This approach is not just practical; it also opens up aesthetic possibilities. Combining various colours, textures, and profiles can yield a building that’s both visually captivating and uniquely styled.

In this superb example the clients selected a trio of cladding materials to achieve the garden room’s distinct aesthetic.

The render elegantly frames the recessed front wall, where a panel of vertically fixed Western Red Cedar cladding sits next to aluminium-framed bi-fold doors. The Cedar’s natural reddish-brown hue contrasts beautifully against the white render.

For the side and rear walls, maintenance-free composite cladding was chosen, fitted vertically and colour-matched with the door and window frames. This harmonises well with the garden’s fences and the adjacent pergola, providing a stunning backdrop to the planting in the new borders.

The post Mix of Materials appeared first on Executive Garden Rooms.

The post Amazing Abodo appeared first on Executive Garden Rooms.

The post How much does a garden annexe add to your property value? appeared first on Executive Garden Rooms.

When researching Garden Room suppliers, one of the most important question you need to ask is “how much insulation does the building contain?”

The post Insulation is the key to keeping your Garden Room warm appeared first on Executive Garden Rooms.

Providing a bright and naturally lit interior by installing a roof light, reduces the need for interior lighting, reduces energy usage and CO2 emissions.

Natural daylight creates an environment which lifts peoples spirits, eye and brain funtions repond better, people will be more productive and concentration increases.

It is proven that natural light improves peoples working productivity, with an increase in home working this can be an attractive benefit for Garden Offices.

The roof lights that we install in our garden rooms are electrical, operated via a remote with rain sensor closing, they are available in different sizes.

The post Shedding some light appeared first on Executive Garden Rooms.

Here at EGR we comply with all building regulations to ensure your building is safe.

See photos of projects which have had Fireboard installed, making the buildings compliant.

The post Fireboard appeared first on Executive Garden Rooms.

The solar glass we use in our buildings has the following advantages:

• Provides excellent levels of solar protection, reflecting unwanted heat by up to 56%
• Reduces excessive heat build up compared to standard glazing
• Has an attractive neutral appearance giving you a clear view of your surroundings

It will also help to keep it warmer in winter

• 63% less heat loss compared to ordinary double-glazing
• Provides unbeatable thermal insulation, reflecting heat back into the room
• Reduces your heating bills by retaining more heat in the room
• Reduces the environmental impact of excess energy production
• Maximises the amount of natural daylight coming in to your home, especially important during the darker winter months
• Virtually eliminates internal condensation

The post Solar Glass appeared first on Executive Garden Rooms.

Magnetic Integrated Blinds

Many of our clients ask about blinds, this options is perfect for those looking for a dust free solution as the blinds sits within the sealed unit.

Allows:-

• Privacy
• Control of light, especially important if the room is to be used for sleeping accommodation.
• Keeps the sun out of the building, great for south facing gardens.
• Tilt & turn function allows light control, good for controlling light onto a computer screen.
• Dust free, for those who suffer from allergies this is a nice solution.

The post Magnetic Integrated Blinds appeared first on Executive Garden Rooms.

Material costs affecting garden room prices

The post Material Price Rises! appeared first on Executive Garden Rooms.

Instead consider an ‘off the shelf’ shed, which can be placed near to the garden room – we can match the paint colour to your choice of Cedral Cladding colour, for a seamless visual effect.

The beauty of Cedral Weatherboard is that you can buy it ready painted, along with matching coloured corner trims.  The grain finish looks like wood and comes in 22 different colours.  It doesn’t require repainting and will maintain its new look, with little input from you.

• A Contemporary look
• Maintenance free
• Weather resistant
• Class O fire performance
• Pest and insect resistant
• Resistant to rot for 50 years
• Colour matched corner trims

The post Garden Room Storage appeared first on Executive Garden Rooms.

This piece of kit is ingenious and a must in an office environment where more than one person is working.

VELUX ACTIVE is the easy way to a healthier indoor climate, with sensor-based operation.  Smart sensors continuously monitor the temperature, humidity and CO₂ levels in your home automatically and open or close your roof windows & blinds to create a healthier indoor climate.

It can also be controlled via a smartphone control app.

The post VELUX ACTIVE Smart Home Indoor Climate Control appeared first on Executive Garden Rooms.

