Wooden beams do not lose their natural attractiveness. Despite the existence of more durable and cheaper materials, timber also has distinctive advantages. We will describe how to build a garage from timber with your own hands in this article.

Foundation structure

The construction of a garage made of timber must begin with the construction of the foundation. The easiest and most reliable way to make the foundation for a structure is from a reinforced concrete monolithic slab. It will not only securely support the walls, but will also become a solid floor. To eliminate the influence of soil moisture on the concrete, it is necessary to lay waterproofing made of roofing felt in 2 layers on an arranged and compacted sand cushion. For a garage that will be heated, it is advisable to insulate the foundation slab. Before making a screed on a concrete base, you first need to lay extruded foam sheets up to 20 mm thick on it.

The foundation slab must be of such a size that the thickness of the base allows the finished floor to rise above the ground up to 250 mm. This will protect the walls from getting wet during heavy rainfall.

Note! To better protect the walls from moisture, it is advisable to build a concrete blind area about 0.8 m wide along the entire contour of the building.

Construction of the frame

As with other construction work, before erecting a timber frame, you must first develop a project that will allow the wooden garage to have an impeccable geometric shape, be reliable and durable. All structures with load-bearing capacity and connection nodes are drawn on a sheet of Whatman paper.

If you do not have the qualifications and experience to develop nodal connections yourself, you can use ready-made standard projects, where all the structural dimensions of the parts connecting the vertical posts with other elements that connect the frame into a single whole are drawn and marked in detail. Frame fragments can be connected using metal plates of various shapes with holes made for nails or screws, or with staples made of metal.

Note! Joints that require complex cutting, cutting and notching should be avoided, replacing them with overlapping joints, which will make the work easier.

The basis for a frame wooden garage is a frame made of timber 10x10 cm in cross-section, which is located in a horizontal position. To make the structure more resistant to moisture, the most suitable types of wood for the support frame are larch or oak.

Note! To prevent moisture from getting into the wood fibers, roofing felt is laid between the support frame and the concrete as an insulating element.

• Having installed the frame in a horizontal position using a level, install frame racks at the corners.
• Having made sure that the racks are vertical, it’s time to fasten them with inclined plank jibs.
• Then auxiliary racks are installed along the stretched grate. The step between them is taken from 500 to 1000 mm.
• Having secured the frame posts along the grate with permanent jibs, a timber frame is made on top, which serves as a support for the roof rafter system.
• To ensure that the legs of the rafters are securely fastened, grooves are cut out in the strapping beam.

You need to decide in advance whether the garage will be heated. If so, you need to think carefully about how to ensure that the constructed garage is insulated. Wall covering is carried out in parallel with filling the empty grooves with ecowool. You can do it another way: first, cover the structure with boards or clapboards, and then insulate the walls from the middle with medium-hard mineral wool.

Cover the insulation with a film that will protect the garage from the formation of steam during heating. For this purpose, you need to make a ventilated hole. It is impossible to insulate walls with polystyrene foam, since when they come into contact with water vapor, the wood will rot.

Construction of gates and roofs

Garage doors can be equipped with a wooden frame at the base, lined with a steel sheet profile. You can use a board or clapboard for this purpose. To protect the garage at a higher level, the gate can be reinforced with steel roller blinds. An even better option is to install gates made of sections with an automatic drive. To achieve visual harmony between the timber and the gate, you can choose a suitable paint coating.

Depending on the choice of the car owner, the roof for the garage can be chosen to suit every taste - from single-pitch and gable to attic and hip. To organize a compartment for storage space with equipment, it is better to build a hipped gable roof. It will cost more than a lean-to, but the room will be more spacious and warmer.

After watching a video about what steps await the car owner when building a garage from timber, you can be convinced that there is nothing particularly difficult about it. But the car will have its own reliable house.

Perhaps you have already built a garage from wooden beams. Tell us about your work experience and the results of your work by leaving comments on the article.

