Brick Built Garden Rooms
Published: 10 March 2025
Reading Time: 6 minutes
If you're considering a brick-built or stone garden room, chances are you're looking for a structure that blends seamlessly with your home and avoids the ongoing maintenance associated with timber cladding. A fully brick or block-built garden room might seem like the obvious choice, but there’s a modern alternative that offers the same aesthetic while being more efficient to build, better insulated, and often more cost-effective.
A timber frame or SIPs core structure finished with brick slips or a stone finish provides the look of a traditionally built garden room while enhancing insulation and speeding up construction. This method is used by several specialist garden room companies and offers greater design flexibility than a full masonry build.
In this article, we’ll explore both options—traditional brick-and-block construction and the modern timber-based alternative—to help you choose the right approach for your garden room.
For this project by Swift Unlimited, planners required a brick boundary-facing wall to match the local vernacular. The result is a striking design feature that blends seamlessly with its surroundings.
Why Consider an Insulated Timber Core with a Brick or Stone Finish?
A timber frame or SIPs core with a brick slip or stone finish provides several key advantages:
- Thermally Efficient Insulated Core – These structures are designed for year-round comfort, with an insulated core providing excellent thermal performance.
- Less Disruption – Unlike full brick-and-block builds, they don’t require deep concrete trench foundations, reducing mess and disruption in your garden.
- Faster Build Times – With the core structure prefabricated and assembled on-site in a matter of days, your garden room will be ready much faster than a traditional brick build.
- Versatile Finishes – Brick slips are available in various styles and colours, allowing you to match your home or create a unique look. Stone finishes are also an option for those who prefer a more natural aesthetic and come in different colours and textures.
- Project-Managed Installation – With a timber frame garden room, you typically work with one specialist company that manages the entire build process. Their installation team coordinates all necessary trades—such as carpenters, electricians, and decorators—ensuring a smooth, efficient installation with minimal delays.
Garden Spaces' clients envisioned a natural stone finish for their garden room. The team sourced the perfect stone to match their vision, creating a building that feels like an integral part of the garden.
Traditional Brick and Block Construction
For those wanting a full masonry build, a traditional brick garden room consists of a breeze block inner skin, an outer brick layer, and insulation sandwiched between. This method requires deep concrete foundations to support the weight of the structure.
Considerations of a Traditional Build
- Longer Build Times – Brick-and-block construction requires extensive groundwork and multiple stages of wet trades, including concrete pouring, bricklaying, and plastering. Each stage has drying times that can extend the build duration.
- Weather Dependency – Wet weather and temperature levels can delay progress, as mortar and concrete need time to set properly.
- Higher Costs – Labour and materials for traditional masonry construction can be more expensive than a timber-based alternative.
- Coordinating Multiple Trades – Unlike a timber frame garden room, where a single company oversees the project, a brick-built garden room requires you to coordinate multiple trades yourself or work with a main contractor. You’ll need groundworkers, bricklayers, plasterers, and other specialists, making scheduling more complex and potentially leading to delays if one trade is unavailable.
Why Consider an Insulated Timber Core with a Brick or Stone Finish?
A timber frame or SIPs core with a brick slip or stone finish provides several key advantages:
- Thermally Efficient Insulated Core – These structures are designed for year-round comfort, with an insulated core providing excellent thermal performance.
- Less Disruption – Unlike full brick-and-block builds, they don’t require deep concrete trench foundations, reducing mess and disruption in your garden.
- Faster Build Times – With the core structure prefabricated and assembled on-site in a matter of days, your garden room will be ready much faster than a traditional brick build.
- Versatile Finishes – Brick slips are available in various styles and colours, allowing you to match your home or create a unique look. Stone finishes are also an option for those who prefer a more natural aesthetic and come in different colours and textures.
- Project-Managed Installation – With a timber frame garden room, you typically work with one specialist company that manages the entire build process. Their installation team coordinates all necessary trades—such as carpenters, electricians, and decorators—ensuring a smooth, efficient installation with minimal delays.
