Garage to Studio conversion Diary

Jelster

Jelster

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Steve
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As some of you may have seen on the "lighting" forum, I am looking at converting my garage to a studio. Not an easy task as we have 2 motorcycles, 3 push bikes, a full set of alloys for the car, and all the other crap that you get after 20 years of marriage. To top it off, we had a loft clear out last month, and all the unwanted stuff was moved to the garage.

It will be done in phases, the first of which will be to clear the garage. So, with the skip arriving this morning, this is what the first task looked like.....

IMG_66101.jpg


The bikes are currently under cover in the car port (where I took the picture from).

I've now made a list of things to do, and hopefully I'll add to this thread as items are completed.

1) Clear garage Done
2) Tidy up and stow away what's left Done
3) Paint floor and walls in a matt mid grey Garage Paint
4) Organise backdrop
5) Update electrics (the garage is at the end of the garden and I could do with more than just a single socket!)
6) Update security
7) Get lights etc inside
8) Make sure the wireless network will reach that far
9) Organise some heating !

If I've missed anything, please feel free to add to the list.

I'll keep you updated as I progress, I want to get as much done before I start work again on the 5th January. I've managed to clear most of the rubbish (I've filled a 6 yard skip - and could probably do another one...) There is just a bit of stuff to be swept up etc tomorrow morning. Hopfully I'll start painting this weekend too.

I know MD is working on something similar, so I look forward to see how he gets on.

Steve
 
need to make sure your electrics are either carried out by a Part P approved electrician of the work is cheked over and certified by one matey.

If you ever do any work whereby you are paid in the studio and something went wrong with the electrics then you wouldnt have a leg to stand on. All domestic electrics must be verified by an approved Part P contractor so dont take any chances yourself (unless your a spark yourself). May cost you a couple of quid but worth it in the long run just in case.
 
Paulmack said:
need to make sure your electrics are either carried out by a Part P approved electrician of the work is cheked over and certified by one matey.

If you ever do any work whereby you are paid in the studio and something went wrong with the electrics then you wouldnt have a leg to stand on. All domestic electrics must be verified by an approved Part P contractor so dont take any chances yourself (unless your a spark yourself). May cost you a couple of quid but worth it in the long run just in case.
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Thanks for the heads up.... I have two good friends who are sparkies, one of whiech has already offered to give the electrics a once over. It's proper armoured cable from the house to the garage with a fused box at each end.

Steve
 
sound well just make sure you get one of them to give you the appropriate paperwork to say its safe and your sorted :)
 
Jelster said:
and all the other crap that you get after 20 years of marriage. To top it off, we had a loft clear out last month, and all the unwanted stuff was moved to the garage.


IMG_66101.jpg
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20 years :thinking: AND the loft

I got news for you Jelster man, there's nothing in the garage......virtually nothing :lol:

Make a list of everything you are likely to use electrically, its power consumption and the likelyhood of it all being on at the same time.
I can do you a cable calc, a materials/distribution list with likely costs, possible short cuts, might even be able to help you out with materials and maybe get a quarter of an inch of floor space in my own garage...:)
 
Found a major problem this morning.... The rain is getting in under the up and over door and into the garage. I've managed to sweep most of it out, but I need to find some sort of barrier to stop it from happening in the future.

Any ideas would be gratefully accepted.

Anyway, the skip has gone and the garage has been cleared (sort of). I still need it to keep my tools and motor stuff in, so I'm trying to work on a compromise as best I can.

Hopefully the rain will stop and I can get the painting under way. I'll post some pictures up tomorrow when the garage drys out.

Steve
 
Jelster said:
Found a major problem this morning.... The rain is getting in under the up and over door and into the garage. I've managed to sweep most of it out, but I need to find some sort of barrier to stop it from happening in the future.

Any ideas would be gratefully accepted.

Anyway, the skip has gone and the garage has been cleared (sort of). I still need it to keep my tools and motor stuff in, so I'm trying to work on a compromise as best I can.

Hopefully the rain will stop and I can get the painting under way. I'll post some pictures up tomorrow when the garage drys out.

Steve
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best thing to to here mate is make a box which can be used as a seat for moms and dads and hides all your tools in :naughty:

check out the one in my garage ....pics are in the studio the tp project thread...

md:thumbs:
 
Hi Steve, if you seal and screw a 25x50mm timber baton tightish to the closed door then paint it bright so it stands out it should solve the problem and help keep some of the dust out.

Good luck with project.:thumbs:

Mitch
 
madmitch said:
Hi Steve, if you seal and screw a 25x50mm timber baton tightish to the closed door then paint it bright so it stands out it should solve the problem and help keep some of the dust out.
Click to expand...

Sounds like an idea Mitch.. I'll look into that one. In fact the wife had an idea too - she used to work for an industrial door company, and she's going to drop in there tomorrow and see if they have any "door rubbers" - sounds like they could be ideal.

I haven't been able to do much today, what with the Mrs being home so I've been "shopping" and generally spent time with the Wife, allowing me to build up some brownie points which I'll cash in over Christmas. Anyway, I've cleared the rubbish and got the rest tidied (not much of a picture, but you can get the idea:

IMG_6657.jpg

​

Some of the items on the wall to the right will go in the bike shed, leaving that wall plain. Tomorrow I start painting, hopefully get the first coat done and then I can start getting on with some of the other things on the list.

