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New workshop project


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Having moved house I want to build myself a new workshop and happily there is some space in the garden which should allow me to do so. I built one at the previous house which served me very well however there were a number of issues that bothered me about it. Mainly the slight slope on the floor, but also its susceptibility to mice ingress and the fact that I didn’t insulate it.

I will hopefully address these issues in the new build. I am a bit more limited with space this time but there should be room for a building about the same size as before - 6 metres long and 4 metres wide.

Here is where it will go, with the rough footprint marked out (yes the oil tank needs moved first!).

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The main challenge is proximity to the house, and the fact that vehicle access is down the side of it. This means that normal side-opening doors are not suitable as shown below.

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Fitting side-opening doors would mean that I would both lose aperture width because they would only be able to open part of the way, and the left hand one would also block off the path past the edge of the house. For these reasons I will probably go with a roller shutter door, enabling maximum opening size without causing any obstructions.

The vehicle doors will be offset in order to line up with the access route, this shouldn’t cause a problem as the vehicle needs to sit off-centre in the building anyway because of the workbench etc. which will go down one side. Good use of shelving etc. will hopefully help to keep the floor area as clear as possible.

The building will be much the same construction as the previous one, with a few enhancements. Principally amongst which will be a brick plinth a few courses high on which the walls will sit. This should help keep mice out as well as prevent any issues with damp. The walls will also be insulated and boarded on the inside. Roof too if I can figure out a sensible way of doing it.

More to follow soon hopefully. First step is to move the oil tank, then I can speak with the neighbours, get planning permission sorted and with any luck get started.

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Looking forward to following this James! :) 

Will you have much space around for your trailer and other vehicle?

Also, is there anything stopping you bringing the front (door) wall of the garage further down the side of the house for a bit more space? With garden access through the garage. I appreciate if its attached to the house it might be a world of pain regulation-wise?

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There’s enough space around the place yes.

I can’t bring it any further forwards because the central heating boiler is on that corner and the flue needs space to vent into. I never had a problem with the length of the previous building, 6 metres is comfortable. Width was always the challenge, compounded by big bits like engines/bulkheads/doors which all had to be stored down one side. I’m hoping that with those out of the way even the previous width of 4 metres will be sufficient, but if I can squeeze another foot or so in then I’ll try and do so.

I may look into a covered car port down the side of the house in the future, which would give me an extra covered area in front of the workshop. But it’s tight width wise. 

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In my last place I had a 6x6.5m garage with enough room for three cars in front.

Here I have a single garage up a useless 7ftx40ft drive and enough room for three cars in the front.

Ideally the next place will have a double garage with a double carport and hopefully a extra space.

I've learnt that unless I'm building a car (even then a garage is a luxury) I don't need a garage as such just some dry space and a workshop.

Mike

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Roller shutter or perhaps lifting sectional door? I ended up having to go with sectional on my current garage due to having to fit an ambulance under the door :ph34r: and it's quite pukka - insulated panels, very well sealed, and only about 6" headroom needed for the whole mechanism compared to a bigger roll-up affair.

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That would certainly work and does look good, the only downside is that it limits headroom for a longer section of the building. The roller needs more space vertically but only for 18" or so in from the door. More of an issue for storage of things than anything else, as the vehicle would have to fit under it anyway.

How do they compare cost wise do you know?

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True it does need more "ceiling" space but I don't store stuff on the ceiling (pallet racking for the win!) and my situation needed max headroom under the door without raising the whole roof any higher than necessary for planning restrictions. You can see how "thin" the roof is relative to the door opening in the photo, it's only just as deep as the joists plus a run of bricks.

Don't think there was much in it price-wise like-for-like, although mine being relatively tall (and insulated, and powered) it automatically costs more than a single-skin steel roller type but I believe there's a break-point where they won't sell single-skin above a certain size due to the mechanics of it all.

I used www.garagedoorsonline.co.uk and would use them again.

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18 minutes ago, landroversforever said:

If you went with a roller door James, you could have the roller mounted externally which would mean it sits higher than the door opening.

Good point - again, I couldn't do that because of space / planning regs.

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I have just "re-designed" my roller door arrangement. I had previously gone from a flat roof to pitched with a powered roller door. This was mounted underneath the roof trusses and at the time headroom wasn't a concern. Now, many years later, I need more headroom and so have lifted the lintol above the door and lifted the roller so that it sits between the last truss and the gable, high enough so that the clear opening is almost as high as the underside of the trusses. It's not the obvious thing to do but works very well and might serve you well too.

Here's a pic...of the new space before the new door was fitted. You need room for the roll with the unwrapping happening in a clockwise motion, as you look here with the door on the right, the curtain hanging down almost but not quite in the same plane as the inside of the gable above.

