Insulating a shed for laundry room?

[flanagaj]

I am planning on having a shed, like the one below outside the entrance of our static caravan.  It will house the washing machine and tumble drier and enable me to change out of dirty clothes before going into the static.  My concern is how best to insulate it as I'm concerned about pipes freezing?

 

[Conor]

Something like 50mm eps glued to the inside would probably be enough. And lag the pipes.

[-rick-]

You'll have electric in there so can put a tiny thermostatic tubular heater in there on a low setting keep as insurance for the really cold days (wont be enough without the insulation though).

[flanagaj]

23 minutes ago, Conor said:

Something like 50mm eps glued to the inside would probably be enough. And lag the pipes.

Do I need to use a vapour barrier and if so, is it installed on top of the insulation or between the word and insulation?

[JohnMo]

I would add vapour barrier, to the inside. To keep room moisture away from insulation and the wood.

[Redbeard]

On top of (always on the 'warm side'). Whether you need one or not is a moot point. Remember to insulate on all 6 'sides'. If it were me I would insulate over the floor too then glue some 9, 12 or 18mm ply/OSB over. Why try to avoid heat loss throughout and leave a 'hole' in the floor?! Consider the solidity of what you use for the floor insulation. You don't want a washing machine on fast spin to go 'walking'. TBH I would not be starting from where you are - I'd be building a post-and-beam shed 'bespoke', but I am aware you have a lot of things to do just now.

[flanagaj]

2 hours ago, Redbeard said:

On top of (always on the 'warm side'). Whether you need one or not is a moot point. Remember to insulate on all 6 'sides'. If it were me I would insulate over the floor too then glue some 9, 12 or 18mm ply/OSB over. Why try to avoid heat loss throughout and leave a 'hole' in the floor?! Consider the solidity of what you use for the floor insulation. You don't want a washing machine on fast spin to go 'walking'. TBH I would not be starting from where you are - I'd be building a post-and-beam shed 'bespoke', but I am aware you have a lot of things to do just now.

We've got until the end of the month before we've got to be in the static.  Sods law that it's set to rain for the next two weeks.

[sgt_woulds]

We used one of those plastic ketter maxi stores for our laundry room.  We could just fit both machines side by side with 70mm of insulation glued on all round (inc doors + 100mm on the floor with 12mm OSB over)  with a tubular heater (at the back near the incoming water pipes) to deal with frost.  I also injected spray foam into every cavity and crevise.   I didn't bother with a vcl as the whole set up was impossible to make airtight (plus we popped the top up when the machines were running), but for your shed I would ali-tape the PIR board joints to keep moisture away from he wood.

 

Our 'temporary' solution was used for 4 years... 

 

Biggest issue was with the supply and drainage outside the shed; even with heavy lagging, the drainage pipe could freeze up, so I wired in a 12v pizza heating wire under the pipe insulation. 

 

Everything inside was fine, but the bottom of the machines got a bit rusty, so an extract fan is probably more important than keeping the heat in. 

 

I got both machines, and all of the insulation free from the side of the road.  Total cost was £199 for the shed and £6 for a replacement bearing get the tumble drier working, and £10 for the tubular heater heater.  

🙂

 

 

 

 

[SteamyTea]

Realistically how often do pipes freeze in Hampshire?

As this is a temporary building, just cover the walls with mineral wool and, as @JohnMo suggests, a VLC on the inside.

If it gets really cold, a ten quid, 400W electric fan heater from eBay.

 

[Iceverge]

For not an awful lot more cash you could have an insulated metal panel shed. 

 

Or if you want plug and play...

 

 

Should be saleable in years to come or it'd be easy enough to tart up if you didn't want to be continuously reminded of choc ices!

 

[Russell griffiths]

I’m not sure I like the shed idea, I think it would be too small, after a couple of years the fun of heading into the shed to do the washing will be wearing thin, I think I would either build something better or drag in a shipping container welfare container that’s already insulated, add a heated clothes rail and you can do drying in there as well. 

[Mr Punter]

For clothes drying, a dehumidifier in a small, insulated room works really well.

[saveasteading]

I suggest knocking up a timber frame.

Bigger isn't much more cost.

Make it comtainer/ welfare unit size and nobody will question it.

[kandgmitchell]

My wife's laundry room when we were in the static was a cheap 6'x4' shed with just the cold water supply insulated. We went through a full winter including some snow with no issues other than a bit of complaining about going outside to visit it.

[flanagaj]

Unfortunately, I am limited on space and time too.  I was thinking about erecting a carport style covering with clear roofing sheet, so that you could come out of the static and down to the outbuilding without having to brave the elements.  The only issue I see is the location of the flue pipe from the boiler.  Wonder if it could possibly be changed so that it goes vertical and through the corrugated roofing sheet?

 

Anything to make life more bearable during the wet winter months is going to be worth it.

[JohnMo]

26 minutes ago, flanagaj said:

Wonder if it could possibly be changed so that it goes vertical and through the corrugated roofing sheet?

Yes. But getting a plume kit added may be simpler

[Mr Punter]

On 09/11/2025 at 19:10, flanagaj said:

I'm concerned about pipes freezing

 

If they are inside the shed I think you will be OK.  You can always lag them a bit.  In the unlikely event that it does get very cold, turn off the water and go to the launderette.

[JohnMo]

I have all my water treatment outside in insulated shed. Pipes as they transition out of ground are insulated. Initially used a tube heater and zero issues down to -9. Now have heat pump flow and return going through shed so no longer use the the heater.

 

Just insulate all surfaces - 25 to 50mm PIR insulation will do. Use carpet spray adhesive to stick to walls between battens used to make the walls. Add a couple of vents and a tube heater or 2 with built-in thermostats.

Edited 3 hours ago by JohnMo