Micro garden office ideas

Hi all
Now that my shed project is nearing completion, it’s time to start thinking about the next one!

I need to free up a bedroom in my house as my boys are getting older. I currently work at home in a box bedroom. This time next year I’d like to hand it over to my eldest.

I have a small bit of high up land which at the moment is useless apart from gathering weeds and leaves.

My current thinking is to make a building as small as phyically possible to fit me/computer/printer in without feeling claustrophobic.
This will allow me to keep it cheap, within planning and also allow me to be a bit creative with materials/construction. I plan on using used pallets as the main source of timber for example.

So lets say it’s going to be 1.8m (6ft) sq internally.

My biggest worry is heating/ventilation.
I will insulate it.
Is it too small for a woodburner? (you can see there’s a house above my garden which might make it tricky anyway).

Is it small enough that electric underfloor heating elements could be economical?

What should I do about ventilation and condensation?

I have absolutely no idea about these elements.

Thanks in advance
Alex

Anyone got any thoughts?
It’s not something I’ve been able to google very successfully.

I’d be looking to build a platform out over that bank a bit to enlarge the area you have available a bit.

what sort of budget do you have?

What about this?

http://www.cubeproject.org.uk/

Bit bigger than you planned but probably a nice size office. I expect you could no bother with the fittings and just have one large room.

this sort of platform;

if you have electricity to it I’d just look at using a small wall mounted electric heater – cheap and easy to install. Issue with underfloor heating is likely to be having a decent floor to lay it on.

Do you think I need more room? – max depth of the area is 9ft, but I was thinking of having the door by the far wall.
The nice view is to the right – so I was thinking of having a large window on that wall.
If I go too near the banking, I would struggle to clear the grass. Currently we have a flymo on a rope. The clay soil makes it very difficult to stand on (it’s steeper than it looks in the photo).

In fact I definitely don’t want it big. Some of the ideas I’ve got for materials, etc rely on a lot of effort – I don’t want it to be overwhelming. There really only has to be room for me and a computer.
although being able to fit 2 people side-by-side at the desk is useful on occasion.

Budget-wise. This will be done on bits and bobs of spare cash.
Probably roughly £500.
(the shed ended up 50% over budget though, so who knows)

I’ve got a good source of pallets at £1 each that look really good.
I was going to pick up 50 of them and a good pallet wrecking bar.

One of the initial costs is going to be 4 of those concrete pads and those crate-like foundation slabs I think. I’d like that bit to be easy after the huge effort needed on the shed.

treaclesponge – On that link they mention “Mechanical heat-recovery ventilation” that sounds like a solution to the ventilation/condensation problem. Do you know what it involves?

If it is that small and insulated your PC will keep it warm. A fan heater to warm it first thing will be enoughh. I lived in an uninsulated 7′ x 4′ attic room. 5 minuntes of fan heater took it from ice on the windows to toasty.

Thanks Murray – that’s valuable info.
Someone mentioned to me that our bodies are equivalent of a 150W heater too! But then an air exchanger sounds like a good idea.

I’m currently sitting in my luxurious home office shed. It’s 5m x 4m, well insulated, but lots of [double glazed] glass.

A 1kw heater is enough (plus a pc and usually a dog). I’d cook if I had a log burner in here.

For something 1/4 the size I’d imagine a quick blast with a fan heater in the morning will see you through the rest of the day.

Something that small will get really hot in summer, give a thought to the nicer days too – you’ll probably want an awning or something if one wall has a decent size window on it.

Thanks 5th.

Back to that cube – it looks like it has one of these beasties attached to the back of it, so not really practical. (although that cube is 8 times the volume of my plan).

On that link they mention “Mechanical heat-recovery ventilation” that sounds like a solution to the ventilation/condensation problem. Do you know what it involves?

Not sure, tbh it was just something that caught my eye a few days ago and when you asked it sounded about the same kind of thing. The only mention of it is under the design/tech section and says – Ventair heat recovery ventilator

mogrim – Member

Something that small will get really hot in summer, give a thought to the nicer days too – you’ll probably want an awning or something if one wall has a decent size window on it.
Yes, this is another thing I have no really clue about. If it was really well insulated, that might help, but obviously I don’t want to be cooked.
One of my ideas had a lifting roof – revealing a gap all the way around the top of the walls. But currently that’s on the cutting room floor. I felt it was too much of a risk. I don’t mind spending hours on something nice, but I don’t want to spend hours on a detail which causes worries.

Not sure, tbh it was just something that caught my eye a few days ago and when you asked it sounded about the same kind of thing. The only mention of it is under the design/tech section and says – Ventair heat recovery ventilator

Sounds like the thing footflaps mentioned on this thread: http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/new-house-build-a-photo-journal-of-a-modest-design

Edit: this – http://www.vent-axia.com/range/hr25.html

Interesting article on mechanical heat recovery here

http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/qa-spotlight/there-alternative-heat-recovery-ventilator

One of my ideas had a lifting roof – revealing a gap all the way around the top of the walls.

I have a pair of hooks that hold the doors open. 😆

Mine faces North, deliberately, so no direct sun through the windows. That and insulation makes it a non-issue.*

*Living in Wales probably helps. It’s water cooled most of the year.

Thanks guys – 2W consumption sounds good, but £300 is steep.
I’ll definitely consider it though as it solves a lot of problems in one go.