Maybe tomorrow I can show some pictures of the first coat :thumbs:

Steve
 
I would seriously consider getting the walls either plastered or dry lined, they look pretty awful with the steels showing. Board the roof up too, you can use the roof space for storage then. How tall is it though?
 
BOM said:
I would seriously consider getting the walls either plastered or dry lined, they look pretty awful with the steels showing. Board the roof up too, you can use the roof space for storage then. How tall is it though?
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I have to :agree:

While any old crap is fine for you to work in (as we saw together recently :naughty:), a pleasant space is needed if potential customers are going to be walking in

DD
 
BOM said:
I would seriously consider getting the walls either plastered or dry lined, they look pretty awful with the steels showing. Board the roof up too, you can use the roof space for storage then. How tall is it though?
Click to expand...

condensation is another real problem with these garages, watch your electrics especially.
 
Thanks for the input guys...

Firstly, the "studio" will be for my own private non-commercial use for the time being. I want to use it as a means of perfecting my own studio/portrait skills, so I don't want to be spending a lot of money on it until I'm ready to make it a commercial operation of some kind.

Height is a problem, as it's only just over 2m to the metal framework, so boarding it isn't really an option, and I already have a number of (larger) items stowed up there. I have considered doing the walls though, I thought about screwing battening around the walls so that I could line it with hardboard, just to tidy it up a bit.

I haven't been able to paint again today, the flooding has now gone but it's still far too damp to paint. The good news is that I've sorted a solution to the rain ingress problem which I got as a freebie ;)

The lights should be here tomorrow, so that will give me something to do while I wait for the garage to dry out - looks like I could be painting over Christmas.... I think the Mrs may have something to say about that :rules:

Steve
 
Jelster said:
Thanks for the input guys...

Firstly, the "studio" will be for my own private non-commercial use for the time being. I want to use it as a means of perfecting my own studio/portrait skills, so I don't want to be spending a lot of money on it until I'm ready to make it a commercial operation of some kind.

Height is a problem, as it's only just over 2m to the metal framework, so boarding it isn't really an option, and I already have a number of (larger) items stowed up there. I have considered doing the walls though, I thought about screwing battening around the walls so that I could line it with hardboard, just to tidy it up a bit.

I haven't been able to paint again today, the flooding has now gone but it's still far too damp to paint. The good news is that I've sorted a solution to the rain ingress problem which I got as a freebie ;)

The lights should be here tomorrow, so that will give me something to do while I wait for the garage to dry out - looks like I could be painting over Christmas.... I think the Mrs may have something to say about that :rules:

Steve
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hi mate

i would agree about battening the wall's then using some ply or nsuch it will look alot better and you will feel better when your in there.


md:thumbs:
 
Insulation.

I would slap kingspan or similar on the walls & ceiliung then a layer of polythene (vapour barrier) then boarding. It will make a massive difference.
 
We had a slight nightmare with painting our concrete garage floor. We'd sealed it off with some PVA first, but the floor paint just wouldn't dry properly in parts and peeled in others.

Someone else I know used some proper concrete sealer instead of PVA and the same thing happened with their floor.

If you're not sure about what you're doing floor-wise (like us!) get some advice from someone who does. Otherwise, it could end up being messy.
 
INSULATION. ;)

As much as possible, or any heat you put in will go straight out again. Not to mention the carbon emissions. Floor, walls and ceiling.

CHANGE OF USE / PLANNING ? Possibly not as its not for business use.

BUILDING REGS. Could be an absolute nightmare, or you could just not tell them and hope no-one notices. For instance, if you put ANY insulation in at all, you have to do it Building Regs standards. You'd have thought any would be better than none, but it doesn't seem to work like that.

I converted half of a double garage a couple years ago and it cost about £3k. And that was without planning or building regs.

It's quite nice now, mind, though I couldn't run electric heating in here. The fuse would blow.

If you need any more help let me know. jerry
 
Like I said, the whole idea is to give me a place to practice. Until I feel it's necessary, I'm not going to spend a lot of money on it. It won't be used for commercial work, it's just so I can work on my technique.

If I start getting "the call" then I'll do it properly, with decent insulation and heating (in fact I'd probably knock it down & start again....)

Latest update is that part of the Lencarta gear turned up today, but the main consignment seems to have gone missing (the flash units, the stands & the reflector) but I do now have a nice octagonal soft box which has been substituted as they're out of stock of the square ones :D Let's see what happens, as I'm out tomorrow.

Steve
 
Good luck, you are doing way better than me, everytime I plan to do that, my wife gives me something else to put in the garage.
 
Right then, not updated this for a while.

The floor is still to damp to paint, and I think it may stay this way unless I put some heat in there to speed up the process.

Anyway, with my lighting kit arriving, I was itching to get in there, so I've done a quick bodge, utilising my black ground paper, and set the lights up to give me some idea of what it would look like.

lights4.jpg

​

As I anticipated, height is a bit of a problem, but not insurmountable. What I hadn't realised though was how narrow it actually is.... I'm definitely having to move the shelving system on the left.... :thinking:

The large disk on the right is the reflector. A bit of extra thinking is going to be required.

Steve
 
THink I would get some brackets for the lights and then you will have more room.
 
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