My Garage Reno

[Aussie Chris]

Hi all,
I'm fairly new here but thought I may as well jump in with the reason I stopped by here in the first place - renovating my garage.

I'm about to move in to a new house that has a 6m x 12m (20' x 40') garage.
As you can see. it's just a tin shed with a slab, but I'm going to stud it out, plasterboard it, put workbenches, air lines, a bar, a toilet and eventually racedeck.
It'll house Sunday car in one quarter, and the other 3/4 will be workshop. It'll have a large 3.6m x 2.4 island workbench in the middle, and a saw bench down the side.

So, even though I'm not moving in until next Friday, the current owner has been awesome and has already let me go around and start gutting it.

Here's a couple of pics of how it stands at the moment.

Left side stripped. All the stuff you see leaning is going with the new owner.

Right hand side. All this stuff is going with the current owner.

I'm yet to strip all the benches in the back and the right hand sides.

So, I move in next Friday, and start stripping again on Saturday. I have 2 weeks off work and am concentrating 100% on getting this build done in that time, or as much as I can anyway...

Stay tuned for progress.

Cheers,

Chris

P.S Great to be here with like minded fruitcakes!

 

[Sweet Old Bill]

Welcome Aboard! You will see that people on this site enjoy greatly seeing the progress that you make on turning that shed into your garage! Take lots of pictures.

I hope to run into you at Summit Racing or Sierra Classics.

 

[RobSmith]

That floor looks pretty clean...Is it coated or just smooth floated ? 6 x 12 is a nice size. I've got a 6 x 9 and it's too small. I'm looking to go to 9 x 9 one day. Lining it is a good idea as well...keeps the noise down. What's your sunday driver ?

 

[Aussie Chris]

Thanks Rob, the floor's just floated.
One of the other reasons I'll be lining it is I make a home theatre accessory that uses black velvet and electronics, and so the place must remain as dust dree as possible.
I've already bought some kitchen cabinets off ebay. There's 4 base units, each with 3 drawers and 4 top cabinets. Each set of cabinets is 3.2m wide when put side by side, so that will give me some great storage, and I only paid $250 for the lot! They've never been installed, have laminex drawers and doors and satin S/S handles.

My Sunday driver is a Brock Commodore - VH Group 3 in white. Just finished a mild resto on it. It now has a 355 stroker that puts out 415HP and over 400lb ft of torque at mid 3000rpm.

Cheers,

Chris

 

[Bib Overalls]

Lots of potential. What is the story on the "Renault" board? Recycled packing crates or?

 

[JC23]

Chris,

I've noticed a few of that kind of alum shed down by you guys. They look like they'd be a friggin' oven in the summer. True dat?

 

[Aussie Chris]

Lots of potential. What is the story on the "Renault" board? Recycled packing crates or?

Not sure. The people that owned it used to run a service centre, so probably crates for car bits I'd image?

Chris,

I've noticed a few of that kind of alum shed down by you guys. They look like they'd be a friggin' oven in the summer. True dat?

Hell yeah! So mines getting insulated, A/C and heating.

 

[sscustom]

welcome from a fellow aussie sheds looking good keep us updated

 

[moe.]

Nice Sunday driver Chris!
Got a pic of the brocky?

 

[Aussie Chris]

Thanks guys,
Moe, no I don't have any pics yet! Heaps of resto pics, but none of it finished. I'll be getting it back soon, but I don't actually want it until I've got the garage sorted.

It was on the road for a few months, but then did a head gasket on the new motor, so it had to be rebuilt again! Kinda been a blessing though, as I haven't had anywhere to store it...

Cheers,

Chris

 

[Aussie Chris]

Pics to follow, but...
moved into the new house on Friday, did some cleaning up and trailer empty-ing and started gutting the garage, which I finished off today.

Got all the timber benches out, loaded into the trailer and dumped at the tip.

The benches were 20+ years old and definitely built to last, but it was fun belting the **** out of them with the mallets and sledge hammers!

I'm framing using treated pine to help with the potential termite problem. Tomorrow I'm ordering the timber, insulation and a couple of sheets of roof tim to replace the buggered polycarb skylight sheets.

