subject: Built To Last [print this page] There are so many garden building/ home office companies to choose from these days- and don't get me wrong, choice is a good thing- but how do you decide which one to chose? After all, you are spending a sizeable lump of your hard earned cash and you want something that will be functional, good looking and above all stand the test of time.
There is an old saying (and indeed a book) that states "a building is only as good as its foundations" which many homeowners have found to be true as their family home cracks and moves due to shrinkage of the surrounding land and insufficient attention paid by the builders to the soil type on which they were building.
It is a similar story with garden buildings. Now obviously they do not weigh anywhere near as much as a house, but if they are intended for use over many years, then they will certainly need to be of sufficient mass to require something solid underneath holding them up!
The first question to ask your would-be garden building supplier should be along the lines of "Do you come and check my garden for suitability for one of your garden buildings?" The answer should be a swift "Yes". If you are informed that there is no need to survey your chosen site for your garden building prior to installation, and that they "could install them on the side of a mountain" then beware!
Companies not offering free site surveys will often mount their buildings on a 'ladder frame'- similar to the frame you might find used for decking purposes- or on concrete pad stones- designed to take the weight of the corners of the structure and the main load-bearing points. Now there is nothing wrong with these options per se, however there are a number of challenges that might present themselves after a few months or years of usage.
Wood, being a natural product will expand and contract with the heat or cold; ladder frames typically can flex because of this and consequently anything mounted on top of one will move too.
Pad stones- small piles of concrete dug into the ground around 12-18 inches in depth- are susceptible to movement of the ground around them as they are of minimal mass compared to the ground in which they sit. Again, your building may also move along with them.
The other problem with the afore-mentioned two options is rats and mice. Now that is not to say that by having a garden building you will suddenly attract the local rodent population to your garden, but they do love to get into places that are warm and dry where they can nest which scenario is common with ladder frames and pad stones.
So what is the answer? Concrete! Now don't go thinking that you don't want an ugly lump of concrete in your garden- think about what you do want- a garden building that is not going to flex or move over time and won't have unwanted furry visitors hiding beneath it. A professionally installed concrete base solves all these concerns and once the building is mounted on it, it is hardly visible and if it is, then it can easily be hidden with a little careful planting.
A garden building is an extension to your home so it makes sense to have it constructed as such. If you do then you will be enjoying it just as much many years later as you did the day it was finished.
