Build your own garage, ideas?

Russ

Club Member
Hi all,

Been thinking about building a garage, but being a have a go person who likes to bite off too much I thought I might have a go myself. A lot of my friends are skilled in the building trade so I'd have plenty of help from people who know what they're doing or can point out I'm crap.

Since October 2008 the building regs have changed.

From Planning Portal - Outbuildings

Under new regulations that came into effect on 1 October 2008 outbuildings are considered to be permitted development, not needing planning permission, subject to the following limits and conditions:

  • No outbuilding on land forward of a wall forming the principal elevation.
  • Outbuildings and garages to be single storey with maximum eaves height of 2.5 metres and maximum overall height of four metres with a dual pitched roof or three metres for any other roof.
  • Maximum height 2.5 metres within two metres of a boundary.
  • No verandas, balconies or raised platforms.
  • No more than half the area of land around the "original house"* would be covered by additions or other buildings.
  • In National Parks, the Broads, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and World Heritage Sites the maximum area to be covered by buildings, enclosures, containers and pools more than 20 metres from house to be limited to 10 square metres.
  • On designated land* buildings, enclosures, containers and pools at the side of properties will require planning permission.
  • Within the curtilage of listed buildings any outbuilding will require planning permission.

So that's good news. But I'd love height in the middle for a ramp one day, so I'm thinking the twin pitched roof to allow me max height of 4m. I can't come 2m in from all boundaries because I'd end up with a garage too small for a car lol so I guess I'm looking at applying for planning permission (which sounds expensive to find out if my idea is never ever gonna fly).

My garden is long and narrow, and the back and left are my boundaries, and the right has a fence that keeps me off a private estate road. So what I was thinking was is it possible to make the garage my boundary, then have a wall come forward off it so I make full use of my garden?

I see that could cause me problems with building maintenance, and what I do about the guttering? If it was a single skin brick built afair I wouldn't have to render it and paint it I suppose? But that's a fair bit more expensive than blockwork.

Has anyone any experience of this? I know I could leave a couple feet all around the garage to get to it from my land, but that makes it a lot smaller and I still need to put a boundary up then anyway.

Thankfully my neighbours all have huge extensions and one guy has a massive workshop (that's flat roofed/under 2.5m high) so hopefully that'll help me.

Thanks in advance!
 

tel240z

Club Member
Russ i was in a simular situation last year although i had a garage to the left of the rear garden with a shared drive wiith next door i wanted to extend it across the rear of the garden so to create an L shaped garage workshop, i to looked at the variouse regs then looked at all the other propertys and thought sod it, any way i was looking at doing it on the cheap priced up blocks on e-bay from people that had bought to many then found this bloke that listed ''garage blocks'' turned out he was selling a comlete precast garage, that got me thinking, so i started looking for precast garage on ebay the thing is theres plenty of people out there that just dont want there garages when they move in ,i managed to get one that had been taken down for £1.20 yes one pound 20 pence it gave me 40' running foot of 7' high bolt together structure complete with 2 corners all i needed was the roof whicn i done in timber then with steel cladding
 

260ZG

Club Member
You can build up to the boundary but foundations would need to be a raft with thickened edges. Gutter can be an internal lead one with the external wall taken up to form a parapet to boundary side.

If you do build on boundary some other factors come into play.

The party wall act will apply and you will probably need to serve a Party Wall Notice on your neighbours.

The building regulations may also apply if its within 1m of the boundary but shouldn't be too onerous. The main thing would be that it is built of non combustible materials-Brick with a tiled roof should be Ok There are other critera such as distance from house, area etc.


The disclaimer bit :D

These are obviously very general guidelines and it will depend on the individual site, proximity of adjoining buildings and even the particular Local Authorities interpretation of what are "supposed" to be common rules

Hope this helps.
 

Russ

Club Member
I had considered that, my parents have a prefab kicking around somewhere I was gonna knock up just to keep my bike safe until I sorted it. Could be one option, I'll get on ebay in a bit see what's about. I could just run a basic footing in then and get it up and going in no time!

