# Virgil's Workshop rennovation - single car garage build on budget!



## virgiltracey (Apr 19, 2017)

Hi folks,

This weekend saw me tackling the one big project i've been wanting to do for years... sorting out my garage!

I'll start the story from the beginning, we moved into our little apartment 5 years ago, it came with an anjoining garage which was completely bare, just three brick walls and a door. Straight away I had an electrician round to install an overhead light and some power outlets, once these were in I started getting it ready for use, I fitted a shelf and a rough tool board:










Then I realised I needed a workbench and another shelf:










Finally I had a tap installed and it became somewhere to put the car:










Which brings us to this weekend, frankly the whole garage had no real organisation to it which made working from it quite arduous. I had had enough, this weekend we ripped it all out and turned it into a proper garage workshop!

Before (Friday 16:40pm):










And After! (19:46pm Sunday):










Sorted out my detailing wall:










Made the workshop far easier to use and added extra lights, power and a stereo:










and finally popped the car back into it's new bedroom:










This was all done by me over the course of one weekend, I used "Leyland" masonry paint from B&M (£21 for 10l) and an "Energer" paint sprayer (£20 screwfix) for the first coat, then rollered and brushed on the remaining coats.

The flooring is Rolson floor tiles from Halfords (7 packs at £8 per pack) and the additional lighting was "Perlat" under cabinet LED tubes from amazon (£12).

Admittedly on both Saturday and Sunday i was in there painting at 6:00am but I think if there were two people then I wouldn't have had to get in that early!

All in all I'm so pleased with how it finally came out and I absolutely cannot wait to work from it now! Thanks for reading!


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## Andyblue (Jun 20, 2017)

Looks good. Made such a difference, main thing is now to make sure you keep it that way and put stuff away  :thumb:


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## Breezy (Jun 24, 2006)

Looks great just out of interest what are the dimensions on your garage in ft?

im currently planning some work for mine and trying to work out realistically how long it needs to be to actually fit a car in!

also wheere did you get your peg board and hose reel from?


:thumb:


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## virgiltracey (Apr 19, 2017)

Breezy said:


> Looks great just out of interest what are the dimensions on your garage in ft?
> 
> im currently planning some work for mine and trying to work out realistically how long it needs to be to actually fit a car in!
> 
> ...


Thanks Breezy, the garage is 5.44m x 2.67m and as you can see i've got my workbench and freezer then a half meter gap between it and the car, then another half meter to the door, the Coupe is relatively long I think but it sits nicely in there.

The pegboard was ebay, £27 and the hose reel was from Clas Ohlson £35.


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## dhali (Mar 12, 2006)

Looks good . Well done.


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## Sh1ner (May 19, 2012)

Nice job but I can't see a trapdoor in the roof and where have you put Thunderbird Two?


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## virgiltracey (Apr 19, 2017)

I've added a couple of small additions recently to help organise and improve the look a bit,

I saw the VURM wine rack in Ikea a while back and thought I could re-purpose it, turns out it does make a pretty handy drill holder!










I'll be adding some rubber edging to ensure the drill bodies don't get too scratched when taking them out.

The yellowing freezer that I bought second hand years ago was definitely letting it's side down, so out came the vinyl wrap and now it's a bit better! (obligatory Mighty Car Mods decal added)










And finally the print that was proudly hung in my flat during the bachelor period has finally been ousted by the Mrs, so it has it's place in the garage now instead!










I know my tower drawers need sorting, that's my job for Sunday!


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## Andyblue (Jun 20, 2017)

Looking good. Loving the wrapped freezer :thumb: 

Picture looks good there


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## lisaclio (Sep 6, 2008)

Garage looks good, great idea with the wine rack &#55357;&#56396;


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## virgiltracey (Apr 19, 2017)

lisaclio said:


> Garage looks good, great idea with the wine rack ��


Thanks! i've finally got a photo of the completed rack, I added some self adhesive rubber edging to protect the drills and I treated myself to an impact gun and a new clock last month too!


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## Citromark (Oct 29, 2013)

Nice little set up :thumb:

Mark


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## AudiPhil (Aug 11, 2018)

Looking very tidy!


