Thread: Home Improvement DIY - Garages

It is obviously desirable to get automobiles off the road - and even better if you can have them securely locked away under cover. At the very least, your property should have a parking space or driveway for an automobile, trailer or boat, preferably with a roof over it to create a carport. Ideally, though, you will have a garage where your automobile can be kept protected from the elements and locked up.

If you have a garage, it is worth spending some time checking it for faults - leaking roofs and deteriorating or poorly operating doors are the main problems. With carports, faults are normally few. But you need to keep an eye on the condition of the covering if you are not to loose roofing sheets during fall or winter storms. With an unprotected paved parking space, all that can happen is that the surface may break up.

If you decide to build or extend a garage, remember that this will give you scope for providing additional facilities such as a do-it-yourself workshop or hobby area, or space for storing garden equipment, laundry appliances or a large chest freezer.

Extending a Garage
If you have a wooden-framed garage, it is quite feasible to consider extending it to incorporate extra facilities. The work will involve adding to the base and building on the extra section to match the existing structure. Check first with your local authority, however, on the question of whether permission will be needed for the extension work.

If you have a prefabricated garage, it will not be so easy to extend it, unless a similar model is still available from the manufacturer. In that case, all you need do is extend the base and bolt in extra wall and roof sections.

It is more likely, though, that your particular model will be out of production. Here the only choice will be to demolish the existing garage and erect a new one, built in the traditional manner. This is also a golden opportunity to have both a larger garage and some additional space within it for a workshop or storage room.

You can get prefabricated garage kits in the form of pre-constructed modules that are delivered to your site ready for erection and zipping together. For example, if your building a 12' x 24' single car garage, the modular kit may include pre-framed walls in lengths up to 8' that are complete with sheathing and siding ready to be placed over the anchor bolts onto your foundation