# My Double Garage, v1, v2 and plans for v3



## Shanksy87 (Aug 26, 2020)

Hello all, firstly, like most garage threads this opening post will be a long one, hang in there if you can, I value your input and ideas.

I've been a lurker on this forum for a while and having seen the input from forum members on other garage builds I thought now would be a good time to post up my own garage, past and present, and to detail some of my future plans. Hopefully I can pick up some ideas to make the next iteration of the space the best it can practically be.

Some background. My first house to come with the luxury of a garage was a surprisingly ordinary but usefully sized 1 car garage coming in at 5.5m deep and 2.6m wide. I'll start by saying I was never too keen to invest in this space, as I came to find out life in your 20s in an expensive game, none the less this space allowed me to store my car along with a toolbox and bench with just enough room to navigate my smallish frame around everything. However, after taking on a more major restoration project my wife commented "we need to get you a bigger garage", prompted by seeing the shear amount of stuff I was narrowly avoiding tripping over. Music to my ears, but this doesn't magic the funds to fix the problem so I ran with the setup you see below for a while longer.



















Fast forward several years of grafting and saving and we were fortunate enough to move into our now family home in September 2019 complete with 1985 sized double garage. The foot print is 5.0m deep and 5.75m wide - more than big enough to do what I need to do and a meaningful uplift on the previous garage - I'm a happy boy.



















When I took over the garage I did a minor amount of remodelling, moving the oddly placed shelves and cupboards to allow me to get my car into the only bay with a working door (apparently the previous owners never got the other door open in 10 years of living there…). I quickly decided the doors weren't working for me so the faded up and over garage doors were replaced with a pair of aluguard electric insulated roller doors, matched to finish the doors/windows on the house. I would recommend these but it's worth noting you really need a sectional door if you want proper insulation properties as you're limited on segment thickness, still, they do the job. This version, 1 as we'll term it for now, stayed like this while I spent the winter completing a power steering conversion and saving ready to start the first remodel.



















The plans for garage v2 were developed with significant input from trawling this forum and several others to pull in all the best bits I could justify while keeping an eye on the fact I may not be here forever. Thank you to anyone who has shared their own garage space, I've no doubt benefited from the content.

The brief for garage v2 was as follows:
•	Create two usable bays
•	Make it warmer
•	Add storage
•	Create a space for a pressure washing station
•	Retain the sink
•	Retain the white goods that somehow don't fit in the kitchen
•	Improve the lighting
•	Create a loft space
•	Improve the security
•	Do something with the floor to keep me off the concrete slab

With this in mind, I set about the renovations in May 2020.

With the earlier replaced garage doors giving me access to both bays I arranged to have the boiler rotated 90 degreed to give just enough length to squeeze a car into the bay, and while this was going on I moved the sink and washing machine piping myself. Plumbing for taps is dead easy in case you were wondering. With this done I now had enough room to get a car into this bay without pushing appliances into the space needed for the second. I was also able to run a water feed to the front of the garage to feed my desired pressure washing station. I also put in a drain for a dehumidifier that lives atop the boiler and keeps the garage at 60% RH.










Storage was always a big factor, the bulk of this sits above and behind where the TVR now lives. I decided on a slightly rustic scaffold board sourced theme as I live rurally and for some reason my brain decided this was how I was going to make a nod towards my location. I'm largely devoid of creativity so please don't judge too harshly. Regardless, the shelfs do what I need and host some of the junk I decided keep at close quarters. Later on I also replaced a shambolic fibre board shelf with a smaller version to create compressed air corner as I have termed it.




























With this taken care of I moved to sorting out the ageing kitchen cabinets that were put in by the previous owners. They now host my microfibre towels, detailing potions and odds and sods. They're a bit nasty but they do what they need to for now. I managed to wire an LED for an under cabinet light for not a lot of effort which works nicely. I also painted the wall on this side of the garage white to brighten the space and hide the dreary concrete blocks.



















Now onto the loft creation and ceiling install. To kick this off I had to run wires to all places I wanted power and terminated them with socket boxes accordingly. I did an average job of fitting conduit but it's a lot better than bare cables. I also ran wires for new lighting in the garage and added some for the loft space. The loft boards and insulation were loaded into the loft space and the plasterer turned up the next day. 12 hours and £525 later and I now possessed a garage ceiling, the guy who did it was a gem, I definitely got lucky with the tradesman in this project. Once dried out I finished it with a few coats of matt white paint.









































































Next up was lighting. I opted for x4 4ft temperature adjustable LED battens. These were easily installed and I settled on 4000K as the right colour temperature for me, 3000K and 6000K being the other options. I think they were about £30 a unit and output 4800 lumens each. I have a few dark spots in the garage with this configuration but more than enough light where I need it. Lighting is often overlooked but I'd recommend spending some time on basic light intensity calcs and positioning testing before proceeding if you have the time/patience. I also added an insulated loft hatch around this time.










