# Garage / Man Cave Build



## jdquinn

Hi Guys,

I wasn't going to put this up but knowing how I like reading a garage build thread I thought other like minded people might be interested in my little project.

When I built my house about 7 years ago I had plans drawn up for a garage but didn't get further than putting in foundations and building a small boiler house due to financial restraints.

I've always had a garage and living the past 7 years without easy access to one has been tough. Especially with all the DIY projects that's required in a new build house and garden. Now the house is well round it's time to get the garage built! 

I decided the original design was a little small to what I was used to and since building space is not an issue I've changed the design a little to give me the extra room I need. The original garage was 25 x 28ft standard two car garage. I now plan to build a garage 40ft x 28ft and thought I'd sketch something up quickly on CAD to give you an idea of what the finished building will be like. It will have a final roof height of around 5.8m and sit just below the house ridge height. There will be a split level ceiling to allow for a decent project room above the main garage of around 6m x 6m. The split level is to allow a 4m clearance for a car lift if I'm ever fortunate enough to have one.

Work commenced yesterday with extending the foundations which took 18m3 of 25nm and 6m3 of 35nm semi dry concrete to give a good sturdy building base. One part of the found's ended up being 9ft deep but mostly it was around 4ft deep. The concrete was filled to a few blocks below the existing block work so the old and new can be tied together.

I've told my wife it's going to cost £10k. Even though I'm doing some diy and my father-in-law is a builder with all his contacts I think it'll take around £15k.

Wish me luck! Pictures to follow as things progress.


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## WHIZZER

Looks Great - Keep us posted with Pic s


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## Jonny_R

looking forward to seeing this progress :thumb:


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## WO-WO

That's not a garage - that's another house!

Looking forward to seeing this progress!


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## JordanE

WO-WO said:


> That's not a garage - that's another house!
> 
> Looking forward to seeing this progress!


haha took the words right out my mouth!

Good luck, thats epic!! and 15k is a bargain!!


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## jdquinn

Ok,

First pictures of the work done to date. As mentioned in my first post the extension of the foundations were dug and poured last week. This week we scraped the top soil from the surrounding area and filled hardcore as a base along were the driveway will continue. The drive continues around the back of the garage were I plan to have a concreted washing bay. This afternoon I even parked the car in there to try it out for space. It is just the right size; if the car is parked in the middle there is plenty of room to swing a lance. Although the drive won't continue further around I dug out the other side of the garage and filled it with stones as this area is north facing it will be quite dark and would end up being mucky and unsightly if left as was. I now have a nice clean area around the garage to allow the builders and steel erectors to work away without having to tramp through muck. This will help prevent soil and dirt getting dragged around my current driveway.

I don't expect to have any further updates for several weeks as the structure is only out for pricing this week.


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## sprocketser

Tha t s some projects mate ! Love threads like these !


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## JB052

That digger is a lot bigger than the average JCB.


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## jdquinn

Yep, doesn't be long shifting a few tons of dirt. 


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## DavyCookie

It's threads like this that have me so excited for when I have my own home, I love following them, good idea to clear the ground around the site, working on building sites, I can tell you, there is nothing worse than soft mucky ground -_-


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## AdamC

Great start. Lot of potential for a great space.


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## jdquinn

Well it's been a while since I've updated this. Progress has been slower than expected for various reasons. Structural steel was completed in June/ July 2017. Blockwork was done around January 2018. I itemised and ordered the steel cladding cut to exact sizes and forms based on a CAD drawing that I did myself. Myself, my dad and father-in-law took to fitting it. We probably spent 60 hrs or so on it in total but having never done this before I thought we did alright. The cladding was measured perfectly and just screwed on. I'm actually extremely pleased with how it all went together. I believe the garage to be just 10mm or 1cm off the square! When I finished the cladding I phoned the structural steel fabricator/erector to thank him for doing such a good job. I saved £2.5k minimum by doing it diy. Fortunately my F-I-L owns a JCB telescopic handler with a 4m man cage which helped massively.

