The cheap garage.

[Olliecampbell]

Hello,

I thought it was about time I posted up my garage that I'm working on.

My wife and I got married last year, started a company earlier this year and bought our first house 3 months ago. As you long termers know, all of our spare cash and time has been going into the above.

But on the side in my few spare hours I've been trying to do the same to my garage (yes my garage! ).

I've been spoilt living in my old mans house for the past few years with a large Epoxied double garage, using his tools.

I have no tools of my own and with all the money going into the house I've had to 'make do or mend', use what I could use as left overs from the house and what I could find on Freecycle.

The start
Here's what I started out with, it's a small garage, most houses here (around me at least) are now built without garages. If you find one with a garage it usually adds a small fortune to the price of the house.

Luckily mine is an 'end of terrace' garage at the end of the garden, which means I get an extra couple of foot of space which is a nice bonus. Those few feet are important when it's only 5m (16.5 ft) by 3.5m (11.5 ft):




It came with dodgy 60's electrics, yep that's just 1 plug and 1 fluorescent light for the whole garage!:



And plenty of spalling in the breeze blocks in the joining wall:





And a floor that looked like the face of the moon:








What I want to achieve:
Something like these pictures, a nice bright, dehumidified, epoxy-floored space. Eventually with cupboards on the walls and a custom bench built over a Snap-On roll cabinet.










'Put foot':
So what have I done? Well it looks like hardly anything, I never realised how time consuming DIY was!

I started by stripping everything off the ceilings and walls, then swept it out. 2 large bin bags full of junk in the end!




As a bonus I found something the last owners had left behing...some garage art!




Bought a second hand Epco jack ready for refurbing £7 and a second hand Record wood vice for £8



Then...

• Painted the walls with masonry paint, it took about 15 litres in the end as I didn't water down the first coat. Newbie mistake! This is where most of the money went! £90
• Replaced the old fluorescent bulb. Ouch £12 gone.
• Started to paint the ceiling white, using left over primer from the house.
• Bought a pack of wall hooks to hang the bike and lawn mower up out of the way £4
• Picked up the drawers and roll-top cabinet for free from Freecycle.
• Stole the wire shelving from the wife (shh don't tell her!)

The pictures below look like a step backwards at the moment because of all the junk in there. It's a slow process of finding where to put bits and pieces as I collect more furniture. Everything on the left hand side of the garage isn't staying there, it's just resting there until the wife forgets and I can move it into the loft.


I took these today on a dark wintery day, at a lovely cockle warming -2c. Not bad so far considering I've only spent about £120 on it.











And now what?
This is where you guys kick in. I want loads of feedback on what I've already done and what I'm planning to do....

This is what I want to do, sort of in order:

• Get a dehumidifier
• Get a threshold weather strip
• Finish painting the ceiling
• Move my car in.
• Get the electrics checked and a breaker installed
• Add some more plugs and fluorescent lights
• Hand build a sturdy wooden work bench
• Hold up a bank so that I can afford to buy a Snap-On roll cabinet
• Fill the roll cabinet with tools!
• Replace the shelves with old kitchen cupboards to reduce how visually busy it is.
• Epoxy floor. Sometime later, I never realised how expensive they are.

Feel free to critique.

 

[Olliecampbell]

And also a quick update for today, thanks to the UK deals thread on GJ I managed to get a nice wall clock with temperature and humidity relatively cheaply.

 

[timbitca]

That's a great start you have there! That's not a lot of space but it's a great deal for being in the UK! Enjoy!

And your electrical service reminds me of my garage. I also have only one outlet in the garage, along with 1 4' fluorescent fixture and one 60-watt incandescent bulb. The bulb, set in the middle of the garage and if I happen to turn it on during the day (absolutely useless) I have to run out to the garage at night and turn it off since I always forget it on

 

[GBsnoopy]

11.5 feet is not a bad size for over here. My last house was only 8.5 by a similar length to yours.
It's coming along nicely.

 

[Olliecampbell]

11.5 feet is not a bad size for over here. My last house was only 8.5 by a similar length to yours.
It's coming along nicely.

