Garden room build project
Discussion
MrHappy said:
OP, well done, an excellent build.
Thank you.MrHappy said:
Can I ask your thoughts on the Breedon self-binding gravel please? That’s exactly the sort of thing that MrsH wants for a path round the garden. How is it for maintenance (weeds, autumn leaves etc)?
Well, after a couple of winters now since it's gone down I'd say it sits pretty much where you would expect based on price between pea shingle and paving. It's much nicer to walk on than gravel, being solid and doesn't support anything like as many weeds growing in it. I have had some self seeded grass taking root in areas that get a bit more damp than others but they pull out easily enough. But nothing like the ecosystem that pea shingle supports. It does lose a bit of its colour quite quickly, going more beige than golden, and some of the larger bits of gravel on the surface that aren't fully bound in get scuffed up and float around and can get caught up in treads of trainers. On the plus side, it is easy to smooth, blend and repair areas just by raking it out, re-levelling and whacking.But it isn't as nice as paving and you do need to contain it with some kind of edging and that costs money - though gravel has the same requirement. For the price it costs similar to pea shingle but performs closer to paving. For a windy path you can lay yourself it's almost as simple as pea shingle - just a bit of whacking extra. In terms of leaves, they just blow straight off, I blast them onto the grass and rake them off that, or directly into the flower beds to acts as a mulch.
Money and time no object - paving. But if you have a lot of paths to lay and want something that performs better than gravel, lower maintenance, for only a small cost increment, it's a good choice.
PhilboSE said:
Thanks all for kind words.
Initially half the room will be a gym with a weights half cage for the boy (he's 18 and can deadlift 270kg) and a bike and rowing machine for the rest of us. The other half of the room will have a pool table and maybe a MAME cabinet or pinball table, and some furniture we can sit inside or move out onto the patio.
A blow-off-steam room! Great ideamalaccamax said:
that's rather wonderful. What do you use it for?
It was conceived during Lockdown 1, son is a keen rugby player and was climbing the walls not able to go to the gym. So I offered to build one and thought I could crank it out before lockdown finished! As time went on and the design evolved we decided to make it a room that could be repurposed for many things over time.Initially half the room will be a gym with a weights half cage for the boy (he's 18 and can deadlift 270kg) and a bike and rowing machine for the rest of us. The other half of the room will have a pool table and maybe a MAME cabinet or pinball table, and some furniture we can sit inside or move out onto the patio.
What an excellent job you've done of the room and surrounding area too. Looks like we've finished around similar times, though mine is somewhat more modest; I did nod in agreement about your comments regarding the price of wood as we changed from the original Red Cedar to Siberian Larch mid project due to the big price increases. It still ended up about what we'd expected at the start and while I'd have loved Red Cedar I'm happy with the Larch and a mix of different stains I applied. Yours looks totally bomb proof though with the silicon render.
However, not only do I hope we never have to go through another lock down for restriction reasons, I don't want it to give me anymore ideas of projects to build...like you it all started back in 2020 with 'an idea'.
However, not only do I hope we never have to go through another lock down for restriction reasons, I don't want it to give me anymore ideas of projects to build...like you it all started back in 2020 with 'an idea'.
AyBee said:
Great space OP and superb that that's a self-build.
Many thanks, though it wasn’t done entirely solo. I had a second pair of experienced hands for key things like groundworks, the timber framing and the external joinery and I was very much the apprentice in those jobs. The patio area, electrics, all decorating and internal fitout I did solo apart from plastering. I also brought all the materials down to site which was good for my step count!AyBee said:
I wonder what it would have cost to get someone else to do; probably many times more than it cost you.
I think about double, which is fair enough given the amount of labour I put into it that would otherwise have had to be paid for. The advantage of DIY is that I had a strong vision of the final finish and detail, so I was able to do things like put the power socket back boxes at first fix where I wanted them so they ended up in the middle of the wainscot panels.MrJuice said:
How do you heat the room?
The plan is to install a split dual heating/cooling aircon unit onto the left wall as you look at the building, with the heat exchanger sitting on a plinth outside. I put in a dedicated circuit for the unit and a breaker on the outside wall for this purpose. I didn't quite get around to installing this last year - I didn't like the number I was quoted by someone to supply and fit, so I decided to go with a hybrid self-install with final commissioning by a suitably qualified person. This is on the to-do list for this year, but the room has been in use as a weights room and gym through the winter and it almost doesn't need it. The level of insulation means that the thermal gain from sunlight raises the temperature inside the room enough above ambient that heating hasn't been required, especially when it's being used for exercising. I'm going to see how the room behaves during the coming summer and decide what to do then. It may not need the full expense of an A/C unit, just a couple of electric rads.DocJock said:
Missed this thread first time round.
Top job OP.
Many thanks - I spent much of the Autumn planting up around the garden so it's beginning to look a bit less stark. Another couple of years and it'll look a lot more integrated.Top job OP.
I also missed this first time round. Absolutely fantastic!!
We've recently moved into a property with a 6m x 5m summerhouse / garden room and that was a great appeal to us even tho there's much more than ample space in the house. This was built in 2018 and was in the region of £50k. An odd thing for us is that whilst it's an awesome space and great to have there's actually no real need for it so I can appreciate the issue of "value" to some buyers being an individual thing.
Ours is heated with a log burner and because the house already has a study and an office we've really we've just used it over the winter for a few evenings as a sort of log cabin room for a change of scenery.
We've recently moved into a property with a 6m x 5m summerhouse / garden room and that was a great appeal to us even tho there's much more than ample space in the house. This was built in 2018 and was in the region of £50k. An odd thing for us is that whilst it's an awesome space and great to have there's actually no real need for it so I can appreciate the issue of "value" to some buyers being an individual thing.
Ours is heated with a log burner and because the house already has a study and an office we've really we've just used it over the winter for a few evenings as a sort of log cabin room for a change of scenery.
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