Morris Minor Owners Club

Thanks for that advice about the asbestos Kevin and Rich, I expected it to be a big problem.

rich-legg wrote: You can take it your local dump for free, you just need a permit from the council, and you have to double wrap it.

Hmmm. Depends on your council. Derbyshire, for instance, limit you to two sheets, and although they don't seem to note your details, individual operators at the sites can be awkward. One, for instance, pointed out that my 10ft trailer was bigger than permitted. Nottinghamshire insist on permission in advance, and may check that the waste is at your own (Notts) house. Bristol used to be great - no limit, and no need to wrap, but you needed a tame Bristol resident to apply for you. I expect they've tightened up now.

Otherwise, you're in the hands of the commercial tip operators, and that can mean hundreds of pounds per trailer load.

I've got 150 square metres of the wretched stuff I'd like to get rid of...

Kevin

While we are on the subject of garages I'm going to tell you what I did - It could be of use to someone who is looking to build on a budget and has the right location. It is attached to the side of the house and was built first as a car port but this proved to be next to useless as the wind passing between the houses drew the rain in too. The roof is currogated clear plastic supported on beams 3ft apart. These are slotted at the lower end to fit a channel that is an integral part of an aluminium gutter that sits directly above the side wall. below the gutter there is a continuous wooden beam supported by posts 6ft apart. Between the posts are 6x6 fence panels. The front doors are conventional wooden frames with plastic 'weatherboard' sheeting. It is long enough to house a Minor with room behind to walk a bike into the garden and space in front so the doors can open inward. This allows me to park another car on the drive and still get to my bike (hanging from the rafters) every morning without moving either car.
The whole thing cost less than £400 A large proportion of which I will have recouped in the insurance savings of havng a car garaged - never mind the savings in reducing deterioration of Albert.
If anyone is interested I can get some photos posted.

If anyone is interested I can get some photos posted.

Go for it.

When I get a house with enough space this is exactly the sort of thing I would rig up.
I'm thinking along the lines of a glorified 'lean-too' building.

Sadly, living in a flat makes garage ownership a dream.
I tend to work til my fingers are sore and frozen then spend 5 minutes with them in a sink of hot water 'defrosting' later.

Is renting one an option? I often think that in areas where many of the houses were built pre car or where off road parking is difficult, there is an opening for councils to erect blocks of lock ups for rent. This would help clear the streets of parked cars, which can hinder traffic flow.

Renting is an option near me but there are few available.
As said, houses around these parts are largely pre-car. 1800/1850 and around.
Newer stuff is red-brick terraced and virtually back-to-back.

Local council has started selling off blocks of garages - for housing development. Well thought out eh....

Depending on finances, and subject to planning it might be worth thinking about building a "Granny annex/doghouse" on top of a large garage.
Involves some more work, but the roof stays the same and extra space is always useful and valuable.

Be careful with make-shift carports. Unless they have two or more open sides, carports are classed as attached garages for building regs purposes (in England and Wales - don't know about the other bits). Once you start needing to comply with building regs, costs will rocket. See

http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/englan ... tbuilding/

You may also need planning permission - see other articles on the above site.

Neither planning perrmission nor building regs approval are likely to be granted for shanty-town lashups, and the bigger the eyesore the greater the chance of neighbours or passers-by reporting you.

If you are going to build a good-sized detached garage, I'd strongly recommend building it to the maximum permitted height, and making provision for a four-post lift. You don't need to be able to use the full height of the lift: three or four feet makes an enormous difference to doing almost any job. Secondhand lifts aren't too expensive - I paid less for mine than some folk spend on fancy wheels and furry dice.

Kevin