The Big Timber Mancave & It’s... Chaser spam... 30-01-20

After much procrastinating and poring over some of the lovely workshop, mancave and garage builds on here I've finally pulled my finger out and decided to get a thread up for my own.

I've always wanted my own garage, a workshop or mancave within the boundaries of my own home so I can get out of bed, make a brew and go play with my toys without getting out of my pyjamas. Well, I usually put on overalls or something but you know what I'm getting at.

So towards the end of 2014 I find myself looking to buy a house. I've never had much money but through a mixed series of events I found myself in possession of just enough cash to put a 10% deposit on a decent house in my home town of Grimsby. My criteria were pretty simple. It needed to have vehicular access to the back garden one way or another - so that meant a semi ideally, and it had to be somewhere that felt safe and nice, homely and comfy so I don't have to worry about grumpy neighbours or thieving toe rags. Its got to be said that I really lucked out here in that I found somewhere just about perfect within a few weeks of looking. A small 3 bed semi just towards the outskirts of town, a corner plot in a quiet avenue with a garden big enough to satisfy my needs; those needs being room for at least a double garage with a bit of grass to spare for a table and BBQ. The essentials.

I moved in the first weekend of 2015 but due to boring adult things like decorating and the poverty it created, I couldn't afford to start a garage till late autumn 2015. The build happened over most weekend for about 9 months with an assortment of friends turning up here and there to pitch in. It was good fun for the most part and kept us out of trouble. I cant take any credit for the design, engineering or any real skilful part of the build. That was all down to my friends granddad. 70 years young and fit as a fiddle. He put us all to shame.

They say pictures speak a thousand words:

In a nutshell we turned this pile of wood...


into this!


The only bit I paid for a 'professional' to come in and sort was the concrete foundation. I picked a local builder who came recommended, an amicable sort of chap quoted me to dig up the old single garage concrete foundation and lay me a 20ft x 20ft square concrete foundation suitable for building on. Deal done, he turned up while I was at work, my missus at the time was in while he worked. In the daylight the next day it became apparent that he'd taken my measurement requirements as guideline because it was in fact more like 21ft x 19ft, and quite some way off square.
This was a massive pain in the because my initial plan was to but in a prefab 20x20 timber frame building to go on the base. Unfortunately they don't make them in bespoke eccentric shapes like my base was now. This set the wheels in motion for it to be entirely self planned and built by us. It turns out he hadn't used any rebar as he originally said and nor had he dug to the agreed depth. He hadn't even dug out the original single garage base, he had concreted over it. Lesson learnt is always try to do things yourself I suppose.

So to start off we made a small two tier brick perimeter, leaving out the gap for the double doors at the front and the single pedestrian door to the side. Then we made up the rear wall and the wall adjoining the neighbours side fence. Hefty frames of 2x4, braced and triangulated, then cladded in log roll bevelled pine while still laid on the floor before being hoisted up into its vertical position

The base looks square but it isn't...


This is many weeks work condensed down into les than a dozen pictures, but you get the idea







The pitched roof was a triumph I'm sure the Amish would have been proud of! We made 8 right angle triangles from big timbers and braced them together in pairs to give 4 full width roof triangle sections (my building nomenclature is atrocious so please forgive me haha...) 3 of us then manhandled them into position one by one, lifting one side onto a wall, then the other side into the opposite wall - this left the giant triangle dangling upside down - it was then chocked at each end on the top of the wall and pulleyed upright with a rope until it stood upright in the correct position. We used all manner of heath Robinson engineering, ropes, chock and odds and sods of wood to hold everything for the roof loosely in position. I wish I could find the other photos I took because its really hard to explain in words!






This side shows the door (reclaimed from a mates house, who doesn't like a freebie?) and single window I have fitted. I could have put much more glazing in for natural light but in a compromise between that and security I just went for one decent sized double glazed window unit that I have shuttered from the inside







And there we have it! I'll amend this with a few more pictures of the build if I find them, but for now there we go. My man cave

Hmmmm there’s a few dodgy builders around here ..i probably know him!


Looks good!

Don’t ring a bell ... probably goes under other names as well !

If you need a good builder in future ... i know a few good ones .....

Love it. Where you working?

Well, yes and I 100% agree. Been there, seen it done it. Now I live where I work.

Just seems easier somehow.

Use either Cuprinol Clear Wood Preserver, 5 star wood treatment or if you have a Timber Treatment plant nearby, ask them for some clear Protim treatment. Not as good as proper pressure treating with tanalith/tantone but all are better than nothing.

Any particular reason why you did not require the concrete contractor to return and rectify his mistakes at his own cost?

When i explained what was wrong and why i was unhappy he flew off the handle, said he would comeback with a pneumatic drill and dig the lot up and leave me to deal with the mess. I did a mental risk assesment of what damage he could do to the cars on my drive and i decided to put it down to experience. He was getting my friends grandad quite worked up too and i really didn't want that. It boiled me for a good while but i've moved on.


georgeb - No train lines here I'm afraid! Just a few gravel roads and lots of sheep...

Cheers, sorry i missed your reply, I agree it’s needed and just wanted to check I wasn’t missing a trick that meant it was avoidable somehow.