Morning all,
I’ve got an old brick built garage with a concrete floor. I’d like to make it a bit less grim. Anyone got any ideas of how to do it cheaply and quickly? Thinking of using a load of chipboard panels or similar and then putting in a cheap lino floor.
Anyone know where to get materials cheap? ‘Seconds’ etc very much acceptable as it does not need to look amazing
how cheap is cheap?
A coat of masonry paint would keep the dust down and brighten it up no end?
same for the floor. Floor paint isnt the cheapest but goes a long way to improving the surface in terms of keeping it clean.
Is the garage dry and floor free of cracks??
Not much point in chipboard unless youre going to line it to keep the back of the chipboard dry, and maybe insulate it?
Yeah, I'd be looking at painting, keep meaning to paint mine, but that means emptying it!! Maybe some rubber floor tiles, but theyre not cheap....
You need to make sure you don't stop the ventilation though, as you'll end up with other problems then.
I did this recently to a concrete garage, but not cheep though.
I battened the walls, then screwed 12mm ply with 50mm kingspan behind. It's totally transformed the space.
It's now my workshop.
I recently bought secondhand 18mm osb sheets that had been used as hoarding around a building site.
I had spoken to the site agent before the fence was removed and he called me when they were dismantling it. They advertised the rest of the sheets on Marketplace.
If you're just trying to make it look nicer rather than attempting to make it warmer etc, then just exterior masonry paint on the brick walls, and garage floor paint on the floor will make a big difference.
We recently turned our old detached single garage into a gym space by painting the walls with white masonry paint, and putting down plastic floor tiles - floor tiles werent cheap, so if I was on more of a budget I would have just used garage floor paint, or lino like you suggested.
Lighting also makes a big difference ,I got some led strip lights to replace the old ( and fairly dim) flourescent tubes, all of this makes the place much brighter and nicer feeling.
Just done the same, having gone round the houses for years. on flooring, floor paint, carpet lino. plumped for vinyl tiles with insulation underneath. partly because I needed to start and finish in a day. Everything out, shelves off the wall brush floor, walls concrete beam ceiling, blow out all the dust repair the concrete floor, paint walls and ceiling, insulation down (3mm eps sheets) flooring down, with plenty of awkward edges to measure and cut for, everything back in again in the dark. Pretty much dawn til past dark, with 2 minute break for a ham sandwich!
So much warmer and brighter and nicer now. I bought some LED strips, but everything's so much brighter already with the existing lighting I'm not in a hurry to put them up.
Our is an integral garage with cavity walls and room above, so I didn't bother with any extra insulation on the walls. I lined and foam filled the wooden double doors a few years ago.
https://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/garage-floor-going-round-in-circles/
I did mine with old building site hoarding. There's a fencing company near Bath that sells them if you are anywhere near there or they pop up on Facebook. Mine came fully painted with thick gloss paint that looks alright. Just had to do a bit of de-nailing
I just used a couple of tins of grey Screwfix garage floor paint, after wire brushing any loose bits and a good hoover out. Do it half at a time if you can't move things out. Walls a mixture of leftover masonry and vinyl emulsion paint. Replaced fluorescent tubes with brighter LED ones. It's much nicer, no dust (apart from what I make).
With a few hundred quid to spend, I'd put some self-levelling compound down then tile it. There's always porcelain tiles on offer at the DIY sheds, wickes currently have some at £13/sqm. If you don't need the space between joists (I put a lot of things on high shelves and make use of it) then plasterboarding the ceiling would be quite cheap and brighten it up too.
Wouldn't bother with insulating walls, floor, etc unless you're wanting to convert it into a living space. Anything worthwhile costs too much and loses too much space.
Super cheap put carpet down on the floor. Warm on your feet.
Sounds like painting the walls is the way to go 🙂 it'd be nice if it was warmer but tbh I only use it as a workshop and turbo space.
So, in a way cooler is better. It does need a new door and window as they are not very secure. So need to find a nice cheapo way of sorting that too!
Door on Facebook marketplace, maybe windows but you might get lucky on ebay.
Otherwise there are on line glazing companies that deliver ready made windows
Insulation backed plasterboard, skim, paint
Latex screed and office grade carpet tiles
