Contemporary, eco friendly, timber frame buildings
The right combination of British woods, eco materials and time-tested building methods makes a much better building to spend your time in.
Correct insulation = no money wasted on heating
We design and build living, breathing buildings:
- Our buildings "breathe". Vapour moves out of the building so damp doesn't form inside.
- Double layers of breathable insulation = minimal heating and no air-conditioning. Click to open insulation tab
The best materials = low maintenance = no money wasted on future repairs
No chemical preservatives needed when built, no chemical preservatives needed in the future. We use materials that:
- Are grown / made in the UK.
- Use less energy / fewer chemicals.
- Need minimal maintenence, decade after decade.
25% of British carbon emissions are caused by badly insulated domestic buildings. Another 25% are caused by personal transport..
This is why we are great supporters of home working and care about minimising the environmental impact of, the buildings we build. We aim to provide the natural, low energy materials to create considerate buildings, that last for years and years...
Traditional materials - larch and other woods. YES!
All structural timber is from FSC accredited sources.
Cedar roof tiles rather than man made - they last longer, smell nicer.
Only larch cladding grown in Scotland is good enough for us and our clients.
High performance, double glazed, wooden windows are handmade in Brighton.
Plastic and fibreglass. No!
No plastic or metal windows.
No PVC, except for guttering.
No plastic membrane, fillers, fibreglass or plastic insulation.
We use traditional plasterboard and plaster rather than vinyl wall boards.
We supply water butts for rainwater.
Energy efficiency and Insulation. YES!
Design and construction ensures minimal use of electricity.
We provide mineral or sheep wool insulation, made in the UK.
We use materials made using as little industrial energy as possible
Our building site waste is minimal and 90% recyclable.
IO buildings are designed and constructed to last 60 + years.
Our highly insulated garden offices, garden rooms and annexes are warm, dry and condensation free.
To ensure that you, your computers and papers are in a comfortable and dry atmosphere, all year round, our garden offices and annexes are designed using "breathing technology" and built with double quantities of eco-friendly insulation in walls, floor and ceiling. Buildings that can't "breathe" generate condensation, need air-conditioning and eventually rot away. Our buildings don't!
In England there are is no Government legislation covering insulation or building standards for smaller garden offices and garden rooms. This means that badly designed and inadequately insulated buildings with a short lifespan are incorrectly sold as all-year-round buildings.InsideOut garden offices are built to consume less energy and reduce their contribution to global warming. The walls of our buildings are 200mm thick, ceilings are 310mm thick and floors are 255mm thick. All are filled with double layers of insulation and are designed so that condensation cannot form within the building or the walls. See Breathing Technology.
We voluntarily insulate all our garden offices to perform better than the current Government Building Regulation Standards for new homes and public buildings. To understand how well insulated your garden office will be See Insulation U values.
Insulated garden buildings are eco friendly buildings
We offer a choice of eco-friendly insulation materials in each garden office, guest room or granny annexe. Both of these materials have been manufactured using as little energy and chemicals, and as much recycling, as possible: -
1. Rockwool.
Rockwool a mineral fibre insulation that is manufactured using as much recycled material as possible. The Rockwool factory in South Wales heats its own offices using waste heat from the manufacturing process. Rockwool won the Wales Environmental Award in 2002 and continually strives to reduce its energy and water consumption. Our garden office prices include for Rockwool insulation.
2. Thermafleece Sheep’s wool insulation.
Thermafleece insulation is manufactured from the wool of British hill sheep. The manufacturing process uses little energy and the resulting eco-friendly insulation is a natural, low allergy, breathable material. [We use sheep shears to cut it!] POA for Thermafleece insulation in InsideOut garden offices.
Garden Offices and Breathing Technology Back to top.
Many office companies and franchises supply mass-produced garden offices made with SIPS panels. SIPS are made by sandwiching a thin layer of PVC insulation between two sheets of OSB or plywood. A SIPS office is a plastic box containing air that can't circulate. Condensation and Mould forms a SIPS building unless you use air-conditioning.
Our buildings have a dry, stable atmosphere that all our clients commentup on. Gordon Smith, our company architect says that his InsideOut office has the most stable atmosphere he has worked in. Paper left on his desk doesn't expand or contract.
There are three simple steps to a dry and stable garden office or granny flat:-
1. Air Circulation.
Our garden buildings are architect-designed with vented walls and roof. Air circulates in the air gap between the outer wall cladding, the cedar roofing tiles, and the main structure of the garden offices. Air also circulates under the suspended floor. This avoids ‘cold spots' where natural moisture may collect.
