Another Garage studio

cowasaki

cowasaki

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Darren
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Right here we go, I have been planning my studio for about a year and have ended up previously spending the money on a 24-70 but now I need to look at sorting it properly.

I have a newish prefabricated garage 16'3" x 8'6", the garage is 7'6" tall with full electrics on a very solid 9"-1' concrete foundation. The foundations are not absolutely flat but reasonably ok.

I bought a VERY large tin of garage floor paint (25 litres I think) which is mid grey. I was looking at painting the floor with 2-3 coats of the floor paint and then lining the walls. The walls are currently just concrete and are not flat but have 1 inch protrusions. So I was looking at buying eleven 8'x4' pieces of exterior grade plywood which is 1/4" thick and glueing these directly to the concrete walls along the protrusions and lining the entire inside of the building then painting the walls with bathroom type primer and matt black paint.

Any ideas on whether that will give me a decent studio? Any ideas, I have only bought the paint so far but have located the exterior grade plywood at £10 per sheet.

As for the rest of the equipment, I have my lights, softboxes, remotes etc and just need a backdrop.

Am I better using the long wall or the end wall?
 
You might be better using the cost of the ply and getting some insulation and plaster board. More work with the battens etc but you will be a bit warmer.
 
alpina said:
You might be better using the cost of the ply and getting some insulation and plaster board. More work with the battens etc but you will be a bit warmer.
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I was thinking of sticking insulation in the gap, damp proof plaster board is much more than £10 for 8'x4'
 
cowasaki said:
I was thinking of sticking insulation in the gap, damp proof plaster board is much more than £10 for 8'x4'
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Seems like a good idea.

I'd probably screw the ply to the concrete. Normally gluing is a PITA and with screws at least you know it wont fall off one day!

I would be tempted to throw some ply down on the floor as well, much warmer than standing on concrete and you can paint it the same.

If you decide to keep the concrete floor, a self levelling screed will give you a nice level finish for not much outlay! :)
 
Take some piccys of the walls, I am not sure what you mean by 1" protrusions and 6mm ply is not exterior grade.

Only trying to help as I am in the building game and hate to see buy crap that won't do the job.
 
I wis my garage was empty enough to do this...!

Another vote for insulation, would loft insulation be sufficient... not sure :shrug:

I would definately go for screwing the panels to the garage wall and using 1/2" ply... wood itself is a good insulator and would be especially good on the floor. Plus you'll be able to mount power sockets more easily. Whilst on that note, do you have, or intend to have a mini consumer unit/rcd? I would certainly consider one to protect you and your gear.

Please show us some pics of progress.. this is something I really want to do one day (might need a new house first though)!

Enjoy building it... and enjoy using it :D
 
I like the floor paint, did you enquire if it was 18% gray. The floor is the weak part in an outdoor building, so I would put carpet down or wood pallettes. Strange thing is heat from your body goes out through your head, so wear a woolly hat. Of course this is only needed in winter when you have to drag yourself away from the fire.
 
I will post some picks over the next few days but off to NW meet tomorrow and Focus on Sunday. This is a picture of a similar garage BUT mine does not have the orange metal work and the panels are probably twice as wide in my garage:

garage1.jpg


I like the floor levelling idea but never done that before. The foundations are decent enough but there is no damp proof course between the floor and the prefabricated concrete walls so my biggest concern is damp in the walls hence using exterior grade plywood.

The plywood is advertised as exterior grade but I can only go off what they say.

I am painting the walls in matt black and the floor in the mid grey floor paint.
 
If you are going to use exterior ply make sure it is stamped WBP or ask the seller to confirm. I know it says exterior grade but in my experience 6mm won't last outdoors unless treated on regular basis.

Make sure you coat the side next to the wall in a Ronseal type varnish for an extra barrier.

If these walls are similar to yours, you may find it hard drilling the vertical struts and possibly you could damage a few too. It will need a hell of lot of drilling and screwing to board it.

If it were mine, I would timber frame it then screw my wall covering to the the frame, it would be much quicker.
 
tiler65 said:
If you are going to use exterior ply make sure it is stamped WBP or ask the seller to confirm. I know it says exterior grade but in my experience 6mm won't last outdoors unless treated on regular basis.

