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First House: Garage Build - It's a Leaky Prefab

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willrx40 Club Retro Rides Member Posts: 9	First House: Garage Build - It's a Leaky Prefab willrx40 @willrx40
	Apr 28, 2021 13:05:17 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	Hi Everyone, first time posting but been on the forum for a couple of years now. The purpose of this thread is to show my garage and hopefully get some advice on how to improve it. So, in 2018 my girlfriend and I bought our first house. I am currently doing a PhD, and after 4 years of living in student houses we had decided it was time to get somewhere of our own. This was particularly poignant after the last houseshare I had, where both the landlords and tenants were a complete pain. So, we started looking at places to rent, but any we found that we both liked were ridiculously expensive. Jokingly, I suggested we buy a house instead, and we started looking at houses too. This quickly led to the realisation that this was the way to go! A monthly mortgage payment was significantly less than renting, however we had concerns about the application as I was not technically employed. After consulting a mortgage broker we found a lender who was able to accommodate my PhD stipend, and the mortgage payments were less than half what we’d be paying to rent somewhere half the size! We found somewhere convenient for both our jobs, and something we could move into quickly, with the intention of only staying here for the duration of our PhD’s and then move to wherever our subsequent jobs would take us. House sales move quickly here so we shouldn’t have any issues selling on. After missing out on a couple of properties we found our house, and much to my delight it was the one with two garages! We moved in in December 2018 and after doing some redecorating in the house, I could start thinking about the garages. Before (bottom) and after (top) of the living room. We removed something like six layers of wallpaper on some walls. My plan for the garage was to make a bit of a workshop for diy projects, and to eventually house my recently acquired project car; unfortunately thanks to the pandemic, it still lives near my parents’ house, maybe one day it will get here. I’ll eventually get a thread going for the Cressida, though progress is very slow as I rarely have time to visit. Back to the garage. Pros – Two garages! Cons – Your typical poorly built concrete prefab garage Parking pretty much anything wider than a mini (classic, we tried with my girlfriend’s newer R50) would mean having to exit via the boot, so one garage became storage and the other became my workshop while the ideas started growing. After examining the garages, I decided it would be fairly straightforward to remove the centre panels. This wouldn’t be too difficult, the mastic between the panels has shrunk and all that was holding them together were some large bolts. I’d have to retain the first and last panels, as they were part of the external wall, but that would make it possible to drive a car into the middle of the garage, and give space to jack it up if needed. Complications started when figuring out what to do about the roof. The garage has the original corrugated concrete/asbestos roof, attached to a frame which is supported by the side and centre panels. So that idea went on hold for a while. Collected a bunch of cheap tools and storage from Facebook and Ebay, and built myself a workbench. Kept thinking about how I could remove the centre wall and several different approaches were considered, however they'd all require more than one pair of hands and other things took priority. Meanwhile, I had other issues to tackle. One winter in and damp was very obviously an issue. The roof had a significant amount of moss on it, which held the water resulting in a lot of water coming through. That wasn’t the only place, poorly maintained guttering/drains also meant water was coming through the sides as well. After one especially stormy night, I woke up to find the bargeboards and roof caps in pieces in the neighbour’s garden. The PVC caps had disintegrated and the wooden boards were completely rotten, only attached to the frame by a few long screws. So, I bought some planks and fence paint, and some plastic coated metal caps and got to work. Used coach bolts bolted through the boards and roof frame and added timber along the top of the concrete panels and screwed into the boards for extra reinforcement. Started with the sides. Front finished. The end result made the garage look so much better, and I had the reassurance from doing it myself that it wasn’t going to break anytime soon. Started building up more of a workshop. Got an old mig welder to practice with. Used some rope to suspend timber from the roof frame to stop it from getting wet. Shortly after built a shelf to hold more materials. My next plan was to try and stop water from soaking in through the base. I know this is an impossible battle, but there was water standing inside the garage. This also coincided with us starting to work on the garden, for which we had quite ambitious plans! The previous owners kept the garden very simple but didn’t really do much maintenance. Hiding behind the fence was a nightmare. What I discovered was what I can only describe as an attempt at a French drain. About a foot of thick black mud mixed with rubbish and pea gravel. Under this I uncovered an open drain, which I think was meant to drain around and down the sides of the garage, unfortunately these do not slope away from the back so any amount of gravel or leaves will trap water back there. Still, much better cleaned out than when it was full of rubbish. And although there is still damp seeping through, at least there aren’t any pools of water inside the garage now. This is around Autumn 2019. February, big storm blew down the fence, so new fence was ordered. Bodged the old one back together in the dark and sideways rain, somehow its still standing now! Fast forward to summer 2020, stuck at home and bored out our minds we started on the garden. Up came the astroturf and in came 7 tonnes of stone (by hand because the truck arm couldn’t reach the garden over the garage) No news on fence. The plan (still in progress) is to surround the stone wall with topsoil and plant grasses and shrubs in it, patio to go in the middle. There’s a small wall holding the garden up from the garage. The breeze blocks are old and a bit crumbly, and would take a lot of work to replace, so my plan is to add railway sleepers on top of the wall to hold the extra topsoil back. I also pressure washed as much of the moss off as possible, was really hard work but definitely helped with the leaks. The neighbours have also recently cut their tree down so hopefully it won’t grow back anytime soon. You can see in these pictures (before and halfway through removing the moss) quite how much water is retained by the moss! Thanks to Brexit and Lockdown, Fence posts and panels turned up at the end of November, many months after the already delayed supposed delivery date. Disaster struck again! Of course right when I was trying to set off somewhere. The garage doors wouldn’t close, I found the wires had come off the reels and completely tangled. After a lot of swearing and messing with vice grips, I managed to get them closed. Spoke to a couple of repair companies, and was told it was not repairable, and that I needed to new doors at a cost of £1500!!! A bit of research and £40 later, I replaced the reels and wire myself and the doors were working again. Not completely fixed, I still have to be quite careful when opening them but at least they function. Finally had good enough weather in February to paint the fence panels, hope to have them up and get the rest of the garden sorted by this Summer. So that’s the garage/garden up to date; another post to follow very soon with details of the plans for the garage, and some questions someone can hopefully answer
	Last Edit: Apr 28, 2021 13:08:17 GMT by willrx40

