A proper room, not a glorified shed
A garden room only earns its keep if you'd happily sit in it on a wet Tuesday in January. That comes down to three things: insulation, airtightness and heating. Get those right and you have a room you use every day. Get them wrong and you've spent serious money on somewhere to store the bikes.
We build garden rooms as home offices, studios, gyms, therapy rooms and quiet rooms for teenagers. Every one is built on site and sized to the garden rather than ordered from a catalogue, which matters more than people expect, because most Irish gardens have a fall, a boundary wall on the skew, or a manhole in exactly the wrong place.
Do you need planning permission?
Usually not. Under the current planning regulations, a garden structure to the rear of a house is generally exempt from planning permission where the floor area is 25 square metres or less, it isn't used as living accommodation, and it leaves at least 25 square metres of open garden space. Height limits also apply: broadly 3 metres for a flat roof and 4 metres for a pitched one.
Worth checking anyway. Exemptions depend on what's already been built at the property, and previous extensions or conversions can use up your allowance. We'll tell you at the quote stage if we think yours is borderline, and your local authority will confirm it in writing. We'd always rather ask first than build twice.
How they're built
- Foundations. Usually a insulated concrete pad or ground screws, depending on ground conditions and how much the garden falls.
- Structure. Treated timber frame, breather membrane, and a ventilated cavity behind the cladding so the timber dries.
- Insulation. Insulated floor, walls and roof. This is the single biggest difference between a room you use and one you don't.
- Cladding. Western red cedar, Siberian larch or composite. Cedar silvers beautifully if you let it; keep it warm-brown with an annual oil.
- Glazing. Double-glazed aluminium or uPVC doors and windows, positioned for the light you actually get rather than the view on the drawing.
- Electrics. Wired by a registered electrician on its own circuit, with sockets, lighting, data and heating specified with you beforehand.
What it costs and how long it takes
Most garden rooms take three to five weeks on site from first dig to final clean. Cost depends far more on size, glazing and groundworks than on cladding choice, which surprises people. A difficult access route or a garden with a serious fall will move the price more than upgrading from larch to cedar.
We give a written, itemised quote so you can see exactly where the money goes and adjust before we start rather than after.
How a garden room job runs
- Site visit. We check access, levels, ground conditions and where power can come from. Access is the thing that catches people out. If everything has to come through the house, that changes the job.
- Design and quote. Sizes, layout, glazing and finishes agreed, with a fixed written price and a realistic start date.
- Build. Base, frame, roof and weathertight shell first, then insulation, electrics, lining and finishes.
- Handover. We walk you through it, sort any snags and take the rubbish with us.
Garden rooms across Dublin and Leinster
We build garden rooms throughout Dublin city and county and across Kildare, Meath and Wicklow. Most of our work comes from people who saw one we built for a neighbour, which is the only kind of advertising that really works in this trade.
A garden room is often part of a bigger plan. Plenty of ours are approached across new decking, screened with fencing or a pergola, and finished inside with built-in desks and storage made to fit the room exactly.
Why choose ABM Carpentry for garden rooms
- Built on site and sized to your garden, not delivered as a kit that nearly fits.
- Insulated and airtight enough to work in through January, which is the whole point of the exercise.
- Electrics by a registered electrician, on their own circuit.
- We flag planning exemption concerns before you commit, not after.
A garden room is the biggest single thing most people will ask a carpenter to build, and it is easy to spend a lot of money on something that turns out to be a cold room you avoid. Everything we do differently, from the insulation to the ventilated cavity to the glazing positions, exists to stop that.
Get a quote for garden rooms
Tell us what you have in mind and we'll come back within one working day. Quotes and call-outs are free, and there's no obligation. We cover Swords, Malahide, Portmarnock, Donabate, Blanchardstown, Clontarf, Raheny, Santry and Glasnevin, along with Kildare, Meath and Wicklow. See every area we serve.
Ring 089 458 5501, or send us a few photos. They often tell us more than a description can.