Garage
- Garage(s) will be used for keeping the car(s) in, and working on them out of the weather. No particular need for the garage to perform additional roles since there will be a separate Workshop and other rooms within the outbuildings for that, so OK to have a fairly basic brick box with a concrete floor.
- Need power sockets and a water supply for hose etc. (rainwater)
- Likely to be limited headroom so a good choice for the garage doors would be a horizontal sliding “round the corner” configuration
- Definitely seems like a better option than an up-and-over door or a roller shutter
- Easy to open a little for pedestrian access or for one car, or two, or three…
- Manufacturers of these sorts of doors include
- Ideally want to be able to open the tailgate and bonnet on the largest likely car when in the garage with the doors closed
- A BMW 5 Series Touring is just about the worst case; typical! 4.9m long and the open tailgate rises to 2.1m. Width, including mirrors, is 2.094m.
- When the front doors are open they protrude roughly 1m each so the overall width with open doors is roughly 4m.
- Actually that’s not the worst case. The Jaguar XJ (short wheel base) is 5.127m long (the long wheel base is 5.252m!). Width, including mirrors, is 2.105m.
- The Jaguar XF is smaller at 4.961m long and 2.077m wide, including mirrors.
- For comparison, the Range Rover is 4.972m long and the width, including mirrors, is 2.216m.
- A BMW 5 Series Touring is just about the worst case; typical! 4.9m long and the open tailgate rises to 2.1m. Width, including mirrors, is 2.094m.
- The central section of the North barn is approximately 13.25m x 5.0m, so plenty of width for 4 cars (@3m each).
- Ideally want an open “car port” somewhere – covered but open to the air (or with a door that can be left open, securely) – to park one car when it has been raining. Would be good to have covered access to the house from here.
- Bicycle storage within Garage or elsewhere in outbuildings?
Garden Store
- Plenty of storage space for garden tools (hand tools, power tools) and other equipment
- Need space for garden tractor if not stored in Garage, with a decent sized door
- Bicycle storage if not in Garage
Workshop
- Space for work benches, lathe, drilling machine, circular saw table
- Plenty of mains sockets
- Windows overlooking courtyard ?
Utility Room
- Need a second Utility Room as part of the Outbuildings
- Will be used for general workshop, garage and garden related tasks requiring a sink (Belfast style would be good) and worktops
- Will be used for brewing beer, which drives some extra requirements:
- Multiple levels of worktops
- Easy to clean and keep clean
- A good supply of water, including harvested rainwater for cooling purposes (draining back to the rainwater tank???)
- A high-current electricity supply in case that is required for a beer boiler
- Plenty of storage space
- Include a WC and sink nearby
Boiler Room
- Assuming that a log fired boiler forms part of the heating system, that needs to located somewhere near to the supply of logs and somewhere that can stand getting a little dirty
- Locate the accumulator tank next to the boiler, with a long(-ish) pipe run to the house?
- The South “barn” (kennels) would probably be the best location
Outbuildings by Marsh Flatts Farm Self Build Diary is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.