However I'd still need to put a boundary up, I was hoping I could kill two birds with one stone and have an awesome garage to boot :)

I noticed you can get steel frame and clad building cheaply as well, but I don't want my back garden (which thanks to the previous owners being there 60 years has potential to be very pretty) ending up looking like an industrial estate :)

Hmmmmmmmmm, thundebirds style roof that opens for a ramp to fly out the top? lol

And then I start perving at Welcome to Ultimate Garage and my mind wanders off onto million pound projects again lol

Cheers
 

tel240z

Club Member
LOL buy yourself a shovel and dig yourself an inspection pit, then drool over the ready made steel ones on the net
 

Russ

Club Member
:) I was thinking about a pit, but I've never used one tbh, and I'm 6'3" and my mates are 5ft something so I think I'd have to get them a stool if they wanted to use it lol. I've been spoilt being able to borrow a ramp sometimes and it's heaven. Plus you can stick one car in the air on the ramp and park another underneath it saving you space :D

30X15 HEAVY DUTY APEX SHED - 13mm T/G, GARAGE/WORKSHOP on eBay, also Garden Sheds, Garden Structures Fencing, Garden Plants, Home Garden (end time 09-May-09 10:12:22 BST)

Big ol shed! I could make one of those pretty cheaply I think, but I'm an anti-maintenance sorta person so it'd have to last a long time without me painting it every couple years :D

And I'd still need to put a bloody fence up, and I wanted a wall lol, I'll go try and estimate the price of the blocks I'd need for the wall and scare myself out of that idea :)
 

Russ

Club Member
260ZG, sorry mate I think you posted whilst I was replying to Tel and I nearly missed your post. My dream is brick with tiled roof of course, but depends if I could afford it lol. No great rush to move so if it takes a few years saving that's fine :)

You can build up to the boundary but foundations would need to be a raft with thickened edges. Gutter can be an internal lead one with the external wall taken up to form a parapet to boundary side.

Ok I'm off to google what a 'raft' foundation is heh. I'd need a thick concrete slab in the middle anyway for the workshop floor so I guess that helps. An internal lead gutter is a genious idea, and would look fancy (and mate my house look rubbish lol, I'll move into the garage).

I've got aerial photos of my plot if it helps with ideas?
 

tel240z

Club Member
in that case then u need a cedar garage as i am told never needs treating ,im sure im going to be shot down in flames for that though
 

Russ

Club Member
LOL, I've got some cedar about somewhere, smells nice!

Ok raft foundation sounds totally feasible, nice one 260ZG

raft_foundation_very_large.jpg


Obviously that's double skinned, but kinda gives the right idea.

UWE said:
Raft foundations are used to spread the load from a structure over a large area, normally the entire area of the structure. They are used when column loads or other structural loads are close together and individual pad foundations would interact.

A raft foundation normally consists of a concrete slab which extends over the entire loaded area. It may be stiffened by ribs or beams incorporated into the foundation.

Raft foundations have the advantage of reducing differential settlements as the concrete slab resists differential movements between loading positions. They are often needed on soft or loose soils with low bearing capacity as they can spread the loads over a larger area.
 

racer

Club Member
Core love those clean bright workshops!
How about a picture of the back of your plot mate? Might help give everyone a better idea.
 

Joe NI

Club Member
Hi Russ
A few things to think about regarding your garage project; trespass can be a major issue, all parts of the construction need to be inside the boundary line including hi level items such as facias, bargeboards, gutters and any roof coverings. You will need to set your walls out based on any hi-level projections.
Single skin concrete block or brick can still allow a certain amount of damp through walls in bad weather, hence cavity walls in housing.
Steel clad buildings will sweat badly in winter causing water to drip from the metal onto anything below...the solution here is to use more the more expensive composite insulated panels.
Another thing you could think about is a timber clad garage kit. All you need is a concrete base. Just order the size you need and they can put it up in a day. The timber will also absorb condensation better and they are easy to insulate, prob about half the price of a brick construction too....good luck
 

Russ

Club Member
Joe: Good point about the condensation on the cladding! I've just remembered my friends lean to he built beside his garage suffers from this badly and it's something I'd really want to avoid.

Also yeah don't want to build it and find some of it is in next doors and I have to knock the bloody thing down! I've got some single skin utility bodged on the back of the house and it's gotta come down because of the damp it lets in. My parents garage is single block but it's rendered and lovely and dry inside.

Maybe though I should just build a wall and put a big wooden building in and get over the whole brick is best thing in my head. One thing I want to do is avoid upsetting the neighbours as well, if anyone thinks my idea is a bad one I'd sooner hear it now that for the next ten years from them :)

Have attached couple pictures of where I want to stick it and an aerial. As you can see there is a garage but it's broken asbestos so that's going. Also if you put a garage more than a car width in the current location you end up with a lovely view of nothing but the garage from the house so hence why I was thinking of sticking it down the bottom. BTW the aerial images came from Multimap, put your postcode in and click birds eye view, then click the arrows left and right to make it rotate.
 