I get so jealous looking at all the space and the size of some of the garages on here


So i've been doing a little bit of research and am umming and ahhing at the moment. I'd like a bench that is

a) Solid
b) Will fit over a Snap-On cabinet when I get one
c) Isn't expensive


I did a little drawing, using my old A-Level Design & Technology skills and then prices up some wood.
All in it's going to cost me about £50 in wood, if I use decent treated timber. I'd prefer to use this instead of untreated as it's outside in a possibly damp garage up against a wall.
I'd like to get a stainless steel top made up for it afterwards.

Alternatively I could get a custom made stainless steel bench off eBay. It's not going to rust, it looks sturdy enough too:

The supplier can custom make benches so I could ask them to remove the middle shelf and add bracing in between the legs around the circumference of the table instead...
My only worry is whether it'll be sturdy enough or not.


Decisions, decisions.

 

[Rscabrio]

Good work so far mate where abouts un hertfordshire are you im from north london

 

[Olliecampbell]

Hi, Thanks. I'm near Harpenden. You?


I've decided to go with a wooden bench, something feels right about having one rather than a possible shaky metal one that I would struggle to fix if it were to go wrong. This is the sort of bench I'm after:

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showpost.php?p=2375407&postcount=104

 

[felixgogo]

Hi Ollie,

That looks a great start, and a bigger than average garage for the UK.

It never ceases to amaze me what a difference just painting the walls white makes.

My buddy painted mine for me, and he ended up doing it with a spray gun!

Yours looks great now, and I agree with your list of 'to-dos' - all good ideas. I had a dehumidifier in my last garage, but as this one is inside the house, mine benefits from warmth from the central heating boiler. Not sure if yours is attached?

As for epoxy floor, I really would recommend a inter-locking tile solution, I pushed the boat out on very expensive, but well worth while, rubber floor tiles. I got them from Eco-tile, and I raided their end-of-line bargain bin, and although it was not my first choice colour, the saving made it a no-brainer. Have a look and see what you think, the speed they go down, even over a rough floor is staggering, and as you can take them up again when you move, they are an investment, rather than a cost.

Another suggestion, and one thing I didn't do myself, but will do ASAP, is to go for enclosed storage rather than open shelves.

Anyway - yours is looking excellent already - well done mate!

Ian

 

[Olliecampbell]

A spray gun would have made life a lot easier!
I've got 2 walls of normal bricks and the joining wall with the garage next door is breeze blocks. It took me 3 times as long to paint the joining wall than the others, such a pain getting the paint into the dimples.

Technically it is an attached garage, attached to 2 others, but nothing with a heat source unfortunately. It's about 75-80% humidity in there at the moment and the cardboard boxes are getting soft as they're starting to get a bit damp.

You can see it here at the end of the garden...


But...dehumidifier and garage door sealing strips are now on order, so fingers crossed over the Christmas period I can get it fairly air tight and get the dehumidifier installed and running.

I must have somehow passed over Ecotile, I do remember looking at them but can't remember why I ignore them. Going back to the site, and especially the special offers section!, they look great. I also like the idea of being able to move them to my next garage when I move house. Mmmh transferrable assets!

Which colour and texture did you go for? I'm erring towards the light grey smooth tiles as I'm worried about the discs getting stuck under jack wheels etc.

Closed storage is definitely on the cards, it provides less visual clutter. I'm always scanning ebay and Freecycle for old kitchen cabinets. We're due to do quite a bit of renovation on the house, the kitchen being one, maybe I'll be lucky and get the old cabinets from there!

Thanks for the praise. It's only when you start these things that you realise how much time and effort they take for so little gain!

 

[felixgogo]

The raised disks are about 0.1mm higher than the surrounding tile, so yes, the jack will 'rattle' as you push it along, but it won't get stuck. So either will be fine IMO.

I wouldn't bother with the edging pieces, as you can easily cut in the tiles to give you a straight edge against the wall. The pieces you cut off can go on the other side of the garage. With careful planning, you can minimise any waste.

Perhaps just get the ramp sections for the entrance. And one thing - try and get the 500/7 tiles, they are only 1mm thicker, but they work better on a rough floor, they 500/6 have to go on a really flat, smooth floor.

As for the dehumidifier, its well worth getting one if one turns up on freecycle, most can be plumbed in so the water is ejected outside. As an aside, here in HK it very humid, and my dehumidifier pulls around 2 litres of water from the bedroom a day when in the humid season!

