Free garage?

[NurseBaz]

A local developer who knows I have been itching to build a garage has one on a piece of property across town (5-6 miles) that I can have for free... Is it doable to disassemble and reassemble? Keep in mind its only 10 or so years old, solid insulated doors, no openers, inside is workbenches and shelving, and I would be doing most of the work myself other than the new slab.

 

[TractorJeff]

Yes and No.
Do you have a skid steer or machine to lift whole walls? A trailer big enough to put them on?
If yes to these 2 questions, then Yes its do-able.
Moving the whole building in one piece is an option also.
Very often buildings like that the walls are built on the ground, then tipped up into position and nailed. You got to figure out how the roof is constructed to see if it can be dis-assembled in large pieces.
It looks like it shares a common wall with a house?
If so, then you need a plan on how to enclose and finish that wall.
That could be an expence that would make the whole project un-cost worthy.

 

[signcrafter]

If this was me and I really wanted a garage I would go and rent a dumpster and take the shingles off and throw away. Then take the roof sheathing off and throw away. Then take the trusses off and save them. Take all the savable stuff like garage doors and work benches and windows out. Then take all the siding off and save it. Then take all the wall sheathing off and throw it away. Then try to save the wall lumber.

You will have to pour a slab and then piece the wall lumber together and then re sheath the whole place with new sheathing. Then try to piece the siding together. Then set trusses and sheath with new sheathing and shingle with new shingles. It's going to cost you some money but sheathing isn't that expensive and shingles aren't too bad either. So you will save all the lumber and trusses and garage doors and windows.

 

[rburke65]

There is no free lunch. Lots of work there. Lots of material there, but. If you could pick it up, move it and set it down on a new pad....super. Have to agree with signcrafter.

 

[Norcal]

It might be worthwhile to contact a house mover & see how much it would cost to move the building to your site. Trees, power lines, & other obstructions will be a deal breaker though.

 

[volleyball]

I agree with using a house mover if the numbers work out. Other choice would be a crane and a flatbed. Wide load permit and haul it over. Use crane to reassemble.

 

[NUTTSGT]

It would be interesting to see what the inside looks like. It'll help tell us how it's built and what it'll take.

 

[The Cobbler]

a friend moved a garage a few years back. It was free ... sort of. He didn't pay the owner anything for it , but it was a lot of man hours . His son is a heavy duty mechanic at a larg rental company so they had access to small cranes , trailers etc.They cut it into sections and loaded it onto the trailers ( several trips) If he had to pay for the equipment rentals I don't think it would have been a money saver. In the end he got himself a decent used 25 x 25 garage , but as I say, it was a lot of work .

 

[Saw]

Piece it apart and build back the garage you want.

It will be work intensive but again it's free.

Pull the nails out of the sheeting and reuse all that is salvageable.

Is the siding color going to work with your existing color schemes?

The trusses dictate building size, or sell them and get what you want.

Lots of options for you.

 

[Zeke]

Depending on where you are and what the permit issues are, you may have limited choices. You can move a building but you can't build a new building out of old material that has been totally disassembled. Find out.

 

[930dreamer]

Any way to buy the land /shop where it sits now and not move it?

 

[Redhotrod]

Done this years ago at my first house. Girlfriends dentist told us we could have his 24 x 32 barn for free if I removed everything. Never do that again, I was luckily able to borrow my brothers big landscape trucks and trailers to move all the material 30 miles. But wasn't really able to reuse anything more than the studs and rafters, would have been money and time ahead just buying what I wanted to begin with.

 

[Mike in Ohio]

I tore down my 30 by 44 pole building and rebuilt it at dads place, reused everything but the shingles. We went with steel roofing on the rebuild since it will be storage instead of shop as it was at my old place. It was a lot of work, I think we have about $3000 in materials on the rebuild so it is not really free, and we haven't poured the floor yet. We did build it 14 feet tall instead of the original 11' 5" which accounts for some of the money but the new roof accounts for most of it. It is doable if you have the time, tools, and some friends who will work for beer and pizza.

 

[kbs2244]

If he is a builder, he knows the dollars involvrd in several possiblies.
Getting a free demo is very much in his favor.

 

[toolmiser]

Maybe it boils down to do you have more time or money?

 

[SALIV8]

If this garage would work for me, I'd def take the doors and tracks, windows, light fixtures, electric, at the very minimum. After that, I'd probably do some demo and see how it goes. You'll at least have some doors and etc to reuse and save some cash.