Advice on garage improvement

[CavemanDIY]

We've been meaning to upgrade the garage for ages, and now I've been kicked out of what used to be my home-office, it seemed like the perfect time to go full man cave!

The garage is currently a single skin brick double garage with concrete block "support pillars" on each wall and 2 up-and-over garage doors. The plan is to put down an 'industrial' PVC floor (50x50 tiles) and then batten the walls ready for wiring (electrician comes next month!) and insulation. I've decided to go with insulated plasterboard for convenience. I'll insulate the ceiling as well and put in lighting. One of the doors is going to be sealed in behind a false wall, and the other is going to be replaced - thinking an insulated roller door so I can get rid of the ugly iron work of the up and over.

The floor went in fairly easily, and I have finished most of the battening for the 3 walls. Couple of pics of the progress so far:

The flooring worked well, although I may use some rugs in the living portion of the conversion - the idea is to have one side for tools and workshop, and the other for gaming / movies etc...

I could use some advice on the concrete columns. They are a single column of concrete block build up against the brick walls. They are a pain as they break up the wall and mean I will have to either box them in, or come up with a creative solution. I've had a few thoughts but need some guidance:

1. Options: Simply box them in with the kingspan / celotex - a pain, but a simple solution.
2. Turn them into a feature. I was looking at somewhere between 50mm and 75mm insulated plasterboard. The concrete comes out about 80mm from the battens, so I could leave it just proud of the new walls. Presumably leaving them like that would be a massive no-no for the insulation properties of the room. Can I seal them? Is there any way to make that work and still keep the room warm? I was toying with putting a vinyl wrap over whatever the sealed solution was as decoration?
3. Turn them into a light feature: I'm still deciding on the lighting solution for the space, but I like the idea of mounting LEDs on the pillars and covering them with a translucent sheet of acrylic to use them as 3 (fully colour controllable) light fountains in the room. Again - Any way to seal the concrete? How do I stop the heat leeching out through it?

Any other thoughts / advice greatly appreciated - never done this before so a voyage of discovery!

 

[Ivor Windybottom]

You should work out the U-value of that thickness of concrete block and compare it against that of your 50-75mm insulation. If it's similar then it's OK* to board straight over, with some damp-proofing.

* OK means only as bad as the rest of the room. This will not comply with building regulations so it might be a problem if you sell. I'd suggest at least making it all compliant with building regs, even if you don't actually get the certificate. This will also save on heating costs and give much greater comfort. As planned, it will always feel cold and cost a lot to heat.

Does it adjoin the house? If so you don't have to care about the internal wall.

 

[stevie888]

You haven't insulated the floor? You're not going to get anywhere near regs values so a waste of time trying.

 

[CavemanDIY]

The garage is detached, so no issues with internal walls. Wasn't aiming to bring it up to reg standard as I'm not planning to use it as a "habitable" room - it will always be a garage / workshop. That said, I was planning to pick suitably thick insulated plasterboard that the walls would be compliant, if only to save on the heating bills. The original plan was to go with electric underfloor heating (we are planning to put in solar on the main house in the near future, so at least heating would be cost neutral once that's done.

I did spend a long time considering what to do with the floor, but couldn't come up with a solution that wasn't hugely expensive, or technically challenging to achieve a decent level of insulation. If I've missed an obvious solution, I still have time to consider options for the floor.

 

[Ivor Windybottom]

A floating floor is the way to go. Kiln dried sand smoothed with a float, damp-proof membrane, insulation, vapour barrier then chipboard. All literally stacked up, just sitting there and held down only by gravity.

I'm sitting on one now, made by my own beautiful hands. I didn't believe it myself, thought it would be like a bouncy castle. But it's solid as a rock and you don't get cold tootsies.

 

[Ivor Windybottom]

The desk suggests you'll be sitting there, fairly inactive so will want it heated properly.

I'd suggest pausing and planning.

 

[noseall]

We've been meaning to upgrade the garage for ages, and now I've been kicked out of what used to be my home-office, it seemed like the perfect time to go full man cave!

The garage is currently a single skin brick double garage with concrete block "support pillars" on each wall and 2 up-and-over garage doors. The plan is to put down an 'industrial' PVC floor (50x50 tiles) and then batten the walls ready for wiring (electrician comes next month!) and insulation. I've decided to go with insulated plasterboard for convenience. I'll insulate the ceiling as well and put in lighting. One of the doors is going to be sealed in behind a false wall, and the other is going to be replaced - thinking an insulated roller door so I can get rid of the ugly iron work of the up and over.

The floor went in fairly easily, and I have finished most of the battening for the 3 walls. Couple of pics of the progress so far:

The flooring worked well, although I may use some rugs in the living portion of the conversion - the idea is to have one side for tools and workshop, and the other for gaming / movies etc...

