Insulated shed/studio/office

[mcshroom]

On the hot/cold front, I can attest to 25mm of Expanded polystyrene not being anything like enough. My home office was built out of the smallest summer house that I could find as 6ftx6ft was the space it had to fit. It had 38mm battens and I built it in the middle of Covid when insulation costs were off the scale, so ended up with the 25mm Jablite stuff and a 13mm air gap behind 9mm OSB.

Sealing leaks and the small size mean it's easy enough to heat with a small electric heater, but there's not enough insulation or mass in the system to keep the place at all cool. Not helped by the only opening being the glass panelled doors which are South facing. The recent addition of an extractor fan helps but only a little..

My advice would be to not skimp on the insulation, as you will notice form a temperature point of view. I'm watching this thread with interest also, as I would like to turn mine into a vocal rehearsal/recording SSO (Studio Shaped Object) in the future, so I'm looking for ideas

[road-runner]

My home office ... 6ftx6ft ... I would like to turn mine into a vocal rehearsal/recording SSO (Studio Shaped Object) in the future ...

mcshroom, for recording you will have some challenges to confront that fd3 won't need to deal with. A small room will sound boxy; the less acoustic treatment the more boxy the sound. Square rooms will double your problem frequencies. Both of these can be offset to a degree with additional acoustic treatment but a room that small hardly has the space for extra thick (ie. >20cm) treatment.

Without knowing any more I think you are likely to get better results rehearsing in the SSO and then record in a larger room (eg. your lounge or a local professional studio).

[fd3]

I put up a Tuin Jorgen last year, very similar to the one you linked to just under 3/4 the size.  Very happy with the quality, absolutely not shite and very easy to put up.

Did you self-assemble or get someone in to do it? Was it IKEA easy or easy for someone who has a general idea of what they are doing?
Also, thoughts on storm bars and tanalised foundation beams?
Finally, did you buy their insulation kit?  I was thinking of buying insulation later as of when, but it look like the roof insulation goes on while you build it.

[fd3]

And, finally, doth the panel have thoughts on this which is basically a prefab, about 50% more but significantly more of a room than a make do space.

[SoreTween]

I put up a Tuin Jorgen last year, very similar to the one you linked to just under 3/4 the size.  Very happy with the quality, absolutely not shite and very easy to put up.

Did you self-assemble or get someone in to do it? Was it IKEA easy or easy for someone who has a general idea of what they are doing?
Also, thoughts on storm bars and tanalised foundation beams?
Finally, did you buy their insulation kit?  I was thinking of buying insulation later as of when, but it look like the roof insulation goes on while you build it.

GAMI to make a solid concrete base and built it myself.  I went for the recycled plastic foundation beams:

Getting that foundation layer correct was at least 3 hours work.  The foundation beams are sill shaped but there's no drip groove so job #1 was to route one.  (Don't use an expensive router bit, there were bits of metal in the plastic).  The corners are mitred, glued with gripfill and the whole foundation sits on generous quantities of gripfill.  The slab has a DPC under it wrapped up the sides & glued in place.  The first layer of timbers got 2 coats of Sadolin Extra Durable Clearcoat on the underside before fitting to protect them from any water that doesn't run off the foundation. Hats off to the man that did the slab, I specified that it needed to be the exact size of the shed and it is mm perfect, as you can see there's not much overhang.  All this effort ensures that any water that runs round the foundation beam drips off outside the DPC.
After that it was closer to Lego than Ikea.  Getting from this:

To this:

Was a couple of hours.  Next day the roof timbers went on in about 4 hours.

I didn't go for storm bars but will probably add some if I put solar panels on the roof.  Didn't insulate.  Did buy the floor which is still unfitted.  EPDM roof.

[road-runner]

And, finally, doth the panel have thoughts on this which is basically a prefab, about 50% more but significantly more of a room than a make do space.

It does seem significantly better designed that the simpler sheds with 75mm thick walls, double-glazing, foil windproofing and so on.

Back to where my knowledge lies, my acoustic drum kit sits on a 1.5x1.8m mat. Your son's kit could use up 1/3 of the floor space. Will that leave enough space for your other intended uses of the shed?

[fd3]

Thank you both for some very helpful advice.

Not planning to do much else with the space (maybe some sort of sofa and a bike against the wall) so reckon there would be enough space.  Weighing up "go big or go home" vs the smaller size fitting better in the garden and being easier to warm up in winter.  We currently are eating outdoors in a 2.5x2.5 gazebo, which is fine for a family of 5 so I would expect that 2.3x3.4 would be enough.

[road-runner]

We currently are eating outdoors in a 2.5x2.5 gazebo, which is fine for a family of 5 so I would expect that 2.3x3.4 would be enough.

Why not do a family experiment? Assuming you are eating in the garden, using string and 4 skewers and see what size rectangle fits around the current layout of your garden furniture.

Then mark out a 2.3x3.4 area in your garden and see whether you can get all the furniture you are using for outdoor eating into that area. If your garden is not suitable then use masking tape on the patio, in the garage or in a room indoors.

Can you all squeeze into 2.3x3.4 comfortably?

Scrub all that as you already said you are sitting in a 2.5m square space under the gazebo.

[fd3]

Just talked to a builder friend who will help with the construction.  Discussing such things as hard court, cement blocks or laying cement and raking it off the ground on sleepers.
Thoughts/advice/tips?

[TimC]

I'm building a new office at the moment. I started during lockdown, and had the base (5.5m x 3.7m) laid by a builder, who also constructed the bottom part of the walls which are underground at the back (sloping garden) and needed tanking. The shocking rise in the price of wood at the time caused me to change from a largely timber-framed construction to a Thermolite single-leafed core with wood framing and insulation both outside and inside the core. I got a great deal on the Thermolite blocks, but as I took a year or more out of heavy building work, I'm not sure that I've saved any money in the longer term!

All that remained of the old shed that I'm replacing after the builder had a go at it!



State of play a couple of days ago:



What it should look like when finished:

[fd3]

Update:
The dominator is a bit less prefab than we expected.  The general structure i prefab but you still have to fit the outside wood slats, floor, roof yourself.  Had a builder-friend in to do it and two days later it's half done (it would be nearly finished but took a day sorting the base to build it on).
Question:
It is on a structure of sleepers which puts the floor ~30cm off the ground.  This was to avoid cement/concrete base for cost, practical and environmental reasons.  The floor has not been laid yet o I still have access to the ground below, should I dig in and lay a membrane + gravel or is that not necessary?  The base is basically on 4 sleeper-stilts, should I skirt round to trap air as an insulation measure, or should I keep the high air flow to prevent damp (or go half way with skirting but some holes for airflow)?  Should I dig some sort of soakaway (dig, membrane, gravel) nearby to pull water away from the shed?

[Vernon]

I'd certainly put down a weed suppressant membrane and gravel to stop things growing under there. I'd be disinclined to box it in otherwise you might make a cosy den for foxes/rats/bams/whatever, and the airflow will help keep things drier,, although you might want to clad the windward side.

[fd3]

Update (no photos): the thing is built (with maybe a bit of shouting to do) and #1 son's drumkit is in and set up.  You can hear the drums from the back door when he's playing, but it's much louder standing outside.
Insulation seems good, but "obviously" with no heat source it won't be warmer than the outside no matter how much insulation there is.

[perpetual dan]

In my (limited) experience, drumming is a fairly sweaty business. It’ll warm up

[paton]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_g1FWnpCje0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pKWRDolKBo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHCbWy9YUb4