garage pics

[Bridge Club]

http://nvnl.wordpress.com/2012/11/23...sheds-and-men/

Shedishness has developed in me gradually over five decades. Many of my favourite memories are set in sheds of one sort or another. I have even lived in a shed, mind you ...

[Paul_Rochdale]

I'm very impressed with some of the workshops (garages) shown on here. You Americans often do things with some style. All that space and so well fitted out. For years I had to make do with our simple UK-sized domestic brick-built garages, usually filled with freezers, tumble dryers and the endless packing cases still unpacked from the house move eighteen years ago. Five years ago I decided to treat myself and bought on eBay a large timber double garage (actually about a 2 1/2 car garage). My son and I rented a 7.5 ton truck and leaving home at 4am we drove up to Lancashire where we found the workshop, still assembled. We spent the entire day dismantling it and brought it back to Kent. I rented a small digger and dug the foundations into the hillside, dumped in tons of concrete, built concrete block lower walls, then infilled with roadstone, steel mesh and more concrete. Then the construction began. Everything that was nailed, I screwed, and everything that was screwed I bolted. I felted the pitched roof. installed the lighting and triple sicket outlets, painted the floor and laid down out old living room carpet. At long, long last, after many years of dreaming, I had somewhere warm and dry to store my cars and bikes. This year I fitted two old UPVC windows so I have at last natural light. It's my piece of heaven.


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[5punksdad]

For those who commented on my garage....I thought I would post an exterior shot.


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[mark1150]

Hi Paul- Rochdale,
Nice wooden building you have down there in Kent.
For more light, or to enhance the available light I'd paint the inside walls white.
It might take a few coats, but the reflective power of a simple coating cannot be underestimated.

[Paul_Rochdale]

Thanks Mark but with two large windows now installed, it's not a gloomy as it once was. In warm weather I tend to work with the doors wide open anyway, but I take your point. I could also have fitted Rockwool insulating behind the chipboard as there's enough room but finally I had to call a halt to the expenditure. We ain't as rich as the Merrycans ;-)

Heating is an interesting subject too. I've tried Paraffin heaters, radiant heaters, electric fan heaters (like greenhouse ones) and now an old Calor Gas heater, and the Calor Gas heater seems by far the best. I did once think about a small wood burner, we have one in the house, but cheap secondhand ones rarely come along. I find as long as the inside temperature stays above 4 or 5C, I can cope, although a friend recently told me he puts a number of fan heaters on as he likes it between 21 and 23c. Our living room doesn't get as hot as that!

[The Evil Twin]

Originally Posted by Paul_Rochdale

I'm very impressed with some of the workshops (garages) shown on here. You Americans often do things with some style. All that space and so well fitted out. For years I had to make do with our simple UK-sized domestic brick-built garages, usually filled with freezers, tumble dryers and the endless packing cases still unpacked from the house move eighteen years ago. Five years ago I decided to treat myself and bought on eBay a large timber double garage (actually about a 2 1/2 car garage). My son and I rented a 7.5 ton truck and leaving home at 4am we drove up to Lancashire where we found the workshop, still assembled. We spent the entire day dismantling it and brought it back to Kent. I rented a small digger and dug the foundations into the hillside, dumped in tons of concrete, built concrete block lower walls, then infilled with roadstone, steel mesh and more concrete. Then the construction began. Everything that was nailed, I screwed, and everything that was screwed I bolted. I felted the pitched roof. installed the lighting and triple sicket outlets, painted the floor and laid down out old living room carpet. At long, long last, after many years of dreaming, I had somewhere warm and dry to store my cars and bikes. This year I fitted two old UPVC windows so I have at last natural light. It's my piece of heaven.

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Ok, we Americans may do it with a little style, BUT you Brits put soul into it! Removing every screw and nail to disassemble and then reassemble a workshop?!?! We Yanks are too lazy for that!

[2fast4u]

Originally Posted by Paul_Rochdale

I'm very impressed with some of the workshops (garages) shown on here. You Americans often do things with some style. All that space and so well fitted out. For years I had to make do with our simple UK-sized domestic brick-built garages, usually filled with freezers, tumble dryers and the endless packing cases still unpacked from the house move eighteen years ago. Five years ago I decided to treat myself and bought on eBay a large timber double garage (actually about a 2 1/2 car garage). My son and I rented a 7.5 ton truck and leaving home at 4am we drove up to Lancashire where we found the workshop, still assembled. We spent the entire day dismantling it and brought it back to Kent. I rented a small digger and dug the foundations into the hillside, dumped in tons of concrete, built concrete block lower walls, then infilled with roadstone, steel mesh and more concrete. Then the construction began. Everything that was nailed, I screwed, and everything that was screwed I bolted. I felted the pitched roof. installed the lighting and triple sicket outlets, painted the floor and laid down out old living room carpet. At long, long last, after many years of dreaming, I had somewhere warm and dry to store my cars and bikes. This year I fitted two old UPVC windows so I have at last natural light. It's my piece of heaven.


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Thats a nice garage anywhere! jealous.

[bomose]

Replacing the seals on my ELR.

[GSequoia]

Originally Posted by Paul_Rochdale

Heating is an interesting subject too.

Are you able to obtain waste oil heaters? And do you produce enough waste oil with your fleet to make it worthy? If I had to worry about garage heating that's what I would do (and maybe it would give me some motivation to do timely fluid changes)!

[Paul_Rochdale]

Another thing I'm really fussy about is tidiness. There are some excellent examples of neat workshops on here and a few of utter chaos. I cannot and will not work in chaos, tools and bike parts scattered on the floor and so on. All my spanners are now in steel tool cabinets with drawers. With thin black non-slip foam in the drawers, all of the spanners are clean and in size order. That way I can go immediately to the right size spanner and also see if any are missing. I have mislaid so many tools in the past and stumbled over so many bits on the floor. My temper is too short these days and I enjoy working in good light, in a comfortable temperature and surrounded by neatness. I've even been known to vacuum the bloody carpet.

[Rensen]

Wow some bad ass man caves

[Horton]

But Paul, please be careful with this heating things. . .

As a townboy I have to deal with normal garage sizes. The other picture, older post, is my "workshop" garage, in an other part of town.

This is only the "garage". It is close to the flat.


Years ago, we had a lot of old company sheds. Some used later as a workshop. But this buildings are long gone

[The Evil Twin]

I move stuff around when there is a project in the works. So sometimes the bikes are parked at odd angles.


Normally, this is what it looks like in the "bike parking". The other half is for the cars and shelves with Rubbermaid tubs of random shit I won't throw out

[Capt_Gruuvy]

Tech day at the Gruuvstead

[Paul_Rochdale]

My ultimate workshop would resemble those F1 workshops - tiled floors, superb lighting and everything immaculate with the vehicles at just the right height to make working on them a pleasure. I have a sheet of inch thick high density foam to kneel on when I have to. My knees don't take kindly to kneeling these days.