Going to get a garage built.

Now that we've moved into the new place, I've chosen a builder to build a garage for me.

The basic specification of what I'm going to go for is 16' wide by 32' in depth. Construction from high density blocks.

Because it's in the back garden, it's most likely to have a flat roof. The reason is because of cost, and also because I don't need planning permission if it's under 2.5m in height (permitted development states max. of 2.5m within 2m of boundary). Another reason is because the one side of the garage will be right up to the boundary; having a sloping flat roof enables us to just have a gutter along the other side that faces our lawn. I know flat roofs are supposed to be a bit crap, but this builder guy (who I already know, and has good recommendations) says that the felt he uses should last twenty years.

What I'd be really grateful for are any suggestions for things that I may not have thought of. We're at the stage where I have to be really quite specific now about what I want so that the plans can be drawn up.

The front of the garage will face the same direction as the front of the house, so therefore the front will be seen from the back of our place, and from the road. So I'd like the front to look nice. So what I have suggested to the builder is that the front two pillars (either side of the garage door) are built using red brick, and that it also has a 'feature' apex on the top front, so that from the front it looks like a building with an apex roof.

As already mentioned, one side of the garage will be against the boundary. The other side of the garage will face the garden though and will be visible. So I have asked the builder to give me the cost of putting shiplap on that wall, to make it look more like a barn!

It'll be placed with the front of the garage not too far behind where that MK2 is (where the bush is), right against the boundary.



I'm tying to decide on what sort of door(s) to go for. If I definitely do have it 16' wide then I could have a 4m up-and-over door that'll get two vehicles in side by side. But I'm worried that a normal garage door could look a bit ugly considering the kind of look I'm hoping to go for. Barn doors would look much nicer, but they are a bit less practical. Worse still, I'd then be forced to have two sets of doors with a centre pillar, wouldn't I? I like the idea of not having a centre pillar.

I don't have any specific questions really; I'm just wondering what ideas people might have that I haven't thought of. In particular, I'm interested in suggestions for the front door(s) and ways of styling the exterior.

Definitely going to consider a pit as well. As for the two-post lift idea I was dreaming about before, I think I'll forget that....

Cheers

Trev

 

I know a guy who's a designer - mostly does barn conversions, but would have good ideas for something like this. I could put you in touch if you want. It'll cost you some money if you want him to do a design though. Drop me a PM if you want more info. If you can fit one in, a 3 car garage would probably look better (3 barn doors?)

Or you could go for sliding doors in sections, but then they take up space down the side walls, which you'd otherwise use for shelving and so on.

 

Put a door in the side or end, so practable for when you want stuff out the garage. My last two houses have had this and its one of the best/handyist modifications imo.

 

You can get up-and overs in all kind of designs... For strong barn doors you'd have the pillar as you say and roller shutters are ugly at home.

I do understand the reasons why... But I can't stand flat roofs.. Pitched everytime and think of the extra strorage above in the pitch

 

You can get some decent looking sectional doors (horizontal sections) in wood effect if it helps it blend in...also you can get them wide enough to have one door, and as they go up under a flat roof, you don't have that area near the door that you need to leave clear for the door to open/close.
If you follow?
They also run in side runners, so they are pretty secure, quiet and reasonably dust tight - even insulated if you want to use it as a workshop in winter.
Much better looking than steel roller doors too.
I had a sectional door on my last garage, and it was great...much better than the two up and overs I have at my new place.

A side door or back door as suggested, is very handy...it may be worth considering one with frosted glass though. All the light benefits but with no prying eyes access!

I'd also suggest running a drain-type pipe from the house, down to the garage if you can, before the foundations/floor go in. Just a 3" or 4" plastic pipe to act as a conduit.
That way you can simply add power cables, TV aerial cable (OK, you maybe aren't as sad as me), a water supply pipe or even alarm signal cables out to the garage at ant time in the future, nice and easily.
You never know what you may want to add later on.