Could the temporary solution from Covid-19 become the new ‘normal’

The most important thing to consider is to make a dedicated workspace with connectivity – all our garden rooms are supplied with Cat6 data points, some clients require a server with multiple data points and floor power sockets.

73% of employees would like to work from home on a permanent basis.

Recently employees have benefited hugely from working from home and companies must now carefully consider their infrastructure to ensure they deliver an effective remote working strategy.

• 58% of people are happier working from home
• 27% say they work longer days at home
• 51% say they are more productive at home

Other benefits include:-

• No travelling to/from work – saves time and cost
• Flexible work/life balance
• Able to wear cozy clothes
• No office politics
• Spending time with the dog

The post Could Working from Home become the new ‘Norm” appeared first on Executive Garden Rooms.

As the Government advice regarding Coronavirus continues to change, we are monitoring our decisions and processes because the health, safety and wellbeing of our customers, staff and families are our highest priority.

EGR are ready and able to listen to your project ideas, requirements and advise you on the best possible solution to create and design your perfect Garden Building.

We are pleased to announce that we are now building our unique garden rooms again, with strict procedures in place to keep our staff and clients safe.  We are experiencing some difficulties in sourcing building supplies, but we are trying our best to keep to our project schedules.

Our site surveys will continue to be virtual for the time being.  A virtual appointment with one of our team will provide us with all the information we need in order to assess your site and provide you with a full detailed quotation.

To arrange a virtual survey via video, please call us on 01202 874766 or 0792 0047570, or email us on info@executivegardenrooms.co.uk or contact us via our contact form.

Stay safe.

The post Coronavirus (COVID-19) – Updated 08/06/20 appeared first on Executive Garden Rooms.

Pest control experts warn the void beneath decking is proving an ideal breeding ground for millions of super rats and mice.

The wooden boards keeps out the cold and rain in the winter, fallen leaves can be dragged in providing bedding.

The British Pest Control Association said that rats live in environments where they feel safe and will not be disturbed, the space under decking offers them nice cosy environments in which to build their nests.

The national rat population has been estimated at 70 million, while the number of mice is through to be six to seven times higher.

At EGR build a concrete raft foundation for some of the following reasons:-

• There is no void under the building which avoids rodents nesting.
• No decking is required outside the room to cover the void area – we use paving slabs only.

The post Garden decking triggers Rat plague appeared first on Executive Garden Rooms.

We have been asking our clients “what are the main benefits of working from home?”

• No travelling time to or from work.
• Saves money on renting office premises, your Garden Office adds value to your property.
• Creates a comfortable work environment giving you a healthier work-life balance.
• Flexible schedule – ideal if you have children to look after during school holidays.
• Cozy clothes – say goodbye to your suit and hello to comfy trousers/jumper, in some cases pj’s.
• Calming environment – design your room with views overlooking the garden.
• Reduces stress with no office politics.
• A room that is designed to suit your needs including an area to prepare healthy snacks and a window configuration to work around your furniture.
• Saves time – not only travelling to the office but in the bathroom in the morning getting ready which means more sleeping time or even time to exercise.
• Electrical package to include Cat6 data point, power sockets with USB charing points, air conditioning, floor power sockets and network boxes.

The post Become a Garden Office worker appeared first on Executive Garden Rooms.

EGR are accredited members of the IWA, who offer a comprehensive deposit protection insurance.

IWA are FCA regulated and covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

With deposit protection insurance, your deposit payments are covered should the company you have chosen to build your garden room ceases trading.  In the event of this, they will either refund your deposit or organise another company to complete the project.

Deposits of up to 25% of the project cost are covered. This deposit payment is made to secure your place in the order book and to pay for materials on your project.

Wa are an established company who have been trading for 11 years.

The post The Importance of Deposit Protection Insurance appeared first on Executive Garden Rooms.

By far the most popular option when building under the Permitted Development rules is to build a 2.5m garden room. This is your most flexible option when it comes to positioning your building, as you can site the room 500mm from the boundaries of your garden.

The measurement is taken from the highest piece of ground immediately adjacent to the room; the rule is defined by the Planning Portal as:

Ground level is the surface of the ground immediately adjacent to the building in question.  But where ground level is not uniform (eg if the ground is sloping), then the ground level is the highest part of the surface of the ground at the front of the building.  Ground level must be virgin ground, ie. not from top of paving or decking.