Make sure you coat the side next to the wall in a Ronseal type varnish for an extra barrier.

If these walls are similar to yours, you may find it hard drilling the vertical struts and possibly you could damage a few too. It will need a hell of lot of drilling and screwing to board it.

If it were mine, I would timber frame it then screw my wall covering to the the frame, it would be much quicker.
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Thanks. When I wired the garage I glued several boards to the walls using no nails and they are bonded very securely. The garage installer said not to drill the panels or they will break.
 
Don't drill anything into the walls, 4" dpc strip along the bottom and 2 x 2 timber frame, insulate & board it. If the concrete floor already has dpc under it, a coat of paint is the cheapest option but not the warmest:)
 
Treesie said:
Don't drill anything into the walls, 4" dpc strip along the bottom and 2 x 2 timber frame, insulate & board it. If the concrete floor already has dpc under it, a coat of paint is the cheapest option but not the warmest:)
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DPC?
 
It may have one under the concrete that you cannot see.
 
In that case you ideally need something. Polythene membrane over the concrete floor then 2 x 2 timbers. Put insulation between timbers then board the floor.

I know it bumbs up the cost but inmy opinion its worth doing and you won't get a damp cold feeling and your equiment is happy :)
 
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Treesie said:
In that case you ideally need something. Polythene membrane over the concrete floor then 2 x 2 timbers. Put insulation between timbers then board the floor.

I know it bumbs up the cost but inmy opinion its worth doing and you won't get a damp cold feeling and your equiment is happy :)
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I know what you're saying but I will also lose 3" of head room too..... what about if I put the polythene down so it goes about 30cm up the walls. 1" battens along the floor and then the DPC stuck to the wall higher up to then the exterior grade ply across the floor and walls so none of it will actually touch the concrete at all? I can always sell on the garage floor paint. If I am using 1/4" ply on the walls how thick does the floor need to be if I have 1" battens 1' apart across the floor?
 
cowasaki said:
I know what you're saying but I will also lose 3" of head room too..... what about if I put the polythene down so it goes about 30cm up the walls. 1" battens along the floor and then the DPC stuck to the wall higher up to then the exterior grade ply across the floor and walls so none of it will actually touch the concrete at all? I can always sell on the garage floor paint. If I am using 1/4" ply on the walls how thick does the floor need to be if I have 1" battens 1' apart across the floor?
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Yep, thats OK if there is no contact.
Normally the battens would be 400mm apart and an 18mm floor, if you want to move battens closer together and use a thinner ply that would be your call :)
 
I will take all the measurements and some photos tomorrow which I will post. I am seriously thinking of replacing the up and over door with a normal door too so will look at combining this at the same time....
 
cowasaki said:
I will take all the measurements and some photos tomorrow which I will post. I am seriously thinking of replacing the up and over door with a normal door too so will look at combining this at the same time....
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Worth changing it just on the convenience value.:)
 
FlyTVR said:
Cowasaki - have you made any progress?
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Err yes, I have made progress in that I now know what I am doing. I have my youngest son Cameron's 16th and Chloe's 18th this month plus the deposit for my new car!!! So it will now be May but at least I do know what I want now!

I am doing the floor and walls with marine plywood on 1"x2" battons on top of damp proof course. I am also looking into replacing the up and over garage door with a wooden or PVC door and a section of wall.
 
cowasaki said:
Err yes, I have made progress in that I now know what I am doing. I have my youngest son Cameron's 16th and Chloe's 18th this month plus the deposit for my new car!!! So it will now be May but at least I do know what I want now!

