Greetings. I'd like to share with you my experience building a garage, more likely a shed, on a tight budget and with very limited prior knowledge but with enthusiasm and an open mind!
Making our first house purchase back in 2016 one of the must haves was either the perfect garage (optimistic) or the free space available that I'd be able to adapt.
We weren't able to find the right house with the right garage but we did find a house that was next door to a corner plot, but that a previous resident had bought the strip of land to the rear of the corner plot, making an L shaped back garden with giving from the side road. On that strip of land was a concrete sectional garage that was in decent order but not what I wanted.
Existing structure from the road and the garden:
Doorside
So I hid away my mk2 Golf for a year (LOL) or so...
Observations of the space:
The concrete pad is in good order, but not long enough to front or rear, stopping short of next doors 8m long masonry garage wall.
The retaining wall opposite the masonry wall is decent, but only 2 courses of blocks high, if the wall could be raised it'd give an internal width of 3m.
The ramp into the garage is already too steep to drive the car into without grounding, so lengthening the pad it won't make it less useable.
The pad is the lowest point of the garden and acts like a sump.
I broke through the block work wall to the road to provide airflow and aid drainage:
In sections laid two more courses of blockwork on top of existing retaining wall:
Started anchoring a timber length along the top of the 4 course block wall, with a DPM between the two:
To which I added a framework above, made from some 75mm x 75mm structural timber from packaging at my work which otherwise would have gone to landfill. Moving along the wall:
And on top of the framework added a timber length on top of that:
Used these nasty dogs tooth looking things to piece timber to timber without too much movement in the joint:
Until I'd run out of retaining wall to build off the top of. At this point I needed to extend the concrete pad to match that of the masonry next door:
Here's the sump I was mentioning earlier:
Finally covered and dried, used resin to bond in some rebar to tie old pad to new extended bit:
And concreted:
Started blocking the wall where the personnel door would be, garden end:
And round the corner to where the pre-existing retaining wall was:
Carried on with the timber framework along to wall top:
Sourced a used door and window locally from Ebay, came in under £100 for both of them:
At this point the whole structure was beginning to take on a decent amount of strength with much less wind flexing.
Put the first roof joist / end piece on, using coachbolts through either upright, and put the breather membrane in over the window, tidied up the outside so it was easier to get about:
Turned my attention to adapting the masonry wall to hang my roof from, with wall anchored horizontal timber and joist hangers nailed to it:
Working along from inside:
And a the other end using the joist hangers as ties:
Started cladding the garden side, just to see if my process was good. Used the cheapest of cheap timber (pallet wood), treated and spaced 10mm from the framework or breather membrane:
Headed over to the other side of the garage and started working on the car door end, removing the blockwork wall that adjoined the concrete garage, and digging out the ramp:
Looking a bit sorry for itself:
Rebar bonded in again to secure old pad to new:
The two big flags were buried end up at the pavement side, so after extracting them I decided I was going to make good use of them!
A block to keep the timber off the floor, and another upright wall anchored to the masonry:
And at the other side, 4 courses of blocks:
Carrying on the framework theme over the blockwork:
Wanted a window at the road end, having again found a second hand one off Ebay, so made a shutter:
Chopped up those found flags and turned them into the start points of some ramps out of the place:
The rest of the ramps were made from phenolic ply offcuts fished out of the bin at my work, and some timber:
Started cladding all that end, shutter first:
Breather membrane:
Negotiated myself a full sunny day so it was roof time:
All the while I was removing little bits of old roof and disposing, meaning I was just left with the walls.
Then came another negotiated day which meant I could (with the help of two friends) remove the concrete sectional garage from around the car - back wall first:
Working our way forward until we were just left with a garage door:
And we were able to fit the garage door into the slot I'd left for it!
The roof kept leaking so i chased some leaks about, sealing over joints:
Flashing from my roof to next doors wall:
In the end I bit the bullet and tarred the whole lot, best decision ever because it's been great for 2 years now:
Then using these fixings I started cladding the inside of the garage with more offcut of phenolic ply from the bin at work:
Over and around windows:
Painted the masonry:
And the cladding:
Somewhere in this process I built a worksurface from the worksurface I'd kept from our old kitchen:
Put these shelf tracks on every timber upright to give me so much adaptable storage:
Finished the cladding around the car door:
Table for keeping a brew on:
Shutter security:
For more parts storage I started welding together old steel office tat, on castors and tops finished with spare worktops:
Sowed grass where previously was only rubble:
Fitted some pendant lights:
Found these cheap at a hardware store, so installed them over the bonnet end of the car, on the garage door frame so they'll work with it up or down:
More water ingress at the bottom of the walls where I'm basically underground. Filleted the base to the pad with some mortar and set to it with some tanking slurry, three coats:
Got another day to myself so I clad the exterior of the timber framework wall. A breather membrane went on, then 10mm spacers, then a GRP skin which again was destined for the bin at my work. Offcuts of truck roof, lots of sealant on the joints:
A boat winch in case I ever have to bring a non-runner in, up the slope:
Some buffers for the car doors:
Can't abide a trolley jack kicking about on the floor:
There's other odds and ends, but that's the bulk of it, on the whole very happy. Dry, warm, light and airy, fits the bill and I basically did it myself. Hope you like. Took about 30 months though!
