Garden Office SIPS build

[fatmcgav]

So the time has come to finally start my Garden Office build project.

I've posted some info here - https://www.diynot.com/diy/threads/garden-office-project.523670/, but the TL;DR is that I'm building a 4.27m x 4.27m garden office using SIPS panels at the bottom of my garden.

As this is intended to be primarily used as a home office, I'm adding a small kitchenette with fridge, sink and microwave, and a cloakroom with toilet and hand basin so that I can work down there all day without having to venture back to the house.

The current design looks like this:

There's a small overhang at the front to allow for some downlights etc.

The rough interior layout currently looks like this:

The corner sofa is likely to change, and is just there for a sense of scale currently

Kitchen wise, I'm thinking either Ikea or DIY-Kitchens. Both price out about the same for a similar high gloss grey/blue kitchen.

Cloakroom will be either a wall hung or back to wall toilet, with a counter-top sink situated on-top of the toilet cistern, similar to:

So yeh, that's the plan soo far...

Next up is some photos of removing the existing 15 year old log cabin and cleaning up the site in preparation.

 

[fatmcgav]

So as I mentioned above, the location for the new garden office currently has a 15 year old T&G log cabin in situ.

Last weekend my parents came over to give me a hand dismantling it piece-by-piece in order that it can be rebuilt at their house.
Unfortunately I didn't get any before pictures, but this one picks up after we've stripped all the shingles off the roof, and remove the pine T&G strips that were used for the roof deck:

From this point, it was surprisingly quick to dismantle, basically coming down like a giant jigsaw puzzle.

Final job was to take up the floor and reveal the sub-base.

For a 15 year old timber building, it came apart in pretty good shape. Only the bottom row of timbers really showed any kind of rot, so should be pretty easy to put back to together

So the sub-base that was put down was 150mm of compacted MOT1, so plenty good enough for the new garden office to go right onto
And so the site currently looks like this:

And incase you're wondering, there was a LOT of pieces that made up the old log cabin:

Next steps - hiring a mini digger to run in the trench for the water, waste, electric and internet

 

[ning]

This is going to be amazing. I will definitely keep an eye out for ongoing progress pics.

 

[JP_]

watching too

 

[Notch7]

Best of luck with your project.

I looked into SIPs panels for my cabin / office build, but I decided to go with 4 x 2 studwork, 50mm celetex in between and 50mm on the outside.

The cost of SIPs and the complication of specifying and site construction put me off. Its a fantastic construction method though.

 

[EddieM]

It is a quick, cost effective way of building something. Just make sure the SIPS panels are fireproof. Also before you actually start, check and recheck it is suitable for you needs now and later, as it's difficult to modify or extend.

 

[fatmcgav]

Best of luck with your project.

I looked into SIPs panels for my cabin / office build, but I decided to go with 4 x 2 studwork, 50mm celetex in between and 50mm on the outside.

The cost of SIPs and the complication of specifying and site construction put me off. Its a fantastic construction method though.

I was very torn between the 2 options... However time is money as they say, and I've got a young family that takes up a lot of time, so the speed of construction outweighs the additional cost.

Also, with regards to spe'cing out, I used a company called Simply SIPS (http://www.simplysips.co.uk/) who have been excellent all the way through the process, even when I had to modify the design after placing the order after spotting a mistake with my measurements. They produce 3D sketchup designs for you to review and tweak as required, and then quote based on that design

 

[motorbiking]

SIPS are great as long as you can get access to properly clad them afterwards. I nearly went with the above company for mine, but I was building pretty flush up to the boundary on two sides.

Your build looks a bit close to the boundary, but if you can squeeze down it will be fine. Given the accommodation features have you checked if you need building control approval?

 

[fatmcgav]

SIPS are great as long as you can get access to properly clad them afterwards. I nearly went with the above company for mine, but I was building pretty flush up to the boundary on two sides.

Your build looks a bit close to the boundary, but if you can squeeze down it will be fine. Given the accommodation features have you checked if you need building control approval?

Yeh, I'm keeping a paving slabs width on the right and rear sides to give me enough space to get down there etc

I did check with my local building control dept, and as I'm keeping it below 2.5m high, and using non-combustable (concrete board) cladding on the boundary sides, then he was happy that it was permitted development. The only things he mentioned were about Part P for the electrics, which is fine, and also about contacting the water board about the waste connection, which is in progress

 

[JP_]

contacting the water board about the waste connection,

if you connect to existing drainage, do you need to mention anything?

I have a feeling I might need to build a home gym in my garden one day - my son might become a fitness fanatic and spend all his time in the gym!

