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Vapour Shed


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As I'll be moving house shortly, I'll be adding to my lack of Land Rover a distinct lack of decent workshop :(

So, in the grand tradition of forum vapour builds, I'm going to take it one step further and announce - the Vapour Shed®... :blush:

The house we're buying, down in sunny* south Somerset does run to a garage - but it's a rather dilapidated small single one with an asbestos roof and rotten woodwork. In other words it needs pulling down and starting from scratch.

I've a rough idea what I want to put up in its place - double, reasonably well insulated so that it's possible to at least keep the chill off when I'm using it in the winter, plumbed in dehumidifier (already have one I'll be taking with me). Decent strip lighting and over-bench lighting plus a decent number of electrical sockets around the walls.

It'll be used as a general purpose workshop, including woodwork, as well tinkering with cars.

So...allowing for a sensible but not OTT budget, what would you add to the Vapour Shed®?

* - Well you never know - after all the rain we've had up in Birmingham lately I feel I deserve a break... :)

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If you're starting from scratch, I guess now is the time to contemplate adding a pit, or laying foundations suitable for a 2/4 post lift, if you've ever contemplated one of those.

Depending on your construction method, you could design in a beam for using a trolley and hoist with etc.

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If you're starting from scratch, I guess now is the time to contemplate adding a pit, or laying foundations suitable for a 2/4 post lift, if you've ever contemplated one of those.

Depending on your construction method, you could design in a beam for using a trolley and hoist with etc.

This makes me think of SimonR's elevation roof he has on his ramp. Maybe you could have an entire elevating shed, with drop down skirts (a la Dormobile roof) to keep the draughts out when lifted.

Oh and make it as big as you can get away with without upsetting neighbours/council etc. :D

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You may even want some creature comforts in there too.

A kettle for making tea, a fridge for keeping milk/beers in, regular delivery of Hobnobs, a sofa to enhance enjoyment of tea and Hobnobs, and an internet connection for keeping up with the goings on on LR4x4 at the weekends.

Maybe even a stereo so you can't hear Mrs Beaumont nagging you to fix something in the house :lol:

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A kettle for making tea,

Got that...

an internet connection for keeping up with the goings on on LR4x4 at the weekends.

Wireless should reach from the house...

Maybe even a stereo so you can't hear...

Check...

Mrs Beaumont nagging you to fix something in the house :lol:

Ah...this one may be a sticking point, given it's somewhat of a project house!

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Geoff,

with the amount of rain down here in Somerset at the mo you'll need to be building one like Noah :blink: , On a serious note though what about running water for a sink-with drainage and that all important parts cleaner(old dishwasher) aswell as radio for Radio 2?

John

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If you're starting from scratch, I guess now is the time to contemplate adding a pit, or laying foundations suitable for a 2/4 post lift, if you've ever contemplated one of those.

Depending on your construction method, you could design in a beam for using a trolley and hoist with etc.

I'd love a lift and a hoist - dubious whether I'd get away with building the roof high enough, though.

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Geoff,

with the amount of rain down here in Somerset at the mo you'll need to be building one like Noah :blink: , On a serious note though what about running water for a sink-with drainage and that all important parts cleaner(old dishwasher) aswell as radio for Radio 2?

John

Running water would be good - certainly beats the water butt outside the door arrangement I currently have!

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This makes me think of SimonR's elevation roof he has on his ramp. Maybe you could have an entire elevating shed, with drop down skirts (a la Dormobile roof) to keep the draughts out when lifted.

Interesting idea (Simon's usually are). Must see if I can find a picture. I guess use would be a bit weather dependent, and it'd certainly need planning in from the start.

Oh and make it as big as you can get away with without upsetting neighbours/council etc. :D

That'll be a balancing act - we don't want to lose too much garden, and we also need to sort out parking which we'd rather put at the front of the house but not sure if we'll get permission for access from the highways department. The current garage only has room for a very small car in front of it so if we can put the parking elsewhere I'd like to bring the new garage out to the edge of the pavement (over-length) rather than have a pretty much useless bit of concrete in front of it (suppose with a double garage we could always park a car side on across it, though).

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You are only ever going to want more space, so build as big and tall as you can. Same goes for electric. Have it wired for more than you think you will use.

Utilise the roof space for storage to keep things off the floor.

I would spec the concrete for a lift even if you don't plan on having one yet.

