Cheapest way to build a garage.

[Metric]

Hi, stumbled over this forum and its great. I am hoping you guys can pretty much offer me a solution.

I would like to put up a garage to the side of my house, I have about 11' x 30' so the building would be about 10' x 18'.

I have looked at comptons garages, they look ok, but are stand alone. I dont really want to use it as a garage as such, more a storage space and working out area. Ideal would be a form of lean to similar to the concrete section approach above.

If i bought my own concrete section, how would I put a roof on the building? would it be much cheaper? how much concrete would I need?

Thanks for any help you can offer.

 

[masona]

If i bought my own concrete section,

I've done mind last year and the slab section cost appox £30 a panel or 2nd hand (slight hairline crack) at £15 a panel.I'm afraid you won't find comptons garages very helpful as they don't like you doing it yourselves and they won't even reply the e-mail.If you're interested,I do know a company who are very helpful.

how would I put a roof on the building?

The slab are 75mm thick and you put 75mm x 50mm timber wallplate on top with nut/bolts (each slab have 1 hole in the centre of the panel) then wallplate from your building plus joists hanger for ceiling joists etc , depending if you want pitch or flat roof.It would be cheaper to have truss-frame roof (pitch) made for your size.

would it be much cheaper?

Very cheap !

how much concrete would I need?

They recommend 6" base but I put 6" base where the slab was resting on and 4" base in the middle.

 

[Metric]

masona thanks, from doing searches and reading you seem to be the champion of the concrete section - I was hoping you would post

Any information you could provide would be very much appreciated. Im not exactly Mr DIY but I would rather have a lean to type solution built to the size I want. If I did want a garage door.. would this be hard to do?

 

[masona]

If I did want a garage door.. would this be hard to do?

I would say most average diy'er should be able to put up a garage door.The slabs are very easy to do,just 2 nut/bolts (top & bottom) together with wedge shape plastic washer,(buy the washer but not the nut/bolts costing £1 each as they're quite expensive there,I've got some at £15 per 100 saving £85 ! ) The down side is the weight of the slab ! As I was working on my own (where your mate when you need them ) I've bought a heavy duty stack burrow which tilt at 45 degree and just wheel it where you want to the correct position then tilt it in upright position for nut/bolt etc.To start with,you position the toe of the stack burrow under the slab then lift the other end of the slab up and keep going until it rest in 45 degree position,the beauty of this is,it will stay in that position while you're working on something else!
See this for the supplier who are very helpful and also sell 2nd hand garage door and slabs if you're on a tight budget plus you could even render the outside of the slab.

 

[Metric]

Youre very helpful and its appreciated.

So, for the building structure:

Concrete sections
Bolts with washers

For the garage section:

Garage door?
Some form of frame?

For the roof:

Timber cross beams
Metal Sheeting?

For the floor:

Poured concrete 6" deep

For the exterior:

Render????

 

[Metric]

Oh, and do the concrete people deliver? cos i would think it would cost a lot?

 

[masona]

Concrete sections
Bolts with washers

Yes.

Garage door?,Some form of frame?

Normally minimum 75mm x 75mm for a frame or they can supply it for you plus the garage door.

Timber cross beams,Metal Sheeting?

Up to you,you can make all the roof out of 100mm x 50mm timber or have it made by Truss-frame company.The roof can be roof tiles,metal sheeting or metal tiles effect sheeting.You might like to read this for more info.

Poured concrete 6" deep

As I say,I would use 6" base where the slab resting on approx 18" wide and in the middle section 4",if you don't mind paying out then go for 6" base all over.

Render????

I was only suggesting render if you buy 2nd hand slabs to hide the hairline crack,they do many finish such as pebbledash,brickwork etc.All this depends how much you want to pay.

Delivery from £20 depending on location.