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.

In article ,
Stephen wrote:
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.

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

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?

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


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.

On 14/08/2015 09:39, Charles Hope wrote:
In article ,
Stephen wrote:
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.

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


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:

http://www.garages-uk.co.uk/concrete...te-garage.html

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.

On Fri, 14 Aug 2015 09:39:00 +0100, Charles Hope
wrote:

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

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.

On Fri, 14 Aug 2015 11:36:37 +0100, newshound
wrote:

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.

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.

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.

http://www.logcabins.co.uk

Richard

On 23/08/2015 11:47, Tricky Dicky wrote:
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.

http://www.logcabins.co.uk


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