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My new garage

MartinInAyrshire

MartinInAyrshire

MartinInAyrshire

Associate
Joined
18 Oct 2025
Posts
82
Location
East Ayrshire
best thing I’ve ever done. Has added to the value of the property more than it cost and contains batteries, inverter etc etc, solar panels on the south facing side. It feels like it’s finally fully settled in with the landscaping and finished now.

Took about a 8 months but started in winter when it was very cold and wet.

Do yous like it?

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Uther said:
Take the cars out and fill it with random crap like almost everyone else does with a garage.
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That’s exactly what we’ve done. Cars were only ever in it for about 2 minutes.

https://i.~ibb.co~/RkrF04Kz/IMG-0454.jpg

Nabinium said:
Awesome work, love it. Internet speed is a whopper too, especially for a house that looks like it's in the sticks?

How come you've only had the cars in the garage once?
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No reason really to put them in. Modern cars don’t really rust so much. And it’s easier just to go grab them off the driveway and head out.

Yeah, we FTTP last year and when building the garage I made sure I put CAT 6A underground to the garage.

EE Smart WiFi router (WiFi 7). That’s a WiFi speed you are seeing there. I only have the PS5 plugged in.

Upstairs has a WC and shower room also. Have never had to use that shower yet. But feel like it could be its own flat or if we ever sell someone could convert it into a house.
 
MartinInAyrshire said:
No reason really to put them in. Modern cars don’t really rust so much. And it’s easier just to go grab them off the driveway and head out.

Yeah, we FTTP last year and when building the garage I made sure I put CAT 6A underground to the garage.

EE Smart WiFi router (WiFi 7). That’s a WiFi speed you are seeing there. I only have the PS5 plugged in.
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I imagine outside of that, the internet options would've been quite limited? It looks like it's located in an area where there wouldn't be much choice.
 
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Nabinium said:
I imagine outside of that, the internet options would've been quite limited? It looks like it's located in an area where there wouldn't be much choice.
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That’s right. For the first 6 years we had to make do with a wireless signal from a nearby windfarm. 10 down, 1 up on a good day.

Then the 4G signal came to the area and in 2021 I got a 4G router. Typical 40 down, 5 up, but with not a great ping.

After FTTP got installed I’ve done everything to maximise it with MoCA, switches etc. it’s very satisfying from where we were in terms of internet to where we are now.

my upstairs man-cave has a shower, wc, fridge, kitchenette, coffee machine, 55 inch LG 4K tv, Sky Stream box, PS5, EE WiFi 7 router, sofa, armchair for the dog, desk with dual monitor set up.

Downstairs has 10KW of batteries fed from the solar on the roof and an EV charger on the outside wall. And a freezer. And mountains of crap.

Going to add a bioethanol stove upstairs just as supplementary heat source and for aesthetic and enjoyment. The whole thing upstairs and downstairs is insulated like a house and we have plumbing in place downstairs for water and radiators should anyone ever want that.

Will need to be a bioethanol stove as it’s a lot cheaper and any attempt to install a flue would look a mess from the outside.

This was ChatGPT’s best attempt. In reality it should look a bit better than this.

https://i.~ibb.co~/mF5pMMBh/B8-A836-EF-03-C7-4-C0-F-91-C4-AB717-CD0-B8-BD.png
 
Jim99 said:
Looks amazing! Do you mind sharing a rough cost for the build? How did you go about actually getting it built?
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Total was £140k when I include planning, drawings, structural engineer etc. because of the general appeal and its potential for different things to be done with it, it’s been estimated to have added £270k to the value of the house.

I got an architectural technician locally to come and view the site, come up with drawings and help me though planning. Then found a local builder. Got a structural engineer - this was needed early as he had to come out and dig to tell us what we already knew - clay! Builder was brilliant- I’m so glad I found him. Once we had the structural drawings and planning permission he got to work. We just checked in together a lot and I got my hands dirty a bit.

We had to give the structural drawings to a roof truss designer to get those actually made, and that person made a real difference to the quality of the outcome. Designed the trusses cleverly so that we squeezed out some more square footage and could stand in little alcoves where there veluxes are positioned.
 
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MartinInAyrshire said:
Total was £140k when I include planning, drawings, structural engineer etc. because of the general appeal and its potential for different things to be done with it, it’s been estimated to have added £270k to the value of the house.

I got an architectural technician locally to come and view the site, come up with drawings and help me though planning. Then found a local builder. Got a structural engineer - this was needed early as he had to come out and dig to tell us what we already knew - clay! Builder was brilliant- I’m so glad I found him. Once we had the structural drawings and planning permission he got to work. We just checked in together a lot and I got my hands dirty a bit.

We had to give the structural drawings to a roof truss designer to get those actually made, and that person made a real difference to the quality of the outcome. Designed the trusses cleverly so that we squeezed out some more square footage and could stand in little alcoves where there veluxes are positioned.
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Nice, thanks for sharing. Those little touches do make a huge difference.

Must be so satisfying to see it all come together.
 
That looks lovely. My current garage isn't a bad size (not as big as yours), but I do use it as a genuine garage workshop and never have enough space. If I had yours, I'd have likely not had the upstairs and had a car lift in there too...perhaps with a mezzanine level looking out onto the project cars that would inevitably be in pieces and various forms of repair.....and still not have enough space :p
 
Your garage is actually bigger than my house. I could quite happily live in that, with the classic cars and bikes downstairs.
 
Yeah when i built my garage of 6m x 7m it felt huge compared to anything i'd had before, but it's so full of stuff now i can barely shuffle around from the door to my work bench :(

I did mange to fit cars into it for almost 2 years before it was too full of many, many half finished projects in bits!
 
Expensive to do these days sadly, material costs are shocking compared to 11 / 12 years back when we built.

And planning costs / appeals will rise sharply in the future so I`m told.
 
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