control - preferably much more.

Sorry, I failed reading comprehension here!

I thought you were going to put down 1/2 inch of paver base and then put pavers on top of that. So I agree that a weed blocker fabric is essential and that you'll need more than 1/2" of material to stay put and not just get scuffed/blown/washed off. I think pavers are a great idea and will certainly help keep your structure dry and provide a level surface for your ladder and for walking.

Thanks again for the feedback, if I got 15 years from the shed structure I'd be happy.

What I struggle with is neighbors that have not remotely gone to the effort of 3 inches of base and yet they get 10+ years from the structure.

Even my 1/2 inch is a 1/2 inch more than any of them have done. I really struggle with what is necessary vs what is overkill.

For example, my neighbor has a shed in its 12th year that comes off as neae new - this neighbor took zero consideration on deteriorating wood - wood mulch right on it, wood pile right on it, no airflow, etc - yet, 12 years and counting with no obvious wood rot.

I read the comments that talk about a major amount of effort to lay 3 inches of base and get totally confused because everyone around me has done so much less and their results have been fine. The difference between what they did and what I plan is a huge amount of work do its very difficult to decide what is right vs overkill.

OK, I hear you. I think your instincts are spot on to not use woody mulch. And I understand that excavating down to 3 inches sounds like no fun. So as a compromise, how about using landscape fabric and then some sort of gravel mix that is somewhat coarse grained so it will stick around awhile. That seems like a happy medium to me.

Thanks for the feedback.

I decided to toughen up and do 3" of traffic bond. :)

Looks good and gives me the surface I wanted.

Thanks for the input