Last week we were talking with a reader who due to his small garden wanted a garden office that was under 2.5 meters high so that it could be sited tight to the boundaries of the garden whilst complying with Permitted Development rules.
Whilst its quite easy to suggest flat roof garden office designs that fall into this criteria the reader had a strong dislike of flat roof buildings.
The reader had heard stories of flat roof extensions and garages having problems with water pooling and as a result failure of the roof covering.
A flat roof garden office should never have a ‘flat roof’
We quickly explained that flat roof garden offices are not actually flat and are designed to have a fall which ensures water runs off the roof into the guttering system. This fall is not always obvious to the eye because of the design of the garden office, but with every quality flat roof garden office it will be there.
In addition the roof coverings used in flat roof garden office design are much higher spec than the bitumen you’d have found used on flat roof extensions or garages. Materials like EPDM which have lifespans of many decades are laid in one sheet so there are no joints to potentially leek.
There are other garden office designs that are less than 2.5 meters high
We went on to explain to our reader that you are not limited to a flat roof design when looking for a garden office under 2.5 meters high. You also have the option of a mono pitched or a dual pitched garden office.
Both these options offer an attractive roofline and reassurance that water will runoff the building easily.
The roof coverings are different on pitched roof designs than flat roof garden offices. Mono pitched designs are often finished with interlocking insulated sheets, these come in varying colours from dark grey to shades of green.
With dual pitched roof designs an attractive tiled roof finish is possible. Normally this is done with bitumen based tiles which have stone chipping impregnated for added durability. The most common finish we see is a slate grey effect but you can specify other colours like green or a reddish brown.
So, as yo can see you are not limited to a flat roof garden office design when looking for a building under 2.5 meters high. Talk to these suppliers about creating your ideal garden office design.