Technical Specifications

A Nucrete concrete garage is built from steel-reinforced, machine-vibrated concrete panels made in our own Bradford factory, topped with cement fibre, steel or translucent roof sheets on steel trusses. This page sets out the full specification — panels, roofs, doors, heights, overhangs and the base your building needs. If you can't find the answer here, ask us.

Every panel is steel-reinforced, machine-vibrated concrete with Derbyshire aggregate multi-spa chippings on the exterior face, cast in our Bradford factory. Panels come in three standard heights and three standard widths, which is how we build so many different sizes from the same proven system.

Cement fibre roof sheets are the standard choice. They're manufactured in the UK by Eternit to the highest strength category of BS EN 494, guaranteed for 30 years with a life expectancy of 40+ years, and corrugated with a thickness of around 6mm.

Galvanised steel 'Ultra' sheets have fewer joins, which makes them a good security upgrade for higher-risk sites such as council-owned garage compounds, schools and works premises.

Translucent roof sheets let daylight into the building. They're a fibre-gel based product — much stronger and more durable than traditional clear plastic roofing — supplied in 1.8m × 0.9m panels (less an overlap of roughly 100mm all round when fitted).

The roof sits on welded 40mm × 40mm × 5mm angle-iron mild steel trusses with a red oxide primer coat, fitted at 1.8m centres on apex buildings and 1.2m centres on pent roof buildings. Pent roof double garages also get a stability frame — an RSJ beam with channel-iron legs to front and rear, again primed with red oxide. Purlins are 75mm × 50mm softwood from managed forests.

Timber fascias are tongue-and-groove boarding, with 40mm-thick side skirts, all treated with Cuprinol red cedar preservative before they leave the factory.

If you'd rather never paint anything, choose the PVCu option: colour-stable white PVCu cladding wrapped around the timber in structural areas, and replacing the timber entirely in non-structural areas of the building.

External heights for a standard-height building are below. Pent roof buildings (the old name was sloping roof) are highest at the front, apex buildings at the ridge. Taller panel options are available — see the panel heights above.

Up & Over doors are the standard garage door, in widths including 7′, 8′, 9′, 10′, 12′ and 14′ apertures — ask us for full details. Door height, and the clearance you get when the door is open, depends on the building height you choose:

Bear in mind that an Up & Over door swings outwards approximately 1 metre before returning back towards the garage — allow for that when positioning your base.

Personnel (side) doors are also available. The widths below are opening sizes, excluding the frame:

On an apex building the Up & Over door can be fitted in any plane — front, rear or either side — and more than one door is possible (front and rear, for example), subject to specification. On a pent roof building the door goes in the front or rear (or both, subject to specification), which is what creates a forward- or rearward-sloping roof.

Personnel doors and windows can be fitted virtually anywhere except across roof truss positions and in the exact corners of the building. Doors open outwards as standard and can be hinged left or right; inward-opening doors are also available.

The roof overhangs the walls, so if you're building close to a fence or wall, allow for it when planning the base position:

The base must be concrete, a minimum of 100mm (4″) thick — ideally thickened to 150mm (6″) around the perimeter of the slab — and completely flat, level and square. It should be approximately 150mm (6″) wider and 150mm (6″) longer than the desired garage size, positioned with roof overhangs, guttering and door swings in mind. New concrete should cure for at least a week before your building is delivered.

After installation, a mortar fillet seals the panels at the base junction. It's applied to the inside of the building only, triangular in shape, spanning roughly 25mm (1″) of panel and base. The door weather strip is screwed to the base with rawl plugs, with the fillet applied both inside and outside of the strip. It must be done on a dry day, and adding Unibond (or similar) to the mixing water at 1 part to 5 parts water gives a stronger bond — our installation teams handle all of this as part of the job.

Our lorry needs to get within 30 metres of your proposed base. The panels are extremely heavy, so health and safety regulations require us to move them from the lorry to the base on a 900mm (3′) wide hand-operated trolley. That means the route needs to be clear of steps, gate openings narrower than 900mm, steep inclines, soft ground and rough terrain.

Access problems don't necessarily stop us delivering and installing your building — but you must tell the office about them at the point of order, or before, so we can plan for it.

One honest caveat: we reserve the right to modify specifications or materials without notice due to improvements or shortages, and all sizes are approximate. If you need exact measurements for a tight site, contact the office and we'll confirm them for your building.