I would also check about insulating your roof - it looks like there is none on the pics, this will make a big difference. Try not to seal up the garage, a flow of air through is better then sealing it up.

 

[51rider]

Looking good.

Hahave you thought about using Mototile for the floor?http://mototile.com/index.html

I got some to use for the shed end of the garage & it seems pretty good. I don't want to see the interlocks like you do on the EcoTile. The pricing isn't bad t & the stuff is made here in good ol' Blighty!
I'd consider some insulation on the door & maybe some tanking on the walls to keep out the damp too-I know you've painted it but unless you can get the moisture ingress stopped the dehumidifier will just keep on cranking out the water running up your electricity bill. +1 on ceiling insulation too. I'd perhaps install an airbrick at high level on one side of the door opening to aid in ventilation and may be on the other side, spend a few ££ on rigging up a smart extract fan that has a humidity module to help pull the air through. Here's a link to the ones I am familiar with that have interchangeable control modules. There are of course other manufacturers
http://www.iconfan.co.uk/airflowhomeowner
In an ideal world you would want to have the fan on the rear of the garage so you pull the air in from the front via the air brick and then exhaust vi your fan. Looking at the photo, I don't think you have this option, hence my suggestion of either side of the door opening.

Can you post a link to the UK deals thread? I have not been able to find it & I really like the Clock you got.

Keep up the good work!

 

[Rscabrio]

Im in edmonton north london ya lucky to have a garage at home i got a share in a unit with my bro in law but its over in essex so bit off a trek. To do quick jobs lol

 

[Rscabrio]

Keep up the good work though mate

 

[Olliecampbell]

The raised disks are about 0.1mm higher than the surrounding tile, so yes, the jack will 'rattle' as you push it along, but it won't get stuck. So either will be fine IMO.

Hmm I think I may go for the flat surface, some of it preference, but at the end of the day it will come down to cost anyway!

I wouldn't bother with the edging pieces, as you can easily cut in the tiles to give you a straight edge against the wall. The pieces you cut off can go on the other side of the garage. With careful planning, you can minimise any waste.

Perhaps just get the ramp sections for the entrance. And one thing - try and get the 500/7 tiles, they are only 1mm thicker, but they work better on a rough floor, they 500/6 have to go on a really flat, smooth floor.

I think that's a good plan with the floor edging. One side will be visible, the other will be under a bench/shelving which will hide the poorly cut tiles (I know my skill levels!). I'll order a few extra tiles anyway, so I have some spare for repairs and incase my laying skills aren't brilliant!
I emailed Ecotile and gave them a run down of the scenario, they said that /7 would be best to cover the sinful floor underneath.

As for the dehumidifier, its well worth getting one if one turns up on freecycle, most can be plumbed in so the water is ejected outside. As an aside, here in HK it very humid, and my dehumidifier pulls around 2 litres of water from the bedroom a day when in the humid season!

I would also check about insulating your roof - it looks like there is none on the pics, this will make a big difference. Try not to seal up the garage, a flow of air through is better then sealing it up.

I luckily got an end-of-year bonus from work and have already splashed it on a new dehumidifier. I got one of these in the end:


(clicky!)

It looks great and sounds quite clever with it's automatic regulation. It comes with a permanent drain, which I can drill and seal a hole through the garage outside somewhere. It'll be in one corner at the back of the garage drawing air from the front and comes with directional vents at the top that will hopefully direct the conditioned air into the garage rather than just up at the roof.

Looking good.

Hahave you thought about using Mototile for the floor?http://mototile.com/index.html

I got some to use for the shed end of the garage & it seems pretty good. I don't want to see the interlocks like you do on the EcoTile. The pricing isn't bad t & the stuff is made here in good ol' Blighty!
I'd consider some insulation on the door & maybe some tanking on the walls to keep out the damp too-I know you've painted it but unless you can get the moisture ingress stopped the dehumidifier will just keep on cranking out the water running up your electricity bill. +1 on ceiling insulation too. I'd perhaps install an airbrick at high level on one side of the door opening to aid in ventilation and may be on the other side, spend a few ££ on rigging up a smart extract fan that has a humidity module to help pull the air through. Here's a link to the ones I am familiar with that have interchangeable control modules. There are of course other manufacturers
http://www.iconfan.co.uk/airflowhomeowner
In an ideal world you would want to have the fan on the rear of the garage so you pull the air in from the front via the air brick and then exhaust vi your fan. Looking at the photo, I don't think you have this option, hence my suggestion of either side of the door opening.

