The Garden Room Guide

Garden room, garden office & garden studio buyers guide

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garden studios

Crane Sheds & Summerhouses Show Buildings

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[caption id="attachment_1847" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Garden Room by Crane Sheds & Summerhouses[/caption]

Crane Sheds & Summerhouses are on display around the country. The team will be exhibiting at the following shows:

  • Malvern Spring Gardening Show 6-9th May
  • RHS Chelsea Flower Show 24-29th May
  • RHS Hampton Court Flower Show 5-11th July

Crane Sheds & Summerhouses also have show buildings at the following sites:

Crane Sheds and Summerhouses
Common Road
Wiggenhall St Mary
King’s Lynn
Norfolk
PE34 3DL
a
Newbury Garden Buildings
Hilliers Garden Centre
Priors Court Road
Hermitage
Berkshire
RG18 9TG
a
Crane Sheds and Summerhouses @ Burford Garden Company
Shilton Road
Burford
Oxfordshire
OX18 4PA
a
Addison Ousebank
Willow Vale
Pavenham Road
Oakley
Bedford
MK43 7SZ
a
Berkshire Buildings Ltd
c/o Wyevale Garden Centre
Floral Mile
Hare Hatch
Reading
RG10 9SW
a
Cedar Nursery
Horsley Road
Cobham
Surrey
KT11 3JX
a
Cousins Garden Buildings
Hillier Garden Centre
Brighton Road
Horsham
West Sussex
BN13 6QA
a
Kent Conservatories
London Road
Halstead
Sevenoaks
Kent
TN14 7DY
a
Leisure Building Specialists
The Whitehall Garden Centre
Lacock
Nr Chippenham
Wiltshire
SN15 2LZ
a
Paradise Park
Avis Road
Newhaven
East Sussex
BN9 0DH
a
Ruxley Manor Conservatories
Maidstone Road
Sidcup
Kent
DA14 5BQ
a
 
Southdown Nurseries
Brighton Road
Hassocks
West Sussex
BN6 9LY
 
a
Whites Conservatories
Reigate Road
Buckland
Reigate
Surrey
RH2 9RF
a
Yarnton Leisure Buildings
Yarnton Nuseries
Sandy Lane
Yarnton
Oxford
OX5 1PA
a
Three Counties Garden and Leisure Buildings Limited
Culver Garden Centre
Cattlegate Road
Crews Hill
Enfield
Middlesex
EN2 9DS

Ecospace

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[caption id="attachment_1779" align="alignright" width="300"] Ecospace[/caption]

You can tell Ecospace Studios are designed by architects, the lines are crisp, the proportions perfect and the materials are high spec. Surprisingly this high level of design is reasonably priced, with Ecospace studios starting at just £10,000 plus VAT and delivery.

As the name suggests Ecospace studios are designed with the environment in mind. Studios are built using Structural Insulated Panels (SIP’s) which sit on adjustable steel shoes which mean as long as the site is fairly level, no foundation is required. This type of building method means an Ecospace studio can be installed in a matter of days and uses less embodied energy than other types of construction. The highly insulated shell coupled with Scandinavian double glazed doors, windows, and underfloor heating means an Ecospace studio is warm even on the coldest of days. The materials chosen such as cedar cladding which is from certified renewable sources requires virtually no maintenance. In addition to these standard eco features Ecospace studios offer a range of renewable energy options such as solar panels, wind turbines and log burning stoves.

Ecospace offer three different price ranges, £10k to £15k will buy you the new Ecospace WorkPod. The WorkPod is available in two sizes, the smaller model being 2.5 x 1.9m, while the WorkPod Plus is 3.1 x 2.5m. Built using highly insulated SIP’s the WorkPod is clad in larch which is an extremely durable cladding, the windows are double glazed, and the WorkPod comes with energy-efficient lighting and underfloor heating as standard. The WorkPod has a service wall incorporating electrical sockets, data and telephone points meaning it’s ready for work as soon as it’s installed. Designed for one person to work comfortably, Ecospace can supply integral workstations and storage systems. Fully installed, prices start at £10,000 for the WorkPod and £14,000 plus VAT and delivery for the WorkPod Plus.

