# The Detailing Mancave Project



## shabba (Sep 28, 2008)

Hey everybody,

I spent a lot of time going to the various garage built threads for inspiration here, so now onto my own! Being very impressed by the DIY abilities for you guys, the bar is set VERY high.

In 2010, I invested into a house - located in my old hometown and with a big garden. After renovating a couple of things for five years here and there, two years ago, my wife and I started debating whether to completely renovate or rebuild it - as neither the layout and nor the built quality was what we needed. 
We ended up deciding that it wasn't worth investing money into a 20 year old house, we decided to demolish and rebuild the house completely. 
Naturally, when it came to planning the basement, I sensed an opportunity to let my inner detailing demons out. :devil:
The dimensioning factors of the entire basement was the ground floor, subsequently the final footprint of the garage stood at a little over 72sqm (12m deep * 6m wide). This is roughly half the ground floor (yeay)

We moved back to the house in June, and most of the time was spent setting up the upper floors. A work promotion meant we had to move again (in November) to Brussels.

Long story short - more than putting the cars, motorbikes, and the lawnmower into the garage - nothing got done.

So what's it for: 
As the thread title suggests, the main idea for it is to have a 'detailing man cave'.
It’s supposed to act as a garage for everything with wheels; the front should serve as a cleaning/detailing bay; the back a man cave.
Turns out that with so many ideas, the room then is quite small 

Current projects : (all suggestions and solutions welcome):
- Lighting (or the lack of it)
Somehow, it never seems to be bright enough, currently looking into LED floodlights for the ceiling as well as some additional LED bars.
- Detailing area
The walls are made out of concrete blocks, don’t want them to stain, hence looking into some paint that would provide a clear seal.
A water outlet is at the far end of the garage :wall:
- shelving 
In order to save some floor space, the current idea’s to use high shelving. Still looking for decent cabinets
- flooring 
The floor is tiled. Do you guys think it’s worth investing in Duramat or Swisstrax flooring ? (they’re not exactly cheap :/ )
- heating 
I waited to see how cold it gets when the temperatures go beneath the freezing point, should be around 15°C in the garage, hence not a priority at the moment

As always, comments and ideas are welcome!
Pictures will follow asap


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## chongo (Jun 7, 2014)

Can't see any pictures bud:thumb:


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## shabba (Sep 28, 2008)

chongo said:


> Can't see any pictures bud:thumb:


Yep, having a couple of difficulties embedding them from flickr...
working on a solution here 

ah those good ol' Photobucket days


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## shabba (Sep 28, 2008)

So onto the demolition!


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## shabba (Sep 28, 2008)

So after a couple of initial difficulties embedding the pictures, I think we are off to a good start!
A couple of the pictures of the house being build:

After tearing everything down, the soil was prepared, compacted, and the basement floor was poured


Following this, the basement walls were put in place, insulation added and the drainage laid out.


And the first glimpse into the garage:


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## Derek-Eddleston (Aug 17, 2016)

*Fitting out the man-cave.*

I built the garage of my dreams a while ago and looked around at other garages for inspiration. You can never have too many power-points and lights. If you use air tools it's easy to fit an air ring-main at this stage of the build. The main dealers that I use don't have plastic floor covering, they use light coloured stone tiles that allow the floor to be cleaned easily (see your local Porsche or Mercedes-Benz dealership). Don't be tempted to fit deep shelving as things will disappear to the back ..........150mm is quite adequate. I stain and varnish shelves before fitting.......... have pride in your garage. I sealed my walls with UPA and then painted them with white emulsion which is easy to re-coat. Build the biggest bench you can without taking up too much of your floor space.....I stained and varnished mine as well. Fit a sink........for washing your hands and coffee mugs. I'll look forward to seeing your progress.
Derek.


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## Harry_VW (Jul 22, 2017)

I'm excited for this


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## Jack (May 14, 2007)

I'll be keeping an eye on this


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## manmaths31 (Nov 30, 2017)

Looks great! Will be keeping an eye on this with interest


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## shabba (Sep 28, 2008)

Luckily, I found a bit more time to update this thread.

As to out of what we would build of the house itself, we looked into concrete as well as wood. We ended up choosing wood (apart from the basement's ready-made walls) for different reasons.
Mainly, Luxembourg requires by law that you build an energy-efficient/passive-energy house (hence also no heating allowed in the garage). With the amount of insolation required, the risk of moisture is ever present. As friends of ours ended up with mold in their bedroom, we were skeptical of building a concrete house and basically slapping 50cm of Styrofoam on the outside... 
Furthermore, the climate in the house itself was quite important to us, and after seeing a couple, we decided to go for it.

So here's what a cut of the walls look like (inside right/outside right)


As this thread (and forum subsection) is about garage builds, I don't want to stray too far from the subject.  Here a couple of pictures how it went on.
The garage roof/groundfloor poured last december:


The ground floor being set up:


First floor on :


Insolation on:



And the façade:



Before last Christmas, the entire house could be closed off and the different companies could start working. 
Leaving us in February with this outside :


and this inside (ventilation tubes running thru the kitchen, dinning room) :


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## Jack R (Dec 15, 2014)

Looks amazing, now subscribed


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## JB052 (Mar 22, 2008)

Excellent


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## richtea78 (Apr 16, 2011)

Wow very impressive


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## Bill58 (Jul 5, 2010)

That's a beautiful house.


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## saul (Nov 27, 2013)

very impressive, subscribed.


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## Demetrios72 (Jun 27, 2011)

Very nice house :thumb:


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## Bustanut (Jun 11, 2011)

Will be watching this thread. It looks like it will be fantastic when it’s finished. Keep the updates coming Shabba.


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## greg2222 (Apr 9, 2012)

That’s amazing project, any chance for more details of ventilation system


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## DuncanB (Oct 5, 2009)

Fabulous! Absolutely love it. Great thread, just make sure to keep it updated with pics.


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## Chris Donaldson (Jun 26, 2016)

Looking forward to this thread, subscribed!


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## Palmer02 (Jul 7, 2012)

Outstanding build
Looking forward to garage updates coming


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## shabba (Sep 28, 2008)

greg2222 said:


> That's amazing project, any chance for more details of ventilation system


Sure mate!
the ventilation system is powered by a Zehnder ComfoAir Q450 capable of 450 m³/h at 150 Pa. 
The main aim is to use the warmth of the air in the house and combine it with fresh air from the outside. Hence, you'll have less of a need to open windows to let fresh air in - and loose all the heat in the room.

It basically works as follows:
Air from all the warm rooms (bathroom, kitchen, laundry-room) is sucked into the machine and a convector transfers the heat of that air before it being blown out.
This heat is transferred to the fresh air that's sucked in from outside and distributed throughout the house.

As the machine sits in the basement, no noise is heard in the rooms themselves. A gentle breeze of air can be felt if you hold your hand over an outlet. 
Even during periods of absence, it never smells like stale air in the house. I must admit that after being a bit hesitant, I now quite like it!

Cheers,
CS
It doesn't cool down the air though in summer.


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## shabba (Sep 28, 2008)

Here a quick update with a couple more pictures:
The driveway and staircase leading to the house went in in April:




Of course, it had to be tested immediately : :lol:


More soon


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