Whether you’re looking to add a garden room to your outdoor space for some peace and quiet, to add an outdoor bar or cinema room, or to create a home office that isn’t 100% inside your home, a garden room undoubtedly adds value. In a time when everyone is trying to add value to their homes, you may be asking yourself which improvement would offer the best returns on your investment. In considering that, you might think a garden room is more of a fun addition rather than something that will add value. Think again! So, is a garden room a good investment? Below are a few of the reasons why we think it’s a resounding yes.

1.      Add floor space at a lower cost

Increasing floor space by adding an extension can be expensive and generally requires planning permission. In comparison, a garden room usually does not require planning permission (unless the size exceeds 30sq m or it takes up more than 50% of your garden). It’s also a significantly more affordable option. In many cases, it can also save you a great deal of time versus a traditional extension, making it a great alternative if you can’t wait. Of course, a traditional loft conversion or extension may add more value to your home than a garden room, but it also costs more, so weighing up the options is a good idea.

2.      Garden rooms can be stunning

Modern garden rooms have nothing to do with the sheds of yore. They’re stunning modern miniature houses with contemporary windows and doors, beautiful cladding, heating, and more. Adding a garden room can be the ideal addition to your home if you’re a little tired of your abode but can’t afford to fully refurbish the whole house. They can give you a bit of respite, an external home office that isn’t (exactly) in your home, an incredible games room or outdoor bar. The options are endless.

3.      Attract home office or small business owners

Garden rooms make the perfect home offices, as they are not truly in your home, offering a dedicated work area away from your living space. Home office workers and small business owners will be especially attracted to the prospect of working in their own dedicated space. Attracting additional buyers drives up the value of your home, making this a win-win. Particularly post-covid buyers will be interested in finding a space that offers a dedicated work area on their property.

4.      Garden rooms add value

Whether you are looking to sell your home and attract more potential buyers in the form of hobbyists, artists or small business owners, or just increase its prospective value by adding something unique, adding a garden room is a great investment. Garden rooms are estimated to add between 5% and 15% of value to your property – an estimated 1.5 times the value of their cost, according to Ideal Home [1] and other analysts, depending on their build quality and the overall quality of your home. They’re a wonderful way of improving your lifestyle and creating value.

Adding a garden room to your outdoor space can be a wonderful way of increasing the value of your home. Garden rooms can be used to just relax and see the day out with a good book and a cup of coffee or they can provide a useful additional space for working in peace and quiet. Whether you are an artist seeking to set up a small studio outside or you wish to add a home office that isn’t entirely in your home, a garden room can be a great way to do this. Adding WiFi can become vital if you choose to use your garden room as an office space with a computer. So, how to get WiFi in a garden room? Below are a few methods:

1.      WiFi extenders for garden rooms

The simplest way to get WiFi in your garden room will be to install WiFi extenders in your property. WiFi extenders do exactly what they say on the tin – they extend the Wifi from your home’s router so it can reach further. If your garden room isn’t further than 30m away from your house, a WiFi extender will likely be the easiest and most cost-effective solution to get internet in your garden room. The advantage of this method is that it causes minimal fuss and can be done without any electrical knowledge or outside help. Argos offer a simple WiFi extender for £15.99 [1] that gets positive reviews.

2.      Powerline adapters for your garden space

Another relatively simple way to connect your garden room to your home’s WiFi network is via the existing electrical connection from your home to the garden room. You need simply attach two powerline adapters – one plugged in inside your home, one inside your garden room. Connect your home adapter to your router using an ethernet cable, and connect the adapter in the garden room to your device using another ethernet cable – done! The advantage of this method is that your signal doesn’t run the risk of dropping, since everything is hardwired. TP-Link offer a great powerline starter kit, which is available via both Screwfix [2] and Argos for £29.99.

