Space Behind Garden office - keep paving or remove?

[Specflow77]

See pics

So I will remove trampoline and add a garden office. The corner is sadly an awkward shape (not 90 degrees) but garden office is square (cannot afford a bespoke solution).

I will get the area in the photo paved for a foundation.

Much of the existing paving (under the trampoline) will not be needed (see saerial imagery) as the footprint will not cover the area deep in the corner.

Would you remove those paving stones and just have soil there, Was wondering if this would be better for drainage but also potentailly could grow some thing behind garden offices (maybe rambling roses or something).

Or would you just leave it paved. Not sure what I could use that space for - it's going to be a rectangular corner with limited access but feels wasteful to lose a buit of my garden.

Thoughts?

Personally I'd leave it paved so it doesn't end up full of invasive weeds, especially as you will have limited access.

Just put some nice potted plants on the patio next to the office.

I'd move the garden office forward ever so slightly, and have a shady garden bed there, maybe with 1 single chair for those 3 days when it is too hot to work from the garden office but i still want privacy.

I take it there's no window that side?

How limited is the access? We had space behind our garden office and some is paved and has big plastic garden storage cupboards on it - we keep the garden furniture cushions in there!

Paved, pull office out slightly and stand compost bins there?

Yes, I could leave a gap to improve access. Even if it was very close to the wall I could climb on the wall and drop down into that little triangle of shade. I'm not sure what I'd use it for but someone is coming to quote for the job of extending the paving for the garden office base so i want to think of these things now before it's too late.

Don't pave. The space will be of absolutely no value to anyone/ anything if you do.

I like the idea of an idyllic little hideaway.

Reading the responses back, for the sake of a 50cm gap from the wall it seems worth it to have easy access.

Can you turn the office so its corner fits a bit better into that corner of the garden?

Just check the suppliers spec for suitable foundation, for the type of building you have selected, we had a concrete base laid, it’s quite a few inches deep. Our office is 4x3mtrs. But double skinned so very heavy. The company we used had in there t&c’s if the base was unsuitable and they could not install the building, we would be charged for a wasted install visit. Our building took two full days to install, then painters for two days. It’s really exciting seeing it all come together.

@Specflow77

Reading the responses back, for the sake of a 50cm gap from the wall it seems worth it to have easy access.

Yes, I'd say this will let you to make better use of the space! The space behind ours allows us to tidy away all manner of unsightly junk out of the garden .

About foundations - if there's a void beneath the office consider chicken wire deeper down the side of the foundations. We had a family of foxes burrow underneath and live under ours!

@Roselilly36

Just check the suppliers spec for suitable foundation, for the type of building you have selected, we had a concrete base laid, it’s quite a few inches deep. Our office is 4x3mtrs. But double skinned so very heavy. The company we used had in there t&c’s if the base was unsuitable and they could not install the building, we would be charged for a wasted install visit. Our building took two full days to install, then painters for two days. It’s really exciting seeing it all come together.

yeah, this is crucial , their guideline is if you can lay a long piece of wood on it and it touches the surface at all points then it should be ok. I'll have to ask the paving guy who is coming to quote if he can do it to this flatness. Must be a common job these days so I would expect so but I need to get that clear. I could pay the gardenhouse24 company but they charge £1276 for a concrete base which seems excessive - especially since I have half paved already.

I would have a large water butt behind the office to collect water from the roof, as it won't be seen you can use an IBC tank. I have 3 and they're fab.

It's a useful space for storing stuff out of sight, so definitely ensure there is access.

We paid just over £1000, last year. Prices for materials have risen so much. So what they have quoted is probably about right. You could ask a local builder for a quote for comparison OP.

About foundations - if there's a void beneath the office consider chicken wire deeper down the side of the foundations. We had a family of foxes burrow underneath and live under ours!

How lovely! A good reason to not put chicken wire deeper 😉

@Yarnivore

I would have a large water butt behind the office to collect water from the roof, as it won't be seen you can use an IBC tank. I have 3 and they're fab.

It's a useful space for storing stuff out of sight, so definitely ensure there is access.

Would be nice to water the garden in summer.

One question, do you ever get a mosquito problem from having one? I know they are not so bad in this country but we occasionally get a few and wondered if they lay there eggs in water butts or IBC tanks.

I've never noticed a mosquito problem, and we have a pond too, so lots of water about.

So the paving guy came tonight. We measured it out together and the footprint actually will go right up to the tree. It was even debatable if it would fit. How stupid of me. Thinking of removing the tree now. It's a Laburnum. Would having the garden office right up to the trunk and under a tree be a bad idea? It attracts loads of bees in June and of course is deciduous so would be covered in leaves plus bird droppings etc.

I would probably go down the route of having the tree chopped down and then having the stump ground down and leave the roots in to rot over 20 years or whatever it is. Is this an easy job/expensive? I take it the lawn can grow over the top seamlessly in time?

Been thinking of removing it before anyway (It was there when we moved in) and is kind of too big for our garden. Could plant something prettier and smaller there instead like an amelanchiar. What to do

Laburnum is poisonous so you’d be doing any subsequent families a favour
“All parts of Common laburnum are extremely poisonous, but the pea-like seeds are particularly attractive to children. If ingested, they can cause nausea and vomiting, and can be lethal in large doses (15 seeds or more).”

Oh no, what a thing to not notice!

If it needs to come out for your garden office, so be it. Like PP said, it is probable that a future buyer would take it out. Maybe as your environmental penance, replace with TWO trees?

Depending on the plan for the garden house, you could have the stump covered in a raised bed, then it could slowly rot away quite happily within.

^ oh, but cut it down now before anything can nest in it.

@TheSpottedZebra

^ oh, but cut it down now before anything can nest in it.

Yes, please.

I'm afraid it's already nesting season (1st March to 31st July).
www.elementtreecare.co.uk/tree-surgeons-and-the-law.php

Just the sort of thing, I would do OP! We have these moments, is there anywhere else in the garden you could site it, or could you change to a smaller garden room with the supplier? We had a tree removed, I can’t remember the cost it was quite a few years back, the grinding of the stump, really ups the cost. Good luck, it will be worth it in the end.

[quote CornflakeMum]I'm afraid it's already nesting season (1st March to 31st July).
www.elementtreecare.co.uk/tree-surgeons-and-the-law.php[/quote]
It is, but leaves are not yet on deciduous trees yet, so it will be OK.

However, should anyone be planning to take out an evergreen tree or hedge, or rip out a load of ivy, they ought to think twice.

Leave a small gap for access. You could have a compost bin there and other garden storage for empty pots etc, or a hideaway little seating area with ferns and whatnot. I'd love that.