2. Natural Migration.
All our buildings are wrapped in an insulating, permeable vapour membrane. The membrane acts as a breathable cagoule. It allows natural moisture to migrate out of the garden offices retaining a dry atmosphere inside. It also increases the *U Value and provides additional insulation. Conventional buildings create condensation by using impermeable insulation materials, membranes and wallboards. The point at which condensation may form is designed to be outside the building. This is checked using government approved software.
3. Insulation U Values. Back to top.
We use double layers of energy efficient insulation. Our garden buildings are insulated to current Building Regulations Standards for new houses and public buildings. They are better insulated than most homes and public buildings in the UK.
To meet current Government Building Regulations for new homes and public buildings, our garden office walls must be very highly insulated. Insulation is measured in ‘U Values’. The U Value is a measure of how much heat passes out of the walls, floor and roof.
The lower the U Value, the more heat is kept in by the wall, floor or roof. Our buildings have lower U Values than required by the current Building Regulations for new houses and extensions.
The Building Regulations require the following U Values for new houses: -
Roof = 0.20 | Our roof U value = 0.14 using 200mm of insulation.
Floor = 0.22 | Our floor U value = 0.16 using 200mm of insulation.
Walls = 0.30 | Our wall U value = 0.30 using 100mm of insulation.
Our building materials are chosen for strength, longevity and efficient performance.
Here are the main components of your building.
Please click on each item for a fuller description and a photo.
Traditional timber frame construction - panels can be made small enough to fit through narrow gates and passages.
High performance windows and doors - hand made to any shape or style.
Velux roof windows - provide natural light and summer ventilation.
Exterior cladding - heartwood larch - maintenance free, no preservatives or wood treatments.
Roof - cedar shingle tiles - windproof and lasts for 30 + years.
Double layered Insulation - thermal comfort and sound reduction.
Traditional plastered walls - add to fireproofing and perfect for a painted finish.
Flooring - designed to carry heavy weights
A timber frame garden office, garden room or annex - the technical stuff!
The timber frame forms the "skeleton" of your garden building. The timber frame wall panels support all of the weight/load of the building down to the foundations.- They are accurately manufactured in our suppliers workshop, in controlled environment away from the weather. The panels are then rapidly erected on site and with rafters to form the roof, and joists to form the floor.
- A weather-tight garden room is completed in days. Granny annexes take longer.
- The timber frame wall panels are made of softwood vertical studs and horizontal rails, filled with wood-based panel sheathing. The sheathing provides wind resistance. Once the frame is constructed in your garden our building team fill it with layers of insulation and finish it internally with plasterboard and skim.
- A breather membrane on the external face of the timber frame building panels protects the panels during construction and provides additional insulation and secondary protection behind the larch cladding.
- The timber frame building method gives us flexibility in the layout and appearance of your garden office or granny flat.
- The panels can be made small enough to fit through narrow gates and passages.
- High levels of thermal insulation are incorporated within all our buildings, reducing heating costs and conserving energy.
- Timber is the only renewable construction material and the softwood used in timber frame building is sourced from sustainable British and European forests.
- Timber frame contruction is used extensively for houses, schools, hotels, offices and sports facilities. Buildings up to eight storeys high can be constructed using timber frame.
High performance, wooden doors and windows
Design - All of our craftsman-made windows and doors can be varied in size. Alternative door and window designs to compliment your garden office and its surroundings are available and we can advise on appropriate styles- Flexibility - The number of windows/doors and their layout in your garden office is flexible and can be arranged specifically for your garden and the office position.
- Security - All opening windows have lockable stays. The French doors and traditional front doors have multiple point espagnolette locking system, as required by house insurers.
- Natural Woods - Our doors and windows are made from engineered softwood, which is guaranteed for ten years. Other woods are available.
- Low-Toxicity Wood colours - A low maintenance, weatherproof, water-based wood stain, in the colour of your choice, is applied in the workshop.
- Eco-friendly double glazing - . All our double glazing has a 24mm argon filled gap between the panes. The panes are made with soft coat Low Emissivity glass.The double glazed units have a "warm edge" which reduces heat loss of the panes by 85%. The units are toughened in doors and large windows. Low-e double glazing helps retain heat in winter and reflect it away from the building in summer.
Velux roof windows.
Roof windows provide all-year-round natural light directly over your desk or your drawing board. - They also provide instant air-conditioning in summer. hot air rises - striaght out of your Velux window.
