ALI DYMOCK

Ali: Hi Graeme, thanks so much for sending all the photos through. I learnt a lot and I’m sure others will do too.

Tell me, what was your motivation for building your own garden room and what was the intended use?

Graeme: The shed that came with the house was very small, old and falling apart. We were doing a garden renovation (after finishing the house) and decided to build something that was in-keeping with the new look of our house, that could give me a place for my workshop and a games room for the family – especially my near teenage kids!

Ali: I thought the lawn looked especially verdant! 

Which part of the build was the hardest for you?

Graeme: Hard question as I really enjoyed every bit of it! It’s one of the best things I have done and your videos made life a lot easier! 

Getting the right amount of materials took a bit of planning and the bit I hated most was fitting, filling and painting the skirting boards – a week of my life that I won’t be getting back! Window fitting will be better next time (your video came out the same day as my windows arrived thank goodness!)

Ali: 🙂

What mistakes, if any, did you make?

Graeme: Biggest mistake was making my frame on 16 inch centres to fit OSB that was 1220 x 2440 then finding out too late that plaster board comes 1200 x 1400. It made for a bit of waste! I did over order some materials (but not the costly ones).

Ali: I get that. It’s frustrating that OSB and plasterboard come in different sizes. It’s not too bad if you are drywalling as the boards don’t need to butt one another tightly but I’ve definitely softened my attitude to 400mm on centre now!

What were your expectations of costs and how much did you end up spending?

I was hoping to spend £8-10,000 but upgraded many things such as cedar cladding, plaster work, insulation and flooring and finished paying around £10,500.

Ali: That seems like excellent value and pretty close to your projection. 

What skills have you learnt and will you be putting them to good use around the house?!

Graeme: Roofing, insulation, running electrics, guttering, drainage, most of it really. Had done most of these things before but not to the scale of the shed. I feel that I could now build a small wood framed house if I needed to. 

All jobs around the house can be done easily now (due to extra skills and more and better tools). The only things I did not do was lay the concrete base (although I could do that now), the plastering (I chose to go with a better finish – as the shed was becoming more of a room of the house) and the electrics.

Ali: So quite a bit then! I feel the same, I rather like the idea that if worst came to worst, I could always build myself a simple house to live in. 

Would you do anything differently?

Graeme: Possibly make it wider. Although I did want a bit of a garden (enough to play football on) and after consulting the neighbours (always best to let them know what you are doing) we compromised on 8m x 2.8m split between two rooms. 

What advice do you have for anyone planning on building theirs?

Study everything thoroughly before starting. Ali’s videos cover everything, but ask other tradespeople, suppliers, books, the internet, other videos etc as you will gain lots of knowledge through it). It won’t go up overnight so be prepared for the long haul.

Get a good relationship with your main supplier (wood, screws etc) – I did and his prices were much better because of it. Take pictures along the way – it put a smile on my face when ever I looked back on every stage – it also helped when hanging things to know where the studs, electrics etc are. Most importantly – Enjoy it!

Ali: Thanks so much for sharing Graeme, hopefully you’ll be the first of many to inspire others. Enjoy your completed garden room!

As an aside, I hope to add a comments section to these in the future so you can show your appreciation too but haven’t worked out how to do so yet!