 

Good luck with the pit idea!
I got nowhere with that...blocked at every turn.
Do they still allow them down your way?

 

We're doing this at the moment but not quite as large, we're doing the back and wall that's against the fence/boundary out of blocks and the front and side that's on our garden side out of red brick.

We're also going to have a flat roof but made out of metal to keep under the 2.5m.

We're also looking for the biggest up and over single door we can find (9ft+ iirc) because I'm not paying for a custom door!

We're also building it ourselves on the cheap over many long and hard weekends!

I've just got hold of an rsj to go across the middle for my block and tackle to go on.

Drainage from the gutter to the house drain will go under our patio.

Are you going to have any windows or a side door? We're thinking of just getting some long+thin pvc windows to put high so they let light in but aren't a security risk.

 

Barn type doors look better, but there is the temptation to drive a car in or out without pinning the doors back, with the inevitable gust of wind...

I'd go for a nice set of roller shutters (ie, powder coated rather than corrugated & galvanised). I don't really like up and overs - they seem a bit flimsy to me. Although you can get wood up and overs that look like barn doors if you google a bit!

As for false apexes and shiplap, that sort of thing winds me up - to me, it's the building equivalent of a new Beetle or Fiat 500. I can see why you'd want to do it, but I'd be more inclined to render the whole lot and paint it a cheerful colour, and let it be honest about being a place where you keep your car, your tools and your lawnmower, instead of having to live in shame, hiding in the shadows

 

A friend of mine will be building a garage of similar dimensions (40`x12`) at his place soon.

The plan is to knock down the current concrete panel garage, and use it as the unseen (boundary) side, and rear of the new build. Another, better condition garage he salvaged will become the visible side.

The plan is to have a pitched roof, since the current garage has suitable trusses that can be salvaged (with some new ones made to the same design). He`ll be using some fancy-dancy steel/composite panels that look like a tiled roof, but with better insulation properties.

For the door, he`ll be using a full-width electric roller shutter. Probably sectional, and wood effect, but it won`t be visible from the road, so aesthetics aren`t top priority.

The plan is for it a full on workshop/spray booth, to enable him to build cars from the ground up without having to outsource any of the work (he was saying `built not bought` 10 years ago, before PVW et al started with it... )

The piece-de-resistance will be the full length pit. The plan is to construct it of two (insulated) courses of blockwork, prior to the main concrete raft being poured.

The whole thing will be heated, and de-humidified to maintain a constant atmosphere.

Sounds horrendously expensive, but we`ll be doing all the construction ourselves, and he has plenty of contacts to get materials cheap. Just needs to source some dealership showroom-type floor tiles, cheap...

The real p*sser to the whole project is, of course, the planning authorities...

Like yours Trev, `permission` isn`t actually required, but the bureaucrats still require that the plans are submitted for `approval`.

He was told that it was all in order, but has still had to pay 75, and wait for someone to rubberstamp it, and tell him what he already knows...6 weeks later, still nothing...

 

I think the more windows the better to let the old natural light in there.

What about a pr of wooden barn doors in a 12ft gap (opening outwards) then a matching wooden normal door next to it for when you are just nipping in there for a second.

 

Aye, has your man been using the same stuff for 25 years? You'll never get a guarantee worth spitting on from the company who make it. Flat roof = leak, it's just a matter of when.

As for the pit, have you managed to get permission for it? Here it's harder to get permission to build a monster garage than it is for just the pit. And for good reason, I suppose. You could always dig it, build the walls, then cover it over with something strong before the first layer of concrete is poured, wait till Building Control have been, then get out the concrete saw...

 

Wish it was me getting a huge garage!
We have had drawings done for a new extension and to replace the old garage.
Now the quotes are in we can't afford the garage, only the extension.
Bummer is that the old garage has to come down to allow access to the back.
Where is the Golf going to hibernate over winter? Rental garages are like hens teeth here.

