How to Heat your Garden Room in the Winter
Heating your Garden Room in the Winter
You’re dusting the remnants of that recently devoured mince pie off your desk and scouring Amazon for those last minute purchases…. Once more enticed by the Carol singing, the mince-pie scoffing and that ‘devil-may-care’ attitude to chocolate which can only really be justified once a year!
As you retrieve your scarf and gloves which have been languishing abandoned in a cupboard under the stairs for the last nine months, you stop to wonder what now happens to your dream of working in the garden?! The jubilation you once felt at the idea of merry contentment, working at your leisure surrounded by the cheerful idealistic greenery of your well-tended outdoor space has hastily been replaced by a somewhat apprehensive glance towards the bleak and barren monochrome wilds at bottom of your garden. A cross-country commute to a purpose built office block might momentarily seem a more attractive option (provided you can catch a taxi to the station).
But as bleak as it might seem out there, the Garden Room is WINTER PROOF! (And the warmth will almost certainly welcome you before your coffee has had a chance to cool en-route to your desk; regardless of the seemingly impenetrable wintry gale hurtling towards you down that garden path – please persevere, you won’t be disappointed!).
Countless times we’ve piped on about the ultimate benefits of the Garden Room – that it’s a multifunctional, multi-season, weatherproof and above all else, a winter-proof modular building. This is when any real Garden Room worth it’s salt will come into it’s own!
Built like a timber framed house, a high-spec garden room will be compatible with almost any type of heating system you could imagine using in your home. Whether you’re using your building as a garden office, spare guest room or man-cave (to name but a few), here are a few tips to get you started:
Convection Heater
Simple, cost-effective and instant, a convection heater warms the air through it’s heated element and is much quieter and efficient than a fan heater. Oil filled radiators are also a form of convection heater and most of these will come with a timer fitted so you can set the heater an hour or so before you intend to use your office/garden-room.
A very well insulated building (naturally, the Rotunda is a perfect example) will retain the heat and it should circulate around the room providing you with a great ambient heat.
- Approx Kw output: 2-3kw
- Budget Guideline for a 1-2 person office £25-35
- Cost to run: Med/High
Underfloor Heating
If your garden room comes fitted with Laminate or Wooden flooring it’s incredibly simple to specify electric underfloor heating from your chosen supplier. The foil mats roll out under the flooring system and a digital thermostat is usually fitted near the light-switch at the entrance to your garden-building. Some installers provide a remote control and the thermostats can be set to a timer so your Garden Room will be warm before you’re heading down the garden-path.
- Approx Kw output: 1 -1.5kw
- Budget Guideline for a 1-2 person office £500-700
- Cost to run: Low
Log Burning Stove
A log burning stove is a beautiful way to heat your garden office or studio. The smallest stoves are ideal for smaller spaces, and you’d be best to limit the output to 4kw if you have a highly insulated building. There are some wonderful little models which are commonly used in barges and house-boats, one such stove is ‘The Hobbit’ built by ‘Salamander Stoves‘ here in the UK. Other stoves we’d recommend are the Charnwood C4 (picured) and the Little wenlock wood-burning stove, from £625, AGA. Although we can ensure your garden building is compatible for your Log burning stove, it is always best to seek the services of a local stove installer who can fit the stove, flue and hearth for you when your building is being installed. This could cost several hundred pounds.
- Approx Kw output: 4-5 kw
- Budget Guideline for a 1-2 person office £1,200 – £1,500
- Cost to run: Low
Flueless Bio Ethanol Fires
lthough fairly new in the UK, bio-ethanol are well established on the Continent and Scandinavia and we’re really excited to have recently come across them. No need for a flue or hearth, these handy little stoves are self-contained and are fed by clean burning eco friendly bio ethanol liquid or gel derived from the fermentation of crops, so no need to connect to any services!
There is also no residue when burning, so there is literally no maintenance, which is a big step forward compared to wood burners. (You can buy bottles of fluid from £1.9o per litre which will hold about 2.5 hours of fuel).
- Approx Kw output: 2-4 kw
- Budget Guideline for a 1-2 person office £350-400
- Cost to run: Med
Needless to say, these suggestions are not exhaustive; on the larger and commercial buildings, a gas combi-boiler (the same as in your home) can be fitted and there are numerous eco-alternatives such as Air Heat Source and Ground Heat Source pumps also available.
So, here’s to wishing you a toasty warm garden room this winter, and we hope that your fears have now been dismantled! As always, should you have any questions or concerns relating to the heating or installation of a garden room in the depths of winter, please do feel free to contact us and we’ll be happy to chat to you further!
Blogpost written by Gemma Roe.
Copyright © Rotunda Eco Build Ltd.