Video

Watch a video about the construction of a garage made of timber:

Today, most owners of private houses try to store their cars, if they have any, in garages. This is absolutely understandable, because being in such a room, the car is less exposed to external natural factors and is protected from prying eyes, and therefore its condition does not deteriorate so rapidly as it is used. The garage can also be used as a storage room to store some items or non-perishable products.

Peculiarities

A self-made wooden garage will be a good solution for a private home. The area where it will be located must be fenced, since such a building does not guarantee protection from thieves.

It should also be said about other disadvantages of a wooden garage:

• not too long service life;
• high fire hazard;
• the need to treat building materials with special substances.

They also have many advantages:

• accessibility due to the low price of building materials;
• possibility of independent construction;
• ease of installation work;
• environmental Safety;
• relative strength.

There are several types of garages made of wood. The most popular are buildings made of timber, which is the most durable and durable material.

But it’s not easy to build a log house yourself, and its price is quite high.

At the same time, a timber garage is considered a reliable structure, and outwardly it looks quite presentable.

Garage buildings made of rounded logs are also common options. They also have a great appearance. In this case, you can purchase ready-made building materials that are assembled according to the principle of a designer.

The third category is garages based on frame construction. It is the frame that will bear the main load. But the main advantage is that any facing material can be used. If you wish, you can make a garage from corrugated sheets, and also from wooden boards or any other laminated wood material that you have on hand.

Blueprints

Many people have problems with building a garage at the design stage. This is not surprising, since this process is the most complex. The fact is that its importance lies in the need to think through the design as much as possible, because the parameters of a structure for 2 cars will differ significantly from the characteristics of a garage structure for one car.

A standard garage usually measures 6 by 4 meters.

Its height will be about three meters. But a garage of 6x4 m is a standard figure. It won't fit two cars, but there will be more than enough space for one. But it all depends on the characteristics of the car itself.

If you need to calculate the parameters yourself, then when taking into account the dimensions of the car, you need to add 50 centimeters on the sides for opening the doors, one meter on the trunk side and about 60 centimeters on the other side. The height is determined by the height of the owner and an additional 1 meter is added to it.

Calculation of the quantity of materials

After a person has decided on the dimensions, a garage project is made. It takes into account all the little things and nuances that can be encountered during the construction of such a structure. We are talking about such things as the placement of lighting fixtures, access roads, paths, how the gates will open, what category they will belong to, and many other important nuances. The project must necessarily reflect the type of building - whether it will be an extension to the house or an independent building. Depending on this, the amount of building materials needed will be different.

Another factor that influences this point is the technology chosen for construction.

If we are talking about a frame model, then it is necessary to calculate how much profiled timber of different sections, insulation, OSB sheets, metal corners, screws, wood and other materials will be required.

If the garage is built using log technology, then rounded logs and insulation are needed. You also need to consider what materials will be used for the roof.

Preparation

After all the calculations have been completed and double-checked, the site should be prepared for future construction. To do this, you need to perform markup. It can be made using pegs and twine. After this, the area is cleared of debris. If there are slopes or elevation changes on the site, then they should be raised so that the ground is level.

Once this is done, the preparatory work begins. First you need to pour the foundation. The most popular are pile or columnar foundations. They are used for lightweight buildings and are pillars or piles that are mounted around the perimeter of the future garage in the ground.

Piles are either poured or ready-made. If the second option is planned, then wells are also needed.

Construction

The first stage, which determines the success of all further work, is the construction of the frame.

It consists of three elements:

• top trim;
• racks;
• bottom trim.

For the bottom trim, a beam with a section of 100x50 mm is used. The racks are made of 150x150 mm timber, and the ceilings and rafters are made of 100x50 mm mini-timber.

The garage floor made of logs is laid on the bottom frame, under which a layer of roofing felt should be placed.

The embedded beam is fastened at the corners in one of two ways:

• on an insert tenon;
• in the paw.

It is worth remembering that the fastening must be strong and reliable. After this, so-called logs are inserted into the lower trim. This process is performed every 40-45 centimeters.

