# My single to zero to double garage journey....



## Breezy (Jun 24, 2006)

After spending many years starting my detailing journey from my parents trusty 8ft x 16ft single garage having my own space to work was something that was always on the cards...

The quest to be able to detail without brick walls in the way 










We spent 11 years living in a terraced house with on street parking so luckily the parents garage wasn't too far away so it was also able to house my toy of 12 years which is a 1995 E36 M3.



















Also my dad had plans to rebuild his garage which started a number of converations which resulted in this one evening....










2 years on and still no progress!

So due to having 2 kids that were getting bigger by the day the time came to move house and yes you guessed it... the following criteria was given to the mrs:

if it doesn't have a driveway... i'm not interested in moving
if it doesn't have a garage.... i'm not interested in moving
if it doesn't have a garage but has a driveway and somewhere to build a garage.... i'll consider it

as you can tell this made trying to find something not a million miles away from the station / town and also have a big enough garden (this was the kids criteria).

so fast forward around a year and countless viewings we finally found the house...



















and most importantly it had a garage!

only a singe currently but immediate discussions were had when we first viewed the property about how we could take down some internal walls to make it bigger and we had the walls cehcked by a strucural engineer who had confirmed thay they werent load bearing which was good so no steel required which was good.

fast forward a year later and when I tried to get a car in....










So its not quite long enough great

Me: the car wont fit so why dont we just take down the back wall too and then we can just have the utility room as part of the garage
Mrs: No way i'm not having my utility room in the garage
Me: Errrrrm how about we extend it at the front...

So as it turns out my next door neighbour was an Architect and he kindly came over and offered a new solution and came up with the following design










So extending the garage to the front by just under 5ft and taking down the two internal walls and moving the downstairs toilet to the back of the utility room, perfect nothing lost the mrs was happy she got to keep the utility room, I got the garage I wanted and in the kids words we still need a downstairs toilet Dad!

So planning was required as it was beeing extended out to the front once that was approved and some builders were engaged and we fast forward to August it was time for the work to starting

Digging the foundadations for the new brickwork


























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Bricks, materials and a skip arrived the next day








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It didnt take long to get the cement poured into the foundations and once that was set the new brickwork started going up










and old walls to start coming down!










The expression on my sons face says it all.... "Dad you've gone crazy!"










good progress was beeing made none the less, new stud wall up at the back for the utility room too



















New steel in place at the front above the eixting concrete lintel to support the new wider opening.










New waste pipe trench dug to connect new waste pipe from new WC to existing










New waste pipes laid and fitted










Studwork for WC wall up and screed beeing put down










More progress on the front with the new brickwork and structure for the new pitched roof along with the new steel for the front too





































Inside some boxwork was uncovered which was housing the waste pipe from the upstairs toilet directly above and the builders were confident they could move this in close to the wall.










fast forward a week or so and inside space was starting to grow which is good!, waste pipe moved next to the wall and remaining brickwork and window removed from the front.










new entrance made to the utility room and screed laid to bring the floor up to the same level as the rest of the house



















The roof was complete and looking great too




























Inside the ceiling was plasterboarded along with the other areas such as the waste pipe and pipework that had to be accessed previously



















and plastered



















Hot & cold taps fitted too


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## GeeWhizRS (Nov 1, 2019)

Well done Breezy, that's a neat solution to your problem. I enjoyed looking through that and I'm looking forward to the updates. 👍🏻


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## St Evelyn (Mar 15, 2019)

Wow, what a transformation - and what an accommodating wife to let you disrupt the main house for the sake of the garage....pretty sure my wife wouldn't let me do the same! :thumb:

Really great read, can't wait for the next instalment.


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## LeeH (Jan 29, 2006)

Should have left the bog in the garage. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro


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## Darlofan (Nov 24, 2010)

Looking good and a nice space to work in. House looks great too with nice drive for the warmer weather detailing.


