Options for construction of garage rebuild?

[mikey]

I am planning on rebuilding my garage/workshop and am wondering what construction materials/methods would work best.

At the moment it is an old pre-fabricated concrete panel construction job with metal roof trusses and a cement/asbestos corrugated roof. The whole thing can be unbolted and disposed of.

The walls to the garage currently sit on a sound, 8" solid concrete slab with hardcore (probably built sometime after the house which is

1930's).

The size of the garage is 2.63M wide x 4.67M long.

I want to build a new garage on the present foundations without having to excavate down to support new walls/roof etc. seeing that the old garage with its roof and walls has stood the test of time and not moved or cracked under its present weight. The new garage will be higher - in line with the house extension roof - 4M high with a flat roof and adjoined onto the extension wall. The front of the garage has been finished with a facade with a pitched roof and supported by a steel post and beam construction, this was done when the extension was built onto the side of the house 10 years ago. The old garage is integrated into the rear of this construction and looks horrible, although the builder did a good job and no leaks have occurred over the past years. Suggestions on construction and modern lightweight materials with thermal qualities would be welcome. I plan to use the new garage as a workshop/garage and would like some form of insulation in the materials used. Is this possible or am I asking too much?

[Tabby]

Very possible. The construction options are wide open, numerous to choose from. Concrete block (rendered) is popular and well proven, though not that pretty. What do you want from a garage, other than insulation? Life expectancy? Conventional or character?

NT

[Tim Watts]

mikey ( [e-mail]) wibbled on Monday 31 January 2011

19:51:

Lucky man - garage from scratch!

Have you checked your local tip will take asbestos (many of the larger town ones do - but you often need to phone and book it in - and they will tell you something about double bagging it etc...).

That's rather better than the 1930's house I grew up in - 2" of farmer's concrete on to something random.

My car which is fairly big is 1.8m just under wide. So once wall thickness are allowed for (your measurements are external?) that would be rather tight.

I'm not saying *you* will put a car in there, but it's worth considering whether you might in the future.

I only mentioning as you may well be able to extend the foundations sideways to gain a little extra width if space permits and still use the other 3 sides of the existing.

Roof - there are many options: metal (coloured ali - can be rather industrial though), rubber, fibreglass as well as traditional methods. Do you have any preferences? For such an area, DIY on the rubber and fibreglass could well be quite doable - there are some vids on the internet describing both systems.

As NT said, blockwork would be strong (with decent blocks) and faster than bricks. You have the option to paint them (ugly IMHO), render and paint, pebbledash, or clad with metal or wood - or even just grow clibing plants all over them.

A layer of celotex type material over the inside (which can be foamed onto the blockwork don'n'dab style or battened in) further clad with ply or OSB and painted white would provide a warm fast to heat well lit area with all the practical benefits of well fixed wooden cladding (hooks, shelves etc) - assuming you can make the doors draught proof.

But the thermal properties of even bare celcon type blocks aren't bad - a lot better than brick - so if you don't want explicit insulation on the wall, you'll still be winning.

I assume you are going for a single skin wall?

How serious is this "workshop" - will you be spending hours a week out there or is it just for odd jobs? If the former, it could be worth going a bit overboard on the comfort factor (cf the recent thread on sheds).

What sort of work do you expect to do there (wood, metal, cars, art???)

Cheers

Tim

[geoff]

In message , Tim Watts writes

I'm keeping an eye on this thread as I intend doing the same in the summer

[Tabby]

even though its done fine for decades? DPM is easily fixed. Lack of insulation takes effort to.

NT

[Nightjar]

On 31/01/2011 22:58, Tim Watts wrote: ...

My garage is 3m wide internal and that is none too wide when you have to open the door on a large car.

...

My most recent shed is timber cladding over insulation over blockwork, to match the others visually.

Colin Bignell

[BartC]

A garage 13' high seems pretty tall. Are you planning to keep a double-decker bus in it?

[mikey]

Thanks to all posters to date, all very helpful... much food for thought and steering toward putting down stronger foundations. (Specially for my double decker!)