Featured Friends - Who do we recommend for painting your G&M building - blog feature image

Featured Friends: Who do we recommend for painting your G&M building?

NattyShedGirl Buyers Prep, Timber Building FAQs Leave a Comment

You’re ready. Ready to place an order. Ready to start living your best #ShedLife. But wait a minute! What’s all this about needing to paint a second coat onto your G&M building a few weeks after delivery? You’ll probably not want to do that as it sounds like a lot of hassle. You’re more likely to want someone to do it for you hey? A professional. But can’t G&M just do it all for you? We DON’T actually paint your shed for you. However, we DO put a base coat on in the workshop in whatever Sadolin colour from our range you decide on. But you WILL need to put another coat on it a few weeks after the building …

Featured Friends - Who do we recommend for garden landscaping - blog feature image

Featured Friends: Who do we recommend for garden landscaping?

NattyShedGirl Buyers Prep, Timber Building FAQs Leave a Comment

Amazing! You’re wanting a Gillies and Mackay building, but why stop there? It’s finally time to live your dream #ShedLife so why not go all out? You’ll want to take the opportunity to go the whole hog and transform your garden space into something worthy of your brand spanking new G&M building. But, who is going to do that for you? If you’re buying a top of the range Shed you need a top of the range landscape. We don’t want this to hold you back, so we’ve partnered with ‘AH-mayzing’ landscapers who we know create amazing garden transformations that live up to our high standards. So let’s get into it. Who do Gillies and MacKay recommend for garden and …

Featured Friends - Who do we recommend for your base work - blog feature image

Featured Friends: Who do we recommend for your base work? (for hard to reach sites)

NattyShedGirl Buyers Prep, Timber Building FAQs Leave a Comment

A Garden Room is the dream. But what about the base work? Your access is a nightmare. Your excavation is impossible. You’re watching your Garden Room dreams slip away right in front of your eyes and there’s no way to stop it. Ah, but there is. Luckily for you, we’re in there with some experts who can make sure you have a suitable and safe base, no matter how difficult your site is being. So let’s get into who we recommend to create your Garden Room base. Related content: What kind of base do I need for a Garden Room? What kind of base do you need for a Summerhouse? What kind of base do you need for a Garage? …

Garden Room Maintenance 3 Top Tips blog feature image

Garden Room Maintenance: 3 Top Tips

NattyShedGirl Buyers Aftercare, Garden Room Buyer's Guide, Garden Room FAQs, Garden rooms Leave a Comment

Maintaining your Garden Room is paramount to the longevity of the building. The better you look after your Garden Room, the more likely it is to be passed down through the generations. Over the years, I’ve seen all forms of neglect and lost love for these beautiful creatures. So I thought I’d best help you keep the magic alive, when it comes to your Shedlife, by sharing some top tips. There are 3 crucial ways to keep your Garden Room in tip-top condition and stop it from becoming foosty, run down and haggard. And they are: TREAT VENTILATE REPAIR   1. TREAT First things first: whatever the external cladding, it’s always best to use some form of treatment on it. …

image of a beautiful garden room

What is the best construction for a Garden Room?

NattyShedGirl Garden Room Buyer's Guide, Garden Room FAQs, Garden rooms, Timber Building FAQs Leave a Comment

If you’re familiar with Gillies and Mackay, you’ll know we don’t muck around with specification, especially when it comes to our Garden Rooms. We know what you need when it comes to staying warm, dry, loved and comfortable in your Shedlife. That’s why we have developed the best specification of Garden Rooms to withstand the Scottish climate. Grant and I love nothing more than to barter back and forth with new ideas, new technologies and a whole world of possibilities for design, specification and techniques. Our Garden Rooms are made with a 5-tier wall specification that looks and sounds like this… External Cladding As standard, we will always use 19mm thick tongue and groove Redwood which has been tanalised to …

Finished Half Build - Steven Marshall Photography

DIY Garden Room: The Half Build

NattyShedGirl Buyers Prep, Garden Room Buyer's Guide, Garden Room FAQs, Garden rooms Leave a Comment

The Half Build Garden Room Listen… It’s okay. You can tell me, I’m totally cool with it. It’s only natural. You’ve got the skills, you’re right handy around the house and this might just be the dream project you’ve always wanted! I’m talking about ‘Do-It-Yourself Garden Rooms’. We’ve made 100’s of Garden Rooms for our amazing G&M customers over the past 30 years. So it comes as no surprise when people start to realise the potential of doing some of the work themselves, not least to save a tidy penny, but also because they want to. There are pros and cons, as well as different stages to consider, but we will discuss all of the important aspects in this blog …

Why won’t my Summerhouse door close?

NattyShedGirl Summerhouse Buyer's Guide, Summerhouses, Timber Building FAQs Leave a Comment

What about this heat?! I know – best we’ve had since 1976.  “When looking at daytime temperatures the UK average for the month was 19.9 C, the same average maximum daytime temperature as in the June of the still talked-about summer of 1976, and placing it joint-second…” (Met Office 2018) So what’s that got to do with your Summerhouse doors? Well, quite a lot actually. This heat is playing havoc with your timber. Timber is a porous, natural living breathing material. This means when we have a prolonged spell of dry, sunny weather it’s only a matter of time before your timber starts to shift. Summerhouse doors are particularly susceptible because they are facing south… with the hottest of the sun …

What is the best base for a Summerhouse?

NattyShedGirl Buyers Prep, Summerhouse Buyer's Guide, Summerhouses Leave a Comment

Summerhouses require a slabbed base as standard. And by this we mean a properly formed slabbed base. Not just a couple of slabs chucked on the lawn. The preferred formation would be to; dig down to firm ground, compact Type 1 Hardcore, level sharp sand and then lay the slabs for the full size of the summerhouse. I.E. a 10′ x 8′ Rannoch summerhouse needs a 10′ x 8′ slabbed base. It is important to make sure that the base is NOT bigger than the summerhouse. The base must be within the summerhouse size to ensure that the water runs off the roof and away from the Summerhouse. If the slabbed base bigger than the summerhouse, the water runs off …

Does a shed need planning permission

Does a Shed Need Planning Permission? Video

NattyShedGirl Buyers Prep, Shed Buyer's Guide, Shed Planning Permission, Sheds, Timber Building FAQs Leave a Comment

So you’re ready to buy a shed… great! But have you done your research and read our helpful blogs first? There are many things to consider before you go ahead with your purchase, and one question I’m often asked is, “Do I need planning permission for a Shed?”. It’s a great question and one I answer in this short video… Video Chatter One of the most common questions I’m asked on a daily basis is, “Does my shed require planning permission?”. The straight out answer is, it depends. There are nine different things that planning will ask of you, and if you answer no to all of them, then you don’t need planning permission. They start off with generic things …

Does a Shed need a Building Warrant?

NattyShedGirl Buyers Prep, Shed Buyer's Guide, Shed Planning Permission, Sheds 1 Comment

We’re often asked about Planning Permission for sheds, but equally important is whether or not you need a Building Warrant. What’s the difference? Firstly, Building Control is a completely different entity from your local councils Planning and Development department. Planning permission is needed when separate criteria’s are not met, see: Do you need Planning Permission for a Shed?. Planning is to do with aesthetics; will your development have an impact on the surrounding area? Neighbours, environment and in some cases the look of the street/area you live in. Building Standards/Regulations is primarily to do with the structure of the build. Depending on size; is the buildings structure safe and suitable for the loads and variant elements it may endure. If …