Can you post a link to the UK deals thread? I have not been able to find it & I really like the Clock you got.

Keep up the good work!

Thanks for a link to those tiles, they look good, and are cheaper which is a must for me. I may order a couple of samples from Ecotile and Mototile so that I can compare.

Here's the thread you're after: http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=160271
The clock is great, I've not checked how accurate the readings are but it's been working fine at an indicated -2 / 75-80% humidity for a while now! PM me if you can't find the post with the specific deal in it.


Something I hadn't considered was insulating any other part of the garage, but you've both just mentioned it. The ceiling is just wooden boarding on the inside and a tar/bitumen cover on the outside. If I insulate it will it suffer from not being able to breathe?
I definitely would like to do the door, that's due a painting first, but no reason why I can't keep my eye out for some old silver backed hard foam boarding. I think I saw some in a skip somewhere near me...hmm just have to remember where!

There will be some air flow through the garage, there's 1.5cm holes drilled in the eaves that overhand the front of the garage. I'll give them a good clear out to make sure they can **** adequately. I was going to put a seal round the entire garage door, but may leave parts of it off to aid the flow now.

Im in edmonton north london ya lucky to have a garage at home i got a share in a unit with my bro in law but its over in essex so bit off a trek. To do quick jobs lol

Totally understand, I've always live much further into London...think SW6/W14/NW2 areas. This is my first house and the only 'rule' that I wouldn't budge on was that it had a garage. Christ I had to pay for that option, but plenty of saving and I finally got there!

 

[Olliecampbell]

So after my mega post above I have a few more musings to write about...this time lighting. There's no way I can afford to get the necessary electrical work done at the moment, but you know what they say about prior planning!

As you can see in the pictures above the roof of the garage has exposed joists, great for hanging things off but not great for mounting lights.

I've started to paint the roof to help reflect light downwards and have silver foiled round the existing single 60w fluorescent bulb to help a few % more.
But the main difficulty is that with the lights mounted to the side of the joists you lose a lot of light.
'Well why don't you mount them under the lights'...good point. This is how it was originally mounted before.
Why did I move it....because it looks neater and because the joists are 2.1/2.2m off the floor and I'm nearly 2m tall!

So this is what I'm thinking about instead and mounting them in between the joists. I haven't measure how far apart the joists are but I think far enough to handle these in between:

Ideally a couple of these every other joist recess and with the amount of light they throw out I should have plod knocking on the door thinking I'm trying to grow a canabis farm!

I've no idea if I'll be able to power that many lights yet or how those units mount (bearing in mind I can't screw directly into the ceiling).

Thoughts?

 

[gatewaysysop]

And also a quick update for today, thanks to the UK deals thread on GJ I managed to get a nice wall clock with temperature and humidity relatively cheaply.

That Beta clock is really nice!

 

[felixgogo]

Great idea to mount the lights in between the joists, that will give you the maximum height.

Again, the freecycle / ebay route is often a good way to locate suitable lights.

In my last garage I fitted 5 double strip lights that had been made redundant from a refit at work. Nothing wrong with them that new tubes and starters couldn't fix.

In my present garage I purchased new, and the tubes were more expensive than the fittings!

Good light is vital.

One thing, is there a fusebox or main electrical board in the garage? You should be able to figure out the load you can put on the feed into there.

 

[Olliecampbell]

One thing, is there a fusebox or main electrical board in the garage? You should be able to figure out the load you can put on the feed into there.

There isn't at the moment, that's one of the next jobs. The wiring in our house is original to when the house was built. The garage currently (excuse the pun) runs off the same ring as the sockets for the house.

Job 1 for the house is to get the consumer unit replaced for a modern one with RCD/MCB protection...at the same time I'll get the sparky to put a breaker into the garage.
Quite lucky, the sparky is a local friend and is a car man too so appreciates when I'm trying to do. Always handy!

Off out to get the dehumidifier setup and some garage door seals installed!