Making our first house purchase back in 2016 one of the must haves was either the perfect garage (optimistic) or the free space available that I'd be able to adapt.
We weren't able to find the right house with the right garage but we did find a house that was next door to a corner plot, but that a previous resident had bought the strip of land to the rear of the corner plot, making an L shaped back garden with giving from the side road. On that strip of land was a concrete sectional garage that was in decent order but not what I wanted.
Existing structure from the road and the garden:
Doorside So I hid away my mk2 Golf for a year (LOL) or so...
Observations of the space:
The concrete pad is in good order, but not long enough to front or rear, stopping short of next doors 8m long masonry garage wall.
The retaining wall opposite the masonry wall is decent, but only 2 courses of blocks high, if the wall could be raised it'd give an internal width of 3m.
The ramp into the garage is already too steep to drive the car into without grounding, so lengthening the pad it won't make it less useable.
The pad is the lowest point of the garden and acts like a sump.
I broke through the block work wall to the road to provide airflow and aid drainage:
In sections laid two more courses of blockwork on top of existing retaining wall:
Started anchoring a timber length along the top of the 4 course block wall, with a DPM between the two:
To which I added a framework above, made from some 75mm x 75mm structural timber from packaging at my work which otherwise would have gone to landfill. Moving along the wall:
And on top of the framework added a timber length on top of that:
Used these nasty dogs tooth looking things to piece timber to timber without too much movement in the joint:
Until I'd run out of retaining wall to build off the top of. At this point I needed to extend the concrete pad to match that of the masonry next door:
Here's the sump I was mentioning earlier:
Finally covered and dried, used resin to bond in some rebar to tie old pad to new extended bit:
And concreted:
Started blocking the wall where the personnel door would be, garden end:
And round the corner to where the pre-existing retaining wall was:
Carried on with the timber framework along to wall top:
Sourced a used door and window locally from Ebay, came in under £100 for both of them:
At this point the whole structure was beginning to take on a decent amount of strength with much less wind flexing.
Put the first roof joist / end piece on, using coachbolts through either upright, and put the breather membrane in over the window, tidied up the outside so it was easier to get about:
Turned my attention to adapting the masonry wall to hang my roof from, with wall anchored horizontal timber and joist hangers nailed to it:
Working along from inside:
And a the other end using the joist hangers as ties:
Started cladding the garden side, just to see if my process was good. Used the cheapest of cheap timber (pallet wood), treated and spaced 10mm from the framework or breather membrane:
Headed over to the other side of the garage and started working on the car door end, removing the blockwork wall that adjoined the concrete garage, and digging out the ramp:
Looking a bit sorry for itself:
Rebar bonded in again to secure old pad to new:
The two big flags were buried end up at the pavement side, so after extracting them I decided I was going to make good use of them!
A block to keep the timber off the floor, and another upright wall anchored to the masonry:
And at the other side, 4 courses of blocks:
Carrying on the framework theme over the blockwork:
Wanted a window at the road end, having again found a second hand one off Ebay, so made a shutter:
Chopped up those found flags and turned them into the start points of some ramps out of the place:
The rest of the ramps were made from phenolic ply offcuts fished out of the bin at my work, and some timber:
Started cladding all that end, shutter first:
Breather membrane:
Negotiated myself a full sunny day so it was roof time:
All the while I was removing little bits of old roof and disposing, meaning I was just left with the walls.
Then came another negotiated day which meant I could (with the help of two friends) remove the concrete sectional garage from around the car - back wall first:
Working our way forward until we were just left with a garage door:
And we were able to fit the garage door into the slot I'd left for it!
The roof kept leaking so i chased some leaks about, sealing over joints:
Flashing from my roof to next doors wall:
In the end I bit the bullet and tarred the whole lot, best decision ever because it's been great for 2 years now:
Then using these fixings I started cladding the inside of the garage with more offcut of phenolic ply from the bin at work:
Over and around windows:
Painted the masonry:
And the cladding:
Somewhere in this process I built a worksurface from the worksurface I'd kept from our old kitchen:
Put these shelf tracks on every timber upright to give me so much adaptable storage:
Finished the cladding around the car door:
Table for keeping a brew on:
Shutter security:
For more parts storage I started welding together old steel office tat, on castors and tops finished with spare worktops:
Sowed grass where previously was only rubble:
Fitted some pendant lights:
Found these cheap at a hardware store, so installed them over the bonnet end of the car, on the garage door frame so they'll work with it up or down:
More water ingress at the bottom of the walls where I'm basically underground. Filleted the base to the pad with some mortar and set to it with some tanking slurry, three coats:
Got another day to myself so I clad the exterior of the timber framework wall. A breather membrane went on, then 10mm spacers, then a GRP skin which again was destined for the bin at my work. Offcuts of truck roof, lots of sealant on the joints:
A boat winch in case I ever have to bring a non-runner in, up the slope:
Some buffers for the car doors:
Can't abide a trolley jack kicking about on the floor:
There's other odds and ends, but that's the bulk of it, on the whole very happy. Dry, warm, light and airy, fits the bill and I basically did it myself. Hope you like. Took about 30 months though!