One of our previous garden room projects was built to the 2.5m rule, a neighbour complained that the building was taller than allowed. The site where the garden room was built sloped from front to back. This slope meant the measurement at the front of the room was 2.5m, but at the rear of the room, the measurement was 3m. The neighbour felt that the 3m measurement convened the Permitted Development rules.

When measuring the height of a garden room, the measurement is taken from the highest piece of ground immediately adjacent to the building. So, if the ground slopes away as in this case the measurement is still taken from the highest piece of ground.

The Planning Officer came out to look at the situation and confirmed that the building was fully compliant with Permitted Development and explained to the neighbour that the maximum 2.5m measurement was taken from the highest piece of ground adjacent to the building, in this case at the front of the building.

The post Garden room heights appeared first on Executive Garden Rooms.

We build a reinforced concrete foundation for the following reasons:-

• There is no void under the building avoiding unwanted lodgers under your garden room.
• No decking is required outside the room to cover the void area.
• There are no pockets of cold damp air under the building there is less heat loss.
• More solid base is more durable, we believe this is the best form of construction for a permanent building, great for garages, gyms and music rooms.

The post Keep the foxes and mice away….. appeared first on Executive Garden Rooms.

The couple decided to build an annexe at the bottom of their garden for their mum after they searched long and hard for a property with an annexe but couldn’t find anything suitable, they quickly discovered that properties with annexes are in short supply.  They also looked into buying mum a small flat nearby but that option was double the cost! After much deliberation, they found a suitable chalet bungalow which had a garden large enough to accommodate an annexe at the bottom without loosing too much lawn area.

They chose us to design and build the annexe because they wanted to use a local company which had excellent reviews from previous clients.  Designing a new building which is bespoke is an exciting option, the client has lots of involvement in choosing the layout, windows/door placements, kitchen, bathroom and flooring options.  After many reiterations the floor plan was agreed and the planning application submitted to the local council, the client didn’t know much about the planning and building control rules but we handled everything for them.

After having a look around, we had a chat about the process and I asked the following questions:-

• What are the benefits of living at the bottom of your son’s garden?  She replied “It is lovely to be closer to the family especially the grand children and I really feel part of family life, I help with the children’s breakfast, school runs, babysitting so there are lots of benefits for the whole family.”
• Has it made a difference to your quality of life?  She replied “I have some back issues so I am very pleased to have no stairs and a walk in shower, it feels like my own private space and I couldn’t be happier.”
• How did you feel about the build process?  She replied “The build time of 6 weeks was so quick, the furniture was moved in the following weekend and I moved in straight away, the guys on site were all so polite and helpful and I am so pleased I chose EGR.”
• Did the annexe tick all your boxes?  She replied “Yes, I was worried it may not be warm enough, but as each heater is independent I can put them on when required and during my first winter I did not needed them on much at all – just a bit to top up the temperature in the evening and early morning, so I am really pleased.
• Does it feel like home?  She replied “Yes, when I pull down the blinds at night, it feels like my own private space, it is all I could have asked for.”
• Would you recommend EGR to others contemplating a Garden Annexe?  She replied “Yes I highly recommend EGR, so friendly and helpful on every level”.

Building an annexe in your garden really does add a unique selling point to your property, as potential buyers in the future may also be looking to house more than one generation, an option which is becoming increasingly popular, not only to look after older relatives but for young adults struggling to find deposits for their own properties.

The size of the building was 54 m2 and with a build cost of £92,000 including a sedum roof, all groundworks/connections and aluminium bi-folds, this is excellent value for money.

The post Garden Annexe Revisited appeared first on Executive Garden Rooms.

It is water protected which means the planks won’t fade, warp or distort – unlike timber cladding alternatives.

It offers a Class ‘0’ fire rating which is extremely important, especially if the building is to be used for sleeping accommodation or if the building is sited within a metre of the boundary.

The beauty of Cedral is that you can buy it ready painted, along with matching coloured corner trims, you could be daring and have a contrast colour of trim versus plank.  The grain finish looks like wood and comes in 22 different colours – the only issue you will have is to choose which colour to have. It doesn’t require repainting and will maintain its new look, with little input from you.

• A Contemporary look
• Maintenance free
• Weather resistant
• Class O fire performance
• Pest and insect resistant
• Resistant to rot
• Colour matched corner trims

The post The beauty of Cedral Weatherboard Cladding appeared first on Executive Garden Rooms.