I am doing the floor and walls with marine plywood on 1"x2" battons on top of damp proof course. I am also looking into replacing the up and over garage door with a wooden or PVC door and a section of wall.
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I know it greatly depends on what you intend to shoot, but do you think you will struggle for space? Not being negative, it's just that I have a single garage and may well follow in your footsteps :)
 
FlyTVR said:
I know it greatly depends on what you intend to shoot, but do you think you will struggle for space? Not being negative, it's just that I have a single garage and may well follow in your footsteps :)
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Its the only space I have so I will just have to make do with it. I will share my findings once I have the money to do the changes :) I have the lighting etc already so it is just the interior that I need to sort.
 
photochimp said:
all my studio stuff is shot in a single garage which I did a sort of conversion on a couple of years ago.
Space is tight but I manage.
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..MD.. uses a garage too. I'm hoping it should be ok and will allow me to leave the lights etc set up. I want a macro table set up in there too eventually.
 
photochimp said:
all my studio stuff is shot in a single garage which I did a sort of conversion on a couple of years ago.
Space is tight but I manage.
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Just had a look at your site. Nice images - nice ideas :)

Have you got any internal shots of your garage / studio?
 
Just an update, I need to set up the studio in order to sort a job SO as I already have the paint I am painting the paint and walls with the mid grey floor paint this week. At least I can use it then whilst I sort out the rest of bits before I do the job properly.
 
Right hopefully the updates will be thick and fast as I am off now for a week...

This is an actual picture of the interior of the garage as it was this morning.

garage1.jpg


So over to the left hand side there is a light switch for the light at that end of the garage which forms a two-way switch with another switch near the door.

job1 - rewired the lights to remove that switch so that the board can be removed and removed the board.

At the end of the garage is a board with 4 double sockets and a fixed installation mains outlet.

job2 - Replaced the wire from the ring main prior to this board over to the left hand side where I fitted another double socket at ceiling height then I was able to cut the wires and remove the board from the end of the garage.



So now the walls are clear for the end 2/3rds of the garage with the electrics still working for lights and sockets.

Next job which will be tomorrow will be to paint the walls and floor with garage floor paint then assess the position and the amount of paint. Hopefully there will be enough to do 2 coats on the walls and 3 on the floor. There is 25 litres of it.

Once that is done I can start to use it temporarily before the next stage which is to replace the up and over garage door with a normal door and wall.
 
Oh and the full view (it looks much less wide than it actually is on these pictures).

garage2.jpg
 
Good to see this is starting to take shape Darren... I'm watching with interest as a garage conversion is about the only way I'll ever get a semi permanent setup :)

Have a good week... looking forward to the next batch of pictures!
 
From a non photoghraphic point of view....it looks like you have damp creeping in where the walls meet the floor.
If you don't intend to do too much in the way of insulating and cladding the walls etc. you could run silicone around the joins....I take it the walls are bolted together concrete panels?....it could be £20 well spent!
 
My Kal said:
From a non photoghraphic point of view....it looks like you have damp creeping in where the walls meet the floor.
If you don't intend to do too much in the way of insulating and cladding the walls etc. you could run silicone around the joins....I take it the walls are bolted together concrete panels?....it could be £20 well spent!
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The gap between the walls and the floor is sealed but I had just jet washed the floor and bottoms of the walls the day before so there were places that were not quite dry. It is dry now though. I will keep an eye on it though just to be on the safe side.
 
Well i've done the 1st coat on the walls and floor. I have so much paint on me that if I go inside I am invisible :thinking:

Tomorrow I will do 2nd coats then assess what is needed, maybe 3rd coat on floor and back wall.

Whilst buying a roller extension at B&Q I priced up exterior grade ply and at £12 for 8x6 feet I might do the back wall and/or the rest of it after all and just no nails it to the walls. I can do that at any time though.
 
Well I took a look and decided to do the 2nd coat today. So just the 3rd coat left to do now for the painting.....
 
Well just been down to check the garage and unfortunately the 2nd coat is still set as it was done later yesterday and the sun was past it's hottest so it had not dried. So will have to wait till tomorrow for the next coat or at least later today. The paint is being used to seal the walls and floor and I have been looking at what if anything to put on the walls. I have seen exterior grade 6mm plywood which would cover the walls and I could glue this on with no nails. Two sheets will cover the back of the garage and another 2 each side will enclose the whole far end. I think putting some battons down and getting some 13mm for the floor might be a good idea too..... Will price it up this week. Shame the larger sized sheets will not fit in my small van though.

garage3.jpg
 
Just a side question, but did you need planning permission to do this kind of work? Am considering it as an option when my wife and I finally buy a house.
 
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