Frequently Asked Questions

There are numerous benefits of owning a Rubicon™ garden room but the most critical ones are:

1) Garden rooms are an asset that can add value to your property

2) Garden rooms are more versatile than a conservatory but about the same price

3) Numerous uses for leisure, living or business

4) Our garden rooms can be used all-year round

5) Saves the cost of Commercial Rent if working from home

6) It's zero maintenance if you choose our wood fibre composite cladding materials

1) Built with treated timbers to BS5589 giving a minimum 25 year structural life expectancy

2) 20 year structural building guarantee

3) Meets 2013 Building Regulations for Structure, Insulation and Electrical Categories 

4) Zero Maintenance exteriors

5) Built to Last™ - with a lifespan in excess of 30yrs its built like a small house NOT a shed..!

6) Fully Plasterboarded providing Fire Resistant Interiors

If you choose our wood fibre composite cladding materials instead of traditional Cedar or other natural wood exteriors for your garden room, then you will never again need to paint or stain your cladding material!

Previously our standard fit was Western Red Cedar which is a nice material, but needs annual staining if you want to keep the original colour (otherwise it goes a silver-grey and black like a shed, and this can be patchy) and, being a softwood, it is easily dented and marked.

Using our new wood fibre composite cladding materials means that our buildings now only need an occasional soapy wash down to maintain their factory colour and look, plus the material is much tougher so it will take the day to day knocks which Cedar will not.

Virtually anything –Garden Office, Craft Workshop, Recording Studio, Hot-Tub Cabin, Granny Annexe, Home Cinema, Gymnasiumto name a few.

Yes, we are proud to make charitable donations to the charities that we support, which are:

• Help for Heroes
• Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital
• RSPCA

Yes, our buildings are fully insulated with the U-Values of a modern 2013 house and are warm in winter and cooler in summer.

Yes, they fully comply with Part A, Part L (2013) and Part P of the Regulations for modern (2013) houses.

See our separate tab for Planning Regulations but generally, it is classed as Permitted Development. If you choose a Garden Room or Garden Office which is below 2.5m in height, and you are not a listed building or in a special zone, you can fit it anywhere in your rear or side garden without a Planning Application being required.

Yes, we fit a 1300g heavy duty DPM across the whole of the base frame as standard just as you would in a modern house.

Yes you can, although it is a big job. We can do this for you but would need to quote on an individual basis.

Our skilled teams take from 7 to 10 working days on average to build your garden room, however, this does dependent on the building size.

As standard we install special concrete pile and steel foundations (particularly on uneven ground). There would be about 20 of these on a 4m x 3m building giving a very strong and stable base. We can also fit to an existing concrete slab where required. 

As our base is supplied with adjustable galvanised legs, we can accommodate most uneven ground situations up to about 18" fall.

There is a lot of material so it arrives on either a 7.5 ton lorry in addition to a couple of long wheelbase vans. Suitable access is required and when we do our site survey we check that your location can accomodate our access needs before confirming your order.

Factory visits 7 days a week are welcome by prior appointment.

Sometimes we can arrange a visit to a prior customer but some people do not want strangers wandering around their garden so we respect their privacy.

Everything we do and all materials we use are of the highest quality and are designed to last a lifetime in excess of 30yrs, ensuring your investment is protected for the long term, and we offer the guarantees to back this up.

Let’s put it this way – the Three Little Piggies would be very happy and secure if they lived in a RUBICON™ building!

Yes. All our fitters are trained by us and work for us full time. However in certain areas of the UK we do use Approved Installers who we have trained and vetted but are not employed directly by us.

All of our windows and doors are to the latest Secured By Design (SBD) security and insulation standards and offer the highest U-Values available for modern Double Glazed units. They are also fiitted with Pilkington's 'K' Glass as standard further increasing comfort and reducing running costs. If you want to improve the U-values still further, Triple glazing is also available at additional cost.

A number of things actually:

1) The exterior cladding is interlocking and of the highest quality so penetration of the outer skin in unlikely.

2) The cavity construction allows any moisture, if it did get through the outer skin to drain away before hitting the inner wall.

3) The Breather Membrane on the face of the inner wall panels is water repellent and fully weather proof even if there was no cladding fitted..!.

4) The OSB3 sheathing on the wall panels is water repellent.

5) The inner Vapour Barrier Membrane helps prevent drafts

Consequently, the chances of any damp ingress problems in a RUBICON™ building are very remote, hence our confidence to issue 20 year guarantees.

The risks of condensation are minimal due to the construction methods adopted in a RUBICON™ building – Vented Cavity construction, Vapour Barriers, Breather Membrane, Trickle Vents etc are designed to eliminate this risk.

We currently use plasterboard and skim as this gives the same finish as a house and offers a half-hour fire resistance to Walls and Ceilings. We could use wall panelling systems but these have ugly joints around the walls and ceiling and give a cheap “caravan” feel to the building. But if you require this option, please talk to us.

Yes, we use a 22mm (rather than the 18mm housing standard) industrial floor system which has a green water resistant finish. These boards are an ideal base for carpet, laminate of ceramic tile finishes. The manufacturers say that these boards can be left outside in the rain for up to 42 days without being affected by the rain – not that we’ve tried it yet!

