When is a garage not?

An excellent point: one has to put the left-over bits somewhere. Thanks for the thoughts about the floor.

That wasn't very clear, was it? But others into the same hobby would have understood: the traditional storage place is suspended from ceiling beams by butcher's hooks.

More relevantly, the lower floor idea has a lot going for it: dirt and debris would carry less easily into the rest of the house, and ground-level access would be an advantage for moving larger (non-marine mammal) items in and out through a separate side door. There would need to be steps down from the internal connecting door, but that's no real drawback.

Doesn't it depend on the height - up to 6 ft to the eaves and no PP. I don't think there's any difference between a garage not attached to a house and a shed. If it is attached and with an opening door there may be some fire regs to consider.

I thought it might take a Fiat 500 but after several minutes on their website I cannot find anything remotely technical let alone dimensions.

Extensions below a certain area do not require PP IIRC

I'm not sure about that yet, but I believe you're certainly right about the fire regs, especially concerning the connecting door from the garage/workshop to the house.

It probably is a reasonable thing for her to say, not becasue they are thinking of selling, but because it was advertised to them as a house with a garage. As she now knows that it not usable as a garage and therefore shouldn't have been advertised as one, they have effectively paid £8000 more than they should have needed to.

SteveW

I've been making some more enquiries: the situation, in my district at least, is that there's no statutary requirement to have a garage at all, and a replacement building intended for use as a workshop-cum-store therefore doesn't need to be represented as one. A local estate agent told me that while the presence of a garage can be regarded as a selling point, in his experience most buyers only value them as storage space anyway, rather than somewhere to keep a vehicle (of whatever size). His opinion was that access from inside the house to a decent size space is at least as valuable as a slightly larger but completely detached proper garage.

So my currently favoured plan is to get rid of the existing concrete sectional garage and build a better structure up against the side of the house and strteching backwards, with no access from the drive and a side door connecting with a new rear extension (a basic single room some 3m square). The workshop will also have a wider than normal rear door opening onto a paved working-area patio in the back garden

I also rather like the idea of having the workshop floor at (or just above) ground level, for ease of access through that back door. This means internal steps down from the extension and a fire-resistant connecting door. The lower floor should also help prevent dirt, debris, sawdust and what have you making their way into the house.

I've sketched out basic floor plans and elevations but I don't think I'm up to producing full working constructional drawings to enable builders to quote for the job. Presumably that means I have to use an architect, a designer or a builder capable of creating his own plans (or using or adapting ones that are standard for my sort of house). Or is there an alternative I've overlooked?

Many thanks for any more thoughts.

A fair point, though it does still seem odd that they appear to have taken the size of the garage (or not-garage) completely on trust.

If you get a book like Chudley & Greeno's Building Construction Handbook it will show you pretty scross-sections of all the main building components. Pick the ones you want and draw them on your plan and cross-section for the builders.

If you are using prefab roof trusses or assemblies the truss makers will usually produce the working drawings from your sketch of the walls the roof has to sit on.

Alternatively most areas will have a Plan Drawer or Architectural Technician who does planning and building control drawings.

Owain

Owain, thanks for that; I'll take a look at the book you recommend. I've discovered several online sites which give the same information but as always, details tend to vary and it can be difficult to know just how accurate and up to date some of this advice actually is.

New one 1,627 mm

I don't know what was shown on the plans, but AIUI most developers have disclaimers like:

"The dimensions shown are approximate and the precise measurements may vary"

Chris

A universal Get Out Of Jail free card!

Purely from a Building Regulations perspective:

'Garages' are not mentioned in the Regulations. The applicable references for exempt buildings are to 'small detached buildings' containing no sleeping accommodation.

The guidance in Approved Document B (Fire Safety) refers specifically to garages, so you could argue that the separation wasn't required.

Annexes would not be regarded as 'habitable' provided they were unheated, didn't contain any services essential to the house (e.g., the only kitchen or bathroom) and separated from the habitable part of the house by external standard walls, windows & doors.

If you build anything attached to your house (except conservatories, porches, and covered ways), then you need a Building Regulations application irrespective of the use.

More useful than the Fiat web site.

You may not need detailed plans - although that may not mean they quote on a like for like basis. You probably could a do a good enough model in sketchup and then have it print 2D sectional diagrams.

I have a some scans of the plans for my loft conversion at my previous place, drop me a mail if you want copies of them to give you an idea of the detail level.

Doing it without full plans perhaps, but it does not sound like a sensible way of doing it.

Out of interest, does that mean that if you add frost protection heating to a garage, it becomes habitable? What about a workshop that is maintained at say >= 5 deg, but can be heated to working temp of required?

And what about one which is constantly heated to the same level as the rest of the house? I was thinking in terms of electric underfloor heating in the whole of the extension, workshop (or perhaps "hobbyroom") included.