Think about space around the car with the door closed.

Wireless may reach the garage, but if you are putting in power/water, it makes sense to run a CAT5 (ethernet) cable down with them.

Not sure if this is against forum rules, but the Garage Journal forum: Linky should give you some ideas (and more). But a warning to all... it can consume a LOT of time :lol:

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[quote name

Not sure if this is against forum rules, but the Garage Journal forum: Linky should give you some ideas (and more). But a warning to all... it can consume a LOT of time :lol:

Ross, you're a bad man- now I have even more things to do/look at lol

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Utilise the roof space for storage to keep things off the floor.

Don't think I could manage in my current garage without doing that! One of the short term problems at the new house is that there isn't any usable storage in the garage roof so it's going to be packed and pretty much unusable as a workshop until it's rebuilt.

Not sure if this is against forum rules, but the Garage Journal forum: Linky should give you some ideas (and more). But a warning to all... it can consume a LOT of time :lol:

Dangerous site... :blink:

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Check what you can do under permitted development..but going forward towards the road may be difficult, without planning permission.

I'm aware of that - we're planning on doing some work on the house too (most likely involving an extension) so I'm going to be getting acquainted with the local planning department anyway. I've no desire to build the thing and then have to pull it down, so all the appropriate hoops will be jumped through before starting.

One potential plus on this front is that I'm pretty certain it would be bringing the building out to where a four foot brick wall originally ran (in fact not quite as far along as the end of the garden appears to have been sold to a neighbour at some time to build their garage on). No idea if that actually has any bearing on planning decisions, though!

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Check what you can do under permitted development..but going forward towards the road may be difficult, without planning permission.

If I remember correctly from next door's extension, 30m2 is the limit for permitted development.

wouldn't bother with Cat5, use web over power thingy

If you are running cables etc anyway its not any more work to put in CAT5. I use mains networking at home, but I don't know what they would think if a welder was used?

Don't think I could manage in my current garage without doing that! One of the short term problems at the new house is that there isn't any usable storage in the garage roof so it's going to be packed and pretty much unusable as a workshop until it's rebuilt.

Dangerous site... :blink:

Yes it is rather :P

Ross, you're a bad man- now I have even more things to do/look at lol

Told you so! I've certainly picked up loads of ideas from there that I will incorporate into my plans for the future.

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Unless you've already decided on construction, I'd put in a big vote for www.premiersteelbuildings.co.uk, my shed came from them and was an absolute bargain comapred with the cost of buying materials & DIY'ing it. I was going to insulate with loft lagging & then line with hardboard but imminent house move means that's on hold.

Main things I'd put in:

- Over-specced ring main for power tools with lots of sockets

- Separate SWITCHED ring main for stuff you want to be able to kill when you lock up at night (EG welder, compressor) rather than having to remember to run round & unplug/switch off individual items

- PIR light indoors so when you stumble in in the dark fumbling for the light switch, you can see where you're going.

- More lights then you think you'll need

- Extractor fan (not just for dust/fumes but also to help keep humidity down)

- Pallet racking, this stuff is the chuck norris of workshop storage, holds (literally) tonnes of stuff.

- Fire extinguishers

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My Telescopic roof

was inspired by a chap who ran a garage in a residential area and could not get permission to build higher than 2.5m. He made the entire roof of his workshop raise & lower with the roof connected to the rest of the building by the material used for curtain sides on trucks. Because the roof was not 'connected' to the rest of the building and was only bolted to the ramp which did the actual lifting - it was a temporary structure and thus planning exempt.

Mine now has curtain sides which raise & lower with the roof and I have 38w 2D lights in the roof (9 of them) which are much higher temperature (whiter) than fluorescent lights and give a good approximation to sunlight when working at night.

If I were scratch building a garage / workshop, even if I didnt have a ramp I would include this as having a high ceiling is sometimes very useful. Then if you do want a ramp - it will go straight in.

The roof is lined in 10mm thick twin walled cellular polycarbonate sheet which lets in plenty of light but is very light. I wanted the whole structure to weigh less than 300kg so it would not affect the lift capacity too much. A lot of design and stress analysis went in to the roof trusses to make them strong enough for wind & snow loading, but still very light. In the event, the roof without cladding was light enough to weld together in the garden then four of us lift it in to place on top of the telescopic columns. I added the cladding once it was all secure and hung the curtain sides (custom made) from hooks.

Si

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