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Cellars can be conditionally divided into two types: free-standing structures and storage under the building. The first type of basement is acceptable for owners of private yards, since a city dweller does not have the opportunity to build it near an apartment building. The second type is suitable for all people. Even in urban environments, storage can be placed under the first floor balcony. But if there is a garage available, then it is the best place to organize a basement. Now we will look at how to make a cellar in a garage with our own hands, we will touch on all the nuances of choosing a material, as well as the correct internal arrangement of the storage.
What should the owner of the garage consider before starting the construction of the cellar
The photo shows an example of a garage layout with a basement. Approximately the same drawing must be sketched on paper in order to calculate the required amount of building materials. The diagram must display all the dimensions of the cellar, the location of the entrance, the exit points of the ventilation pipes and the entry point for the artificial lighting cable. As for the dimensions of the storage, there are standard requirements for them, in which the depth is 1,8 m and the width is 2,5 m. However, these standards are not always followed.
When determining the dimensions of the cellar pit, it is important to ensure that the basement does not cause the destruction of the load-bearing elements of the garage. In such a structure, the basement ceiling is the floor of the garage. Here it is necessary to calculate its strength, select the optimal materials for overlapping, and do not forget about waterproofing.
The arrangement of the cellar is a personal matter for each person, however, for familiarization, several requirements can be considered:
- To descend to the cellar under the garage, a simple ladder is usually used. It is lowered through the entrance hatch.
- The option of installing a fixed metal staircase or casting concrete steps is suitable for a cellar in a large garage. Here we must take into account that such a descent will take a lot of free space in the basement.
- The manhole cover is made of durable, but lightweight material. It must withstand the weight of a person if the owner suddenly steps on it, and also freely open to the side without any special effort.
Taking into account these recommendations, it will turn out to dig a comfortable cellar with your own hands under the garage.
Varieties of cellars under the garage
Several types of cellars can be built under the garage, but they all differ only in their depth. We have already talked about the standard indicator. In practice, cellars are dug to a depth of 1 to 6 m. In such a self-built cellar, you can store any stock of food. Such a structure belongs to a completely buried type of basement.
Less popular are semi-recessed storage under the garage. Their depth is a maximum of 1 m. Very rarely, a ground basement is equipped. For him, a small pit is dug on the floor of the garage, where a plastic container with a lid is installed. A semi-buried and ground cellar is appropriate if the highly located layers of groundwater do not allow digging a completely buried cellar.
A recessed type of cellar is arranged under a major large garage. After all, building such a basement under a temporary structure is stupid. In the future, it will not be possible to transfer it when moving the garage to another location. The dimensions of the buried storage are determined by the owner at his own discretion. Most often, it is dug up to a depth of 2 m, and a width of 2,5 m. When drawing up a project, it is important to think about how to insulate the cellar in the garage so that conservation and vegetables do not freeze in winter.
The construction of an underground storage is best started even before the construction of the garage begins. You will have to dig a large pit, and for this it is better to use the services of an excavator. If the garage has already been built, the basement construction technology remains the same, only the hole will have to be dug manually with a shovel.
If the choice nevertheless fell on a buried cellar, then you need to rethink the important points:
- In the relevant authorities, you need to find out if it is possible to dig a hole up to 3 m deep on the site where the garage is built. This is especially important for urban areas, where a huge number of different cables, pipelines and other communications are intertwined underground.
- A fully buried cellar, together with the foundation of the garage, must have reliable waterproofing from groundwater. Usually, integral protection can be organized only with the simultaneous construction of both objects. It may additionally include a drainage system that removes groundwater from the facility. If the garage has already been built, reliable basement waterproofing cannot always be done. This threatens to undermine the foundation, and the destruction of both buildings.
If all these requirements are feasible, you can safely proceed to the construction of a buried cellar. Finally, here are some helpful tips:
- In the area where dampness is constantly kept in the ground, the storage walls are erected from monolithic concrete. It poorly passes moisture, and is characterized by high density.
- When a garage is being built simultaneously with a cellar, then preference should be given to a strip foundation. It can become part of the walls of the vault.
- In a region with a low amount of precipitation, as well as in areas with a deep location of groundwater, it is allowed to build storage walls from asbestos-cement slate.
It seems that all the important points have been covered, and now you can proceed step by step to consider how the basement under the garage is being built correctly.
