Extending a garage

Hi All,

My inexperienced head needs your guys/girls inputs to help me come to a decision.

Me and my other half have just bought our first house. It has a detached garage which I new was small but I realise how small tonight as I brought the car over and it is basically the size to just fit the car in and nothing else. Not ideal as I have to store all my tools in a shed which isn’t as safe unfortunately. So early next year I want to extend it and this is where I need your help.

The garage is a concrete sectional panel garage with an apex roof. I understand this will be easier for extending it length way but I want to also extend it widths way too. Due to the apex roof this makes it more difficult. Has anyone done this before or have views on what would be best?

I know I’ll need planning permission which I’ll get the ball rolling shortly , and it’s worth noting I’m on a budget as we’ve moved house and all that.

I don’t want it huge just enough space to store my tools and and work on it comfortably in these cold winter months

Thanks in advance [emoji106]


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You can go up to 30sq mtrs with permitted development, and up to 4mts high if it's not up to your neighbours boundary.

Concrete sectional are easy to extend, getting a good footing and floor which ties in to your old one and doesn't sink etc will be your biggest problem.

You might be better take it down, pour a new base in the size you want + a little extra for lean toos and sheds of there is space and rebuild in a new configuration.

EBay is full of dirt cheap second hand sectionals you can use to add to it.

Or if your feeling brave build a concrete block one, just finishing mine now,

29.5sqm single skin block, cost around £4k so far start to finish, all done by myself and dad, just wiring to go.

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Be careful of what the roof is made of. May need to get that taken away professionally.

Dlowe, did you have to put foundations in for your blockwork garage or just stand it on a concrete base?

id be tempted to just knock the current garage down and get a brand new one installed. when I looked at pricing they were not very expensive supplied and fitted. trying to extend your current one will envole trying to find a used one of the same style.

Mine sits on a 1 x 0.6 M ring foundation with steel work embedded inside, that's 1.4m deep to the bottom of the footing, then 2x courses of block below ground and a 200mm thick mesh reinforced concrete floor pored level with the top of that block and then built up to 9ft high in block with 2x pillars along each of the big sides.

Hopefully it's over done enough to outlast the house

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at least your floor aint going to crack.

my only problem with concrete sectional garages are the roofs, they all seem to be rubbish and flimsy.

My mates just built one using 3 different EBay purchases of second hand sectionals.

For the roof he's used floor joists spanning the 4.5m width then covered in the steel profile sheets with pir insulation sandwiched in them. Solid as a rock.

In the past we have made our own trusses using 2 inch angle welded together and covered in steel profile pressed to look like tiles, again solid when done right.



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If you have room, consider building an additional garage that's bigger and keeping the old garage for a workshop/shed.

It will be a lot easier from a logistical point of view as you won't have to clear the old garage while you modify it, the floors can be separate, you can do dirty jobs in the old garage without messing up your car...loads of advantages.

Awesome chaps,

I thoughts as much. I think my best option would be to look on eBay and get a used one off there that’s the right dimensions and then flog mine on, or if I’m super lucky there will be one that joins on to mine. Having a look as long as you go pull it to bits your self you can get a good sized one for £300.

Anyone transported one of these flat pack before? I’ve got a ford ranger and can access a decent trailer

I’m pretty sure my roof is ok Chris but I’ll get it checked out. Thanks for the heads up [emoji106]


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When we weighed up a couple of panels from my mates they were around 75kg each, though these were really old designs with approx 6ft x 3ft panels.

From memory my 3.5t twin axle trailer took about 25 before it got upset, which was about 1 good single garage.



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