I am thinking about getting a garden office. I would be using this building all year round working in it most days so needs to be well insulated so the cold doesn't get at me and also needs to not get too hot in the summertime. Also there would be about 6k of computer equipment in there so needs to be as secure as possible. Because most of my work is done on computers I don't want huge swathes of glass windows and doors as I find too much light getting in stops me from seeing the screen clearly due to reflections. I'm thinking of one with approximate dimensions 3.5mx3.5m. Any suggestions for a vendor that fits in well with these criterior. Also I'm not against putting it together myself.
I have a friend who has one of these - a wooden shack about the dimensions you suggestion, perhaps slightly bigger.
Nice in the summer, but he reckons in the winter it's a pain to keep warm and not a very nice place to work. Must spend a lot of money with electric heating in there I think.
As I recall it doesn't have much in the way of insulation. It's really no more than a typical garden shed - four walls, ceiling, all wood.
I guess it might make a difference if it were insulated. But then again, it might have been better to consider an alternative. Would perhaps a caravan be an option? At least with a caravan the fibreglass shell is hardy towards the weather, and you tend to have an instant means of making a cuppa (and doing some of the other things that the body expects from time to time....).
snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com (William.R.Reisen) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com:
I did this in a converted shed. I filled all the gaps in the walls then lined the whole of the inside with rockwool, and covered over the top of this with plywood. Did the same for the ceiling, running the rockwool between the "joists" and covering over with plywood.
It worked well, it was fine to heat in the winter I had a little fan heater that did the trick well. The shed was around 10' by 8'. The main problem I had was the heat in the summer, it reched stupid proportions, about 30 degrees. It was suggested to paint the roof with siler felt seal to reflect the heat, but I never got round to that.
For power I ran cable down the garden and had a seperate consumer unit in the shed, which after some discussion was decided the best way to do it, with an isdolator indoors where it ran from the main CU.
I had a good proportion of computer equpiment in there although not as much as you, but it did get cold overnight, due to not having a proper heater in there. If you go this route I would suggest putting in a proper wall heater that can run overnight to take the chill off if it drops too low.
Saved space in the house though and was great for escaping SWMBO!!
"William.R.Reisen" wrote | I am thinking about getting a garden office. I would be using this | building all year round working in it most days so needs to be well | insulated so the cold doesn't get at me and also needs to not get too | hot in the summertime. Also there would be about 6k of computer | equipment in there so needs to be as secure as possible. Because most | of my work is done on computers I don't want huge swathes of glass | windows and doors as I find too much light getting in stops me from | seeing the screen clearly due to reflections. I'm thinking of one with | approximate dimensions 3.5mx3.5m. Any suggestions for a vendor that | fits in well with these criterior. Also I'm not against putting it | together myself.
You could consider something like an Omar Lodge, which can be built to transportable or B.Regs standards. Not Cheap Though. omar.co.uk and ask for a custom quote because the nearest thing on the website is probably a 6 bedroom Leisure Lodge which is probably slight overkill.
Much depends on how much dosh you have. I like English Heritage buildings which are framed in green oak. If you want to, you can lay the f=oundation and build the dwarf wall, they install the frame then you finish off. They'll do as much or as little as you want.
I've been considering buying an UnoPiu garden office. they're extremely well made and shipped as a flat pack. Not sure if they are available here yet but very popular in Germany and Italy.
One of the chaps I work for imported a Norwegian chalet as an office in his Sussex garden. It was built by slotting together quite thick (30mm+) pre shaped softwood planks. It came complete with a mezzanine for sleeping quarters, though to keep the profile low he omitted the last 50cm of walls, using the mezzanine as storage.
It is quite well insulated and the only heating he used was a fan heater last year, and then only occasionally. The wooden floor extends outside to make a veranda. Apparently they are popular as cabins for weekenders in Norway, where the population apparently migrates to the coast in summer.
I looked earlier in the year with similar criteria for something to use as a small workshop and store.
