New garage / larder - starting from scratch

[75]

With a bit of luck and a fair wind, we're moving house in the next month or so. One of the advantages of the new place is it has a couple of outbuildings - one of which is a decent sized garage (5.5m x 5m and lots of headroom). Problem is that the garage is knackered and needs the gables rebuilt, a new roof and a steel beam across the poorly extended doorway. So it looks likely we'll knock it down, put some proper footings in and rebuild it - which gives me a blank canvass to convert part of it to my larder / deer area.

What are the key features I should look for / specify when having it rebuilt? So far on my list are:

1. Epoxy floor with a decent fall on it and drainage channel across the doorway so I can hose the floor out.
2. Somewhere to hang a hoist - so leave some beams exposed (or at least put some brackets in before boxing in the ceiling).
3. Washable walls - I know parlour board is a cheap way to do it but I was going to look at whether there was a wall finish equivalent to an epoxy floor so I could continue the finish up to, say, 1m up the walls to make hosing down / cleaning easier.
4. Running water, power, good lighting etc.
5. A door high enough that I can reverse the pick-up in as close as possible to the chiller to unload reds!

 

[hendrix's rifle]

Cant help but good luck, shortly im looking to do the same thing!

 

[Heym SR20]

Washable walls. I think the regs say 2m high is required. Local butcher at home shut down his small abbatoir cos walls were only 6ft high, and the clipboard warriors insisted they must be at least 2m. Most larders I have been into have have non slip type tiles on the floor, but epoxy paint with a grit in it would work well.

Ideally you need a rail to slide carcasses into the chiller, and the chiller needs a door so that any washings etc don’t contaminate carcasses that are in there.

For chillers if you going the drinks chiller route all ow enough space for two or three - 1 for in skin, 1 for skinned and 1 for feathered game.

make sure the larder is seperate to the garage so no cross contamination of exhaust fumes, diesel, petrol, paint all other sorts of stuff thats kept in there.

In terms of garage make sure it is high enough for a car lift and long enough for boats etc. Future proofs etc.

Also think alternative use for the building - home office, granny annex etc. Eg it does not add hugely to the cost to put under floor insulation and put in underfloor heating pipes before you lay the slab, but makes it very easy to adapt at future point in time.

http://www.thedeerinitiative.co.uk/uploads/guides/139.pdf

 

[muddy42]

Have you considered pre-fabricated units? They come in a variety of sizes and are fully compliant. In terms of the larder all you'll have to do is level the ground, plug in the utilities and drainage. You could have a separate garage one, which helps with cross contamination as described above.

 

[75]

Cheers - I already have a small walk in chiller that's coming with me. Definitely a balance of keeping cost reasonable but also making it functional and easy to live with!

 

[75]

Have you considered pre-fabricated units? They come in a variety of sizes and are fully compliant. In terms of the larder all you'll have to do is level the ground, plug in the utilities and drainage. You could have a separate garage one, which helps with cross contamination as described above.

For the numbers of deer I do a year, it's not practical to justify the cost unfortunately. I have a chiller already, so it's more a case of partitioning off an area in the garage, put the chiller in there, decent floor / drainage etc, room for a stainless table and easy access to get deer into the chiller itself.

 

[muddy42]

OK, have you considered a hoist rail that starts outside and ends up near your chiller? That way you can do the messier deer work outside (and hose down) then move the deer inside.

 

[Buchan]

Make sure the room is ventilated/breathable!

 

[jcampbellsmith]

One of the best larders that I have seen had two rooms. A wet/dirty room that could be pressure washed. All larder work took place in the first room. Once the carcass was hung on the rail and tagged, it could be pushed into the second room that was a chill. When the game dealer called, he opened the exit door to the chill and removed the carcass.
In essence the carcass never backtracked during processing. Instead it moved round in an 'n' like path. Outside both the entrance and exit door was a concrete pad.
Good luck.
JCS

 

[Fair Hill]

You could do worse than tile the walls with large tiles, the bigger sizes have been popular for a good while now and you should be able to pick up 60cm x 60cm fairly handy, the likes of B&Q would sell them or you'd pick up end of line job lots in tile shops. (You can use floor tiles on walls as well as on a floor but not vice versa.)

 

[75]

Some nice ideas but I should have given some more context.

