We've been meaning to upgrade the garage for ages, and now I've been kicked out of what used to be my home-office, it seemed like the perfect time to go full man cave!
The garage is currently a single skin brick double garage with concrete block "support pillars" on each wall and 2 up-and-over garage doors. The plan is to put down an 'industrial' rubber floor (50x50 tiles) and then batten the walls ready for wiring and insulation. I've decided to go with insulated plasterboard for convenience. I'll insulate the ceiling as well and put in lighting. One of the doors is going to be sealed in behind a false wall, and the other is going to be replaced - thinking an insulated roller door so I can get rid of the ugly iron work of the up and over.
The floor went in fairly easily, and I have finished most of the battening for the 3 walls. Couple of pics of the progress so far:
https://i.~ibb.co~/ksp5N666/IMG-20250815-WA0003.jpg
The flooring worked well, although I may use some rugs in the living portion of the conversion - the idea is to have one side for tools and workshop, and the other for gaming / movies etc...
https://i.~ibb.co~/FbRgzXhm/20250730-164845.jpg
https://i.~ibb.co~/tTHb4kkN/20250730-164858alt.jpg
I could use some advice on the concrete columns. They are a single column of concrete block build up against the brick walls. They are a pain as they break up the wall and mean I will have to either box them in, or come up with a creative solution. I've had a few thoughts but need some guidance:
The garage is currently a single skin brick double garage with concrete block "support pillars" on each wall and 2 up-and-over garage doors. The plan is to put down an 'industrial' rubber floor (50x50 tiles) and then batten the walls ready for wiring and insulation. I've decided to go with insulated plasterboard for convenience. I'll insulate the ceiling as well and put in lighting. One of the doors is going to be sealed in behind a false wall, and the other is going to be replaced - thinking an insulated roller door so I can get rid of the ugly iron work of the up and over.
The floor went in fairly easily, and I have finished most of the battening for the 3 walls. Couple of pics of the progress so far:
https://i.~ibb.co~/ksp5N666/IMG-20250815-WA0003.jpg
The flooring worked well, although I may use some rugs in the living portion of the conversion - the idea is to have one side for tools and workshop, and the other for gaming / movies etc...
https://i.~ibb.co~/FbRgzXhm/20250730-164845.jpg
https://i.~ibb.co~/tTHb4kkN/20250730-164858alt.jpg
I could use some advice on the concrete columns. They are a single column of concrete block build up against the brick walls. They are a pain as they break up the wall and mean I will have to either box them in, or come up with a creative solution. I've had a few thoughts but need some guidance:
- Options: Simply box them in with the kingspan / celotex - a pain, but a simple solution.
- Turn them into a feature. I was looking at somewhere between 50mm and 75mm insulated plasterboard. The concrete comes out about 80mm from the battens, so I could leave it just proud of the new walls. Presumably leaving them like that would be a massive no-no for the insulation properties of the room. Can I seal them? Is there any way to make that work and still keep the room warm? I was toying with putting a vinyl wrap over whatever the sealed solution was as decoration?
- Turn them into a light feature: I'm still deciding on the lighting solution for the space, but I like the idea of mounting LEDs on the pillars and covering them with a translucent sheet of acrylic to use them as 3 (fully colour controllable) light fountains in the room. Again - Any way to seal the concrete? How do I stop the heat leeching out through it?
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