Manspace Double Garage & Gamesroom

[ashley115s]

Ok I'm new to this so be patient! I've been hiding on here for years and this website has inspired me many projects. To be fair its mainly the Grizz's fault! I love what he does and how he does it! Also the way most people on here like the recycling attitude to life.

I always wanted a double garage since I was a kid. Affording one, well thats another matter! I knew the only way would be a second hand concrete panel one. After many failed bids on Ebay one turned up trumps, good size, good price, good location! 8m x 5m, £500 and only 36 miles away!

Heres the story...( now how on earth do I put photos on here?)
[img src="http://i1108.photobucket.com/albums/h401/ashley115s/IMG_6409.jpg"][/img]

[bailey]

use photobucket.com mate crate a account and use the img code copy and paste it budddy

[usedabused]

The good thing with panel garages is that if the time comes you can make them bigger ........

[ashley115s]

Ive got two race cars and have left them at Mum and Dads house for years much to their neighbours displeasure and something had to be done! Also having a young family time is tight so facilites at home were the only way forward.


First thing I did was go and have a look at what i'd let myself in for! I took a camera and a notebook and made plans. I helped a friend take one down a couple of years before so I knew how hard it was and how to make it easier. The weekend after Dad and I stripped the garage of all electrics and removed the fragile roof (beat it off with a hammer!). I also salvaged any shelving and workbenches I wanted to keep and took them home in the van and on the trailer. This left an empty shell to remove.

[ashley115s]

I asked the vendor what he was doing with the shed behind the garage? 'Probably knock it down and set fire to it?' Hang on...out comes the tape measure... I think I can make some use of that if you want me to take it off your hands? Sweet!

14ft wide and 20ft deep. All bolt together panels using 4x2s and ply wood exterior, Rsj running through the middle of the roof the roof just clips on. Needs a new floor but hey! I'm thinking games room? Always wanted a pool table at home.

[dungbug]

Wow, what a result on that second 'shed' as well! Look forward to seeing this one pan out.......How big is your garden? ;D ;D ;D

[ashley115s]

I numbered each panel, photographed and made a drawing in my book for safe measure! But basically there are two sizes of panel, long and heavy or short wide and very very heavy especially when you get to the top one!
[I'mg][/img]
Logistics next, the last one we took down we used two transits and two trailers one making two trips and probably well over weight! A 7.5 ton lorry was needed with a tail lift! After some scarey online quotes of around £350 for a weekend I found the local Ford Dealer with an online weekend special for £100! 5 Favours were called in with a promise of a full english for starters! You cant work hard on an empty stomach! Off we set with the lorry and Father in Laws VW Lt35 LWB and my car trailer for the lighter materials.

The dads set to dismantling the shed with boys on the garage. Having easy access made the job much simpler. As we disembled the garage I could back the lorry in and under the structure to save our legs and using the tail lift was a god send. I also took two sack carts. Memories of the last one were we had practically no access a steep drive and a twenty metre walk, no sack trucks and nobody wearing gloves apart from me were still fresh in my mind!

[grizz]

Awesome!!

Thanks for blaming me ...... for all your misdemeanours.

The shed was a bonus and should pay for the breakfasts and truck hire.

Looking forward to this unfolding.

[usedabused]

Oct 26, 2011 5:14:02 GMT grizz said:

Awesome!!

Thanks for blaming me ...... for all your misdemeanours.

The shed was a bonus and should pay for the breakfasts and truck hire.

Looking forward to this unfolding.

Me too !!
Thread pinned............... ;D

[ashley115s]

Thanks to the earlier weekends prep work we were home and unloaded by 4pm with one further trip the next day for the shed panels. Were lucky enough to live in a detached bungalow so the garage stacked neatly down the side of the house out of the way. Because the garage is 8m x 5m its 40m2 and your only allowed 30m2 without the nod from the council. Building regs applied for which basically covers three checks, check the foundations before pouring concrete, check adequate soakaway, final inspection with an electrical certificate.

I planned for the garage to go in the bottom corner of the garden, unfortunately theres a large willow tree in the middle which restricts the size I could have but it will also help mask the appearance of the garage. As much as I wanted a double garage I didn't neccessarily want to see it every time I look out the window, I'm a keen gardener too when I get the time!
The games room will fit on the opposite corner which had an old decaying shed and a useful greenhouse.

The garden is approx 120ft long and 50ft wide. We live half way up Portsdown Hill overlooking Portsmouth which gives us a nice view. It also means the garden has gradient running across it, which has mostly been flattened in two areas using a digger. Were on chalk so you don't go too far down before digging gets hard but the drainage is good and the ground steady. Next door was completely renovated so I done a deal with them to take most of their hardcore for the base saving them some skip costs.


