Hello everyone,
We are currently considering how to build our garage. We are planning a garage measuring 6 x 7 meters (20 x 23 feet) with a sectional door of 5 meters (16 feet). Essentially, there is the option of a prefabricated garage or a masonry garage. With a masonry garage, you could potentially save some costs through self-building, and the timeline is not as critical for the garage.
I have a few questions about the masonry garage where maybe you could offer some advice based on your own experience.
Are there any other potential costs I might have forgotten?
I would appreciate your tips,
Best regards, Clemens
We are currently considering how to build our garage. We are planning a garage measuring 6 x 7 meters (20 x 23 feet) with a sectional door of 5 meters (16 feet). Essentially, there is the option of a prefabricated garage or a masonry garage. With a masonry garage, you could potentially save some costs through self-building, and the timeline is not as critical for the garage.
I have a few questions about the masonry garage where maybe you could offer some advice based on your own experience.
- What are roughly the material costs for the floor slab, ceiling, and masonry including reinforcement and roof waterproofing (flat roof)?
- Which materials do you recommend for the masonry and what wall thicknesses are needed (structural requirements)?
- Is a screed absolutely necessary, or is a smoothed floor slab with a coating sufficient?
- What are the approximate costs for the electrical installation (including sockets and lighting)?
- How thick do the floor slab and ceiling need to be?
Are there any other potential costs I might have forgotten?
I would appreciate your tips,
Best regards, Clemens
So the garage needs to be approved. The application must be submitted by an authorized person. This also includes the structural engineering. The material thicknesses are shown there.
From that, you can calculate how much concrete, etc., is needed. When buying pre-packaged concrete, there’s hardly any savings, so have it delivered (for the foundation).
Then find a retired master mason or use a service like MyHammer to assist you.
A slab foundation is not always necessary. A strip footing is often sufficient, and then you can pave over it.
If you choose a slab foundation: painting it can be enough.
If you lack knowledge in electrical work: have it done by a professional. Otherwise, prices can be quickly researched online.
The days of "I’ll just do it myself and won’t get noticed" are long gone.
Best regards, Joe
From that, you can calculate how much concrete, etc., is needed. When buying pre-packaged concrete, there’s hardly any savings, so have it delivered (for the foundation).
Then find a retired master mason or use a service like MyHammer to assist you.
A slab foundation is not always necessary. A strip footing is often sufficient, and then you can pave over it.
If you choose a slab foundation: painting it can be enough.
If you lack knowledge in electrical work: have it done by a professional. Otherwise, prices can be quickly researched online.
The days of "I’ll just do it myself and won’t get noticed" are long gone.
Best regards, Joe
Our garage measures 5.50 x 6.50 meters (18 x 21 feet) with an adjacent carport of 3.50 x 6.50 meters (11.5 x 21 feet)... let’s see what else I can manage there…
We had the foundation for the footings done, which cost 2,400 euros.
We then built the walls ourselves using 24 cm (9.5 inch) aerated concrete blocks. We could have used calcium silicate bricks as well, but those are much harder to work with when building yourself and have worse insulation values. The cost for the blocks for the entire garage was about 1,500–2,000 euros... that part is still a bit uncertain.
For the slab, we only needed a small volume of gravel, which with delivery cost about 100 euros. For the concrete slab itself, we had 5–6 cubic meters (6.5–7.8 cubic yards) of concrete delivered, as mixing yourself wouldn’t have been feasible. That cost roughly 550 euros. We applied a leveling compound on top and then tiled the garage floor. The slab was 15 cm (6 inches) thick.
The wooden roof structure plus boarding, insulation, drywall, roofing felt, torch-on membrane, and gutters cost about 1,600 euros. The ceiling was about 25 cm (10 inches) thick.
We had the electrical work done for 1,000 euros.
This included:
Garage: - 8 outlets, 2 damp-proof lights, 1 LED lamp with integrated motion sensor, 1 industrial socket, and 1 outside light with integrated motion sensor
Carport: - 2 outlets, 1 LED lamp with integrated motion sensor
All with chases cut into the walls, cable laying, etc.
Windows (1 m x 1 m, 3-pane glazing) from the hardware store cost 100 euros. Metal door (0.90 x 2.00 m) for 219 euros, also from the hardware store. An offer for a sectional door with electric drive (2.75 x 2.10 m) was 2,700 euros (!!!)… An offer from Poland including installation was 1,500 euros. That will arrive in a week…
For the brick facing on the roof, I needed an additional 60–70 roof tiles. Since I didn’t order these with the house initially, I had to reorder. It might have cost about 50 euros, but due to small order size and delivery, it ended up costing 140 euros.
We had the foundation for the footings done, which cost 2,400 euros.
We then built the walls ourselves using 24 cm (9.5 inch) aerated concrete blocks. We could have used calcium silicate bricks as well, but those are much harder to work with when building yourself and have worse insulation values. The cost for the blocks for the entire garage was about 1,500–2,000 euros... that part is still a bit uncertain.
For the slab, we only needed a small volume of gravel, which with delivery cost about 100 euros. For the concrete slab itself, we had 5–6 cubic meters (6.5–7.8 cubic yards) of concrete delivered, as mixing yourself wouldn’t have been feasible. That cost roughly 550 euros. We applied a leveling compound on top and then tiled the garage floor. The slab was 15 cm (6 inches) thick.
The wooden roof structure plus boarding, insulation, drywall, roofing felt, torch-on membrane, and gutters cost about 1,600 euros. The ceiling was about 25 cm (10 inches) thick.
We had the electrical work done for 1,000 euros.
This included:
Garage: - 8 outlets, 2 damp-proof lights, 1 LED lamp with integrated motion sensor, 1 industrial socket, and 1 outside light with integrated motion sensor
Carport: - 2 outlets, 1 LED lamp with integrated motion sensor
All with chases cut into the walls, cable laying, etc.
Windows (1 m x 1 m, 3-pane glazing) from the hardware store cost 100 euros. Metal door (0.90 x 2.00 m) for 219 euros, also from the hardware store. An offer for a sectional door with electric drive (2.75 x 2.10 m) was 2,700 euros (!!!)… An offer from Poland including installation was 1,500 euros. That will arrive in a week…
For the brick facing on the roof, I needed an additional 60–70 roof tiles. Since I didn’t order these with the house initially, I had to reorder. It might have cost about 50 euros, but due to small order size and delivery, it ended up costing 140 euros.
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