If the length of the lags is very long, then it is possible to install supports along the entire length, which are easily made from brick columns. This must be done so that the floor does not sag under the weight. The distance between them should be no more than 60 centimeters. They should also be covered with roofing felt. By the way, all wooden elements, including bars and joists, should be treated with an antiseptic in advance.

After this, you can proceed to the construction of walls. Here the timber connection will be the same as was used previously.

The rows are attached to each other using so-called dowels - they are called wedges made of hard wood, which must be driven into holes drilled in advance. The dowels are recessed into the boards so that no cracks or holes form anywhere during drying. Cuts for building blocks are also made in the upper crown.

As for the roof, its shape will depend on the design and size of the garage building. Usually it is either single-slope or gable. If the garage is adjacent to the house, then it is best to have a pitched roof. If it is a separate building located at a distance from the house, then the gable option would be the best choice.

After the roof is done, it is lathed. A waterproofing layer of roofing material is placed across the sheathing, and only after that the roofing material is laid.

Then you need to return to working on the floor.

It is best to make floors from tongue-and-groove boards that are secured to joists.

They should be secured to the joists using self-tapping screws, or you can nail them with large nails, because the floor will have to support the weight of the car, which is usually more than one ton.

When the floor is ready, it should be completely covered with a special fire-fighting compound., which will significantly increase the wood’s resistance to high temperatures. And to further secure the building, the floors can be covered with metal sheets. If it is not financially possible to cover the floors completely, then this should be done at least in places where there is the greatest likelihood of spills of flammable and flammable liquids.

Such step-by-step instructions will easily allow you to create a garage quickly and relatively cheaply, and most importantly, on your own.

If the garage is adjacent to a two-story dacha, then it is best to make a staircase that would allow access from the garage to the house, and, for certain types of house and garage construction, to the second floor. This approach is quite convenient, since it allows you not to leave the garage outside, for example, in cold weather, but to immediately get home.

There are quite a lot of materials and structures for building a garage.

These are brick, expanded clay concrete, gas and foam concrete blocks, profiled steel sheets and wood.

Garage walls are often erected using frame technology - high-speed and low-cost.

We will look at the construction of a garage made of timber in order to determine the main advantages of such a solution, evaluate design options and features of the work.

The advantages of a wooden garage are:

• Environmentally friendly wood that absorbs exhaust gases and the smell of gasoline;
• High level of energy saving and low cost of wood;
• Good vapor permeability of wooden walls reduces the level of humidity, which has a positive effect on the condition of the car body;
• Ease of processing and ease of assembly allow construction to be carried out without the use of special tools and installation equipment;
• Optimal compatibility with the facade of a wooden residential building and the landscape of the site.

Design selection

When planning to build a wooden garage with your own hands, you need to decide in advance on the type of foundation, structural design of the walls and roof. Let's look at these questions in more detail.

The easiest way to make a base for a wooden garage is in the form of a monolithic reinforced concrete slab. It will not only become a reliable support for the walls, but will also serve as a floor.

To prevent the absorption of ground moisture into the concrete, after filling and compacting the sand cushion, 2 layers of roofing material waterproofing must be laid over it. For a heated garage, it will not be superfluous to work on insulating the foundation slab. Before pouring the final mortar screed onto the concrete, you need to lay sheets of extruded foam plastic 1-2 centimeters thick.

The thickness of the foundation slab should be chosen so that the level of the clean floor in the garage is 20-25 cm higher than the ground level. This will prevent the walls from getting wet with rainwater. To protect the walls from moisture after completion of construction, a concrete blind area with a width of at least 70 cm must be poured along the entire perimeter of the building.

There are more affordable options for garage foundations made of timber - strip rubble concrete, columnar and pile. It is enough to bury the tape 60-80 cm into the ground. Wood is a light and elastic material that is not afraid of deformation caused by frost heaving.

But the pillars or piles for such a garage will have to be buried deeper into the ground (below the seasonal freezing point) so that the frozen soil does not push the foundation out.

Having finished with the foundation, they begin to build the walls. Here you can implement any of two options - a frame made of timber or a wooden frame.

