[s73]

Having moved into a 1930's semi in the country about 20 months ago and have undertaken a lot of building work, and am now at a stage where I can put some effort into making a dedicated HC room from the garage. I originally had my eye on a smaller outbuilding but having researched for many hours on here I figured I may as well make use of the garage as it doesn't get used except for storing what could only be described as junk. I'm lucky enough for it to be detached from the house although it is about 3 feet away from the neighbours house.

It will be a slow project as there are other small jobs around the house which I cant get motivated to do - like glossing window cills, etc - so will be using these jobs as bait for the Mrs to keep her happy!

I've slowly collected some new and used bits for the project including a projector and a ceiling mount, two leather Lazyboy seats and a Sony 2400 amp and have some old bits which means I can get it up and running with a view to upgrading as and when funds allow.

I am a bit of a hoarder and have spent the last 3 months sorting the garage out bit by bit and finally emptied the last of it out today with a trip to the dump. The garage originally had a dividing wall which I knocked down tonight and loaded it the hire van for another trip to a waste disposal site near me tomorrow.

The garage is about 3m by 6m of a single skinned block design. It has an electric opening door and a window to the rear both of which I wish to brick up and a single door to the side at the rear. I envisage there may be issues with me blocking the window as it provides a means of escape however I have met the building inspectors on a number of times for the work done to my house and verbally ran through my plans and he did not seem to object to the window being blocked up. Hopefully if I have a mains fire alarm in there this will be sufficient to warn anyone in there of a fire.

There is DPM around the existing blocks and with some good ventilation by way of an aircon unit this should help with any damp. I plan to batten and insulate with rockwool the walls floor and ceiling leaving the wall battens detached from the existing blockwork to provide some form of sound damping with the option of double boarding the walls if necessary.

I haven't settled on many aspects like lighting, cabling outlet positions or screen type but am up for suggestions. My original thoughts are that I would have no use for the space behind a screen so may as well have a solid or painted screen. I'm thinking of plenty of power points and don't really want the basic equipment I've got in a cabinet on a rack behind or to the side would do me fine.

I will be doing most of the work myself however my builder owes me at least 5 days and has said he will help out as he wants a poker room to use. So he will be doing the blockwork, finishing of electrics and plastering.

Ive taken some rubbish photos on my phone but the Mrs has taken the camera to a work do so will get some better ones up later on in the week.

Feel free to point out any deficiencies or other problems i may not have thought of as yet.

Does anyone think I'll get some money for the door and opener?

[Phil.LFC]

I'll be watching this with interest. I love seeing a build from the start. You've got a decent sized room there, 3m wide is really nice.

I would recommend a fixed screen, that's what I did after advice from kbFern on here. It's only a DIY mdf sheet job but more than adequate in a fully light controlled room.

I blocked up my window but it is not permanent. It would be a right pain to unblock it as it is, but if I ever move house it can be done.

Air Con is a great idea too. Saves putting any other heating in there too as the Air Con units can be used to heat too. Use mine all the time, especially right now in this freezing weather!

You should definitely be able to sell the door/opener.

Good luck with the build, and it's nice that you're doing most of it yourself.

[s73]

Thanks for your input Phil about the screen. I had building control around and he has happy with blocking the window up although wanted to see some resilient bars for the plaster board in the ceiling.

I'm not using foil backed insulation board as trying to keep the costs to a minimum and have bought loads of rockwool for £3 per roll which he is happy with so long as I stuff 200mm between the stud wall and the blockwork and have 400mm in the ceiling. He wants to see a painted dpm upto the damp coarse and 100mm on polystyrene board under the floor along with a few other little things.

This was good news about the window so as I had a day off yesterday I blocked up the window. Considering it was my first time doing this I think the results are acceptable and its given me the confidence to do the garage door myself.





Both building control and my Mrs think that I should keep the garage door and mount it on the front so it doesnt look odd. I was skeptical at first but for the sake of what im likely to get for it on Ebay I think I might keep the door and ke rip the Mrs happy

Its slow going at the moment as work seems to have taken over my life at the moment but planning on doing garage door next weekend.

[Phil.LFC]

Nice progress, keep us updated!

[Smurfin]

Originally Posted by s73

Both building control and my Mrs think that I should keep the garage door and mount it on the front so it doesnt look odd. I was skeptical at first but for the sake of what im likely to get for it on Ebay I think I might keep the door and ke rip the Mrs happy

I have the same dilemna, and it's something an architect suggested to me also.

