Aston Garage in my back yard
Discussion
THE REASON.
Why go to all the trouble of building a new garage when you already have a good one?
Well mine was fine for a small car, I could even just squeeze in my Aston DB9, but after the battery went flat it was almost impossible to get it out of the garage, not enough room to open the doors no room to do any work on the car, and to be frank the car needed to be show off a little.
But the push that made the decision to build a new garage was I damaged the car getting it out, and I did even know I have cracked the wing until I got back, I had just caught the wing on the edge of the door.
So there it is, in my head I needed to destroy my garage, the whole garden, dig up the patio and add a new drive way. Just so I can look after my car and look at it.. Man maths at its best.
THE PROJECT
If you have ever had a go at a building project that has to have planning permissions you will know about this hassles, I mean where you even start?
So I thought this could just be a massive waste of time and money and maybe I should move, I thought long and hard about this, but I have really good neighbours and they are hard to come by and to get the house I wanted would have been such a large amount of money more that would have to be ruled out for a few years so me moving would not get me a better house or with the garage of my dreams and on top of that the unknown of new neighbours.
so I decided to put some money into making my house and garage the way I wanted….little did I know what I was really starting.
I guess the first thing is to ask the neighbours if they have objections before I go to planning, if they are not happy then I would just not start the project, I really want to get on with them and this could be a long project.
I called in an Architect to help with the drawings as I wanted to show the neighbours something they could get their heads around rather than just listening to the ramblings of the mad man next door.
So with my drawing and cap in hand I went to see the people around be and got them to sign off on the drawing before I went forward to planning,
In the end this proved a good move all round, it eased things with the planners and the neighbours felt they are being considered.
READY TO START
So with planning papers in hand and the blessings of next doors, I got quotes in from 5 building companies.
I got to say what a crock of s
t, the quotes for the drawings ranged from £42k to £108k…for the same drawings! So I decided to go it without the building companies, It was very obvious that one or more of the quotes was a lie but which one, so I will bring in trusted people I have worked with for 25 years, they would not normally get into these big projects but at least I trust them and that’s 80% of the battle I though.
So that’s it, materials ordered and diggers at the ready.
NOT AN EASY BUILD
This was never going to be an easy project, The surrounding land is 1m higher than mine and I wanted a single span roof with a full width door that folded out of the way to leave the whole building front open, add this this the roof height had to high enough to cut out the view of the houses behind but not too high to cut out the light or be obtrusive to the neighbours over the fence.
I gave all the neighbours the choice of having a brick boundary or keeping the fence, it would have been better if they all wanted brick but it was a mix of the two.
The footing had been specified really deep but luckily the soil was very good and the footing only had to go down a few feet..
It took a long time to get out of the ground, but once the footing where in and the 150 tons of soil had been removed it was time to really start, because the base was below the surrounding ground level there was a lot of water proofing with tanking and plastic barriers.
The walls went up pretty fast and soon it was time to get the Beams in place,
14inch I-beams at 9m wide are not easy bits of metal to move around by hand, we made a wheeled dolly to to get it from the front of the house to the back, that was easier that getting it 8 ft in the air!
With hindsight many more people to hand would have been better than just 2 of us but we go it done without injuries.
We made our own roof trusses and flat roof joists, and got them in place, sound easier than it was, the timber specified were 12” monsters.
Im glossing over a lot of the stuff needed to get to this stage because it will just make this a 1000 page essay and who cares anyway.
THE VISION
I really wanted a minimalist space with as much hidden as possible and a car lift that again would be hidden, to make this happen a lot of the services and infrastructure had to be thought about at the start, the lift had to have a base put in at the very beginning and millimetre accurate from the finished floor height.
I wanted even controllable lighting that was bright and daylight white and a tiled floor that was grippy but not rubber.
I wanted a door that would open up the full width of the building but not an up and over garage door
There had to be a few compromises…..they could not make the door I wanted any wider so I had to make the hole smaller… bummer and the floor ended up being a really nice sparkly floor like you find in a show room…again bummer.
INTERNAL FEATURES
Main door slides behind a false wall, I did not want to lose wall space with a door in the way when it was open so built a plastered wall the door disappears behind, this wall also made a great space to build in a media player, amp and speaker system into the wall and the plain wall would be great for a HD projector screen.
Of course with a projector screen wall you need a projector so I have a protector lift fitted in the centre of the ceiling and a matching panel made so when its closed its nicely hidden.
The Car lift was fitted and tiled over in the same floor tiles so again its as hidden as it can be. But at the end of the day there is no getting away from the fact there is something big going on under the floor.
