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47p2's Garage
2003/2004 and it was time for a house move and right in the middle of the price boom. The criteria being that it had to have a large garage or space to build one. After many failed bids and paying lawyers silly money where we were getting nothing back we eventually secured the house we now call home. The plot is approximately 120'x60' which meant I had more than enough space to build my dream garage. The only problem being that funds would have to be diverted to decoration the interior as the original 1930s wallpaper was still hanging. 9 months of toil eventually saw the decorating finished and the piggy bank was once again empty.
At around this time I spoke with my architect about the garage and a few weeks later he came round with the plans for a two car garage. Not good enough i said, the planning department will say it's too big and only allow a single garage as I already have a double garage on the plot. I said to him to make it a three car garage and a steeper roof, my thinking was the planning department would look at it and allow me a double garage instead. To my surprise the plan went through with only one alteration and that was we had to use slate on the roof instead of tiles. The plans lay in my office for a couple of years, I was desperate to have the garage built but I didn't look forward to all the upheaval. I had in this two year period cut down 10 trees that took up my garage space, 3 massive sycamores, 6 pines and a poplar. Eventually in May of 2008 I started gathering my thoughts and by June 13th everything kicked off. As you can see from the pictures I have already cut down the trees, all 10 of them. They were over 85 feet tall and it was not a pleasant or easy job cutting them down. http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...rs/garage1.jpg http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...rs/garage2.jpg http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...rs/garage3.jpg This is the Plan of the garage floor. It is 10.2m x 6.7m and the original plan is to have a pit at one side http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...s/img028-1.jpg This is the Front Elevation. A double door to the left is 5.5m and a single to the right is 2.7m with a clearance height of 2.4m http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...s/img027-1.jpg A 5 tonne excavator made short work of the tree stumps and they were dumped on the front lawn for disposal later...I just didn't realise that later would be months away. http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...s/P1020324.jpg http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...s/P1020326.jpg |
I've tried laying brick a few times and failed miserably so I employed the professionals to do the easy part of the build and a couple of weekends later the foundations were in.
http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...s/P1020341.jpg Sadly the pit was below the water table so the idea scrapped http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...s/P1020343.jpg and the pit area backfilled. http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...s/DSC00670.jpg The very first of my vehicles to enter the new garage http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...s/DSC00671.jpg Walls go up at a tremendous rate http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...s/DSC00674.jpg http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...s/P1020394.jpg Gable end up and steel beam set http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...s/P1020397.jpg Then it was my turn and the roof trusses were put in Sadly when working alone there is the risk of something going wrong I was rushing to beat the rain and had not secured the trusses properly when the wind caught them and they went down like a set of dominos taking the gable end out with then http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...s/P1020400.jpg and boy did it rain a half hour later http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...s/P1020395.jpg |
Annoyed at the gable but undeterred I kept going and eventually had the trusses secured
http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...s/P1020402.jpg http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...s/P1020403.jpg http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...s/P1020404.jpg Sarking board was next to go up and it was at this time I lost almost 2 stone in weight from all the manual labour No I'm not a big bloke and a 2 stone loss brought me down to under 9 stone http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...s/P1020405.jpg http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...s/P1020412.jpg Eventually the felt applied and I have a dry building after 3.5 months work http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...s/P1020421.jpg This was a tough time as I now had cracked my ribs and slipped a couple of discs I spent a couple of weeks searching on the net for information on slating and when I felt a bit better I tackled my first slate work It took almost 4 weeks to complete and I just wanted to crawl into a hole and hibernate for 6 months. The single door fitted and as winter was round the corner I really wanted the building as watertight as possible http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...s/DSC00676.jpg Next day I managed to fit the double door http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...s/P1020590.jpg |
The floor of the garage needed to be brought up so 20 tonnes of hardcore was laid
