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.
