Converting our Garage - Part 1

This weekend was phase 1 in converting our garage as I’ve previously mentioned. Thankfully, my Dad has agreed to help me with this project, as its definitely not a one-man job.

DAY 1

Our first task was to clear out the garage so that we could set about putting a frame down to lay the floor. We began by running a frame around the perimeter of the garage. This was followed by setting out the cross members of the frame to lay the floorboards on. We had decided to insulate the floor from the concrete base, and we opted for polystyrene foam boards that would fit between the cross members.

We then set about laying all the cross members and in filling with the polystyrene boards until we had reached the required point. Even at this stage the garage was really taking shape.

Following this it was time to lay the floorboards over the top of the cross members and polystyrene boards. These went down fairly easily and in no time we had covered the entire area. There were only a couple of tricky spots, around the gas pipe and also the brick supporting column, but these were easily dealt with a few saw cuts.

The boards were all then screwed down and secured, this creating a very stable platform. At this stage it was an appropriate point to stop for the day, so my Dad and I tidied everything away ready for to start on the partition wall the next day.

DAY 2

The next day, my parents arrived fairly early, so that we could get started.

Today’s task was to get on with constructing the partition wall. The process began by constructing an frame around the walls of the garage. This took some time to ensure that all of the pieces of the frame were square and level in all directions. Nothing worse than a wonky wall.

Once the external frame was in place, uprights were then placed inside the frame at intervals that would be able to support the plasterboard that will be added at a later stage. We also needed to set out where the door frame would need to be. This was not too difficult once we’d sorted out how much room to leave from the non-existent instructions.

After sorting out the position of the door frame, we then put the small bracing pieces between the uprights, to give them more stability. Did you know that these bracing pieces are called “noggins”? No, me neither. It a word that is often heard but I’ve never given any thought about it. You learn something new every day.

Once the noggins were in place it was again time to call it a day, so we tidied up the garage and put everything back.

I must admit that the garage is looking good even at this stage. Next weekend my Dad will be back to start on phase 2. We’re planning to put some more power points in, and also put up the plasterboard and insulation on the partition wall.

Shouldn’t be too many weekends until its all finished.