Extension / Garden Room

daisyfrau

£1200 per sqm. Wasn’t cheap. We are in Berkshire. 

daisyfrau

gym11 said:

Doozergirl said:

gym11 said:

We are currently in a house with an external garden room. Ours is insulated walls and roof, with glass walls on one side. When we first moved in we really  liked it but have definitely changed our opinion now!
It winter it's far too cold to use unless we run the electric heater which is then really expensive. The minute you open the door all the heat escapes into the garden so you then have to heat it up again.

In summer it's unbelievably hot. We have to have full length blinds permanently closed and then leave the door open - even then there have been afternoons in the last week or so when I've had to give up working in there. Last July/August we couldn't use it as the temperature was much constantly above 30 degrees!

When it rains it's really noisy. It's also actually a bit of pain having to walk across the garden to get to it. Especially when it's cold or wet or the ground is slightly damp. I always feel I have to put proper shoes on (not slippers!) as otherwise your feet get wet! Lighting is also something to consider - if you use it in the evenings when it's dark you need a well lit path back to the house otherwise you can easily fall over (as I've discovered!!)

We also find that we get a LOT of people staring into it when they walk past the garden. Might be less of a problem with a more private garden but it certainly feels a bit of a goldfish bowl at times.

Overall, whilst it looks impressive I'd say it's really not very practical - we dislike having to carry stuff back and forwards particularly (Laptops, Tablets etc) as the room is too hot or cold to leave electricals safely without risk or damage - just something to consider if you wanted to put teenagers and electrical equipment in one.

How much insulation do you have?  It doesn't sound like you put enough in, especially if the roof is noisy as well.  

We didn't build it, it was here when we moved in. But it is definitely a purpose built garden room with insulated walls and roof. The double glazing is very good quality (better than on the house) but the reality is it's a box outside with 4 external walls. So although it's better insulated than a conservatory it basically has the same issues (temperature/noise). 

We turned down one big national provider of garden rooms because they used metal roofs and it was raining on the day we visited and the racket from the roof was huge. Also we didn’t like the fact that couldn’t have ceiling spotlights and also they only built in 0.5m modular increments whereas we needed something bespoke to maximise our awkward plot. We wanted it to feel like being in a house not a shed. I found we got more for the same money with the company we ended up using. 

I can’t comment on longevity as just built but happy so far.

AdamBloke

daisyfrau said:

We just literally had a garden room built on ground screws. It is 1m away from a beautiful old field maple tree we wanted to keep. Look up ground screws - used extensively in Scandinavia. Much cheaper and less disruptive than concrete pad or plinths. Can be installed in a couple of hours once ground cleared and relatively level. Tree roots not a problem - v little disruption to tree.

We got our room built by Garden Spaces - they do both garden rooms and single room extensions on the same foundations. Top tip - look at their testimonials page - you can search by area/type of build etc or just scroll through. They work nationwide I believe. 

Our room is second to none - internally looks just like a new build house, fully insulated. We got AC as we have a south facing garden (although actually all our glazing on north elevation) and because we wanted heating and cooling and to be able to find tune the temperature.

Best bit is of below a certain size 30sqm, and height 2.5m (unless you dig down in which case you can add that depth to the height) no planning permission needed. Building regs may still need to be complied with depending how close to boundaries. Of course can go bigger and taller if happy to pursue planning.

Hope that’s helpful!

That does indeed look lovely - I'd also be interested in the overall cost and also what size is that? I think we would have space for something perhaps half that size - would be great to get a ballpark figure... Thanks for the info on ground screws - I will check that out as well as Garden Spaces and their offerings - Thank you very much @daisyfrau

gym11

daisyfrau said:

gym11 said:

Doozergirl said:

gym11 said:

We are currently in a house with an external garden room. Ours is insulated walls and roof, with glass walls on one side. When we first moved in we really  liked it but have definitely changed our opinion now!
It winter it's far too cold to use unless we run the electric heater which is then really expensive. The minute you open the door all the heat escapes into the garden so you then have to heat it up again.