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## virgiltracey (Apr 19, 2017)

I do a fair amount of spannering on mine and my friends cars, so I thought it would be good to have some backup for those regular emergencies... So I made this:


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## The Cueball (Feb 8, 2007)

^^^^ :lol:

I need around 50 of them please...  :wall:

:thumb:


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## Andyblue (Jun 20, 2017)

virgiltracey said:


> I do a fair amount of spannering on mine and my friends cars, so I thought it would be good to have some backup for those regular emergencies... So I made this:


Oh I like that a lot :thumb:

Where did you get the lettering / frame etc from ?

Fancy doing one for daughter for Christmas, but with a small bottle of Gin in it


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## vectra (Feb 3, 2008)

Brilliant.
Reminds me of this


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## The Cueball (Feb 8, 2007)




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## virgiltracey (Apr 19, 2017)

Andyblue said:


> Oh I like that a lot :thumb:
> 
> Where did you get the lettering / frame etc from ?
> 
> Fancy doing one for daughter for Christmas, but with a small bottle of Gin in it


Cheers Andy

The frame is an Ikea Ribba frame (£5) and the lettering I ordered off ebay, loads of sellers make them sized specific to the Ribba frame so it's easy to make this up and put whatever you want in there, Gin sounds like a good call!


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## Andyblue (Jun 20, 2017)

virgiltracey said:


> Cheers Andy
> 
> The frame is an Ikea Ribba frame (£5) and the lettering I ordered off ebay, loads of sellers make them sized specific to the Ribba frame so it's easy to make this up and put whatever you want in there, Gin sounds like a good call!


Fantastic, cheers mate. :thumb:

I'll have a look to see what I can find...


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## camerashy (Feb 9, 2014)

Looks great mate such a vast difference.
How many coats did you have to give the thermolite blocks and did you water any coats down please.


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## andyfish (Feb 4, 2006)

respect. loving good. can i ask what the masonry paint was like to work with? i have had various experiences with that brand of paint.


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## virgiltracey (Apr 19, 2017)

camerashy said:


> Looks great mate such a vast difference.
> How many coats did you have to give the thermolite blocks and did you water any coats down please.


Thanks! It ended up being 4 coats in the end with the first two being watered down. I'm not sure of the exact dilution but it was enough to get it through the little electric sprayer I bought, then the final two coats were straight on.

Those grey blocks were horrendous to paint, If i'm honest they still aren't perfect but I was running out of time and luckily the shelves and the workbench / tool board hide the worst areas where some grey "spots" could possibly be seen. in comparison the red brick and the plaster ceiling could have just had 2/3 coats.


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## virgiltracey (Apr 19, 2017)

andyfish said:


> respect. loving good. can i ask what the masonry paint was like to work with? i have had various experiences with that brand of paint.


I found it was fine, I must admit i've not used any other masonry paint as this is my first garage, but it went on pretty easy, it diluted with water ok for the first couple of coats and it was cheap, i'd use it again.

Obviously I can't comment on it's weatherproofing as it's inside but it's sealed the brick nicely and I'm not coming in to find a super dusty car anymore!


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## virgiltracey (Apr 19, 2017)

Very minor update, I finally took the time to organise my tower drawers, got the label maker out for extra organisation points...


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## RS3 (Mar 5, 2018)

Awesome thread, thanks and well done. Almost makes me get off my fat Harris and sort mine out.


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## Walesy. (Oct 1, 2009)

Hi Mate, looks good!

Where did you get the black tool board(s) bud?


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## virgiltracey (Apr 19, 2017)

Walesy. said:


> Hi Mate, looks good!
> 
> Where did you get the black tool board(s) bud?


Cheers mate, the tool board was from ebay item no. 254272031538

It's a little rough around the edges but really not bad for the price, I added a little bit of white tac to the spanner holders though as some of the smaller ones (7-8mm) were prone to falling off if i knocked the workbench, the bigger wrenches are fine though.


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## Mardgee (Feb 28, 2009)

How are the floor tiles holding up with the weight of the car?


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## virgiltracey (Apr 19, 2017)

Mardgee said:


> How are the floor tiles holding up with the weight of the car?


Really well! the four tiles that the tyres sit on have been squashed and now have a little crater but I find this really useful actually as it helps me to park in the same spot each time.

