Creating an eco-friendly garden building, when done right can be a smooth, successful process but there are couple of key things that are needed in order to achieve that. Throughout the construction phase, it is important to keep in mind the initial purpose of the building. A garden building can create many opportunities for different uses, one being solely for storage purposes; if that is the case, less work and environmental factors need to be considered. If you are planning on using your garden building as an additional living space, there could be further environmental implications. Here are some top tips for making a garden building more eco-friendly.

Design

When it comes to design, you firstly want to select the right kind of building to suit its usage. Whether it be a log cabin, garden office or even garden sheds from GBC, it all affects what needs to be done in order to make them environmentally friendly. As with anything, smaller spaces are much easier to heat than larger ones, which makes them not only cost effective but friendlier to the environment. By being mindful on the size of space you are choosing, will result in it being kinder to the environment. If you don’t require a vast amount of space, choose something more moderate sized.

Window placement

Where the windows are placed also plays a huge part on the eco-friendliness of your garden building. By working out the direction of natural breezes and the positioning of the sun throughout the day, you are able to optimise the amount of sun that will stream through the windows. This then acts as natural way to heat and light the space, which in turn should reduce the amount of energy required.

Insulation

Insulation is one of the top ways to ensure your building is more environmentally friendly. By ensuring the building is insulated both appropriately and correctly will provide huge benefits. Using good quality insulation should create a consistent heating effect, by keeping the area cool in the warmer months and trapping heat in during the colder months. This in turn should reduce the need to run any electrical or gas heating and cooling units regularly.

The use of eco-materials

Being mindful of the materials used to construct the garden building will contribute towards making it more eco-friendly. It wont always be possible but, in the instances that you can help save money and minimise environmental impacts, try and source recycled plastic, glass and timber. By doing this, the process should be much less damaging to the environment than purchasing the materials brand new.

Invest in solar panels Fitting solar panels to your garden building will certainly make your garden building more eco-friendly. Due to their initial cost they will be an investment, but dependent on what type of outdoor building you have, it could well be an option. As well as the huge environmental benefits, installing solar panels is a fantastic long-term financial investment within itself. There is a huge offering of solar panels on the market and in most instances the more powerful systems wouldn’t necessarily be required for a smaller garden building. In general, garden buildings require very little electrical power, therefore the output wouldn’t need to be huge, so a simple set of cost-effective panels should work sufficiently.