Timber frame

In order for the garage frame made of timber to be strong and geometrically impeccable, before starting assembly you need to prepare a project or a detailed sketch.

All supporting structures are drawn on paper and the contact nodes are worked out in detail. If there is a lack of design experience, the joints of vertical posts and horizontal frame connections can be taken from standard designs of wooden structures. Frame elements can be connected not only with steel brackets, but also with metal plates with holes for self-tapping screws.

Notches and other complex connections of beams should be avoided whenever possible, replacing them with a simple joining option - overlapping or, as carpenters say, “into the floor of the tree.”

The basis on which a frame garage is built is a horizontal support frame made of timber with a section of 100x100 mm. To make it, it is better to use oak or larch. These breeds tolerate moisture more resistantly.

The support frame is placed not on concrete, but on roofing felt to prevent moisture from getting into the wood fibers. It is fixed on a slab or strip foundation using threaded anchor rods with a diameter of 14-16 mm, previously buried in concrete to a depth of 20-25 cm.

Having verified the horizontalness of the frame with a building level, you can begin installing the corner posts of the frame. After checking the verticality, they are fixed with inclined jibs made of boards, and a cord is pulled over the top. Ordinary racks are placed along it. Their pitch depends on the cross-sectional dimensions, the thickness of the outer skin and can range from 50 to 100 cm.

Having aligned the cords and secured the frame posts with permanent jibs, they are fixed on top with a strapping beam, which acts as a support for the roof rafter system.

To securely fasten the rafter legs, grooves are cut out in the strapping beam.

If the garage is heated, then the wall cladding is carried out simultaneously with layer-by-layer insulation of the space with ecowool. There is another option: you can first sheathe the frame with a blockhouse, wooden lining or board, and then line it from the inside with semi-rigid mineral wool slabs. Don't forget to cover the insulation with a vapor barrier film and create a ventilated gap!

A timber frame garage cannot be insulated with polystyrene foam, since this material does not allow water vapor to pass through and the wood in the area of ​​contact with it will rot.

Log garage

Building a garage out of wood using solid timber is easier than building frame walls. Walls made of timber do not require cladding. This material has a high degree of construction readiness, since it is cut to the size of the building. The manufacturer immediately makes landing connections for the crowns in it and profiles it along the length. You will only need a sketch drawing on which you need to indicate the dimensions of the garage and gate.

The main condition for the durability of a garage built from solid timber is high quality wood and its low humidity. Therefore, it is better to buy chamber-drying material than cheaper natural moisture material. Raw wood causes large shrinkage deformation and cracks appear in the frame, requiring additional caulking.

When choosing between a rounded log and a profiled beam, it is better to choose a profiled one. It has less shrinkage and cracking. It does not crack as much and is easier to assemble into a single structure.

Although manufacturers claim that profiled beams do not require inter-crown insulation, it is still better to lay linen or jute tape between them.

The bottom chord of the garage frame should be made of hardwood, and pine can be used for the remaining crowns. Having finished assembling the walls, the timber is coated from the inside with a fire retardant - a substance that does not support combustion. The outside is treated with an antiseptic to protect it from rotting.

Speaking about the optimal type of corner connection for timber, we note that the most reliable and airtight is the combined “half-tree” option. It contains main and insert tenons, and also achieves a large contact area between the beams. For cutting corners yourself, it is better to use a simpler joint “butt on the main tenon”.

Gates

Swinging garage doors can be made on the basis of a wooden frame, covering it with boards, clapboard or profiled steel sheets.

If more reliable protection is required, then you need to buy and install steel roller blinds or automatic sectional doors in the opening. Their color can be precisely matched to the color of the timber walls, achieving visual harmony.

Roof

Any type of roof is suitable for a garage made of timber - single or gable, hip or attic. Her choice depends on your plans. If there is a need to store household equipment, then a gable hip roof should be installed on the garage. It is more expensive to build than a lean-to, but it is much warmer and more spacious.

