All,

In the back of any of the classic car mags, there's a selection of ads for
flat-pack timber garages.

As the timber single garage we currently have is rather past tense, I'm
currently thinking about alternatives.

The current garage is roughly 18' x 12', rough clad on a square section
frame, with a steeply pitched tiled roof.

The whole thing is fairly knackered - the cladding's dead, the frame is not
great, and the roof tiles are very, erm, wobbly. The door aperture isn't
square, and the windows don't shut.

To my mind, this isn't going to be sensible to repair, and replacement is
the obvious answer.

Does anybody have any experience, recommendations or dis-recommendations of
any of the various suppliers?

One thing that I think I'm going to have to do is increase the size of the
concrete base - the current garage seems to measure about 3100mm wide, but
the new ones all seem to be 3400mm. Is slapping a 300mm wide strip of
concrete to the side of the existing slab an option, or do I have to
consider replacing the whole bloody lot? eeeek

To complicate it, external access to one whole side and to the lower
section of the back is not possible, due to a neighbour's garage and to a
low wall.

Final question - Power! To my mind, it seems easiest to take power down
some external conduit to the garage - it'd be easy to take the feed from
fusebox (MCB, but I just can't bear to call it a "consumer unit"..) out,
and along several external walls fairly unobtrusively. Feasible? Or do I
have to bury the soddin' thing underground - which is going to involve
lifting a lot of brick paving.

"Adrian" wrote
| As the timber single garage we currently have is rather past tense,
| I'm currently thinking about alternatives.

And 5th Nov offers a convenient opportunity to get rid of the old one :-)

| Final question - Power! To my mind, it seems easiest to take power
| down some external conduit to the garage - it'd be easy to take the
| feed from fusebox (MCB, but I just can't bear to call it a "consumer
| unit"..) out, and along several external walls fairly unobtrusively.
| Feasible? Or do I have to bury the soddin' thing underground -
| which is going to involve lifting a lot of brick paving.

It is permitted to run cables along walls, but not fences.

Owain

On Sun, 26 Sep 2004 14:34:31 +0100, "Owain"
wrote:

"Adrian" wrote
| As the timber single garage we currently have is rather past tense,
| I'm currently thinking about alternatives.

And 5th Nov offers a convenient opportunity to get rid of the old one :-)

| Final question - Power! To my mind, it seems easiest to take power
| down some external conduit to the garage - it'd be easy to take the
| feed from fusebox (MCB, but I just can't bear to call it a "consumer
| unit"..) out, and along several external walls fairly unobtrusively.
| Feasible? Or do I have to bury the soddin' thing underground -
| which is going to involve lifting a lot of brick paving.

It is permitted to run cables along walls, but not fences.


Probably best if you conduit it all the way to the garage, normal Twin
& Earth is not designed for exterior work, and will weather. It also
prevents somebody snipping the wire, accidentally or otherwise.

Alex

Alex ) gurgled happily, sounding much like they
were saying :

Probably best if you conduit it all the way to the garage

That was the plan, yes. Simple to do. Out from under the living room,
across the front of the downstairs bedroom, up a brick wall, and along a
brick wall. Two 90deg corners, that's all.

Normal T&E inside metal conduit would do it?

"Adrian" wrote in message
.4...
All,

In the back of any of the classic car mags, there's a selection of ads for
flat-pack timber garages.

As the timber single garage we currently have is rather past tense, I'm
currently thinking about alternatives.

The current garage is roughly 18' x 12', rough clad on a square section
frame, with a steeply pitched tiled roof.

The whole thing is fairly knackered - the cladding's dead, the frame is
not
great, and the roof tiles are very, erm, wobbly. The door aperture isn't
square, and the windows don't shut.

To my mind, this isn't going to be sensible to repair, and replacement is
the obvious answer.

Sounds reasonable

Does anybody have any experience, recommendations or dis-recommendations
of
any of the various suppliers?

