Belgian Single Car garage

[OscarTango]

Hello all,

I've been reading here for a long time...finding this forum after contemplating having the garage as more than just a dusty storage room for the car. But there was always something else to spend the money on...

We've just bought "our" house, after my wife moved in with me into the house I already owned. The new one had a single car garage, but a wide one it is. Just a bit low ( I'm 6'7'' / 2 meters tall )...I can "just" stand up straight.
Surface area is a good 5.20m x 5.60 meters( 15.6 x 16.8 feet). So the car can sit there and the doors opened without fear of hitting something.

The house will be officially ours on the 11th of April, at which date the remodeling will begin. New heating system for the house, new kitchen, bathroom, carport for the wife's Mini Cooper. Plans for the garage are simple : a few layers of paint, and some kit to organise my cleaning products. At some point a RaceDeck floor will come in, to make it possible to wash the car inside, and have the melting snow disappear under the tiles, coming out the front...

Here's the blank, unedited canvas....

And this is what it will be housing... never mind the license plate, I live in Belgium, but have the car registred in tax-friendlier Germany

 

[MG30]

Welcome and hope to see developments soon.

Jorge

 

[winnipegtibook]

Welcome Oscar,

Which part of Belgie are you from? Anywhere near Hoogstraten or Turnhout?

 

[Derrickwade]

The lower ceiling should make it easier to heat and cool at least. Good luck with it! Ill be checking back in periodically to see your progress!

 

[HSpencer]

Welcome!! Looks like a great deal of equipment sitting out in the garage. Guessing:
Water Heater(WHite Tank hung on wall)?
Boiler for furnace (big blue tank)?
Water Treatment (Small Red Tank)?
Wall Heater (Left Wall)?

You have a nice clean space. Should be easy to make it what you want it to be.
Cheers

 

[hobbitss]

Welcome!! Looks like a great deal of equipment sitting out in the garage. Guessing:
Water Heater(WHite Tank hung on wall)?
Boiler for furnace (big blue tank)?
Water Treatment (Small Red Tank)?
Wall Heater (Left Wall)?

You have a nice clean space. Should be easy to make it what you want it to be.
Cheers

Looks like he has an Oil Fired Boiler (Blue Cube) rear vented into a Chimney
The White tank looks like an Indirect Water Heater set as a separate zone and the small red tank is an Expansion Tank for the hydronic heating system... I see a mix of flex tubing and black iron so I doubt there is any radiant or in-floor heating, probably baseboard...
Going to guess that the boiler is in the 140K BTU range, possibly a little less and runs about 72% efficiency... Older solid technology that keeps running...
A heater coil with fan set up as a zone would heat that garage nicely..

Can't tell from the pictures but the stuff on the left wall might be electrical breaker box and/or phone panel and possibly a space heater below, hard to tell without a closer image.....

Have to wait and see how close or far off I am...

 

[Jay Sco]

I see a flux capacitor, an atomic accumulator, a plutonium distribution chamber, and a rice cooker.

But seriously, I don't see many garages outside of the States so these always interest me. Post as the progress comes.

 

[winnipegtibook]

But we don't see a frite-fryer (Oscar will know what I'm talking about).

 

[Xander]

Met frite sause. (Spent some time in neighboring holland)

X...

 

[OscarTango]

Hahaha...great replies. Yes,the blue box is the heating oil burner, which heats the house and the warm water, which is stored in the white cylinder ( insulated reservoir )... they will go soon, to be replaced by a new gas-buring heater, with an enclosed reservoir for warm water. That wall will look a lot cleaner

The "friteuse" will be used in the kitchen... but you do have people who use it in their verandas/garages becasue they don't want the smell of fresh fried fries in the house. A good suction device ( don't know the English word ) takes care of that...

Here's what it should look like at some point..but when exactly ?

 

[dubber]

Very nice intro shot with your A5. Nothing says winter like a Quattro! Looks like you have a great plan that i'm looking forward to seeing it come to fruition, Good luck!

 

[GPM]

What's the square opening in the back corner?

 

[Taurus]

Hi Oscar - looks like a nice point to start from. Like that you have some space arounf the car. In my garage everything is quite thight. Gives you more opportunities. It has a low ceiling like mine - makes it a bit challenging. Like your A5 - it's a great car. You planned paint style looks great!

You will hate the bricks when painting starts...

 

[OscarTango]

Welcome Oscar,

Which part of Belgie are you from? Anywhere near Hoogstraten or Turnhout?

I'm located in Limburg ( not De Limburg )

 

[OscarTango]

What's the square opening in the back corner?