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willrx40 Club Retro Rides Member Posts: 9	First House: Garage Build - It's a Leaky Prefab willrx40 @willrx40
	Apr 28, 2021 13:58:05 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	So problem No.1 – Supporting the roof at the centre before removing the central panels. I have already purchased the materials for this, and will try it regardless, but was wondering if anyone had done something similar. I have a 6m long piece of box section 60mm x 40mm and 4mm thick mild steel box section. My plan is to slide it under the roof tiles onto the centre panels, and between the two metal roof frames. Then weld the frames to the box section along with some reinforcing plates between the two frames, and then remove the concrete panels from underneath. My only concern is whether the metal will hold the weight of the roof. If it doesn’t, I might replace the old asbestos tiles with a corrugated metal roof, which should be lighter, and I’ll also be able to add some plastic panels to allow light in. It would also allow me to remove the centre panels while the roof is off, making it much easier. However, this is fairly expensive and I’m on quite a tight budget, so am trying to do things in steps. Problem No. 2 – Water ingress at the back of the garage. I know this is discussed a lot on various forums, and I know that prefab garages are always going to have damp problems, the mastic has dried between all panels so it will never be watertight. My problem is that the foundation which the garage sits on actually slopes back towards the panels at one point in the back. I’ve read that adding a concrete fillet to the outside is not recommended because it traps water and lets it soak through over the internal fillet. However, in my case would it work to prevent standing water from soaking in? The back of the garage is rarely exposed to rain, the roof panels overhang and there is a gutter so the rear wall panels themselves rarely get very wet. The issue is water sitting against the wall rather than running through the drain also thanks to the slight slope backwards in the drain. Lastly, Has anyone added an electricity circuit to their prefab garage? I think I’ve found a workaround for laying a cable from the house – use metal conduit piping along the house and garden wall to house the cable. From what I understand, because the walls are a solid fixture there is no issue doing it this way. Would this pass regulations? Are there any issues adding an electrical circuit to a prefab garage? Would it need a separate earthing point as it is detached from the house? I use an extension lead now, but it is a pain taking it out each time I want to use it. Adding the electrical circuit would be to power some lights, a hifi, and power tools/chopsaw. Also occasionally a welder and air compressor.