Lining the ceiling in a garage along wooden beams can be done using sheet plasterboard or wooden lining impregnated with a fire retardant compound.

To build a reliable, comfortable and durable garage, you can use almost any building materials. However, it is wood that makes it possible to obtain the most environmentally friendly buildings with excellent thermal insulation properties. There are many wood-based materials on the market today. For the construction of a garage yourself, it is most convenient to use timber. Construction work using this material is carried out in the shortest possible time.

Timber as a building material has many advantages, namely:

• environmental friendliness. Wood “breathes”, so the aromas of gasoline and other similar materials will not linger in your garage for a long time;
• affordable price;
• high energy saving rates;
• good vapor permeability. Thanks to this parameter, the optimal level of humidity will be maintained in the garage;
• ease of processing and high assembly speed. To erect various structures from timber, you do not need to use any special equipment. Special skills are also not needed to perform such work;
• great appearance. A garage made of timber will fit well into the design of the site and harmoniously combine with the facade of the house, especially if it is also built of wood.

The undoubted advantage of the timber is its high degree of construction readiness. Specialized companies cut the workpieces according to the dimensions required by the buyer and immediately make landing joints in the bars. You will only need to provide the employees of one of these companies with a drawing indicating all significant dimensions and wait until your order is ready.

It is important that the timber is of high quality and fully complies with existing construction requirements, among which one of the most important is the moisture content of the building material.

Chamber drying timber has the best characteristics. It is somewhat more expensive compared to material with natural moisture, but it significantly surpasses it in its characteristics, at least in terms of the fact that after building a garage from kiln-drying timber you will not have to wait 1.5-2 years until the wood dries and shrinks. This frees you from further work on sealing the resulting cracks.

For private construction, profiled timber is best suited. This material is characterized by lower rates of shrinkage and cracking. It is also much easier to build the necessary structure from profiled beams.

In the process of preparing to independently build a garage from timber, you need to decide on many important points, first of all, the type of foundation, wall design and roofing features.

The optimal foundation option for a timber garage is a monolithic reinforced concrete slab. Some developers prefer a columnar base. Both options work well, but a slab foundation is convenient in that it can simultaneously serve as a floor. For the rest, be guided by your preferences.

Construction of a garage - foundation installation

The foundation technology requires backfilling with sand and crushed stone. The backfill is carefully compacted and then covered with a double layer of roofing felt. It would also be useful to insulate the foundation. To increase the thermal insulation properties of the structure, it is necessary to lay a sheet of foam plastic on the concrete before pouring the finishing screed. A thermal insulation thickness of 10-20 mm will be sufficient.

When choosing the thickness of the foundation, remember that the level of the finished floor should rise above ground level by about 20-30 cm. This will eliminate the risk of the garage walls getting wet with atmospheric water.

To further protect the base and walls of the garage from water, after completion of construction work, a blind area with a width of 60 cm or more must be poured along the perimeter of the structure.

Often garages made of timber are built on strip foundations. It is enough to deepen such a foundation into the soil by 70-80 cm. Wood is a fairly light building material, so there is no need for arranging an overly massive foundation.

When installing a columnar foundation, the supporting elements must be buried below the level of seasonal freezing of the soil. Please check this parameter separately for your region.

What do you need to know about a timber frame before construction begins?

To ensure that your self-build is strong and geometrically correct, before starting construction, take the time to prepare a detailed project or at least a simple sketch.

Draw on paper or in a special computer program all load-bearing walls, contact nodes and necessary partitions. If you wish, you can take a ready-made garage project. There are many different drawings available in the public domain, so you won’t have any problems choosing the right option.

To connect individual frame elements, you can use metal brackets or steel plates with pre-prepared holes for self-tapping screws.

If possible, try to avoid jack-type connections and other complex options. Instead, you can successfully use an easier option for joining elements - overlapping, also known as “into the floor of the tree.”

The timber garage frame is erected on a pre-equipped horizontal support frame. The frame is also made from bars. The optimal cross-section of the elements is 10x10 cm. The frame is best made of larch, oak or other durable species that can withstand contact with water relatively well.