The video tells about the cellar in the garage:
Choosing the right material
Brick, reinforced concrete slabs, blocks and savage stone are suitable for building walls in the cellar of a garage. You can pour monolithic concrete walls. This option is very reliable, but laborious. The use of reinforced concrete slabs is justified at the initial stage of construction, when there is still no garage, because they can only be mounted with a crane. The easiest way to build walls of red brick. Work can be done alone without helpers. Even a used brick, which is shown in the photo, will do.
Concrete is needed to fill the foundation. A ready-made solution can be ordered at the enterprise, but it will cost more. Self-preparation will require cement, clean sand, crushed stone or gravel. Formwork for pouring concrete is knocked down from old boards or plywood. Roofing material is optimal for waterproofing walls, foundations and floors. If you have extra funds, you can buy a membrane. Expanded polystyrene is best suited for frost protection as thermal insulation. In the worst case, you can get by with mineral wool.
Preparation of the pit, floor and foundation
The arrangement of the pit in stages looks like this:
- First you need to dig the hole itself. Doing this manually or using an excavator depends on the preferences of the owner.
- The bottom of the pit is rammed, then covered with a layer of sand and gravel. Perform another ramming, after which a thin layer of liquid concrete is poured. The total thickness of the base should be at least 80 mm.
- When the concrete hardens, two layers of roofing material cover the floor with waterproofing. The edges of the material should protrude beyond the border of the future foundation. The joints of the roofing material are overlapped, gluing them with molten bitumen. In the future, a concrete screed can be poured on top of the waterproofing, which will become the cellar floor. For reliability, a reinforcing mesh must be embedded in concrete.
- Further, formwork is installed on the finished base from the boards, a reinforcing frame is placed inside, after which they proceed to pouring the strip foundation.
If a cellar with a garage is being built from scratch, the arrangement of the bottom can be simplified by laying reinforced concrete slabs. To do this, the bottom of the pit is covered with sand with crushed stone 150 mm thick. The slabs are lowered into the pit with a crane, while trying to lay them as evenly as possible in level.
Walling
After the strip foundation has completely solidified, and this will happen no earlier than in a month, the formwork is removed. The earthen walls of the pit are hung with roofing material. The edges of the waterproofing on the surface of the pit are pressed down with a brick.
Now you can start laying out the walls. It doesn’t matter which blocks were chosen, the laying starts from the corners. At the same time, the dressing of the seams between the rows is observed. To make the walls smooth, in the process, measurements are made by level and plumb.
If a decision is made to build monolithic concrete walls, then formwork will have to be built. Usually it is built in tiers. When the concrete of one pour hardens a little, the formwork is understood higher, and a new pour is performed. This process continues until ground level is reached.
Cellar roofing and insulation
When the basement walls are ready, it’s time to think about the floor. By the way, at this stage, the cellar in the garage is insulated, because the storage walls are protected from the cold by the ground, and the owner will have to take care of the floor.
It must be remembered that the basement ceiling is also the floor of the garage. It must support the weight of the machine, plus a bunch of spare parts, racks, etc. It is optimal to use a reinforced concrete slab to cover the storage. The hole for the hatch is cut out with a grinder. The entrance frame is welded from a metal corner or channel. Hinges are welded to it, and a hatch is hooked.
Now we figure out how to insulate the cellar in the garage using different materials. A budget option is to use glass wool. But first you need to waterproof the floor. As an option, bituminous mastic or self-molten bitumen on a fire is suitable. The entire reinforced concrete slab is covered with a thick mass, after which glass wool is laid. Further, in the garage, you can lay a wooden floor.
The ideal insulation for the cellar under the garage is polystyrene foam. The slabs are fixed on the outside of the foundation, on the inside of the ceiling, that is, on the basement ceiling, and are also mounted on the walls from the inside.
Arrangement of ventilation in the basement
Ventilation in the cellar is necessary to maintain an optimal microclimate that promotes long-term storage of products. It is easier and cheaper to make natural ventilation. To do this, you need to install at least two pipes. Fresh air will enter the storage through one air duct, and an extract will be obtained from the other pipe to the street.
A large cellar with a garage can be equipped with forced ventilation. Such a system will cost the owner dearly. It requires the installation of electric fans, the development of a project, and for all this you will have to turn to specialists.
Natural ventilation is done independently. For an illustrative example, we provide two layouts of air ducts. Exhaust pipes are fixed under the very ceiling, but the openings of the supply air ducts are located 100 mm above the basement floor. On the street, supply and exhaust pipes are led 500 mm above the roof level. All air ducts are equipped with caps that prevent the penetration of rain and snow into the room.
That’s all the secrets of building a cellar under the garage. When both rooms are ready, proceed to their internal arrangement.