Help specifying garage finish

[Sevenman]

My 2 storey extension with garage now has a roof and I need to decide on the finishing details. it will be good to get the car home rather than have it living with a friend as for the past couple of years.

Internal dimensions are 6m long x 4 wide, accessed through a 3.2m wide insulated sectional Garadoor (about to order) with opener and keyfobs. Sadly I don't have enough space to make a 100m2 man-cave with headroom for a lift.

One internal door into the house which I think should be lockable, and one opaque window to outside.

It is double-skinned construction with insulation and a reinforced concrete slab floor. It will be plastered and painted inside.

With the insulated door and one double glazed window it should stay fairly warm and to keep the chill off in winter I plan to have a wall-mounted electric radiator.

A drawback of the well-insulated design is that it will be well-sealed, so I think it needs some ventilation and / or humidity control to keep the car happy, I worry particularly if it goes away wet.. Could have an extract fan at one end and an air inlet at the other.

As it only has to hold a single smallish TVR, I plan to have a workbench / racking at the end, and some bike storage on a wall.

I intend to run the alarm system into the garage with key fob control.

Areas where suggestions would be useful:

• Ventilation options.
• Floor finish
• Electrics and lighting ideas
• Bike storage options
• Something I haven't thought of

Thanks

[MrChips]

I recently had a load of work done on my garage, it's double skinned with thermal blocks inside, then plasterboard and plaster. Insulated between the beams then boarded and plastered. Although don't have insulating doors but my plan is just to keep an eye on it and if needed get a dehumidifier to be honest!

Floor.. I've had epoxy paint and also ecotile for a number of years but having now tiled it, I'd say if budget will allow then porcelain is so much nicer. Easy to clean and work on and looks much better.

Lighting.. depends what you want to use the garage for but I'd recommend a mix of lighting types, I've gone for 4 LED panels and another 10 downlights but then I use it for detailing cars, it's certainly on the edge of being too bright!

Electrics.. even having fitted a couple of sockets on each wall, I've still had to grab an extension lead on a couple of occasions so go for more than you'd think!

[Sevenman]

That is a nice looking garage!

I like the idea of porcelain tiles - although I would be concerned about dropping any tools on them.

[MrChips]

If laid properly, porcelain won't crack unless you dropped some proper heavy and sharp like a vice! Normal tools are fine, and you can jack a car fine as well.

Ceramic tiles are more prone to cracking though.

[The Moose]

I would go for roller door as opposed to up and over if possible

[Sevenman]

Sounds good. Probably expensive, but good.

I don't have a vice (although I have many), so dropping it shouldn't be a problem.

[Sevenman]

The Moose said:

I would go for roller door as opposed to up and over if possible

This is going to be a sectional door with ~50mm insulation built in. So it doesn't roll but does slide straight up then along tracks on the ceiling.

[The Moose]

Sevenman said:

The Moose said:

I would go for roller door as opposed to up and over if possible

This is going to be a sectional door with ~50mm insulation built in. So it doesn't roll but does slide straight up then along tracks on the ceiling.

I would still go for a roller door.

[TA14]

The Moose said:

Sevenman said:

The Moose said:

I would go for roller door as opposed to up and over if possible

This is going to be a sectional door with ~50mm insulation built in. So it doesn't roll but does slide straight up then along tracks on the ceiling.

I would still go for a roller door.

Yes, especially for a smaller garage. You lose a lot of shelf space with a sectional door.

[jason61c]

TA14 said:

Yes, especially for a smaller garage. You lose a lot of shelf space with a sectional door.

agreed.

I'd also just powerfloat the floor.

[Dave_ST220]

TA14 said:

The Moose said:

Sevenman said:

The Moose said:

I would go for roller door as opposed to up and over if possible

This is going to be a sectional door with ~50mm insulation built in. So it doesn't roll but does slide straight up then along tracks on the ceiling.

I would still go for a roller door.

Yes, especially for a smaller garage. You lose a lot of shelf space with a sectional door.

Not really, my Horman doors when up are only about 30cm from the roof. The benefits of an insulated door (especially as this has a room above) will far outweigh any minimal loss in shelf space.

[TA14]

Dave_ST220 said:

TA14 said:

The Moose said:

Sevenman said:

The Moose said:

I would go for roller door as opposed to up and over if possible

This is going to be a sectional door with ~50mm insulation built in. So it doesn't roll but does slide straight up then along tracks on the ceiling.

I would still go for a roller door.

Yes, especially for a smaller garage. You lose a lot of shelf space with a sectional door.

Not really, my Horman doors when up are only about 30cm from the roof. The benefits of an insulated door (especially as this has a room above) will far outweigh any minimal loss in shelf space.