- Available in a range of shapes and sizes. The most popular size that we install is 98cm x 78cm.
Back to materials list.
Heartwood larch cladding
The exterior walls of our offices and garden guest rooms are clad with heartwood larch grown in managed forests in Scotland and Northumbria. Cladding can run horizontally or vertically, to suit your personal preference.- NO Maintenance. Traditionally larch is used for boat building because it is naturally water resistant. The larch we use to protect our garden offices and granny flats come from the centre of the tree, where the fibres are densely packed. This density combined with larch’s natural resins means that no chemicals or wood preservatives are needed. Thus reducing the environmental impact of the building.
- The exterior larch cladding can be either vertical or horizontal, depending upon your personal preference and the requirements of your local planning department.
- Coloured wood stains can be used on heartwood larch to great effect, but most of our clients leave to wood in its natural state.
- If you don't paint the exterior of your building it will weather to a silvery grey colour.
- Larch cladding provides subtle, natural decoration and serious weather protection.
Cedar Shingle Roof tiles.
The top grade Blue Label cedar shingles on our garden offices and granny flats do not require chemical maintenance and are guaranteed in the UK for 35 yearsEach cedar tile is individually nailed to your garden office to create a mellow and attractive roof that blends into your garden environment.
Cedar shingles are highly resilient to all aspects of UK weather, including high winds and storms.
Cedar shingles are 100% heartwood and sourced from well-managed forests. They are made from smaller cedar logs that would otherwise be left as forest waste.
Cedar shingles have higher natural insulation properties than tile, plastic or rubber roofing. They contribute to the high insulation of your building's roof.
Back to materials list.
Traditional plastered walls
Plastered walls provide a substantial, smooth base for decoration. The plasterboard alsoprovides 30 minsinternal fire protection.Because of the timber frame construction, all our walls are strong enough to attach shelves to.
Back to materials list.
Flooring
We install a structural floor made of ply sitting on substantial floor joists. The floor of your building is the same strength as a first floor house floor. We can easily make a stronger floor for you if you wish to put heavey, specialist equipment in your building.
The floor is suitable for carpeting or adding a wooden of laminate floor on top. Our building team can fit a wood or laminate floor of your choice, if you wish them to.
Back to materials list.
Plumbing your garden office
We can provide: -
- Sinks and drainage for painting and crafts, or for people who want to make a cup of tea.
- Loo and wash basin for people who want to separate work from home
- Shower rooms for guest rooms, therapy rooms and home gymnasiums
Each plumbing project is costed on its own merits, depending on the size of room and level of specification required, but there are guide prices in our price list to help you get a feel for plumbing.
Electrical specification for your garden office or garden room
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The number of sockets and lights that you require will depend upon your need and the size of your building, but even our smallest offices and garden rooms contain eight or ten double sockets, three low energy wall lights and an external security light.
We always use local electricians for wiring. So, if you have a favourite electrician he is welcome to work on your building with us.
- We include light fittings in our quotation - alternatively you can choose and supply your own fittings.
- Data cabling can be installed when the electrical connection is extended from the house.
- would you like an external electrical socket or additional outside lighting? No problem.
- There is an additional charge for bringing electricity from the house to your garden building.
Adding photo voltaic panels
You can generate a percentage of your own electricity with photovoltaic panels on the roof of your garden office or granny annex. This is not a cheap, quick fix option, but it is viable if the roof of your building is large enough, faces the right way and you intend to live in your current house for a long time. Please phone us for more information.
Foundations
Permanent buildings need solidly constructed foundations to stop them moving or subsiding when ground conditions vary and to stop them blowing away in storms. The unpredictable weather in the UK means that ground conditions can go from drought to flood is a short space of time. This can cause problems if a garden office or garden room has inadequate foundations.Our buildings stand on individual concrete cube foundations of approx 90cm3, set at intervals around the perimeter. A metal foot is set on each foundation cube and the building is supported on larch beams that span from metal foot to metal foot.
This type of foundation has minmal impact on your garden and allows air to circulate under the building.
If you have an existing garage base or other substantial support we can design a building to fit.
The foundation process
- When we first visit you, we discuss the best position in your garden for your building.
- We survey your garden to assess any changes in levels, hidden drains, tree roots etc.
- Gordon Smith, our architect draws the survey and designs a detailed foundation plan.
- We find suitable groundworks builders in your area to provide quotes for installing your foundations and drainage. If you have a favourite builder we will work directly with him to create your foundations.