 

[bazzateer]

Hi Ollie, another Hertfordshire resident here (Watford), not started my garage yet but will keep an eye on yours. Worth keeping an eye out for shops being re-fitted on the High St. They often just bin old light fittings when there's nothing wrong with them. Keep an eye on those skips!

 

[morfmedia]

keep us updated, good to see a few brits on here. Will get mine posted up in the new year

 

[Olliecampbell]

Hi Ollie, another Hertfordshire resident here (Watford), not started my garage yet but will keep an eye on yours. Worth keeping an eye out for shops being re-fitted on the High St. They often just bin old light fittings when there's nothing wrong with them. Keep an eye on those skips!

Definitely a good plan. I work in London and always pass skips full of useful bits...the hard part is leaving it all behind as it certainly would be hard to take home on the tube!

Looking forward to seeing yours started!

 

[Olliecampbell]

My flooring samples came through so I thought I would share them with you guys.

Mototile top, ecotile bottom:







I'm really impressed with the ecotile tiles, they're very solid as you can see in the pictures above.

I think I'm going to go for the light grey, 7mm thick, smooth ecotile.

What's really annoying is that it's on offer at the moment. Shame I don't have the cash yet to order. I just hope that it's still on offer after Christmas!

 

[felixgogo]

Ahh! The trouble with the end of line stuff - you have to go for it when they have the style and colour you want!

Agreed the Eco-tile is very good. I liked it so much I used the 500/6 stuff in my main hallway in the house! This is why I realised the 500/6 tile needs a very smooth floor - there is not the same 'give' in the interface connection as there is in the 500/7.

For the hall having the joints concealed was important, and as it was lying directly on top of an existing quarry tile the smooth and level floor was good for this type of tile.

I guess you have to decide to run a new electrical feed to the garage or ensure you limit yourself to what power you draw in there?

Cheers

Ian

 

[Olliecampbell]

I guess you have to decide to run a new electrical feed to the garage or ensure you limit yourself to what power you draw in there?

Cheers

Ian

Yep. For now I'll limit the power to whatever the sparky says. I've got some bigger plans for the house that will mean digging some of the patio up, at that point I might think about running another cable.


Happy Christmas everyone

 

[GBsnoopy]

Ahh! The trouble with the end of line stuff - you have to go for it when they have the style and colour you want!

Agreed the Eco-tile is very good. I liked it so much I used the 500/6 stuff in my main hallway in the house! This is why I realised the 500/6 tile needs a very smooth floor - there is not the same 'give' in the interface connection as there is in the 500/7.

For the hall having the joints concealed was important, and as it was lying directly on top of an existing quarry tile the smooth and level floor was good for this type of tile.

I guess you have to decide to run a new electrical feed to the garage or ensure you limit yourself to what power you draw in there?

Cheers

Ian

Thank you for this information as I was looking at the 500/6 but may go for the 500/7 now. I do prefer the concealed join on tiles though.

 

[Olliecampbell]

A little update for the start of the new year.

The dehumidifier has been in now for a week and is doing really well. The cardboard boxes were starting to go a little soft, but have now returned to their previous firmness.

Next up will be to get the permanent drain sorted, but that requires me buying a large enough drill bit (13mm!).

The garage door seals are in, excuse some of the poor photos:



This is the sort of gap around the door normally...I've left a small amount open like this so that there is a little airflow. I might seal it up later if the dehumidifier is constantly working:



The garage door threshold seal, an absolute pain to get in place, but that was mainly down to my rubbish sealant gun:






I didn't take any pictures of it but the dehumidifier is sat on the right hand side of the garage where the 'flower pot bin' is currently in the pictures above.

Total so far: £380.

 

[felixgogo]

That's really coming on.

I used the same draught strip. Had the same fun! But now when/if you get your floor tiles, they will run nicely from that threshold strip.

Are you going to wall mount your dehumidifier? I did in my last garage, I made a shelf and got it up as high as I could out the way. It made the draining easier too.

 

[Buzz Lightyear]

OllieCampbell

If you don't mind me asking where did you get the garage door seals from. My garage is an integral one but the gaps round the door mean it's freezing in there and making the rest of the house cold too.

I used to live in Hemel Hempstead so not too far from you in Harpenden but I'm now up in rural Lancashire.

Cheers

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

And now what?
This is where you guys kick in. I want loads of feedback on what I've already done and what I'm planning to do....