You can buy insulated roller shutters so that's not a benefit unique to a sectional door. The sectional door installations that I've seen lose more like 450mm height of shelf space for 40% of the length of the garage which I wouldn't want to lose. I suppose it depends how much room and how much stuff you have. I never seem to have enough space.

[Sevenman]

Thanks for the suggestions.

Having looked at a few styes we are going for a large section design, as here in grey against light render. Popular at the moment, and maybe the style will age, but it suits me for now.

At the moment I have no garage at all and sufficient storage elsewhere, so it really is just for the car (at first).

I don't plan to have high-level shelves, just storage at the end wall and a couple of bikes on a side wall, so it taking up some of the ceiling space shouldn't be an issue. Probably something like below.



Ventilation is still unclear, whether I go a dehumidifier and limited air movement through a small vent, or something active to get some changes of air / day.

[Dave_ST220]

TA14 said:

You can buy insulated roller shutters so that's not a benefit unique to a sectional door.

With 50mm insulation?!

[8-P]

MrChips said:

I recently had a load of work done on my garage, it's double skinned with thermal blocks inside, then plasterboard and plaster. Insulated between the beams then boarded and plastered. Although don't have insulating doors but my plan is just to keep an eye on it and if needed get a dehumidifier to be honest!

Floor.. I've had epoxy paint and also ecotile for a number of years but having now tiled it, I'd say if budget will allow then porcelain is so much nicer. Easy to clean and work on and looks much better.

Lighting.. depends what you want to use the garage for but I'd recommend a mix of lighting types, I've gone for 4 LED panels and another 10 downlights but then I use it for detailing cars, it's certainly on the edge of being too bright!

Electrics.. even having fitted a couple of sockets on each wall, I've still had to grab an extension lead on a couple of occasions so go for more than you'd think!

Thats too nice for me for a garage. I make too much mess / do diy stuff that would ruin it. It looks smart, good job.

[Sevenman]

Dave_ST220 said:

TA14 said:

You can buy insulated roller shutters so that's not a benefit unique to a sectional door.

With 50mm insulation?!

The rest of the garage has more insulation than that, so the door will still be the less insulated part, but that seems to be as good as they get. It is built to house spec, like the room above, rather than drafty garage spec.

No cold starts in the winter for the TVR any more.

[TA14]

Sevenman said:

Dave_ST220 said:

TA14 said:

You can buy insulated roller shutters so that's not a benefit unique to a sectional door.

With 50mm insulation?!

The rest of the garage has more insulation than that, so the door will still be the less insulated part, but that seems to be as good as they get. It is built to house spec, like the room above, rather than drafty garage spec.

No cold starts in the winter for the TVR any more.

You need to think where you're going with this one:
For the living space above you'll have 100mm insulation in the floor. You lose most heat through the roof, then the walls and then the floor. You've already got 100mm in the floor and if that's Kingspan then they'll be better insulated than the walls. So the living space is OK even with no garage door insulation. (If people have problems it's usually because they don't make the wall insulation continuous with the floor insulation.
For the garage there's little point having a superbly insulated door and then having large vents front and rear. It's quite easy to have vents round the door but less easy at the rear with a cavity wall and double glazed windows - the normal vents just aren't of sufficient size. Most on this forum seem to favour the dehumidifier route where you can seal the whole garage.

[Sevenman]

TA14 said:

Most on this forum seem to favour the dehumidifier route where you can seal the whole garage.

Thanks, the recommended route is what I am looking for. I am happy to keep it sealed with the dehumidifier running for humidity control and the radiator for temperature control.

If I am working in there I can always open the window if needed.

And that would allow me to keep the exterior render with fewer vents etc.

[TA14]

Sevenman said:

TA14 said:

Most on this forum seem to favour the dehumidifier route where you can seal the whole garage.

Thanks, the recommended route is what I am looking for. I am happy to keep it sealed with the dehumidifier running for humidity control and the radiator for temperature control.

If I am working in there I can always open the window if needed.

And that would allow me to keep the exterior render with fewer vents etc.

Most windows come with integral vents that are sufficient most of the time and it's only on hot days/long work periods/generating unwanted fumes (like painting) that you'd want to open the window. I'm no good with humidifier details but have noticed: that some on here clearly are, there are some fancy humidifiers out there and their installation can be designed to operate automatically both efficiently and ecomonically (unless you believe that dozens of posters are lying of course)

[Sevenman]

TA14 said:

(unless you believe that dozens of posters are lying of course)

Having been a PistonHeads member for a fair few years (although not the most prolific poster), that hasn't been my experience of these forums. Normally a helpful bunch of people willing to share their experience.

'Which' has some good reviews of dehumidifiers, including which ones work well in cooler temperatures, so that is the route I will take.

Thanks for your help.