Not sure what you mean, so I'll tackle both possibilities : the square to the right of the window is the board on which the electrical wiring/fusebox has it's place.

The rectangular shape "hole" in the ground, next to the gate, is the access to the crawlspace underneath the garage... Not sure what it looks like underneath, or what critters live there it WILL be covered, no worries

I'm sure I'll have a look soon.

 

[OscarTango]

Signing date approaching....how many times I've painted and altered that garage in my head so far, you don't want to know.

I ordered samples form Swisstrax tiles and Racedeck...but just came to the conclusion that putting in tiles all over the floor would give me less room, yes, only 1 cm, but I am 2m tall and the ceiling height is... 2 m exactly.

I'm thinking I'll paint the smooth concrete floor white, and order the 1 car package from Swisstrax/RaceDeck... so that the spot where the car is standing will be tiled, and I can still walk more or less upright in the rest of the garage.

Any advice, tips, why yes, why no would be appreciated

Floor would be white/grey, with blue-white checkerboard pattern under the car... free-flow/ribtrax tiles.

 

[HSpencer]

I got half the stuff right. Now I can apply for my Belgium plumbing license.

 

[RSOllie]

look foward to the updates
i need ideas for mine lol

 

[OscarTango]

Allrighty...house is ours. Spent a few half-days in there, cleaning out the laudry-sideboards, protecting the floor upstairs from upcoming demolition work, ripped out half the kitchen, and watched our plumber change the heating system in the garage from this :

to this : Viessman Vitodens W-222, with remote control module ( cause I'm a gadget freak ).

I asked him to put it as far to the right as possible, and he did a good job. I might be putting panels in to cover anything that's coming out of the heater, but I'm pleased with the clean installation. Nice white exhaust/inlet, which will blend in nicely with the RAL9010 white paint that's waiting to be applied on the walls

More pics ASAP ...I have to remember to take pictures while I'm "working"

 

[Derrickwade]

Much cleaner! Can't wait to see what you have in store for this space.

 

[dubber]

Little change= big improvement. Especially with a small garage that little space saving move will help out a lot. That spot could now swallow a cabinet, or tool chest or even wheel storage.

 

[Olliecampbell]

Looking forward to this.

 

[OscarTango]

well, today I've been working on the bathroom and the laundry. Bathroom is being completely renovated, which means that all that's in there has to come out, and a new setup has to go in. Laundry needs a new floor, and cabinets put in... when they tradesman start working, I'll be painting the garage.... ( maybe sooner, I can't wait ).

I did come to the conclusion that the brick/concrete bench on the left is staying. I'll paint it white, and put a kitchen-top on top of it, and put shelves in between the "walls"... keeping it simple

 

[EMC2]

Hahaha...great replies. Yes,the blue box is the heating oil burner, which heats the house and the warm water, which is stored in the white cylinder ( insulated reservoir )... they will go soon, to be replaced by a new gas-buring heater, with an enclosed reservoir for warm water. That wall will look a lot cleaner

The "friteuse" will be used in the kitchen... but you do have people who use it in their verandas/garages becasue they don't want the smell of fresh fried fries in the house. A good suction device ( don't know the English word ) takes care of that...

Here's what it should look like at some point..but when exactly ?

This looks like a great, clean design. I look forward to tracking the progress.
Nice Audi too!

 

[55cadillacking]

I'm very eager to see how your garage progresses. Looks like you have laid down some solid work so far with the upgraded plumbing/heating situation. Not the most glamorous of jobs, but crucial nonetheless. I love your design concept. Your A5 looks killer with those rims, too. If those are the 19"ers, they are a $3400 option on a Canadian A5!

 

[OscarTango]

55cadillaking, thanks for the interest....it was actually your garage that gave me the idea to go with Audi's theme like you have in red, grey and black. Having a blue car, I figured the red would make no sense, so I'll do it in blue...a mix between your and Taurus' garage, if you will.

The ideas are still forming, every time I go in to the garage, I look around and think " maaaayybe I could put that cabinet there....and fix this that way... or this way ". Like the blue line could actually become a black one, with grey "sideblades". That way I won't have to change it when I buy a different car in another color. ;-)

But first things first...kitchen, bathroom and laundry room need to be done before we move in. My current house is up for sale, and there's a few interested parties. Could go quick from here on ( fingers crossed ).

 

[HSpencer]

Not sure what you mean, so I'll tackle both possibilities : the square to the right of the window is the board on which the electrical wiring/fusebox has it's place.

The rectangular shape "hole" in the ground, next to the gate, is the access to the crawlspace underneath the garage... Not sure what it looks like underneath, or what critters live there it WILL be covered, no worries

I'm sure I'll have a look soon.

