What prefabricated garage to choose – concrete or steel?
We need a garage to go with our proposed home. Brick masonry is out of the question because of the high cost. We have now contacted various manufacturers of prefabricated garages and have already received offers. Garage dimensions: 3.51 x 7.00 m (storage room will be implemented in the back, we will make a partition ourselves). With sectional doors, electricity and a door to the garden.
Does it have to be a precast concrete garage, or is a concrete clad garage quite sufficient? It will be installed on a strip foundation, if that makes a difference. Unfortunately, I have read negative things about the steel garage. Is it true what I've read that tools "rust" and that "condensation" forms because the garage is too tight?
Answers
I have a 9m double steel garage where we also use the back to store gardening tools, kids toys, bikes, car supplies, tools, etc.
One of the main reasons was that we don't have 6m wide available. Steel garages are of course much more flexible and compact in this regard. Our steel garage stands on a U-shaped foundation and is asphalted.
In the beginning, we had moisture on the floor. When I put something down, there was a wet section of sidewalk underneath. I also had rusty tools at the time. But after a while that went away. For water dripping from above, manufacturers usually offer a coating.
I have an acquaintance who has a steel garage without this coating, and he told me that he occasionally gets drips on his ceiling and car when the weather is inclement. But the number of days can be counted on the fingers of one hand.
However, in my opinion, a steel garage is much better at retaining moisture than a precast concrete garage. In my opinion, you need to think a little more here when you want to attach something to the walls. (Electricity/hanging for garden tools, etc.).
One advantage of concrete garages, in my opinion, is that they should filter out temperature peaks better. In a steel garage you only have cold beer in the summer with a cooler :), and in the winter it freezes.
I don't know what the empirical values are for precast concrete garages.
Steel garages are not airtight, the roof has ventilation through the trapezoidal roof plate.
We have one of these and will always use it again. Every once in a while a little bit of water droplets form when you put the car in when it's wet. But I even have suitcases, camping gear and decorative lights in there. Nothing happens to them. So the tools don't rust in there either.
The principal advantage of a steel garage is that it can be easily dismantled and reused elsewhere, making it easier to upgrade or relocate. It is also more convenient to transport and install using a wrecker's wrench. For example, a precast concrete garage does not get along with the fact that the roof overhang of the house is already there when it is installed, if it is to stand right next to it. The durability of both is the same, both in absolute terms and in terms of how long they will look. I know several types of garages from decades of observation that have had or still have their own use: pumice with and without flooring, concrete with flooring, steel with paving, and steel on composite.
Condensation forms because of temperature differences on the sunny and shady side of the sheet metal roof, which has nothing to do with ventilation.
We have had a 3x6m precast concrete garage for some time now, and we are very satisfied. We also thought about a steel garage, but in the end the advantages of a concrete garage convinced us more. Basically, the garage floor comes direct, the garage was assembled in just a few hours, green roofing was possible without any problems. Another plus for us was that precast concrete garages can be built into the hillside without any problems. Our house is already built into the hillside, so the garage had to be built right next to it, and this was the only sensible way to build it.
