# Forum Home Renovation The Garden Shed  Garage Options - Metal kit vs timber frame

## mattwilliams78

Hey guys, looking for a garage 3.6m wide x 10m long. The last 4x3.6 will be a habitable room/study with internal lining and insulation. 
3 options to consider. 
a) Simple garage kit from supplier - cheap, easy but vertical colorbond cladding. I'd really like a horizontal profile though to match the house so.... 
b) Metal frame - clad it myself in horizontal hardie plank at 600 centres. But where to buy a simple metal frame garage kit in Sydney? There's a mob on ebay but they're in Gold Coast so $600 delivery  :Frown:  
c) Timber frame - local mob offering to build a timber frame version but whats the long term reliability? good for lining I guess? 
Opinions? contacts for metal frame garage kit?  
Thanks, Matt

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## rod1949

Go for option a), that is if they fix the colourbond cladding to purlins, which would mean the purlins are fixed to steel posts, therefore you order the shed minus the colourbond wall cladding.  From there you could install verticals/studs to fix you horizontal profile to.

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## mattwilliams78

Thanks Rod, I like the idea of just buying the frame and cladding it myself. If the steel portal frame is supporting the roof and the stud wall only has to carry the cladding I can definately manage that myself. I've emailed the garage firm back but this is about my fifth email to them so they're starting to take some time to respond haha  :Smilie:

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## mattwilliams78

OK, the metal framing guys have finally gotten back to me with a quote and its not too bad - only trouble is, they're in QLD and I'm in Sydney so $600 in delivery. 
Can anyone recommend somewhere in Sydney I can get one of these kits?? I've looked everywhere on the net but no joy  :Frown:

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## Pulse

Why not timber? get a quote from a truss mob. Really helpful for cladding and lining the living areas. No issue with long term reliability... look at most houses, they have timber frames. 
Cheers
Pulse

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## barney118

Similar thread http://www.renovateforum.com/f83/cos...-garage-91894/ Im going for a timber frame, i have much more options and dont have to leave a deposit to obtain some plans, it might cost a little more but the end result will be much better. Mine has an extra 1.5m awning out the front of a 6x6m garage and I can make it for the same price minus the brick walls but can build in stages and keep costs and materials down.

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## mattwilliams78

Thanks for the tips guys, I really would prefer to go with the metal frame. Firstly, I know it will stand and will have the drawings for my council app. Secondly, it will go up quickly with this company offering 3m wide prefab panels that just tek screw together. 
I got a couple of quotes from builders for timber frame and they were way more than the equivalent metal kits. I did get a quote back today from one mob who can sell me a metal kit with open sides and then I can clad myself which is appealing. But, the cost of studding out the walls may be more than the saving/hassle in delivery from interstate?! and, to be honest, most of these garage mobs are just delivering from a depot miles away anyway with little after sales support so why not just go for the cheapest?! 
Surely there must be steel frame manufacturer in Sydney?? I will look into truss manufacturers though, thanks.

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## pinger

> Thanks for the tips guys, I really would prefer to go with the metal frame. Firstly, I know it will stand and will have the drawings for my council app. Secondly, it will go up quickly with this company offering 3m wide prefab panels that just tek screw together. 
> I got a couple of quotes from builders for timber frame and they were way more than the equivalent metal kits. I did get a quote back today from one mob who can sell me a metal kit with open sides and then I can clad myself which is appealing. But, the cost of studding out the walls may be more than the saving/hassle in delivery from interstate?! and, to be honest, most of these garage mobs are just delivering from a depot miles away anyway with little after sales support so why not just go for the cheapest?! 
> Surely there must be steel frame manufacturer in Sydney?? I will look into truss manufacturers though, thanks.

  All stud framers should have draftspersons on staff. They are used to dealing with owner builders and drawing up the stud frames for manufacture. BHP House Framing used to be at Emu Plains but I have no idea if the business still exists.

