garage size

[marcus1970]

hello all...

I've had enough of the cerb being outside all the time and so am looking to purchase my first ever garage - yeah I know

What size do you reckon I'll need so that I can work on it doors open, plus enough space to walk round it / lie on the floor round it.

Has anyone got a pit in theirs?

Any links to good garage sights or mates that do'em for s living?

Yeah I know

Cheers

MB

[mad mark]

marcus1970 said:

Has anyone got a pit in theirs?
MB

I've got a pit in mine, its an absolute must.

[longbow]

I've got a 1.5 size and its just big enough. It doesn't have a pit, although ideally it would, and I managed to rebuild the whole car in it.

[ridds]

Don't mess about, if you can stretch to a 2 car then do it.

It gives you space to work on one car and additional space to keep 2 in the dry when required.

[D.A.Z.]

a mate of mine has just bought one of the prefab garages £1200,to put his kit car in,just the job and i thought well cheep

[350matt]

I've got a wooden building one by Warwick buildings and it cost me about 2K with me doing the base and they come and put it up
And its superb, warm and dry with no condense inside. And it's 24' x 12' so plenty of room for the cerb and to work on it

Matt

[mars]

Although I haven't yet bought mine (I'm waiting to view a couple - the owners are temporarily unavailable), I'm rather banking on being able to park it in our standard-sized single garage. There will be carpet on the wall right next to where I'll open the door, and I'm fully expecting it to be a squeeze... but can anyone tell me if it'll be an impossibility? A Cerby can't be much bigger than a Cavalier (for example) can it?

I don't expect to be able to work on the car in the garage. Just need to park it there, and be able to get in/out.

[byker28i]

I've got a double garage but with two doors. I'd suggest a double garage with a double size door, then you can park the car in the middle and walk all around.

The car is 14' 1" long, so allow a little each end

[morebeanz]

mars said:

Although I haven't yet bought mine (I'm waiting to view a couple - the owners are temporarily unavailable), I'm rather banking on being able to park it in our standard-sized single garage. There will be carpet on the wall right next to where I'll open the door, and I'm fully expecting it to be a squeeze... but can anyone tell me if it'll be an impossibility? A Cerby can't be much bigger than a Cavalier (for example) can it?

I don't expect to be able to work on the car in the garage. Just need to park it there, and be able to get in/out.

I park mine in a single garage, and although you need to put the passenger side very close to the wall, it fits without too much aggro...

[victormeldrew]

350matt said:

I've got a wooden building one by Warwick buildings and it cost me about 2K with me doing the base and they come and put it up
And its superb, warm and dry with no condense inside. And it's 24' x 12' so plenty of room for the cerb and to work on it

Matt

I have the same, but with an 8' extension on the back, which is my workshop. The doors on the Cerb are quite long, but a 12' wide garage ought to be wide enough!

[marcus1970]

mad mark said:

marcus1970 said:

Has anyone got a pit in theirs?
MB

I've got a pit in mine, its an absolute must.

How wide and how deep is your pit. How was it constructed?

MB

[mars]

morebeanz said:

I park mine in a single garage, and although you need to put the passenger side very close to the wall, it fits without too much aggro...

Thanks. I thought it should but nice to have it confirmed.

[victormeldrew]

marcus1970 said:

mad mark said:

marcus1970 said:

Has anyone got a pit in theirs?
MB

I've got a pit in mine, its an absolute must.

How wide and how deep is your pit. How was it constructed?

MB

I have a pit too. 6ft long, 3ft 6in wide, 5ft 6in deep, approx. Pretty generous. I'm a fairly big 6 footer so I wanted to be able to work on the Chim just by driving over it. I can get front or back over half of the pit while the other half (with the steps) is open for access, and I can leave the handbrake off and pull the car over the top if I need access to the other end of it. This is also useful for a bit of peace and quiet!

I had it excavated when I levelled the plot for the garage and driveway, with a mini digger, and finished by hand - well shovel actually. Steel reenforcment was driven into the ground and also into the walls, and these were tied. I then constructed formwork in sterling board with a timber framework, leaving 4in gap for the concrete. A extra formwork boundary went around the top, 4in outside of the first, to create a ledge for the woodwork that would cover the pit (2in x 10in timber). I had cut steps into one end; after the concrete had set and the formwork was removed (I left it a week just in case) I then built new formwork for the steps and concreted those separately - the reenforcing rods were already in place and tied in with the rest.

Floor is as yet unfinished, but I will lay concrete at some point. Several years on there are no problems with damp, and the garage itself is 18in below garden level, never mind the pit, and we have very wet clay soil. the walls stay completely dry (4in thick, not surprising!) so there is no risk in a solid concrete floor, but I will dig a soakaway and leave a drainage grille anyway. I had intended to paint the walls but never got round to that. I also laid power in conduit through the concrete base before it was laid, but haven't connected anything yet - a couple of sockets and some lighting would be useful!