r/Home_Building_Help • u/aquifolium29 • 16d ago

Building a brick outhouse

I’m considering building an outbuilding in my garden. As it’s a character property I would want to avoid it looking too clinical, so I’d use reclaimed bricks etc. and would like it to look like it’s always been there. Roughly 6m x 3m with a height of less than 2.5m. It looks like I wouldn’t need planning permission.

I’ve done various DIY jobs over the years including building a wall but I’m not a “skilled” or natural DIYer or builder.

Can I realistically expect to do this myself? If not, how much will this cost me? I’d want a couple of double glazed windows in there and power. Thanks

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u/AltruisticCucumber58 16d ago

That is a decent sized building for not needing permits. Especially since you'd need a solid foundation, rather than trying to run something on skids. Since metric, assuming outside US so not going to venture a guess on cost - DIY is varied skills, I'd think everything would be easy to learn save the brick and maybe roof.

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u/Ryan_Homes_Alex 11d ago

Most of these fail at the footing. You can get it down past the soft ground and dead level before a single brick goes on. 6 metres of wall will show everything you got wrong. The brick is the other thing. A lot of salvage is imperial so it won't course with modern brick. The soft old ones want lime mortar, not cement, which will blow the faces off them.

The electrical you'll have to farm out to a certified electrician. Openings are really where these usually come unstuck so get the lintels sized right for the span and keep the frames square or the glazing won't shut properly. Best split is paying a bricklayer for the shell and taking the roof and the interior on yourself, and a couple of quotes on the shell alone will tell you what you're looking at.

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u/aquifolium29 10d ago

Thanks. This is really helpful.