Introduction

A summerhouse can be a fantastic addition to any garden, offering a great place to go enjoy reading a good book, or simply offering a room, where you can go and complete some work on your laptop. A summerhouse built by Hyden Bros will be well built, and use top quality building materials.

A guide to buying a wooden summerhouse

However, before we start explaining the different types of summerhouses that we can offer, it’s important to understand that when buying a wooden summerhouse, that you need to buy a high- quality summerhouse. Everything from the roof, to the floor needs to be well built. This guide will explain everything from installation to heating options (electric heaters, underfloor heating), shed storage, and even how to ensure your summer house can be used year-round.

We have built hundreds of summerhouses in Cardiff

Building summer house is not easy to do, it often requires roofers (to build the rubber roof), plumbers and also carpenters. While some homeowners may choose to hire a company like ours to build the summerhouse, some people to build a summerhouse themselves, and “flat pack” summerhouses can be bought online.

The installation process involves several stages, such as site preparation, this involves cutting back any hedges, levelling the ground with a mini-excavator, and removing any trees. We can recommend good tree surgeons here in Cardiff, who can cut a tree down, and remove the stump.

Then it’s time to build the concrete base, or for a lower cost, we can use “ground screws” to build the base of your summerhouse.

Our summerhouses can be used all year around, because they are insulated

The concept of a summer house may evoke images of sunny afternoons, say in Jult, and mild evenings, and sitting in your summerhouse, drinking a bottle of wine, when the weather is nice. Yet what happens when the weather gets much colder, will you still be able to use your summerhouse?

Well, if you hire us to build the summerhouse, then yes, as every summerhouse we build in Wales, we add insulation to the walls, plus we install quality electric heaters.

How can we heat our garden room in winter?

There are numerous ways which you can heat your summer house, the most common way is to use multiple electric heaters, which look similar to the radiators you have in your house. Electric heaters are a very popular choice due to their ease of installation and use. For those seeking a more sustainable option, renewable heating systems such as biomass boilers or heat pumps may be an ideal solution. The Renewable Energy Hub reports that biomass boilers can reduce your CO2 emissions by up to 12 tonnes a year (3). For example, you may have a heat pump that is currently heating your house in Cardiff? Then sometimes, the same heat pump can be used to heat your garden room or garden office.

The roof and floor must be high quality

The roof and floor of your garden room are essential to its structure, insulation, and overall longevity of the building. Super cheap summerhouses, and there are millions of these for sale, sometimes have a low quality roof, if the roof is low quality, it will leak, and sometimes leaks start quickly. Here in Britain, you want a high quality roof, you want a long lasting, durable rubber roof, and we can build this for you.

Getting rid of your shed / garage to make way for your garden room?

Combining a garden room with shed storage, is a good way to get the most use from the building. You could use for example the main room as your garden office, then 25% of the building could be for storage, so you can store your bikes, paint tins, and ladders.

The base must be well built

A sturdy base is critical for the stability and longevity of your summer house. The base should be level and constructed from a durable material like concrete or ground screws. A well-constructed base also aids in proper drainage, preventing water damage and ensuring the longevity of your summer house. The Society for Protective Coatings reports that inadequate drainage and water damage are among the leading causes of structural damage to buildings.

References:

Home Improvement Research Institute. (2021). DIY Home Improvement Report. URL

Energy Saving Trust. (2021). Insulation Statistics. URL

Renewable Energy Hub. (2022). Sustainable Heating Options. URL

National Research Council Canada. (2022). Roof and Heat Loss Study. URL

Outdoor Living and Landscaping Association. (2022). Outdoor Space Usage Survey. URL

Society for Protective Coatings. (2023). Structural Damage Report. URL

HomeAdvisor. (2023). Summer House Installation Cost Guide. URL