Garage inspiration

theNude

theNude

theNude

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10 May 2006
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2,334
Hi,

I recently acquired a new house with a decent workshop/garage.

The garage is about 9m by 8m with an electric over the top double garage door, a centrally located inspection pit and the roof is floored with loft space into the eaves for storage.

I am excited as I can stop having to travel 40 miles to my Mx-5 and can finally finish it off after over 2 years off the road. I am also happy as it will finally be all mine and I can do what I want with it, the room in the roof is enough to store any rubbish so It will be nice and clutter free (gf stuff free!). So far I have bought new tools inc air compressor etc which I am fine on.

My plan is to put in some shelves and workbenches to house a bench drill/vices etc and keep it all neat. I have been looking at BIGDUG ones as they are cheap and look fairly well built. Does anyone else have any recomendations?


I want to paint the walls and floor also to keep dust down, any recomendations for paint types? I considered the hammer together floor tiles but they seem to be about 800 pounds to cover the floor.

Any pictures are also welcome for inspiration of your nice garages!
 
It's worth tiling it if you can. Makes it so much more pleasant to work in. Absorb some of the hit if you drop something, too. My dad got his from Mototile, don't know how much it cost, though.
 
I'll be getting my first garage too which will be a good size. Will be nice not doing jobs on the car on the side of the road with my legs dangling out onto a busy road! Planning to pipe in a compressed into the loft space plenty of LED lighting including low level lighting, may run some underfloor stuff in too. Going to stick a basin in there too, save me messing up the house with greasy hands.
 
Bigdug stuff is fine. I bought a load of it 14 years ago for garage shelving and a lower unit to double up as a workbench. All still going strong.
 
I've a similar size garage to you OP, and this post in the "What have you done to your car today?" shows what I did to mine:

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=27667024&postcount=8454

I've since added some racking that my Father in law kindly got for free from an office clearout but it's mostly the same.

Biggest piece of advice is to not skimp on the floor if possible. I used Watco "Toughcoat" Floor Paint for mine and generally wished I hadn't. Despite looking nice in the pictures it is lifting in several places now.

You're probably in the same boat as me in that you are a victim of the size of the garage in that it will cost a lot to coat it whatever method you use (first world problems!), but if I was going to do it again, I would have probably saved for a good epoxy based solution instead. Tiles are another good option but I wanted a light colour for maximising light under the car, and also was a bit wary about their ability to stay water tight in the event of spillages (my roller shutters face the prevailing wind and rain can get blown in around the edges).

Wall paint I just used a cheap exterior masonry paint from Woodies (think B&Q) - it's been great so far.
 
Massive garage envy there Gaygin, i've just moved into our new build house and had plans for an epic garage but ran out of money at the end so it had to be cut :(

I've seen people tile garage floors before but i imagine that'd be fairly pricey as you'd want to use porcelain tiles but it'd probably be the best to keep clean and offer good light under the car. I've also seen people use Vinyl flooring but again don't know how that'd work out if you spilt anything on it and it got round the edges or into a seam.
 
Painting the walls white is great as it really brightens up the room. I just put lino on my floor and seal it round the edges. It is cheap and can be replaced quite easily. Mine is your usual garage where I can just about fit my Celica in. Saab not a chance in hell but at least I can get the front in out of the wet to do work on it.

I use parking sensors mounted onto the walls to make sure I do not hit anything but with a garage your size it shouldn't really be needed. For lighting I just use bog standard tubes but have 4 of them on the ceiling.

A good thing to have is some sort of water supply. I have a pipe running into the garage which I use to connect my jet wash. Also use it to wash my hands otherwise I get a slap in the face for ruining the dish cloths!

As for shelving have a look on local sites etc as a lot of places getting refits done they just junk all their old stuff. I have shelves in my garage made from cut down interior doors but they do the job dandy!!

I really need to look at some heating as for now I just put extra layers underneath my overalls.
 
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I desperately want the floor doing in my garage, it's just under 6m x 6m, concrete floor is so dusty can never get it swept clean.

Ideally due to time and my own lack of ability would love to find someone to come in and do it for me :)
 
The day we moved in!
garage1.jpg


Started to remove stuff, and mid-taking down of the existing shelving
garage2.jpg


The workbench/racking unit I made from the old shelves, in the corner, old plasma installed. Oh, and a bit more tidying/unpacking.
garage3.jpg


Some more unpacking and matting down.. Also my Son "helping"...
garage4.jpg


MG takes up residence!
garage5.jpg


Making more mess...
garage6.jpg


Getting the gear set up..
garage7.jpg


More matting
garage8.jpg

garage9.jpg


Door insulation - not tidy, but does the job!
garage10.jpg


I then built and put up a new shelf, custom shaped to allow me to still open the MG bonnet, and also act as a step up for when I am hanging my MTB, so it does not touch the MG!

newbuildstuff.jpg


Thats pretty much all I have done up till now. We have a newborn at the mo, so my time in the garage is somewhat curtailed!
 
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I like the last 3 letters of your plate :D

Nice improvements, been holding mine off for a few years...well 10 years, wow :/
 
Shortly after moving in:

iJj7854.jpg

(Admittedly mid-renovation)

After a few skips and 9 months of being used as a dumping ground we sorted it all out fully last week:

Part way there:

V6rgfem.jpg


And then fully re-filled (with the right stuff)

Ul3TjJD.jpg


Thankfully the rockwall should be going this evening!
 
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