Using reclaimed wood in garden room design

Over the years we have been asked many times by garden room self builders about using reclaimed wood to build a garden room. In many cases this reclaimed wood has been from wooden pallets.

We have been asked all sorts of questions like can pallets be slotted together and filled with insulation to form the core framework of a garden room. Another common question is can you use the wood from the pallets to clad the exterior of the building. In each case we have said that we don’t believe you can use reclaimed wood like pallets to create elements of the core structure.

We know that it can seem appealing to make use of this wood that is often just being discarded, but it really isn’t durable enough or have the structural integrity to be used in key elements of a garden room. After all building a garden room takes a lot of effort and you want to end up with a building that will stand the test of time and add value to your home – so use the best materials you can for the main elements of the design.

You could make a feature of reclaimed wood

We recently had an appointment in what turned out to be a rather trendy office. They had this feature wall made up from reclaimed wood. Some pieces were painted, some bits were old pallets with dirt on and other bits of finer wood like oak. No two pieces were the same thickness and you could see where old nails had been pulled out.

This feature wall had a lot of character and someone had obviously spent quite a bit of time working out how the boards would be positioned to create the overall wall.

Seeing this lead us to thinking that this is a great way to make use of reclaimed wood in a garden room – make a feature of it internally. We modelled up a garden office to show you what we mean.

You could get really creative using reclaimed wood like this internally and end up creating a unique, high spec look.