# My Little Garage Project



## Alfa male (Jun 16, 2009)

After moving in to a brand new build house I benefitted from a double detached garage.

Initially it was used as a dumping ground but now I want to turn this into my Detailing Den!

So these are some old pictures of garage before I started. As always I'm too keen to get stuck in and fail to get good before pics.










To date I have part boarded the roof space and managed to get a lot of light weight stuff up there out the way.

I've installed a Marantec Electric garage door opener which makes lifting the huge garage door a breeze. Along with a few extra sockets and fluorescent strip lights.

Then came the wall units additional tool boxes and racking. That's how the garage sat for a year and I've been increasingly frustrated with the crap finish concrete floor which just dusts so badly.

After submitting my business case to the wife for approval countless times I finally got the sign off to 'do the floor'. That was free rein to me to start my garage project...

So here we are in April 2016, first job was to get a skip and ruthlessly clear out a load of unused stuff. I also ditched loads of part used old cleaning products that I've clung on to for no real reason eg 1/4 bottles of T Cut that I'll never use now !

I bought some additional loft boards to board out the other side of the loft to get more stuff up out the way

Then started the great emptying /painting session. I painted the walls using Homebase own brand masonry paint. The guide of 100m2 coverage per tub was hugely optimistic and I ended up using 2 1/2tubs to do my 6m X 6m sized garage.

I made the mistake of trying to thin it down to spray the walls, but that was a nightmare, made so much mess wall coverage was too thin. So note to self in future stick to good ol' masonry brush.

Here's some pics of progress on painting the walls.

Before










First coat on walls










Walls painted










Then came the floor, I've wrangled for ages what to do. Do I go for ceramic tiled floor, the plastic tiles, garage floor paint or resin screed floor. In the end I went with the latter and got a local company in to lay a 3mm light grey resin SL floor.

This is the floor going down, it needs three layers of primer as the floor slab is so crap and just soaks everything up.

Primer coat one










Second primer coat










This is where the fun begins as who would've thought that we would be get sub zero temps and snow end of April !!

This has stopped the floor laying as its too cold for the primer to go off so I'm stuck in limbo at present. I've got the house full of stuff out the garage and an angry wife. The contractors are back after the back holiday break and I'm hoping the weather warms up enough to finish it.

That said even the mid grey Primer finish looks great I imagine the light grey perfectly smooth high gloss final finish will look amazing.

TBC....


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## WHIZZER (Oct 25, 2005)

Looks Great


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## WO-WO (Jun 29, 2015)

Very smart!!!


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## Naddy37 (Oct 27, 2005)

Not at all jealous lol. Looking superb.


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## chongo (Jun 7, 2014)

Looking good mate, when you hoping to finish.


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## chefy (May 9, 2011)

That looks like its going to be very nice :thumb: can you tell me if this is expensive for a double garage ? reason I ask is, we had an extension built about 4 years ago, which included a double garage, and at ffirst I had nothing on the concrete floor, but it was so dusty, so after much deliberation, I bought two part epoxy garage floor paint -3 lots btw !! but the paint seems to be peeling in quite a few places - and yes I did seal it according to manufacturers guide lines !! 
So, I am not sure if its the concrete floor or what ? but the bottom line is, I will have to do something, and I was thinking about the resin screed, I havent, as yet looked into it.


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## Cleanguy (Dec 8, 2011)

Lovey space.
When your guys return to speed out the resin top coat, can you ask them if resin flooring is suitable when access is from a gravel drive (20mm gravel, so won't get picked up by tyre treads) and how do they stop the self leveling resin from running out the door please.
Im looking at floor coatings myself but I have my concerns as sometimes a few bits of gravel find themselves in the garage, which I'm afraid will scratch the coating over time.

Keep as posted with the work please.


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## Alfa male (Jun 16, 2009)

chefy said:


> That looks like its going to be very nice :thumb: can you tell me if this is expensive for a double garage ? reason I ask is, we had an extension built about 4 years ago, which included a double garage, and at ffirst I had nothing on the concrete floor, but it was so dusty, so after much deliberation, I bought two part epoxy garage floor paint -3 lots btw !! but the paint seems to be peeling in quite a few places - and yes I did seal it according to manufacturers guide lines !!
> 
> So, I am not sure if its the concrete floor or what ? but the bottom line is, I will have to do something, and I was thinking about the resin screed, I havent, as yet looked into it.