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## archiebald (Sep 7, 2009)

What a lovely bit of work so far


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## Andyblue (Jun 20, 2017)

Looking fantastic :thumb: 

Looking forward to seeing the updates...


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## Breezy (Jun 24, 2006)

LeeH said:


> Should have left the bog in the garage.
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro


That's exactly what my son said he still makes the mistake of going through the same door and then realising there isn't a big there anymore :lol:


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## Breezy (Jun 24, 2006)

St Evelyn said:


> Wow, what a transformation - and what an accommodating wife to let you disrupt the main house for the sake of the garage....pretty sure my wife wouldn't let me do the same! :thumb:
> 
> Really great read, can't wait for the next instalment.


She is indeed very accommodating but has also had to listen to me complaining about not having a garage for the last 12 years! She's also happy she gets a proper utility room now too


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## Christian6984 (Dec 20, 2007)

Brilliant work, goes to show what is possible, Imagine if youd been able to take the utility and have the extension would have so much room for not only the car and detailing but all the tools, kids bikes etc and all the general stuff garages tend to end up filled up with.

I consider myself quite lucky that we have a double garage, back when i had the clio mk2 and even the Fiesta Mk6 could quite happily polish away in the garage but being double doors meant turning the car round at some point. Unfortunately over the years the garage has acquired more and more stuff as it was designed to take not only your standard household stuff people put in there but it had to serve as space for tools and parts with my dad being a plumber, when they moved in (1979) it was a single and the lady that owned it had a old Beetle (even my fiesta doesn't fit in where the outline is on the concrete on the original floor). Hoping now that he is 70 and not working as much some space will be free'd up eventually as the roof needs re-doing and is leaking in places. Space to tidy up seems limited, I have got it tidy now and then but Old mini has sat in there for nearly 20 years and now has a good few jobs that would need doing to make it run so cant get it out to help shift and organise stuff, its my sisters and she seems to have no intention of learning to drive not sure what's gonna happen with that. The garage doors are not massive for a newer or larger car and the front of the garage tends to be taken up with tools etc, plus the oil tank for heating is in front of my car. I would love to build something behind the garage for my second car with enough space around it to work on but we currently have a caravan haulage business that owns the farm opposite trying to turn it into a commercial premises even though the location is very rural and unsuitable for them and planning has been turned down once already. On this case I don't believe they want to stay here so would seem pointless to do it at this stage. Hopefully if a house move does happen I can get some input on 'garage requirements', we would probably need a fairly big space as we have currently 6 cars.



















I at least have a good mate who bought this house that was a bit of a wreck around 2-3 years ago and put in many late nights around work getting the house at least feeling like a home and currently although I cannot see him he is working on the last room. The garage roof was beams that were hanging down inside the structure and we re-did several courses of brick at the top, new window, new side door, lintels, new structure for the roof, electrics. The only parts done by tradesmen was the actually roof itself (some kind of resin finish???) and the electric garage door. The garage itself is a decent size, nice wide door, not wide enough for two modern cars but can easily work around one and he says im welcome to use it when and if needed. Actually stayed over several days around a year ago and polished the fiesta and ceramic coated all the trim so it could stay out of the weather for the curing time.
































































Anyway thank you and good inspiration for me when I do someday go house hunting I can think outside the box of how I can try and improve what garage it comes with, wont be a new build as them garages are not fit for purpose that's for sure


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## Breezy (Jun 24, 2006)

Tbh having the utility and downstairs WC separate does make sense and adds more value to the house should we ever sell but it gives me more than enough room at around 16ft X 19ft and extending to the front meant we weren't loosing anything from the house.

Electrics have been done now too so will try and get some more updates soon


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## Breezy (Jun 24, 2006)

@Christian6984 some great work there and yes so many houses we saw had built half of their kitchen into the garage or converted it to another room which get as it's what works for you and most standard singles would struggle to fit a single car in.

Funnily enough ours started life as a double looking back at the history so it was a full width double and the utility at the back was part of it too so it was built into over the years.

