Single Garage Refurb, UK

[RobboC]

Well having read many amazing threads on here and seeing the excellent thead over on L4P, I've been inspired to update my small humble single garage.

It's only about 18ft long by 10ft wide, but it's mine and has served me well when I was working on former cars (Lotus Elise, Honda S2000, CRX, Clio 182, Megane R26). It's currently empty as my current steed, a daily barge Mondeo ST155 is too long to fit with all the cabinets/shelving I have in there.

I am intending to get a weekend car again this year, so decided by drab old garage needs sprucing up.

When the S2000 was there:

As you can see, space is limited and it's quite dark with the two tone brickwork.

The ceiling is currently open:

The plan is to paint all the walls white, plasterboard/dry line the ceiling adding access hatches, some spot lights, some interlocking floor tiles, and some entertainment, perhaps a cheap LCD on the wall as it backs straight on to the living room wall, so feeding cables through will be easy.

So today, I started by brushing down all the cobwebs on one side. I'd seen various suggestions of sealing the walls with PVA first, but thought I'd do a test wall with masonary paint straight on. It's soaking in a bit, but nothing like I thought and seems ok so far:

Thats from just a couple of hours today. Going to see how it dries over night and tomorrow and then decide whether to PVA the rest first. I shall keep updating the pics to the point when I get a car in there!

 

[shefflad]

it will be a lot brighter painted white

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

Rob,
That looks great!
On one hand it would kill me to paint that beautiful original brickwork. On the other hand, that IS a small space and the white paint will make a HUGE improvement in the light in there. I think I'd have been tempted to leave the bottom 3-4 ft. in the natural brick w/ a clear sealer on it though. But it does look great so far.

What kind of "spot" lighting will you use? I ask cause I just got through reading in "The Derelict Garage Rides Again" what Fergus did. He used a row of 5 ea, $5 stainless steel bowls w/ inexpensive single fixtures holding CFL bulbs. In a narrow garage like yours they might be ideal AND would look old school cool!

 

[RobboC]

Many thanks

The house was only built in 1998 so I don't mind painting over the bricks

Not sure on the lighting yet, depending on how much rewiring would need doing, getting it signed off etc (the laws here in England are now really strict!) but i'd like about 6-8 recessed spots.

 

[buchos]

Getting the wiring signed off will not be a problem as its only minor works, but if you're working on cars in there keep the lights over near the walls so you don't end up with a big shadowed area up to waist height when the car is in there.

Nice taste in cars BTW, here's my own Elise in my single garage from 2010.. Get some pictures of those cars up on them nice white walls when you're done

I did an engine swap in an Esprit and did a V8 conversion in that single garage it's tight but you don't have to go too far for anything.

 

[RobboC]

Cheers!

My Elise was my favourite, despite the costs...

Will be so much nicer to work on a car once done.

I'd like an E39 M5 or TVR Tamora.

But it will probably be something cheaper for a while.

 

[AndysMBgarage]

+1 on the white paint on the walls.

It is amazing how creative you can get with space saving ideas in a single garage. Years ago I had a small garage that had a 600mm x 1200mm workbench that was bolted to the wall. It folded up flush within the brick piers when not being used so it wouldn't take up space and allowed me to get two cars in the garage.

Cheers

 

[RobboC]

Bit of an update, just finished the first coat and gave the first area a second coat. Looks good, but I'm knackered!

Before:

After:

Bit on the right now has two coats, seems enough thankfully!

Taking longer than hoped due to slight hangover and having to work around everything.

 

[widesheds]

Rob, that's quite an interesting change you have provided to the garage. The white paint has just provided the much needed overall feel and the look of the garage. The comparative pics that you have posted at the last just portrays what an interesting place you have turned it to.

 

[scotty_d]

Nice Garage and nice cars the elise is very nice. I would say being a TVR owner the running cost of a Tam will be far higher than your elise go on PH and have a good read over the woes of the speed 6 engine before taking the plunge great cars none the less but keep your eyes wide open. lol

 

[RobboC]

Widesheds - Many thanks, nice to see its had the desired effect. I'm really pleased with it. It still looks all messy and unfinished, but as you said it's made a huge difference. Why on earth I haven't done it before is beyond me.

scotty_d - Yes, I've done lots of research into Tamoras and E39 M5's, both are potentially huge moneypits, so I'll keep them as something for the future.

 

[shefflad]

giving me ideas for my own garage now robboC paint it all white

 

[RobboC]

Hazzah! The painting is complete.

In my rush to get the shelves back, I knocked a tin of varnish off the shelf, over the floor and some of the walls. A full tin too. Sacrificed a few towels to mop that **** up!

Ah well, at least there's no more painting for now. I'll tidy up more over the coming days and look into costings of ceilings, floors and lighting. I'll take some better pictures when I have cleared up and can open the door.

 

[AeroNautiCal]

Nice!

Having a small space really opens up the benefits of having 'off floor' storage, folding benches, wall mounted machine stands, storage units etc.

I'd use the loft area to maximum effect too, with a fold out access ladder.

I ran a commercial motorcycle workshop in a 15ft x 11ft space, and space organization was the order of the day.