I rejected the typical garden shed type of building as sold in the DIY stores because they are generally flimsy rubbish. There are better quality ones around at garden centres which have specialist distributors of garden buildings on their site. Even so, I couldn't find quite what I wanted.
There are certainly vendors of modular offices which come in panel form, already insulated and ready to go. Essentially you pick the wall, floor and roof sections that you need and they are delivered and erected in a few weeks. These are good quality, and that is reflected in the price - for the sort of size you are talking about - £10k+
I then considered building myself from scratch using substantial timber framing, cladding in ply and then boarding on top of that. There are plenty of plans around for making such a building.
I then also looked at kit form log cabins originating from the Nordic countries and Holland. There are various types and qualities, and the larger ones are typically used for sauna cabins at summer homes in Finland and Sweden.
The principle of most is that they have machined sections of softwood which slot together alternately to form the wall structure. Depending on cabin size and quality, these can range from 20mm thick up to about 45mm.
I looked around, compared prices and against buying materials plus time required and came to the conclusion that this could be good value.
Having contacted various manufacturers and asking for information, I ended up buying a 3m x 2.5m cabin from a Finnish company, Luoman Puutuote
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Their UK distributor is buydirect.co.uk (web site is the same name), and this cabin cost £1255 including delivery and VAT. This model has 28mm walls and the package includes everything needed to complete the building. The manufacturer recommends using a concrete base and I would tend to agree - having a decent and flat surface is essential in getting the complete building square.
I am not keen on concreting and backbreaking stuff like that, so I employed a landscape contractor to build a concrete base, which I had edged in bricks. The garden slopes a little where the building is, and this gave a better result rather than having to look at the edge of concrete. This particular cabin comes with a terrace which is separately built. I didn't really want it so have used the timber for other purposes.
The building arrived by lorry a few days later and on two large pallets, wrapped in heavy gauge polyethylene sheet and strapped. In this size of cabin, the total weight is over 600kg just for the main building. The driver did help to unpack the materials and the key thing with any project like this is to sort and label the pieces. All of the timber was of very good quality.
Pressure treated bearers are supplied, but only 50mm x 50mm, so I decided to put in 100x50mm ones instead since I wanted to insulate the floor. I put DPC strips under the bearers and then formed a frame using the bearers and putting in noggins to hold them in place, checking very carefully for square. This took me a couple of hours using a chop saw and a framing nailer. Without these tools it might take half a day.
On the following day, I was able to get all of the walls erected in about half a day. The logs slot together up to a certain height, then the door and window frames are slid into place. The logs are then added to eaves height and finally up to the ridge. Substantial timber purlins and a ridge member complete the basic structure. I did all of this with a little help from my son in just under the day.
The roof is then completed with tongued and grooved boards. Felt is supplied, but rather a light grade. If I were only felting the roof, I would have bought a heavier grade. As it was, I decided to do something different and to use Western Red Cedar shakes to create a more rustic appearance. These were fitted to a system of pressure treated battens and nailed in place using stainless steel nails.
Before fitting the felt onto the roof boards, I sprayed them with three treatments of Cuprinol Clear Wood Preserver. This product has the advantage that it can be overpainted or varnished without the colour being affected, and any spillage is therefore not a problem either.
Even though I say it myself, the result is pleasing. The roofing job in cedar, including manufacturing a cedar ridge board took a couple of days. I also produced some additional barge, soffit and fascia boards to add some architectural detail, but those that come with the cabin are fine, albeit plain. A felt or felt shingle roof would also be quite acceptable and could be completed in half a day.
There is 600kg of timber, so the building is generally not going to move a great deal. However, the manufacturers supply timbers to be fitted vertically in the corners as belt and braces in case of strong winds. I used an alternative strategy which I'll come to in a second.
The floor is also tongued and groove boarding. Before fitting that, I placed 50mm Celotex sheet between the bearers supported on wooden strips nailed to them, allowing 25mm air gap underneath and 25mm above. This was then sealed using foil tape arranged so that the space under the floorboards is ventilated via vent holes to the interior. The floor was then secret nailed into place, after having treated the board undersides with Clear Cuprinol as before.
