Build a garden house out of stone yourself: 8 basics

building permit

If a garden house made of stone is to be built in a corner or elsewhere on your own property, then depending on the state and size, a building permit is required:

• in NRW, the house must not exceed 30 cubic meters
• in Brandenburg and Bavaria, up to 75 cubic meters are permitted
• Check with the local building authority in advance
• go to the office with all the documents for the construction
• Building permits are subject to a fee
• about 0.5% of the construction costs
• at 5,000.00 euros approval costs about 25.00 euros
• usually minimum fee in the three-digit range
• regardless of the construction costs
• if a house is built illegally, there is a risk of demolition

Required stone material

If you want to build a garden house out of stone, you can choose from different types of stones. The house should always match the overall picture of the rest of the garden, so there is a large selection of different stones that are suitable for walls:

• all solid stones are suitable for external walls
• Sand-lime bricks are very popular
• provide good thermal insulation
• aerated concrete
• Bimsstein
• finished concrete blocks
• Wall bricks
• Hüttensteine
• lightweight concrete blocks

more material

In addition to the stones for the masonry, other material is also required for building the garden house, which should be included in the planning right from the start:

• gravel and sand
• PE or PVC film
• Concrete
• optional screed and flooring
• wooden panels for formwork
• desired stones for walls
• mortar
• Timber for rafters and support beams
• Dachlatten
• Roofing felt for the roof

The good specialized trade advises which nails, screws and other accessories for the construction of a garden house still belong to the basics and gladly puts together a package.

Worth knowing basics

For a stone garden shed, the same rule applies that should be used for building all masonry. If this is higher than 50 cm, which is definitely the case with a house, then the width of the foundation must be three times the thickness of the wall. The depth depends on the height and should be one third of the desired height. In addition, further supports can be walled in, which are placed at a distance of about one meter:

• Always lay a base plate in a garden shed
• is then used as a foundation
• this makes the house more stable overall
• also more practical for later use
• this gives the garden shed a solid floor
• then the stones are laid all around

Base plate instructions

If a floor slab is to be poured as a foundation, the floor is first excavated to a depth of around 80 cm over the entire area. It is important here to adhere to the minimum depth below the frost line, as this is the only way to build a frost-proof and stable house on it. The further steps are then as follows:

• compact excavated area
• then add a layer of sand
• then a layer of gravel
• Compress individual layers well, otherwise cracks will appear
• Insert power or water lines at a depth of 50 cm
• Lay construction foil over the compacted area
• then create a formwork made of boards all around
• The top edge should match the height of the base plate
• Pour in the concrete and smooth it out
• do not do without steel grids in the concrete

The smoothed concrete then has to harden over several days. Depending on the weather, it is important on dry days to water the base plate regularly so that no cracks appear during the drying process.

Instructions for bricklaying

Only when the base plate has completely hardened can you start building the walls. Therefore, a few days to two weeks should elapse before you can continue. As a preparatory measure, it makes sense to place posts along the walls that are to be built, which are connected with a cord and removed again after construction. This is how a straight wall can be easily erected:

• Apply a layer of 1.5 cm mortar
• put the first row of stones on it
• place the next row of stones offset
• flatten a layer of mortar on individual bricks
• face down on the bottom row
• this is how the mortar is distributed in the joints
• horizontally as well as vertically
• tap the stone into position with a rubber mallet
• put more rows on top of each other
• last row all around with U-cup stones

These shell stones are filled with steel rods and concrete and thus form the basis for the ring anchor. This keeps the stone garden house stable and prevents the wall from collapsing under the weight of the roof.

Cut out doors and windows

Of course, the garden house made of stone cannot be raised all around with walls. Recesses must remain for at least one door and one or more windows, if any. For this purpose, specially manufactured wooden frames are positioned directly at the desired points and walled up to the upper edge:

• first row above the frame
• also use U-shaped stones here
• must be wider than the opening
• so they lie on the adjacent masonry
• then line these stones with steel rods
• fill with concrete
• then bricking can continue as normal
• Finally, remove the temporary wooden frames
• later replace with desired doors and windows

Install flat roof instructions

Depending on how big the garden house has become, you can build a flat roof yourself. Even if it is a flat roof, it should have a pitch of at least 2° to 25°. This is how rainwater can run off and does not collect on the roof:

• Coat the wood used with wood preservative
• measure inclination
• place higher on the side or rear area
• Attach joist bearings across the roof
• Rafters are laid lengthwise on the bearing beams
• screw everything together well
• Roof battens, in turn, are laid across the rafters
• The tongue and groove boards are placed lengthways on the roof
• Cover everything with roofing felt and fasten
• fold in all around and fasten here as well
  Ideally, so-called eaves strips or sheets are attached all around the roofing felt to prevent rainwater from running under the roof.