The loft followed next. I laid 100mm of insulation, then laid the boards (18mm floorboard grade) over the central strip. This was a horrible job but was worth the effort. I now have a decent loft, with lighting and a warm (er) garage for most of the year.



















Around this time I replaced the 35yo single skin wooden door and single glazed window with a composite door and double glazed window to match the house. I'm always amazed how expensive doors are but I figure the goods in the garage are worth much much more than what I have in the house so this is an important step.










Onto the home stretch and about 2 months into the project I started on the flooring. I obsessed about the options for this for probably 5 years while I sat in my first garage, initially I wanted a resin floor, then I moved to porcelain tiles and finally plastic tiles. Swisstrax Ribtrax are what you see below, black and silver for reference. The bulk of the tiles went down in a few hours and I spent probably another 10 hours doing all the required cutting in using a circular saw.

These are a great option in my opinion, if not pricey in the plastic tile world. The choice of colours and design combinations is an endless one, but having a slotted tile means regardless of colour they look clean almost all the time. I would highly recommend these if you're sat on the fence. My choice for creating two distinct bays is really useful for when backing cars into position, although the classic chequer board design was a hard one skirt.



















By this point I already had a few luxuries in place, the TV and basic sound system went into prior to starting the major work, made easier to use with a Google Chrome dongle for catching up on YouTube.




























A leaf blower was added for drying the cars and mounted in one of the last spaces I could find.










I added a pair of battery tenders that keep my toys healthy for when it's not raining (endlessly as I type).



















And deviating slightly, I bought a pair of matching car covers that come out when the tenders are mostly in use. Prestige Covers, in case you fancy the same, they are lovely.



















Now onto the real luxury items. I had been wanting to upgrade my pressure washing equipment for a while, previously limited by space and the knowledge my last garage would never be for long, well, this was no longer a problem and I provisioned some space for a pressure washing station.

This came in two iterations, first I installed the Kranzle K10 with a hose and reel onto a board, mounted it and plumbed in the water. I ran it like this for a while to make sure everything worked while I planned some upgrades.




























The winter/summer wheels I was storing below this system were finally relocated outside the garage and I proceeded with my water deionisation solution. I spent a while developing something suitable for a hard mounted solution. You can see my build progress below that included a shelf change to match my scaffold boards elsewhere and I painted the backing board. The functional results from this are great; with a south facing drive and very hard mains water (375ppm) I now get 0ppm and washing in direct sunlight is no longer a concern. I also added a basic bucket filler to stand in while I wait for my final solution. The buckets now live here with only a wand holder left to mount; likely over with the brush rack.














































This bring you up to today and completes version 2. Being a forward planner by nature, I'm now working on the details for version 3. To make this really great space into something I can enjoy for decades, I've set some more requirements and need to figure out which details will satisfy them, any input or experience on this would be valued.

The plan:
•	Extend out the back, adding 2m to the footprint
•	Move the white goods into the kitchen/utility
•	Move the boiler to the outside
•	Scrap the cabinets, workbench and toolbox in favour of a proper cabinet array
•	Clean up the space by removing most of the shelving
•	Insulate the back and side exterior walls
•	Improve the piping solution for the pressure washer
•	Install a larger TV and better sound system
•	Install a mid-rise scissor lift
•	Add some air conditioning

My thoughts on this so far. Adding 2m means I can in future buy cars longer than my current crop, one of which was purchased because it's just short enough to allow me to squeeze by. It also allows for a cabinet array. Cabinets are something I've wanted for many many years, I think I should be able to do this eventually with this iteration of the project. I have my eye on Sonic cabinets for now but will investigate all options as this is quite an investment. I like the cleanliness of the stainless steel top idea, but I think a wooden or composite top would be more sensible. I think heart may win this one and go with stainless.

Removing the white goods and boiler buys me a lot of walking room which is something I'm keen for, a sense of space even with two cars inside. It will help clean up the look at lot too.

A larger TV is a must, I struggle a bit with the current 32" and I already have the speakers for better audio.

The pressure washer piping will likely end up being Prevost, borrowing an idea from the Obsessed Garage channel. I'm most of the way there with it already, but space currently limits me to 15mm piping. 1" with a direct feed from the supply to the house is the plan.

A lift is a bit of a dream. I am forever working on my cars so this would get very regular use. I think a Twin Busch is top of the list so far, but this is another area that needs some research and ideas. I would ideally want to cut the floor to accept this but I'm wondering if this creates other challenges.