Haven't used a supplier for ages, I built a new wooden garage from scratch a
few years back though. If possible get one made from tanalised timber, it
will take much longer to get into the state that your existing one is in.

One thing that I think I'm going to have to do is increase the size of the
concrete base - the current garage seems to measure about 3100mm wide, but
the new ones all seem to be 3400mm. Is slapping a 300mm wide strip of
concrete to the side of the existing slab an option, or do I have to
consider replacing the whole bloody lot? eeeek

If your existing floor is in passable nick, putting a foot wide strip of
concrete down one side shouldn't present any problems, apart perhaps from a
stiff back if you don't hire a mixer. It might be an idea to put a row of
bricks around the edge to sit the wood on rather than have it direct on the
floor. Some kits might even have some sort of base for the walls to achieve
this. You might have to extend the doors down a bit if you raise the
building more than its designer reckoned on. Whatever, don't forget a
damp-proof membrane for it to sit on.

To complicate it, external access to one whole side and to the lower
section of the back is not possible, due to a neighbour's garage and to a
low wall.

Shouldn't be a problem, bolting the panels together is done from the inside.
You'll just have to be careful not to knock the bolts out of the corner when
you bring the panels together. Might be best to build that bit first so
that you don't have to dismantle too much if you do. There is usually a thin
strip of wood that is nailed on the outside to hide the join, but if it's
right up against another building, then you can't see the join anyway and
the other building will stop rain being driven sideways at the wall. Some
way of sealing the join might be an idea though.

Final question - Power! To my mind, it seems easiest to take power down
some external conduit to the garage - it'd be easy to take the feed from
fusebox (MCB, but I just can't bear to call it a "consumer unit"..) out,
and along several external walls fairly unobtrusively. Feasible? Or do I
have to bury the soddin' thing underground - which is going to involve
lifting a lot of brick paving.

If you have to take the power feed underground, try to find your local
moler. Not a mis-spelt tooth but a guy who digs a small hole either end and
then launches a little device that burrows from one to t'other. Our local
one (Mid Warwickshire) calls himself Mr. Mole, so I suspect it might be a
franchise operation. Your local phone book may help, or a local builder or
someone similar.

Good luck

Ron Robinson

On 26 Sep 2004 17:13:49 GMT, Adrian
wrote:

Alex ) gurgled happily, sounding much like they
were saying :

Probably best if you conduit it all the way to the garage

That was the plan, yes. Simple to do. Out from under the living room,
across the front of the downstairs bedroom, up a brick wall, and along a
brick wall. Two 90deg corners, that's all.

Normal T&E inside metal conduit would do it?

Don't forget to earth the conduit as well.

Alex

I got a massive erection in the garden around 18 months ago - a 22' x 14'
timber garage - from Warwick Building (Long Itchingdon, near Leamington
Spa).
It's absolutley faultless quality, with 7' wide side hinged timber doors,
side door, 3 opening windows, 7'7" eaves, and a 38kg mineral felt OSB
boarded apex roof.
All I had to do was lay a suitable base (I laid it 12" thick - if I drop a
big-block V8 off the workbench, that floor ain't gonna crack!).
It's a round edges timber frame, clad in tanalized plu than tanalized T&G.
Not a bad price, either - £3400, including VAT, delivery and erection (1 day
for 2 guys).
As for the electrics, my garage is about 40' from the house, so I ran power
from the consumer unit in the house to a seperate consumer unit in the
garage using that exterior/underground 3 core cable - bl**dy hard to bend
(in a tight radius, at least), and incredibly heavy (for cable), but
designed for the job. Enough cable to take the power out theat far was
somewhere around £35 from Wickes.
Dale Turley
http://www.practicalclassics.btinternet.co.uk
'39 Standard Flying 8 (Brit in Pieces)
'55 Morris Minor II (Brit Slow)
'66 Singer Vogue IV (Brit Difrunt)
'69 Vauxhall FD Victor 'wagon (NeeHi)
'71 Triumph Herald 13/60 convertible (Brit Rusty!)
'93 Yamaha SRX600 1JK
'02 Citroen C3 1.4HDi 16v Exclusive
'04 Schwinn Cruiser 4

MrT ) gurgled happily, sounding much
like they were saying :

I got a massive erection in the garden around 18 months ago - a 22' x
14' timber garage - from Warwick Building (Long Itchingdon, near
Leamington Spa).
It's absolutley faultless quality

Ta! They are on the list...

