Dutton Kit Cars and their owners

Garage Improvements

For some time I had been thinking of getting an electric garage door, partly because I wouldn't have to do all of the getting out of the car to shut the door malarkey and partly so that my wife could get her mobility scooter in and out on her own (and take her dog for a walk, saving me an hour each evening to spend on my cars). Then a colleague told me about his electric roller shutter garage door that he was selling. Like an optimistic old fool I snapped it up.

The door was 4.6m wide so I had to cut it down, which was actually a very had task to do on my own because the damn thing weighs over 60kg and it was almost exactly the width of my drive, so it was very difficult to manoeuvre. The shutters are a thin aluminium aerofoil section that is filled with foam so I was able to cut it with a circular saw.

The garage roof needed extensive changes - basically I removed the front truss and the first two asbestolux panels and refitted the truss two foot further back. I replaced the whole front of the garage with treated timber and built a pitched roof over the roller, so I have got a bigger opening in both height and width. The exposed timber is going to be clad in plastic and the roof will have heavy weight mineralised felt, but I can't do that until it is dry.

The door is now operational but I can't get any of my cars in until I have reorganised the garage. The total cost has now reached £700 but over half of that has been the roof and garage alterations. It will be nice when it is completely finished and then I can get back to my cars.

This is it before...