Tiny Home Office

I just learned that I will be able to work remotely but my home is too loud for me to be able to effectively work inside the house. I work mostly on the telephone and feel that I can do most of my job within an 8x8 space quite comfortably. I live in northern part of the states and am looking at building a shed on skids that is super insulated. I don't live in the city so I shouldn't have any problems with any zoning requirements about a home office.   Was thinking about attaching a small air lock style room to prevent losing all the stored heat along with a large south facing bay window in the main room. I am lucky enough to have several reclamations centers in the area and the skill set to build such an office. I would like to over build it and super insulate the office and only it with a small space heater while I am using it. I was hoping to use a single 15-amp extension cord (dedicated outlet?) to plug into the sheds to power it. Should only be powering a laptop, router, VOIP, and light. Hoping that body heat and passive sun will be heating the room but thinking I may run a small heater before starting my shift....that or invest in some long underwear/chair heater.

The reason I am throwing all this out for discussion is I have no experience with super-insulating and have not worked from home. I have googled tiny offices for ideas, but I would like insight from people who have built or use a shed as a tiny office. I am looking for advise on things that I maybe overlooking or things you wish you would have considered before taking on such a task or when purchasing a tiny office.  

Just a courtesy- it may be some time before I am able to log back in, so I may not respond right away.
Thank you for your insight!

I have a neighbour who did the same thing. Two preschool kids at home made it impossible to concentrate on his business. I think he found a used industrial steel shed with super insulation. There's enough room for two people and a desk. He calls it the "World Shedquarters."

I suspect that if you superinsulate the space a 50-watt chair heater will do the trick. Maybe another one under your feet and an incandescent lamp for your hands on cold mornings. I used to put my keyboard and trackball atop a heating pad in the winter and that helped a lot...wearing layers is great but if my fingers are numb I'm useless.

I don't know anything about superinsulation, but it sounds like it could be problematic if not ventilated properly. Just thought I'd bring it up if you hadn't thought of that.

Here's a thing you could find useful:

https://tinylifeconsulting.com/properly-venting-a-tiny-house/

Cody Polivka wrote:I just learned that I will be able to work remotely but my home is too loud for me to be able to effectively work inside the house. I work mostly on the telephone and feel that I can do most of my job within an 8x8 space quite comfortably.

What kind of headset are you using for your phone? I have basement office with screaming 4 and 7 year olds running above. A high quality aviation headset can be quite comfortable and really reduce the amount of background noise. Usually they need special adapters (such as the black box in image) in order to work with a computer or phone.

Thank you all for the insight...brought some good ideas and concerns up. I had not thought about a noise canceling headset...great outside the box thinking. Also thanks for the encouragement of friends or family that have built shed offices. I do appreciate the insight in adding an air exchange for fresh air. The insight about a chair heater or lamp and extra layers are great ideas. I welcome any additional insight someone may have.

One concern that I have is that I have farm field on the other side of my fence. I own a small property and often have to bate for pests in the fall/winter. Have had evidence of mice and Rats in the field. Anyone have a good idea to prevent chewing into the base of this shed? I was thinking about getting rolls of aluminum and rolling in under the 2x6 studs before putting it on skids. Thoughts? Any better ideas?

Thanks again for all the insight.

The old timers used big flat rocks to stop rats from getting into buidings elevated off the ground. You could do the same with concrete patio pads.

As the rats climb up the posts, they encounter the rocks or pads. They have to go upside down to get in, but there is not enough grip for their claws so they fall off.

Mice can enlarge a 1/4" hole.  So if you build the shed "tight" enough that there aren't any gaps that big, they can't get their teeth into it to enlarge the holes.  On the corners put drywall corner bead or some other sort of metal to keep them from chewing.  I did a 14'x34' elevated cabin using thin plywood underneath and it worked swimmingly.

One other thought is that you may cook yourself out of there with that big a south facing window.  Maybe blinds would be all it takes to regulate it.  And you could have vents in the air lock door so that you can exchange air and heat with the rest of the house.

Good ideas/points. How hight would the cement pavers have to be off the ground?

Thanks for the input on the cooking myself out of the shed. I was thinking it would be nice to be able to put in an overhang to block summers rays and yet allow sun light during the winter. Very I did not think about having to vent the air lock. Maybe a couple small windows?

Mike Haasl wrote: One other thought is that you may cook yourself out of there with that big a south facing window.  Maybe blinds would be all it takes to regulate it.  And you could have vents in the air lock door so that you can exchange air and heat with the rest of the house.

A good way to help with this also would be to have some sort of thermal mass to absorb some of the sunlight when there's too much. It could be as simple as some buckets of water or a stack of bricks that the sun can hit and could be topped with boards to double as a table if you need and extra surface for equipment. I always find that regardless of the amount of insulation, if you have nothing to act as thermal mass, as soon as the active heating stops, things feel chilly.

Douglas Alpenstock wrote:I have a neighbour who did the same thing. Two preschool kids at home made it impossible to concentrate on his business. I think he found a used industrial steel shed with super insulation. There's enough room for two people and a desk. He calls it the "World Shedquarters."

Update: Recently shared a beverage with the CEO of World Shedquarters -- he dumped the old baseboard heaters, installed a passive convection ceramic wall heater in the foyer, says it works brilliantly, and calculates his electrical heating cost at 4 cents per day. Pretty cool lifehack. I hope to tour this marvel over the holiday season.