shed use as an office/study

wowzetov

How realistic is it to use a shed as an office/study? What does it take to make it reasonably comfortable and warm in the winter? Anyone have any experience with this?

never_enough

I'd say pretty impossible to have a comfortable rooom.
I know someone who tried, but gave up as was either freezing or cooked in there.
Insulation most important, on walls, ceiling & floor. Obviously needs to be watertight :rolleyes: , need decent ventilation, natural light, good security, electrics, phone line (unless wifi of course).
Don't underestimate the unattractiveness of working in a cold place!

david29dpo

i thought about this, for about 2 mins! be nice in the summer but at the moment? gave up and rearranged the house.

seven-day-weekend

However, a purpose-built summerhouse/garden office may be different as they are not just sheds.

http://www.sanctuarygardenoffices.co.uk/index.html

badmumof1

25 years ago my dad bought a basic tougne n groove shed for my mum to put her industrial sewing machine in as a work room

he insulated and boarded out inside including the ceiling and strengthened the floor because of the weight of 2 overlockers

25 years later its still standing
it never got damp inside but she did have a parafin heater during the winter months to keep her warm.
our winters now are not like they were back then and when she gave up machining a few years ago she hadnt used the heater for a few years anyway.

Dad maintained the shed every year and i think thats why its still standing now.

we have just had a Apex special shed delivered a few weeks ago and we are doing the same as what my dad done to his ( infact dad is doing it for us )
pours is 12 x 7 with double doors, overhang roof, extra height roof in loglap look and its brilliant.
we have the shell to work on and we will be doing all the alterations we need to do including laying industrial carpet to help keep it warm for the winter.
ours will also be partitioned inside so we can keep our stock in for our sweet stall in it.

cbm63

I bought a shed purely to turn into an office. Its 12 x 8 with an overhanging roof. I insulated the walls and roof and then covered them with plasterboard. I had the phone line moved so that I could have a proper extension in it. It has my computer in there so that I have no problem accessing the internet. It has thermostatic low power heating that will keep the chill off in the extremes of winter. I also have a mobile air con/heater unit which I use depending on the time of year.
I've had it for three years now and to be honest its ideal.

wowzetov

Thanks for all your comments. Is it danerous (health hazard) to do insulation yourself, and how do you insulate the walls and ceiling?
Other than the cost of the shed, what kind of budget would be required?

bartman

I don't know how much you were thinking of spending, but you might want to have a look at the "log cabin" type buildings. They do cost quite a bit more than the average garden shed, but are really very solid. Most of them are made from 44mm thick double tongue and groove timber and so have much better insulation qualities.

My mate has had one of these for his office for about 4 years now - and has a summer house in the same construction. I was so impressed with his buildings I got a garage kit made from the same stuff. You do have to make sure to apply a good preservatve though, it's only softwood.

There are quite a few firms offering this type of building now. Here are a couple:

http://www.gardenaffairs.co.uk/specs_pages/MiniOffice2.html

http://www.gardeningthoughts.co.uk/

wowzetov

Those log cabins are lovely and I will keep them in mind when it comes time to upgrade but we're quite skint and do need to stick with the least expensive options.