Our build thread, renovation and extension
Discussion
Minemapper said:
I would always have a secondary door into the garage. Can you locate it up at the front of the side wall, right next to the main door?
I can, but it's quite visible from the house there, right in front of the bi-folds. It also then needs to be a "nice" door to sit well withing the garage (clad in black) or aluminium to match the house (expensive). If it's down the far end I need a path to it which eats into valuable garden/grass space for the kids too. I think I probably do need it but I'm weighing things up...Firstly, good to see your garage moving ahead!
Muncher said:
The question therefore is will a "good" garage door have sufficiently reliable fail safes to enable opening from the inside and outsides should the electrics or the opening mechanism fail? I am not too worried about whether that compromises security as the garage will be alarmed and is behind electric gates in any case.
On this, our garage is usually only opened by remote keyfobs by my wife & I, or via a PIN keypad outside the garage, for our girls. We can override the motor by releasing the mechanism and opening (internally) as a "normal" sectional door. To be honest, I've not had to try and open the door from the outside if the electrics fail, but I'll try and find the key and see if I can do that!! (Our garage is slightly different in that it's part of our house, so there's a (fireproof) door into the kitchen and another entry door at the rear to the garden/patio.)Good to see some progress on your build!
I would always go with a separate door to the garage, if you don't have one you need to have an external override, which didn't sound too secure to me.
Muncher said:
2. The garage door. Ideally I was hoping to get a ready made sectional door on the cheap on eBay that had been made to the wrong size, but given I will need quite a specific colour I don't think this is now likely. Is there therefore any advantage in making the opening to a standard size as it will be cheaper, or are they like windows where they are all made to measure regardless so it doesn't matter?
3. The other door. The plans include a single door at the far end of the garage, but the more I think about it the more this compromises the internal layout (benches all at the far end) and the layout of the garden. Therefore I am considering getting rid of it and just using the main garage door. The question therefore is will a "good" garage door have sufficiently reliable fail safes to enable opening from the inside and outsides should the electrics or the opening mechanism fail? I am not too worried about whether that compromises security as the garage will be alarmed and is behind electric gates in any case.
I got hold of the Hormann pricelist when I was building my garage and the standard sizes were cheaper - also available off the shelf, so a much shorter lead time. That was for white, but I'm sure they said they could paint these doors for people who didn't want to wait for their coloured one to be made.3. The other door. The plans include a single door at the far end of the garage, but the more I think about it the more this compromises the internal layout (benches all at the far end) and the layout of the garden. Therefore I am considering getting rid of it and just using the main garage door. The question therefore is will a "good" garage door have sufficiently reliable fail safes to enable opening from the inside and outsides should the electrics or the opening mechanism fail? I am not too worried about whether that compromises security as the garage will be alarmed and is behind electric gates in any case.
I would always go with a separate door to the garage, if you don't have one you need to have an external override, which didn't sound too secure to me.
I've got a white hormann sectional door 10ft wide x 7 ft high. This along with all the electric motors, internal switch and a white metal personnel door was (from memory) £2400 Inc fitting.
You could get both doors in various colours when I looked but white is obviously cheaper.
Personnel door is on the site towards one end of the garage but far enough away to allow kitchen units to be stored along the rear wall (800mm again from memory). The door opens out into the garden which stops any damage happening if a car is in there
You could get both doors in various colours when I looked but white is obviously cheaper.
Personnel door is on the site towards one end of the garage but far enough away to allow kitchen units to be stored along the rear wall (800mm again from memory). The door opens out into the garden which stops any damage happening if a car is in there
Edited by pmanson on Wednesday 25th May 19:21
I assisted with laying about 30T (6 wagons) on a larger base than yours last year.
Complicated by steel uprights (as the roof was in place) and expansion gaps.
We got the drivers to make the loads for the back of the slab quite wet so that we could easily (ish!) push the muck down to the back edge.
We also knocked up our own chute from scaff baords with plastic sheet liner.
First delivery 10am, last at 5pm. Polishing took until 3am.
Tool of the day was a large floor scraper (rubber blade on a handle). Garden rakes were OK but kept snagging in the rebar. No substitute for lots of help
In my case the surrounding access was hard compacted gravel so no soft spots - just pray that the trucks don't sink in that lovely dark soil of yours.
Complicated by steel uprights (as the roof was in place) and expansion gaps.
We got the drivers to make the loads for the back of the slab quite wet so that we could easily (ish!) push the muck down to the back edge.
We also knocked up our own chute from scaff baords with plastic sheet liner.
First delivery 10am, last at 5pm. Polishing took until 3am.
Tool of the day was a large floor scraper (rubber blade on a handle). Garden rakes were OK but kept snagging in the rebar. No substitute for lots of help
In my case the surrounding access was hard compacted gravel so no soft spots - just pray that the trucks don't sink in that lovely dark soil of yours.
Edited by woodypup59 on Wednesday 25th May 19:44
Hitch said:
Why did you decide to build the garage in the garden rather than at the side of the house given you have so much parking space available? I'm currently facing a similar decision as our old garage is situated in a similar position to your new one.
By the side of the house it would block up the side door and if it was the similar depth would have meant no side windows in the kitchen overlooking the bowls club, which is a really good view. We were also trying to buy the land at the bottom of the garden from our neighbours, where the garage ideally would have gone but ultimately they were unwilling to sell.We have now poured the concrete for the slab. The plan was to have two concrete trucks arrive simultaneously at 7:30am, pour the concrete and powerfloat it as soon as it was sufficiently cured. However the second truck didn't arrive for another 90 minutes which gave us problems with the concrete setting too quickly and the powerfloat turned up late also. We got it straight on but some parts were just too far gone to float as the weather was very hot on monday. So it will now need to be screeded or tiled which is a shame. Ideally I should have been pouring the concrete in the autumn or early spring I think when the temperature was much lower.
It took about 18 cubic meters of concrete in the end and has been covering in plastic all week to keep the moisture in as much as possible.
Blocks delivered and the first few laid by my bricky.
The current question i am mulling over is whether to have a second pedestrian door apart from the main 3.5m x 3m door. I had hoped to go for the wicket door above, but that adds around £1,600 to the cost according to the Hormann dealer I spoke to today. That would take the total cost of the fitted door to around £4,400+VAT!
Without the door and fitting it myself I can get it down to around £1,900+VAT which is far more sensible.
A second door could only go down one side of the garage and would mean having to pave bits of what little garden I have left in order to get to it. To get something decent in a matching colour I am probably looking at about an extra £900.
If it's down the far end it eats up a lot of garden space to put a path down there, if it's closer to the house it looks messy. From a safety point of view if there was a fire in the garage, it would also be in the same end as the other exit point, so not much use.
I'm really torn!
The current question i am mulling over is whether to have a second pedestrian door apart from the main 3.5m x 3m door. I had hoped to go for the wicket door above, but that adds around £1,600 to the cost according to the Hormann dealer I spoke to today. That would take the total cost of the fitted door to around £4,400+VAT!
Without the door and fitting it myself I can get it down to around £1,900+VAT which is far more sensible.
A second door could only go down one side of the garage and would mean having to pave bits of what little garden I have left in order to get to it. To get something decent in a matching colour I am probably looking at about an extra £900.
If it's down the far end it eats up a lot of garden space to put a path down there, if it's closer to the house it looks messy. From a safety point of view if there was a fire in the garage, it would also be in the same end as the other exit point, so not much use.
I'm really torn!
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