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jamesd1972 Club Retro Rides Member Posts: 2,921 Club RR Member Number: 40	First House: Garage Build - It's a Leaky Prefab jamesd1972 @jamesd1972 Club Retro Rides Member 40
	Apr 28, 2021 14:15:51 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	Ref. electrics I'd consider a simple armored cable from the house to the garage if it isn't too far. Easier than metal conduit and pretty sure reg's are fine with it clipped to walls. or if keen buried but has to be buried pretty deep to meet regs. Water / damp is a nightmare - what can you do to increase the airflow as well ? Good luck with project - garden looking better already. For info I've used www.screwfix.com/p/evo-stik-polyurethane-wood-adhesive-310ml/40778?_requestid=364781 to stick sleepers together and it works well and is cheaper than big fixings. James


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willrx40 Club Retro Rides Member Posts: 9	First House: Garage Build - It's a Leaky Prefab willrx40 @willrx40
	Apr 28, 2021 14:31:33 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	Thanks James. For the cable, it's probably around 6m from the house wall to the garage, the garden wall runs the whole way down the side. I thought of metal conduit because I didn't want to dig up the garden, especially to a depth to pass regs for armoured cable,I may consider clipping it to the wall if that is allowed. Don't have much to increase airflow, although there's gaps around the edge of the roof that would allow for some airflow. The garage dries out ok during the summer, but everything got very damp and mouldy this winter. Although the damp is annoying, the real problem is flooding during very heavy rainfall. The evostik is useful info thank you! I might double up with that. There are already posts from the old fence, my plan was to use some heavy duty hex coach screws (inexpensive in b&q) to secure the sleepers to these posts. They won't move much anyway because of their weight, but the posts will prevent them from tipping. I'll cut the posts to the height of the sleepers once they're done.


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colnerov Posted a lot Posts: 2,879	First House: Garage Build - It's a Leaky Prefab colnerov @colnerov
	Apr 28, 2021 15:45:27 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	Hi, Having cleared out the trench at the back of the garage, a bit lower if you can so it's below the garage base, let it dry during the summer, once dry paint the junction of the base and the garage walls with a thick coat of Bituminous paint and re-instate some gravel. That should stop water creeping through. Then anything you can do to stop driving rain from going down there will probably be enough. Like putting bushes in pots along sleeper wall at the end of the garden, or trellis with creepers like roses, should keep most of the rain out. Colin
	Last Edit: Apr 28, 2021 15:46:20 GMT by colnerov

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Paul Y Posted a lot Posts: 1,951	First House: Garage Build - It's a Leaky Prefab Paul Y @pauly
	Apr 28, 2021 17:14:32 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	Not much to add on the garage front but you have seen how much rent is - when the time comes don't sell it, rent it! P.
	Last Edit: Apr 28, 2021 17:14:49 GMT by Paul Y If I wanted 2 pedals I would have built a bicycle.... Woody's Build retrorides.proboards.com/thread/176466/woody-knife-phase-huge-cajones

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willrx40 Club Retro Rides Member Posts: 9	First House: Garage Build - It's a Leaky Prefab willrx40 @willrx40
	Apr 28, 2021 19:12:50 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	Apr 28, 2021 15:45:27 GMT colnerov said: Hi, Having cleared out the trench at the back of the garage, a bit lower if you can so it's below the garage base, let it dry during the summer, once dry paint the junction of the base and the garage walls with a thick coat of Bituminous paint and re-instate some gravel. That should stop water creeping through. Then anything you can do to stop driving rain from going down there will probably be enough. Like putting bushes in pots along sleeper wall at the end of the garden, or trellis with creepers like roses, should keep most of the rain out. Colin That's the problem unfortunately, I'll see if I can find a photo. The terracotta gutter is flush with the edge of the base, but the base slopes down towards the panels. The bitumen paint/tanking slurry was something I'd thought of, but I was also thinking that maybe a fillet first might help? The plan is to put tall grasses along the the bottom of the garden so that should work nicely. Paul - that's also something we've considered! Depends whether we sell to have a larger deposit for the next house.


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willrx40 Club Retro Rides Member Posts: 9	First House: Garage Build - It's a Leaky Prefab willrx40 @willrx40
	Apr 28, 2021 19:46:56 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	It was difficult to get a photo from the right angle, but hopefully these show the slope of the garage base.