Air source heat pump, there is nothing like a little heating on the cold days or a bit of cold air on the hot days so I have fitted a 24000BTU aircon system, again its hidden and I have to say it’s great, it kicks out so much heat the room is heated in just a couple of mins.
HAN SOLO ROOM
Well what can I say? I had a few item that I wanted to go onto the wall, and what started as a bit of art/sculpture soon grow arms and legs and door handles,
so the han solo became a door to a hidden plant room, I had a hinge system imported that allows the door to open latterly to the wall rather than opening like a normal door, this was very cool but screamed out for improvements, so we added Magnetic locks and a finger print scanner build into the door.
And what’s behind the door? Not much! Just a little kitchenette and water filtration system, the filters are for the integrated jet wash, it’s a water demineraliser and 1 micro filter system so the jet wash leaves no water spots on the car, so much better than having to towel off the car to dry it
WAITING FOR SUMMER
The seats and coffee table are in and the car is in and happy and even with all the stress and effort I’m really glad I did the build i just can’t wait to sit out there with the sun out and a beer in hand.
I COULD NOT HAVE DONE IT
There has been a lot of people that have helped, not just with building skills but with support for me,
Special thanks to Paul Robinson for being there with skills, muscle and an all round great builder,
And for my mate and business partner Brent Hudson, I can always count on support from him and help with man maths!
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Why go to all the trouble of building a new garage when you already have a good one?
Well mine was fine for a small car, I could even just squeeze in my Aston DB9, but after the battery went flat it was almost impossible to get it out of the garage, not enough room to open the doors no room to do any work on the car, and to be frank the car needed to be show off a little.
But the push that made the decision to build a new garage was I damaged the car getting it out, and I did even know I have cracked the wing until I got back, I had just caught the wing on the edge of the door.
So there it is, in my head I needed to destroy my garage, the whole garden, dig up the patio and add a new drive way. Just so I can look after my car and look at it.. Man maths at its best.
THE PROJECT
If you have ever had a go at a building project that has to have planning permissions you will know about this hassles, I mean where you even start?
So I thought this could just be a massive waste of time and money and maybe I should move, I thought long and hard about this, but I have really good neighbours and they are hard to come by and to get the house I wanted would have been such a large amount of money more that would have to be ruled out for a few years so me moving would not get me a better house or with the garage of my dreams and on top of that the unknown of new neighbours.
so I decided to put some money into making my house and garage the way I wanted….little did I know what I was really starting.
I guess the first thing is to ask the neighbours if they have objections before I go to planning, if they are not happy then I would just not start the project, I really want to get on with them and this could be a long project.
I called in an Architect to help with the drawings as I wanted to show the neighbours something they could get their heads around rather than just listening to the ramblings of the mad man next door.
So with my drawing and cap in hand I went to see the people around be and got them to sign off on the drawing before I went forward to planning,
In the end this proved a good move all round, it eased things with the planners and the neighbours felt they are being considered.
READY TO START
So with planning papers in hand and the blessings of next doors, I got quotes in from 5 building companies.
I got to say what a crock of s
t, the quotes for the drawings ranged from £42k to £108k…for the same drawings! So I decided to go it without the building companies, It was very obvious that one or more of the quotes was a lie but which one, so I will bring in trusted people I have worked with for 25 years, they would not normally get into these big projects but at least I trust them and that’s 80% of the battle I though.So that’s it, materials ordered and diggers at the ready.
NOT AN EASY BUILD
This was never going to be an easy project, The surrounding land is 1m higher than mine and I wanted a single span roof with a full width door that folded out of the way to leave the whole building front open, add this this the roof height had to high enough to cut out the view of the houses behind but not too high to cut out the light or be obtrusive to the neighbours over the fence.
I gave all the neighbours the choice of having a brick boundary or keeping the fence, it would have been better if they all wanted brick but it was a mix of the two.
The footing had been specified really deep but luckily the soil was very good and the footing only had to go down a few feet..
It took a long time to get out of the ground, but once the footing where in and the 150 tons of soil had been removed it was time to really start, because the base was below the surrounding ground level there was a lot of water proofing with tanking and plastic barriers.
The walls went up pretty fast and soon it was time to get the Beams in place,
14inch I-beams at 9m wide are not easy bits of metal to move around by hand, we made a wheeled dolly to to get it from the front of the house to the back, that was easier that getting it 8 ft in the air!
With hindsight many more people to hand would have been better than just 2 of us but we go it done without injuries.
We made our own roof trusses and flat roof joists, and got them in place, sound easier than it was, the timber specified were 12” monsters.
Im glossing over a lot of the stuff needed to get to this stage because it will just make this a 1000 page essay and who cares anyway.
