Garage Buildlog

[Shawy]

Hi folks.

Having purchased my first house around a year ago, I've finally gotten around to sorting out the garage. A few people over in motors seemed to like it, so here's a sort of 'build log' of what I've done.

Here's the before pictures, from the house advert. It's a 1890's 2 story coach house, complete with stable divider and hay feeding troughs.

Outside:

Front garage:

Rear stables:

Above the stables:

Above the front:

Floor plan:

The upstairs is quite spacious. I'm 6'2" and can stand up in the middle of the room quite easily, I just have to duck to get there.

Everything in the photos came with the house. Quite nice to not have to buy things like ladders, lawnmowers, garden chairs etc when moving into my first house.

 

[rebel rebel]

That's an impressive amount of room.

I would go with garage downstairs and man cave/office upstairs. Stable for storing lawnmower and other bits.

 

[keylion]

Great looking building. Look forward to seeing what you do with it. I think rebel's suggestion is pretty much what I'd do. It looks like you've got power in there already which is a good start.

 

[Shawy]

That's an impressive amount of room.

I would go with garage downstairs and man cave/office upstairs. Stable for storing lawnmower and other bits.

Man cave & office have to be in the house, unless I fit a bedroom in there too; I wouldn’t want to have to lock up and walk back to the house to go to bed after a late night session.

 

[kinobestew123]

Are you going to try and keep the character? I'd find it hard to decide what to do with that. It looks great!

 

[Shawy]

Are you going to try and keep the character? I'd find it hard to decide what to do with that. It looks great!

Im going to keep as much as I can, while still having a usable space. Obviously the floor is terrible for working on, but at the same time really suits the building.

Anyway, first thing to be done is a good old fashioned clear out & clean.
There’s a lot of stuff left by the previous owners, some really useful, some useful to someone else, other bits for the tip:

I found 2 dead rats, a few hundred thousand spiders, and more dirt/dust than I thought possible.

 

[Hedge]

The floor in there is so damn cool.

Great project.

 

[Robdav]

subscribed!

I wish I had something this size to play with. I have a garage which is 9 meters by 3 but it's old and damp and cold and will get knocked down once the world gets back on its feet again.

 

[Shawy]

subscribed!

I wish I had something this size to play with. I have a garage which is 9 meters by 3 but it's old and damp and cold and will get knocked down once the world gets back on its feet again.

Mine is about 10x3m. It’s 130 years old, it’s damp and it’s cold. Why knock yours down?

 

[BigBoy]

I would look at sealing the floor with liquid acrylic or clear epoxy so walking on a level surface rather than the cobbles, but still keeping the look and feel of the cobbles.

Other wise it's a fantastic space and something I wish I had.

 

[andy_mk3]

Wow that's amazing. A piece of history right there. Will be following your progress

 

[Robdav]

Mine is about 10x3m. It’s 130 years old, it’s damp and it’s cold. Why knock yours down?

Because I want to replace it with a purpose built office and utility room.

 

[balls]

My S2000 is jealous of your cars home

 

[Martynt74]

I would look at sealing the floor with liquid acrylic or clear epoxy so walking on a level surface rather than the cobbles, but still keeping the look and feel of the cobbles.

Other wise it's a fantastic space and something I wish I had.

That's an excellent idea. Although not sure how costly it would be, as it looks like it'd need a lot of leveling!

 

[Shawy]

I would look at sealing the floor with liquid acrylic or clear epoxy so walking on a level surface rather than the cobbles, but still keeping the look and feel of the cobbles.

Other wise it's a fantastic space and something I wish I had.

Hadn't thought of that, definitely worth looking into. Like Marv said though, the floor is very uneven and I'd either end up with 1-2" thick acrylic in places or would have to remove bricks, level off the ground and relay then acrylic. I've done a few jobs on my car/wood working in there as it is, and other than being a right pain to clean afterwards, it's not too bad.

 

[Shawy]

Throughout this project, I'm not just going to be working on the inside of the garage, but overhauling the outside/drive/part of the back garden with it. Here's why:

This concrete wall is hideous. I don't want to have to see this whenever I park my car or go to the garage.


It's also hiding a bunch of spikey foliage, which will also have to go.



Removing the bushes, I noticed what looks like a former attached building, possibly an old outdoor toilet.


A little bit of curious digging, and the outside toilet was confirmed, with some old pottery pipes.

Doesn't look like they'd still be connected to anything, so I won't be reinstalling a toilet in the garden...

A few hours later, and everything has been dug out, most of the roots have also been removed.


I also moved the edging tiles to leave 12" or so of soil to plant some rose bushes up the side of the garage eventually.



That's it until next time.

 

[BigBoy]

Looks like your have made a sizeable dent in the start of this project, good work!

 

[Shawy]

Looks like your have made a sizeable dent in the start of this project, good work!

Making the most of good weather.

 

[Shawy]

Finished with clearing the outside.

Ugly, old, concrete wall has gone:


Covered the soil with slate to match the rest of the garden (for now).


Cleared away all the rubbish too, so here’s the front view from the driveway:


And a view from the garden out to the driveway:


Just need something to replace the wall with...

 

[panthro]

This is great, even from just the historical aspect.