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jamesd1972 Club Retro Rides Member Posts: 2,921 Club RR Member Number: 40	First House: Garage Build - It's a Leaky Prefab jamesd1972 @jamesd1972 Club Retro Rides Member 40
	Apr 28, 2021 20:47:50 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	Checked with sparky friend and armoured clipped to wall is fine with regs, and safe with it. James
	Last Edit: Apr 28, 2021 20:49:13 GMT by jamesd1972

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homersimpson Posted a lot Posts: 1,228	First House: Garage Build - It's a Leaky Prefab homersimpson @homersimpson
	Apr 29, 2021 7:43:34 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	You would be fine putting electricity into a pre fab garage, I had it in one at my last house. As long as it doesn't have an incoming metallic service (gas or water etc.) then you don't need a seperate earth, just connect it to the house and make sure its either protected by an RCD in the house or has its own RCD. Regarding armoured cables, as far as i'm aware there is no legal requirement for depth, there is a lot of guidance (NJUG etc.) but nothing that says it has to be a certain depth down, certainly nothing i'm aware of anyway. Personally I would use a shallow armoured in preference to steel conduit but if you co down that route you will need dies to thread it or have a look at a system called conlok, its not something I like but for a bit in your house it would probably be ok.


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TessierAshpool Club Retro Rides Member Posts: 520 Club RR Member Number: 168	First House: Garage Build - It's a Leaky Prefab TessierAshpool @tessierashpool Club Retro Rides Member 168
	Apr 29, 2021 8:20:16 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	I had electric installed at the prefab garage at my previous house. It was about 8m from the house to the end of the garden where the garage was, the electrician ran armoured cable clipped to the garden boundary wall all the way down. RCD installed in the garage, two double sockets and two strip lights installed. Turned out really well and was all signed off properly.
	Last Edit: Apr 29, 2021 10:48:11 GMT by TessierAshpool 2000 Lexus LS430

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willrx40 Club Retro Rides Member Posts: 9	First House: Garage Build - It's a Leaky Prefab willrx40 @willrx40
	Apr 29, 2021 9:47:53 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	Thanks all for the advice regarding electrics, doesn't sound like too big a job so I'll look at getting it done eventually. No gas or water pipes in the garages so that makes things a lot easier. The conduit I looked at is pretty cheap in toolstation, all galvanised and threaded. However if it is ok to run armoured cable along the wall then I might just do that instead. Damp proofing the back of the garage is priority for now, as it will be harder to do once the garden is done; electrics will probably come after I've attempted to remove the centre panels.


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kevins Posted a lot Posts: 4,858	First House: Garage Build - It's a Leaky Prefab kevins @kevins
	Apr 29, 2021 13:26:07 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	If there is headroom another option is to raise the floor inside the garage by a pouring a coupe of inches of concrete on dpm, basically raising it above the level of the base outside. For your roof I would be inclined to lay timber joists in going across the garage. Rest some timbers to the top of the walls, bolt them in place using strips of steel bolted through the holes not used for the current roof trusses, then slide lateral timbers in(8x2 should be fine, you might need to take the odd panel out to get them in) jack them up tight against the roof and use hangers to attach them to the ones you have bolted on top of the walls, you could also put a ceiling up inside and some insulation to prevent condensation if required. If you want to make the structure stronger still, move one door to the middle and use the panels to have taken out to fill the sides.