Here's the pics:























































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## jdquinn

Next steps are as follows:

1. Fit Doors and windows
2. Internal plastering
3. Set waste pipes and water pipes
4. Internal floor
5. Roller door
6. Mezzanine Floor on half the garage
7. Electrics
8. External plastering
9. External storm water gullies
10. Guttering
11. Driveway kerbing
12. External concrete
13. Plumbing
14. Fencing and gravel driveway.

The big ticket items are out of the way at least but looking at that list makes me realise how far I still have to go!



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## jdquinn

Deleted


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## danga200

Bump for updates


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## Jack R

That’s huge! It’s got to be a dream workshop/garage, be interested in seeing how it’s progressing


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## jdquinn

Progress has been slow. From my last post I have pedestrian doors and windows bought and partially fitted. Next is a roller door hopefully before Xmas to close it up. 

At the end of summer an opportunity came up for topsoil at the rear of my plot but the place needed land drains installed first of all. This cost double what I wanted to spend and basically ate up any money I had saved for the garage floor. On top of that the topsoil offer still hasn’t materialised! I also passed my motorbike test and ended up buying one of those as well. I may end up selling the bike again though to progress this on. 

I have started to use the garage for polishing the car and the odd diy job but it’s not pleasant working on the hardcore gravel base.


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## beatty599

It's coming along great, will look great when finished! If there's any local contractors in your area, give one of their sites a call a lot of topsoil ends up going to disposal and at this time of year it goes into the Christmas party kitty!


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## dazzlers82

That's some garage, cant wait to see the finished result


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## Chester

I was going to ask about a mezzanine floor but see it's item 6 on your list. Looking forward to this!


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## Kev_mk3

Looks great


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## New2Bubbles

Awsome potential, looks bigger than my house!


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## JordanE

be good for an update..

please dont sell your motorbike. you will miss it.. i love mine and only passed 6 months ago..


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## jdquinn

Hi Guys,

Been a while again. Although things haven't progressed much to date I now have everything in place to complete. I'll post pics whenever I get them. Things look a little gloomy this time of year!

Progress to date: windows and doors are now fitted, internal plastering is completed and external scratch coated. The guttering was fitted today but waiting on external plastering to be finished to complete that. I have the roller door on order due in about 3 weeks, the electric components are being ordered on Monday (I'm a sparky by trade so no prizes for guessing who gets that job!), the external render will be here next week ready for some dry weather for the plasterer to complete. Between this weekend and next I hope to have the floor base prepped for pouring which I'd like completed before mid march.

Still lots to do but things are progressing quickly. I'm tempted to crack on with the electrics anyway and hope the guys installing the floor don't make too much of a mess. I'm going to forgo the mezzanine for a year or so to see how things work out space wise. I don't critically need the space straight away.

Oh; the bike is staying put! Just got geared up over Xmas ready for the spring. Just need to get it MOT'd but as you can see other things are taking priority just now.


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## jdquinn

Just while I'm posting can anyone help me with the garage lighting plan?
I'm a sparky by trade but I've been away from domestic and commercial for years, I currently work as a controls engineer. 

The garage is 8.5m x 12m with a mezzanine floor over one half (4.25m x 12m). Under the mezzanine I was going to mount 4 x 6ft twin led tube fittings rated at 9500 lumens each. These will be approx 2.7m from the finished floor level. On the open bays each sized at 4.25m x 6m (2 off) I plan to mount 1 x 150W led Robus high bay led light rated at 19500 lumens at approx 4m from finished floor.

My concern is not if there will be enough light, more is this complete overkill? I really don't want poor lighting which I've seen in most of the garages I've been in. I'm a bit of a hobbyist and like plenty of DIY so good lighting is essential.


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## Chester

Hi there. Sounds to be about right in terms of brightness if you need the throw (lux) all the way to ground level. Don't forget to check out the CRI (ideally >=80) of the twin LED tubes and their colour temperature. Thorn's PopPack LEDs meet the CRI but are only available in 3000K and 4000K, not 5000K. I know the temperature difference would annoy me!

The only other thing I'd be concerned about is casting shadows. Under the mezzanine should be good, but not sure about the high bays. Think about where you might have obstructions and attempt to avoid them. Not so easy if the space is going to evolve, and trying to keep an even spread of light. I guess you can always add more later on a radial circuit which is fine for LED lighting, even at this power (total will be well under 1kW with your current configuration so fine on 1.5mm cable, especially split over 2 circuits).