Same with my floor it was so dusty due to the poor quality concrete and the fact they never power floated it to give a better surface.

Cost is circa £1k for the floor I've gone for but the thinner resin is circa £600 I think. I've opted for the 3mm screed which should give a perfectly smooth flawless surface and hide the full depth crack in the concrete slab I'm currently benefitting from.


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## Alfa male (Jun 16, 2009)

Cleanguy said:


> Lovey space.
> 
> When your guys return to speed out the resin top coat, can you ask them if resin flooring is suitable when access is from a gravel drive (20mm gravel, so won't get picked up by tyre treads) and how do they stop the self leveling resin from running out the door please.
> 
> ...


I've asked the question about point loading and jacking car up on the finished resin surface. Whereby I was reassured that the finish is rock solid. There will be no issues as this floor is designed for heavy industry use in factories with heavy plant movements etc.

To be honest I tried scratching the hardened primer surface the other day with a metal object and it didn't mark so I'm minded to believe them!


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## Alfa male (Jun 16, 2009)

chongo said:


> Looking good mate, when you hoping to finish.


Had the crack in the slab filled today and the final clear primer course laid ready for final 3mm screed tomorrow. Hopefully get garage back in use by weekend.

Here's a teaser shot from the in garage CCTV camera, I'll get some better ones tonight...










I've ordered a rubber weather seal strip for the threshold to stop debris being blown in. Along with some new racking for my detailing goodies and a extra wide storage cabinet.

I plan to permanently plumb in the jet wash & DI vessel and link to a new hose reel wall mounted so I can just take the jet wash lance in and out rather than hose, powercable, jet wash etc being dragged in and out each time I wash.

Similar to this set up but with a DI vessel plumbed in and enclosed in a cabinet to keep it all neat and tidy !


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## empsburna (Apr 5, 2006)

Alfa male said:


> Similar to this set up but with a DI vessel plumbed in and enclosed in a cabinet to keep it all neat and tidy !


And quieter too!


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## chefy (May 9, 2011)

Alfa male said:


> Same with my floor it was so dusty due to the poor quality concrete and the fact they never power floated it to give a better surface.
> 
> Cost is circa £1k for the floor I've gone for but the thinner resin is circa £600 I think. I've opted for the 3mm screed which should give a perfectly smooth flawless surface and hide the full depth crack in the concrete slab I'm currently benefitting from.


Thanks for that - so will that go on top of my epoxy resin floor ? £600 not too bad !


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## Alfa male (Jun 16, 2009)

chefy said:


> Thanks for that - so will that go on top of my epoxy resin floor ? £600 not too bad !


No idea to be honest. I know that because they had to leave the primer for several days due to the cold weather, they had to use a special machine to prepare the surface before they could apply next coat of primer to ensure it bonded.

I assume the same would apply with yours in that they would need to key it in and apply an isolation later to ensure a good bond is achieved.

As with all these things good prep is key to getting a quality result.


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## Alfa male (Jun 16, 2009)

Mini update today and apologies these are on the boring side at moment. 
Last coat of clear primer applied with crack filled.










Crack before










Crack filled, I hope this won't be visible after final surface course !










Final coat tomorrow then curing period before I can crack on and finish the project.


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## brad mole (Sep 19, 2008)

Very nice mate, interested to see how the floor turns out as i am looking at also getting a light grey gloss resin finish floor in mine, let us know what you think when done


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## foam (May 5, 2015)

Cool 😎


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## Cy-Zuki (Feb 9, 2015)

Going to be a great space! Watching with interest!


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## Jonny_R (Oct 23, 2012)

great space and good progress.

Cant wait to see this project finished.


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## Alfa male (Jun 16, 2009)

So to update where I've got to on this. I've had the final surface layer of the resin floor screed laid and left it over three days to fully cure.

So here's the finished article excuse the wagon in the way, I was part way fitting the new door weather strip at the time.