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willrx40 Club Retro Rides Member Posts: 9	First House: Garage Build - It's a Leaky Prefab willrx40 @willrx40
	Apr 29, 2021 18:24:05 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	Apr 29, 2021 13:26:07 GMT kevins said: If there is headroom another option is to raise the floor inside the garage by a pouring a coupe of inches of concrete on dpm, basically raising it above the level of the base outside. For your roof I would be inclined to lay timber joists in going across the garage. Rest some timbers to the top of the walls, bolt them in place using strips of steel bolted through the holes not used for the current roof trusses, then slide lateral timbers in(8x2 should be fine, you might need to take the odd panel out to get them in) jack them up tight against the roof and use hangers to attach them to the ones you have bolted on top of the walls, you could also put a ceiling up inside and some insulation to prevent condensation if required. If you want to make the structure stronger still, move one door to the middle and use the panels to have taken out to fill the sides. I'd written the idea of adding a layer because of relative cost, and time it would take to move everyhting to do it. I like the idea of the timbers, but they'd have to be very long to cross the garage and that starts to complicate things. It also increases the weight of the whole structure. Putting a single garage door in would be great, but again is complicated. A benefit to my idea is that if I ever wanted to revert it to two garages (previous owners rented one out and used the other for storage) I could put the panels back in under the box section. This is by no means to scale but gives an idea of my plan. I would retain the first and last panel as they make up part of the exterior wall. I would also keep the second to last panel because the roof slopes low on the last panel and it also secures a truss. Removing the panels in between would give me 10 feet of open space. The front two trusses would be suspended, which is why I worry about the weight. The weight of the whole roof will obviously be distributed around the outer edges and over the three trusses, but I'm concerned about the weight putting too much stress on the middle of the length of the box section, as it's 6m long. It will be supported by at least one central panel on each end, and welded to the existing trusses. I was planning on adding some brackets so that it would also bolt to the panels.


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porsche944 Part of things Posts: 107	First House: Garage Build - It's a Leaky Prefab porsche944 @porsche944
	Apr 30, 2021 17:46:56 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	A few points learnt the hard way from having a pre-fab garage. Seal the walls & base with bitumastic paint, up to around 18" up the walls. The rest seal with something like emulsion or similar. The floor get some interlocking tiles or similar or epoxy paint, although epoxy won't go over bitumastic. This stops the concrete sweating. Mine runs a desiccant dehumidifier all year round as it has a ton of tools & timber in. For cable TLC have a calculator on their site to calculate cable sizes. www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Technical/ It is bad practice to run a RCD in the main box & another in the garage. Generally you have a breaker sized to protect the cable from the house, in the house. Then a 2 way box with RCD in the garage. The garage box has a 5 or 6 amp breaker for lights & a 32Amp for a ring main for the sockets. If you want a decent size welder in the future then make the box 3 way and have a dedicated 16Amp IEC60309 (Commando) socket for the welder or big compressor. I'd go to the next cable up if I was doing this. SWA (Steel Wire Armoured) can be clipped using the special clamps for them, someone like TLC will sell them together with glands to terminate the SWA. Put plenty of lights in and sockets. The other reason for emulsioning the walls is to reflect light. Garages are like coal holes when you're trying to work in them. Look at security, beef the lock up although these days crims just bend the door to get in. Look at security bolts in the top corners of the door into the frame. Look at external lighting as well.


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bricol Part of things Posts: 290	First House: Garage Build - It's a Leaky Prefab bricol @bricol
	May 3, 2021 14:19:55 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	I'd scrap out all the dried out mastic and reseal - I used builders silicon - bought in bulk from an online supplier. I used an internal cement fillet as all the garage suppliers suggest - and the first time the garage settled/moved a touch, it cracked. So last summer I chiseled it off down one side, ran a grinding disc along the floor to panel join to create a bit of a gap, vacced all the dust out, then ran a not-quite ever setting mastic along in and in the join. Seems water tight so far - intention is to replace the cement fillet partially over it at some point. With my mum's leaking cement fibre garage roof, I put battens across it and over-clad it with steel roof profiles. As to your plan with the removing panels - I don't think your hollow section is big enough to hold the roof (don't forget what happens if it ever snows!) without drooping. Take a look for C-section purlins - a decent depth one bolted to the sides of the panels you are keeping might work. Those existing steel rafters also look to be holding the garage sides together - it they don't go continuously from one external wall to the other, but only to the centre wall, then you will need to tie them together to keep the walls up. I used C-section purlins to span my entire garage, bolted to angle iron, bolted to the side walls - positioned to lift the roof to maximum allowed under permitted development, then sheeted in the gap between roof and concrete side panels, then over-clad with sections of steel roof sheets. Looks better than it sounds Gave a lot more head room.


