Going to get a garage built.

Thanks for posting up those pictures, Ess Three. That garage is awesome, and great inspiration.

Work actually starts on the foundation for the garage tomorrow. I ended up giving the go-ahead to some builders who've done quite a bit of construction work in the area, and were recommended by a few people. I'm going to go for 10m by 4.5m external.

One thing I was thinking about was a pit. I spoke with the builder about it and he said they can certainly do it. But he said that it's not just a matter of putting in the blocks for it; the ground overall would need to be dug a lot deeper and more concrete has to go in. So instead of digging just 1 metre deep as currently planned (unless, of course, the building inspector looks at it and asks for it to be deeper), he said that for a 6' pit, he'd need to make the foundations something like 7' deep. This will add about a grand to the cost of the foundations. Also it's a total gamble over whether it'd get filled with water or not, because until they dig they don't know where the water level is. It's a large flat area with large open fields behind our house, so it could get pretty wet when they dig down.

He said that if water is a problem, there are companies who can come out and actually spray coat the inside of the pit with some fibreglass substance (or something). Or I could get a liner for it.

He reckons that building control won't mind me having a pit, because they weren't bothered when he installed one elsewhere recently.

Just wondered what thoughts you guys might have.

 

I'd dig your pit for a bit of fun if I were closer.

Dont forget your camera when the work starts!!

 

Don't know if you are aware of this but if your founding soil is clay you need to consider the conifers/trees, even the ones you are removing. Conifers are the work of the devil!

Fingers crossed your in sands and don't have to worry about it.

 

I'm sure you can buy fibreglass pits which are complete with electrics etc built in, which you just sink into the ground and fill round.

 

I didn't ask him to do a pit in the end. I'm going to invest in some decent lifting gear instead. There are a few portable lifts on eBay that look ideal.

They're working hard at the foundation now and making really good progress. I'll post up some pictures later.

Sadly it's not going to take two cars side by side, but will take two end to end with lots of working space either side. I've really gone for the maximum width I could without making the thing far too huge in our garden.

Edit: we now have it up to the first few rows of red brick in the ground. Damn it looks large when I walk around it! I'm happy with the size we've gone for, too. Looks just right.

 

Nice one!
If it seems big when being built, you've cracked it.
Mine seemed small when being built...and although it's not, it's not huge either.

As long as you can get the doors open and walk round it...it's wide enough.

Get the pics up Trev.

 

Sounds like it will be fantastic! As mentioned already Picis!!!

Ian..

 

Width measured between the front pillars is 3.9m, so will be putting a 13' sectional behind I think. The length front to back is 10m.

I'll have a uPVC door on the long side wall, quite close to the front of the garage. Then further along, an 1800mm window. Then something like a 1200mm window on the rear.

I've had a quote for ready made attic trusses. The builder is being a good chap and will get me those for what they cost him, trade. The attic trusses cost a little bit more, but they give more storage space and he says that I could also cut into them if I needed to create a large ceiling height in part of the garage (say if I was using one of those scissor car lifts inside).

When viewed from the house it doesn't really look all that big. I'm pleased about that because I didn't want it to be too imposing. That last image taken from upstairs gives a better impression of size though.

 

Looking good!

Starting on my mate`s tomorrow, having done some clearing a few months ago...got to love them mini-diggers!

 

cool thread - a little different to your regular build-up threads

Some things I'd put in my own bespoke garage if I were in your shoes:

Traveling beam - essentially some runners at high level and an RSJ that can roll up and down parallel to the width of the garage - stick a hoist on it and engine swaps then become a doddle. If you can't get the traveling beam in, then at least some ceiling anchors rated to 1/2 ton. But with the beam you don't need to move the car.

Up & over doors are a bit of a hassle if you're parked under them when they're up, cos they essentially mask any lights above. Maybe fit some lights to the doors?

Low level lighting - stick strip lights around the floor at skirting level, better lighting under the car.
Put in more lighting than you think you'll need. CFL are okay for economy but the colour rendering is crap, if you have issues with colour-blindness make sure you've got tungsten lighting to hand for those wiring job.
I have my lighting on a PIR, which is handy for hands-free lights on, but a pain if you forget to switch it over and it goes off when you're under the car.

Hot & cold running water - no more de-greasing yourself in the kitchen.

Decent drain (for above).

Decent alarm.

Run plenty of Cat5 cable around and back to the house, handy for phones, computers, alarms, intercom - you name it..

Power - put it on a separate RCD to the main house, and give yourself a couple of individually switched mains circuits, with an emergency-stop isolator for 'tool' circuits.

Extractor fan - not just for exhaust fumes, but painting, soldering etc.

 

Some excellent tips there, thank you. Any suggestions like these are greatly appreciated.