This is what I want to do, sort of in order:

• Replace the shelves with old kitchen cupboards to reduce how visually busy it is.
• Epoxy floor. Sometime later, I never realised how expensive they are.

Feel free to critique.

I don't know how I missed this thread until now? Nevertheless, the white paint made a HUGE difference! Big congratulations on that.

You asked for comments so here goes:

I'd suggest you consider making your own cabinets high on the side walls using Jack Olsen's cabinets as an example. Take a look through his "12 Gauge Garage" thread to see them, but basically they're a "ladder" frame shelf of 2x4's with uprights connected to his overhead framing and he uses sliding doors made of thin hardboard sliding in dadoed slots. This will save you lots of money vs. kitchen cabinets AND you can make these custom sized to your needs. You could also make the ladder frame with 2x6's so that cheap canned lights would fit IN the shelf which would "wash" the walls with light and greatly reduce (eliminate?) the need for overhead fluorescents.

I don't know about England but in the States you can buy a Quikcrete product that is made to repair the conditions on your floor slab. It would give you a new appearing concrete slab and if you use one of their adhesion promoting products it sticks amazingly well.

Can't wait to see your progress! Happy New Year from Southern California!

 

[Olliecampbell]

Are you going to wall mount your dehumidifier? I did in my last garage, I made a shelf and got it up as high as I could out the way. It made the draining easier too.

Thanks, much appreciated

Yes I will. The neighbours have built up parts of their garden about 4 bricks high on the outside edges of the garage so it needs to be a similar height inside.

I was originally going to raise it on some bricks, but I like the idea of raising it higher, and it's a small light unit so I could. The air being pumped out should circulate a bit more within the garage too as it has further that it can travel with the added height...if that makes sense.

I need to have a word about their raised garden as I'm sure it's going to cause damp issues in my brick work. Pictures later if I get a chance!

OllieCampbell

If you don't mind me asking where did you get the garage door seals from. My garage is an integral one but the gaps round the door mean it's freezing in there and making the rest of the house cold too.

I used to live in Hemel Hempstead so not too far from you in Harpenden but I'm now up in rural Lancashire.

Cheers

I got them from http://www.weatherstop.co.uk. It wasn't cheap and I'm sure you can find cheaper alternatives elsewhere, but I was feeling flush!

I'm actually in Redbourn, so just under the M1 from Hemel Which do you prefer, North or South?

I don't know how I missed this thread until now? Nevertheless, the white paint made a HUGE difference! Big congratulations on that.

You asked for comments so here goes:

I'd suggest you consider making your own cabinets high on the side walls using Jack Olsen's cabinets as an example. Take a look through his "12 Gauge Garage" thread to see them, but basically they're a "ladder" frame shelf of 2x4's with uprights connected to his overhead framing and he uses sliding doors made of thin hardboard sliding in dadoed slots. This will save you lots of money vs. kitchen cabinets AND you can make these custom sized to your needs. You could also make the ladder frame with 2x6's so that cheap canned lights would fit IN the shelf which would "wash" the walls with light and greatly reduce (eliminate?) the need for overhead fluorescents.

I don't know about England but in the States you can buy a Quikcrete product that is made to repair the conditions on your floor slab. It would give you a new appearing concrete slab and if you use one of their adhesion promoting products it sticks amazingly well.

Can't wait to see your progress! Happy New Year from Southern California!

Thanks for the comments Dan. I certainly will think about that and I love Jacks garage. I did Design Technology as an A-Level (High school I think in your language ) so I'm hoping I haven't forgotten too much to be able to do some wood work!
First has to be a decent bench though, shelving next.




Just waiting for a longer bit of dehumidifier piping to be delivered (£1.80 on ebay for 1m, bargain!) and then I'll be onto the next project!

Keep the comments coming guys.

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

...(High school I think in your language )

OUR language? It's YOUR friggin language! We just borrowed it and effed it up!

Just curious, what are the levels in ordinary public school called in England?

Here it's:
Pre-School (below what used to be the first level)

Kindergarten (Age 5 in general. Used to be the first level)

Elementary or "Grade School" i.e. 1st Grade, 2nd, etc. Usually thru 6th grade.

Junior High School or "Middle School" (7th & 8th grades generally)

High School, and this is the end of mandatory schooling here.