I would have already gotten my grandson and a flashlight and sent him under there to come back and report to me. He is 6 years old and can whup a wild zebra with a switch. After he returned, he would brief me with his findings and then if I could fit in, I would have to make the trip myself. Might want to convert it to an underground bunker in case all hell broke loose!

 

[OscarTango]

funny you mention that... yesterday I went in, curiosity got the better of me. I kissed my wife,and told her not to come after me should I not return within 10 minutes

it's a pretty clean place, dusty, but dry -that's good here- and it ran further under the house than I thought. I discovered the way the piping runs under the house, and that one tube had come loose... it was the connection from one -unused at the moment- sink. good thing I saw that, since I'm planing to start using it again. I will have to down and fix it in the next few days

All in all, a succesfull expedition :-D

 

[OscarTango]

OK, small update....bathroom is almost done, preparation for the kitchen as well. Had a bit of time left, and spent it on masking the back of the garage door. I'm not sure wether I'll paint it completely white, or go for a checkered flag-pattern.

we're getting to the point where there will be no more rubble in the garage, because most dirty work is done. Then I'll start painting and putting up cabinets etc....

 

[OscarTango]

Dirty work is done.... cleaned out the mountain of rubble that was once the kitchen floor. Laundry is done, bathroom is done ( as far as possible at this stage ) and kitchen installed.

Next : thorough cleanout of the garage, and start painting the walls white ( I've already started with the back wall, no pics unfortunatly... I always think about pics AFTER I've done the work ).

I'll take some pictures tomorrow, and will try to keep track.

 

[firecracker]

Hi OT I've painted my garage floor three times in the last 20odd years I've gone from red to blue to teracota, none have been great so in the last few weeks I've layed supa-lock pvc interlocking tiles thats the way to go, but you'll have to be in stocking feet in your garage

 

[OscarTango]

to be in stocking feet in my garage ?.... ehm, I don't know what that means, sorry. English is not my first language, so can you explain what you mean ?

Oh, the floor is polished concrete at the moment. The idea so far is to paint it a light grey, and order a 1 car "patch" of RaceDeck or SwissTrack tiles to cover the spot where the car will be... but I'll google the Supa-Lock things as well.

 

[firecracker]

Stocking feet is without shoes so you can be as short/low as possible then you might not bang your head on the ceiling. Floor tiles are 5mil or 7mil thick I got the 7mil with having a 2.7 ton Land Rover.

 

[OscarTango]

Allrighty.... been very quiet on my side. After what I thought was the end of the mess in the rest of the house, more and more stuff came into the garage, like gardening equipment, ladders, tyre rack, all the stuff we din't have room for, etc.... so I never got to making it the way I want it. But.... decision has been made to build an extra 2 car garage on the other side of the house. The preparations on that ( prepare a driveway to the new-to-build garage and a new driveway to the "old " garage are mid-way.

The new garage will be 6m by 6.6meters, just staying below 40m2 which means I won't need a building permit, but will only have to notify city hall of the plans. It will house my father's Triumph TR6 and our 2000 Audi TT roadster, plus act as a garden house. That way, the old garage will be free of all clutter and will become a clean, neat car-nest...where the A5 will sleep amidst Audi miniatures, posters, flags. Can't wait to clean out the garage...it's FULL right now.

Pics of progress to follow.

 

[dubber]

Very cool, love the new development.

 

[1/2 Cup]

Looking forward to following your progress, love the simplistic, effective, neat and clean design.

 

[OscarTango]

Okay, here's some pictures of the old, the demolished and the partly re-layed driveway...also you'll see we cleared the extra room on the edge of the property to become the new driveway to the extra garage. Tomorrow I'll take pictures of the spot where the new garage will be erected

The last thing the guys did, was to cut a piece of the concrete slab, in order to fit the floorbricks without having to cut them to size... result is a very dusty garage and poor TT, which is grey as it is, but had a matte touch to it now

 

[HSpencer]

That driveway is excellent!! I like the improvement to the overall look of the garage. You did well on selection of the paving blocks. It really looks great!!
I like the look of the house and garage with those in place. If possible, I would love to see the back of the house and all around, whatever you would choose to photo. I really like your place!! It is really neat and nice looking!! Not a design you see around here where I live all that often.

Best Regards
Herb Spencer

 

[dubber]

Damn! Had to be my exact favorite mk1 TT. Love that combo of dark grey on the baseball leather. Love it!!!

 

[OscarTango]

thanks....it's a greta colour combo, I think. Just looking for some new wheels for the summer....