If you are looking for a bigger garden studio, the original Ecospace studio should fit the bill. The customer can choose whether to have a flat-roofed or mono pitch garden studio and can choose the configuration of the floor to ceiling Scandinavian, double glazed doors and windows; the modular building system means an Ecospace studio can be tailored to your needs. A 4 x 3.8m standard Ecospace studio costs £18,950 plus VAT and delivery, while £27,950 plus VAT delivery will buy you a 7.6 x 3.8m Ecospace studio.

Budgets over £30k will buy you a bespoke Ecospace studio which can include mezzanine floors, shower, WC and kitchen areas, Ecospace are specialists in designing live/work spaces.

In most cases, Ecospace studios don’t require planning permission, but because the garden studios are designed by architects Ecospace can handle this process for you.

So if you are looking for a well designed, environmentally friendly garden studio, visit the Ecospace website.

Studioni

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We welcome Studioni to Garden Room Compare our unique tool for comparing garden room features and prices. Studioni offer a distinctive range of garden rooms – the garden office, garden studio and garden lodge as well as a bespoke design service.

Studioni garden rooms are available throughout the UK and in Ireland as well, as a result we have added a new section to Garden Room Compare for garden rooms in Ireland.

For more information about Studioni visit their websites www.studioni.co.uk and www.studioni.ie

Click on the photos below for a slideshow.

[photos]

Low E Glazing

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[caption id="attachment_1530" align="alignright" width="300" caption="How Low E glass works"][/caption]

Whilst double glazing is a standard feature on most garden office and studios specifications, some suppliers go a step further and offer low emissivity glazing. Low E glazing has a special coating on the outside of the inner pane of glass, this coating allows light and heat from the sun to pass into the room whilst preventing heat generated within the room from escaping out of the window. Low E glazing makes a garden office or studio warmer in winter and cooler in summer, which means the building is comfortable to use all year round and cost effective to run.

So how does it work? First we need to look at how heat from the sun and heat generated from within a room differ. Heat from the sun is a form of short wave radiation whilst heat generated from within a room is long wave radiation. With normal double glazing, in winter the long wave radiation escapes through the glass to the cool outside, whilst in summer too much shortwave radiation from the sun penetrates the glass making the room hot, Low E glass overcomes this problem, the special coating reflects the long wave radiation back into the room in winter and in summer filters the amount of short wave radiation that enters the room.

There are two types of Low E coating, a hard coat or a soft coat. Hard coat Low E glass is known as a pyrolytic coating and is applied during the float glass process, the coating is sprayed onto the glass at a very high temperature. Hard coat Low E glass is very durable and can be tempered after its been coated, on the downside hard coat Low E glazing has a slight haze which can be visible at certain angles. Hard coat Low E glazing has a higher u-value than soft coat Low E glass (in u-values the lower the value the better). The leading name in hard coat Low E glass is Pilkington K  glass.

Soft coat Low E glazing is created in a vacuum chamber and consists of optically invisible layers of silver and metal oxide. Soft coat Low E glass produces low u-values, allows high levels of light transmission, but up to 70% less ultra violet transmission than standard clear glass. On the downside soft coat Low E glass is difficult to handle and glass has to be tempered before it is coated. Soft coat Low E glass can only be used in double and triple glazed units where as hard coat Low E can be used on single panes of glass, it is also generally more expensive than hard coat Low E glass. SGG Planitherm Total  is an example of soft coat Low E glass.

Garden office suppliers such as Garden Haze , Maison d’etre Properties , Pod Space  and Vivid Green  use Low E glass as standard.

Are living walls the next stage in garden office design?

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[caption id="attachment_1525" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Sedums are popular in living walls & roofs"][/caption]

Living roofs have become common place in garden office design, they enhance the look of a garden office and offer benefits such as increased thermal and acoustic insulation, but how soon will it be before garden office designers follow the lead of Patrick Blanc founder of the vertical garden, and start ‘cladding’ their buildings in plants?

Plants have been grown up the exterior walls of buildings for years, to help them blend in with their surroundings but vertical gardening takes this to a whole different level, as the living wall is part of the buildings structure and acts as a protective cladding.

