If you are looking for a fully insulated workshop which will be a comfortable place to work all year round, you’ll want to talk to Garden Fortress. They have recently completed this 5m x 4m workshop with storage, in Wimbledon SW19.
Garden Fortress’s client wanted to create a workshop that could be used all year round. Rather than choose a traditional shed type workshop building, they opted for the SIP’s based construction system used by Garden Fortress. Which creates an envelope of insulation around the building.
Groundworks to make the workshop flush
Garden Fortress’s client wanted the deck area at the front of the building and the floor of the workshop it leads on to, to be flush with the level of the lawn. To achieve this, the area where the workshop was to sit, needed to be excavated. The Garden Fortress team did this by hand as part of their overall project.
Going to this effort, and with the addition of bi-fold doors with a low threshold, the path from lawn to the back of the workshop is flush, with no steps.
Once the ground was excavated to the correct level. Ground screw foundations were driven in at regular intervals across the plot. Take a look at this time-lapse of the build to see this and the other stages of the build:
Based on the Garden Room Plus range
The workshop is based on Garden Fortress’s Garden Room Plus range. The key features of this design is the storage shed incorporated in one side. Incorporating two uses under one roof like this saves the need for a separate building.
Another key design feature is the canopy that runs along the front of the building. As standard, there isn’t a deck, but Garden Fortress’s client chose to add one. Choosing a low maintenance composite deck board.
The standard door option on the Garden Room Plus is a uPVC sliding door. In this case, the owner chose to upgrade to bi-fold doors. With a low threshold, these doors fold back to allow seamless movement into the workshop.
Inside the workshop, the walls, floor and ceiling have been lined with OSB boards, rather than the plastered and decorated finish that would be used if this was being used as an outdoor room. Rather than flush electrical sockets with the cables hidden within the wall structure, Garden Fortress’s client chose to have surface mounted electrics with the galvanised conduit visible.
LED panel lights have been spaced across the ceiling, this will offer good, clear light when working. LED downlights have been recessed into the canopy that runs along the front of the building.
Cedar used just on the visible wall
Western Red Cedar has been used to clad the front wall of the workshop. Normally Garden Fortress would fit this vertically, but the customer chose to have it fitted horizontally, which looks equally as good. Cedar cladding is an expensive finish, and many people consider it pointless to use it on elevations that are not on show. So, in this case, Thermowood cladding was used on the side and back wall of the workshop. Thermowood is still a durable cladding but is significantly cheaper than Cedar, so it can be a wise choice to mix the two.
This is a great example of a highly insulated workshop in the garden. To learn more, talk to the Garden Fortress team on 01372 602 686. Take a look at their website to learn more about the Garden Room Plus.
