weatherproofing/waterproofing my garage

back story:

currently the spare room has a fairly sizable desk in it littered with my IT & graphics geekery. This is where I do all my freelancing stuff and general computer tinkering inside the house.

The cave is where all my bike tat is lovingly strewn all over the f-ing place.

plan:

I want to move my graphics and IT tat into the garage with all my bike tat. there is enough space, once i've disposed of some of the truly useless gubbins in there.

questions:

I know that i have to move everything out, brush it down, hoover and wash the inside. I'm going to try and insulate the roof. I am definitely painting the floor and walls. the bit i'm stuck with is the canopy door at the front. i want to keep it, as i don't want to risk any planning permission wrath (it's a detached garage) so that it can return to normal usage when we move.

is there an easy way of sealing this part off?

I'd thought about batoning the walls around it and polyurethane plastic sealing it in with something on the floor?

Yup, I have done it before. Essentially build a timber frame inside the garage, polyurethane sheet on floor and outside of the timber frame then insulate the width of the frame with plasterboard to finish. The floors were then boarded and carpeted. All the electrics ran through the void between the PU and PB.

Do be sure to leave air gaps for ventilation between walls and PU.

Warmest room in the house!

I'll be doing a similar project on the new house when funds allow.

Good time of year to undertake this work too. We have made a lot of outbuildings hospitable using Sterling Board and insulation. Ventilation is indeed key. We use Sterling Board as most of these buildings are used for storing/maintaining gear so fixing lots of things to the walls is paramount.

intersting. thanks chaps.

JeRkY - I don't think i'm going to be able to afford to do quite as nice a job as that, as much as i would love to. bare walls and floor I'm afraid..

Will take a look into Sterling Board, thank you HF

Have a look at sealing the floor and walls to reduce the dust, and maintaining the temperature to reduce condensation.

That's mostly what I had in mind Rabbit!

JeRkY":17089q8q said:

Yup, I have done it before. Essentially build a timber frame inside the garage, polyurethane sheet on floor and outside of the timber frame then insulate the width of the frame with plasterboard to finish. The floors were then boarded and carpeted. All the electrics ran through the void between the PU and PB.

Do be sure to leave air gaps for ventilation between walls and PU.

Warmest room in the house!

I'll be doing a similar project on the new house when funds allow.

Click to expand...

Halfway through a build like this myself. Started with a precast concrete garage with a concrete/asbestos corrugated roof. Made it water tight over the winter (it used to leak) and built a timber frame a couple of weeks ago, on the back of that frame we have a breathable membrane and then 75mm of Celotex (this on the roof too) in the cavity with a plastic vapor barrier on the inside, all lined with plasterboard. I am about 80% of the way through the build and got the 20mm floor celotex, vapor barrier and 3 of the 4 floor boards down last night.
I Picked up a couple of fire doors on ebay cheap for the two entrances. Power is a run in from the house via a 2.5mm armoured cable and a new garage distribution unit is going to be fitted. I have two opening UPVC windows in the side and to the rear. Ceiling is low so I am fitting wall mounted lights. This is half of one of my two joined garages and the front is staying as a utility area/workshop and the second garage as a store area.

Carl.