Vertical planting has until now been predominantly artistic installations, found on large urban buildings but the technology is constantly evolving and being scaled down to a point where it can be used on domestic installations.

The type of vertical wall installation that would be suitable for use in garden office design consists of modular planted panels; these panels consist of angular planting cells which retain the planting medium and an irrigation system which percolates water from top to bottom, meaning that a living wall need little maintance

Like a living roof an living wall offers many benefits, soil and planting offer greater thermal properties than normal types of cladding which makes the building easier and more cost effective to heat and cool, planting also improves acoustic insulation which is an important factor in garden room design, particularly if the building is to be used as a music room. Living walls are good at absorbing  water, it is estimated that 30kgs of water is absorbed per sq meter of living wall; like green roofs, living walls absorb C02 from the atmosphere, and provide natural biospheres for insects and birds.

Some people are reluctant to build in their garden because of the loss of green space, but a garden building clad in plants could be the solution! While we wait for living walled garden offices to be designed will have to make do with living roofs – Pod Space and Tor Garden Buildings offer living roofs as standard.

Under floor heating for garden offices & studios

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[caption id="attachment_1520" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Underfloor heating prevents cold feet!"][/caption]

Under floor heating is becoming a popular feature in garden office and studio specifications, and it offers many benefits over traditional types of garden office heating such as convector heaters or oil filled radiators.

While convector heaters and oil filled radiators heat a garden office well and quickly, as the heat rises you can end up with cold feet! Under floor heating means the whole room is evenly heated and walls are clear from radiators.

The under floor heating used in garden offices is a mat system as opposed to the hot water piping found in ‘proper’ houses. For garden offices with laminate or wooden floors, a foil under floor heating mat is used, this mat contains heating wires which when used in conjunction with floor insulation heat up quickly and efficiently.

Under floor heating systems come with programmable timers which means that you can specify the time the heating comes on and goes off, you can also specify the temperature setting.

Economical to run an average sized garden office with under floor heating costs around 50 pence per day in the winter.

Under floor heating is a standard feature on garden offices by Garden Haze and Vivid Green .

Cedar Cladding

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Western Red Cedar cladding is a popular finish on many garden offices, particularly contemporary garden offices where cedars clear grain and subtle colouring enhance the contemporary feel.

Although Western Red Cedar can be sourced from forests in the UK, the bulk of Western Red Cedar used in garden office construction is grown along the pacific coast from Northern California to Southwest Alaska; British Columbia alone has an estimated 750 million cubic meters of Western Red Cedar trees. A Western Red Cedar tree can grow up to 60m high and can have a diameter of 2.4m.

The amount of Western Red Cedar that is cut each year is strictly regulated, in British Columbia the chief forester determines how much is cut each year, but typically less than 1% of British Columbia’s Western Red Cedar is cut each year. When trees are cut it’s in such a way that groups of trees are left untouched and areas are reforested with seedlings.

Western Red Cedar is an excellent choice for garden office cladding as it is a dimensionally stable wood, which means it swells and shrinks minimally in response to humidity, so gaps won’t appear in the cladding. Western Red Cedar is also a good cladding because it has natural resistance to moisture absorption.

Western Red Cedar used for garden office cladding is often moulded into a tongue & groove profile which is particularly appropriate for contemporary designs as it is a flat profile with a simple ‘v’ groove between the boards. Western Red Cedar T&G cladding can be fixed both vertically and horizontally. Western Red Cedar interacts with ferrous materials so it is important that it is fixed with stainless steel or hot dipped galvanised fixings.

Western Red Cedars heartwood is a naturally durable material and can be left untreated; its rich brown and red colours will weather to a silver grey, if this is not desired Western Red Cedar cladding can be treated with an Alkyd based resin.

Western Red Cedar has a life expectancy in excess of 60 years and it is categorised as one of the most durable softwoods.

Western Red Cedar is a very light weight material which makes it quick to install so, for speed of installation, durability and its aesthetic properties Western Red Cedar is the perfect cladding for a garden office.

Pod Space and Vivid Green offer Western Red Cedar as standard cladding on their garden offices.

