Just like a house a garden office will require some aftercare, its a significant investment so you will want to look after it, right? But what is typically involved.
How much aftercare is needed?
The answer to this question depends on the style of garden office you buy, some designs will require more ongoing maintenance than others. Painted garden offices will need repainting where as cedar clad design will need little ongoing care – unless you want to preserve its original colour!
But some garden offices are sold as maintenance free
It’s true that a few garden office designers have chosen materials for the exterior of the building that need little aftercare, typical finishes would be PVCu and powder coated metals.
Whilst these materials don’t rot and hold their colour without repainting, you will need to keep an eye on them and keep them clean so that they stay in good condition, so there is a degree of aftercare involved.
Cedar clad garden offices are also often sold as low maintenance options. Cedar has a natural resistance to rot and fungal attack which makes it a durable exterior cladding option. A newly clad cedar garden office has a distinctive red/brown colouring but this will weather to a silver grey changing the look of the building, how quickly this happens will depend on the buildings exposure to UV light, over on our sister site The Garden Room Guide we showed the ageing of cedar cladding over a three and a half year period.
Aged cedar clad offices still look great, but they are a significantly different colour from when they were new. If you want to preserve the original colour you need to specify this at the time of order so that the boards can be protected with a sealant which protects from the effects of UV light, you will need to reapply this sealant over the years.
Painted garden offices need the most aftercare
Painted garden offices are very popular and look great in a garden offsetting the natural textures and colours, but they do require a aftercare commitment to keep them looking good and protected.
The suppliers who sell painted garden offices have spent a great deal of time researching the finishes they use so that they offer maximum protection with long maintenance free intervals. Paints have been chosen to biodegrade rather than flake and look unsightly.
Re-painting schedules differ from supplier to supplier but typical timescales are every 5 to 10 years which isn’t too much of a commitment. In fact many suppliers will offer a repainting service which will save you a job and re-assure you that its done by people who know about garden offices.
Maintaining doors and windows
Because in most instances the doors and windows used on a garden office are PVCu or aluminum clad they need nothing more than a wipe down with a soapy cloth.
The glazier who installed the windows here at Garden Office HQ recommends that we lubricate the hinges and locks once a year on the doors and windows – this requires little more than opening the window, spraying WD40 and testing the lock – a very quick job!
Garden offices with living roofs may need a weed
A living roof is both a desirable and beneficial addition to a garden office, and whilst most designs are designed to be low maintenance you will find that you need to climb up and check the roof every year. Natures own gardeners the birds have a habit of dropping the odd weed into the mix, and some plants may need replacing, so you need to ensure that you can access you living roof.
