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?

On Jan 31, 7:51*pm, mikey wrote:
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?

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

mikey ) wibbled on Monday 31 January 2011
19:51:

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

Lucky man - garage from scratch!

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.

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...).

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).

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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?

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

--
Tim Watts

In message , Tim Watts
writes
mikey ) wibbled on Monday 31 January 2011
19:51:

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

Lucky man - garage from scratch!




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



--
geoff

On Jan 31, 7:51*pm, mikey wrote:
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?

Your garage base is unlikely to be strong enough for anything other
than a similar lightwieght structure.
Just because it is 8" at the edge doesn't meen it is 8" in the middle.
(They usually aren't). Also you can't tell how strong the mix was or
if it is reinforced.
There will probably no damp proof membrane in /under it.

It wants to come out & be replaced with a raft

On Feb 1, 7:59*am, harry wrote:
On Jan 31, 7:51*pm, mikey wrote:



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?

Your garage base is unlikely to be strong enough for anything other
than a similar lightwieght structure.
Just because it is 8" at the edge doesn't meen it is 8" in the middle.
(They usually aren't). Also you can't tell how strong the mix was or
if it is reinforced.
There will probably no damp proof membrane in /under it.

It wants to come out & be replaced with a raft

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


NT

On 31/01/2011 22:58, Tim Watts wrote:
....
The size of the garage is 2.63M wide x 4.67M long.

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....

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

....
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....

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

Colin Bignell

"mikey" wrote in message
...
I am planning on rebuilding my garage/workshop and am wondering what
construction materials/methods would work best.

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.

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

--
Bartc

On Feb 1, 8:41*am, Tabby wrote:
On Feb 1, 7:59*am, harry wrote:





On Jan 31, 7:51*pm, mikey wrote:

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?

Your garage base is unlikely to be strong enough for anything other
than a similar lightwieght structure.
Just because it is 8" at the edge doesn't meen it is 8" in the middle.
(They usually aren't). Also you can't tell how strong the mix was or
if it is reinforced.
There will probably no damp proof membrane in /under it.

It wants to come out & be replaced with a raft

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

NT- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

He's talking about building a much heavier structure than before.

On Jan 31, 7:51*pm, mikey wrote:
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?

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!)