Knocking down half of a semi detached garage

pinklady21

Ok - not a greenhouse then, but how about some sheltered raised beds - can you take the roof off and bring the walls down a bit, leave the floor in situ, and make up some raised beds with railway sleepers? Fill 'em with soil and hello cabbages! or whatever exotica you wish to grow in there!

alanobrien

I did something similar some years ago. Knocked down a concrete outside loo/coal bunker and workshop that was mirrored with next door. The flat roof on my side was leaking but was ok on theirs and i to wanted to reclaim the space and use it for something else.

So what i did was mark a line across the external walls and roof on my side at the point i wanted to separate my half of the structure from the neighbours and knock it down.

I then chain drilled the outside walls and the roof with a 1" diameter sds masonery drill. I then hired a grinder with diamond wheel cut through all the drill holes to separate the roof and then did the same to the support walls.

I did encounter an unexpected issue with the roof separation, it was reinforced with 1" diameter steel bars so grinding through them took some time.

The next bit involved a sledge hammer and much running away but within an hour or two it was all safety down. I then hired a breaker and skip to take it all away, several tons of concrete.

I kept the concrete base and used the area for a shed and other things. It all worked out well but on reflection it was a lot of hard work. I am an engineer so it was all logical and doable for me but best never to underestimate the safety issues when doing something like this.

I did use a safety hat, goggles and steel toe cap boots so was comfortable doing it. The neighbours were a bit twitchy though

Red-Squirrel_2

pinklady21 wrote: »

Ok - not a greenhouse then, but how about some sheltered raised beds - can you take the roof off and bring the walls down a bit, leave the floor in situ, and make up some raised beds with railway sleepers? Fill 'em with soil and hello cabbages! or whatever exotica you wish to grow in there!

I could, but I really want the whole thing gone and turned to properly usable land! I have all sorts of visions for how beautiful it could look with the full width of the plot to go at. Its not acres, but its a good size for a suburban garden. The house was built in the sixties when that was still a thing!

Red-Squirrel_2

alanobrien wrote: »

I did use a safety hat, goggles and steel toe cap boots so was comfortable doing it. The neighbours were a bit twitchy though

I like to have a go, but think this one might be beyond my solo skills!

The neighbours are well used to seeing me setting out with a sledgehammer or drill or chainsaw in hand that I clearly have no idea how to use properly, so I'm sure they'd appreciate me getting in the pros for this one! :rotfl: