How to reclaim space in your home. Considering a garden room.

Glorious Garden Rooms

Martin & Claire own a fashionable three-storey terraced house near to London’s Wandsworth Common.

They lead busy lives with Martin being CEO of a restaurant chain and Claire working in a stressful environment as a senior nurse.

Wanting to reclaim their space - Martin & Claire decided that they needed a garden room gym.

Both are dedicated to personal fitness, and they already owned and enjoyed using their Peloton bike, but lockdown saw the amount of gym equipment they own grow and their front room become a full-time gym.

Wanting to reclaim their space, they decided that they needed a garden room.

As busy people with high expectations, they chose Glorious Garden Rooms because of the much higher quality of build and the fact that everything would be done for them.

'We had spoken to one of the largest providers who had an excellent website, but there were lots of important things omitted from the price; it had no foundations, and we were expected to organise a large proportion of the job ourselves, which we’re just too busy for’.

The garden before we started.

The customer already had decking installed so an important consideration was that we ensured the finished floor level of the garden room was identical to that of the decking.

This is a fully enclosed garden with no access other than through the house. It’s a modest size but we can work here without impacting the inside of the house.

Subframe Build and installation

The subframe is built and laid down. This supports the SIPs floor and allows airflow between the main structure and the ground. Because we build to last, our subframe is made from composite joists which will not rot, unlike timber joists even if they have been treated.

Install Windows and Doors

The bespoke aluminium bi-folding doors are installed in the colour of the clients’ choosing. We measured here to ensure that the swing of the doors would avoid the tree.

And we’re done!

Air conditioning has been installed, walls plastered and painted in the clients’ choice of colour, skirting installed and all electrical items hung.

Mirrors and a ballet barre installed especially for Claire’s workouts as well as Amtico flooring, a bespoke choice for Martin & Claire.

Warm white lighting creates a cosy glow at night and makes for a beautiful evening view to the end of the garden.

The foundations and ground screws

These are the galvanised steel ground screws needed for this project. At this point we had already carried out a test on the ground and the required size for the ground here is 76mm in diameter and 1200mm in length.

The ground screws are set out carefully according to our pre-drawn plan. The ground screws are inserted into the ground using a powerful electric ground screw driver. Using this means no spades, no diggers and no messy concrete.

Within the space of a morning, all ground screws are in place, ready for the subframe.

We start Building!

The entire building, floors, walls and ceiling are made from Structural Insulated Panels, creating a fully insulated envelope for your building that is airtight and free from draughts.

The walls are built and the perfectly measured opening is formed, ready for the bi-folding doors. The SIPs roof is on and the walls are battened internally, to create space for the electrical wiring.

The whole building is wrapped in a breathable but water resistant membrane that keeps external moisture out but allows the timber to breathe from within, reducing humidity and preventing any mould or rot.

Interior and Cladding

The walls are boarded ready for plastering, and you can see that the first fix electrics have been carried out with sockets placed in pre-agreed positions specifically for the clients’ B&O speaker and television. We’ve chosen wall lights because spotlights can interfere with the thermal integrity of the room if they are cut out from where insulation should be.

Battens applied ready to accept the clients’ choice of cladding. The battens ensure that the timber can breathe. Cladding is applied by our fully qualified carpenter, ensuring the highest quality detailing.

Nearly there! The single piece rubber membrane for the roof is applied.

The Result

The result is a real relationship between the house and garden room, both having large opening doors, creating an improved view from the house which looks particularly lovely when the room is lit at night.