Regarding the travelling beam idea, is there any kind of preparation for this that you reckon the bricklayer should incorporate when the walls are put up?

Same goes for the extractor fan idea. Perhaps I should choose a suitable extractor now, and ask the bricklayer to make an aperture for me to save having to bore through later.

They have inserted what I think is a U-shaped 4" bore pipe through the foundation wall for me (located near the front right corner), ready for me to route water and electricity. I did mention the wastepipe idea to him, but he reckoned that if all I have in there is a simple washing basin then it'll be sufficient to run the waste from that into the soakaway.

I see what you mean about up-and-over doors. I have been considering a Hormann sectional door, but instead I've also thought about a roller door to avoid having the door and rails intruding within.

I think I need to work on a plan of all the items I'm going to install / work on when the shell is built, because clearly there are quite a few ideas to implement.

 

also even after you fit an alarm also fit a baby monitor for total piece of mind when your home & esp in bed.

 

I'm pleased you put the pipe in...
Once power is in, you can add the rest easily.

You can get a cheap alarm and fit it easily, if you want one.
So it won't be monitored, but some pikey isn't going to hang about once an alarm is howling - if you do add one just watch the placement of the door Mag Switches as I've had problems with the wind buffeting the front doors and breaking the contact and setting the alarm off. Very annoying. For the neighbours!


Power, obviously a requirement.
If you can get water in, then a small hot water heater is easily added.
As mentioned, Cat 5 cable is a good idea if you want to run a PC in there.
Hell, you can add a wireless webcam accessed from anywhere for a few 10s of s, if you want to monitor the inside!

If you run a hose/duct out from the house to add power etc, just leave a piece of string through it for future additions.

 

you have to tell planning if your having running water going to it mind.

 

The beam side runners want to be supported underneath, rather than be simply bolted to walls. That way the load is simply compressing the brick, rather than trying to tear a course of bricks off the wall.

Get it as high as possible, and get as much masonry as possible underneath it. Engines aren't that heavy in the grand order of things, but they can be heavier than expected when you forget your earth-strap

Ideally you'd want to put the ends of the beam on the brick piers that I can see in some of the earlier photos, these will be the strongest part of the wall, that and the corners.

Talk to your builder, he'll probably have some thoughts, or get friendly with a local steel fabricator. You'll probably want to go there for your materials anyway..

 

So do you have such a system installed in your own garage then? I'm really interested in this idea now. It would make life so much easier than when using an engine crane, which are a bit of a pain to move around and store.

I do have several long lengths of 2" square steel which could possibly be used to fabricate it. Perhaps they could be used to form the runners that go onto the walls.

I'll do some Googling later for some pictures and diagrams.

 

Okay, I've done some reading up on bridge hoists.

The idea I have in my head at the moment is to buy two lengths of I-section RSJ (say, two of these would be almost ideal) and get the builder to install them perfectly in parallel (if that's possible!) across the width of the garage (so that the ends are supported into the brickwork). One beam would go across right at the back of the garage, and the other would be placed perhaps halfway between the front and back of the garage (10m long garage, so they'd be 5m apart, in parallel). I'd then build a crossbeam with wheels that fits onto these RSJs, and hang the hoist off that. That'd give me a bridge hoist that covers the rear half of the floor area.

I don't want to just build a floor-standing gantry hoist because I don't want any floor space to be taken up.

What do you guys think of the idea of me having the two RSJs installed as described, and then welding up my own crossbeam with wheels to mount upon them?

The crossbeam itself could be another I-section RSJ, and have one of these hoists on it: http://www.tooled-up.com/Product.asp?PID=27509

I'd then need to fabricate my own wheeled bits to go on the ends of the crossbeam - unless I can buy those from somewhere too.

Edit: Actually, just realised I could do it like this. Buy two of these RSJ trolleys:



Those would slide along the fixed RSJs. Then a short chain from each of those could attach to each end of the travelling RSJ.

Then the travelling girder has one of these attached to it, using a third trolley:



Sounds like it could be a solution, without needing any fabrication...?

 

that's exactly what's installed in the garage here trev, i'll put a picture up in a bit if you like. the beams running across the garage are part of the roof trusses though. seems very sturdy.

 

Some pictures would be excellent, and perhaps quite useful to show to the builder

 

the cross beam holding the hoist:



c-section welded to the the roof truss, hoist cross beam runs along this on little wheels:



end stop on runner:



roof truss, 3"x 3" box section:



end of cross beam as it sits on runner:



tbh i think your idea of an i-beam runner bolted to the underside of the roof truss would be stronger and simpler than this, as there is a tendency for this setup to be twisting the c-section runners away from the main truss. this lot was fitted after the box section trusses were installed by the original builders.