THE VISION
I really wanted a minimalist space with as much hidden as possible and a car lift that again would be hidden, to make this happen a lot of the services and infrastructure had to be thought about at the start, the lift had to have a base put in at the very beginning and millimetre accurate from the finished floor height.
I wanted even controllable lighting that was bright and daylight white and a tiled floor that was grippy but not rubber.
I wanted a door that would open up the full width of the building but not an up and over garage door
There had to be a few compromises…..they could not make the door I wanted any wider so I had to make the hole smaller… bummer and the floor ended up being a really nice sparkly floor like you find in a show room…again bummer.
INTERNAL FEATURES
Main door slides behind a false wall, I did not want to lose wall space with a door in the way when it was open so built a plastered wall the door disappears behind, this wall also made a great space to build in a media player, amp and speaker system into the wall and the plain wall would be great for a HD projector screen.
Of course with a projector screen wall you need a projector so I have a protector lift fitted in the centre of the ceiling and a matching panel made so when its closed its nicely hidden.
The Car lift was fitted and tiled over in the same floor tiles so again its as hidden as it can be. But at the end of the day there is no getting away from the fact there is something big going on under the floor.
Air source heat pump, there is nothing like a little heating on the cold days or a bit of cold air on the hot days so I have fitted a 24000BTU aircon system, again its hidden and I have to say it’s great, it kicks out so much heat the room is heated in just a couple of mins.
HAN SOLO ROOM
Well what can I say? I had a few item that I wanted to go onto the wall, and what started as a bit of art/sculpture soon grow arms and legs and door handles,
so the han solo became a door to a hidden plant room, I had a hinge system imported that allows the door to open latterly to the wall rather than opening like a normal door, this was very cool but screamed out for improvements, so we added Magnetic locks and a finger print scanner build into the door.
And what’s behind the door? Not much! Just a little kitchenette and water filtration system, the filters are for the integrated jet wash, it’s a water demineraliser and 1 micro filter system so the jet wash leaves no water spots on the car, so much better than having to towel off the car to dry it
WAITING FOR SUMMER
The seats and coffee table are in and the car is in and happy and even with all the stress and effort I’m really glad I did the build i just can’t wait to sit out there with the sun out and a beer in hand.
I COULD NOT HAVE DONE IT
There has been a lot of people that have helped, not just with building skills but with support for me,
Special thanks to Paul Robinson for being there with skills, muscle and an all round great builder,
And for my mate and business partner Brent Hudson, I can always count on support from him and help with man maths!
[url]|http://thumbsnap.com/kk1Aft23[/url][url]|http://thumbsnap.com/xvGCDYyB[/url][url]|http://thumbsnap.com/lDIOqqtr[/url][url]|http://thumbsnap.com/X10d6t0L[/url][url]|http://thumbsnap.com/nNzTSXO2[/url][url]|http://thumbsnap.com/Mz8n75XV[/url][url]Edited by N90LTD on Tuesday 15th March 19:53
Edited by N90LTD on Tuesday 15th March 20:10
This is a timelaps of the build https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhLW_jCIfhg&fe...
cayman-black said:
Wow looks fantastic, great write up as well that would have taken me one week, the write up that is 
you have no idea how hard it was to right that, i cant spell my name right 3 times in a row and i still would not see that i had made the mistake.im very hands on but as my teachers all said crap at spelling and would not amount to much.
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|http://thumbsnap.com/ew2eqFfU[/url]old phart said:
Fantastic. Should offer the nearest dealer some space to show off one of their latest and greatest. So the question is - where is the 'real' garage? The one with the boxes, rooms and such
well the other garage with all the boxes of crap is at my factory, but at least all the boxes have labels:-)Nice write up, the whole garage is superb, probably the best I've ever seen. The main garage door is a triumph, love the way it wraps its self out the way behind the wall, thats really cleaver. Your foundations don't look particularly deep, I built my garage last year (still not finished) and I had to dig down 3.5m!! although I do have rooms above.
That's an amazing writeup, thanks so much. I now understand why the back wall is a V shape with your section being not square, and why it took a year to build.
I particularly liked your reasoning for building such a large garage - you obviously want to live in your home for some time. I only hope if you ever come to sell is whether the next owners will be attracted by this upgrade. In my experience most people use their garage for storage, so yours has a very different purpose.
The two things I like most about your build is first, the creativity. The large door and its enclosure are the perfect answer to avoiding overhead garage door clutter. And of course the Hans Solo door is a beautiful solution to an ordinary problem.