3.      Ethernet cables for your garden office

The most robust option for use with home offices by far is extending your ethernet cables directly from your home’s router to your garden room. This method means you’ll get a strong signal and no issues with your WiFi once it’s been set up (beyond anything normal such as your provider having downtime to do work). However, you may need an engineer to install the ethernet cable for you and they will require an armoured cable underground to do so. Doing so will cost approximately £100-200 for the work and materials, however, it’s a more permanent solution and you won’t have any additional devices to maintain.

4.      WiFi point-to-point for hard-to-reach garden rooms

A similar solution to the WiFi extender method, point-to-point (PTP) is more complicated to install but will get you a better signal. If your garden room is more than 30m away from your home and you’re set on not installing any cables underground, this may be the way to go. An engineer will charge on average between £150-£200 to set up one PTP unit on the outside of your house and one on the outside of your garden room, effectively giving your router the ability to extend to your garden office. It’s probably the most complex method and almost certainly the priciest, but a good option for those who just can’t run cables underground for whatever reason.

Do you want to create more space for you and your family without the upheaval of a traditional house extension? A garden room could be just the solution, even if you are not blessed with the largest of outdoor spaces. A small garden room, with a more compact and space-saving design, could give you the extra space you need without taking up too much precious outdoor space.

What exactly is a small garden room?

Garden rooms are an increasingly popular home improvement, creating a new outbuilding which is entirely separate from your house. Small garden rooms, as the name suggests, are more compact versions which can be designed specifically to fit into smaller gardens or engineered to utilise tight spaces or forgotten corners.

What can garden rooms be used for?

Bright, airy and comfortable, garden rooms are hugely versatile and can serve many different purposes. The rise in homeworking has led many to opt for a home office garden room in order to better separate home and work life. But a garden room could also be used as a home gym, yoga room, library, storage room, hobby space or simply somewhere to relax.

Why choose a small garden room?

In many towns, cities and new builds, garden space is a premium. A small garden room is perfect for adding extra living space when you have a smaller outdoor space. But they do not have to be reserved for smaller gardens. Small garden rooms can also be ideal in a larger garden if you are looking for a discrete and unobtrusive space which does not take up too much green space. They could also be the perfect solution if you have a particular use in mind, such as a single-person office or a home gym.

What are the benefits of a garden room?

It may be smaller in size but a small garden room still offers big benefits.

.       Extra space – small garden rooms bring extra space which can be invaluable, especially to larger families or those who work from home.
.       Convenience – Located in the garden, your new room is just a short walk from your home and home comforts yet remains a distinct space where you can enjoy privacy or peace and quiet.
.       Flexible – Your garden room can be used for whatever purpose you like. Its high-quality, insulated finish means it can be used all year round too.
.       Adds value to your home – A garden room is a desirable feature which can make your home more appealing to buyers, especially as homeworking rates continue to rise.
.       Makes the most of your garden – Designed intelligently, a small garden room can actually help to maximise your outdoor space, bringing unused or difficult corners back to life or making the most of tight spaces.
.       You may not need to acquire planning permission – In many cases, planning permission will not be needed. There are, however, some specific building regulations that need to be observed when installing a garden room.
.       Aesthetically pleasing – Garden rooms can be an extremely attractive addition to your home. There is a vast array of stylish and modern choices available. For example, you can opt for contemporary bi-fold or slider doors and select composite panel cladding in a wide range of colours. This allows you to find the perfect small garden room to complement your home.

One of the most common queries when it comes to building a garden room or garden office is, how do you heat it? Older style garden rooms used to be notoriously cold in the later months, making them difficult to use or hard to heat. Today, with the quality of garden room builds vastly improving and technology advancing, heating your garden office is simple and affordable. It all just depends on the style of your garden room, its size, what you are planning to use it for, and your overall budget. But don’t worry, below are a few options to help keep your garden office warm and cosy:

1.      Roof insulation

The first thing to consider when thinking about how to keep your garden office warm is roof insulation. A well-insulated building of any kind will benefit from high-quality insulation material and a garden office is no exception. The added benefits here are that you’ll save on costs when it comes to additional heating, which is a huge bonus, especially given current energy prices.

