ancient garage

[Stephen]

Hello,

The best way I can describe the garage is it looks as if someone has built four walls by putting concrete fence posts every 2' in an oblong and slotted short gravel boards between them.

There is a metal frame on top to hold a pitched roof of asbestos sheet. The frame is rusty. One asbestos sheet has cracked and the frame is particularly corroded beneath the leak, as you would expect.

I think the door is a DIY install by the previous owner but to be fair to him, it must be difficult to fit a door to concrete posts and I don't know how it could be improved.

The whole thing is not very weather proof but I think it might be that it would be easier to knock it down and start again, rather than trying to fix what is there.

It is used as a shed rather than a garage, though that could change if I had a new garage.

I forgot to say, it is on a concrete base of unknown thickness but this appears sound.

What would you do in my situation? A new brick garage would be nice but I assume that needs planning permission and building regs. and would be costly. Does anyone who how much a garage costs per square metre?

I could replace it with wooden sheds and I could insulate these and make them weather proof but I worry they would not be as secure.

Thanks, Stephen.

[Charles Hope]

This sounds like a prefabrictated garage that is probably 1960s vintage.

Buidling regs probably don't apply to outbuildings and it could could as "permitted development".

[newshound]

Agreed. I'd have *thought* you could replace it with something equivalent but you probably need to check with the planners.

Prefabricated garages are still available:

although they tend to look a bit nicer than the old type and are presumably correspondingly more expensive.

If you've got "mains" and are near to houses a simple cheap alarm would improve the security. You can run alarms, silent notifiers, and CCTV off

12 volts if necessary.

If you are reasonably handy, it's not too difficult to build a garage sized "shed" with an onduline roof. It's 25 years since I did that so I can't give you a price per square metre. You could use timber or metal cladding on a wood frame, or even fence panels for a quick low cost job with limited security.

[Stephen]

I've had a quick look on the council's web site and it appears that garages under 30m^2 and either 1m away from the boundary or made of incombustible materials, are exempt from planning etc. so that sounds like there might be fewer hurdles than I originally thought.

Thanks, Stephen.

[Stephen]

I have been thinking that too: a wooden shed would be much easier to build than a brick one but like you say, they are not as secure, though nothing is to a determined person.

I don't know whether my bricklaying would be up to a building.I did wonder about using breeze blocks to cut down on the number of bricks to be laid, but they are not as pretty are they.

[Tricky Dicky]

If your looking at a timber garage consider a log cabin type, comes as an easy to put together kit and more secure than your bog standard hut. This company even allows you to specify your own.

Richard

[Vir Campestris]

I'm sitting in something similar to that right now. B***Y cold it is. yesterday it ws B****y hot. No thermal inertia, and not a lot of insulation... which is something to think of if it is to be anything more than a garage.

Andy