Garden Rooms

[NotMyCircusNotMyProblem]

Y'know, like a glorified summer house.
OH is mad keen on having a garden room placed in our recently created garden.

Tbh, the price he has been quoted is very reasonable... which puts paid to my 'we can't afford it' argument. It includes electrics and insulation - we can afford it BUT, do they serve any purpose?

I just can't see us using it much.
So, if you have garden room, do you use it? What do you use it as? Was it worth the money?

I'm just not sold on the idea.

3m x 3m is actually very small once you put in a chair, bar, exercise equipment or anything really! I wrongly assumed you meant a much larger, useable space.

Are you adding any plumbing and electrics? A relative has one but it has a seperate full bathroom and an open plan kitchen/lounge. Technically its a summer house, but I know friends have stayed overnight in it when the main house is full.

We are renovating and have built a shed/summer house the size of a double garage. We've added plumbing and plan a toilet and sink. I garden and want to use it to dry onions, store pumpkins. Some people use theirs for hobbies/craft.

That's a lot less than we were quoted. Similar size was £12k!

Agree 3 x 3 is small if you go ahead I’d get it bigger

How could I forget! A neighbour had one but apparently the roof hadn't been tethered down correctly when built. In a storm, the entire roof peeled off and crushed the fence between them and the next neighbour. If you buy a kit type one, make sure you get an experienced carpenter/builder etc to actually put it all together and secure it properly. Also check whether its covered in your home insurance.

Use ours as a gym and games room

Well presumably your husband wants one for a reason. Yes it would be unreasonable to buy one just to have one. We and most of our neighbours have some form of ‘garden room’ - mainly offices.

OP, at that price I'd be wary of what corners are being cut. What sort of insulation and thickness? Is it a proper rubber roof or cheapo felt. What size timbers and what cladding.

I built one myself to use for work and absolutely love it.

I've been out there half the day. It's set up for WFH plus I use it for sewing. Our downstairs is open plan and small so it's the only place to get some peace. I've slept out there with the doors open in hot weather. It helps to have a purpose for it.

I don't think you can ever have enough space.

They can have so many uses.

I love ours, it's so weirdly peaceful as soon as you step into it.

We have a small summer house, which we use daily in the Spring and Autumn. We deliberately positioned it so that we get the evening sun in there, which means we can effectively sit in the garden for much longer, ie it would be too chilly to just sit out in the patio.

It has no electricity, which I love, as it's lit by candles so gives a bit more of a camping vibe and is somehow more relaxing than sitting indoors!

Ours was about £500 during lockdown, but DH insulated it himself which then cost about another £200, including flooring.

Definitely wouldn't be without it.

That sounds too cheap to me.
I would also suspect that the 'electrics' won't include putting a suppy cable underground and connecting to your consumer unit.

Look at www.thegardenroomguide.co.uk

'A popular sized small garden room of 3m x 3m has an average price of £21,368 while a larger 5m x 3m example averages £26,928 including VAT and installation.'

We had one built in 2015 on a bit of a whim. We had an huge old garage and workshop in our garden that was falling down and pretty much useless. A friend had had a garden room built for the same reason and once we saw it we had to have one so used the same builders.

The cost of demolishing it and building a two room garden cabin was £15k and it's the best money we ever spent I'm sure it would cost double that if not more now as it's huge.

Originally it was just be used as a relaxing space, party room and occasional guest room it became a god send as an office during Covid and is now popular with our teens and their friends for sleepovers. DH still works out there two or three days a week.

We love ours - it's 4m x 3m so a bit bigger - and has electrics so we have a TV and mini fridge in there, a fan and a heater (for when it's late Autumn/ early Spring as don't use in winter).
It's been v useful as a 2nd lounge if I have friends over and DH is in lounge and also DD when home from Uni uses it for parties and sleepovers with friends.
We added an extra window on one Side and a mini shed to house the mower et al on the other.

Will you be getting a concrete base? That's what pushed the price up for us. We got guttering added and a water butt round the back which has been a godsend as our veg patch is by the Cabin garden room.

What we call the garden room is an actual extension on the back of the house which we built to replace the manky old conservatory that was there previously. We’ve also converted the separate garage to an office/library for me.

DSD and her DH built one - it has been used for allsorts. Sleepover nights for mates/kids, Mens/Beer football nights and now used as a salon for her DD's side line of eyebrows and eyelashes along with beauty couch.
As an aside I actually think it's more comfortable as a social and living area than their proper living space in the house!!

I just checked the original listing of my sons house and the garden room is 4meters by 4 meters so bigger than I thought it was
but I think anything smaller would be a squash if trying to use it for multiple use

Same here. Windows all round but a bedroom on top so definitely not a conservatory.