Thought I was onto a winner, when I saw it at Plumbcentre for £100, but they don’t actually have it.

Cheaper to have extractor fan/passive ventilation and use more heat probably. I’ve used one of those oil-filled rads before and they were very good.

I have a pair of hooks that hold the doors open.

🙂 Yes it know it was OTT, but then I don’t want something ordinary. If I’m going to make it, I get more motivated by something unique/interesting.

It’s water cooled most of the year.

Same here – first peaks after the cheshire plains.

Yes it know it was OTT, but then I don’t want something ordinary. If I’m going to make it, I get more motivated by something unique/interesting.

Robotic legs, and have it walk around the garden to get the best of the sun/shade?

Or revolving, like a Bond villain’s mountain top eyrie, ensuring an even distribution of heat and shade… Stop your uneven thermal expansion worries, too 🙂

It could come and get me in the morning too – save that wet trudge through the garden 🙂

Mirror it?

Love the mirrors!

Unfortunately they’d reflect my ugly brick house!

Radical idea: if you need that little room, why not just use the dining room table? Unless you have other stuff (paperwork, filing etc) that you need to store.

But, if you are intent on building something, then get yourself to Channel 4OD and catch up on the George Clarke Amazing Spaces series, which has covered lots of tiny builds.

Oh, and if the grass is a PITA to cut, then get rid of it, and build a tiny 2-level structure. Maybe with a spiral staircase….

Radical idea: if you need that little room, why not just use the dining room table? Unless you have other stuff (paperwork, filing etc) that you need to store.

My wife works on the dining room table 🙂
We’ve found that we need our own space during the day.
+ the kids come home from school at 3:30 and do homework on the same table.

It’s a tiny house for 4 – 70sqm, but we’re stuck with it for the moment.
The shed I just built is 20% of the house floorspace!

I done just this type of project a few years ago. I got one of these: https://dunsterhouse.co.uk/garden-offices/3m-x-3m-avonsup-sup-plus-300

It was a good bit cheaper back then (~1200 for the deluxe version). They often have offers/deals on that whack a good bit off the price.

I assembled it myself, and quite enjoyed the process.

I work in it 2-3 days per week, and have a separate phone and broadband line installed, as well as power outlets. It’s great. I even have my turbo trainer set up in there and some free weights.

I use a 1.5kW oil-filled heater, and it usually warms up nicely in about an hour in the morning, and then gets too hot by about lunchtime. In the depths of winter (we’re in central Scotland), I sometimes add a fan heater.

I’d highly recommend it!

Ah, OK. In which case go with building a cool little pod. I think the idea of making use of the bank to create space is a really good one, without having to go OTT, eg build a balcony off the front, so you can open some doors and sit out there in the nice weather.

Link to Channel 4’s Amazing spaces site – there’s a scrapbook with various ideas you may find useful.

ourmaninthenorth – Yep – got Amazing Spaces on the sky planner waiting to be watched. We’ve just seen the ‘egg’ one and it really got me thinking.

kevin1911 – thanks for the link. So that’s uninsulated? at 3mx3m it’s nearly 3x the volume I’m thinking of, so your heating requirements sound about what I was expecting – i.e. it shouldn’t take much to heat.

Remember although something 3 time smaller will take less to heat it will not be one third due to surface area volume ratio.

I’d explore the possibility of building into the slope and making some kind of half sunken sheddy style bunker with a windowy type of front and a wee terracey thingy on the top.

I am, in true STW fashion, not an architect.

Like the bottom bit of this:

crikey – this was the thought we had when we bought the property.
However, we got a few quotes and due to he fact that no vehicles can get close (36 steps down to the car park) and the lack of access in other ways, they were pretty astronomical.

I would have loved a hobbit-style studio in there, but it was approx £40,000 to do it in a way you’d be confident of selling.

I don’t think it would have added 40k to the selling price either, mainly because the house itself is a 1985 brick piece of pants.

Ah, OK.

I’d still play with the idea, maybe half sink it? Dunno…

It would be the best thing ever 🙂

roof level up to height of wall at the back
cut away some of the slope to give a vertical face and use a platform like wwwas at lower level
might have to remove the zipwire thing that goes to the top corner
looks like a good project hope its a goer will need photos obviously

What about using the steps to get up, but then having a helter-skelter slide to exit?

Alex, the one I linked to is insulated – 140mm (I think) of sheet insulation in the walls and floor, 200mm (I think) in the roof , sandwiched between 2 layers of timber. Double glazed too.

It is a bit bigger than what I’d ideally wanted, but when I looked into buying all the materials separately and taking on the risk of it not actually fitting together, I decided that the kit would be just as cheap and less hassle. Glad I did! Good luck, and share the pics when you’re done!

Hi Kevin
I’m fairly set on building my own, but it says at the bottom that the TripleTherm versions come with the insulation, which has a price of:
RRP: £4260.99
Best Possible Price:
£2751.99

So I guess either you got a complete bargain, or as you say, they price high to sell on special offer.

From a brief look around the web, I would expect any insulated building to come in at 2.5k+

Thought I’d give this a new year’s eve bump.

Thoughts/questions I’ve had since are:

Electric underfloor heating elements?

Will the computer suffer if it’s left for a week in winter (i.e. probably freezing) or is if fine as long as I get it back up to 5 degrees or so before switching on – again is condensation a worry?