Out of interest, why use SIPs instead of just putting in a large pre-made cabin (like you had) and insulating it? Or is that part of the fire protection thing?

 

[fatmcgav]

if you connect to existing drainage, do you need to mention anything?

I have a feeling I might need to build a home gym in my garden one day - my son might become a fitness fanatic and spend all his time in the gym!

Out of interest, why use SIPs instead of just putting in a large pre-made cabin (like you had) and insulating it? Or is that part of the fire protection thing?

I did look at insulating the existing structure, but the cost of doing so versus the benefits didn't stack up for me...
Plus I'm gaining an extra 25% or so internal floor space by building a new garden room.

 

[fatmcgav]

OK, so this weekend is the weekend to get the services run in...

Lots of deliveries have turned up over the last couple of days, including a load of 110mm PVC pipe and connections, 25mm MDPE pipe, SWA power cable and flexible conduit...
I've booked a 0.8 Ton mini digger, which turned up this morning...

Boy, was that a tight squeeze to get down the side...

I've also made a start on working out the layout for the drains etc:

And 3 hours later, the garden looks like this:

The first trench is for water, SWA and flexible conduit for internet connection...

More to come tomorrow

 

[fatmcgav]

So that was a very long and very messy weekend...

Didn't get quite as far as I'd of liked, but doing it largely solo didn't help
Sat was finishing up the initial trench.
Hit some serious clay in the last 5 metres from the house:

Fair to say that it made a lot more mess than I was expecting... And SWMBO was not impressed...

Had to get the SDS drill and chisel out at the end, plus a lot of digging to get that clay out ready for putting the water pipe through the wall...

Sunday came around, and I started out by making sure the area for the Insuduct was sufficiently clear:

And then it was onto actually laying cables and pipes!!!

That shows the 25mm MDPE and 6mm SWA laid, and after that I added a 25mm flexible conduit for internet.

At this point, I wasn't sure whether to change my original plan and run the drainage in the same trench, which would mean that the manhole goes out the house end; or stick with my original plan of running a 2nd trench for the drainage.

In the end, I decided to go with a 2nd trench and keep the manhole at the head end, which I think will be a safer bet. So backfilling time.

I then made a start on the head end of the drainage, starting with the level for my inlet and manhole:

As the time was getting on, I then roughed in the rest of the trench, checking the levels at intervals to ensure I was going deep enough to maintain a 1:80 fall.

I also went and backfilled at the top where everything meets the house, leaving enough space to be able to get the water pipe installed correctly etc.

So that leaves me with a nice long trench that I need to level out, fill with pea shingle to bed the pipes on and then install the pipes before backfilling... By hand...

And then work out how to get the pipe under the concrete path on the right of the last picture for the last ~5 metres of the run!

And then get the garden back into some semblance of usable for SWMBO

 

[kingandy2nd]

So that was a very long and very messy weekend...

Didn't get quite as far as I'd of liked, but doing it largely solo didn't help
Sat was finishing up the initial trench.
Hit some serious clay in the last 5 metres from the house:

Fair to say that it made a lot more mess than I was expecting... And SWMBO was not impressed...

Had to get the SDS drill and chisel out at the end, plus a lot of digging to get that clay out ready for putting the water pipe through the wall...

Sunday came around, and I started out by making sure the area for the Insuduct was sufficiently clear:

And then it was onto actually laying cables and pipes!!!

That shows the 25mm MDPE and 6mm SWA laid, and after that I added a 25mm flexible conduit for internet.

At this point, I wasn't sure whether to change my original plan and run the drainage in the same trench, which would mean that the manhole goes out the house end; or stick with my original plan of running a 2nd trench for the drainage.

In the end, I decided to go with a 2nd trench and keep the manhole at the head end, which I think will be a safer bet. So backfilling time.

I then made a start on the head end of the drainage, starting with the level for my inlet and manhole:

As the time was getting on, I then roughed in the rest of the trench, checking the levels at intervals to ensure I was going deep enough to maintain a 1:80 fall.

I also went and backfilled at the top where everything meets the house, leaving enough space to be able to get the water pipe installed correctly etc.

So that leaves me with a nice long trench that I need to level out, fill with pea shingle to bed the pipes on and then install the pipes before backfilling... By hand...

And then work out how to get the pipe under the concrete path on the right of the last picture for the last ~5 metres of the run!

And then get the garden back into some semblance of usable for SWMBO

Sounds like you’ve made some good progress...shame your pictures aren’t working

 

[fatmcgav]

Sounds like you’ve made some good progress...shame your pictures aren’t working

Hmm, they are for me... Strange... Maybe as I'm logged into my Google account...

Let me test that theory...

Edit: yep, looks like that's the issue... I'll sort them out later...