Outbuilding ceiling clearance ideas? (UK)

[Netmeister]

Hi all!

First post here and hoping for some help to keep the sim dream alive 🙏

In a few months we're going to be moving to a new house with a 30x14ft outbuilding already in place. It'll primarily be my office and an entertaining space, but I'd love to have a sim set up in the entertaining end as well.

Trouble is, as it stands there's only 7'1" of ceiling clearance so I'm thinking of ways to potentially gain a couple of feet to make it doable and I wondered if anyone had any solutions they've made work.

Raising the roof is a costly option with no guarantees I can get planning permission anyway (it's already at the max allowed height under 'permitted development')

Lowering the ground sounds way too costly as well, and it would make the space less usable for other things.

The only thing I can think of is to install a roof lantern above the swinging area, which I would be ok to do without planning and may just give me enough clearance.

Any other workable ideas would be appreciated!

[Brettster]

Netmeister - you got it sussed... Roof Lantern is your best option... good luck. Look around up here, many have done that before...

[Netmeister]

Brettster Oh that's interesting. I did search around here but couldn't find anyone using skylights/roof lanterns for clearance. Any idea if they called them something else? Or maybe you saw them in a different forum?

Thanks a lot.

[Brettster]

Netmeister - those are known as Tray Ceilings, or just look for ceiling opening, or just the word ceiling? I've seen several up here before describing doing just that. Basically you're going to find the joists and find the best spot to cut between them to allow for opening up into ceiling. I'm not sure if you will get a few feet though to be honest... You may have to consider another option...

I considered 4 or 5 different ones before finally moving to a house with a 12'x16' shed with a gambrel (barn) roof - that gives me 10' clearance to swing. It took me 6 months to close it in (remove garage door on it), insulate it, wire it for power properly, build subfloor and hang lighting, projector screen, but I'm nearly done. You can see all the issues I faced and how I handled them on my Sim Shed Build post here:

https://golfsimulatorforum.com/forum/golf-simulator-forum/simulator-builds/348365-golf-sim-shed-build-finally

Good luck!
-Brett

[Netmeister]

Brettster Thanks for that. Ah yes a tray ceiling is something different. I was thinking of a roof lantern (pictured below). Amazingly I cannot find any instance of someone using one of these for a golf sim anywhere online, which might be saying something.

Sadly a sim space is not high up the list of importance for this particular move, and the place we found ticked so many other boxes that I just couldn't justify saying no based purely on this challenge. Either way, I'll keep searching and see what I can come up with.

[Brettster]

Netmeister - that's cool as H... I never knew that was even possible, we also call that a 'Skylight', you could try searching on that.... I know there are several posts of people up here cutting a similar hole, though maybe not going up as high as this lantern proposes.

I don't know how much that will help as it's more the width you need. Have a look at my Sim Shed build, maybe it will inspire you to find a property with a shed, or to build your own on the property, that's another good option:

https://golfsimulatorforum.com/forum/golf-simulator-forum/simulator-builds/348365-golf-sim-shed-build-finally/

Thanks,
-Brett

[Netmeister]

Brettster The issue in the UK is you have a maximum height of 2.5m for an outbuilding (8'2"). If you want to build taller than that you need planning permission, which you can't get until you've moved, and even then you're not guaranteed to get it.

Maybe I just need to move to an old farm with a couple of massive barns outside 😂

[Brettster]

Netmeister - wow, that sucks about the outbuilding limit on height! My Shed is over 15' tall at the peak allowing plenty of room inside for 10' ceiling as you can see from my post. Why is UK so restrictive that way??? I never knew....

If that's the case, is there any way you could pre-determine that planning would allow it where you're going to move and move there? You see, it took me about 5 years to make my move and it was not easy, but I'm finally there... also, it's a long process even after you have the shed built, or dropped in (we have pre-fab places all over in USA that will drop in a huge 16'x24' shed if you want them to, right on your property and from what I know, I don't even think you need approval if it's far enough off the property line to your neighbor. If structure is already on property, like mine was though, you're limited to it not encroaching on property line (I wanted to expand mine), or building/dropping a new one! Much easier here in USA.

Think it over, good luck - I still think another structure is your best bet, I love mine being outside and away from the main house.