The support frame is installed on pre-laid roofing felt. This will prevent water from penetrating into the wood. To fix the frame to a strip or monolithic foundation, use 16 mm anchor pins, previously buried 25 cm into the foundation.

During the construction process, be sure to control the horizontal position of the frame. The building level will help you with this.

After completing the installation of the frame, it is time to install the corner frame posts. To fix these structural elements, use inclined jibs. Pull a cord over the top and install row racks in accordance with it. The spacing of such racks can vary between 500...1000 mm and depends on the dimensions of the external cladding.

The frame posts are fixed on top using a strapping beam. At the same time, this beam will serve as a support for the rafters. First, you need to select grooves in the timber for the rafter legs.

If you are building a heated garage, the walls of the structure must be insulated. Usually mineral wool is used for this. The insulation must be waterproofed. Reliable protection from moisture can be provided using polyethylene film or other, more modern and expensive materials.

Polystyrene foam cannot be used for insulation. This material does not have vapor-permeable properties. Against this background, the tree will begin to quickly rot.

Step-by-step instructions for building a garage

The first step is laying the foundation. In this case, construction will be considered using the example of a columnar foundation. You can choose a different design at your discretion.

Remove the top fertile ball of soil according to the size of the foundation and carefully level the resulting pit. Mark the places where the support pillars will be dug in. Iron pegs and rope will help you with this.

The posts must be installed in the corners of the garage. Also, supports should be placed along all walls and partitions with a maximum step of 200 cm.

The bottom of the pit is covered with a 20-30 cm layer of sand. If construction is carried out on heaving soil, the thickness of the backfill should be increased to at least 40 cm. Thoroughly compact the backfill, spilling a small amount of water on it. Lay a double layer of roofing material on top of the backfill.

Lay out the support posts. For their construction, you can use bricks or concrete blocks. Brickwork is done using cement mortar. Align the heights of the pillars, focusing on the previously stretched rope.

Let the solution harden and waterproof the pillars using bitumen mastic. Place an additional double layer of roofing material on top of the mastic.

The second step is the installation of the lower harness. Place the embedded timber on the support posts. At the corners, connect the timber in a convenient way. For beginners, it is easiest to use the previously mentioned “half-tree” connection. Factory-made timber is usually tailored to a specific connection, and the craftsman can only follow the instructions for assembling such elements.

The third step is installation of the floor covering. Connect wooden logs to the embedded beam. They will serve as a floor covering. Make the connection using the insertion method. Make the logs from a board 4-5 cm thick, laid on the end side.

When choosing a step for laying joists, be guided by the expected level of load on the floor. The higher the load, the smaller the gap between the boards should be. In general, it is recommended to choose a suitable step in the range of 50-100 cm. Carefully treat the joints of the boards with the timber with antiseptic impregnation.

The fourth step is laying out subsequent rows of timber. Lay rows of timber on top of each other. Make the connection using the same method that you used to connect the embedded (support, strapping) beam.

Use dowels to connect rows to each other. To make such a connection, both bars need to be drilled in one place and a dowel driven into the resulting hole. Recess the fasteners into the bars a few centimeters.

The fifth step is installing the rafters. Attach to the top of the rafters. Use the tapping method you are already familiar with. The rafters are connected to each other using the “half-tree” method.

Choose the shape of the roofing structure individually. For example, if your garage is attached to a house or other building, the best option would be a shed roof with the slope sloping towards the outer wall. Separately located garages are usually equipped with gable roofs.

The sheathing is attached to the rafters. A vapor barrier film is attached to the sheathing on the inside. Place insulation, for example, mineral wool, in the space between the sheathing. Attach a waterproofing film over the insulation. Nail counter batten bars to the sheathing to create a ventilation gap.

The sixth step is installation of the roof covering. You can use any material as a finishing coating. Focus on your preferences and available budget. The procedure for installing the roofing depends on the specific material chosen.

