Garden office- a few questions

emart100

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120004726#Comment_120004726

Hi,

Do you mind if I ask how much was your outlay on the concrete base and what the upgrade to 80mm insulation cost? Thanks

dinneenp

Concrete was €2.5k for 8m by 3m & a layer of insulation (office is 4m by 3m,same for veranda section) and upgrading the insulation from. 40mm to 80mm was €1,400.

Was debating whether to insulate further (when slabbing) but was told that 80mm is enough.

dinneenp

About €20-21k or thereabouts. Includes electrician, slabbing & skimming, floor etc.

Could have gone cheaper but it'll last me decades so want it to be a space I'll love.

dinneenp

Hi,

Question for anyone who has a garden office- what colour is yours & will you share a pic if happy. White is the obvious one but I'm thinking of something slightly different.

dinneenp

Virtually done, moving in tomorrow. Just need to pick a radiator, colour for back wall & hang a few pics.

914

That looks really well, can I ask roughly how much all in?

dinneenp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122998159#Comment_122998159

Hi.

Only seeing this now. About €20k. But this includes a large outdoor area (Lidl astro grass on floor). I opted for additional cladding on the exterior; makes it look less like a garage.

914

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123062133#Comment_123062133

Thank you. I'll give them a shout as I'm after something similar

Barrett1234

hi, was the 80mm insulation sufficient?

Idbatterim

alternatively you can crane in one of these and sell it in future, if you wish….

https://www.donedeal.ie/gardensheds-for-sale/garden-room-portable-cabin-portable-office/36864762

DOCARCH

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123117926#Comment_123117926

Sweeping statement in that ad….'This garden room does not required planning permission'.

Actually, it may do! All depends.

Igotadose

Be wary of Steeltech. We've 2 Steeltech outbuildings, a shed built in 2016 and a new garage.

Steeltechs process for the shed was to require us to have a pad poured, then they came out and installed the shed. Easy as anything, took them about a day to erect the shed and it's well used and good to this day. They cut the pad where necessary to install the shed frame, which took them a bit of time but all good.

Now, the garage was very different. Steeltech required us to have a 'picture frame' pad built - basically one about 12 inched wided, shaped like a hollow rectangle (the insides the ground. I think the pad's about 6 inches thick). I tried to make the picture small, best I could do:

The good thing for steeltech, is that their installer could install in about 1.5 hours - they arrived, got to work, had it all up in that time, including a fair bit of time getting the roller door installed.

Then, after they installed the shed, I needed to get the mason back, to put a 'cap pad' over the whole thing, 2 inches thick. Despite having an excellent mason, this made the job much harder. First off, I needed the mason twice. Second, the mason had to pour the cap pad inside the completed shed - again, they did a good job, but it was harder for them, they hated the work they told me and I believed them. Then, we had to clean up the mess - not a huge mess, but my fancy new garage had little bits of concrete on its felted walls that had to be cleaned off.

I'd think long and hard before getting another Steeltech, and if I were getting one of their garden offices I'd be sure of the process before beginning, the sales guys didn't really make it clear, my mason actually got them on the phone to confirm and was pretty unhappy.

Idbatterim

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123119045#Comment_123119045

How would it require planning if less than 25 square m ?

Igotadose

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123119140#Comment_123119140

Are there other buildings? Where would it be located on the site? If you have a retention or already have permission, it's good to ask, though of course be circumspect, no need to volunteer more info. If you want to sell the property later, it's really really important to have approval, prospective buyers can insist, I wish we had before we bought our place, the process to get to permission for our garage was, well, years of work even before the first bit of concrete was poured.

The garage I mentioned needed planning despite being less than 25 sq. m. because of the existence of the shed (18sq. m.)

kippy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123119140#Comment_123119140

I think it depends on the amount of useable space left in the garden after the unit is put in - a minumim is required - no matter what size the unit itself is.

• Property must maintain 25 square metres of open space

From here: https://shanettesheds.ie/garden-shed-planning-permission-ireland-guide/

kippy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123062133#Comment_123062133

That came out really well.

