Garage Conversion

[Carl Spiby]

As I'm whittling down my collection to 2 machines, I will have an opportunity to do something with the garage.

The garage is attached to the kitchen via an internal door, I have a standard up and over garage door and the walls are just unpainted block.

I did paint the floor last year to keep the dust level down but its just generally too cold to use it in the winter.

As I'm completely feckless when it comes to DIY, what would I need to do? Is battening the walls and plaster-boarding the best option? Bearing in mind I can't lose too much width else I wont be able to get the glass off the machines.

 

[JT.]

@Gaz Shiells did something similar with his garage - there's a thread on here which probably has some good advice in it. Are the exterior walls double skinned with a cavity in between internal blocks and external brickwork? If so, the cheapest option would probably be to just paint the walls, insulate the back of the garage door (if feasible, without getting insulating material in the way of the up-and-over mechanism) and install a good heater for winter. Next cheapest option is probably to apply plasterboard to the walls using the dot-and-dab method, and the most expensive is probably the baton and plasterboard approach. Which of those options is the 'best' is dependent on how you define best - cost, aesthetics, how long you plan to spend in there, etc.

 

[BigIan]

When I did my garage up (on the cheap) i first put silverbacked bubble wrap style insulation on the floor, vapor barier and the laminate flooring on top. On the walls I used the same bubble wrap stuff and then placed batons ontop of the bubble wrap and then just put beauty board style sheets to finish it off.

Also put some 3x2 boards across the walls and floored it to make an attic for storing a load of garage crap. Put more of the beauty board stuff on the underside to make a ceiling.

Put up lighters and plug units in the walls and a few spot lights on the ceiling for when working on the pins etc.

Total cost was about £200, decent enough at keeping the temperature regulated. Replaced the up and over door with a roller door the previous year so that wasn't included in the cost.

Cheers
Ian

 

[JMP]

Carl, if you're struggling I'll come up give you a hand. The walls won't take much , something like 50X50 pressure treated battens with 50mm cavity batt insulation or polyurethane/polystyrene (latter cheap) sheet stuffed between then plywood or plasterboard over. No need to plaster. Can do same to floor if you wanted as I did in games room, chipboard panels or plywood over. Problem will be your up and over door as no insulation and draughty.... Do you have room to fit a stud partition wall where the garage door stops when up? Would leave you a bit of workshop space at the front, Daz has this kind of setup in his. Otherwise, maybe change for a sectional insulated roller shutter. These can have a rubber seal at bottom, are insulated between two sheets of metal and roll up meaning they only take a foot or two beyond the door line. Could be pricey though....

John.