InsideOut Garden Rooms

What is the best way to keep warm in a garden room , if you want to use it all year round? Electric heaters and air conditioning units in an uninsulated shed or cabin are not the answer. It is environmentally and financially effective to insulate to a very high standard so that you need minimal heating and condensation doesn’t form within the building.

If you avoid the temptation of whole walls of glass or folding glass doors and choose sensibly sized windows, your room won’t overheat in summer or be freezing in winter. The same applies to house extensions with walls full of floor to ceiling windows.

With sensible insulation and well designed glazing you can then easily heat your garden room in the depths of winter with a very small electric heater or a tiny wood-burning stove and can forget about air-conditioning.

Lighting doesn’t have to burn a hole in your electricity bill either. In a well-designed garden office, using Velux roof windows and  narrow, double-glazed full-length windows reduces the need for electric light.

Internally, choose naturally plastered walls rather than PVC panels. Flooring can be a 100% wool carpet or a locally sourced wooden floor. Choose natural materials that have been grown or made in the UK and you are reducing the carbon footprint of your building.

Natural materials need less maintenance. Larch cladding does not need any preservative treatment. Cedar shingle roof tiles smell wonderful and don’t ned any maintenance. A felt roof smell industrial and will have to be replaced every five to ten years.

What is more intriguing than having a garden room tucked away from the house? Potential house buyers often have the opinion that a garden room adds more opportunity to the use of their potential real estate purchase.

The price of your house shouldn’t be the only consideration to think about when deciding if you need a garden room. Oh no! Take a look at the below…

1. Is a garden room the best solution for me or would it be more appropriate to extend the house or move? Do I want a temporary, sectional room in the £10,000 to £20,000 price range with a likely lifespan of up to ten + years. Or do I want a permanent garden room in the £20,000 to £40,000 price range built to a high constructional standard with a 60 + year life span?

2. Is it worth spending £10,000 or £20,000 on a sectional building built with cheaper materials, basic finishes and less insulation than you would put in your main house or would this money be better spent on a garage conversion or clever rearrangement of the corner of an existing room to create an office?

3. Do I want to extend my house or shall I choose a permanent garden room? As of November 2007 single storey house extensions are costing a minimum £1,600 + vat per sq metre. This would mean a minimum £32,000 + vat for a 20sq metre extension, plus architects fees, building regulations fees etc. A good quality garden room of the same size would cost you around £25,000 + vat plus around £2,500 + vat for foundation work if you don’t have an existing garage base or similar that can be reused.

From 3. above you will see that a good quality permanent garden room will cost you approximately 70 to 80% of the cost of a single storey extension of the same size. Is this a good investment? for many people it is, because good quality garden room’s produce the same increase in house value as a single storey extension. also if your house is potentially difficult to extend a garden room is an excellent alternative.

One further consideration when choosing between an extension and a garden room is the minimal disruption involved in constructing an room in the garden.