Concrete sectional garage - removing some panels

Bert Coules · 2011-06-05T19:20:26+00:00

I have a (quite old) concrete sectional garage and am wondering about converting it for use as a workshop. My main question is this: would it be possible to remove several of the 16" wide sections from one of the long sides and replace them with a timber frame which could hold a door and a window? I'm thinking that this might be easier than cutting two separate openings into the existing intact concrete wall.The panels are bolted together near the top and bottom, and are also fixed to the wooden beams supporting the (corrugated metal) roof. I don't think they're bolted to the concrete base: they appear to be kept in place purely by their weight.Assuming that I could undo or cut through some of the bolts (and release the fixings to the roof beam) could say three or four of the panels then be removed without affecting the rest of the structure? There would still be several panels left standing either side of the gap, and that's a huge amount of weight to leave relatively unsupported, even for a short time: I'd like to know in advance that everything would be stable while I fitted the timber frame.Many thanks.

Jun 05, 2011 20 Replies

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concrete garage with 16" panels with marley tiled roof which has steel 4x2 box section angled to support roof 28degree pitch .what I want to do is ma ke it 16x20 by rearranging panels and welding extra steel in the truss leng th to keep the same pitch .What I dont know if the concrete panels will be strong enough to take the extra weight of the roof any input much appreciat ed.

You should start a new post, this one being five years old.

I would have thought it'd be easier to make new trusses. I did similar, I made up new timber trusses.

Make sure the roofing sheets work out. I couldn't find any to match the existing. You could think about using "Corex" or similar as it's lighter and cheaper.