This is in a domestic garage for a relatively small number of deer a year. Most will be eaten by friends and family, some will go to the AGHE in the fur and some will be processed into prime cuts for farmshop / direct sale. Plan is to build something that lasts as we're not going to be moving any time soon (so a well tiled floor / walls sounds good!); something good enough to register as a food business but not so sophisticated as a full-time larder facility that does dozens and dozens of deer a year. Quite a balance I suspect.

 

[muddy42]

Some nice ideas but I should have given some more context.

This is in a domestic garage for a relatively small number of deer a year. Most will be eaten by friends and family, some will go to the AGHE in the fur and some will be processed into prime cuts for farmshop / direct sale. Plan is to build something that lasts as we're not going to be moving any time soon (so a well tiled floor / walls sounds good!); something good enough to register as a food business but not so sophisticated as a full-time larder facility that does dozens and dozens of deer a year. Quite a balance I suspect.

Its your desire to register as a food business that will give you the most grief. In my view, there is no minimum PHYSICAL specification or set of standards. But do speak to your council to see what they say, read best practice guides etc. Other SD members simply show an inspector a clean kitchen for small numbers of deer work. It is important to do your research regarding the non-physical requirements of the food business registration (record keeping, risk assessments, disposal of waste, carcass tags etc.).

 

[jcampbellsmith]

I've registered two food businesses. The first one was for the fridge in my garage. As noted above, the main concern of the inspector was appropriate paperwork. I registered my father's larder (modern and purpose built) online and never had any inspection of the facility.
Regards
JCS

 

[75]

I'm already registered as a food business in my current premises so familiar with the process (although appreciate it will vary between local authorities). This is more about the practicalities of how to layout / construction materials. that make life easy. Lessons you've learnt, things you'd do differently if starting again etc.

 

[Dan Gliballs]

I get the feeling you've put a lot of thought in to this already and to me it looks like you have all bases covered.

What I can recommend is that you have PLENTY of ventilation. Free natural draught is best. Fans are ok but they just blow the same damp air around.

 

[slider]

I am registered as a food business and venison dealer. I don't intend to "deal" but it was recently made clear to me that this is a requirement to sell any processed venison in Scotland.

my premises are a garage with a hook round a beam for hanging carcases to skin, a second hand larder fridge and a piece of kitchen worktop laid bergen the washing machine and tumble dryer.

As JCS states, the process is pretty pain free,with an emphasis on record keeping.

 

[Infidel7x57]

Lots of good advice given in the replies here. I hope it’s constructive if I advise that you never have enough sockets and good lighting both inside and externally at your doors. Best of luck with your build. Steve

 

[Idlemusket]

I fount the local council were only too happy to offer advice and alternative's when I was starting a mobile butchers base, he saved me £100's on the initial start up and I never had any issues all the time I was trading.

 

[User00047]

With a bit of luck and a fair wind, we're moving house in the next month or so. One of the advantages of the new place is it has a couple of outbuildings - one of which is a decent sized garage (5.5m x 5m and lots of headroom). Problem is that the garage is knackered and needs the gables rebuilt, a new roof and a steel beam across the poorly extended doorway. So it looks likely we'll knock it down, put some proper footings in and rebuild it - which gives me a blank canvass to convert part of it to my larder / deer area.

What are the key features I should look for / specify when having it rebuilt? So far on my list are:

1. Epoxy floor with a decent fall on it and drainage channel across the doorway so I can hose the floor out.
2. Somewhere to hang a hoist - so leave some beams exposed (or at least put some brackets in before boxing in the ceiling).
3. Washable walls - I know parlour board is a cheap way to do it but I was going to look at whether there was a wall finish equivalent to an epoxy floor so I could continue the finish up to, say, 1m up the walls to make hosing down / cleaning easier.
4. Running water, power, good lighting etc.
5. A door high enough that I can reverse the pick-up in as close as possible to the chiller to unload reds!

Polycote do an epoxy based washable food safe wall finish. Not cheap stuff though

Wall Products | Painting, Cladding & Coving | Polycote UK

Polycote is one of the leading providers of maintenance products for walls and ceilings! Shop our paints, cladding and much more!

www.polycote.com

 

[Magnificent 7]

OK, have you considered a hoist rail that starts outside and ends up near your chiller? That way you can do the messier deer work outside (and hose down) then move the deer inside.

I've a beam block and tackle on rollers brand new amd small ideal for larder hence why I got it but tbh ill never use it your more tha welcome to it if you want your possibly local to me 75