I wanted to insulate the walls and roof, so studded the walls with
63x38mm CLS timber. This was the alternate for the storm battens. Fitting has to be done carefully. To allow for the exterior timbers to expand and shrink, one of the fasteners of the studs had to be arranged with a slot. Any areas that would be hidden were sprayed with Cuprinol as before. More Celotex was used for the insulation and finally the walls and ceiling were clad in TGV timber. There was about two days work in all of that.
Luoman recommends the use of a range of preservatives and paints originating from Jotun, a Norwegian company.
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and
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They make an opaque product, Demidekk, and a translucent one, Trebitt. These are available in a very wide range of colours or a colour mix system - these being much more appropriate to the type of building than some of the garish ones normally available in the DIY stores.
Jotun have a rather nice colour selector applet on their web site which can be reached by selectind "Male Ute" from the toolbar followed by "FargeVelger". From this, you can switch to English and set up an account. Then you can choose a building from their library and paint it with different products. Their UK distributor, PDS
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can also supply very good brochures and colour charts. I used mainly Trebitt because I liked the opaque effect and sprayed three coats. It could also be applied by brush. Both are solvent based paints, taking the best part of 24 hours between coats. The results are excellent, however.
I'm completing the project by running an electricity supply and fitting dado trunking so that it is easy to change wiring accessories around as uses change.
As I say, we're using this as a small workshop and store, but there is no reason that it would not be suitable for other applications such as an office. Based on the experience of using Celotex in my garage workshop, the heating costs should be very low indeed when used.
The basic building was very quick to put together, and I liked the idea of being able to adapt and add to meet my specific requirements.
This is basically what I did, although the product came from Finland. One advantage of this type of building is that the roof slope is generally very low (mine is 18 degrees), so you can have a relatively large floor area without reaching the 4m height point at which planning permission becomes necessary.
They are quite widely used all over the Nordic region as summer cabins or for building a sauna.
It is very common for people to take the whole of July as vacation and go to one of these that they own or rent - the Finns and Swedes to the lakes and forests and Norwegians typically to coastal regions as you say.
We shouldn't forget that Slartibartfast, the planetary designer was a specialist in fjords and won an award for Norway.
I've just finished doing the same job - but using ordinary building materials, mostly bought second-hand via Adtrader. My 16ft x 10ft office cost 1200ukp and looks great.
It's built of breeze blocks, rendered and painted. The roof is properly tiled with slates and terracotta ridge tiles. Two double glazed UPVC windows and a pair of Wickes UPVC french doors let in plenty of light and fresh air. Second hand items: Roof trusses £100 Windows £60 Slates £180 Remainder: 6 metres ready-mix £240. Blocks £264. French doors £199. Ridge tiles £54. Sand. cement & timber made up the balance.
I've added a false chimney for birds to nest in and a bit of trellis & planting to blend it all in. Now the wife is threatening to make a take-over bid......
I did all the work myself - never done anuthing like it before but it all came out perfectly. It has taken just over three months and the only tough bits were digging out the footings and laying the blocks up the apex of the roof. If you don't have the time, try advertising for a pensioner to do it for you!
I've just finished doing the same job - but using ordinary building materials, mostly bought second-hand via Adtrader. My 16ft x 10ft office cost 1200ukp and looks great.
It's built of breeze blocks, rendered and painted. The roof is properly tiled with slates and terracotta ridge tiles. Two double glazed UPVC windows and a pair of Wickes UPVC french doors let in plenty of light and fresh air. Second hand items: Roof trusses £100 Windows £60 Slates £180 Remainder: 6 metres ready-mix £240. Blocks £264. French doors £199. Ridge tiles £54. Sand. cement & timber made up the balance.
I've added a false chimney for birds to nest in and a bit of trellis & planting to blend it all in. Now the wife is threatening to make a take-over bid......
I did all the work myself - never done anuthing like it before but it all came out perfectly. It has taken just over three months and the only tough bits were digging out the footings and laying the blocks up the apex of the roof. If you don't have the time, try advertising for a pensioner to do it for you!
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