Palram sheds reviewed: materials, durability and design

Palram sheds are polycarbonate garden sheds on aluminium frames, sold as flat-pack kits in sizes from 4ft × 6ft up to 6ft × 10ft. Their case is simple: UV-resistant panels that won't fade or crack, no painting or annual treatment, and a light kit one person can realistically assemble. We stock them at Nucrete, so this review tells you plainly what they're good at — and where a bigger building would serve you better.

The walls and roof are polycarbonate — the same family of material Palram has manufactured for roofing since the 1960s. The panels are UV-resistant, so they won't fade or crack over time the way cheaper plastics can, and they're light, which matters more than you'd think when you're the one lifting them into place. The Mythos range adds an aluminium frame and a galvanised steel base for rigidity and a square, level start to the build.

Against a timber shed, the practical difference is maintenance: a Palram shed never needs painting, staining or re-felting. Wash it down occasionally and that's the upkeep done.

Palram designs these sheds to stand up to extreme conditions — heavy snowfall, scorching heat and high winds — and the material choice backs that up: polycarbonate doesn't rot, rust or warp, and the UV treatment stops the sun degrading the panels. In a wet British garden that's a genuine advantage over untreated timber, which starts working its way down the moment the felt lifts.

Our honest caveat as a company that also builds concrete sheds: a lightweight kit shed is a garden store, not a workshop. If you need to secure expensive machinery or want something to last generations, a heavier building is the right tool. For bikes, mowers and garden kit, a Palram does the job without the maintenance bill.

The SkyLight range runs from 6ft × 3ft up to 6ft × 10ft. Its signature is light: a translucent skylight roof panel and polycarbonate walls that brighten the interior, plus a built-in air vent to keep condensation moving. Choose it if you'll be in and out of the shed a lot and want to find things without a torch.

The Mythos range runs from 4ft × 6ft to 6ft × 10ft, with an embossed wall finish that looks closer to a traditional shed, an aluminium frame and a galvanised steel base. Choose it if appearance alongside the house matters, or you want the most rigid build of the two.

On size: think hard about what's actually going in. For large equipment — a ride-on mower, several bikes and the family's garden furniture — the usual advice is a footprint of at least 8ft × 10ft, which is beyond these ranges; be realistic before you buy, because an overstuffed shed is a daily annoyance.

Assembly is standard flat-pack work: a firm, level base, the manual, and a free afternoon. The panels' light weight makes this an easier solo build than a timber shed of the same size. Once it's up, maintenance is close to nil — no painting, no preservative, no felt. That's the core of the value case, and having supplied Palram kits since 2018, it matches what our customers tell us years later.