Steel vs brick workshop

I've just visited my old address in Lincolnshire (courtesy of Google Earth as I now live 530 miles away) and note that the all-timber workshop I built in the garden still looks the same as it did when I put it together more than 40 years ago. Electrically heated, never cold, no condensation or rust, Floor was five inches of solid concrete, with tongue & groove floorboard timber on top on batterns to allow circulation of air. Holes were cut in the floorboards so that machines could be mounted on thick "feet" made of 4-inch steel bar ends that went down to the concrete base. Well, it worked for me....

I did know some one who built a garage much as Mike mentions on the cheap out of the thicker grade of exterior ply. As he mentions marine grade would be better but at a pinch given suitable treatment it should be ok.

Our neighbour here built a garage recently and used concrete blocks. A bricklayer can put these up at an amazing rate and they do provide some insulation, even the heavier ones. The cheapskate hasn't had it rendered or even masonry painted afterwards which I am pretty sure he will regret at some point.

I had a concrete pad laid. I used a company that does car parks and even larger jobs. They turned up with a jcb, carefully levelled the site keeping it well compacted even removing a tree and a troublesome stump from a large one that had been cut down. put a damp proof membrane down and then poured around 7" of concrete over the lot. Not much hardcore needed. They cut in a couple of expansion breaks into it. They also ran a wacker plate over it early on the day after laying it.

I chose a Black Country lot to do the job. That's where my folks come from and we can be a pretty prickly lot so work is often done with some care around there. I was pleased with the price but was told that I could have done the job for less. Hire a driver and jcb for a day or so as needed and then a concrete company to lay it as they would come along with the shuttering as well. That would leave me to do the supervision though but if I need one in future ....................

As to what people can do, building regs etc the local authority people can be very helpful. Just phone up and ask. Some will also explain what can be done without needing to meet some of the building regs and make suggestions about how what ever it is could be done. As a for instance it would be rather difficult to double glaze our living room so adding a conservatory would make sense but a conventional one wouldn't fit in with the style of the house. Not done but they did after asking a couple of times help clear up what is or isn't a conservatory. In our case it would be a bit more like a permitted extension. I also asked a buildings inspector about reroofing a property. That proved to be a very worth while phone call - what was used etc. Better to trust them than what a contractor might choose to do.

John

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Assuming it all goes through successfully, I'll draw up the boundary and the existing building and a possible garage plan. Then I'll see if I can make an appt to see one of the planning officers, to see what might fly.

Thanks for all the suggestions - much appreciated. Food for thought!

Murray

When our old pavilion blew up a tree we bought one of these for the Model Engineering Club. http://www.beaverlogcabins.co.uk/clockhouse-log-cabin-5-5-x-4-0m.html

They are available fully insulated, and the price is very reasonable. The only problems are that the walls grow up and down with moisture content, so you've got to be careful when attaching cabling etc to it as it would be ripped apart, and in driving rain water can get in around the window frames, but we are on a very exposed site, and we have a master plan to cure it, just waiting for the round tuits to come. If you're anywhere near the north west come and have a look.

I have a double garage, brick build cavity with blocks on the inside. At the car side it is about a foot wider so the car doors can open easier for the driver. At the other side the garage is two foot wider. Last year when my wife was away in Newzealand I divided it two with a partition wall made from 4 X 2 and clad either side with 6mm fire standard ply. All painted white with three double 5' fluorescents lights so it's nice and bright. No more double door just a single for the wife's car. This gives me 17' X 8' to house all my work shop.

It's easy to warm and keep warm with a small electric fire on a timer. No more drafts. Not too many air changes. I also think that the wood is absorbing a little moisture in the winter months.

None of the above is cheap to do, but I found the outlay worth while.

Bri

I very nearly bought a 2nd hand porta cabin once - it turned out to be a bit too big to fit. The idea was to convert it to a garage. Mad - what. There are several on ebay at the moment. eg 12x8 needs referb £250. Site hut might bring something up.

Floor loading - well we are all supposed to be engineers.