I got Paul the digger driver to mark out where the base was going and to level the hardcore out. We built a timber frame for the slab and divided it into four sections so we could pour it over four sessions. After doing an extension on the back of the house I was made aware of the cost of timber and have since horded it wherever I could find it! Luckily I work on the Motorway and the amount of timber that gets thrown in the skip or simply falls off of other cars certainly works in my favour! (I'l do a skip finding session another time grizz you'l love that!)
Once I got the nod from the buildings inspector we started to pour the concrete ourselves. My farther in law is Irish so loves a bit of concrete, he's also a semi retired window fitter,electrician and general builder type so loves my crazy projects! (we also live next door!) Having our own mixer makes life easier although hauling it down from the drive to the back of the garden some 150ft wasnt the most fun i've had! Weve had Mixermate do our extension using there caterpiller dump truck which is far easier but its not that cheap, plus we wanted to do this at our leisure. The concrete is good 6 inches deep at the shallow end upto a foot deep the other because of the gradient plus we use the reinforcing sheets in each area to help prevent cracking.

[ashley115s]

Before going any further I had to ensure the children had somewhere safe to play.

I found a wooden play ground on ebay for £220 and a large amount of play chip bark.

Plus we had some bricks left over from our wall at the front of the house. This splits the garden into two flat levels.
Once it was all completed I was overjoyed with our hard work when my son said 'Dad can you take us to the park?'

[ashley115s]

Heres our raft!

This all makes us look like real fast workers but this story is over 2-3 years and I'm just trying to bring it up to speed! Over the easter bank holiday weekend we decided now the time had come to finally get the garage erected! We werent looking forward to it. My farther in law and I did it in three days easily and they werent full days! I reckon a good gang of four could erect one in a full day.

Even though id numbered each panel and had a plan where each went, they're basically two sizes of panel. As we didnt stack them in this order and we didnt pull them out in order they just went up! The garage by numbers idea was long gone!


There was a good ten foot gap between the edge of the garage and where the games room would start so we decided that as we had left over harcore and ballast we extended the base by approx five foot in width to the total length to provide a storage area.

[ashley115s]

The games room didnt have a floor so we needed to build a base for that. I got the digger back to dig the foundations. This will be concreted then a concrete block wall built upto the same as the brick retaining wall then a timber floor erected across that.


I asked them to heap the soil up as we'd lose that inside the block work base again saving on skips!

[ashley115s]

Now were catching up date a little and were within the last months worth of work. A block wall was built and a timber frame erected for the the storage shed. Luckily the neighbour the other side had just taken his decking down and replaced it with a patio and had a large quantity of 4x2s to get rid of! So the timber frame was mostly free!

I wanted the storage shed to blend in with garage so it looked like it was supposed to be there rather than an ugly after thought. I wanted the roof to blend in as one. I didnt want a cement fibre roof and was worried about a metal one both giving problems with condensation. After many expensive quotes and long timescales for an insulated metal roof I opted for a timber roof using roof shingles. We built a log cabin next door and used them on that so we'd had some practise.

[ashley115s]

Whatever we do Jacks always at hand to help, if your up a ladder he has to come up! Not exactly health and safety ideal I know but he's pretty sensible and we don't leave him unattended. I chose 12mm shuttering ply for the roof as it was about the cheapest and lightest material I could get away with as it will be covered and waterproof. Worked out to about £11.20 a sheet and we used 21 sheets.

I had some breathable roofing membrane left over from the extension, unfortunately not enough! Another roll was bought for about £65. The outside of the timber frame was wrapped in building wrap, this I er.... found. The window was my mum and dads old kitchen window they replaced with patio doors. As her old mans a window fitter he's been salvaging old windows that might come in handy for this project.

The cladding on the outside is 7 inches deep and 4m long already treated and primered in white, worked out to £7.29 a length and is a good thick quality. We had a disagreement about how to fix it! I wanted it nailed at the top so the nails were hidden, he wanted it nailed at the bottom because apparently its the only way? Well I don't consider myself an expert at anything and have to research most of my ideas and used Tommy Walsh's shed as my idea and thats how he did it! But you can fix it either way, structurally it will last longer and straighter with one in the bottom as well I cant argue that!

[grizz]

Here I am.... meant to be on my way to Portsmouth.

LOVE you process.

Ohh, and H&S??

Where are the future going to learn skills ??

Well done for letting Jack learn.

[dungbug]

Very good progress chap, well done.

[Mr S]

Great stuff there, love to see other people getting stuck in, it helps keep me inspired to get on with mine! I look forward to seeing it all together - should be a fantastic space when it's completed.

[MiataMark]

Brilliant stuff, would love to do something similar but not to that scale.

This may be old but found this website/forum;
www.ukworkshop.co.uk/

I am planning some shed projects but smaller (much smaller) size.

Mark

[countvauxalot]

Looks great i would love a place like that at home!