4ndy
Established Member
Hi Everyone,
I've been lurking for a number of months, and have greatly enjoyed reading through the threads whilst working on the house that we moved into in May this year. The house was in reasonably livable condition, built in 1996 and new windows and doors fitted in 2005 (trims fitted over the wallpaper, so hadn't been decorated since).
Months of wallpaper removal, flattening, painting, glossing, carpeting and updating have ensued.
I've still to fit a new downstairs loo, family bathroom and new kitchen at some point, but otherwise it's now decorated through-out, with the exception of those rooms and the hall/stairs/landing.
However, one of the main reasons I liked the house was the attached double garage. The garage is attached to the house via a shared wall with the utility room, but there is no through-route. You effectively take one step outside of the back door, and step into the rear garage door.
The garage appears to be built with a block internal wall and brick outer wall and appears to have a DPM (there's certainly no moisture under paint tins etc that have been sat for long periods of time) and has well fitted roller shutter doors. The ceiling is currently - well, it's not there at all - and it's open up to the felt under the tiles. It's roughly 4.5 x 4.5 meters internal space and currently everything is piled up on the floor . I'm feeling very lucky to have a great space, but as always, I now have the space but not the time (I used to have so much time but no space! (hammer) :roll: ).
I've bought a couple of B&Q metal shelving units whilst they were on offer to at least get everything off the floor, but I'm also wondering what to do longer-term. I don't have much in the way of wood working tools (yet!), but have quite a few as-I've-needed-them-DIY-tools.
Times limited (full time job, 9 month old and many, many "little" jobs that need doing around the house), so it's going to be a slow project, but wanted to ask if anyone has any recommendations on starting to turn this space into a workshop?
Sooo, if I haven't bored you all to tears yet:
1 - Open roof trusses - is it worth boarding these out with plasterboard, insulation and then loft boards for storage? - Thinking is that it will drastically reduce heat loss, still provide storage for seldom-used tools and timber lengths?
2 - Walls - simplest idea is to just paint them white, but alternatively could line them with OSB or plasterboard (cheaper?)? - Aim is to smarten the walls up, improve light reflection and remove another source of dust.
3 - Wiring - many many more sockets required - currently there's one double! This will be straight forward as the CU is in the garage and a dedicated ring (maybe 16 amp sockets at the same time for any future toy purchases =P~ :mrgreen: ) is probably in order.
4 - Lighting - two fluorescent tubes are about as much use as a pair of candles. Thinking of the LED ceiling panels that look like good value 600x600mm, or the 1200x600mm panels with adjustable work lights in key locations.
5 - Floor - not sure what to do here. Currently it's concrete, but is very rough, dusty, and looks like it was poured in a couple of stages, but otherwise sound. Ideally I'd like it flat (level would be even better!) and a lot kinder to feet. I could potentially grind back what's there and put down carpet tiles? At the moment I have a load of carpet off-cuts to use, but longer term there must be a better solution?
6 - Heating - Now there's a luxury I never thought I'd have the option of! There's nothing currently, but as the garage is connected to the house, there's a chance I'll be able to pull a loop off the existing radiator's and run that into the garage, even if it's just left on a frost setting - good idea? Think the wife will try and move me into there permanently if I'm not careful!
7 - Noise abatement? I like tinkering and although I wouldn't start ripping lengths of timber on a table saw first thing on a Sunday morning, I don't want to cause too much noise at other times either. We live at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac with a lot of retiree's and would rather not be "that" neighbor. (Although I'm sure they're already questioning that as we're one of the few houses with Christmas lights :deer :ho2 :lol: ). Would the above measures reduce the noise considerably? Would noise absorbing panels help? The roller doors are well sealed, with seals around the doors (no light escapes) and are insulated slats, but what else can I do to reduce noise transmission to the outside world?
Think that's it for now, apologies for the long ramble and many questions .
Thank you for the fantastic forum, and I hope I can contribute in the future .