[scottmark]

If your garage is big enough, I know they never are, but a friend of mine left about 500mm behind the door before building the wall it's where he puts the lawn mower etc.

Mark

[Phil.LFC]

Originally Posted by scottmark

If your garage is big enough, I know they never are, but a friend of mine left about 500mm behind the door before building the wall it's where he puts the lawn mower etc.

Mark

I've seen that done a few times. I wonder how the estate agents would describe the garage in that case - "compact but useful garage/store" maybe

[s73]

Originally Posted by scottmark

If your garage is big enough, I know they never are, but a friend of mine left about 500mm behind the door before building the wall it's where he puts the lawn mower etc.

Mark

Its a good idea but I'm lucky enough to have 3 more outbuildings and a shed to store my cr*p and trust me I've got plenty. It is a bit long for the width but I'm thinking of using the other end as either a PC workstation or mini gym or even thinking about a driving sim chair that I can put a poker table in when the boys are round.

[s73]

4 days off work so I should be able to get some work done on this. I didnt start today until 1pm and was dragged down the shops at 4 and did what I could before it got too dark. Im not sure how straight it is as its too dark to tell. I figure it doesnt have to be great as it will be rendered on the outside and have a stud wall on the inside.

[s73]

Wall finished and its fairly straight. All hoovered out ready to paint on DPM layer tomorrow. Gonna try and render the outside aswell.

[s73]

Its coming on nicely. Rendering done on the window, ive just got to wait until it goes off a bit to sponge it flat. The final finish on the door ill do tomorrow. I painted the first coat of dpm in the morning so have to wait 24 hours to do another coat.

I popped out to the local builders merchant for the flooring. I ordered 17 of 3.6m x 4x2s, 22mm chip board and some jablite to insulate the floor. This came to £400 and should be delivered on Wednesday am

The next purchase will be some resiliant bars for the ceiling to keep building control onside. Not sure where I get these or how they work exactly and how many I need. Some research needed!

[Seventy1]

If only you'd have started this conversion sooner! I've literally just sold 6 resilient bars on ebay for the shocking price of....£10!

Looking forward to seeing this progress

[Geps]

Looking good.

Are you going to put on some extra (white) layers to make it all smooth with the existing walls?

[s73]

Originally Posted by Seventy1

If only you'd have started this conversion sooner! I've literally just sold 6 resilient bars on ebay for the shocking price of....£10!

Looking forward to seeing this progress

Typical I think I need 14 though

I just had a thought on resilient bars. How would it affect a ceiling mounted projector? I imagine they are designed to allow the plasterboard to move and I can't see this being very good for the projector or the picture it projects. Do I keep the projector hard mounted to the beams with a small wooden panel and plasterboard around it? It may cause more problems if I change projectors.

[s73]

Originally Posted by Geps

Looking good.

Are you going to put on some extra (white) layers to make it all smooth with the existing walls?

I wasn't planning to, it's my first time so weren't sure how deep the layers would be. I was going to paint them white but I can see what your saying about a flush finish. No one else will see the window and the door is going to be covered by the original garage door so would look ok not being flush,

You got me thinking now about the window, should I do another coat to try make it flush?

[Geps]

To be honest, I've never gone anywhere near render so couldn't say.

[s73]

Well I've impressed myself with my newly found rendering skills, I'm available for hire on a daily rate, it's going to be a shame to put the garage door over my handiwork. It all finished and looks as good as what the builders did on my extension and much better than my window effort.

Still waiting for the DPM to dry. I was meant to do a 2nd coat today but it hasn't dried yet. I put a an oil rad in there at lunchtime so it may dry in time for me to get it done tonight but I doubt it.

Back at work tomorrow afternoon so not much will get done for a couple of weeks

[s73]

Well I squeezed in getting it all painted before going to work.

[s73]

After what feels like ages my 3 coats of liquid dpm have finally dried. So today being my first day which I have had off for a while I had a productive day putting down the floor. That jablight stuff makes a mess. It reminded me of when the dogs chewed through the bean bag with styrofoam balls every where.

[Gliese 581c]

Looking good, can I ask why you used jablight, and also how did you manage to get planning permission to brick up the window ?

