Another beginner...

[paulcam]

Hi,

I'm Paul. 45yo, from Northern Ireland. Software engineer by trade and budding maker and electronics hobbyist.

I bought a house last year. It has a 8 meter x 3 meter garage. Single brick skinned, concrete floor.

I have come to the idea I want to make it into a hobby workshop. My first thought for a good project was putting a 1 meter deep bench down one side. Just a ledger on the wall, ladder 2x4 structure and plywood (or kitchen worktop) top.

This sounds like a beginner project, doesn't it?

But... I kinda realised that if I want to make it a workshop for both summer and winter, I would probably be better off making some attempt to seal off part of the garage. That would probably need done before the bench.... or the bench would need redone.

My vision would be to wall off the first 2 meters or so of garage to leave room for bicycles, garden equipment and maybe a motorbike later. This will remain unsealed as the garage door has lots of gaps. The remaining garage would be stud battened and vapour barrier foam insulated, then drywall boarded and a ceiling added.

I'm not sure this ^^^ in a beginner project though. What do you think?

I would need to stud 3 brick walls + a free standing stud dividing wall. I would need to stud around 2 1.8m windows.

?

Thanks,
Paul

 

[Droogs]

I would say get a shed for the bikes etc, otherwise you will be forever cursing yourself for not having enough space for even moderate furniture making tasks. Use the whole garage as the wksp and put the clutter elsewhere

 

[paulcam]

I have toyed with that idea. Sealing the whole garage, but, that would involve replacing the up and over door, probably with a double glazing sliding door or french doors. That just sounds like £££££. For a later project should I get the money or the bank are feeling nice, I do want to put a joining conservator "utility room" to join the garage to the house in a building control friendly way. This would remove the door completely and only require a way to wheel bikes through the utility room into the garage behind.

But that is way down the road due to the cost of it. I'm slightly worried that the cost of it would be 30% the cost of a proper extension and it could spiral into a really big job.

Still I think A 6x3m workshop is enough. I haven't done the exact dimenions, but I did create a CAD model of the garage for reference, I just don't have it open now.

 

[paulcam]

Actually. I suppose I should provide what I intend to use the workshop for. I don't expect it to be purely wood work and I think IKEA is far easier/cheaper for furniture. The wood working will be more around making the workshop, benches, shelves, etc.

It's likely my electronics bench will move there, my 3D printer, it should allow me to get some bigger tools like table/miter saw, etc. etc. Somewhere to collect all my hobby junk in one place and free up some room in my indoor man cave which is pretty much full.

 

[paulcam]

Here is my first attempt at a CAD model for the garage. It has a few short comings, in that those "buttress bricks" are not actually symetrical in the real garage (go figure!). Also the floor having a thickness probably spoils the proper height dimension. You can see the model for my bench before I contemplated insulating the walls. The area beyond the bench is where I was thnking I could wall it off.

 

[Fitzroy]

1m deep is not required. A standard kitchen worktop is 60cm deep. The extra depth will never be enough for any real assembly and most of the time it will just take up space. A free standing assembly table that you can drag out from a wall is very useful.

I think it’s within most people’s capability to complete the project you suggest. Framing is great fun and so long as you take your time and plan it’ll be great.

F.

 

[paulcam]

Does anyone have any good framing references, even YouTube videos?

I have found many, but far too often they are American's putting framing onto an already existing wooden wall. I found one or two framing onto concrete basement walls and some onto block, but none actually based on framing onto a single skin red brick wall. I understand there are particular issues with damp sealing and also anchoring into red brick that I would feel more comfortable with a few guides or videos to understand better.

EDIT: Do I "need" to anchor to the brick work? From what I have read and watched studding/framing the wall would involve...

1. Putting 2x4 along the bottom, leaving maybe an inch to allow for the wall to not be perfectly straight.
2.. Drill and anchor those 2x4 base boards to the floor with concrete anchors.
3. Layout and screw together the stud frame section.
4. Lift it into place and secure to the base board with screws.

Now... can the top just to fixed to the ceiling rafters with metal 90* fixing plates rather than fixing it to the wall itself?

 

[owen]

3"x2" timber will be fine for the stud wall. You don't need to fix it to the wall. Fix it to the floor and fix straight through the top plate into the ceiling joists. You might need to add noggins to fix the wall to depending which way the ceiling joists run.

 

[The Gent]

Agreed on the 1m depth being too much, I had to build a deep surface to allow an old chop saw to extend fully backwards which required a bench of around 1m, there is loads of wasted space under there, I was looking at it only today thinking what I should do with it....

 

[MikeG.]

3"x2" timber will be fine for the stud wall......

Yep........unless the walls are 10 or 12 feet tall

 

[paulcam]

Well, I did some basic estimates on materials required and I'm a little nervous now.

From a big label DIY store the timber, boards and the cheapest insulation for boarding a 3.4m x 5.5m x 2.3m "room" is well over £1000 before I even consider the cost of a plasterer to skim it.... or moving cables, adding double sockets etc. Granted a set of grubby clothes and bit of "bluffing it" and I could get that down considerably at a builders yard.

Add to this that the roof structure of the garage is not to an internal standard and is not intended to hold a ceiling. The joists are double spaced and not "hung" anywhere along their 3.4m length, just a single span from wall to wall. While I don't doubt they would hold the ceiling boards, I think any attempt to climb up into the crawl space to lay insulation, wiring or to use as storage would definitely flex or twist the joists and crack the ceiling.

Local building regulations dictate that if I insulate more than 50% of a building I need building control application and compliance. Though i probably could pretend I didn't hear that and it would only become complicated if I try and sell the house and someone asks for certification for the work.

I'm thinking it probably isn't the best beginner project due to cost and risk.

I have a few ideas for some smaller things I can do. I can make the workbench for example, but make it free standing with the option to wall fix later. I also actually NEED a small heavy duty bench for homebrew, like in the next week. Something to hold a 30 litre boiler sturdy, high enough to allow a fermentor to slide under the tap. That sounds like a much more suitable project.

On the 1 meter depth of bench. The idea was to have 30cm or so to put shelves and static equipment at the back of the bench. Remembering the bench is mostly going to be for electronics and general "maker" stuff rather than wood work per sae.

 

[Droogs]

try jewson or meyers timber you will get a much better price