In summer it's unbelievably hot. We have to have full length blinds permanently closed and then leave the door open - even then there have been afternoons in the last week or so when I've had to give up working in there. Last July/August we couldn't use it as the temperature was much constantly above 30 degrees!

When it rains it's really noisy. It's also actually a bit of pain having to walk across the garden to get to it. Especially when it's cold or wet or the ground is slightly damp. I always feel I have to put proper shoes on (not slippers!) as otherwise your feet get wet! Lighting is also something to consider - if you use it in the evenings when it's dark you need a well lit path back to the house otherwise you can easily fall over (as I've discovered!!)

We also find that we get a LOT of people staring into it when they walk past the garden. Might be less of a problem with a more private garden but it certainly feels a bit of a goldfish bowl at times.

Overall, whilst it looks impressive I'd say it's really not very practical - we dislike having to carry stuff back and forwards particularly (Laptops, Tablets etc) as the room is too hot or cold to leave electricals safely without risk or damage - just something to consider if you wanted to put teenagers and electrical equipment in one.

How much insulation do you have?  It doesn't sound like you put enough in, especially if the roof is noisy as well.  

We didn't build it, it was here when we moved in. But it is definitely a purpose built garden room with insulated walls and roof. The double glazing is very good quality (better than on the house) but the reality is it's a box outside with 4 external walls. So although it's better insulated than a conservatory it basically has the same issues (temperature/noise). 

We turned down one big national provider of garden rooms because they used metal roofs and it was raining on the day we visited and the racket from the roof was huge. Also we didn’t like the fact that couldn’t have ceiling spotlights and also they only built in 0.5m modular increments whereas we needed something bespoke to maximise our awkward plot. We wanted it to feel like being in a house not a shed. I found we got more for the same money with the company we ended up using. 

I can’t comment on longevity as just built but happy so far.

Having been sweating it out in our Garden Room all day I can confirm;

1. It's in direct sunshine (in a South facing garden) and is positioned in the very last place to get the sun in the evening!

2. No idea about the insulation depth. As I said we didn't build it.

3. There is a cross breeze as there's a window and double patio doors but tbh in a South facing spot it doesn't make much difference!

Daisyfrau yours looks larger and much better sighted than ours!

Ours is half mounted on decking, half on the grass. There does seem to be a bit of a problem with animals (mice?) getting underneath but this could be to do with the decking.

I'd definitely recommend an air conditioning unit though!

daisyfrau

AdamBloke said:

daisyfrau said:

We just literally had a garden room built on ground screws. It is 1m away from a beautiful old field maple tree we wanted to keep. Look up ground screws - used extensively in Scandinavia. Much cheaper and less disruptive than concrete pad or plinths. Can be installed in a couple of hours once ground cleared and relatively level. Tree roots not a problem - v little disruption to tree.

We got our room built by Garden Spaces - they do both garden rooms and single room extensions on the same foundations. Top tip - look at their testimonials page - you can search by area/type of build etc or just scroll through. They work nationwide I believe. 

Our room is second to none - internally looks just like a new build house, fully insulated. We got AC as we have a south facing garden (although actually all our glazing on north elevation) and because we wanted heating and cooling and to be able to find tune the temperature.

Best bit is of below a certain size 30sqm, and height 2.5m (unless you dig down in which case you can add that depth to the height) no planning permission needed. Building regs may still need to be complied with depending how close to boundaries. Of course can go bigger and taller if happy to pursue planning.

Hope that’s helpful!

That does indeed look lovely - I'd also be interested in the overall cost and also what size is that? I think we would have space for something perhaps half that size - would be great to get a ballpark figure... Thanks for the info on ground screws - I will check that out as well as Garden Spaces and their offerings - Thank you very much @daisyfrau

Ours was 29.5sqm - wanted to maximise space and stay under planning permission limit. 7.3m x 4.1m. If we’d had a wider plot might have had it bit narrower and a bit wider.

the ground screws, spotlights, aluminum doors and windows, flooring etc, wiring and build, skip, portaloo, etc (basically everything) came in that £1200/sqm price. Only extra we added was the A/C at last minute. We did arrange clearing and levelling the site ourselves, (got a couple of landscaping guys with a digger & dump truck) and we arranged for armoured cable and internet cable from our fuse box to be run down above ground along our boundary (we have large flower beds so it’s completely out of the way) to the site before the build by our sparky as it was cheaper that way. So when their sparky came near the end of the build he just connected it up and checked all was working.