Bit yes we have bikes and lots of other stuff but it's a useable spav for things like that I just need to sort out some clever storage as I have considered getting the new section at the front boarded as it would be good for storage due to the height


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## Christian6984 (Dec 20, 2007)

Certainly plenty of rooms downstairs that's for sure. Plus having at least two toilets is sensible, I can say that with a wife and kids there will be plenty of times you need the loo while someone is in the shower or bathroom. My mates house is just greedy lol, they have three bogs, one in en-suite and a bathroom and a small room with a toilet and sink under the stairs. least I get a bathroom to myself when ever I'm there, I always choose that because I bang my head on the ceiling in the one under the stairs being over 6ft tall

I think with what as I described as the 'new build' the garage is used as a storage space and not actually usable for what we would expect as a garage. Remember even years ago seeing videos of people who had bought them and they cant get outta the car in the garage, kinda defeats the object in my opinion, you can use that space for whatever you want but i know plenty of times at my mates house when we didnt want to make a mess in the house, we would use the garage for cutting timber etc as its easier to clean up in there than it is inside the house.

also with my dad being a plumber, we did the bathroom first and the en-suite next. Bathroom we had done in a week even though we both work full time and my dad had other work on as well. Bathroom has electric shower incase boiler packed up, it was a lamborghini boiler :lol: which was what the house came with, they cost about £300 new. The ensuite shower comes from the boiler which is now Worcester Bosch.... Plenty of learning for me as I never took much interest in plumbing and what he did for job when I was younger and we don't have gas where we live hence we are on dinosaur juice. Still on original boiler he put in here at home and that was 40 years ago now


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## Christian6984 (Dec 20, 2007)

I still feel I lack the confidence to tackle jobs on my own, my dad is one of these that seems to be able to turn his hand to anything with great success, did the extension on the house throughout the winter in the 80's. All comes with practice I guess, he has worked along side many trades throughout the years, there's some good and some very bad that for sure. Currently he's on with fixing a bathroom that was shocking and the client paid several thousand pounds from what you would think is a reputable company, guess age and experience has something to say for itself, he always said to me, if he couldn't make it good enough for himself or our house he wouldn't do the job. My mate has a similar approach certainly seems to have picked up a fair bit of knowledge from my dad and at least gives me someone to turn to when it comes to my own house. My expertise is 'head of glossing skirting boards and doors etc' he really hates that job but says im good at it. My dad has several guys who he's know for years so when it comes to thing like hanging doors to stair cases, joinery etc, etc and even though some of them are long retired what they can teach you even if we've done it ourselves made life so much easier and much cheaper than getting a professional in that may not necessarily do as good work. When its your own home you want it right

mind you not just plumbing and decorating, my dad pretty much gave me the initial experience on cars from how to changing a wheel to changing oil, brakes etc etc.


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## Breezy (Jun 24, 2006)

Christian6984 said:


> I still feel I lack the confidence to tackle jobs on my own, my dad is one of these that seems to be able to turn his hand to anything with great success, did the extension on the house throughout the winter in the 80's. All comes with practice I guess, he has worked along side many trades throughout the years, there's some good and some very bad that for sure. Currently he's on with fixing a bathroom that was shocking and the client paid several thousand pounds from what you would think is a reputable company, guess age and experience has something to say for itself, he always said to me, if he couldn't make it good enough for himself or our house he wouldn't do the job. My mate has a similar approach certainly seems to have picked up a fair bit of knowledge from my dad and at least gives me someone to turn to when it comes to my own house. My expertise is 'head of glossing skirting boards and doors etc' he really hates that job but says im good at it. My dad has several guys who he's know for years so when it comes to thing like hanging doors to stair cases, joinery etc, etc and even though some of them are long retired what they can teach you even if we've done it ourselves made life so much easier and much cheaper than getting a professional in that may not necessarily do as good work. When its your own home you want it right
> 
> mind you not just plumbing and decorating, my dad pretty much gave me the initial experience on cars from how to changing a wheel to changing oil, brakes etc etc.