2.      Electric heaters

Convection heaters are particularly effective, as they can be mounted onto garden office walls or be left free-standing (and stored away in the summer months). They’re an affordable option that do not require a separate power supply and can generally be installed without the help of an electrician.

3.      Oil-filled radiators

Electric heaters filled with oil are another good option. These are usually free-standing, meaning they offer flexibility when it comes to where you choose to place them. The main advantage of oil heaters is that they are fairly cheap and can be purchased almost anywhere – and there is no installation required, representing further savings.

4.      Wood burners

Wood-burning stoves are an undeniably stylish choice. Their retro vibe and gorgeous smell just scream wintry cosiness. They heat up relatively fast and have the added benefit of being carbon neutral, provided that you choose a sustainable fuel source. The disadvantage here is that they can be relatively expensive to install, as installation by a certified HETAS engineer is vital to make sure you stay safe.

5.      Underfloor heating

A wonderful choice if floor space is sparse is underfloor heating, which keeps your walls completely free from any radiators or stoves, all while keeping your feet nice and warm. These are not generally suitable for DIY installation, meaning you’d need to find an engineer to lay down the mesh elements. You would also benefit if your top layer of flooring was concrete or tiling, as these materials are better for heat retention (but can be pricier!)

Heating your garden office is easy

As you can see, heating a garden office doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive. Choosing the right type of heating for your garden room is key. Depending on the size and style of your garden office, there are plenty of options available that are sure to keep you cosy. You may choose to use more than one approach in combination. Good insulation is always important as it will keep your heating bills to a minimum.

Garden rooms are the perfect way to add extra space to your home and with more of us than ever working from home, they are proving to be a popular home office space. But with everyone trying to do their bit to help the environment, it is important to ensure your garden room is as eco-friendly as can be. At DB Space, we aim to make the best choices for the planet at every step of the way in the creation of your dream garden room.

What materials are used for your eco-friendly garden room or garden office?

.       Built in steel. While some create garden rooms from timber, we choose to use steel frames for our garden rooms. Not only are these strong and durable, but they are long-lasting too. Another key benefit is that steel offers a low carbon footprint and is one of the UK’s most recycled materials. It can be repeatedly recycled without losing its strength over time. Using steel also allows for better insulation to be installed, which helps to make your new garden office room as energy efficient as possible.
.       Composite cladding. We use composite cladding on our garden rooms instead of timber. The cladding we use is made from 95% recycled materials. A huge benefit to the customer is that it has the look of wood but requires no repainting, staining or sealing and so reduces the need for solvents and chemicals to be released into the atmosphere during these processes.

What steps are taken to make eco-friendly garden rooms energy efficient?

Making sure our eco friendly garden rooms are as thermally efficient as possible enables us to reduce their overall impact on the environment. An aluminium foil blanket is wrapped around the entire building using a unique technique. This allows heat to be reflected away from the building during the summer months and prevents heat from escaping during the colder winter months. This increases energy efficiency as well as creating a space which can be comfortably used all year round.

Our eco garden rooms also feature two key installations which help to complement our insulation techniques and ensure maximum energy efficiency. A low-energy consumption electric heater is fitted in our garden rooms as standard. This smart device can be controlled from an app on your phone, allowing you to heat the eco garden room or office in advance. Alongside this is a Blauberg Vento Mini Air Decentralised Heat Recovery Unit, which can stop heat from being wasted. This clever installation can help to achieve the perfect levels of ventilation in your room and recover up to 93% of heat which might otherwise be wasted using a traditional extractor fan. Again, this can be controlled on an app on your phone and can ensure your garden room has clean and purified air at all times.

Ultimately, every care is taken to ensure the materials used are strong, sustainable and where possible, our garden rooms are made from recycled and recyclable materials. This is true of the steel used in the foundations and the composite materials used in the attractive cladding. We also use science backed techniques to make sure your garden room is well insulated so it is thermally efficient, creating a space which can be used whatever the weather.