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grolls

Well-Known Forum User
Russ,

If you want to go "wooden".... draw what you would like, email it to me and i'll get you a price as my parents make them.....delivered and erected.....:D
 

Zed2k

Well-Known Forum User
Russ I have a prefab garage sitting in bits in the front of my mums house it used to fit my 240 in the middle and you could open both doors right up no probs with room to work round it, I was going to use it to replace an old garage at the site but never have, let me know.
 

twoforty

Well-Known Forum User
Russ/Nick You're not too far away from my workshop really...if you ever need to put your car on my lift at the weekend give me a shout...its a very nice working area...well lit and clean.
 

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zeeman1972

Well-Known Forum User
Having built my own garage, I can only suggest that you build it as big as you physically can. Once you have moved in, it will never be big enough:D:D!!!

Just a thought on your layout, have you considered asking the owners of the private road whether they would grant you a right of access so that you could place your main vehicle access out of sight of the house (disguising the side of a large garage is easier than disguising a whopping great door).

If you built a timber structure you could easily insulate it so that it would be warm and dry, it would also take up less space than a brick built wall with the same level of insulation and damp proofing.
For a roof, if you had a mate who is fairly skilled carpenter, I'd suggest a 4 sided mansard given the requirement for the space for a lift, it'll give the impression its a roof but in reality it gives you a sneaky wall height extension to most of the buildings floor space. for a cheaper less skilled alternative you could get some trusses made for you with high level ties which would raise the the 'ceiling height' up into the roof space.
 

samuri-240

Well-Known Forum User
My garage was the building project from hell !!!! the story is far to long to go into, basically the rear end of my garage is dug into a bank, we hit a load of natural springs & the neighbours gardens where running into mine it was like a slurry pit :eek: It was a true nightmare, these problems more than doubled the build cost of the garage. Looking at your plot I would build the largest garage possible as we all know they are never big enough & agree that a wooden garage is the way to go they are so much warmer & dryer.
 

grolls

Well-Known Forum User
I have a concrete pre fab and although it has a false ceiling, insulated and i thought vented enough i still have to run an air con unit permantly or the car gets covered in damp. I know the answer would be to buy a bag to put the car in, but as an ex mechanic i have loads of tools in the garage that started to go rusty also.
 

Russ

Club Member
The general concensus is go as big as you can :D As you can see I have a fairly long plot, so if I go full width I reckon that's about 30ft (I will measure it later lol) and I'd like two cars deep, so maybe 30ft square?? I don't want to over develop, but I'll probably be here ten years and I think a 20ftx30ft would cost nearly as much as 30ftx30ft surely?

Just a thought on your layout, have you considered asking the owners of the private road whether they would grant you a right of access so that you could place your main vehicle access out of sight of the house (disguising the side of a large garage is easier than disguising a whopping great door).

Yeah that'd save me having a massive driveway up the side of the house, plus it's pretty steep as well. But I then worry about security, but people can jump the fence if they want anyway. Have to try to speak to the council see who's road it is.

If you built a timber structure you could easily insulate it so that it would be warm and dry, it would also take up less space than a brick built wall with the same level of insulation and damp proofing.

I am coming around to the idea. I think I need to get a better idea of how much it'd cost for brick work, like a ballpark figure. Is there an easy way to figure that out?

For a roof, if you had a mate who is fairly skilled carpenter, I'd suggest a 4 sided mansard given the requirement for the space for a lift, it'll give the impression its a roof but in reality it gives you a sneaky wall height extension to most of the buildings floor space. for a cheaper less skilled alternative you could get some trusses made for you with high level ties which would raise the the 'ceiling height' up into the roof space.

I like the mansard roof idea, under the slopey bits I could have a good storage area and open central bit.

62E9F-mansard.gif

Mansard roof shape

That might be odd with the internal guttering around the outside though? Probably look alright.

But I could just lay a good foundation, knock up a good shed for now, and get on with my 240 with the money saved. Hmmmm

I need to do some costings! :)
 

Russ

Club Member
twoforty: Just spotted your post, garage/car looks amazing!!! Where abouts are you? Appreciate the offer, I'm just as interested in seeing the car though lol
 
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