Can You Use a Garden Room in Winter?

Since the pandemic, people have experienced a change in their lifestyles, family life and work-life balance. Most are trying to find more time to spend with their loved ones, as well as more time for working out, practising music, crafting, painting and many other hobbies. Garden studios have become a popular choice that enables people to do just that. They create extra space at home without the hassle and costs of moving or building an extension, allowing you to work from home or use the space for hobbies while removing any unnecessary commutes.

Work, exercising and hobbies are all things which are done throughout the year which leaves many of our customers asking us whether a garden room can be used all year round. The simple answer is – yes!

As a garden room is a separate building away from the main house, many people often think that they can be cold, drafty and damp, but that is simply not the case. In this blog, Urban Escapes Studios dives into using a garden room in winter, and how you can make sure you’re cosy all year round.

Garden Rooms Are an Extension of Your House – Detached!

Insulated garden rooms can be made comfortable all year round. In fact, they can be just as comfortable as a room in your home! A space of this kind simply requires insulation to keep warm in the winter.

In addition, premium-quality building materials are used to retain heat. These are the same materials used in modern homes. Using these materials results in a warm, dry, comfortable environment inside the garden room. Let’s find out more.

Why Do Garden Rooms Stay Warm? 

A garden office, indoor gym, yoga studio or art studio can stay warm and comfortable all year long if they are made with care. Here are the elements that we focus on at Urban Escapes to ensure these outside studios remain cosy in winter:

Garden Room Foundations 

Having good foundations can help to insulate the building and keep it warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer. Insulation can help to reduce the amount of heat that is lost through the floor, which can help to keep the building more comfortable and energy-efficient. 

At Urban Escapes, we use heavy-duty composite pile foundations with a stainless steel frame which lifts the studio off the ground, leaving a breathable space and removing the risk of rising dampness and condensation. This type of garden room foundation is excellent for energy efficiency through retained heat. 

Garden Room Insulation 

A garden room needs to be built with premium insulation used throughout. It’s necessary to ensure the walls, roof, and floors of a garden building use layers of insulation to create a warm space and well-insulated rooms throughout.

The floor, walls and roof of Urban Escapes Studios are constructed using structurally insulated panels (SIPs) which offer highly efficient thermal values and exceptional strength. The wall thickness is 140mm (subject to cladding type), making our studios warm in the winter and cool in the summer, with good soundproofing thrown into the bargain. 

The U value of the insulation for our walls is 0.29, and our floor is 0.22. To put this into perspective, please see the new home building regulation requirements below. You can see from the numbers, our build specification provides U values lower than the recommended levels, giving you confidence that your garden studio will be usable 365 days a year.  The lower the U value, the better the insulating performance.

Part L Build regulation Requirements:

Floor:  0.25 W/m^2K

Walls: 0.30 W/m^2K

Garden Studio Windows & Door 

Urban Escapes garden rooms are built using double-glazed windows and doors, allowing plenty of natural light in whilst still keeping the space warm and dry. Double glazing is great for insulation, as the garden room absorbs the natural heat of the sun. 

We use 1.8m wide uPVC French doors and a 1.2m x 600mm top or side-hung uPVC picture window, as standard in all our studios. Doors and windows have argon gas-filled double-glazing toughened glass. The large windows also allow for adequate ventilation, enabling you to let in cool air and find your ideal temperature when the room warms up.

External Cladding in Garden Buildings

We clad the exterior of our studios with ToughWood™ cladding, an engineered wood manufactured from wood strands compressed under extremely high pressure and bonded together to create an ultra-tough dense and stable cladding, providing another valuable layer of insulation. Its ultra-tough lifelong durability makes it a reliable cladding type in any environment. 

Can I Still Heat a Garden Room?

Yes, you can make use of a range of garden room heating solutions, from electric radiators to air conditioning units, convection heaters and underfloor heating.

Detached garden rooms are often wired and plumbed to the main house. So if you are looking to create a really nice ambient temperature, there is a range of heating options available.

We offer an underfloor heating system which has a digitally controlled thermostat, meaning you can heat it up while you’re having your breakfast so when you walk in, it’s just perfect! We find that this is the best heating solution to create a comfortable, radiant heat.

Summary of Garden Office Heating

So, as you can see, garden rooms can be well insulated and built to the highest standards, so you can be sure they will keep you warm in winter and cool in summer.

Our garden rooms are perfect for winter use – with excellent insulation and thermal retention features, as well as supplementary heating options available, you will be snug and warm all season long!

If you are interested in creating extra space or are looking for more inspiration about how to use your garden building all year round, contact us today. We will be happy to provide more information about our garden room range and which garden studio will offer the ideal solution to your outdoor space.