The seventh step is laying the floor. The garage floor is traditionally laid out from tongue and groove boards. The flooring elements are attached to the joists using self-tapping screws; nails will also do. The floor of the garage, as well as its walls, should be treated with a fire retardant (fire retardant) compound. If desired, before laying the floor, you can perform additional insulation, for example, using expanded clay backfill.

If during further operation of the garage leaks of various kinds of flammable materials occur, cover the floor surface with metal sheets.

The eighth step is the entry device. Wooden boards with a thickness of 6 cm or more are suitable for arranging the entrance. Place the boards on a pre-installed support beam. Cut the support beam itself into the embedded beam. An angle of 20-30 degrees will be enough.

The bottom of such an extension must be treated with bitumen-based waterproofing material. Nail the cross planks of wood to the support beam and the driveway is complete.

When installing a gate, be guided by your personal preferences. The design can be swinging, lifting or even sliding.

Finally, do the final finishing work. It is recommended to use lining for wall cladding. Finish the ceiling at your discretion. You can use the same clapboard, chipboard or other suitable material.

If desired, you can equip an inspection hole or even a full-fledged cellar in the garage. Solve these questions at your own discretion.

Thus, there is absolutely nothing complicated in building a garage from timber yourself. All you have to do is draw up a project, buy materials and assemble the structure in accordance with the recommendations received. Follow the instructions and everything will work out.

Good luck!

Video - DIY timber garage

In this article we will talk about how to build a garage from timber. You can do this yourself, involving third-party specialists only at some stages, which means you can significantly reduce your costs.

In addition, a wooden garage is quite a convenient place for a car, and it looks quite original.

Wooden beams are an excellent material for outbuildings

Preparing for work

Design selection

Before you start purchasing materials and construction work, it is worth studying timber garage projects that are published in specialized publications and on the Internet (including on this site). After analyzing the design documentation, you can choose a design that best suits your conditions and needs.

If we approach it from a formal point of view, then wooden outbuildings are divided into two types:

• Frame - only load-bearing elements are built from solid wooden beams. Then the frame is sheathed with sheet material (most often OSB board is used), and a heat insulator is placed inside the sheathing.

• Massive - in this case, the walls of the garage are made of timber. To give the building an aesthetic appearance, it is possible to cover the walls with clapboard or siding, but the use of profiled blanks allows you to save on such finishing.

The first method is easier to implement, and the price of the building will be lower. However, if we need a truly durable structure, then it is better to use solid timber.

Note!
Today, many manufacturers offer ready-made kits for the construction of log houses.
The set includes numbered bars with all the necessary grooves and fastenings.
Of course, the cost of the structure will increase, but if you have no experience working with wood, then purchasing such a kit is an excellent solution.

Material purchase

So, we’ve decided on the design – now it’s time to choose the material.

We list the possible options as the cost increases:

• Massive, smooth timber with natural moisture. This type of blank is the most affordable, but that’s where the advantages end.
  Walls made of even timber that has not been dried are subject to fairly strong shrinkage during the first two years after construction, so cladding can only be carried out after the log house has been built for a long time.

Note!
When the timber dries, quite large gaps can form between the individual elements.
They can be eliminated by caulking, but it is better to do the sheathing.

• Massive profiled timber. This variety is also produced after chamber drying. The second type is more expensive, but it is much less susceptible to deformation.

• The main advantage of profiled timber is the locks on the planes of the workpieces. The tenons and grooves make it possible to create an almost sealed junction unit that will not be blown through even with slight shrinkage.
• Glued profile material is the ideal choice. It is produced by gluing pre-dried boards; when dry, it does not crack and has virtually no shrinkage of its own. If finances allow, build a garage from laminated veneer lumber without hesitation.

Calculator for calculating the amount of lumber:

Set of tools

Wooden blanks have a fairly large mass, so it is advisable to have at least one assistant for work.

