Man Cave (Sheds) - What material?

[Miguel Alvarez]

Now that the house is in a decent enough shape. The time has come to focus on the shed aka the man cave and I'll be honest I'm having a proper undecisive moment on what to choose. I don't know whether to go for wood or concrete.

I have about 7 wide x 12/14 long feet to play with. Possibly wider if I cut a tree down or two.

I want to use this area for a home gym and to watch TV and have the odd cigar. So its got to be above everything dry and warm. I can see a good deal of my records being banished to this area as well.

This is not the final resting place so don't want to go massively wild with costs so am looking ideally around the £2-£2500 mark for the basic shell and base excluding electrics.

What would you guys go for? I'm possibly leaning more towards the concrete if truth be told but only because I imagine it would be less maintenance.

[moles]

Doing it all yourself?. If so concrete base and blocks will be within budget if paying someone would be better with wood or buy one from dunster house.

[Simpo Two]

Won't concrete look like a council house garage?

I'd go for a log cabin style.

[V8RX7]

Brick or block might just be in budget with a cheaper roof.

Otherwise I'd prefer decent timber over a pre cast concrete my 12x12 shed that I built from 3x2 and treated shiplap only needed re felting after 6 years - never had to re stain it.

[Miguel Alvarez]

This is the concrete style. I was thinking of boarding out the inside so it'll look more like a room than a garage.

http://www.summergardenbuildings.co.uk/products/ga...


Then the log cabin is something like this.

http://www.summergardenbuildings.co.uk/products/lo...

With the layout of garden and surrounding houses again I'm leaning towards the concrete look. I'm ex council at the end of the day so a flashy log cabin might look out of place.

ETA

I probably won't be doing it myself. I'll possibly make my own concrete base but places like this one above offer a fitting service as "free". The price for the lot seems fairly reasonable to me for minimal fuss.

Edited by Miguel Alvarez on Thursday 30th January 15:53

[Fishtigua]

Have you checked for planning permission?

http://www.thegardenroomguide.co.uk/category/plann...

[Miguel Alvarez]

@ Fishtigua - For my area the guidelines were roof to be no higher than 2.5m and the floor space not to exceed 15m2. Anything outside of that then I'm looking at building regs and planning permission.

Assuming I've read it all correctly.

[Simpo Two]

Well that particular log cabin does look a bit 'Hansel & Gretel'; there must be more staid designs to choose.

[V8RX7]

It's a personal thing really - but I think the conc ones look horrific

[Miguel Alvarez]

Haha I'm definitely not going for the Hansel and Gretel look.

Ignoring the looks bit for a moment. Which would be a better material for a chill out/gym room at the bottom of a garden?

The other issue would be heating the thing.

[V8RX7]

Miguel Alvarez said:

Haha I'm definitely not going for the Hansel and Gretel look.

Ignoring the looks bit for a moment. Which would be a better material for a chill out/gym room at the bottom of a garden?

You posted up the cheesy cabin ! I was think more of this type of thing

http://dunsterhouse.co.uk/log-cabins/35m-x-25m-car...

(Just the first one google found)

Wood is a far better insulator than concrete obviously lining either with Celotex is far better still.

[Miguel Alvarez]

V8RX7 said:

You posted up the cheesy cabin ! I was think more of this type of thing

http://dunsterhouse.co.uk/log-cabins/35m-x-25m-car...

(Just the first one google found)

Wood is a far better insulator than concrete obviously lining either with Celotex is far better still.

Lol. Let me correct myself. I quite like the H&G one but think it would look naff in my garden hence going for the more council look, for want of a better term.

That one you've linked is quite nice and if wood is the better option then its the better option.

My only other question is how to heat the thing? I was thinking a couple of halogen heaters but again I'm a bit unsure on how to tackle this as I don't know anyone close enough with a man shed/summer cabin that I can ask for advice.

[V8RX7]

Really it's up to you - conc is harder to break into, longer lasting etc but I wouldn't want one.

If you're sitting around for hours in the winter I'd want windows and a heater - if I was in there all day I'd go with a small woodburner (obviously you'd have to be careful) or as you suggested the halogen type / fan heater will work well for short periods.

Conc will condensate and drip on you unless insulated

[Miguel Alvarez]

Cheers V8RX7. I'm still reading up on it and I've noticed a few people mentioning the condensation issue with concrete which then means the costs go up again to insulate. I'm going to go view a few shed places locally this weekend and get an idea of what's available.