http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...s/P1020610.jpg and for the very first time on a cold December night I can put 3 vehicles inside http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...s/P1020614.jpg Power was next, nothing as elaborate as Cat5 or Cat6 but 3 phase 415v to run equipment and enough 240v sockets and lighting to make working in the garage a pleasant experience http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...2/P1020631.jpg http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...s/P1000004.jpg and a lick of paint to make the interior a little brighter http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...s/P1000005.jpg This was a great day, power in and cars all tucked away for the night http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...s/P1020643.jpg Remember these? http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...s/P1020326.jpg Well they have been sitting in the front garden since they were pulled out of the ground 9 months ago. I had called several companies to price having them removed and was shocked to hear that they wanted between £350 and £550..... A skip was going to cost £220 plus I had to get them into it, so in the front garden they sat. A couple of weeks ago an Irishman rang my doorbell and offered to remove them for £300 and I said no, I said I would go to £140 and that was all, he left. Today the same Irishman came back and said £200 and I said £140, he said he would see the rest of the guys and let me know. At 4.00pm he arrived with a hiab and took them away for £140.... I worked throughout the winter painting the exterior, sorting out gutters and drains and the sockets and lights http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...h/P1020758.jpg |
Awesome! Good thing that gable collapse didn't occur with one of your rides parked nearby. +++
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I had deliberately left the floor open, this allowed it to settle down and with moving vehicles in and out it dropped another few inches, so another 20 tonnes of hardcore were laid
http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...s/P1020789.jpg 1 year and one week after the build started it was time to put in the floor. I had a few quotes and spoke with several contractors about this and every one gave a different way of tackling the work. I decided that I should tackle this myself, although it was not really something I had wanted to do but with the poor replies I had received from the 'experts' I felt that I was better qualified to lay the floor properly and not take any short cuts. Get this wrong and it would mean digging out and disposing of 33 tonnes of hard concrete The floor was prepped with flexible board and rebar. The flexible board is almost like a compressed old fashioned carpet felt and it will allow for any expansion of the concrete slab without damage to the walls. The rebar mesh is sitting on pedestals at a predetermined height. The blue sleeves are to allow movement between the 3 bays. The dowel in the sleeve will be set into concrete in one bay and the sleeve set in the adjacent bay which will allow movement without causing cracks. http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...s/P1030184.jpg The fist bay is in http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...s/P1030190.jpg and given time to cure http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...s/P1030191.jpg Then the rebar is set out in the other two bays ready for pouring the concrete http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...s/P1030195.jpg The bay where the ramp was going was last to do, it is the largest area and also the deepest at 8" thick http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...s/P1030197.jpg http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...2/P1030263.jpg http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...s/P1030274.jpg http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...s/P1030276.jpg |
To give an indication of the size of the garage here was my wife's Polo Estate inside
http://i405.photobucket.com/albums/p...s/P1030295.jpg http://i405.photobucket.com/albums/p...s/P1030296.jpg Once the floor had cured enough the ramp was fitted. At this point in time the trusses above have still to be cut at allow more height. http://i405.photobucket.com/albums/p...s/P1030299.jpg I managed to but an air operated jacking beam http://i405.photobucket.com/albums/p...s/P1030302.jpg Floored the roof space to allow a storage area http://i405.photobucket.com/albums/p...s/P1030325.jpg and cut away the trusses above the ramp http://i405.photobucket.com/albums/p...s/P1030556.jpg http://i405.photobucket.com/albums/p...s/P1030558.jpg http://i405.photobucket.com/albums/p...s/P1030564.jpg |
The floor was very powdery on the surface and required grinding back, this can only be done once the concrete has cured properly and I left this until the floor had been down 6 months. I hired a grinder and took around 15mm from the top
http://i405.photobucket.com/albums/p...s/P1030583.jpg which left a hard surface that does not produce any dust http://i405.photobucket.com/albums/p...s/P1030589.jpg The concrete was sealed with an industrial sealer and allowed to dry http://i405.photobucket.com/albums/p...s/P1030590.jpg http://i405.photobucket.com/albums/p...s/P1030591.jpg |
Cracking job mate +++
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With the garage completed it was time to turn my attention to the driveway.
I had originally thought about tackling this myself, but with almost 450 Sqm of paving to do it would have taken me years to complete. The company I used were excellent and listened to my requirements, I didn't want any shortcuts and wanted a top quality job done. This was before http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...s/P1030784.jpg http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...s/P1030785.jpg http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...s/P1030786.jpg http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...s/P1030787.jpg The heavy equipment was moved in and work started. http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...s/P1030796.jpg http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...s/P1030795.jpg Walls built http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...s/P1030797.jpg http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...s/P1030800.jpg and walls demolished http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...s/P1030801.jpg |
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