Building a garden room higher than 2.5m
Self-builder Glandwr emailed to ask about the options if you want to build a garden room that’s higher than 2.5m. He wondered if the only option was to apply for Planning Permission.
You can build garden rooms taller than 2.5m under Permitted Development
You can build a garden room that’s taller than 2.5m under Permitted Development; you just need to ensure it is positioned at least 2 meters from any boundary, i.e., fence, wall or hedge.
If you want to position a garden room higher than 2.5 meters within 2 meters of a boundary, you will need to make a Planning Permission application.
Under the Permitted Development rules a garden room taller than 2.5m must be sited at least 2 meters from each boundary, ie at the back, sides & front of the building
It is not uncommon for garden rooms we feature on The Garden Room Guide to have an overall height of 2.7 or 2.8 meters. The owners of these rooms needing extra headroom because they are using the room as a gym, they are tall themselves or just want the room to have an airy feel.
In these instances, the professional garden room designer has made a Planning application on their client’s behalf or ensured the room is positioned 2m from each boundary.
A timely question
Glandwr’s question is timely as we are a couple of weeks away from releasing a set of sample plans which look at the construction of a garden room that has an overall height of 2.5m at the eaves and 3m at the ridge. These visualisations of the building show that it offers a lot more internal headroom than a 2.5m design would.
Taller garden rooms offer more headroom than 2.5m designs
More height allowance allows for a beefed up construction
If you have read our 2.5m sample plans, you will appreciate that it is a juggling act to make every millimetre count and choose the best materials to maximise the height allowance.
Having a bit more height to play with not only offers more headroom within the garden room, but it also offers you the opportunity to beef-up the construction. With the plans we are working on, this has allowed us to incorporate more insulation into the design and increase the size of the timbers used in the floor and roof structures.
Permitted Development options taller than 2.5 meters
If you are able to build your garden room under the Permitted Development rules, you can build a garden room with either a mono pitch or dual pitch roof.
With a mono pitched design, i.e., a roof with a single slope, it can be a maximum of 2.5m at the eaves and 3m at the ridge.
When positioned 2 meters from each boundary, mono pitched garden rooms can be a maximum of 2.5m at the eaves and 3m at the ridge
If you choose a dual pitched design, you can build to a maximum of 2.5m at the eaves and 4m at the ridge under the Permitted Development rules.
Remember, these taller garden rooms must be positioned at least 2m from each boundary.
If you have a question about self-building a garden room, feel free to email us.