Hope this helps...


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## jdquinn

Chester said:


> Hi there. Sounds to be about right in terms of brightness if you need the throw (lux) all the way to ground level. Don't forget to check out the CRI (ideally >=80) of the twin LED tubes and their colour temperature. Thorn's PopPack LEDs meet the CRI but are only available in 3000K and 4000K, not 5000K. I know the temperature difference would annoy me!
> 
> The only other thing I'd be concerned about is casting shadows. Under the mezzanine should be good, but not sure about the high bays. Think about where you might have obstructions and attempt to avoid them. Not so easy if the space is going to evolve, and trying to keep an even spread of light. I guess you can always add more later on a radial circuit which is fine for LED lighting, even at this power (total will be well under 1kW with your current configuration so fine on 1.5mm cable, especially split over 2 circuits).
> 
> Hope this helps...


Excellent, thanks for the info:thumb:

The LED battens have a CRI of 85 and the high bays are 80. Colour rendering is different though at 4000k for the battens and 5000k for the High Bays. I'm not too worried about this as the garage will be effectively split in two anyway although now you have highlighted it I'll see if I can get battens at 5000k, would be worth spending a little extra on.

Shadows are a concern especially with the High bays as this is where I'll be doing any car repairs or detailing.. I am planning on painting the walls brilliant white though to help reflect and light off the walls and effectively reduce the shadows. I can always fit low wattage battens low down on the walls if necessary.

I have room in my consumer unit for another circuit if necessary and everything is being installed surface with a high level trunking ring purely for flexibility as I work out my storage areas and work areas. I have a full 80A supply for the garage so power levels are not a problem.

What do you think?


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## jdquinn

Another short update:

The last couple of weeks have seen the garage made secure with the roller door fitted and floor poured. Yesterday I started painting a little just to keep things moving on. I'll order the electrics this week with the aim of starting on Saturday. Hopefully I can finish the painting this week as well. I've ordered some 600mm pallet racking so should have that for storage soon.

























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## Sh1ner

I'm still not sure it is big enough!
You can never have too much light when you are inside and working on vehicles.
What a lovely job. How exciting.
Have you planned any heating?


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## jdquinn

Sh1ner said:


> I'm still not sure it is big enough!
> You can never have too much light when you are inside and working on vehicles.
> What a lovely job. How exciting.
> Have you planned any heating?


Thanks, heating yes, that will consist of thermal underwear and a boiler suit!

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## jdquinn

Update:

Things haven't progressed as well as I would have liked do to cold after flu after cold hit our house. A pretty miserable March.

But I'm back on it and have completed 3 coats of the cheapest Homebase paint available (30 litres) which must have taken 20hrs to do. There just was no coverage from it. A horrible job that really made a huge difference to the brightness of the area. Well worth the effort.

I've also installed the basic required electrics such as the roller door power, sockets and one set of lights.

It feels like I'm nearing the end now the garage is usable. The plasterer is due this week to plaster the exterior so I need to get the external lighting points drilled through and then progress with finishing the internal lighting, exterior lighting and power. Then I need to get the drains installed, outside water tap installed and have the guttering finished. Then it's the internal toilet room which shouldn't take too much to put in.

Unfortunately at that point I will have run out of money to complete the external concrete which will have to wait a few months. I also need to sort some storage and work benches which I'll prioritise over the concrete.



















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## AudiPhil

jdquinn said:


> Update:
> 
> Things haven't progressed as well as I would have liked do to cold after flu after cold hit our house. A pretty miserable March.
> 
> But I'm back on it and have completed 3 coats of the cheapest Homebase paint available (30 litres) which must have taken 20hrs to do. There just was no coverage from it. A horrible job that really made a huge difference to the brightness of the area. Well worth the effort.
> 
> I've also installed the basic required electrics such as the roller door power, sockets and one set of lights.
> 
> It feels like I'm nearing the end now the garage is usable. The plasterer is due this week to plaster the exterior so I need to get the external lighting points drilled through and then progress with finishing the internal lighting, exterior lighting and power. Then I need to get the drains installed, outside water tap installed and have the guttering finished. Then it's the internal toilet room which shouldn't take too much to put in.
> 
> Unfortunately at that point I will have run out of money to complete the external concrete which will have to wait a few months. I also need to sort some storage and work benches which I'll prioritise over the concrete.
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Oh wow! That's really quite special! Very nice.


