We get a lot of emails each week asking us for recommendations of who to talk to about a certain type of garden room. We are happy to print people in the right direction.
Recently we have had a few emails that have the same statement in them:
"I don't want a flat roof garden room"
They go onto say that they fear that a flat roof will leak.
They also mention they want a pitched roof building that is less than 2.5m high so that it can be positioned close to a boundary under the Permitted Development rules.
These two key requirements limit the companies we can suggest as there are not many suppliers that offer a dual pitch roofline that is less than 2.5m high.
The companies we would suggest who offer dual pitched roof options that come in under 2.5m are Timeless Garden Rooms and Smart Modular Buildings, particularly, see their Suffolk Barn or Temple Folly ranges.
There are several other pitched roof ranges like Garden 2 Offices Malmo range, Bridge Garden Rooms Loughrigg range or Garden Spaces Apex Duo range, but these roofs' pitches make them taller, so they need to be positioned at least 2m from any boundary. If you want to site it closer to a boundary, you would need to make a planning application.
Its the 2.5m high rule in Permitted Development that has made flat roof garden rooms so popular, as they offer the homeowner the maximum flexibility in positioning their room.
A flat roof garden room may also give you greater ceiling height
Often, a 2.5m high flat roof garden room will give you greater ceiling height than a 2.5m high dual pitch garden room, as the 2.5m measurement is taken from the highest point of the roof which means the eaves height will be less than this.
The vaulted ceiling created by a dual pitch roofline creates a lovely internal space, but the lower ceiling height at the eaves is worth considering if you are particularly tall.
Garden room roofs are not really flat
We can understand peoples fears about flat root buildings. We have all heard stories of flat roofs on single story extensions or garages failing -with puddles forming or the roof leaking.
While they are often described as flat roof garden rooms, the reality is that the roof will not be flat. They would be better described as low pitch roof garden rooms.
Roof coverings laid in me piece to avoid leaks
Garden room designers don't want their buildings to leak, so most have chosen roofing systems that can be laid in one section, so there are no joints that have the potential to leak.
In most cases, the roof covering they choose is EPDM, which is a specialist rubber membrane that is laid in one piece and has a maintenance-free lifespan of 25+ years.
EPDM has been successfully used in commercial building environments for decades and has been the finish of choice for many leading garden room companies for the last ten or so years.
Insulated steel panels are another option for flat roof garden rooms. While these panels do have joints, where one panel meets another. They do have a clever interlocking system that creates a tight joint, and we have to say since we started The Garden Room Guide in 2009, we haven't heard about one case of this style of roofing failing.
