Garage Conversion Ideas

[starfire]

Hi Chaps,

Toying with the idea of converting my garage which is roughly 5.4mx2.4m, and has the stairs intruding in towards the rear. Primary use will be a cinema room with the projector screen dropping in front of the new window to replace the garage door.

Thinking of two possible options:

1. Building a new stud wall in front of where the stairs intrude to give me an approx 4mx2.2m metre room and then in the small room left (with door) I can hide all my equipment likfe Amp, Sky, HTPC etc. This will leave no equipment on show and will also give some extra sound proofing from rest of house, I will control it all via an IR blaster so only need to move sofa out the way to load DVDs.

2. No stud wall, which lets the sofa move further back and gives a greater feeling of space and means all my gear would need to go under the window (most logically) and I'm concerned about sound easily escaping through the stairs/rear.

Interested in peoples comments/suggestions

[Dr Force]

Hi Starfire

I personally like the idea of option 1.

Build a stud wall and make a recessed unit that allows your kit to slide out for access and maintenance.Place your rear speakers on the side walls allowing the sofa to go right up against the back wall (recessed unit set just below your PJ if your having one and above the sofa).

Have all the equipment on its own ringmain and turn the power on via a grid switch (see my build to see how thats done).If the joice run the right way, you could then recess an electric screen in the ceiling.

4m length will still allow a screen size of 80"(92") diagonal which is a great size to fill all of the front wall with a viewing distance of 3.5m.

Its great when you have a blank canvas, dont be put off by the limited space, mine is 2.3mx4.4m and its perfect for what we want.

[starfire]

Hi,

Thanks for your reply, I was thinking option 1 was going to be to small but if you are happy with yours then that's a good sign, its difficult to envisage how its going to turn out. I do also prefer option 1, I have a 92" screen in the lounge already and did ideally want to use that.

I like the idea of everything on one big switch

I was going to ceiling or wall mount the screen as I want to try and sound proof the ceiling as my boy's bedroom is directly above and cutting into it to allowed for a recessed screen would defeat the sound proofing, and along these same lines I'm looking at wall uplighters rather than spot lights.

[Dr Force]

Originally Posted by starfire

Hi,

Thanks for your reply, I was thinking option 1 was going to be to small but if you are happy with yours then that's a good sign, its difficult to envisage how its going to turn out. I do also prefer option 1, I have a 92" screen in the lounge already and did ideally want to use that.

I like the idea of everything on one big switch

I was going to ceiling or wall mount the screen as I want to try and sound proof the ceiling as my boy's bedroom is directly above and cutting into it to allowed for a recessed screen would defeat the sound proofing, and along these same lines I'm looking at wall uplighters rather than spot lights.

Hi again

Do you know if the ceiling is insulated between the joyce?

My advise would be to take the current ceiling down which will:-

1. Indicate if you can recess your screen (as an option), rather than place in a pelmet.

2.See if its already insulated with rockwool

3. allow you to run all your ringmain electrics through the joyce and behind the kit recessed in the stud wall.

When soundproofing, just think that sound can only travel through air, so by insulating between the joyce, double boarding (overlapped) with acoustic board and sealing all gaps with a suitable sealant, then it should do the trick at a pretty low cost.

I have an 8g grid operating PJ & screen + x6 single gang unswitched sockets.I did this as I like to isolate the kit I will be using for film/game without the need to keep reaching behind units.It looks the part and works a treat.

Have a browse through my thread for any idea's you want as we are using pretty much the same space.

Any more questions/help and we are more than happy to assist.

Dave

[starfire]

Hi,

No, when I took up some floorboards in the room above in the past I noticed how little insulation was in place so will definitely be having the current garage ceiling removed, rockwool inserted then double boarding with overlaps and most likely a layer of green glue between the two boards, and acoustic sealant all around the edges where the boards meet the walls.

Currently undecided what to do with the walls in the garage as I'm concerned about losing any more width to the room, so will either render straight over the top of the existing thermalite or may put a stud wall up with thermalite and plasterboard (suspect this solution will be required for the outer wall for building regs).

Just waiting for planning permission to be sorted now, and I've been advised that may take up to two months so time to speak to some builders for prices.....

Thanks for your input

[youngjob]

hi starfire, I am doing a similar thing in my garage... For my Walls I was thinking of building a staggered stud wall with 2x 13.5mill British gypsum acoustic plasterboard with green glue in between on either side of the wall. I won't be able to have much of an air gap as like you I am consious of losing room.

I'm sure this will be enough to keep the sound in even without an air gap. Where are you purchasing your green glue from as I'm struggling to get a hold of any in the UK without paying extortionate shipping fees. Maybe there is something similar we could use?

Hope this helps,
Youngjob