Which roof shape will suite your garden office?

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Like people, garden offices come in all shapes and sizes, and the style of roof chosen will have a significant effect on the appearance and feel of your garden office.

Flat Roof

[caption id="attachment_702" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Flat roofed garden office by Pod Space"][/caption]

Flat roof garden offices have become very popular over recent years because they often don’t need planning permission, because the overall building height is less than 2500mm high. A flat roof give a garden office a contemporary feel and are often covered with performance EPDM rubber membranes, living roof coverings such as sedums or turf or in some cases a coated metal roof covering.

On the downside a flat roofed garden room looses the extra headroom and airy feel that other roof styles such as a gabled or hipped roof can offer.

Flat roof garden offices are available from the following suppliers: Booths Garden Studios , Pod Space , Smart Garden Offices , Vivid Green

Gable Roof

[caption id="attachment_907" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Garden office with gable roof by Vivid Green"][/caption]

The traditional shaped roof of many homes, consisting of two equally pitched sides the ‘gable’ is the triangular portion of wall at each end. Garden offices with a gable roof are normally more traditional in design than flat roofed garden offices and often have roof coverings such as asphalt shingles, cedar shingles, clay tiles or slates. A garden office with a gable roof has a light and airy feel as the roof is often left open into the room ‘cathedral’ like.

Gable roof garden offices are available from the following suppliers: The Home Office Company , Vivid Green

Hipped Roof

[caption id="attachment_909" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Hipped roof garden office by Courtyard Designs"][/caption]

Hipped roofs are normally four sided and all the slopes run from the eaves of the garden office to a central point. Hipped roofs are normally found on traditional style garden offices and are an aesthetically pleasing feature both externally and internally. Internally a hipped roof creates a vaulted ceiling which provides the garden office with a light and airy feel, while externally a well built hipped roof is a thing of beauty.

Hipped roof garden offices are available from the following suppliers: Booths Garden Studios , Courtyard Designs , Garden Haze ,Homelodge , Maison d’etre Properties , Vivid Green

Curved Roof

[caption id="attachment_906" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Curved roof garden office by Tor Garden Buildings"][/caption]

A development of the flat roofed garden office is a curved roof. A curved roof creates an elegant and unusual roof line on a garden office. Curved roofs are normally covered with a living roof covering, and the curved form showcases this attractive roof covering off to its full potential – better even than a flat roof where the planting is often only visible from an upstairs window or by the very tall!

Curved roof garden offices are available from the following suppliers: Tor Garden Buildings

So, how do you decide which roof style to chose? A lot depends on personal taste, but if you have a hipped roof on your home a hipped roof garden office maybe the most complementary, but on the other hand a starkly modern flat roofed garden office can contrast well with an ancient thatched cottage!

Do you know where the wood in your garden office comes from?

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In our article ‘why wood is good for garden offices’ we saw how wood is the most widely used material in garden office construction, and offers a garden office many performance benefits such as increased thermal and acoustic insulation. But it is important that any timber used in garden office construction comes from sustainable sources.

Exploitation of forests means that tropical hardwoods are in danger of becoming extinct, and while most timber used in garden office construction is softwood sourced from managed European forests, which plant more trees than they cut, it’s important that each meter of wood used in garden office construction can be traced back to a managed source.

Independent bodies such as the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) offer certification schemes for wood, and a ‘chain of custody’ certificate enables wood to be traced from forest to final product via all successive stages of processing and distribution. Wood that holds FSC or PEFC certification is clearly marked.

Garden office suppliers should be able to prove that they buy wood for use in their buildings, they should be able to demonstrate that all the wood used in the building was brought from a FSC & PEFC registered supplier.

Being able to prove the timber you use is from a sustainable source is becoming common place, for instance a garden office supplier who wants to exhibit at the big trade shows such as the Chelsea Flower Show have to prove that all the wood is from an accredited source before an application is accepted.

Don’t be embarrassed to ask to see proof that all the wood used in your garden office is from a sustainable source, you owe it to the world, garden office suppliers who use accredited wood such as Alternative Space will be happy to prove it!

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