Air conditioning; I'm not sure how I got this past the wife and onto the list. I sold it as a twin outlet system with one feeding our bedroom which is next to the garage. I think an 18000BTU system with a heater function should cover all bases and looks to be more reasonably priced than I thought, but I don't know which brands or installers to consider. If anyone knows of a trusted company to use that operates in the south Warwickshire area I'd be keen to learn more.

In doing the extension I intend to keep the door in the same position, but remove the window to improve the security aspect. I will also have a 100mm frame erected internally for the external walls that will house the much valued insulation and finish the all the walls in plasterboard/plaster, painted in light grey. I've always admired the garages that look more like rooms, plus it will give passers by something to gawk at. The current garage setup gets a lot of comments from the myriad of walkers that pass by on the weekends. I do all of this for me I'd add, but living in a touristy area and on a main road it catches some eyeballs regardless of how it's finished.

If you've got this far, I applaud you, thanks for reading and please leave a comment.

Alex


----------



## Citromark (Oct 29, 2013)

Great project nicely done :thumb:

Mark


----------



## Teamleader 21 (May 7, 2019)

Very good,thought out design. Will keep an eye out for further updates.


----------



## Hede (Nov 1, 2015)

Nice job


----------



## Andyblue (Jun 20, 2017)

Very nice indeed, some great updates and thought has gone into that :thumb:


----------



## Cookies (Dec 10, 2008)

That's an excellent space, and you've really got it well sorted. I'm really looking forward to seeing this progress.

Cheers

Cooks

Sent from my VOG-L29 using Tapatalk


----------



## carrera2s (Jun 28, 2009)

Great space well done :thumb:


----------



## Shanksy87 (Aug 26, 2020)

Thanks all for your kind comments, I've come to expect no less from this community.

An update: I've not touched anything in the garage as of late, as much as I enjoy making changes sometimes it is nice just to exist. This being said, I'm heavily into the planning and research phase for version 3 of this space.

The next iteration will come about thanks to an extension that is being drawn up for the house to which the garage is attached, in short, the house goes back 3m and the garage will go back 2m to join it, this nets me an extra 10sqm to play with. The extension in itself is pretty simple, a single skin of bricks and 100mm of interior cladding to house the insulation, topped with a flat roof, so far so simple. The thing currently giving me a headache is the lift I would like to install.

This area seems like a minefield of a topic, you really need to hunt around for genuine user experiences to get to valuable information. This said, what I "need" is a mid-rise lift, a low-rise or quick jacks style isn't going to cut it for my use case and a full rise lift isn't strictly necessary as I can't capitalise on the full height benefit. However, mid-rise lifts seem to be exclusively designed to be portable, something I have no interest in, they also give up to 1000mm of lift, but seldom more. The ceiling height I have means I could use 1300mm of lift before car meets roof. Add into this my desire to have the floor altered to allow the lift to sit flush with the ground and you lose some of that 1000mm lift, this makes a full rise lift, specifically design to sit in the floor look all the more appealing. So this is where I have focused my search.

I've whittled it down to two providers, although I'd be keen to here of others if anyone has a recommendation.

Automech AS-7330 : https://www.automotechservices.co.uk/products/as-7330-three-tonne-scissor-lift/

Twin Busch TW S3-18 U : https://twinbusch.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=15

They are on the face of it the same mechanically, with both being manufactured in China, only Twin Busch claim assembly in Germany. Twin Busch also have a laser self leveling system added in, this is clearly a very important area but other manufacturers do without this so I'm not sure if this in itself is worth the £500 difference. I suspect it will come down to the warranty offered.

For both of these lifts you need a 300mm deep hole to house it when collapsed with 150mm of reinforced concrete underneath as a base. Given the typical garage floor slab is 100mm at best it's clear there is a lot of digging to be done to get down to 450mm. With this on my mind and the knowledge that the slab I have now pretty ropey I think it best to have the whole floor ripped out so I can start fresh and end up with a polished concrete slab complete with recesses for the lift. I can also have it built to a known standard so there are no concerns in future.


----------



## Mr Gurn (Dec 9, 2009)

that looks epic!:thumb:

and as for the TVR...... :argie::argie::argie:


----------



## Imperial-blue-rs (Oct 1, 2006)

Some great upgrades there, its looks really good.
I built a garage at the end of my garden and was going to install those floor tiles, but the only thing that put me off was wiping up oil/fluids. I have a Mk1 Focus RS and being a Ford its forever trying to commit suicide, so installed a resin floor with black & white flakes a quick wipe and its sorted.
Look forward to seeing how this progresses.


----------



## JordanE (Jun 26, 2013)

looking good. Keep us posted how your getting on


----------



## Shanksy87 (Aug 26, 2020)

Time for an overdue update for anyone interested. Apologies in advance to the TVR fans…

Fleet Change

A change of cars on the fleet brings about a change of configuration in the garage.

