Advice on shed/playroom/mancave

The_B_Man

Hi,

I'm getting a garden room that will be multi-purpose. It'll be a shed, utility room, office, man-cave and play room for the kids. The body of the shed is the width of the garden, i think about 6 metres, and about 4 metres deep. It'll be L-Shaped with the utility, and a small toilet in the "L". They'll be about 3 metres deep, and probably 3 metres long as well, with a seating area/patio outside, so it'll be a square slab of concrete poured.

As it stands, it'll be left with a few plugs in the main area of the shed, and some lights, but I was looking to add something extra to it. I was thinking about getting them to put a plug on the roof, as well as run a HDMI cable so I can have a projector on one of the end walls.

I was also thinking about getting an ethernet cable run down the garden, with the electric and water pipes, and then connecting it to my network cabinet under the stairs, so i don't have to use ethernet plugs. Wifi barely reaches the shed so I can't rely on it.

Can anyone suggest anything cool I can put in, while the builders are here? Maybe some fancy lighting in the roof or some other trick for future-proofing? Maybe something to keep it warm? Is there a preferred type of radiator? As far as I know, he's putting in an electric radiator as we're not running the gas. It's a SW facing shed so could possibly put solar on the roof later.

TBH, I'm just looking for ideas to make the shed really good. Whether its for the office, the kids, or just general advice on materials to use for longevity, energy efficiency and aesthetics.

Thanks.

hesker

One of the coolest things in my own shed (ime) is the soffit lights. I have them on a relay which I can turn on/off using my phone or timers etc

The_B_Man

Yeah we were looking at soffit lights but hadn't considered smart lights. Is there anything specific i need to ask the electrician to get them like that? I already have a Philips Hue hub for a few lights in the house and its great being able to control them from the app.

hesker

There are probably various ways to do it. Best discuss with your electrician as he’ll be doing the work.

Lumen

You can get a single room MHRV unit instead of an electric radiator.

The_B_Man

Is an MHRV a suitable replacement? As in, will it actually keep the place warm? I've heard of them being used in place of extractor fans rather than replacing radiators.

Looked online and they seem to be about €400 or so. That would be do-able. Thanks!

I might still get an electric rad for the separate utility room though. I dunno about the small toilet. That'll have a window but might get enough heat from the main shed room.

hesker

I have MHVR units in mine. You still need a heat source. I have a cheap oil rad running at lukewarm and keeps the place at about 18 deg over the winter. Costs less than 20 a month on elec. Haven’t experienced a really cold winter yet though.

The_B_Man

€20 a month doesnt seem cheap to me tbh. There'd be a few days every week where i wouldn't even set foot in the shed.

I wonder would an oil based electric rad on its own be enough for winter.

In terms of other nice bits, some recessed lighting or LEDs would look great too. Need to consider the budget though.

Does anyone know a suitable floor type for heavy electronics? Like a few hundred KG? All the weight will be on 4 castor wheels. Laminate floor probably wouldn't be suitable unless i put something on top. I remember in school they had the thinnest carpet over concrete. It was like it was glued to the floor. Im wondering would this be the solution, and then put rubber mats in the kids play area. Or go the other route and just get a nice floor and put protection of some sort under the wheels.

hesker

€20 per month for about 4 months of the year. Seems cheap to me. Nothing rusts, nothing gets damp and I can work inside without wearing any heavy clothing. Small oil based rad running at the lowest setting.

Lumen

Is an MHRV a suitable replacement? As in, will it actually keep the place warm? I've heard of them being used in place of extractor fans rather than replacing radiators.

Good point. I could have sworn I found a combined MHRV and heat pump but now I'm doubting myself!

€20 a month doesnt seem cheap to me tbh. There'd be a few days every week where i wouldn't even set foot in the shed.

If you're not going in you don't need the heater on!

I wonder would an oil based electric rad on its own be enough for winter.

Heating costs are going to partly depend on whether you try to keep it continuously at (or close to) comfortable temperature.

e.g. rough estimate using BER ratings. What are you aiming for? Top end B2, best case? That would be unusually good for an outbuilding. So that's 100kWh/m2/yr. Your structure is 24sqm. So 2400kWh/year, which is €480/year @ 20c/kWh, or €40/month.

You're heating a building 20% the size of a house with a disproportionately large surface area. If you try to keep it at a steady temperature it's not going to be cheap to keep warm unless the insulation is excellent and you have significant solar gain.

Otherwise, if it's designed so that there isn't much thermal mass inside the insulation then it's just a question of space heating for a few hours here and there. But then you can't just go in there on a whim and expect it to be comfortable.

sydthebeat

There's no point trying to ascribe a BER rating to something so small, as the algorithms would be so skewed by the small measurements it would render it useless.

Just work on the basis of elemental u values for heat loss calcs