Normal wood screws and nails will rot within 5-6yrs in treated timber due to the copper based chemicals present which erode the screws/nails even when galvanised. So we ONLY use either stainless steel or 1000hr salt tested screws to avoid the possibility of rust and eventual structural failure.

Yes, we fit a 1300g heavy duty DPM across the whole of the base frame as standard just as you would in a modern house.

Yes, our garden buildings are fully insulated with the U-Values of a modern 2013 house and are warm in winter and cooler in summer.

Yes they have extremely high levels of insulation to enable year-round use, typically 145mm of Foil Backed PIR Foam in the Roof, 90mm in the Walls and 80mm in the Floor (which is twice as good as Fibreglass or similar type insulation). More an be added at extra cost if require. This is just one reason why they are ideal for use as a Garden Office as they are comfortable all year round.

The estimated cost of electricity for heating a 12m2 Garden Room is around £100 per year at 2015 prices.

Yes, for playing of loud (ish) music or instruments but if you wish to use it for a Recording Studio you will need us to fit additional soundproofing.

We use a mixture of Kingspan/Celotex PIR foil backed insulation or a Multi-Layered Foil composite (for its low U-Value) and where required, Rockwool (to improve soundproofing).

For our flat roof models (3” slope) we use a 150mm thick metal skinned roof (with 145mm of PIR foam insulatio) with a 20 year manufacturers guarantee. For our pitched roof versions, we use a synthetic roof system which simulates natural slates and tiles offering zero maintenance and a lifespan in excess of 30yrs.

We can offer all variants of cladding from Western Red Cedar, Exterior Self-Coloured Renders, and Wood Fibre Composites.

Share information about your brand with your customers. Describe a product, make announcements, or welcome customers to yoThis is a complex area. They are fire resistant internally because we line all our rooms with plasterboard. We can make the exteriors fire resistant but it adds a little extra to cost.ur store.

We provide a 20 year manufacturers guarantee against leakage.

Yes, our flat roof models have been designed to take the appropriate loads for maintenance but they could not be used for a veranda or similar purpose.

If you choose our Wood Fibre composite or Wood Laminate cladding systems they will require just an occasional soapy water wash (DO NOT Power wash) to remove bird droppings etc. You might sweep the roof of leaves and debris on an annual basis, and general cleaning of glass etc, polishing of handles and hinges and that’s pretty much it. If you have chosen Cedar as an option you will need to stain annually if you want to keep the original colour, otherwise you can let it go grey-silver naturally but this will take a number of years during which time the colour can become patchy.

Because we use the TRADA and NHBC guidance for structural loadings and the cross sectional size of our support beams meet or exceed the requirement.

20 years Structural guarantee, 20 year Roof Membrane and 10 year Cladding guarantee.

We are vetted by the local Trading Standards Office under their 'Buy With Confidence' Scheme on an annual basis to check the quality of our work and customer satisfaction.

We have over 20 years experience of housebuilding and renovation including timber framed homes. We became a Limited Company in 2006 and in 2013 we turned these skills to the specialist manufacture of Garden Rooms and Garden Offices.

In certain circumstances, yes.

We have all our insulation U-Values produced and certified by an independent competent authority which are available to view by customers on request.

This where there is insulation between the frames, but the timber frame itself is uninsulated. This causes a cold bridge between the inside (warm) and outside (cold) sides of the room. It is overcome by insulating across, as well as between the frames in a RUBICON™ building as per current Building Regulations and NHBC standards. Due to ever rising costs we now offer this as an extra service with Price on application.

Unfortunately not because these ratings are dependent upon a number of site specific factors such as wind direction and position of the sun, so we cannot predict this for our Garden Rooms.

Because this is the only way to build a Garden Room capable of year-round usability - our walls are up to 170mm thick with a vented cavity. It is the same as having a cavity wall on your house – if one is not present then wind-driven rain can penetrate the building and cause damp and draft problems.

These are essential on timber framed buildings as they prevent water penetration from the outside but allow moist air to escape from the inside. This allows the building to breathe and avoids the problems of rot and fungus and the musty smells you get with cheap sheds.

This stabilises the building structure and prOviedo what is known as “racking strength”. This is the same effect as a pack of cards being built into a tower and being blown down by a simple puff. So the OSB provides lateral stability to the structure and is essential to avoid the risk of collapse. It also improves the U-values due to the improved air tightness and provides a draft proof building envelope.

This prevents moist air entering the fabric of the structure from the inside of the building, creating what is called interstitial condensation (effectively condensation inside the timber frame). Again it is an essential component if a timber framed building is going to generate a lot of moisture in the air, such as when they are fitted with shower rooms. However, there is some disagreement in the technical journals regarding the usefulness of vapour barriers in relatively “dry” environments.

Yes, we have all our structural timbers treated with a 25 year preservative to BS5589. Effectively this means that the timbers could be directly exposed to moisture for prolonged periods without deterioration. This is unlikely to happen in a RUBICON™ building because no timber is in touch with the ground or exposed to the environment, but it’s nice to know you are protected if it did.

Yes, we build all our products with C16 and C24 graded structural timbers which are the same as used to build houses, and our walls are 130-170mm thick including a vented cavity, built using the same construction principles as your modern house.