Garage extension - by stealth

[ibrooks]

I want to make my existing single garage double width. But neighbours...... They aren't exactly the neighbours from hell but we don't get on (most of the street cheered when the for-sale sign went up but it didn't sell and they've had a loft conversion instead). I generally manage to avoid any problems by just keeping my head down and ignoring them but every once in a while they'll do something that just makes your jaw drop in dis-belief that someone could think it was acceptable behaviour. My extension would fall within permitted development so there's little or nothing they could do about it but in the interests of a quiet life I'm thinking of doing it piecemeal to ease them into it.

My plan is to build a "pergola" up against the existing garage. I'll then stick a roof on it to make it a car-port, then I'll box the sides in. Ultimately I'd like to ditch the existing concrete sectional garage and make it a single integrated structure by mirroring what I'm proposing as the extension. But it's also in my mind that this might never become more than a car-port.

I've looked at ally framed car-ports but the prices seem silly for what you actually get so I'm thinking of making something myself. So far (and I stress this is a fluid plan - hence asking opinions) I'm thinking 100mm square 3mm wall box section in steel. I'm thinking a vertical at each corner and horizontals between them - it's a shade under 5.5m long and width-wise is to be determined but I'd guess 3m max. What's the opinion on the strength of my "beams" over those lengths - do we reckon they would support a roof (single pitch near flat).

Raising the corner uprights.... Concreting them into the slab would be ideal I'd suppose but I do want this to remain a modular/flat-pack thing that may go back to being a single garage in the future so I've been wondering about these Metpost things that everyone here seems to love so much - specifically the bolt down ones. If I bolt one down at each corner with anchor bolts do we reckon it would be enough to hold the structure down? I'm thinking along the lines that the existing garage is pretty much just sat under it's own weight with very little in the way of fastening between it and the slab.

Also along the lines of my stealth/piecemeal plan What's the opinion on making the base in separate pieces? I'd like to put bases in for the corners and have them in place but then add the centre later so that it's not obviously going to be a carport/garage from day one. Maybe rather than 4 separate pads two trenches at either end becoming effectively foundations would be more sensible.

Iain

 

[Jim Davey]

I'd put the concrete pad in all in one go, you can always say it's hard standing for working on a car outside he garage.

 

[ibrooks]

Maybe - or a patio

I'd still like to just bolt the uprights into it though - thinking about where I'm posting this I'm wondering why on earth I would use the metpost things rather than just welding a piece of angle to the bottom of the uprights to create a flange I could bolt through.

 

[Rig Pig]

If it falls within permitted development rules build what you want and stuff them. If you make the slab in small bits you stand a good chance that they will move relative too each other.

If you have a sectional garage why don't you pour the slab, take the wall down and move it across, fit beefed up roof beams and a wooden rear wall - cheap bigger workshop. I did a similar with my workshop.

 

[the snooper]

im with rig pig, if its all above board tell them to go jump if they say anything, I would look in the local paper for free concrete garage sections then as said above move wall across, don't forget if you make a wooden structure it will be much easier to break into then your concrete sections

 

[Cobbler]

I agree a solid structure would be the best, but if you have to go with a bit by bit approach, lay concrete as already said, but fit rag bolts, so you could make up a plate 'foot' (don't know what else to call it) & bolt it down solid. Like a Metapost jobbie, but solidly made. The concrete would be ok for proper foundations later on.

 

[dunk]

+ 1 with rig pig & snooper, if not breaking the rules build what you want, ie a double garage, with regards to neighbours you aint building it for them, if they dont like it they can always move, if you start doing it stealth mode and trouble starts half way through you wont finish it, look on ebay, double concrete garages come up on there, most of the time people just want someone else to take it down and move it, so you will more than likely get it very cheap, if some panels are broke or if you break some you can get second hand ones, they are about, i have done one myself a while back, cost me £75, its doable but you need help and a 7.5ton flat bed to move all sections in one go, or 3.5t and quite a few trips, a word of warning though if your health is suspect forget trying to move one yourself, the sections are very heavy, they do come up on preloved as well in the stuff for free section and also on gumtree,

 

[awemawson]

Just remind them if they pick a fight, that they have to declare neighbour disputes on the searches if they try and sell in the future, and it will make their sale harder, so do they REALLY want a dispute

 

[Rig Pig]

I can agree on the weight of the panels, we put one on the scales when we took it down 70kg, not too bad for the bottom row but the top row was hard work!

 

[Keith 66]

I extended a double garage slightly, by shoving the end wall out & adding some panels each side, they are bloody heavy.
If i remember correctly you are allowed up to 30sqm without planning permission plus there is a restriction on eaves height, so check & get on with it!

 

[chevy2]

I made my existing garage larger, now 40 sq m,
did it under a regular building notice and no planning reqd so long as it wasn't more than 50% of the garden,
max height of the roof had to be no more than 2.5m to avoid going through planning,
rules vary in different areas so check.

 

[Wendelspanswick]

I extended a double garage slightly, by shoving the end wall out & adding some panels each side, they are bloody heavy.
If i remember correctly you are allowed up to 30sqm without planning permission plus there is a restriction on eaves height, so check & get on with it!

That's the old regulations, it changed quite a few years ago.

 

[ibrooks]

This is pretty much chapter and verse what I was told in the local planning office was permitted development. I was worried about the 50% of the garden rule if that included the existing garage but fortunately it's on a separate deed so not counted. They also told me it means 50% of the total garden so I can add the area of the front and rear garden and build something half that size in the rear garden (which would pretty much be the entire rear garden so rather more than I'm thinking of). If I give them a scale drawing then, for a few quid, they will check it and give me a letter confirming that what I've drawn is OK so that I've got it in black and white should anything official ever be said at a later date.

I have wondered about extending the existing garage with like-for-like panels but unfortunately the back wall of the garage is in a line with the boundary fence between me and them. Strictly then I should be able to remove a fence panel and one post and replace with more garage wall but I'm sure that would just give them something to complain about. If I leave the fence in place and make the extended part of the garage 6" shorter then it's all in my garden with no effect on them (wouldn't even need to set foot in their garden). I'd just need to make sure they didn't try to pull a fast one by removing the fence and extending their garden up to the back of my new wall. The concrete panels aren't easy to make odd corners like that in (I know it's do-able). I also worried about the roof trusses spanning the new width.

As I said I'm not 100% set on it ever becoming a garage and might prefer it being a carport which my proposed method would lend itself to more easily. It might also be a double garage for now but changed to a carport and single garage down the line or even removed completely. Depends on what happens with the toys I want to keep in it (cars).

Iain

 

[Wedg1e]

If you do go down the steel-framed carport route, try to arrange it so that you have an integral 'A-frame' arrangement of the support beams so you can hang a block and tackle/ hoist from it, for engine lifts...

 

[ibrooks]

I'm not planning to work in this garage - got a workshop within walking distance with brick cavity walls, tiled roof and a wood-burner. This is just to keep the cars in so that runners aren't taking up working space and they are close enough that when I get up in the morning and see what the weather is like I can decide which one I fancy going to work in rather than it turning into some sort of planned operation where I have to leave early to go to the workshop to get one of the toys out and still get to work on time.

Iain