How to turn a garden shed into a living room

colabottles

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for checking this out.

My son is getting older and I am looking to buy him a place to bring his friends over.
We are living at my mothers so he cant bring friends in often and with the weather getting colder, id like him to have a nice safe place he can sit with friends.
I have space to put this right outside our back door.


I was thinking of buying a wooden shed and maybe putting some insulation in. My budget is not very big unfortunately but of course I want it done right not damp and cold and so on.

Any suggestions as to how to convert a shed into a room.

What type of shed?
Do I need to buy it with any specifications or just a bog standard one will do?
How to fix it up?
Other options?
Places to buy?


Any tips, tricks or and help at all is very much appreciated

colabottles

Design Ideas also very helpful

colm_mcm

What's the budget and how much space do you have to work with?

looksee

I did this for an office. Buy a reasonable quality shed and ask them to put in a false floor with insulation in it. Put in double glazed door and windows, make one of the windows openable. They do not have to be huge. You could probably get second hand ones. Mine is just on blocks and has been fine for about 15 years, completely dry and snug.

Get it professionally wired for light and sockets. Have the cables fed round the interior in a very predictable pattern - mine go round about half way up the wall and have a board over them to carry the sockets. Cables for the ceiling lights come in high up and go along the apex of the roof.

I then finished it myself. Slotted rigid insulation between the framing then put on sheets of plasterboard. Not an amazing job because I am handy but not a plasterer, still it has been fine since. Because of the complications of the roof structure I put rigid insulation in then covered it with thin ply which was easier for me to handle on my own.

The outside peak of the roof has to be under a certain height (I think 12 ft ) to not need planning. Keep it as 'man shed'/ office standard (no water supply for example) and it will not be a living space, you would need to check up that as I can't remember the regs. It is unlikely to be accepted on your house insurance, (wooden roof) again you need to check.

Mine has been completely dry, frost proof and very easy to keep warm (I had an electric storage heater which I would put on for an hour then not need again for the rest of the day) - I did have a couple of computers going though.

allthedoyles

Have a look at the website of adman steel sheds

colabottles

I need to keep under €1000 euro so will do the most important bits first and add to in time. I have lots of space but I don't think budget will allow me to go over 8x8. The less I have to spend the better but I want it to last

colabottles

looksee wrote: »

I did this for an office. Buy a reasonable quality shed and ask them to put in a false floor with insulation in it. Put in double glazed door and windows, make one of the windows openable. They do not have to be huge. You could probably get second hand ones. Mine is just on blocks and has been fine for about 15 years, completely dry and snug.

Get it professionally wired for light and sockets. Have the cables fed round the interior in a very predictable pattern - mine go round about half way up the wall and have a board over them to carry the sockets. Cables for the ceiling lights come in high up and go along the apex of the roof.

I then finished it myself. Slotted rigid insulation between the framing then put on sheets of plasterboard. Not an amazing job because I am handy but not a plasterer, still it has been fine since. Because of the complications of the roof structure I put rigid insulation in then covered it with thin ply which was easier for me to handle on my own.


The outside peak of the roof has to be under a certain height (I think 12 ft ) to not need planning. Keep it as 'man shed'/ office standard (no water supply for example) and it will not be a living space, you would need to check up that as I can't remember the regs. It is unlikely to be accepted on your house insurance, (wooden roof) again you need to check.

Mine has been completely dry, frost proof and very easy to keep warm (I had an electric storage heater which I would put on for an hour then not need again for the rest of the day) - I did have a couple of computers going though.

This sounds great!!! Was is expensive to have wired? What is is like for spiders

RobAMerc

I think this is the perfect project to use up a stack of pallets.

lots of designs and tips on google i'm sure too