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Garage Conversion to Pinball Room

GezTheHealer

GezTheHealer

Site Supporter
5Years
Joined
Apr 20, 2018
Messages
546
Location
Trowbridge
So, last year in April I bought my first pinball. A Surf n'Safari, it was great, sat in the conservatory and I still enjoy it. Come August, I'd gone and got another - Judge Dredd. Personal dream machine of mine as I love the comics and the only JD's I'd been able to play on location were - £4000 at HLD - Not working. On site in the Bury Arcade - not working when I visited, and the one I got to play at Flip Out in London, had an issue where the game seemed to go on forever - all the extra balls. I played through the modes (on I don't know how many balls and shuffled away). Still I was very pleased to find a nice enough version through here and since then it's had a bit of love (new rubbers/ home made topper & some little fixes).

However - Two pinballs in the Conservatory over the summer, it'd get too hot in there, they needed to come into the Living Room until we did something sensible like convert the Garage to house the pins. So saved up a bit, borrowed a bit and by September, I was contacting builders with fingers crossed I could get the Garage converted by Christmas - which seemed like a good time to get another machine anyways.

The Garage Conversion became the main choice for a few reasons : easy access to the rest of the house, room for 7 machines, cheaper than building an extensions/probably cheaper than building a heated pin shed, no planning permission needed (got some room in the front garden but not the rear garden for a pinshed). The plan is to ... next year or so, build a little garage in the garden to move the motorbike into, so the Pinball room can become... completely full of pinballs. This is of course following the discussions with the boss involving lines like 'no, okay, we can't build one there because you don't want me to knock down that tree' and 'yes, if you help me pay for this, I'll help you pay for a new kitchen in the future'.

Here are the pictures showing the development of my Pinball Garage conversion.

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Summer 2019 - Pins in house..
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Sept 2019 - Photoshop plans

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October 2019 - Clearing Garage.
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October 2019 - Removing old shelves.
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Sorry bikey..
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Trip to dump.

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Happy Christmas 2019 Pins!7-January-2020.jpg
Jan 2020 - Pins get a new pal
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Work Starts! Feb 2020 - Levelling floor.

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Feb 2020 - You stud you.
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Feb 2020, Room full of studs.
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Feb 2020 - Let there be - cables to the lights.


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Feb 2020 - Plug pin in here..

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Feb 2020 - Walls filled with 'don't bother the neighbours' material.
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Feb 2020 Walls.
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Feb 2020 - Plaster.
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Feb 2020 Lights and floor and an old door.
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March 2020 - Door and Skirting.
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March 2020 - New Doors.
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March 2020 - Door Frame Plaster.

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March 2020 - Lockdown begins (School hall laid out for Mock Exams to prepare for exams which won't happen this summer).

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March 2020 - With Builders in Lockdown have to employee alternative labourer (my wife).

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March 2020 - She won't help no more, I have to do the rest myself.
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March 2020 - Painting.

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March 2020 - More Painting.

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March 2020 - More Painting.
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March 2020 - Starting to come together.
 

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... Continued ....
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April 2020 - Walls and woodwork painted. Waiting on when I can get flooring fitted. Glad Greg & Ben suggested I get dimmer switches. Fun to play with.
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April 2020 - Looking like a real room... but I do need a floor.

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June 2020 - Sod a real floor, get new pins in there.
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June 2020 - Ahh, new floor fitted pins encroaching on a 'collection'.
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June 2020 - Present: Dolly's on loan and it's not easy to beat Keith's 800,000 score.


So there you go. Cost about £9000, with insulated floor, walls, lots of electrical outputs, dimmer switches, double UPVC doors and all that. Very pleased that she can watch TV in the other room and I can play pinball without having to stand over a fan in the conservatory as I bake. Happy days.
 
Calimori said:
That looks like a good job well done.
I am actually a member of the Garage Appreciation Society. We cry when a garage is altered to no longer hold a vehicle but your motorbike is still in there so we are happy with this. [emoji6]
Click to expand...
How many people actually put a car in their ( single ) garage anyway? a low % I'd guess.
 
kevlar said:
How many people actually put a car in their ( single ) garage anyway? a low % I'd guess.
Click to expand...

Hence the need for the society. We recommend filling them with motorbikes or classic cars.
My single garage is so tight that it is hard to open the doors on my classic beetle and I climbed out of the boot of the Golf.
 
Calimori said:
Hence the need for the society. We recommend filling them with motorbikes or classic cars.
My single garage is so tight that it is hard to open the doors on my classic beetle and I climbed out of the boot of the Golf.
Click to expand...
Photo of the classic Beetle needed, love em!
 
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Here she is a few years ago at our wedding. Prior to me, she was owned by the family who lived next to my grandparents since new. I have known the car all my life and they chose to sell as I was looking to buy one. It felt right to keep this one as original as possible as it was kept unmolested by the original owners. They didn’t even fit a radio. So most parts are NOS if we can get it.
 
You certainly lucked out with the weather for your wedding day Geoff. What a cracker!

The beetle is nice obviously too. 😀
 
A neighbour recently had a double garage converted to a single, during planning it wasn't considered loss of a parking space as the internal area didn't meet the minimum size of 7 x 3.2m (per space) and this was on a relatively modern 1980's house.
 
Obviously, we are distracting from the awesome games room. And there is no society to protect garages as far as I know.

That measurement just highlights that there are different opinions on what a garage is for vs a parking space. I would love the dream of an indoor parking room where I can also work on the car in all weathers. Where the family can load up the car indoors before the outer door opens and we depart into the sunlight. I have see a few of these, one was full of pins and no cars but they are rare and I would call them a workshop rather than garage.
Most of us have a place we can keep our car out of the weather, dust and bird poop, with a little bit more security than the open. Where we can barely more around them, that also stores the trickle charger and the liquids that need to be topped up.
But there is a pleasure to opening up these tiny spaces we call a garage and saying “hello” to your pride and joy.
 
robotgreg said:
With a lot of the garages these days, once you've driven in there's not enough room to open the car door to get out again. Don't think they're designed for cars any more!!
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I believe (and I could be wrong on this), it's actually more expensive in terms of car insurance if you state the car is to be garaged compared to on a driveway or even the street.
 
No longer used our garage for cars, so converted the quad into a home gym... been useful during these to times to compensate for the booze i've drunk! and still put on weight :(
 
Rob zombie said:
I believe (and I could be wrong on this), it's actually more expensive in terms of car insurance if you state the car is to be garaged compared to on a driveway or even the street.
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Not sure about this. I am pretty sure my very cheap classic insurance requires that it must be garaged at night.

I love the idea of bringing the car closer to inside.
A friend use to being his motorbikes into the house during winter and it meant he got to ride more as his wife left.
My crazy long term plan is to build a double garage over the kitchen (the single garage is already on the first floor). Then have a wall of glass facing the court yard and garden so the cars are on display. (I can’t afford or justify this)
 
Best way to keep a garage clean and free from clutter is to keep a car in it; as my father likes to say. I'm able to just about squeeze my Honda Civic in our 1960s garage with room to get in and out of doors obviously.
 
Fantastic stuff mate. A cracking room for some pins.
I really like your choice of pins too. Nice to see some that aren't 7k sterns.
Pity it cost you 9k as that's a lot of pins haha. But it is a good long term investment.
I did a basic conversion of my garage to house my arcade stuff.
Mine is 24ft long so I have split it 2/3rds arcade, the rest for my kids toys and stuff.
I thought I had loads of room but I'm full already. I would love to have all pins but I like a bit of variety as I'm into my arcade shmups and racing games.
 
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