 

I've got two sets of drawings for the garage now. One of them is for a 16' by 32' garage with a proper pitched roof; the other is for exactly the same thing but with a sloping flat roof. I'm going to submit the one with the pitched roof for planning approval, and if I don't get approval for any reason then at least I can build the flat roof version without needing planning. (I know in either case I'll need building regulations approval.)

Got a few things that I'd appreciate some advice on. No doubt there will be further things as I progress.

First thing is regarding what kind of door to have. Because of the suggestions above, I looked into sectional doors and I really like the look of them. I've got the Hormann sectional door information and the prices are surprisingly similar to up-and-over door prices, not all that much more expensive. I was really set on having a sectional door. Then tonight my builder mate said to me that he really dislikes them, mainly because of how much space all the rails take inside the garage. He sees a lot of them in jobs he does, and he said he'd get an ordinary up-and-over any day. I don't get this argument because surely an up-and-over is going to take the same space when it's lifted.

Also, the Hormann sectional doors offer good insulation if I pay a little bit more for the thicker panels. But my builder mate says there's hardly any point and I won't get any benefit because it's an external concrete block garage, which will be crap thermally anyway.

How about the roller doors that roll up into a 'box'? My mate reckons they're better than sectional.

The other question at the moment I have is what kind of specifications should I make sure I'm getting when I get the foundations put in? Slab thicknesses, types of material, etc?

 

My sectional door took up no more space - side rail wise - than an up and over door it replaced when comparing the upper guide rails.
The side rails for my sectional door were bolted to the inside of the block work, rather than to the side of the opening, with the benefit of gaining an extra 4-5" of usable width.

The other advantate was that if the door was part open, it wasn't at an angle, robbing space from inside...I was able to raise and lower the door with the tailgate or bonnet open with no fear of the door hitting the car - but you are already aware of that advantage.
Certainly, I'd rather have the sectional option.

It was a Hormann insulated sectional I had, and although I agree that a bare block garage won't stay too warm, the insulated doors I looked at had rubber seals between the panels as well as to the side runners and floor, so once closed, you got no wind blowing dust in.

I had a double glazed UPVC side door and side window along with the insulated door and an insulated flat roof, and once you got some warmth in there, it stayed warm-ish...even in NE Scotland winters.
It wasn't house warm of course...but it was significantly warmer than next doors non-insulated garage.

If there is little cost penalty, I would certainly recommend it...for the better sealing, if nothing else.

 

at my old house my garage was 32' wide and 12' deep which was excellent for holding my two MK1's and gave you enough room to work on them.

It also had a loft for an office !

i would say a wide garage would be better than a longer narrow one.

 

Thanks for the further advice regarding doors. Very much appreciated.

I'd have a wide garage if I could, but as you can see in the pictures, I need to have something that has more depth than width as I cannot really take up too much of the garden. I think I'm pushing it going for a 16' width as it is. Depth, on the other hand, is not a problem.

 

Any more progress Trev?

 

It's funny you should ask just now because I spoke with the lady at the planning office today. She asked me to send them another copy of the drawing with a very slight alteration that's needed, in order to satisfy the council over one minor thing they didn't like. Basically the guy who did the drawings specified PVC cladding which I didn't want anyway. I just need to Tip-Ex it out and put 'render'. She said that she is responsible for approving it and it sounds like all of the consultation has been done, so I'm quite positive now that they're going to say yes.

Oh - I should mention that I applied for planning permission in the end for a garage with a proper apex roof! The guy who did the drawings did me two sets - one with apex, one with flat. As the application only cost 150 I thought sod it, I'll see if they'll let me have a pitched roof!

 

so you reckon your going to get a yes to pitched roof? nice one

 

Let's hope you get the OK for a pitched roof.

I've just installed a 150 litre tank Air compressor up in my garage loft space, and retractable air line set up...all up out of the way.
Pitched roofs are ace...