The TVR Cerbera 4.5, my long loved toy was in need of more time than I was prepared to give it, but moving a car on that knowingly needs work is never an easy one, that is unless lady luck is on your side. One Saturday afternoon in September I saw a post on a Facebook group I frequent asking if anyone was looking to sell a Cerb, preferably a 4.5. I replied saying I might be, I got an instant response, followed by a video call….24 hours later the car was gone, things happen fast when you're honest and realistic on price, it seems. Now, I'm not good at holding onto money, as may be obvious by now. Within a week I set about sourcing something to replace it that would need less of my time, excite in a similar way, and be something I was proud to look back at. For the money the Cerbera returned to me, there was little to nothing that did it for me.

To remedy this, I decided my M2 Competition after 12 months of getting to know it, was a car that I will always like, but not love, so I set about moving that on. A short while after the Cerbera left me the M2 departed for a lot more than you would expect a 1 year old car to return. This, combined with a lot of man maths, got me into something I've wanted for 10 years, a Porsche 911 GT3. Photos below of it housed in the garage I'm meant to be talking about in this thread, and one from a recent photo shoot.



















Winter Updates

With the change up in cars, I now was back down to 1 usable bay as the 911 is too long to fit against the far wall (oil boiler in the way), so I moved the workbench over to that side to create some room around the car. It now feels more like a luxury 1 car garage…with some sodding white goods that I'm scheming to move to a better home.










I picked up some Pressol bottles from Carscope to bring my detailing game up to spec, and a few goodies from Obsessed Garage including a bucket filler.




























As I'm digressing into detailing, I also added a Rupes 3" and iBird nano polishers as I wanted a good set of tools to tackle the Porsche, man these things are good and a strong upgrade over my Das6 Pro 5" which I will upgrade to Rupes in due course. The torque and balance being the notable improvements.

A Henry also joined the team, specifically for tackling the cars. Always wanted one and it had to be in blue. A super low aluminium jack was also added as none of my other jacks would fit under the 911.



















I also added a PIR sensor as I'm in an out of the garage way to often to use an actual switch. I jest, but it does help a lot with reversing the car into the garage as I can now see properly, especially at night.

The Future

Set for the year ahead, I've turned my attention to where I want to go next with this space. My original goal of a lift, is out (I picked up an air jack to soften the blow), as is my aim of pushing the back wall out 2m. This simply won't work with what we're shooting for with the rest of the house, but I have managed to squeeze in some improvements seen in the plan below. In terms of car storage, the 911 will live in the longer side, with my daily driver, an E46 BMW, finally coming in from the cold to stop it rusting. This will likely turn into an F20 1 series but I'm at a loss to how to make this happen with everything else on the go right now.




























The proposed garage footprint nets me an alcove to locate a sink, worktop and cabinet combo to house everything I need hide away, something from the Sonic tools company if it all comes together. The project will also properly insulate the garage, with the extension and side wall receiving an insulated stud wall. A 5kW air conditioning unit will sit outside, dedicated to heating/cooling the garage. Not strictly relevant here, but the garage roof will gain a full set of solar panels and a battery to power the house will live outside near the AC unit.

The white goods will finally find a home in the utility that is to be created inside the house, which gives me room to expand the pressure washing station that will see some more visually appealing piping, a nice tiled backdrop and a bucket filler that can be used to draw regular water or deionised water for the warmest months of the car washing calendar.

I'd welcome any comments, questions or suggestions as always :thumb:


----------



## garage_dweller (Apr 10, 2018)

Garage looks great, I get where you're coming from, mine had to be gray to match my garage  Out of interest how much was the postage from OG?


----------



## Kevlar (Nov 12, 2006)

Nice 'little update' by the way I bought a 911 GT3 :doublesho - i was impressed you had a blue Henry


----------



## Shanksy87 (Aug 26, 2020)

garage_dweller said:


> Garage looks great, I get where you're coming from, mine had to be gray to match my garage  Out of interest how much was the postage from OG?


I've placed two orders with OG, delivery and tax coming to $130-180. I'm planning a bigger/heavier order this year which will push that up close to $300. There is an import regulation that essentially means they won't ship orders less than $200 which means you're in for ~100 minimum for import duty and delivery in most cases


----------



## garage_dweller (Apr 10, 2018)

Shanksy87 said:


> I've placed two orders with OG, delivery and tax coming to $130-180. I'm planning a bigger/heavier order this year which will push that up close to $300. There is an import regulation that essentially means they won't ship orders less than $200 which means you're in for ~100 minimum for import duty and delivery in most cases


I won't be bothering then


----------



## Bustanut (Jun 11, 2011)

I've just ordered one of those air jacks. it will come in really handy for the annual wheel off deep clean.

GT3 is my dream car. outstanding work.


----------

