FAQs

Garden Office Specifications

How secure is a garden office?	What is the interior of a garden office like?
What types of roofs are recommended for a garden office?	What are the windows like in a garden office?
What are doors like in a garden office?	What is Western Red Cedar cladding?

 

How secure is a garden office?

Many garden offices in the market are simply adapted garden chalets, log cabins or summerhouses and consequently have appalling security. We’ve seen some buildings on offer that pretend to be up to a home office specification that include flimsy Perspex glazing and a simple summerhouse lock. Naturally, these buildings provide no security cover at all and despite being cheap (but not as cheap as they should be) these examples will provide nothing but heartache for the owner.

However, all Smart Garden Office buildings are purpose built as offices and include the very latest specification security features to ensure you and your home office items remain safe and secure 365 days a year.

Firstly, Smart Garden Offices are built using the robust ISIS system with a tough, interlocking; three layer skin that amounts to 3.5 inches of wall protection. Compound rigidity offers unparalleled solidity.  Most importantly though are the apertures – the windows and doors – always the weakest point in any building – no matter the construction. That’s why we always specify high-spec household quality windows and doors. All Smart windows are fully double glazed with internal gaskets and with 8 point locking along the fore edge.  To keep your insurance company happy, every window is completed with a key operated indexed, lock.  Smart doors are similarly specified with multiple espagnolette locking mechanisms along the fore edge and a tough, full deadlocking, system too. The door frame includes hard-fixed steel eyelets for additional security.  Of course, the glass is fully toughened.  We also offer a fully specified remote Yale alarm system for additional protection in higher risk areas.  

All-in-all every security aspect a Smart Garden Office is designed to ensure you enjoy a safe and secure space in your garden – there is no substitute for real peace of mind.

Click here for more information on the Smart Garden Office range

 

What is the interior of a garden office like?

Take a look at the interiors of the Smart Garden Office range – our unique ISIS manufacturing system allows us to create beautiful and attractive interiors that blend the advantages of a bright, light interior with all the warm facets of timber framing.

For sure, some of competitors will use plaster to line their interiors (it always cracks with any kind of temperature change and also makes the building impractical to move) whilst other suppliers cling to the “personal sauna” finish of planks.  Smarts are finished with an attractive white silk finish to the walls with occasional timber features including matching rafters, window frames, studs and skirting boards. This provides the perfect balance between the two materials and creates a gorgeous interior ambiance making every Smart ideal for use as home office, studio, leisure den, gym or teen retreat.

Click here for examples of our garden office interiors

 

What types of roofs are recommended for garden offices?

There are five main roofing materials for garden offices

• Bitumen shingles
• Steel sheet
• Cedar shingles
• Living roof
• Felt 

However only two of the above are recommended by Smart Garden Offices

Bitumen shingles offer the very best of both roofing worlds by offering an excellent long lasting roof coating which is combined with an attractive tile-like finish. (All Smart Garden Offices are specified with this optimum roofing material as standard)

Steel sheeting provides a good solid roofing finish although this must be married to an integral fascia design to disguise the edges and to improve the finished look. This material is typically used in mono-pitch roofs. Smart Garden Office buildings can be specified with this roof material at no additional cost.

Cedar shingles offer a reasonable and attractive finish to many garden offices. However, by their very nature they are inflexible and prevent any claims of movability of the building. Not to be recommended in most circumstances.

Living roofs were fashionable around 4-5 years ago, however they are a high risk alternative as these are effectively sponge storage on the roof – membrane failures are consequently quite frequent. This makes the building below very soggy! Similarly, in many areas they are now known as “weed roofs” where the sedum is overpowered by other weeds. Avoid at all costs.

Felt is cheap and commonplace roofing material – naturally famous on every shed. It can deteriorate quite quickly has minimal thermal protection properties. Not recommended for a proper garden office.

 

What are the windows like in a garden office?

Many garden office suppliers include windows that simply aren’t up to the job.

However, Smart windows are excellent - being low maintenance and high security. Manufactured in the UK to current building regulations, our windows are all UPVC framed with multipoint locking, key operated window locks and friction stays to ensure each casement stays in position – no matter the strength of wind.

Of course, all windows are fully double glazed and are argon filled for excellent insulation characteristics. Available in a range of colours including white (as standard), Georgian Bar, Cream, Grey and Irish Oak finish.   

Click here to find out more about garden office windows

 

What are the doors like in a garden office?

We recommend that you avoid any garden office building that does not include multipoint locking, toughened glass, internal gaskets and active deadlocking.

Of course, all Smart offices include these elements as standard. Made in the UK to current building regulations, all our doors are manufactured in low maintenance UPVC and offer excellent security with real of peace of mind.

On our larger buildings we offer attractive double doors that add great versatility to the room especially it is to be used as a garden room, leisure den or studio.

Click here to learn more about our doors

What is Western Red Cedar cladding?

Western Red Cedar Thuja plicata (which is very different to Cedar,Cedrus libani ) was very popular as a cladding material for garden offices in the early to mid-2000’s. As a high fashion material of ten years ago its now starting to look rather dated. It was a cheap and abundant material with its main advantage being its claim that it required no maintenance.

Whilst this is certainly the case as a shingle (roof tile) the practical aspects of using WRC as a cladding become apparent to many owners after the first 2 years as the wood dried back from a golden lustre to a “slum grey” very quickly. Due to its cheapness many Local Authorities also specified western red for large scale developments of the time. Similarly, many of these projects now look dirty, stained and grey. 

At Smart Garden Offices we have NEVER used western red cedar – our buildings are designed for long term use and we avoid anything that requires our customers’ undue maintenance – especially as something that may be considered fashionable today will look tired and dated in a few years’ time.