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## mattwilliams78

OK, so I've definately decided to go with the kit garage approach and the Stratco appears to be the best value for money by at least $1000. Also, Stratco is well known company with great payment options and hopefully will be around for years to come. 
I'm sure I will probably just install as is with vertical colorbond profile but I was hoping that maybe I could install the panels horizontally if I added some mullions between the girts at 1200 centres? This would probably mean not installing the centre girt but the top and bottom girts would be there so surely structural integrity wouldn't be too compromised? The Stratco website video shows this method for installing a door way but the mullions are meant to be concreted into the ground (obviously because the bottom girt must be broken).  
Also, if I turn the 2400 sheets on their sides my 9m long shed will need 4 sheets horizontally with about a 200mm overlap between each sheet. Will this look crap? I could offset the joins like a header bond but there would still be visible joins. I would presumably have to get hold of some extra sheets because all those overlaps would not have been accounted for but its still cheaper than buying an open shed with absolutely no cladding and then buying all new continuous sheets - one side won't be seen at all. 
Am I making all this unecessarily hard? Presumably not installing as per the instructions would probably void the warranty but wouldn't adding windows and doors do that anyway? I've been put off the frame idea because by the time I've costed up all the many, many extra bits I'd have to get beyond the cheap frame its about $6200 vs $4600 for the Stratco kit. We've a baby on the way at the end of the year and I just cannot justify the extra $1500 plus for something purely aesthetic. Haha my wife doesn't even get what I'm talking about! 
With the decision made about the garage, my plan is to; 
1. submit plans to council
2. backfill behind new retaining wall by at least 250-300mm (thats 3-4 sleepers in the photo)
3. compress backfill and put down a 50mm roadbase.
4. cut trenches for electricity, maybe water and waste for the future.
5. cut back out a 100mm deep edge beam around the slab footprint and then lay a 100mm reinforced slab with a damproof membrane underneath.
6. Bolt new garage down onto slab. - chemset?
7. lay 30mm sand and pavers around garage.  
Any tips, pitfalls? 
Thanks alot guys  :Smilie:

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## pinger

What is the design of the Stratco shed- is it one with c-section columns? Or one with a mid rail and top rail and trusses that sit onto the top rail? 
With our c-section sheds, when we want to carry corry horizontally we simply add 20mm ceiling batten vertically at 700 to 900 centres (whatever is convenient) to the outside of the existing horizontal 65 tophat (Topspan). This would suffice if it is a c section shed. Remember that whatever external additional battens you add, you will need to increase the slab size to accomodate (ie add 20mm to all sides of the slab in this case) 
If it is a bottom, mid, top rail type shed you could use the in-plane mullion idea however for cross braced strength I would still prefer to go something to the outside of the rails. Maybe a 40mm roof batten instead of the smaller ceiling batten? 
With regards to your lap, just keep it consistent. When we do barn houses/longer sheds in horry corry having a lap is inevitable and it looks fine all in a line.  
A tip for where your sheets lap. Where the sheets lap and you are screwing your wall teks, screw through into the girt . Put all the screws into the lapped sheets. Then back the screws out, and blow out/brush out any swarf caught between the sheets. Discard these screws and screw in new teks into the holes. This stops any swarf caught between the sheets rusting and becoming an eyesore. This is a common problem with horry corry screwed off incorrectly, especially when you see it on a light coloured shed. 
If it is c section shed I would probably be looking to add inbuilt footings to the 100mm reinforced slab. That way, you can dynabolt down into your footing where your load bearing columns are. Dynabolts are unfairly disparaged on this site I think, we have used them for 10+ years in the shed game and I have *never* seen a failure caused by dynabolts and that includes where they have been hit by vehicles with enough force to physically sever the columns at base plates. A couple of 12mm x 104mm dyna's per column will see you right.

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## mattwilliams78

Thanks Pinger, top tips. Definately going to go with the Stratco now - will go down next week and all going well put the deposit down. Appreciate what you're saying about the dynabolts, I would rather do that as its much easier when pouring the slab. I'll have a good look at what they say about installing on a slab with dynabolts, I think there's a special doc for that. They do certainly talk about extra footings below the slab where the columns will be. 
Anything else guys? Anyone put in for permission in sutherland shire NSW? how much - is it easy?

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## mattwilliams78

forgot the pic

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## Wombat2

My daughter is having a steel garage put up with horizontal cladding like weather boards to match the house and being colourbond steel there is no painting as well - I'll see if I can find out the maker. 
Edit: http://www.barns.com.au/  All Space Garages and Sheds - Although not illustrated they offer an option of horizontal cladding in Colourbond 
Edit2 Could something like this http://www.fielders.com.au/aspx/Weatherboard.aspx

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