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willrx40 Club Retro Rides Member Posts: 9	First House: Garage Build - It's a Leaky Prefab willrx40 @willrx40
	May 3, 2021 15:36:42 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	Apr 30, 2021 17:46:56 GMT porsche944 said: A few points learnt the hard way from having a pre-fab garage. Seal the walls & base with bitumastic paint, up to around 18" up the walls. The rest seal with something like emulsion or similar. The floor get some interlocking tiles or similar or epoxy paint, although epoxy won't go over bitumastic. This stops the concrete sweating. Mine runs a desiccant dehumidifier all year round as it has a ton of tools & timber in. For cable TLC have a calculator on their site to calculate cable sizes. www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Technical/ It is bad practice to run a RCD in the main box & another in the garage. Generally you have a breaker sized to protect the cable from the house, in the house. Then a 2 way box with RCD in the garage. The garage box has a 5 or 6 amp breaker for lights & a 32Amp for a ring main for the sockets. If you want a decent size welder in the future then make the box 3 way and have a dedicated 16Amp IEC60309 (Commando) socket for the welder or big compressor. I'd go to the next cable up if I was doing this. SWA (Steel Wire Armoured) can be clipped using the special clamps for them, someone like TLC will sell them together with glands to terminate the SWA. Put plenty of lights in and sockets. The other reason for emulsioning the walls is to reflect light. Garages are like coal holes when you're trying to work in them. Look at security, beef the lock up although these days crims just bend the door to get in. Look at security bolts in the top corners of the door into the frame. Look at external lighting as well. Thanks, I think I probably will do something similar to this, will need a really good dusting before painting the floors. Had a look at the way my parents garage is set up (also detached from the house) this weekend and it has pretty much what you've described; I'll probably go for something similar. As for security, I have added some extra bits which will certainly be used if we go away for any extended period. Luckily it is relatively well lit by a streetlight, there's cctv on a nearby building and I normally park my car in front of the door which would make it harder to break in so hopefully that won't happen. I would probably add an external light if I add a circuit to the garage.


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willrx40 Club Retro Rides Member Posts: 9	First House: Garage Build - It's a Leaky Prefab willrx40 @willrx40
	May 3, 2021 15:51:50 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	May 3, 2021 14:19:55 GMT bricol said: I'd scrap out all the dried out mastic and reseal - I used builders silicon - bought in bulk from an online supplier. I used an internal cement fillet as all the garage suppliers suggest - and the first time the garage settled/moved a touch, it cracked. So last summer I chiseled it off down one side, ran a grinding disc along the floor to panel join to create a bit of a gap, vacced all the dust out, then ran a not-quite ever setting mastic along in and in the join. Seems water tight so far - intention is to replace the cement fillet partially over it at some point. With my mum's leaking cement fibre garage roof, I put battens across it and over-clad it with steel roof profiles. As to your plan with the removing panels - I don't think your hollow section is big enough to hold the roof (don't forget what happens if it ever snows!) without drooping. Take a look for C-section purlins - a decent depth one bolted to the sides of the panels you are keeping might work. Those existing steel rafters also look to be holding the garage sides together - it they don't go continuously from one external wall to the other, but only to the centre wall, then you will need to tie them together to keep the walls up. I used C-section purlins to span my entire garage, bolted to angle iron, bolted to the side walls - positioned to lift the roof to maximum allowed under permitted development, then sheeted in the gap between roof and concrete side panels, then over-clad with sections of steel roof sheets. Looks better than it sounds Gave a lot more head room. I've considered replacing the mastic, It will be quite a big job but probably worth it. I'll probably attempt it after I've removed the central panels, as that would make it much easier to move stuff around. The internal fillets and concrete floor all look in good condition, I'd rather leave them as they are and paint over with a waterproofing sealant I think. The existing steel joists mainly function as a way to clip the roof on, though they do add support to the whole structure. My plan with the box section is to weld them all up, this would retain the support of the shape and basically make the joists extend from one wall to the other. The box section would also be attached to the central panels I keep using brackets welded to the box section. What you've done with your garage sounds great! Increasing the height was also something I looked into after reading what you can and can't do without planning permission. I decided not to for the sake of simplicity and time. How much of this I actually succeed in doing will depend greatly on how long we stay in this house.
	Last Edit: May 3, 2021 15:52:15 GMT by willrx40

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bricol Part of things Posts: 290	First House: Garage Build - It's a Leaky Prefab bricol @bricol
	May 6, 2021 11:37:08 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	Without the steel "rafters" across the garage, you will find the walls become wobbly - they add a surprising amount of stability by tying one wall to the other - so be careful.


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