Here's a better picture of the new weather seal fitted and glued in place.



















Spent all day organising and putting stuff back into garage. Despite a ruthless clear out I've still got too much stuff in there for my wish of an minimalist garage !










Nice reflections in floor to brighten space up










My detailing corner...



















Last job for today was to put the Alfa away after she'd had a quick clean.



















Al tucked up and ready for bed...










Next is the cabinet to house the jetwash and DI vessel which arrives Wednesday. I've ordered the Karcher hose reel to wall mount to that I can plumb the jetwash in the garage.


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## mattcoupturbo (Aug 14, 2006)

Very nice, just what I would like to get when I find a house to settle down with the wife in.


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## tightlines (Jul 16, 2011)

very nice


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## Mr K (Jan 15, 2014)

*floor tiles*



chefy said:


> That looks like its going to be very nice :thumb: can you tell me if this is expensive for a double garage ? reason I ask is, we had an extension built about 4 years ago, which included a double garage, and at ffirst I had nothing on the concrete floor, but it was so dusty, so after much deliberation, I bought two part epoxy garage floor paint -3 lots btw !! but the paint seems to be peeling in quite a few places - and yes I did seal it according to manufacturers guide lines !!
> So, I am not sure if its the concrete floor or what ? but the bottom line is, I will have to do something, and I was thinking about the resin screed, I havent, as yet looked into it.


I had a very dusty floor for years and laid plastic floor tiles 14mm thick as part of my Winter garage project, I am very pleased with the end result and no fear of anything going wrong,.... I hope !! cost for a 6.5m x 4.5m floor with edging chamfered tiles was £320.


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## chefy (May 9, 2011)

Mr K said:


> I had a very dusty floor for years and laid plastic floor tiles 14mm thick as part of my Winter garage project, I am very pleased with the end result and no fear of anything going wrong,.... I hope !! cost for a 6.5m x 4.5m floor with edging chamfered tiles was £320.


Thanks for that Mr K, where did you get them ? any pics.


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## chefy (May 9, 2011)

Floor looks great Alfa male :thumb: quite a few nice tool chests there too, hope it lasts, I'd love to see something like that for real ! as I really must do something (again) about my floor.


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## J17MEF (Nov 11, 2014)

Ahh hell. I'm currently facelifting my double garage and have bought two part epoxy paint, regardless of how it goes down now i'm not going to be happy after seeing your efforts. 

Now I'm thinking I should go down this route rather than the upkeep on paint flaking. 

Whats your initial review on it? I'd have to go with a similar thickness to hide concrete imperfections, is it worth a grand, is it slippery when wet?

Garage looks spectacular - top job btw


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## tricky tree (Apr 15, 2013)

Fantastic garage.....not jealous at all


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## Puntoboy (Jun 30, 2007)

Fantastic space. Just what I'm looking at. Whilst my garage is not a double, it's a large single garage (6.1 x 3.0m) so a great space. What are the dimension of your garage?You've had all the same ideas I have had. 

How did you find the company that laid the floor?


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## Mk2Singh (Aug 18, 2009)

Awesome garage. Where did you get the weather strip for the garage door from?


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## Alfa male (Jun 16, 2009)

J17MEF said:


> Ahh hell. I'm currently facelifting my double garage and have bought two part epoxy paint, regardless of how it goes down now i'm not going to be happy after seeing your efforts.
> 
> Now I'm thinking I should go down this route rather than the upkeep on paint flaking.
> 
> ...


I'd looked at a few floors with the thin resin screed and you can literally see every pit and defect. It doesn't cover any flaws at all

The 3mm screed whilst 50% dearer does and gives a perfect flat surface in theory.

I came to conclusion I'd never be happy with the cheaper finish and if a jobs worth doing then...


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## Alfa male (Jun 16, 2009)

Puntoboy said:


> Fantastic space. Just what I'm looking at. Whilst my garage is not a double, it's a large single garage (6.1 x 3.0m) so a great space. What are the dimension of your garage?You've had all the same ideas I have had.
> 
> How did you find the company that laid the floor?


My garage is circa 6m X 6m but as always could be bigger !