The second is the built quality. Yes, it looks like a showroom, and maybe you weren't keen on that? But the end result is stunning, and as a showroom-style guy myself I can understand that.
You've got three other cars apart from the DBS... where will they go? I'm guessing the DB9 will squeeze in there too?
I like the separate entrance to the garage courtyard. Do you close that door all the time?
I particularly liked your reasoning for building such a large garage - you obviously want to live in your home for some time. I only hope if you ever come to sell is whether the next owners will be attracted by this upgrade. In my experience most people use their garage for storage, so yours has a very different purpose.
The two things I like most about your build is first, the creativity. The large door and its enclosure are the perfect answer to avoiding overhead garage door clutter. And of course the Hans Solo door is a beautiful solution to an ordinary problem.
The second is the built quality. Yes, it looks like a showroom, and maybe you weren't keen on that? But the end result is stunning, and as a showroom-style guy myself I can understand that.
You've got three other cars apart from the DBS... where will they go? I'm guessing the DB9 will squeeze in there too?
I like the separate entrance to the garage courtyard. Do you close that door all the time?
Great garage, I'd love something like that!
Just looking at the picture with your car in there, the base of the lift doesn't look long enough to reach both axles; does it just lift the front or back of the car by the wheels rather than the whole thing, or have you got jacking points to attach to it so it can lift from the 4 Aston chassis jacking points? I'm struggling to see how you are going to lift your car with that ramp? Excuse me if I'm being an idiot!
Just looking at the picture with your car in there, the base of the lift doesn't look long enough to reach both axles; does it just lift the front or back of the car by the wheels rather than the whole thing, or have you got jacking points to attach to it so it can lift from the 4 Aston chassis jacking points? I'm struggling to see how you are going to lift your car with that ramp? Excuse me if I'm being an idiot!
kensilver said:
That's an amazing writeup, thanks so much. I now understand why the back wall is a V shape with your section being not square, and why it took a year to build.
I particularly liked your reasoning for building such a large garage - you obviously want to live in your home for some time. I only hope if you ever come to sell is whether the next owners will be attracted by this upgrade. In my experience most people use their garage for storage, so yours has a very different purpose.
The two things I like most about your build is first, the creativity. The large door and its enclosure are the perfect answer to avoiding overhead garage door clutter. And of course the Hans Solo door is a beautiful solution to an ordinary problem.
The second is the built quality. Yes, it looks like a showroom, and maybe you weren't keen on that? But the end result is stunning, and as a showroom-style guy myself I can understand that.
You've got three other cars apart from the DBS... where will they go? I'm guessing the DB9 will squeeze in there too?
I like the separate entrance to the garage courtyard. Do you close that door all the time?
i need to up date my car list it has changed, i'll only bee keeping the DBS in there and the v12v when brent is over to stay.I particularly liked your reasoning for building such a large garage - you obviously want to live in your home for some time. I only hope if you ever come to sell is whether the next owners will be attracted by this upgrade. In my experience most people use their garage for storage, so yours has a very different purpose.
The two things I like most about your build is first, the creativity. The large door and its enclosure are the perfect answer to avoiding overhead garage door clutter. And of course the Hans Solo door is a beautiful solution to an ordinary problem.
The second is the built quality. Yes, it looks like a showroom, and maybe you weren't keen on that? But the end result is stunning, and as a showroom-style guy myself I can understand that.
You've got three other cars apart from the DBS... where will they go? I'm guessing the DB9 will squeeze in there too?
I like the separate entrance to the garage courtyard. Do you close that door all the time?
you are correct the origalan garage door is still being used, from the front of the house it looks like nothing has changed you still see a single garage door, but once it opens you drive into the court yard, there is enough space to turn around if needed or drive straight into the new room.
regards john
Voguely said:
Great garage, I'd love something like that!
Just looking at the picture with your car in there, the base of the lift doesn't look long enough to reach both axles; does it just lift the front or back of the car by the wheels rather than the whole thing, or have you got jacking points to attach to it so it can lift from the 4 Aston chassis jacking points? I'm struggling to see how you are going to lift your car with that ramp? Excuse me if I'm being an idiot!
the lift is the correct length for the cars jacking points, you put the car in position and slide 4 rubber blocks in place and just lift,Just looking at the picture with your car in there, the base of the lift doesn't look long enough to reach both axles; does it just lift the front or back of the car by the wheels rather than the whole thing, or have you got jacking points to attach to it so it can lift from the 4 Aston chassis jacking points? I'm struggling to see how you are going to lift your car with that ramp? Excuse me if I'm being an idiot!
i did not want a full lift that picks up from the wheels, or i will still need to kack the car to remove the wheels.
regards john
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