I would definitely recommend seeing a Garden room that’s as close to the size you want before you commit - we initially had planned on paper to have this room divided into two rooms and we saw one at a showroom we realized the rooms were just too pokey. We then saw one that was open like ours and set up the way we plan to set ours up and we loved how it felt. Eg green retreats has a show room. Even though we didn’t go with that particular provider. Also take care with ceiling heights - This provider was fine (2.4m and horizontal) but some of the others (eg GR) had the ceilings sloping internally or stimes sloping down to heights on one side so low that you couldn’t fit a standard Ikea billy bookcase under it. 

Also pay close attention to the quality and type of cladding you choose so you know exactly what you’re getting and you’re not disappointed/surprised. 

daisyfrau

They are quite flexible - you can have cheaper windows, cladding etc to better fit your budget. Important to know what your budget is and they can help you stick to it. We liked that every bldg is bespoke so you can decide what’s important to you or what’s not, within the constraints of your budget of course. But yes for the level of finish/fixtures we chose £1200/sqm is the guide. 

daisyfrau

Hi gym1 

Hi - yes the south facing aspect and swathes of glazing is prob causing the greenhouse effect. We have that problem in our house! It sounds like your building may have been a Green Retreats one - esp if roof is metal. We almost went with them. 

Yes the A/C was a last minute thing but I hope it will be worth it. We didn’t intentionally site it to have north-facing windows but with the blistering heat we’re having we are so glad it turned out that way! Ours has a void underneath too as it’s built on ground screws. It’s completely covered with weatherboard down to ground but I’m sure it wouldn’t take much for a rodent to burrow beneath so we’ll have to see what happens. Some people elect to have anti rodent mesh underneath - it’s not a standard option they offer but their website said they had installed it for a client who requested it. I did wonder if we should ask for the same - hey ho - we’ll see what happens. 

AdamBloke

daisyfrau said:

Ours was 29.5sqm - wanted to maximise space and stay under planning permission limit. 7.3m x 4.1m. If we’d had a wider plot might have had it bit narrower and a bit wider. the ground screws, spotlights, aluminum doors and windows, flooring etc, wiring and build, skip, portaloo, etc (basically everything) came in that £1200/sqm price. Only extra we added was the A/C at last minute. We did arrange clearing and levelling the site ourselves, (got a couple of landscaping guys with a digger & dump truck) and we arranged for armoured cable and internet cable from our fuse box to be run down above ground along our boundary (we have large flower beds so it’s completely out of the way) to the site before the build by our sparky as it was cheaper that way. So when their sparky came near the end of the build he just connected it up and checked all was working. I would definitely recommend seeing a Garden room that’s as close to the size you want before you commit - we initially had planned on paper to have this room divided into two rooms and we saw one at a showroom we realized the rooms were just too pokey. We then saw one that was open like ours and set up the way we plan to set ours up and we loved how it felt. Eg green retreats has a show room. Even though we didn’t go with that particular provider. Also take care with ceiling heights - This provider was fine (2.4m and horizontal) but some of the others (eg GR) had the ceilings sloping internally or stimes sloping down to heights on one side so low that you couldn’t fit a standard Ikea billy bookcase under it. Also pay close attention to the quality and type of cladding you choose so you know exactly what you’re getting and you’re not disappointed/surprised.

Amazing - thanks so much for all the info - very detailed and useful - has given me some new thoughts about our plot

Doozergirl

I just remembered that our structural engineer developed this as well.    https://www.shire-uk.com/product/shire-quickbase/

AdamBloke

Doozergirl said:

I just remembered that our structural engineer developed this as well.    https://www.shire-uk.com/product/shire-quickbase/

Nice - so a similar screw pile foundation to 'no more digging' but with the base all connected up and insulated. perhaps this is the kind of tech that can help us around our tree issue in a cost effective way. Thanks again!