I'm reserving judgement on flooring company ! I have some defects helpfully right by door, in brief the primer layers haven't sealed the floor properly so I've had some air bubbles come through by door leaving some big ish craters.

In fairness to them they on the case to fix it, they are returning at my leisure to fix this floor. So depending on the resolution will be whether I recommend or warn off !

Can't fault them so far and to be fair they've done a great job whereby its such a shame re the air bubble defects.


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## Alfa male (Jun 16, 2009)

Mk2Singh said:


> Awesome garage. Where did you get the weather strip for the garage door from?


Weather seal was an eBay jobbie and good value at £41 !. Came with adhesive and can't fault it.

This is the link https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/380431796651


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## Alfa male (Jun 16, 2009)

Mini update my new cabinet arrived today so I've quickly put it place but I need to level it up and sort the plumbing for the DI Vessel and jet wash etc.

I've ordered a 30m Karcher hose reel which is on route so when that arrives first I'll plumb it all in so it's always connected.


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## Alfa male (Jun 16, 2009)

It's about time I updated this thread now I'm making progress on the garage project.

So my pressure washer hose reel arrived so this was my excuse to finally sort out the plumbing etc

Only issue was that where I wanted to mount the hose reel there was the conduit for the power sockets and light switches in the way. So first job was to raise all he boxes up out the way to make room for the hose reel.

Then came the arduous task of cutting a small hole in the side of this very robust cabinet to fit the hoses through.

Once that was all done I was able to plumb in everything so it's all neatly tucked away in the cupboard and also stops the noisy jetwash annoying the neighbours on early morning cleans.

I've plumbed in a hose switch too so I can swap between the jet wash and DI Vessel outputs. All works really well and I'm very pleased with the results.

This set up means all I have to do is take out the jet wash lance everything else stays where it is and plumbed in ready to go. Massively speeds up the car cleaning process.

I'll let the pictures do the talking.


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## klw7me (Apr 8, 2015)

This looks like a great garage and you are making all the right additions to it.


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## thedonji (Oct 7, 2011)

Looks good 

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## Alfa male (Jun 16, 2009)

To be honest whilst the hose reel was expensive, £160, it does make the chore of cleaning so much easier now as I literally just drag the lance out and wind it back in. No more lugging the jetwash round, hoses and power extension cables either. 

A worthy investment for a serial car cleaner !!


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## reganlives (May 8, 2008)

Love the way you have tidied everything up with the long hose! How about airflow for the pressure washer though, will it not get hot in the cabinet?

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## Alfa male (Jun 16, 2009)

reganlives said:


> Love the way you have tidied everything up with the long hose! How about airflow for the pressure washer though, will it not get hot in the cabinet?
> 
> Sent using Tapatalk


There's enough ventilation in the cupboard to avoid it overheating. Can't believe how much easier it is now to jet wash the car !


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## legend139 (Oct 18, 2015)

Alfa male said:


> To be honest whilst the hose reel was expensive, £160, it does make the chore of cleaning so much easier now as I literally just drag the lance out and wind it back in. No more lugging the jetwash round, hoses and power extension cables either.
> 
> A worthy investment for a serial car cleaner !!


I've been looking at doing this for a while, I originally bought a K2 pressure washer but the existing hose is probably 4 meters long which required dragging around the car.. Bought a 10 meter extension from Direct Hoses as they are literally round the corner from me.. Great bit a hose for the money and cheapest around.. Let down was that it was an 'extension' so still had to use the existing crap plastic hose. Though it makes cleaning the car much easier but it's a pain as I have to roll it back up to put it away..

Was looking at the Reels myself for easy of use and then I don't even have to pull the pressure washer out the garage at all. As you say it will make cleaning a stack quicker and easier..

Where did you buy your hose / reel from? Direct hoses won't have any in till end of July earliest, but I can't wait! Just worries at the reels on eBay from Poland will not the correct fitment to the karchers k2 I have

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## nick_mcuk (Jan 4, 2008)

Looks good have you got an RCD on the extension lead though?

The only thing I would be doing is moving it away from the water....its all a bit too close to the water connections etc.


