I’m planning to build a wooden garage for storage next to my house around 17ft x 10ft and have been looking at the kits online. I’m now wondering if it could be cheaper to build one from a set of plans myself? Does anyone have experience in either kits or plan built ones? Are they pretty secure/sturdy and what sort of bases did you put down? I’m a reasonable DIYer but would it be a stretch to build one from scratch? Cheers.

Not a problem to build one from scratch but it depends on your diy skills. When I build summer-houses or sheds etc. I find that you cannot buy the wood cheaper than you can buy a finished kit for.

just about finished building this at my dads its a 3mx4m shed built from scratch its cost about £800 so far just the staining and door to do now its taken just under 2 weeks and its alot stronger than the **** you can buy in kits

some more https://www.facebook.com/tom2k1/media_set?set=a.10200295484453326.1073741827.1340215860&type=3

That looks like a really nice job. What timber did you use for the frame/cladding?

tymbian – Member
Not a problem to build one from scratch but it depends on your diy skills. When I build summer-houses or sheds etc. I find that you cannot buy the wood cheaper than you can buy a finished kit for.

POSTED 9 HOURS AGO # REPORT-POST

A kit is cheaper than buying wood from a timber merchant?. Have to disagree there buddy, unless you are buying wood from somewhere daft like B&Q.

I seem to be finding new problems as I go on. We were going to build it a foot or two from our fence, but now it seems that because it’s made of a combustable material it must be a metre from the boundary. Flame retardent paint is not enough apparently. Would guess that fireproof cladding would be expensive and pretty unsightly?

Why is that? is it due to the size? see plenty of sheds next to fences.

dingabell – Member
That looks like a really nice job. What timber did you use for the frame/cladding?

the frame is 4″x2″ untreated stuff and the cladding is PSE board untreated again the outside is all going to be treated when its done as the treated timber was about £2 more a pack

Why is that? is it due to the size?

Probably a naming problem. A garage has certain restrictions; a big shed, less so.

Probably a naming problem. A garage has certain restrictions; a big shed, less so

Just checked (as i want to build a ‘big shed’ soon). Planning portal states;

“Maximum height of 2.5 metres in the case of a building, enclosure or container within two metres of a boundary of the curtilage of the dwellinghouse.”

AND

“If the floor area of the building is between 15 square metres and 30 square metres, you will not normally be required to apply for building regulations approval providing that the building contains NO sleeping accommodation and is either at least one metre from any boundary or it is constructed of substantially non-combustible materials.”

So under 15sqm you would be ok next to the fence, how much space do you actually need? 10ft by 15 ft is quite big.

I’m planning to build a wooden garage for storage next to my house around 17ft x 10ft

Just spotted your dimensions, you only need to come down a tiny bit in size to be allowed. 10ft x 16ft would by right at the limit (~15sqm, if my maths is right?)

[edit] just realised the above only applies to detached outbuildings[/edit]

I wish I could post up a simple diagram to explain, but I’m technically useless at that sort of thing. So…here goes.
We were originally planning to start the back of the detached wooden garage in our back garden and the front would be in the front garden. The reason for this is that looking at the house from the front, the fence (our border) angles inwards from the front to the back of the property. This means while we have plenty of space for the width of the garage in the front garden, it gets tighter in the back. Hence, the closer we can have it to the fence, the further back we can position it. This probably doesn’t make any sense but I gave it my best shot. The problem seems to be that we wouldn’t need planning if the whole thing was in the back garden, but as it’ll be more than half in the front garden, we do. If it was just a case of making it under 15m sq to get round it then that’d be great, but I’m sure the whole ‘combustable materials’ thing would still stand. If I built one from scratch it could maybe start thinner at the back and wider at the front, but how would you pitch a roof on that?

Few things that should help you (i think);

If you want to put up small detached buildings such as a garden shed or summerhouse in your garden, building regulations will not normally apply if the floor area of the building is less than 15 square metres and contains NO sleeping accommodation.

If the floor area of the building is between 15 square metres and 30 square metres, you will not normally be required to apply for building regulations approval providing that the building contains NO sleeping accommodation and is either at least one metre from any boundary or it is constructed of substantially non-combustible materials.

So if your under 15sqm you dont need ‘non-combustibles’ (hence garden shed exempt)

No outbuilding on land forward of a wall forming the principal elevation.

I dont think your front/rear garden idea applies, its the front of the house that specifies it. Of course that assumes you have a normal square house with a front.

Outbuildings and garages to be single storey with maximum eaves height of 2.5 metres and maximum overall height of four metres with a dual pitched roof or three metres for any other roof.

Maximum height of 2.5 metres in the case of a building, enclosure or container within two metres of a boundary of the curtilage of the dwellinghouse.

Finally, if your near the fence (within 2m) your max building height is 2.5m not 3 or 4m.

Think all of that is right, certainly seems straightforward. Tho if your not sure i think you can check with council, at least thats what everyone seems to suggest.

[edit] just re-read your post and it seems your suggesting there might be some of the garage protruding in front of the house. I think this would require a full-blown planning application as not under permitted development (as above). Do you need a square garage? if the garden is angled then make an angled garage, thats the advantage of doing it yourself. There was a good thread about someone making one a few weeks ago, anyone got a link? [/edit]

this is the thread i was looking for

Tymbian is most certainly right when you factor in labour costs. I buy building materials daily and know exactly where he’s coming from.
For my 10×6 shed at the top of the garden it was cheaper to buy a kit but the first thing I did was throw away the instructions an put it together the wrighty way an beefed several areas up especially the roof.
And to further back up tymbians claim I recently built a bespoke shed from scratch as i wanted it dog legged, 2 doors etc, by the time I’d done it didn’t work out “cheap”

I found a large kit shed / cabin (double garage sized) was cheaper than buying the materials. This was because of an interlocking design, basically a monologue. My own design would have been a frame, then walls attached. So more materials, heavier materials and lots of fasteners. Fasteners cost a disproportionate amount.