John

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A friend in the midlands,wanted to replace an old wooden shed with a steel framed building to agricultural design and standards,it was the same footprint as the old shed and was bigger than a double garage as he has vintage tractors,and a steel shed can support a decent lifting beam. then came a costly snag ,the shed builder supplies buildings to farms,no problem with design calculations,building control insisted on a complete set of structural calculations for the specific shed as the building was on domestic property,extra cost nearly a thousand quid. Best bet for a workshop is lay the concrete yourself,with damproof membrane underneath,then build a low wall of bricks or blocks to keep the shed off the ground to prevent rot, build into the base /wall galvanised ties to secure the shed from lifting in gale force winds. get a shed supplied and erected by a good shed supplier ,unless you can get timber for free it is not possible to build a basic shed cheaper than a shed manufacturer,shed costs go up when the extras are specified i.e. lining ,insulation windows etc, I made my own doors as I wanted them to be thicker to try to keep thieves out,lining with 19mm ply is difficult to break into.Brick,tin and concrete sheds are problem with damp and rust

How about SIP panels? Just watched My Flat Pack Home!

A couple of shipping containers, a welder, and an angle grinder. Sheds, shops, cafes are quite an industry here in Canterbury (NZ), just after the earth quakes 5 years ago, a shopping mall was built of containers in the centre of Christchurch, and I'm sure that it will be there for a few years yet, temporary here means it stays until it falls over.

Ian S C

Thanks for mentioning SIP panels. The outside can be covered in a type of board and coated with a light weight polymer render. Now that might really make a self build "conservatory" a very easy job. The house is part rendered.

I reckon I have been in a truck stop that did amazing breakfasts that was based around a modified container.

Timber garages coated repeatedly with old engine oil used to be popular. My grand dad had one. It must have stood for 30 or 40 years. It might even still be there. I think but don't know that they diluted it a bit.

John

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John, a trick up here on Scotland's Moray Firth coast was to add old motor oil to paint, to make it last longer in the salty atmosphere. I tried it on the doors of one of my garages, and it seems to be working. Generally, exterior paint advertised to last for four years or more usually lasts no more than two. After a northerly blow, the car and the front of my house are sparkly with salt.

I would, and have built, timber sheds. Easy and cheap to build and warmer. Mike - 2nd the used oil, I,ve used gallons of the stuff, even works on fence posts. Stand by the warnings.

Years ago when lead started disappearing from paint and wood rot was a problem some one phoned one of the timber preserver manufactures and they told him to use it and then coat with aluminium paint and then normal paint on top of that. No idea how well it worked as I changed job but ok for the couple of years I was there.

My father got sick to death of painting the house and eventually used Tekaloid. It did last a long time. Dulux weather shield lasts well round here if stripped right back and the watery primer preservative is used first followed by their primer and top coat. A builder told me that he did a wooden conservatory with it and all was still fine 20 odd years on. The primer preservative wasn't easily available a few years ago but does seem to be about in DIY stores again now. Some of our windows have sun on them all day - when it's out. 15 years and then a change of colour using a their top coat. Wish all of the wood underneath was so good. We don't like the colour though.

An old trick on black and white houses was to use lamp black for the black and then a varnish. Tidied up every now and again with fresh varnish. Something to remember if it's ever stripped off. I've left out black alone as I suspect it was done initially like that. We did have it over coated with weather shield about 5 years ago when the windows were repainted. I bought the paint myself - the contractors will use any old junk. No way will I go up a fully extended 3 section ladder. This lot did sand it before painting. A neighbour wasn't so lucky, no sanding, junk paint and the lot is peeling off.

John

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There is another material worth mentioning. OSB. In a moment if madness I bought 2 8x4 sheets of it and made a pair of garage doors with it. Fitted to toolmaking standards. Still fine after more than 15 years but did it take a lot of paint. I'd picked up that it is moisture resistant so tried it more out of curiosity. Just 1/2 days work sawing it up including making braces from it to stiffen it up.

The only problem is that our "garage" is an extended old outhouse and the doors are out of site and even painted don't look that good so I have intended to replace them using ply with timber edging but out of site = out of mind. My wife doesn't see them often either. In fact she has never even mentioned them.

It is an interesting material. It can be used for structural beams. They just route out a groove in a strip of timber and glue it to the edges to stop the beam from bending side ways.

Yet another material that has been used for sheds, boats and all sorts of things is this

**LINK**

Might even make a good presentable cladding for OSB. (Oriented Strand Board) but other things could be used for that.

OSB has been available pre coated with something like car underseal for roofing but not for living accommodation at the time for some reason. I presume it would normally be covered with something. Maybe fibreglass shingles.

John

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