Aright guys,

It's that time, I have moved in to a house that has a garage and for the last year I have been DIY'n the inside of the house and now the attention can finally be put on the garage. This thread will be from start to finish (including the gutting of the thing, electrics, paint, floor, storage and all the rest).

If you guys also have any ideas that I could incoporate in to my garage it would be appreciated, for example fold away work tables.

Anyway the garage is about 2 car lengths and it stretches open at the back. An S2000 could easily fit in to the garage and if you tilt it a bit towards the back then you can access all the wheels. The other vehicle that will live in it is the motorcycle (Honda CBR600RR).





So far I have removed all the existing benches, I wanted to start off with a blank canvas so I could really plan it out and have something that makes the most of the space I have.

Updates will follow, hopefully not too sparingly (this weekend should have some decent progress).

 

That looks like a decent size, should be nice when done!

I've just finished painting the walls in my garage, it's really brightened the place up. I still have the floor to do which I'll do with epoxy paint but it needs to be a bit warmer for that.

When doing the electrics make sure you add lots of light in there, I put 3 big strip lights in my single garage.

 

If you can get away with it - dig a pit

 

Already wayyy ahead of you there, bought two more strip lights and will be installing them over the weekend. Also installing a couple more power outlets (one for the beer fridge)

Just wondering what paint you used on your walls? Mine seem to be pre-casted concrete pieces bolted together and it seems to have some form of sheen on them. Unsure whether or not masonry paint would adhere to it?


What are the benefits of having a pit over just jacking it up or purchasing some sort of scissor lift?

 

We have a pit(well my dad does)it's ok for fitting exhausts,oil changes etc.or in my dad's case,polishing under the car lol.if the roof was higher on his garage he would have definately bought a lift.

 

If you have a pit and you jack the car even a bit - you have somewhere to go if the thing falls off. It just makes things like oil changes / driveshafts / exhausts / gearbox issues etc etc that much easier.

 

Maybe you could buy a small pot of masonry paint and try it first? My walls were just normal brick so it went on alright, pig of a job to get it in all the grouting though but it's done now.





Can't wait to have the floor done too so it's not as dusty anymore.
Hardtop normally lives in the shed but I still need to get the garden furniture out

 

You shouldn't have a problem with the paint be it emulsion or masonry paint , if the walls are cast concrete or other masonry , just use a stiff broom and give them a good brush to remove any dust etc .
Lighting , you can never have enough in a work space , sockets make sure you have RCBO protection on the circuit I f the house isn't already equipment with a split load board and RCD protection .
I have an 8 x4 fold down bench in my cart lodge where my car lives , it's a tricky one as it's open at the front , needs to look twee!!! Could take some pics of how I made it so that it is we'll supported , I mainly use it as a big table for odd things , I have a solid bench in the shed .
A garage needs good ventilation to avoid condensation etc , other wise your car will still rot and go green

 

This thread is making me want to paint mine

 

Yeah I think that I will go and buy a tin of masonry paint and test it, I already did a small patch with emulsion and it just didn't seem to stick.

Thanks very much Chippo for the electrical advice, I will be sure to have a look in to it before proceeding.

As far as flooring goes there is a great thread on PH where a guy had tiled the floor with non slip and it was very cheap per square metre compared with mototile solutions.