As for the tool kit, you will need the following devices:

• Entrenching tools (shovels, picks) for laying the foundation.
• Wood saw - circular or reciprocating.
• A chainsaw will be needed if you are using large-sized timber that will have to be cut to size yourself.
• Mallets for setting beams during assembly.
• Construction stapler for installation of inter-crown heat-insulating material.
• Hand tools – hammers, pliers, chisels, etc.
• Drill and screwdriver.
• Measuring tools, ranging from a level for marking the site and ending with a plumb line for monitoring vertical planes.

Construction of a garage

Making the foundation

A timber garage project may involve the installation of a permanent foundation of various types:

• A slab foundation is the easiest to manufacture. The main advantage of this design is the ability to use concrete slabs directly as a floor. But from the point of view of reliability, this arrangement scheme is inferior to other varieties.

• Columnar foundation - involves the installation of vertical buried concrete blocks under the main supporting structures. To ensure maximum floor strength, it may also be possible to lay additional columns under the joists.
• Strip foundation - combines a sufficient margin of reliability with ease of construction. The width of the foundation must correspond to the dimensions of the timber used (i.e. up to 300 mm), and the depth should be up to half a meter.

• Any foundation should be raised above the ground by at least 100 mm, since contact of moisture with wooden parts is extremely undesirable.

Advice!
When building a foundation, you should also take care of creating an inspection hole.
The easiest way is to finish the walls of the excavated pit with brickwork, and reinforce the sides with metal channels.

The floor will subsequently be installed on top of the foundation.

Projects for garages made of timber suggest one of the options:

• Concrete screed on slabs. This floor is laid on top of a slab base and provides sufficient strength even with very active use.
• Reinforced concrete floor on the ground. It is erected in several stages and necessarily requires reinforcement. By and large, such a concrete floor serves as a monolithic foundation of low capacity.

• Wooden floor with joists. Can only be recommended in cases where the garage is not planned to be used for heavy equipment. But even then, it is worth choosing thick enough floorboards.

Installation of a log house

On top of the base we begin to assemble the log house itself from the timber.

The instructions advise following the following sequence of actions:

• We make the lower trim from thick beams with a cross-section of 100x150 mm or more. We connect the binding crown at the corners “in half a tree” or “in a paw” - as shown in the diagram.

• To protect the wood from moisture, we impregnate it with special compounds. If there is a need to save money, then water-repellent impregnations can be replaced with used oil.

Advice!
The fastenings of the strapping crowns can be reinforced with metal corners.

• Next, we begin to build walls with our own hands, laying beams on top of each other. When using profiled blanks, the installation process is not difficult, since the locks facilitate the positioning of parts.

• To ensure maximum protection against heat loss, we lay jute rolled material inside each lock. To prevent the insulation from moving during installation and settling, we “grab” it with metal brackets.
• We connect the beams together either with steel nails or with special wooden dowels.

Particular attention should be paid to the design of garage doors. To prevent deformation of the opening when the building shrinks, we install two vertical beams on the sides that will support the horizontal.

Roof

When the garage made of profiled timber is brought to the designed height, you can begin installing the roof:

• On top of the flooring we lay timber - Mauerlat - on the crowns. For greater reliability, we fix the Mauerlat not only with metal corners.

• We fix the rafters on the mauerlat, the configuration and size of which are determined by the project. The most popular roofing options for garages are single-pitch and gable. Flat and tent structures are much less common.
• We secure the rafters with braces and connect them together with ridge beams. We also fix the ridge beam on the gable parts if they are built using the same technology as the walls.
• Next, we install the sheathing on the rafter system, after which we lay the roofing covering. The roof can be further insulated from the inside.

Finishing

The erected garage frame made of timber must be finished.

Of course, ideally, you should let the log house sit for complete shrinkage, but the use of laminated veneer lumber and strict adherence to installation technology in this case allows you to begin finishing work quite quickly:

• Firstly, if a flat beam was used, then we will need to do the wall cladding ourselves. For internal cladding, the preferred option is lining, for external cladding - siding (plastic or metal).
• We install a windproof membrane under the sheathing, which will protect the joints between the beams from blowing.
• After completing the sheathing, the flooring is laid (if a plank floor was planned).