Dunster House garden buildings

[10800]

We're going ahead, ground is prepared, but there are other things to do first.

[malcolmy]

Hi,

 

My fiancee and I are just exchanging contracts on our nice new home. In order to house my railway, we have decided to add a 'garden office' I have been looking at a Dunster House Sienna 5mx4m corner log cabin. The current basic price is £4k7, but when you add on all the 'necessary' options(!) you end up with a total installed cost of £10,700!

 

Has anyone got one of these Dunster House properties? Are there any 'must have' options, or some that are pointless, for using it as a railway room please?

[10800]

I'm still planning on a 5 x 3m Avon. From the advice I got from them, you don't need the 130mm thick walls unless you are making a habitable bedroom, 45mm is ample. Get the high quality doors with proper security locks. The Sienna 5x4 is under 2.5m high so you shouldn't need planning permission. I will be leaving an access strip of around 2ft around mine for painting and maintenance. You probably don't need their fancy Rapidpad foundations, just get a bearer plan and use heavy duty paving slabs - I've used the 50mm thick ones 16in square, the ones used for approaches to pedestrian crossings etc.

 

DH won't do your electrics - you will need buried armoured cable running from the house and a separate consumer unit in the cabin. I put my own cable in whilst doing the groundworks in the garden so the sparky can just connect up at each end when required.

 

If you can get to one of DH's depots then it's worth chatting to them about the details.

 

HTH

[malcolmy]

Thank you - I'll try and call during the day to get some advice. Their sale ends todays, so I'd prefer to get something ordered before the prices go up. The guy I spoke to on the phone last night was only interested in taking an order - no advice on what I might need really.

[chris p bacon]

I'm still planning on a 5 x 3m Avon. From the advice I got from them, you don't need the 130mm thick walls unless you are making a habitable bedroom, 45mm is ample. HTH

 

Are you battening insulation to the inside of the walls? 45mm cavity between uprights doesn't allow for much insulation.

 

The current spec I am working to has been calculated to 170mm (in a timber frame) for bedrooms that require 18C, living rooms and bathrooms are calculated for heat loss at 20-21C.

If you only have 45mm to play with I'd wrap up warm.

 

I have a Dunster house depot at Bedford 7 miles away, they are average quality and expensive for what they are. I would still ask a local chippie to quote you for what you want, you should get it cheaper or a better spec.

[10800]

Thanks Dave, I'll bear that in mind.

[chris p bacon]

Try googling Knauf or Kingspan for the insulation details, they are for houses but it gives you an idea of what level of insulation is required for todays standard of living.

 

You can use either a thicker (90mm) stud and put say 75mm of insulation between or use a smaller stud with say 40-50mm inbetween then put a layer of 25mm over the top with taped joints (draughts), you then counterbatten this with some 25mm roofing batten and top off with a layer of 12mm plasterboard, a bit more toasty and the plasterboard gives you an element of fire protection (although not complete unless skimmed).

 

The more insulation you can pack in and the less draughts you have from doors and windows then the better it will be, and whatever you put in the walls double it for the roof, the more you do now the cheaper in the long run, electric bills are not coming down and it will give you a nice year round enviroment.

[malcolmy]

Just before the snow took hold yesterday, I went to the GBC sales/display area at Webbs near Droitwich. The guy there seemed very in tune with my requirements. He suggested a Malvern Arley garden office. This seems very reasonably priced and available up to 16x12. Has anyone got one of these? It looks just the ticket. Ironically my layout will include Arley station!

[The Stationmaster]

With any of these buildings I would look very closely at the floor insulation they have or which you can install as the floor can be a nasty source of cold, especially if you will be standing in there with a layout one day. In my shed at the last house it had comparatively narrow wall insulation (barely 3 inches) but I also took care with the floor laying roofing felt over the supplied flooring with half inch ply on top of that - and it was always reasonably cosy notwithstanding the fact that there was a 'cellar' under one end - it stood on a hillside.

[10800]

Agree Mike about floor and roof insulation being just as important.

 

Having spoken to them again I'm now minded to go for the thicker 130mm walls on mine (maybe the current weather has influenced that!) because I will need to be able to work in it professionally or for leisure in comfort throughout the year. OK I'll lose a few inches on the ID but I think I can cope with that.

[RANGERS]

Another option is to find a building which fits the basic requirements and which you can tailor to fit the bill yourself. We used Mercian Garden Products, a bit further away from you as they're near Newark, but they are manufacturers as opposed to just suppliers and if you're prepared to do a bit of the donkey work and finishing yourself, they're a very economical proposition. They have a website.

 

We've bought a second grade 5m x 4m cabin, two rooms with 28mm walls, a pitched roof and front canopy overhang of 1m for less than £1500. The interior will be battened to allow 45mm insulation and then drylined with foiled plasterboard. We opted for the basic roof of T & G boards with felt which I'm intending to cover with metal sheet roofing panels, the type with tile patterns rolled in which are used on static caravans. The cost of having this done professionally has been quoted at around £800. The inside of the ceiling will be battened and plasterboarded with additional insulation added to minimise heat loss. As building regs no longer permit DIY electrics, an electrician has quoted £550 plus the cost of three 1.5kw panel heaters. The windows were single glazed as supplied but the plan is to replace this with double glazed units which have been quoted at £120 for all the windows.

 

I built the base myself, as this was on a steepish slope, I opted for a framework of treated exterior grade timber joists, 6 x 2 and 4 x 2 supported on 4 x 4 and 6 x 6 posts sunk into holes and set in concrete. There's room for a deck extending 2m out from the at the front to give me some outside working space, and somewhere to sit in the sun and contemplate the next move!

 

Cost so far has been just over £3000 and the budget has about another £1200 to go before it's finished, the result will be a decent layout space of about 3m x 4m and a 2m x 4m workshop, habitable throughout the year. Quotes from a national chain for this and similar from two local suppliers ranged from £11,700 up to just over £14,000 so all in all it's proved a pretty cost effective exercise.