Garden Rooms Cork questions answered in plain English

A small timber cabin is €6,700 to €9,000 room only. A fitted, insulated 12 to 16 m² room is €25,250, 20 m² €32,000 and 25 m² €41,000, VAT included. See the price guide.

Most of the time is the wait for a slot and the making. On site, a cabin on a ready base goes up in a few days; a fitted room takes longer, with the base, the electrics and the finish. Ask for the lead time and the days on site in writing. See how long it takes.

No. SEAI grants are for energy upgrades to the home itself, and there's no council grant for garden rooms. What you can control is the spec and the size.

Less than an extension. Ground screws need almost no digging; a slab means a dig, shuttering and a few days to cure. The cable trench from the house is the other dig. Ask who reinstates the lawn and takes away the waste, in writing.

Ask for it in writing, separately for the structure, the roof covering, the glazing and the electrics, with the electrician's completion certificate.

One garden room company that covers your part of Cork, and only one. They look at the garden and the access, price it in writing, build it and deal with you directly.

Usually not. Behind the house, no more than 30 m² for all garden structures together, 25 m² of garden left, 3 m high with a flat roof, and not lived in. See planning in Cork.

Yes. Ground screw foundations, modular timber or SIP cassette panels, and EPDM roofing rolls are all sized to carry through a standard 750 mm hallway and kitchen door without bringing machinery or wet concrete through the house.

Under Class 3 exempted development there is no minimum distance from a rear or side boundary wall, provided no part of the roof or guttering overhangs the neighbour's property and the external cladding adjacent to the boundary is fire-rated cement board or steel.

A true four-season garden room built with 100 mm to 120 mm PIR or mineral wool insulation in the floor, walls, and roof typically achieves U-values between 0.18 and 0.22 W/m²K, holding 20°C comfortably with a single 1.5 kW thermostatic heater.

Whilst the electrician trenches the armoured SWA power cable from the house, an external-grade Cat6 data cable is laid in a separate conduit alongside it, giving a hardwired gigabit ethernet port and dedicated Wi-Fi access point in the room.

Yes. On exposed coastal gardens, marine-grade 316 stainless steel fixings, Western Red Cedar, Siberian Larch, or wood-plastic composite boards over a 38 mm ventilated batten cavity are recommended, along with coastal-rated powder-coated aluminium doors.

Adding a small WC and washbasin for an office or gym is allowed inside a Class 3 exempted room once it connects to the existing house foul sewer and is not used as a separate self-contained dwelling or bedroom.