Happy about the power too. Turns out the garage is on it's own circuit and when my sparky mate comes over he'll tell me what amperage we can go too. It's currently a 20A circuit at the main board.

I'll take some pics in the morning and post 'em up.

Cheers,

Chris

 

[AndysMBgarage]

Welcome to the forum Chris.

Under the tin roof a layer of Aircell then standard insulation batts will make a huge difference. I was so happy with it's performance alone in a garden shed about 10 years ago and used it again in my garage I just built under a colourbond roof.

Cheers

PS I'm looking forward to seeing pics of the Brock Commodore when you get it back.

 

[Topcat]

Welcome Aussie Chris, Mate i
m in the same sorta boat with my shed just working out the details...looking forward to following your thread.

VH Brocky, Nice toy!!

ps, unisulated tin shed test last night, not the coldest night temp 6 summer test temp 55.......1/3 insulated now I used the wrap with the batt attached.

 

[Aussie Chris]

Thanks lads,
well, I can't upload any pics at the moment because my internet is limited to my phone, so for whatever reason, photobucket won't load.

We had some heavy rain out east a couple of days ago, and it showed a point of weakness with water ingress in the front right hand corner. I round back the lip in the concrete and also built upo a little more concrete on the edge.

The timber arrived today at about 1pm, so I started to hook in and got 2 panels built tis arvo. Tomorrow I'm hoping to get the 2 panels on the opposite side done, as well as the back panel.

As for the Brock, well, it's sitting at the engine builders just waiting for me to get a new fuel pickup/sender and drop it off to them, then I'll get it back. I actually don't want it just at the moment, as I don't have the room. As you'll see from the pics when I get the pics up, there's a bunch of **** I'm having to work around.

Andy, my plumber mate told me about aircell too, so I may have to look at it. Not cheap though is it? $300 a bag or something?

Cheers,

Chris

 

[930dreamer]

I can't wait to see your progress, rain, what's that!

 

[Yonnee]

Nice shed Chris. I think you may have lost a few of our American freinds with the description of the car though...

For those who aren't familiar with Peter Brock or the GM Holden he put his name to, here's what a Brock Commodore looks like...

 

[Aussie Chris]

Thanks Yonnee,
That car looks more like an ADP to me? I could be wrong, but the with the VC rear spoiler and the white Irmschers? Looks like a mate's car actually, but he doesn't have the guard stickers.

Yeah, a Brock Commodore is probably best related to a Shelby Cobra for our American friends.

Like Carrol Shelby, Peter Brock was arguably Australia's best racing car driver, and owned a company called HDT (Holden Dealer Team).
He tok our GM (Holden) Commodore and provided a factory backed musclecar that could be purchased through many of the new car dealers throughout Australia. The improvements were engine mods, different trim, wheels, body kits etc.

It's probably the last of the Aussie Muscle cars. Mine is a 1983.

Now, I've got pics of the reno...

Here's the water ingress

Here's where the water is pooling outside the garage that's causing the problem...

Back, right hand side that still had the workbenches in place is now clear...

The **** I have to work around...

Cheers,

Chris

 

[Topcat]

Thats not much **** to work around.....But it looks good empty! BIG amount of room to play with

 

[Aussie Chris]

Not much ****? I hate working in and around junk! You're in Melbourne Topcat, wanna pop round and give me a hand moving and building stuff?

Today I built the back wall and the right hand wall.

Back Wall...

Right hand wall...

Left hand wall I did yesterday. In my "enthusiasm", I forgot to put the sisalation on.

Tomorrow I'm hoping to get the rest of the left side finished, so we'll see how we go!

Cheers,

Chris

 

[sscustom]

looking good btw is race deck avaliable in australia

 

[Aussie Chris]

Thanks SS,
yeah it is available here, but it's actually dearer to buy locally than to import it directly from the US and that includes the shipping charges! Go figure...
Cheers,

Chris

 

[Yonnee]

Thanks Yonnee,
That car looks more like an ADP to me? I could be wrong, but the with the VC rear spoiler and the white Irmschers? Looks like a mate's car actually, but he doesn't have the guard stickers.

Cheers,

Chris

You're right. Was the best I could come up with at short notice. The VH Brocks were SL's, so no Chrome front and rear window trims, and certainly not the blue SL/E interior. And the sticker on the bootlid is VC too.