A Room in the Garden’s clients wanted their annexe to complement the style of the main house. To achieve this, stone cladding was paired with cedar, blending traditional and contemporary elements.
Timber Frame or SIPs Core with Brick or Stone Finish
A growing number of garden room companies offer an insulated timber frame or SIPs core structure finished with a brick or stone exterior. This method retains the appearance of a traditional brick building while providing additional benefits:
How It Works
- A Strong, Insulated Core – The garden room is constructed using either a timber frame or SIPs, creating a highly insulated and stable structure.
- External Sheathing – Cement particle boards are applied to the exterior, providing a durable and dimensionally stable surface.
- Brick or Stone Finish – Brick slips (thin sections of real brick) or stone tiles are fixed to the sheathing and pointed with mortar, replicating the appearance of a full masonry wall. Like a traditionally built brick wall, you can choose the pattern (known as the bond) in which the bricks are laid, such as stretcher bond, Flemish bond, or English bond, to match the style of your home.
Why It’s a Popular Choice
- Traditional Aesthetic, Modern Performance – You get the classic brick or stone look without the need for extensive foundations or prolonged drying times.
- Faster Installation – The core structure can be installed and made weathertight quickly, with brick slips or stone tiles applied efficiently, minimising disruption.
- Weather-Resilient Construction – Unlike full masonry, which relies on dry, warm weather, this method allows work to continue in most conditions.
- Energy Efficient – Garden rooms are not just about appearance; multiple layers go into their construction, and high-performance insulation creates a highly efficient thermal envelope. This ensures a comfortable space that retains heat in winter and stays cool in summer.
For their bespoke garden gym, Hargreaves Garden Spaces' clients chose a natural slate finish, adding contemporary style with rich texture and colour variation.
A Practical Choice for Self-Builders
If you’re considering a self-build garden room, a timber-based core with a brick or stone finish is a more manageable option than full masonry:
- Simpler Foundations – Ground screw foundations or concrete pad foundations, which can be installed in just a few hours, provide a solid, level base without the need for deep concrete trenches and slabs.
- Pre-Cut Panels – SIPs can be ordered to size for straightforward assembly. However, handling large panels may require assistance.
- Easier Cladding Installation – Fixing brick slips or stone tiles is more manageable than traditional bricklaying, making it an achievable project for skilled DIYers.
By contrast, a traditional brick-and-block build requires advanced skills, multiple trades, and significant drying times, making it less practical as a DIY project.
Working with Specialists
For a seamless build with a high-quality finish, working with a specialist garden room company is the best approach. Several companies offer timber core garden rooms with brick or stone finishes, providing both aesthetic appeal and superior insulation:
- A Room in the Garden – Offers a bespoke design service using exterior finishes that match your style. For example, they mixed cedar cladding with a cream stone finish that complements the main house.
- Bridge Garden Rooms – Provides several designs and a bespoke service with a wide palette of exterior finish options, including brick slips. Take a look at some of the brick-clad designs they have created.
- Garden Spaces – Offers a fully bespoke design service, tailoring exterior finishes around client preferences. We featured a charming stone-clad garden room they built, which has a lot of character.
- Hargreaves Garden Spaces – Offers several designs and a bespoke service, allowing clients to choose their preferred finish. In this featured project, the owner clad their home gym in slate, adding texture and visual interest.
- Rockwood Garden Studios – Their signature style blends stone with timber finishes. They offer several colours and different textures of stone. Take a look at some examples of the looks Rockwood can achieve.
- Swift Unlimited – As their name suggests, they provide flexible design and material choices. We recently featured a contemporary garden room they created, where planners required the boundary wall to match the local vernacular.
If you’re searching for a brick-built garden room, there are multiple ways to achieve the look. While traditional brick-and-block construction remains an option, a timber frame or SIPs core with a brick slip or stone finish offers a faster, more efficient alternative without compromising on aesthetics.
Chat with the companies above to explore your options further.