I could use some advice on the concrete columns. They are a single column of concrete block build up against the brick walls. They are a pain as they break up the wall and mean I will have to either box them in, or come up with a creative solution. I've had a few thoughts but need some guidance:

1. Options: Simply box them in with the kingspan / celotex - a pain, but a simple solution.
2. Turn them into a feature. I was looking at somewhere between 50mm and 75mm insulated plasterboard. The concrete comes out about 80mm from the battens, so I could leave it just proud of the new walls. Presumably leaving them like that would be a massive no-no for the insulation properties of the room. Can I seal them? Is there any way to make that work and still keep the room warm? I was toying with putting a vinyl wrap over whatever the sealed solution was as decoration?
3. Turn them into a light feature: I'm still deciding on the lighting solution for the space, but I like the idea of mounting LEDs on the pillars and covering them with a translucent sheet of acrylic to use them as 3 (fully colour controllable) light fountains in the room. Again - Any way to seal the concrete? How do I stop the heat leeching out through it?

Any other thoughts / advice greatly appreciated - never done this before so a voyage of discovery!

I would have draped polythene and friction fitted 50mm Celotex against the walls, then built a 45mm x 45mm frame in front, thus trapping the sheets in and creating a continuous thermal break.

 

[Murdochcat]

Electric under floor heating??? That’s not going to be cheap or effective , especially without insulating the floor properly

 

[CavemanDIY]

I would have draped polythene and friction fitted 50mm Celotex against the walls, then built a 45mm x 45mm frame in front, thus trapping the sheets in and creating a continuous thermal break.

I looked at various insulation options, and in the end the "all-in-one" insulated plasterboard over battens came out as the least faff. I'm sure when I'm cursing and swearing trying to get them fitted I'll question my life choices, but it seemed like a solid plan. Anything over about 60mm should give me a good enough thermal rating for my needs. I did consider using thicker battens to allow me to plasterboard straight across the concrete pillars, but hey are just too thick to do that without spending a fortune on wood.

For the pillars I did consider something like what you suggest, simply covering the whole thing in polythene and running the insulated plasterboard straight across. Unfortunately, again - the pillars are too thick. Still looking for a viable solution to avoid having to batten and plasterboard the whole pillar.

 

[CavemanDIY]

Electric under floor heating??? That’s not going to be cheap or effective , especially without insulating the floor properly

Yep - tell me about it! My expected usage means it won't actually cost that much - I only joke about living in there! Once we get solar I expect the cost to come right down. The current plan is even worse, as I'm going to be using workshop fan heaters to heat the space, I suspect I will regret not laying the floor heating when I had the chance.

 

[Murdochcat]

Yep - tell me about it! My expected usage means it won't actually cost that much - I only joke about living in there! Once we get solar I expect the cost to come right down. The current plan is even worse, as I'm going to be using workshop fan heaters to heat the space, I suspect I will regret not laying the floor heating when I had the chance.

Solar in the winter when it’s cold ? Dream on

 

[opps]

Yep - tell me about it! My expected usage means it won't actually cost that much - I only joke about living in there! Once we get solar I expect the cost to come right down. The current plan is even worse, as I'm going to be using workshop fan heaters to heat the space, I suspect I will regret not laying the floor heating when I had the chance.

If you are sitting in one spot throughout the day, rather than heating the whole room, why not buy a fan assisted ceramic heater? Running costs will (potentially) be much lower as you are only heating the area immediately around you. I purchased some Dremo heaters for family members. Rather than running the central heating throughout the whole day during winter, they just heat the areas where they are sitting. I didn't do the maths, I let the "experts" on Sliced Bread (BBC Radio 4) break down the figures.

 

[Ivor Windybottom]

Solar energy isn't free. OK, you won't pay the 24p a unit you currently do, but instead you'll be missing out on the 15p a unit you could make by selling the surplus back to the grid.

So it will cost you 37.5% less than the vast amounts you would pay to electrically heat an uninsulated floor. So basically two thirds of loads, which is still loads.

All if you ever get bright sun while it's cold, which is very rare. It does happen, but not often. The sun is lower in the winter so even when it's on the panels it's lower intensity and at the wrong angle. It's close to nothing.

Honestly so much is wrong with this project. Put the power tools down, do some research and do things properly. Sorry if this isn't the supportive encouragement you were hoping for.

 

[CavemanDIY]

If you are sitting in one spot throughout the day, rather than heating the whole room, why not buy a fan assisted ceramic heater? Running costs will (potentially) be much lower as you are only heating the area immediately around you. I purchased some Dremo heaters for family members. Rather than running the central heating throughout the whole day during winter, they just heat the areas where they are sitting. I didn't do the maths, I let the "experts" on Sliced Bread (BBC Radio 4) break down the figures.

Funnily enough that is pretty much what I have been doing through the winter up to this point - I point the fan under the desk and block up the bottom of the foot well so it creates a warm spot around my legs - still get cold ears, but the woolly hat helps! It's pretty much what I will do on a larger scale one everything is in place. A single workshop heater (2.5-3k) is enough to heat the space - not cheap at around 60-70p/hour but I was well aware of the down-sides going in.

Not really looking for solutions for the heating - trying to solve the pillar issue! If anyone has any ideas on those - I'm all ears

 

[JohnAnderson1]

You’ve done half the hard work already. When you’re doing the plasterboard, don’t skimp on the foam adhesive, it really helps with sound and warmth.