Either a mock-up or an ADP as you say.

 

[Topcat]

You look to be going alright Chris, I done my workbench top thats been waitin a lllloooonnnngggg time, I should get me own fred going

 

[Aussie Chris]

Thanks Topcat,
this site has given me a lot of inspiration, and although I'm traveling ok, I'm actually a couple of days behind where I wanted to be.

So, over the last few days I've been working my **** off getting it built!

I've finished off studding out the walls, roughed in all the electrical, battened out the roof, replaced the polycarb roof sheets, installed the A/C unit, put the insulation in the roof and plastered it.

Here's some updated pics...

Some may say it's overkill, but there's 17 lights and 17 power points.

If anyone has any advice, I'm happy to here it.

Cheers,

Chris

 

[Topcat]

so long as the wires are in we never have enough power points..

Now how did you insulate the ceiling taking in condensation problems (My god I'm sounding like a grown up) do you have any pic of insulating I'm only asking cos it has me stumped "HOW TO"

Dont worry about being behind theres plenty of time really your just like all of us over excited to finish it.

It's looking great, hows the temperature.....man I bet the neighbors think your building a Hydroponics lab with all the banging...lol

 

[Aussie Chris]

Ok, well, as the roof sheets are nailed on, I didn't want to go to the expense of pulling them off to lay down the sarking, so I just installed it between each roof batten, from the inside. It's not the best way to do it, but it'll still do it's job according to my plumber mate.

Then I bought some insulation bats off ebay ($10 a bag of R3.5) that I pull in half and put it up between the roof battens. It's held in place by some strapping. The stuff that's used to tie up you heating ducts.

Then the plaster sheets are installed over that. Does that make sense?

I'll take some more pics for you tomorrow.

Unfortunately, there is a sense of urgency with this fitout, as I have started a business that I am running from the garage once it's set up.

Also, I still have a bunch of stuff at my storage shed that I only have rented until the end of July, and I need the garage finished so I can bring it all back home.

OT, the Brock is finished at the engine builders, now it's heading back to the painters to be finished off and tidied up.

Cheers,

Chris

 

[Topcat]

Thats the Aussie way, we ain't known for spending 80 hrs doing a 20 hour job.

I'm in the same boat, I run my business in the garage it's easier & keep it out of our homes - so we can shut it off when we want.

Makes sense, thats how I've been going to do it.

 

[Aussie Chris]

Hi all,
well today I got 7 sheets of wall plaster up.

Tomorrow I won't have any help so I can't put up the last 2 6m sheets, but I've got heaps to go on with...

Cut the plaster to fit in the gable...

Finish off boxing in the A/C unit...

I'll also tidy up the electrical conduits on the trusses.

Also, I can't fit the last 2 sheets on the right hand side because the water leak I thought was coming in from the outside is actually coming up through the electrical conduit, so I need to fix that first, and it's a f!@#$ing pain in the ****!!!!

Cheers,

Chris

 

[Topcat]

Wow!!!
Chris once the wall are up it's looking great mate.

A leak now PITA time, theres no condensation coming down from the roof. I notice that here in the mornings this time of year.

 

[Topcat]

How'd the plaster all look this morning?

I bet your excited now, first time you opened the door the next day to see what you'd done.

I'm always amazed how smart we really are ....lol

 

[Topcat]

How it all coming along Chris?


Get this Aussie thread up running again....

 

[Aussie Chris]

Hi Topcat,
well, it's all plastered, stopped up and painted as of this weekend!

I started to move some of my stuff from the shed I'm renting to the new one here, but it's a slow process when you're doing it yourself! And I'm supposed to be out of the rented shed by the end of July. What's the date today?

I've also started installing some of the light fittings. It's a slow process but I'm getting there...

Cheers,

Chris

 

[Topcat]

Yeh Chris, I know what you mean theres never enough time....

 

[Chloe]

it's pretty spacious .. you can do so many things in there.

 

[Aussie Chris]

Well, funnily enough I was in there last night doing some measurements, and there's not going to be a lot of left over space once everything is in!

I need to take and put up some more pics...

Cheers,

Chris

 

[Topcat]

theres never enough room.....but looking forward to the photos