[s73]

Originally Posted by Gliese 581c

Looking good, can I ask why you used jablight, and also how did you manage to get planning permission to brick up the window ?

They agreed it verbally before I put the application in. I told them what it wa a to be used for and they were fine with it. I had already built up some raport with them over my house extension so I guess more luck than anything else.

He wanted 50mm thermal board under the floor but said its really expensive and said that as I have a good drop crom the door frame that 100mm jablight would be cheaper with similar thermal properties so we agreed on that. I wanted to put 100 rockwool under so I had to compromise but we met in the middle and I werent gonna argue with him as he had been good enough to let brick up the window.

[s73]

My delivery of timber and plaster board arrived this morning. I moved the timber in to the garage and started to put up the stud wall. In between visiting friends and walking the dogs I managed to turn the timber into my stud walling. Its not yet fastened in place and quickly picked up that it could be press fitted into place. Im screwing it all down tomorrow amongst other little jobs tomorrow.

I finished in time for dinner but left the door frame as im planning on having a second door to open inwards to help prevent any sound leakage. After dinner I had to bring in the plaster board. I got accoustic board -12.5 mm for the ceiling and 15mm for the walls. That stuff is heavy and very difficult to move single handedly. The 15mm stuff weighs 39kg per board and eventually got it in with my back still in one piece.

A few bits to finish off tomorrow like all the noggins and screw down all the studs. I need to start thinking about lighting before I go much further. Im planning on wiring it all myself and get my builders son to finish it so its legit to be signed off.

Need to source some black wall sockets and lighting.

[s73]

Some photos so far

[s73]

Noggins done and bought some flex to start electrics.

[s73]

The internal door frame was purchased on the way home from Wickes. I managed to pick one that was warped slightly so have had to try and screw it down straight with batons screwed on the floor. Never done door frames before but by my reckoning you cant have it secured too strong so probably an over kill but the door is really heavy.

[coolamasta]

Great work so far

[s73]

Well it's coming along slowly partly dur to work being quite stressful at the moment.

Nearly finished first fix on the electrics, I just need to do the lighting. Need a bit more insulation to fill voids between the batons.

The resilient bars were a pain in the ass but now done. I've isolated an area for the projector from the rest of the ceiling so it doesn't move.

I've made a small hole for loft access. I need to source an air con unit from somewhere. Has anyone got any idea how hard they are to instal if I buy from eBay. Im thinking I could do it but not sure.

[s73]

If anyone spots 5 rolls of 200mm rockwool at the cheap price of £3 a roll in the north London, Herts or Essex area please let me know as my local b&q have run out and its 10 times that price anywhere else.

[Geps]

Try Build Centre....they did have an offer on with NPower at one point.

[s73]

I thought i'd do a quick update on progress so far. I bought an air con unit off eBay for £240. I had Friday off work and managed to fit the external part of the air con unit but I may have to move it in case I do an extension at some point in the future.

I got around to fitting the door which I was dreading but it worked out ok and shuts with a satisfying click.

I moved the tube lights into the loft area and managed to find more 200mm rockwool which splits in half for 100mm voids between the joists.

All cabling finished off ready for mate to help with plasterboarding on Saturday which was knocked out in 5 hours. The ceiling boards are a pain to gets attached to the resilient bars. So we only got one up but I decided we needed reinforcements or more time to fit the rest as it was getting late.

I've chipboarded a strip where the projector will go so it doesn't move on the resilient bars and allowing for a projector upgrade with a different throw distance.

I have deliberated long and hard over what flooring to put down.
My original thought was to put some lush carpet down but as the garage is outside figured it would get dirty quickly especially when the dogs bring loads of dirt in. I also may use it as a gym area so carpet would not be great for this. So it was between wood flooring or tiles. I eventually decided to get some gloss finish black porcelain floor tiles as wickes were knocking some out cheap. They are 600 x 600 and with the adhesive were £300 for 18 sq metres. They deliver free too. Slightly concerned what this would do for the sound and light reflections but a big rug near the front should help.

I need to figure an easier way of getting the ceiling boards up then get it plastered which my builder said he would do for free as he owes me a few days. While he's there he'll finish the electrics and I'll be in sight of completion.

I bought 20m of LED lights for a small coving around the room that I plan on having to create different moods.

I need to dig out a small channel to link in with my boiler closet where I have cables connecting to my main tv, modem and Aerial.

Heres some shots of the work so far