We have a 7.2m long motorhome and it’s possible the council will introduce permit parking with a max vehicle length of 6.5m.

Drive is 6.5m long to the front of the garage (which is a decent length, used for storing bikes and crap and has a large kitchen behind it). Garage is single storey, attached to house on one side, wooden ply roof with a ashfelt cover, brick and block walls. square front with up and over door. The drive is about 40cm wider than the motorhome where it woudl go past the side of the house.

So we have a number of choices;

1) replace the motorhome. Woudl rather not – we like the one we have, would lose money changing etc
2) put motorhome in storage – cost is significant annually on the south coast, we’d use it less if we had to drive for half an hour+ to get to it.
3) Make the garage a bit shorter and put the motorhome on the drive.

Looking ahow the things’ built just working back a couple of joists , knocking the front end and a metre of sidewall down then rebuilding with the existing RSJ across the entrance, reuse door, tie into to existign brickwork and the side of the house etc.

Does this sound like a big job?

Should it be possible to just ‘roll back’ the existing roof covering and refit to the new front end?

Do I need building control?

I’d probably knock a couple of metres off so there’s a bit of space in case we replace it with a longer model.

if you had the garage door open, would the front 70cm of the van fit in it (I guess depends on whether it has something hanging over the cab or not) – you could then build a partition inside it to store your other stuff safely.

It might do, good thinking.

was thinking of putting it in backwards as the habitation exit would be onto the drive rather than into a wall.

I’d have to take the existing garage door off to try it I think as it hinges out.

Or I could make a frame the same shape and see how far along the cab it’ll go!

Can I have your spare metre

If it’s the south coast you could demolish the 1m of garage and build a development of luxury apartments on the brownfield site you’ve just created 🙂

the plot of land on the other side of the road from us which is the size of a double garage and would be ideal for storing our motorhome on went for £65000 at auction recently. There’s planning permission in to build a ‘studio flat’ that looks pretty much like a double garage with a skylight.

Humblebrag of the week so far, well played.

🙂

what the land values? Not sure that’s humblebrag, just reality of Sussex land/house prices. We bought a 4 bed victorian terrace for less than that 20 years ago.

My kids will never be able to buy a house round here.

Not so much the land values, more the “hey everybody look at my Huuuuuuuuge Campervan”.

It does look nice though, happy camping. 🙂

As for where to park it, the partial boxing off of the existing garage front has legs, should be easy enough to put a roller shutter door further back within the existing structure, either on a wooden or steel frame since it won’t be so well tied into the existing brickwork.

Ah, yes. Only downside is that despite it’s size we ended up with one without a ‘garage’ for bikes but it’s defintely better than the beach hut we sold to fund it 🙂

I’ll be measuring the orifice later to see whether I can drive into it. I think with the door and frame removed there’ll be enough width and heifght available and then, as you say, it’s a case of building a secondary entrance and maybe weather proofing the exposed structure.

Hopefully none of the neighbours will complain about us having a garage with a portico…

garage with a portico

They are all wondering why you don’t have an orangery already…

Humblebrag of the week so far, well played.

Now have the jingle playing on a loop in my head.

Technically if you partition I think you need a firedoor.

What a sensible council not wanting big ugly vans parked on the streets !

Can you crash it in to a wall ? That should shorten it by a metre or so?

it’s defintely better than the beach hut we sold to fund it

Brag #2….?

Ask the local authorities to confirm what they are doing , then ask for a waiver or a grace period of a few years as you already have the vehicle.

You could just move the door of the garage inwards a metre or so.

I’d get clarification on the permit. I would have thought the restriction would only apply to on-street parking, not vehicles on your driveway.

Yes, it’s on street parking that’s affected, this is rolling an existing scheme out across other parts of the city so there won’t be a waiver. £160/year for car parking permit – no permit restricts times of day you can park on the street.

people park 7m motor homes* on the street ? no wonder a permit schemes being rolled out.

As for the garage – shouldnt be that hard , only issue might be is if your are removing a butress from the wall that could make the price a bit more.

id certainly look at putting the door up and seeing how far the van comes in nose first and seeing how that works

* owner of 7m converted van and wouldnt dream of parking it long term on the road outside

wouldn’t dream of parking it long term on the road outside

It’s about 400 yards away on a road that has a large industrial unit along one side and the side of someone’s garden on the other. If you consider parking spaces outside people’s houses have ‘owners’ this is a vacant plot.

No baby robins were injured while parking it.

The scheme’s been gradually rolling out from the centre of Brighton overt the past 15 years – every time a new area get permit only parking a wave of un permitted cars roll out to the next ‘free’ parking area which now includes us. A load of ebay traders have started using surrounding roads for cars they’re selling too which hasn’t helped.

It’s about 400 yards away on a road that has a large industrial unit along one side and the side of someone’s garden on the other. If you consider parking spaces outside people’s houses have ‘owners’ this is a vacant plot.

I don’t think there’s anywhere in the new parking area that meets that description (no large industrial units I can think of) so you should be fine 🙂

Live in the Hove area 5lab?

Ah, I thought you were talking about the elm grove bit. Hove’s another town all together..