Garden Room Foundations
One of the most important factors to consider before constructing your garden room, is to ensure that you opt for the most suitable, high-quality foundation system. No matter how large or small your studio may be, failing to choose a strong and solid foundation could result in long-term issues with your garden building.
At SimplySIPs, we recommend one of four foundation types: Either a solid concrete slab, screw piles, ground screws or swift plinths.
Concrete Slab
Traditional concrete slabs are one of the oldest methods of foundations and are still the most popular choice for many, due to their excellent stability.
We always recommend the concrete slab to be the same footprint size as your studio, and a minimum of 50mm above and 50mm below ground level. Should your concrete slab be larger than your studio footprint, this can pose a risk of standing water, which could get under the SIPs panels and overtime cause rotting. In this case, we would recommend using pea gravel, or such like, which can help to eliminate this risk.
When supplying our SIPs Kits, if you are using a concrete slab as your base, your SIPs floor would then be fitted with a membrane and battens, to lift off and allow for airflow. The weight of the SIPs structure is then evenly distributed across the concrete base.
Alternatively, if you are planning on using heaving equipment in your studio, for example as a gym, we would recommend using an insulated concrete slab as your foundation, which we would then supply a walls and roof only SIPs Kit. By doing this, it avoids the risk of movement or flexing in the SIPs floor.
Check out this Man Cave we supplied as a SIPs Kit on a concrete slab foundation!
Screw Piles or Ground Screws
Using either screw piles or ground screws as a garden building foundation is a reasonably new technique, however it is growing rapidly in popularity as they provide a solid and sustainable alternative to traditional concrete foundations. Using this type of foundation system offers the perfect solution for garden buildings located on uneven ground or on a slope.
When supplying our SIPs Kits, if you are using either screw piles or ground screws as your base, we would send over a pin detail, specifically for your chosen footprint size, which will show the amounts and locations of flathead screws required for your studio. The SIPs Kit would then come with a timber subframe, which the SIPs Floor is fitted with a membrane and is made to sit inside this frame.
Check out this Well-Being Show Room we supplied as a SIPs Kit on Screw Piles!
Swift Plinths
Another simple alternative to the traditional concrete slab, is swift plinth foundations, which are typically made from reinforced concrete. These are an ideal foundation for smaller garden rooms constructed by SIP panels; however, we would always recommend they have flathead brackets.
Much like screw piles and ground screws, when opting for swift plinths as your base type for one of our SIPs Kits, we would send over a pin detail, specifically for your chosen footprint size, which will show the amounts and locations of plinths required for your studio. The kit would then come with a timber subframe, which the SIPs Floor is fitted with a membrane and is made to sit inside the frame.
Check out this Garden Gym we supplied as a Walls and Roof only SIPs Kit on Concrete Plinths!
Hopefully this helps to determine which foundation options would be the most suitable for your SIPs Building… A garden room is only as good as the foundation it sits on!
Please note: We do not supply foundations.