I have to reverse in and as you can see i have my workbench behind the car, so once i feel the tyres "drop" into their little craters on the tiles I know to stop.

My car is not a daily so it sits on the tiles for at least a week at a time, i'm sure if it had more use the tiles wouldn't have squashed down as quickly. That said they aren't stretching or creating holes so i'm not too bothered and when they do wear out i'll buy another pack for £7 and replace them


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## Mardgee (Feb 28, 2009)

virgiltracey said:


> Really well! the four tiles that the tyres sit on have been squashed and now have a little crater but I find this really useful actually as it helps me to park in the same spot each time.
> 
> I have to reverse in and as you can see i have my workbench behind the car, so once i feel the tyres "drop" into their little craters on the tiles I know to stop.
> 
> My car is not a daily so it sits on the tiles for at least a week at a time, i'm sure if it had more use the tiles wouldn't have squashed down as quickly. That said they aren't stretching or creating holes so i'm not too bothered and when they do wear out i'll buy another pack for £7 and replace them


Perfect answer. Thank you


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## virgiltracey (Apr 19, 2017)

My Fiancee gave me a cordless wrench for my birthday this year, its a brilliant tool that has already had loads of uses,

my only issue was that my wine rack drill holder was already full and the wrench body was too slim for the large holder spaces anyway, so i had to get creative with a B&Q tool hook and some self-amalgamating rubber tape (awesome stuff).

Doesn't look too bad and keeps the tool in easy reach.










I also bought myself this awesome folding trolley, when folded its slim enough to slot down the left side of the garage along the wall, with plenty of room between it and the car. but when unfolded it gives a great working storage area for polishing pads, DA and cloths, without the danger of dropping them.


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## kentphil (Jan 9, 2014)

That trolley looks cool, do you have a link at all?.

Nice work on the wrench mount, I'm doing something similar to mount my wash lances and guns.


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## virgiltracey (Apr 19, 2017)

kentphil said:


> That trolley looks cool, do you have a link at all?.
> 
> Nice work on the wrench mount, I'm doing something similar to mount my wash lances and guns.


hey Phil

Sure, I bought it from another website when they had it for £49, but they have gone up to £59 now so you might as well get it from Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Azuma-Portable-Collapsible-Transport-Workshop/dp/B07N914PBR

For the hooks I'd definitely recommend picking up a roll of amalgamating rubber tape, it adds tones of grip and is really easy to use. I'll be adding it to all of my tool hooks now


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## kentphil (Jan 9, 2014)

Thanks very much for the link.

I agree on the tape, I used to use it about 10 years ago to waterproof the electrics for my son's 1/10 touring car that we used to race if the weather was wet at the circuits.

More ideas for the weekend now


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## virgiltracey (Apr 19, 2017)

*The lockdown update*

Inevitably I was going to be spending a fair bit of time in the garage during lockdown, I have actually still been going to work as my industry is in very high demand right now. 
Working long days I've found that coming back and sorting little bits in the garage have been the ideal "wind down" time an helps me de-stress after very busy days!

So during this time, I've tidied up the workbench, painted the top and added more lights over head:










Added lighting to the left side -










And to the right hand side - all cables tidied with trunking - 









Sorted out my "easy access" board, including the phone holder / charger. battery charger and any brushes or nozzles needed.










And finally got my garage door fixed so that it holds its own weight... a godsend after months of wrangling the door up!










All the lights are LED for low consumption and all on a remote at the front, I might change to a PIR in the future and I have an automatic opener to go up as well... still not finished!


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## JB052 (Mar 22, 2008)

Very tidy and fully agree about pottering about in the garage as a way of unwinding.


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## Citromark (Oct 29, 2013)

Some useful additions to your garage , next job for me is to do mine :thumb:

Mark


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## Andyblue (Jun 20, 2017)

Looking good, some cracking, simple ideas there :thumb:

Going to have a look at some of the tape...


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## Manny_VAG (Nov 30, 2011)

A tidy setup you got there. Fellow MCM fan:thumb:


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## kentphil (Jan 9, 2014)

Marty and Moog and Bad Obsession Motorsport are my favourite YouTube channels, always fetch a smile even on my worst day.

That is looking like a very nice setup there, well done.


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