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Edited by Peaklander
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I had to offset my door like you do for the same reason. Initially I was going to have barn doors but a narrow one and a wide one. The narrow one wouldn't block off the path as it could fold right back on itself and be wide enough for pedestrian access, the wide one for vehicle access. You can then make the wide one very secure to keep your vehicle safe whilst still allowing you to go in and out to get tools, do work etc. 

I couldn't have a roller as I didn't want to make the shed too high to avoid planning / neighbour upsetting. 

I then got a new matching pair of doors for free so replaced the one on my house garage and one on the wooden workshop with a canopy door. The advantages are they screw entirely to the wall of the shed, you don't need any runners and you get a bit of a lip sticking out so the rain doesn't come in so much if you have the door open. Handy if the bonnet is near the door. 

I would've preferred the barn doors as above but you know... free :lol:

Before you start I would consider running a pair of conduits and a water pipe to the house, one for power and one for data / alarm / cctv etc. 

The oil tank could be handy for heating.

Edited by Cynic-al
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^ What Al said, I ran (well, I got the builders to do it) a length of ~2" flexible ducting under the garden from house to garage, then you just pull power / network etc. cables through it as needed. The pukka stuff isn't expensive and is smooth-lined for easy pulling.

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Thanks guys.

If I go with the roller shutter then I'd like the roller on the inside of the building just because it makes it look less 'commercial'. I'll be getting planning regardless because I need to go closer than a metre to the boundary with the high bit of the building (rear gable end), so height is not a problem so long as I don't go silly. The walls will be around 2.4m to the eaves, so I hope there will be space to tuck the roller up on the inside of the front gable.

Good idea on the differentially-sized doors - though it still robs me of a few inches of width on the right hand door that won't be able to open all the way. The advantage of a roller or sectional door is that I can have a 3 metre opening which gives me loads of room on both sides of the car, useful when it's half-in or half-out of the building for some reason.

There will definitely be a conduit laid from the house into the slab for power etc. - the previous effort had a 40 amp supply using a 10mm² armoured cable and I will try and replicate that here as it worked well.

As far as heating is concerned I am hoping that with insulation the building will be fairly easy to heat to a comfortable temperature. The previous building wasn't insulated at all and even that was never too cold once I'd had a little fan heater going for 20 minutes.

 

 

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Nice !!!

My workshop shrunk in the plans from 14 x 8,5 mtrs to 8 x 8,5 mtrs.....

Underground here means 100 mm pipes with ropes through them for all kind of wiring... We learned the hard way there is always another cable / hose to be put in later.

Well over 700 mtrs. of underground ducting (yes - I love minidiggers) we put in over the years and about 1,5 mtrs. under the ground  - we have never problems getting cables somewhere - even water &  CCTV in the fields... I bought a 5000 mtrs CAT5 cable reel and we use that for both computers, telephone, CCTV, alarms etc.

Pls. keep them coming !

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13 hours ago, Anderzander said:

I’m looking at side hung timber doors -  but have been suprised how expensive they are.

I made my own. I cheated a bit and used full sheets of WBP (marine ply) instead of individual boards to clad them, and built the internal frames with treated timber, all mortise and tenon joints. Nothing rocket science and didn't take too long to do.

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I insulated mine between the frame with polystyrene then clad with OSB including the roof. Amazing how warm it stays in the winter and cool in the summer. I have a little gas heater but rarely use it. When it's cold you can tell where the un-insulated roof trusses are from the frost on the roof. 

A few times I've had new mis-measured electric roller doors to sell. The 7fts you can sell all day long for fair money but the odd ball sizes you have to almost give away as finding someone who wants that size and colour at that time is difficult which is why I end up with them. Sometimes people have space to get a wider door in if they have a bit of wall either side so I would definitely keep searching, you never know what is going to come up.

I would definitely do your own barn doors, 'redwood' is cheap and durable enough and there are enough fixing technologies out there now to not have to do proper joints. I normally do a sort of half lap by setting the depth on the cross cut then doing lots of cuts then just clean it with a chisel but you don't even need to do that, a bit of wood or metal plate in the corner helps stiffness etc.

 

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I am looking at replacing my up and over door for a sectional door, and I am trying to move it flush with the outer wall, as this will give me about a foot of extra space. This does mean a bespoke door, but not that much more than a standard one. It does get narrower though.

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I made the barn style doors for the last one, ledged and braced with proper tenon joints. They were very strong and didn’t drop a millimetre in four years. But I think because of the site constraints any side opening door design is less suitable than a vertically opening option.

Most roller shutter doors seem to be able to be fitted in either face-fit or reveal-fit positions. Reveal fit loses you less space in the building but narrows your door by a few inches either side. Less of a problem if the door is 3m wide!

The front face of the building will be at least 4 metres wide, so a nice wide door is no issue as long as I can accommodate the ‘roll’ above the opening without compromising the roof pitch. 

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The ones that fit in the aperture usually run between a couple of bits of angle / u channel. The only concern I would have with a wide one is if you give them a push in the middle they pop out the runners at the side so I would make sure it's strong enough for your needs. 

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