Any regrets so far on it - that you would change were you to do it again?

10-10-20

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123119097#Comment_123119097

I'm not sure specifically what Steeltech did wrong here; what would another installer have required in this case? A picture-frame slab isn't the only method of installing sheds, you could have poured the slab in one and then fitted a raised floor, for example.

DOCARCH

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123119140#Comment_123119140

Yeah, as above bascially, you only have one 25m.sq. exemption (in total), so if there was another shed, or garage, added previously, that has to be taken into account, and the amount of private open/garden space taken into account.

I see a lot of people caught out on the other shed bit. They already have, say, an 8 m.sq. shed. Then get sold a 20 m.sq. garden room, with supplier telling them they don't need planning permission.

When they are selling the house (and looking for an opinion on complicance) they have a choice - remove/reduce the shed or apply for retention permission.

Mellor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123119140#Comment_123119140

Lots of ways tbh

• Less that 25m2 privste open space left.
• Further forward than the house
• To the side of the house (as finishes probably dont match house)
• Somebody using it as a bedroom.
• protected structure, or conservation area.

These companies rarely mention those issue though

Igotadose

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123119250#Comment_123119250

Their warrantee requires the 'cap slab' in order to seal in the rails on the floor. Here are their requirements, and they reiterated them several times to us in the process:

https://www.steeltechsheds.ie/concrete-bases/

I agree, there are lots of ways to install sheds, but this is the one they require.

DOCARCH

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123120215#Comment_123120215

Yes. Proected structure too! Had one person recently contcat me who was sold a garden room - 'no planning required'. Big back garden but their house is a protected structure and (after complaint by persons unkown) they now have an enforcement notice. Retention planning application now rquired.

Igotadose

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123120422#Comment_123120422

Just the application? Not the full retention approval? It's 'a long way between cup and lip' when it comes to retention request versus approval.

Idbatterim

Ah, the country of begrudgers is alive and well...

muffler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123121133#Comment_123121133

Sorry but that post makes no sense.

DOCARCH indicated that a planning application for retention permission will now be necessary. I think that's fairly clear.

Igotadose

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123121225#Comment_123121225

Probably I don't understand the terminology.

Our exprience was that we first applied for a retention for our garage as we knew we would exceed the 25sq. m. rule because of the earlier Steeltech shed. The council said, 'no can do, as you don't have planning permission for this house.' Note that, that part of the story probably isn't that interesting, but never buy a house that doesn't have full, approved planning permission if you ever want to add to it or resell it easily.

So we applied for a retention for the entire property, including the new garage, and worked through the process of getting the application approved. We had to provide additional information to the county council a few times, they finally signed off and granted our retention. I think our final response was over 20 pages and well as all sorts of details about the existing property - drainage, nearness to mussel beds, rivers, detailed reports provided by a contractor on the state of the septic system, etc. Over 20 pages as I recall.

The council eventually signed off and we proceeded with final construction on the garage.

Does that help? I might not be right with the terminology but I would think an application's not enough - what if the council rejects what you're proposing for other reasons, like what we experienced. It's not enough to have applied, is it? We were told we needed approval too…

Mellor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123121355#Comment_123121355

I think you are misunderstanding.

A planning permission application is for something you want to build.

A planning retention permission application is for some that was built without permission.

In either case the application can be approved or reject. its never a case of apply and away you go.

Igotadose

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123122499#Comment_123122499

Thanks so much for clarifying!

DOCARCH

To clarify. Not just enough to submit an application for retention….it also has to be granted retention permission (i.e. 'approved'). If not granted retention permission the structure may have to be removed.

Mellor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123121151#Comment_123121151

You asked how it would require planning, those are the ways it would. Not sure where begrudgery about that. It's simply the law.
I don't agree with all of them, but it's better that people know rather than get misinformation from a salesman.

Idbatterim

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123122965#Comment_123122965

I'm saying the begrudgery comes from whatever pathetic gobshite, reported the garden structure...

Not his land, not his business. People own whatever sliver of land they have and think their the sheriff of town. Get back in their box...