Sheds & Garages

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steve172
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Sheds & Garages

Post by steve172 »

So I'm looking at buying my first property, and within my budget, most properties don't have a garage, and the ones that do are in need of work/significant redecoration/kitchens etc. I'm used to a double garage at my parents but I can't stay there forever, unfortunately.

I viewed a house last night that was stretching my budget but had a long driveway and a single garage, but the property itself was small and "cosy" and needed pretty much every room re-decorated i.e. for me, it wasn't really suitable for me to move straight in without putting in a new kitchen and bathroom and painting every room.

I'm going to view another house tonight which has a monoblock driveway to the front which extends down the side of the house, and a large enough rear garden to construct a prefab garage (depending how tight it is getting a car down the side of the house) or shed.

For those of you with something similar, what did you go for... garage or large shed? I'd prefer somewhere indoors to work on my bike so a garage would be preferable but if you have a large shed, how large do you need to go to have sufficient space etc?

I have seen 10x8 sheds for <£1000, or a prefab apex garage for approx. £2500 (plus any ground levelling works and power cables).

The obvious answer is buy something with a garage but I'm stretching my budget for a house that isn't quite as nice. I know it's pros and cons and really whatever suits me best, but any useful info is good to know before you sign the dotted line.

I only have one bike (990R) but you know how it goes.... theres always an excuse to buy another so space for future expansion is also a consideration..
hotbulb
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Re: Sheds & Garages

Post by hotbulb »

Have you looked at this post by Johnnyboxer?
http://www.adventurebikerider.com/forum ... sheds.html
steve172
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Re: Sheds & Garages

Post by steve172 »

I sure did, but my main concern is garage v shed in terms of space/cost etc.
Tourider
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Re: Sheds & Garages

Post by Tourider »

My insurance policy insists on the bike being in a brick built garage when I'm overnight at my address. The extra they would want for it being in a shed could add up to a sizeable sum over the duration of a mortgage. Might be worth throwing into your calculations.
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bowber
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Re: Sheds & Garages

Post by bowber »

It depends on your location and how secure you want your shed or garage to be.
Sheds are fine and I've worked on my bikes in a shed for years but for the last few I've used a converted barn so sort of like a garage.

Shed's tend to be warmer as they are usually wood and have a raised floor, smaller easier to heat. My dads shed has a concrete floor and he's done the bottom few feet with block and DPC then clad the outside with wood and it's as good as most garages.

Garage/barn is bloody cold in winter but being brick/stone is more secure, larger and can be expensive to heat.
Condensation is also another factor to consider so make sure you have ventilation for air flow.

If your going to build a garage then you can build in the insulation and proper vents. Either way make sure you insulate the floor properly, it makes a huge difference.

Steve
micksea
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Re: Sheds & Garages

Post by micksea »

when you see a house you want offer them ten grand under the asking price,when they counter offer tell them if they have a garage built you will pay the full asking price.they close the sale and you get a house with brand new garage...this worked for a friend of mine (thumbs)
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92kk k100lt 193214
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Re: Sheds & Garages

Post by 92kk k100lt 193214 »

If you are tight for space an option is to build at the side of the house with a lean to through garage as open front and back with doors so you can access garden drive through etc. Insulate the floor and roof and it actually helps keep house warm as the side wall is no longer exposed to weather.The other side wall can be the party wall and makes for a very economical build, even better if you can share with the neighbour to do likewise!.

I was in one guys garage built like that and on one side was a workbench and tools of all kinds. At the other was a woodburning stove and a sofa and a 'widescreen monitor for watching YouTube engine rebuilds' that's what his wife said it was. There was a freezer for freezing items like bearings, A great set up. The little green bottles were for battery acid. .....

A garage is never too big!!

The garage will cost a good bit more than a shed but its secure, allows you store other stuff in it that you would have to keep in the house, generally benefits the house value and you may get a mortgage top up for it which would mean only a small difference in payments. Micksea made a good suggestion but in practice it might involve you or the vendor taking some risks.
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Emf#53
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Re: Sheds & Garages

Post by Emf#53 »

My last house didn't have a garage so I had a shed at the bottom of the garden. It was 14ft x 8ft with large double doors. It was roomy enough to have a bike ramp in the middle allowing me to work all round the bike as well as having plenty of shelving in there and a workbench. I needed somewhere where I could work on the race bike as I kept crashing it so often :pinch: . If you only needed somewhere to store your bike you wouldn't need something as big.
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Re: Sheds & Garages

Post by AndyB »

Just remember that a shed can be taken with you when you move in the future whereas a garage can't.

We wasted weeks looking for somewhere we wanted to live that had a double garage and room for a workshop in the back garden but very few houses built in the last 10 years in our area have double garages and even fewer have a decent sized back garden. The situation was made even worse by the amount of people that have converted their garage into 'living space' rather than filling it with motorbikes as any right thinking person would do :)
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Re: Sheds & Garages

Post by Redmurty »

don't discount used portacabins

cheers Spud ;)
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