We also have public Junior Colleges, generally two years after high school or you can go to a college or university if you want/can afford. And of course trade schools for various trades/crafts people.

 

[Olliecampbell]

OUR language? It's YOUR friggin language! We just borrowed it and effed it up!

Just curious, what are the levels in ordinary public school called in England?

Here it's:
Pre-School (below what used to be the first level)

Kindergarten (Age 5 in general. Used to be the first level)

Elementary or "Grade School" i.e. 1st Grade, 2nd, etc. Usually thru 6th grade.

Junior High School or "Middle School" (7th & 8th grades generally)

High School, and this is the end of mandatory schooling here.

We also have public Junior Colleges, generally two years after high school or you can go to a college or university if you want/can afford. And of course trade schools for various trades/crafts people.

Here you go, describes it much better than I could!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_England#School_years

 

[Olliecampbell]

So what have I been up to? Not a huge amount, I'm waiting for my dehumidifier extended drain pipe to arrive, once that's in I can start making it a more permanent addition.

In the meantime I managed to get some free Celotex board insulation to fill in the garage door.

It turned out to be quite easy to cut and shape, but I had some odd shapes to start work with.

Before:


After:


Each piece is wedged in with slices of left over board, nothing stuck to the door.


It looks awful, but this is the balance I have to play for using free bits and pieces. I'm keeping my eye out for more to finish it off/tidy it up and if I manage to pull together enough cash I may just go and buy a couple of new sheets!

That's all for now!

 

[Olliecampbell]

Not much happening really.
I've picked up my first tools, a nice Wiha set of screwdrivers and allan keys from the UK Hot Deals thread. :thumb:

Moneys been a little tight this month with various expenditures, so no real development in the garage.

I've used up some left over satin paint on the garage ceiling which has made a great difference to the amount of light in there.

On the left is how the garage came, right with a first coat down:


And then the finished two coats of left over satin paint:


It took a surprising amount of time, about 8hrs in total!

A few small bits to do soon; I'm borrowing a large masonry drill bit to get the dehumidifiers permanent drain sorted and have a new smaller bin to put in instead of the large round flower pot!

Does anyone know if you can take items away from the local recycling centres? What's the etiquette? I keep seeing its and pieces there that I'd like but haven't yet asked them!

Fingers crossed I'll be able to get the car that this has all been done for into the garage!

 

[GBsnoopy]

Coming along well, reading threads like this is giving me the push to get off my *** and get myself out there in the cold and get on with mine.

Out of curiosity as i have some ecotile samples and have the mototile ones on the way, do you think there is a big difference in quality?
Im only looking at the mototile as there slightly smaller and has a far bigger colour range which will allow me to create more of a pattern.

 

[Olliecampbell]

Thanks. I keep this updated for exactly that reason! To keep me going, and to get some good input.

I thought the Ecotiles were much more solid, the ribbing underneath the mototiles put me off. My worry being that they would collapse when jacking on them.

 

[lmb]

Does anyone know if you can take items away from the local recycling centres? What's the etiquette?

I know our local council tip are very strict about not letting you take anything away, but it won't hurt to ask at yours. I have a sneaking suspicion that they keep everything there so that they can take the good stuff home at the end of the day and sell it. There is a chap in the village who has a few tables outside his house and is always selling bits and bobs and I heard recently that he works for the council refuse team!

 

[GBsnoopy]

Thanks for the reply. I do like the ecotile of all the samples I've got so far but the colour range is very.restricted. i may have to buy one or two of the mototile and do some jacking tests etc.

Our local council tip is normally very strict.
But as i have been going there with at least 3 boot fulls of stuff every weekend for the past year from clearing out my garages and my late fathers house and garages. I've built up a relationship with the blokes there. I'm now regular offered things.

 

[Olliecampbell]

I'm hoping that one day a SnapOn roll cab will turn up at the local tip for me to take away!

Actually, it's really kitchen cupboards or cabinets that I'm after.

 

[Kevin54]

Nice space. I really hated to see you paint the brick though. I think the brick on walls just add character. I would have left the brick and painted the rafters a bright red to highlight them so they would stand out. Not too often do you see curved rafters.

But the white does brighten it up considerably. Looking forward to more pics as you get it together. The Snap-On will show up someday!!!