All the very best,
Andy. ccasion5:
I've been lurking for a number of months, and have greatly enjoyed reading through the threads whilst working on the house that we moved into in May this year. The house was in reasonably livable condition, built in 1996 and new windows and doors fitted in 2005 (trims fitted over the wallpaper, so hadn't been decorated since).
Months of wallpaper removal, flattening, painting, glossing, carpeting and updating have ensued.
I've still to fit a new downstairs loo, family bathroom and new kitchen at some point, but otherwise it's now decorated through-out, with the exception of those rooms and the hall/stairs/landing.
However, one of the main reasons I liked the house was the attached double garage. The garage is attached to the house via a shared wall with the utility room, but there is no through-route. You effectively take one step outside of the back door, and step into the rear garage door.
The garage appears to be built with a block internal wall and brick outer wall and appears to have a DPM (there's certainly no moisture under paint tins etc that have been sat for long periods of time) and has well fitted roller shutter doors. The ceiling is currently - well, it's not there at all - and it's open up to the felt under the tiles. It's roughly 4.5 x 4.5 meters internal space and currently everything is piled up on the floor . I'm feeling very lucky to have a great space, but as always, I now have the space but not the time (I used to have so much time but no space! (hammer) :roll: ).
I've bought a couple of B&Q metal shelving units whilst they were on offer to at least get everything off the floor, but I'm also wondering what to do longer-term. I don't have much in the way of wood working tools (yet!), but have quite a few as-I've-needed-them-DIY-tools.
Times limited (full time job, 9 month old and many, many "little" jobs that need doing around the house), so it's going to be a slow project, but wanted to ask if anyone has any recommendations on starting to turn this space into a workshop?
Sooo, if I haven't bored you all to tears yet:
1 - Open roof trusses - is it worth boarding these out with plasterboard, insulation and then loft boards for storage? - Thinking is that it will drastically reduce heat loss, still provide storage for seldom-used tools and timber lengths?
2 - Walls - simplest idea is to just paint them white, but alternatively could line them with OSB or plasterboard (cheaper?)? - Aim is to smarten the walls up, improve light reflection and remove another source of dust.
3 - Wiring - many many more sockets required - currently there's one double! This will be straight forward as the CU is in the garage and a dedicated ring (maybe 16 amp sockets at the same time for any future toy purchases =P~ :mrgreen: ) is probably in order.
4 - Lighting - two fluorescent tubes are about as much use as a pair of candles. Thinking of the LED ceiling panels that look like good value 600x600mm, or the 1200x600mm panels with adjustable work lights in key locations.
5 - Floor - not sure what to do here. Currently it's concrete, but is very rough, dusty, and looks like it was poured in a couple of stages, but otherwise sound. Ideally I'd like it flat (level would be even better!) and a lot kinder to feet. I could potentially grind back what's there and put down carpet tiles? At the moment I have a load of carpet off-cuts to use, but longer term there must be a better solution?
6 - Heating - Now there's a luxury I never thought I'd have the option of! There's nothing currently, but as the garage is connected to the house, there's a chance I'll be able to pull a loop off the existing radiator's and run that into the garage, even if it's just left on a frost setting - good idea? Think the wife will try and move me into there permanently if I'm not careful!
7 - Noise abatement? I like tinkering and although I wouldn't start ripping lengths of timber on a table saw first thing on a Sunday morning, I don't want to cause too much noise at other times either. We live at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac with a lot of retiree's and would rather not be "that" neighbor. (Although I'm sure they're already questioning that as we're one of the few houses with Christmas lights :deer :ho2 :lol: ). Would the above measures reduce the noise considerably? Would noise absorbing panels help? The roller doors are well sealed, with seals around the doors (no light escapes) and are insulated slats, but what else can I do to reduce noise transmission to the outside world?
Think that's it for now, apologies for the long ramble and many questions .
Thank you for the fantastic forum, and I hope I can contribute in the future .
All the very best,
Andy. ccasion5: