Reply to: Feet to support a freestanding upright sheet of plywood

[woody1]

In the end I used 2' lengths of 6"x2" for the feet, with a 4" slot down the middle. It was pretty stable but fortunately we didn't have any gales during the week between the old garage being taken down and the new one going up.

The 3-man crew from Yorkshire installing the new concrete prefab took less than 3 hours from start to finish. They did a brilliant job, overcoming a couple of issues with the base, and it was very impressive to watch.

Ironically, the local guys we hired to demolish and take away the old one took twice as long but they did spend a lot of time "conferring" and "consulting" their phones.

[woody1]

Might have to get figures on doing ours again (although planning has now expired, but I can get it renewed easily). When we got the designs done it was coming in at £35k if we laid the base and did all the fixtures, or £45k+ for them to do it. Admittedly it is 8m x 6.5m and timber framed. It was cheaper to put solar panels on one side of the roof than tiles, and given the improvements in output, the 20 panels would be over 10kW now. Never mind going off grid, we could take the neighbours off grid too.

Depending on how long ago it was, you might be in for a nasty shock. Labour/materials have gone up a heck of a lot since covid, seemingly much more than the headline rate of inflation.

£15k to build this gives you an idea

• basic no-frills timber 3mx5m single garage
• with a flat fibreglass roof
• on an existing base

PS. ie. £1000/sqm. For something more fancy, like yours, it might be £1200 or £1500/sqm.

You'd save a lot if you can find a suitable factory-made timber framed one.

[WTFH]

Prefab concrete, same as the old one. We looked at lots of different options before settling on another prefab. Partly driven by price but also we need something that can withstand gales/rain/sea air where we live.

In case anyone is interested, for a 16'x10' single garage. All including delivery and installation.

Pressure treated timber garden shed with felt roof - £2800
Heavier duty garden shed with corrugated metal roof - £3500
Heavy duty timber garage with double doors - £4000
Concrete prefab - £5000*
Timber garage, with fibreglass roof, built from scratch by small builder - £15000
Block built garage - didn't get a formal quote for this but was told in the region of £20k

* would have been nearer £3000 if we lived close to the manufacturers, which are all up north

Might have to get figures on doing ours again (although planning has now expired, but I can get it renewed easily). When we got the designs done it was coming in at £35k if we laid the base and did all the fixtures, or £45k+ for them to do it. Admittedly it is 8m x 6.5m and timber framed. It was cheaper to put solar panels on one side of the roof than tiles, and given the improvements in output, the 20 panels would be over 10kW now. Never mind going off grid, we could take the neighbours off grid too.

[woody1]

What's the new garage being built out of? E.g. is it prefab or brick walls, etc? Basically, can you use some of the building materials that won't be needed until later (e.g. for adjacent walls)?

Prefab concrete, same as the old one. We looked at lots of different options before settling on another prefab. Partly driven by price but also we need something that can withstand severe gales/lashing rain/salt air where we live.

In case anyone is interested. For 16'x10' single garage size. All including delivery and installation.

Pressure treated timber garden shed with felt roof - £2800
Heavier duty garden shed/workshop with corrugated metal roof - £3500
Heavy duty timber garage with double doors - £4500
Concrete prefab - £5000*
Timber garage, with fibreglass roof, built from scratch by small builder - £15000
Block built garage - didn't get a formal quote for this but was told in the region of £20k

* would have been nearer £3000 if we lived close to the manufacturers, which are all up north

[WTFH]

Out of curiosity, any idea how many it would take to keep a body submerged after decomposition gasses build up?

Yes, I have an idea.

Top tip, don’t use “aerated concrete” blocks, but dense structural ones suitable for foundations.

[hobnob]

I like your idea of the breeze block walls. Only I'd have no use for the blocks afterwards.

What's the new garage being built out of? E.g. is it prefab or brick walls, etc? Basically, can you use some of the building materials that won't be needed until later (e.g. for adjacent walls)?

[woody1]

No use for breeze blocks? Inconceivable!

Out of curiosity, any idea how many it would take to keep a body submerged after decomposition gasses build up?

[WTFH]

Everything is in the top half.

I like your idea of the breeze block walls. Only I'd have no use for the blocks afterwards.

No use for breeze blocks? Inconceivable!

[woody1]

It is completely full of stuff, or is most of it at the top?

Everything is in the top half.

I like your idea of the breeze block walls. Only I'd have no use for the blocks afterwards.

[WTFH]

Thanks for all the responses. I didn't say what it was for but perhaps I should have.

It's a mounting board for our private water system (electrics and plumbing). Currently attached to the back of our garage. The garage is being replaced, and there will be a few days between the old one being dismantled and the new one being installed. I'll use tarps to protect the board from the rain.

The board cannot be moved, otherwise we'd have no water. And it has to stay upright.

Time to get over-engineering...

OK, so you mentioned that the board was going to be 1.2m high by 0.9m wide. It is completely full of stuff, or is most of it at the top?
I would be tempted to build two "walls" of breeze blocks (laid flat), one in front and one behind. You might want to put a board in front of the stuff as well as the one behind that you are fixing them to. With these two walls built then it's easy to throw a tarp over the whole lot, and there's no risk of it blowing over.

1.2m high would be 12 x 100mm, and 0.9m wide would be 2 x 440mm, so you'd need 48 blocks to give you front and back coverage.
The other option would be to build just the one wall (i.e. 24 blocks) and use a ratchet strap (or similar) to clamp the board to the wall.

Don't bother mixing mortar or anything like that. the weight of the blocks will keep them in place.

[woody1]

Thanks for all the responses. I didn't say what it was for but probably I should have.

It's a mounting board for our private water system (electrics and plumbing). Currently attached to the back of our garage. The garage is being replaced, and there will be a few days between the old one being dismantled and the new one being installed. I'll use tarps to protect the board from the rain.

The board cannot be moved*, otherwise we'd have no water. And it has to stay upright.

Time to get over-engineering...

* well it will be moved during dismantlement/installation but we'll have no water for several hours on both days

[courtg9000]

Have a look at retailer supplies outlets, they will have something already done might not be to the design in your pic but they will have something safe and ready to go.

[malvolio]

Or build it on a board as a base then put some bricks/sandbags/docile pets to weigh it down?

[northernladuk]

Interesting timing. Just this week we've had an incident in our town of a sign outside a shop falling over and paralysing a dog so there is currently an uproar going on on our local FB group. Don't know the details of what happened but very pertinent to this question.

IMO a bit of wood isn't going to cut it. You want to be planning for a very windy blustery day. Having it stand up to a slight breeze and then a gust of wind catches it and it hurts someone then your in a crap load of trouble. 'Hopefully not a gale' is not a way to plan bearing on mind the possible consequences.

It's a normal occurrence to see flimsy home made signs fallen over on the high street. Personally I wouldn't be going with anything less than a proper weighted pavement type sign base. Only you will know where it's going and when but I'd be playing it safe.

[WTFH]

If it's 120cm high, I'd want the feet to be at least half that in front and behind, that is a fairly large surface area to catch a breeze..
I'd also want it supported by more than 1.8cm, maybe about 10cm would be OK. You might also want to build a frame around it as per your image to give additional strength.