It must be a dad thing as mine is the same as was my grandad I also remember them tackling anything from carpentry, electrics, plumbing and roofing when we used to live in our house together in the 80's.

There is a level where I will go too but its mainly around finer details, painting, filling "making good" where my OCD and attention to detail kicks in... hence the nature of the forum!

I have recently started to attempt to do some small plastering jobs as part of this build too as due tt the builders deciding to "leave early" there isn't that much left its mainly fitting the rest of the items in the new WC and then cabinets and worktop for the utility.

it definitely is pot luck when it comes to finding good tradesman i've had a friend of mine who has had numerous amounts of issues with most people he has hired to do a job and overall the quality of the work our builders did was very good but there was definitely still a want to always take the easy option regardless of aesthetics on a number of occasions, not to say good tradesman don't exist because they do


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## The Cueball (Feb 8, 2007)

Looks good...

You're doing the same as me, I moved last year and had 2 things on my list - away from people and a double garage.

I got 1 of them, but a largish single which I'm now about to add 6ft onto the front.

It was pretty much full the day I moved in... lol

Keep us up to date with yours!

:thumb:


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## BRUN (May 13, 2006)

excellent thread and pics

good to see you got a proper builder, so much risk it seems these days with getting a reliable and good quality tradesman


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## Andy from Sandy (May 6, 2011)

Nice job that.

It would be a heck of an inconvenience to try and go to the toilet whilst someone wants to load the washing machine. Very good choice making a separate room.

Breezy, What did you use to create the floorplan in your first post please?


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## Rob_Quads (Jul 17, 2006)

Looks good - nice to see the floorspace put to good use without much compromise. 

Did you have much problems getting planning. Normally extending out the forwards can be really painful and generally rejected.


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## Breezy (Jun 24, 2006)

Andy from Sandy said:


> Nice job that.
> 
> It would be a heck of an inconvenience to try and go to the toilet whilst someone wants to load the washing machine. Very good choice making a separate room.
> 
> Breezy, What did you use to create the floorplan in your first post please?


That was the original floorplan image we got from the house listing, its come in handy!


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## Breezy (Jun 24, 2006)

Rob_Quads said:


> Looks good - nice to see the floorspace put to good use without much compromise.
> 
> Did you have much problems getting planning. Normally extending out the forwards can be really painful and generally rejected.


Well my neighbour was pretty confident there should be any problems with planning as it was only coming out to just under 5ft if we had wanted to bring it out further so past the same line as the bay window on the other side then there may have been some issues


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## Soul boy 68 (Sep 8, 2013)

Well the builders seem to breezing through the garage build, get it? :lol: Joking aside it’s looking fantastic and I’m jealous :lol:


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## Breezy (Jun 24, 2006)

Soul boy 68 said:


> Well the builders seem to breezing through the garage build, get it? :lol: Joking aside it's looking fantastic and I'm jealous :lol:




They did make great progress on the initial garage build and the bulk of the building work but unfortunately the relationship seemed to take a turn when I queried an extra the most recent invoice which turned out to be an error on their part so it was simple due diligence which seemed to get their backs up for some reason along with the fact they wouldn't be give me a date for their plumbing sub-contrector to do the second fix.

Needless to say there were issues when it got down to the finer details and they have since decided to to complete the project so there is still around 20% left to complete which is mainly the utility and wc.

I am however planning to put some tiles down in the utility this weekend so it's getting there


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## Rob_Quads (Jul 17, 2006)

Breezy said:


> Well my neighbour was pretty confident there should be any problems with planning as it was only coming out to just under 5ft if we had wanted to bring it out further so past the same line as the bay window on the other side then there may have been some issues


Sounds like your council is nicer than round here. Anything in the front causes issues , know a couple that wanted to do something similar and both were refused planning


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## Schuey (Sep 2, 2006)

Great thread and nice to see another Cutter on here


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