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## Cookies (Dec 10, 2008)

Looks absolutely fantastic. I'm now trying to figure out what I need to do to mine now. 

With regard to the cabinet, does the pw cause the metal sides to resonate in any way. If so, mebby a wee bit of cheap eBay sound deadening would help. I agree with Nick too, the extension lead should probably be moved away from the hose junctions. 

On another note, the floor looks absolutely incredible. So glossy and very very classy looking. Looks like a high class showroom. 

Great work and huge respect. 

Cooks 

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## brad mole (Sep 19, 2008)

That looks great, the hose setup looks ideal, do you have a water outlet in your garage too? Im looking to do something similar but i cant think how to get around having to reel out the hose to my outside tap on the house


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## legend139 (Oct 18, 2015)

brad mole said:


> That looks great, the hose setup looks ideal, do you have a water outlet in your garage too? Im looking to do something similar but i cant think how to get around having to reel out the hose to my outside tap on the house


Could you not tap into the outside tap and run a line into the garage?

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## tomsuematthews (Apr 8, 2016)

Wish I had something like that! Good luck to you and enjoy! 

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## rs_si (Apr 20, 2010)

Really liking the pressure hose reel. Do you mind me asking how you got it all to fit your pressure washer? My lance is the same as yours but the hose reel kits on eBay seem to be the older Karcher fittings?


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## Alfa male (Jun 16, 2009)

legend139 said:


> Where did you buy your hose / reel from? Direct hoses won't have any in till end of July earliest, but I can't wait! Just worries at the reels on eBay from Poland will not the correct fitment to the karchers k2 I have





rs_si said:


> Really liking the pressure hose reel. Do you mind me asking how you got it all to fit your pressure washer? My lance is the same as yours but the hose reel kits on eBay seem to be the older Karcher fittings?


I used a polish seller off eBay, he didn't advertise the same fittings I needed for my Karcher K5 so I dropped him a line saying what I needed and he made me one up and even dropped the price by £10 too

This is the link https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/281755794390

It's a quality product which was delivered quickly and I'd recommend the seller without hesitation.


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## Alfa male (Jun 16, 2009)

nick_mcuk said:


> Looks good have you got an RCD on the extension lead though?
> 
> The only thing I would be doing is moving it away from the water....its all a bit too close to the water connections etc.


The whole garage supply is RCD protected, but yes I've since moved the power to shelf above just to be safe ! Thanks


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## Alfa male (Jun 16, 2009)

Cookies said:


> Looks absolutely fantastic. I'm now trying to figure out what I need to do to mine now.
> 
> With regard to the cabinet, does the pw cause the metal sides to resonate in any way. If so, mebby a wee bit of cheap eBay sound deadening would help. I agree with Nick too, the extension lead should probably be moved away from the hose junctions.
> 
> ...


The cabinet quality is outstanding, I got the link off another thread on here but there is no vibrations st all.

When I cut the small hole to feed pipes through I found out then how good quality and thick the metal was. It took ages to cut through as it was fairly thick metal !

This is the company I used and again I would hesitate to recommend. http://www.direct-storage.co.uk/Janitorial-Cupboard.htm


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## Alfa male (Jun 16, 2009)

brad mole said:


> That looks great, the hose setup looks ideal, do you have a water outlet in your garage too? Im looking to do something similar but i cant think how to get around having to reel out the hose to my outside tap on the house


Sadly no tap installed in the garage and it was too much hassle to install. However my outside tap is located very close to the garage so I've set it up that I just plug the hose in as and when I need the water.


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## legend139 (Oct 18, 2015)

Thanks Alfa, yeah I had seen the polish seller on eBay but was a bit sceptical about buying from them to be honest! 

Dropped them an eBay message so will see what they say.. I'd get the reel from Direct hoses because they are only down the road from me but they told me they won't have any in till end of June time, he said if I took my stuff down he would sort out the stuff I'd require, but I don't want to wait for them to come in stock.. I believe he gets his reels from the polish guy anyway..

Messaged the polish guy for what I'm after.. I'd like to eliminate the need for the existing K2 hose if possible, as it is crap quality and worn out


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