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## 22rosco22

i am actually so jealous this is unreal!!


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## jdquinn

And this happened this week!:



















I couldn't be happier with this tbh. 
I just need to order the trim to cover the red metal girders and fit the exterior lighting and the outside of the building will be complete for now.



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## markyboy1510

So how's it looking this month?


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## jdquinn

markyboy1510 said:


> So how's it looking this month?


Hi, the only difference is the downpipes are in. I inadvertently spent the money for the covers on some much needed garage tools. A lot of my time has been taken up with working in the garden after being neglected all winter, preparing m'bike for MOT, changing clutch and serving bike, servicing my car and sorting a major fault with the swirl flap actuator (pain in the **** type of job), making use of the decent weather to get hours clocked up on my bike and to top it all off some much needed family time with wifey and kids.

Now most of that's out of the way I need to knuckle down, stop spending and start saving for the next stages.

It feels so good to finally have my own space to work at projects etc. I have quite a few projects up my sleeve non car related to work on over the next few years.

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## Nick-ST

That looks pukka!


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## beatty599

Are you going to put ceiling joists in to give yourself a second floor? Would be great to give yourself a lot of room for any non-car projects, or even a dedicated motorbike only area.


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## jdquinn

beatty599 said:


> Are you going to put ceiling joists in to give yourself a second floor? Would be great to give yourself a lot of room for any non-car projects, or even a dedicated motorbike only area.


Yes, eventually. I'm not in a hurry to do this although the plan is for a storage type area for house related stuff and possibly garage stuff too. Kids move from downstairs to upstairs in a few years so will have to have it sorted by then as their rooms are effectively storage/junk rooms and my current hobby space for rc planes & helicopters etc.

This isn't really the place but if anyone's interested one of my projects is to build an r/c 1/4 scale Waco YMF5 bi-wing plane that has a 2.3m wingspan and a 45cc 2 stroke petrol engine and 22" propellor. I may do a build thread at some point.

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## jdquinn

Ok, nothing much to update this except that the electrics are now 100% complete with inside lighting, outside lighting, store lighting, internal & external 13A sockets. I have to say the led lights both internal and external are a real step on from the old fluorescents batten and 2D fittings. The light output and quality is absolutely superb. With the amount of lighting in the garage now I can only describe it as a surgical theatre. Shadows are pretty much none existent.

My next project is a proper work bench which I’ve started today. 15ft long, 2ft 6’ deep about 3ft high with storage cupboards and shelving underneath. 

Keep checking back here for pictures and progress over the next incoming days.


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## JordanE

we are all still following with excitement! 
looks like you should start selling cars from there !


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## jdquinn

JordanE said:


> we are all still following with excitement!
> looks like you should start selling cars from there !


Thanks, this is purely a 'domestic' garage. Just for me!

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## jdquinn

Just a quick update. I've completed the base frame for the bench. It looks massive in the garage but I've stuff scattered everywhere at the moment until I can get this built and get some storage for tools etc.










An example of my welding, well the only one I'm comfortable to share! Seriously it's been 10 years since I last used a stick welder and most of them are shocking!










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## Andyblue

Looking good and coming on well - the bench looks like it’s going to be fantastic size :thumb:


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## ColinG

Wow that is a dream garage/unit.


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## jdquinn

I was just going through some old threads and realised I never posted the final bench.










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## Andyblue

That’s looking very nice - getting used well ??


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## jdquinn

Yes but not as much as I’d like to. Ive built an over engineered dog house, mechanically refurbished my high mileage motorcycle, fully refurbished my 10 year old lawn mower rather than buying a new one, a few minor diy projects for the house. Rebuilding several RC helicopters and planes as well. I ended up taking every evening last week to tidy and sort the bench and garage as it had piled up with odds and ends. It’s back to being fully usable now.


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## JordanE

i think we are well due an update


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