On 26 Sep 2004 Adrian wrote:

As the timber single garage we currently have is rather past tense, I'm
currently thinking about alternatives.

The whole thing is fairly knackered ...

One thing that I think I'm going to have to do is increase the size of the
concrete base - the current garage seems to measure about 3100mm wide, but
the new ones all seem to be 3400mm. Is slapping a 300mm wide strip of
concrete to the side of the existing slab an option, or do I have to
consider replacing the whole bloody lot? eeeek

Depends what the existing floor is like. If you add a strip make sure
you excavate the ground first and put in a layer of hard core (rubble,
not porn). If you join the new concrete onto the old you can be sure
that a crack will appear sooner or later, so I'd be inclined to leave a
gap by inserting a piece of wood and then fill with bitumen. It would
be nicer to replace the WBL.

Final question - Power! To my mind, it seems easiest to take power down
some external conduit to the garage - it'd be easy to take the feed from
fusebox (MCB, but I just can't bear to call it a "consumer unit"..) out,
and along several external walls fairly unobtrusively. Feasible? Or do I
have to bury the soddin' thing underground - which is going to involve
lifting a lot of brick paving.

I've wired up my workshop which is a precast concrete building. I've
used 2 x 4mm² armoured cable running from a separate 30 amp fuse in the
consumer unit to a small consumer unit in the workshop. The latter has a
5amp fuse for the lighting and a 15 amp fuse for power. There's an
additional earth rod for the workshop. Currently the armoured cable is on
the surface beside a fence though I had intended to bury it under the
driveway which is block paving on sand. There was sufficient spare
cable to provide an expansion loop. The run is about 30m.

Armoured cable is not much more expensive than ordinary cable plus
conduit (around £1 per metre plus the glands and clips) but it is much
more satisfactory. Steel conduit or heavy gauge pvc fixed to the wall
would be OK.

--
Richard Porter
Mail to username ricp at domain minijem.plus.com
"You can't have Windows without pains."

On Sun, 26 Sep 2004 20:44:10 +0000 (UTC), "MrT"
wrote:

I got a massive erection in the garden around 18 months ago

You did that on purpose, didn't you?
--
Dan Drake

Richard Porter wrote in message ...
On 26 Sep 2004 Adrian wrote:

As the timber single garage we currently have is rather past tense, I'm
currently thinking about alternatives.

The whole thing is fairly knackered ...

One thing that I think I'm going to have to do is increase the size of the
concrete base - the current garage seems to measure about 3100mm wide, but
the new ones all seem to be 3400mm. Is slapping a 300mm wide strip of
concrete to the side of the existing slab an option, or do I have to
consider replacing the whole bloody lot? eeeek

If you drill holes into the side of the crete, squirt resin in and put
threaded s.s. bar in there, that will bond the new to the old
effectively. The less work option is have an expansion joint there.
The downside of that is the 2 cretes are not bonded, and differential
movement is not impossible. It should be ok though.

I'm not familiar with timber flatpack garages, but I know with sheds
you can make a better building for less mullah by making your own
instead of buying flatpack. £3400 sure buys a lot of wood.


NT

On Sun, 26 Sep 2004 20:44:10 +0000 (UTC), "MrT"
wrote:

I got a massive erection in the garden around 18 months ago -

I'm surprised the neighbours didn't complain.....

Alex