OT: garage / man cave

secretsam

Am in the process of buying the new Villa Secret Sam, which has a hard standing with the disastrous remains of a wooden shed-garage on it. Is fully detached.

Need to replace this with something more robust, possibly partly divided into a man-cave for Turbo-tastic stuff, with insulated walls so it's not too cold. No intention of putting a car in it!

Brick built seems very expensive but top quality, concrete cheaper but not as robust/aesthetically pleasing. Wood a bit of a non-starter as I'm not sure it lasts.

Anyone got any recommendations/experience/cautionary tales?

thistle_

SecretSam wrote:

Brick built seems very expensive but top quality, concrete cheaper but not as robust/aesthetically pleasing. Wood a bit of a non-starter as I'm not sure it lasts.

Are you planning on doing it yourself?
You could do it in concrete blockwork and nail insulation to the inside? Depending how big you want to make Villa2 brick/block might not be strong enough unless you make the walls a decent thickness.

Maybe a concrete building and clad it with timber so it looks better? When the timber rots, just replace it.

What were you planning for the floor? Is there a half decent concrete slab already there or do you need a new one? Or do you want to raise the floor off the ground a bit?

Check you don't need planning permission for it too. If it's the same size as the old one you are replacing you're probably ok.

straas

Stick a container on it, you can dress up the outside as you like - wood panelling/ivy/paint.

rower63

Search for Log Cabin - wood has come a long way since the common-or-garden shed
https://www.tuin.co.uk/Log-Cabins.html

elbowloh

We're looking for a new place at the moment too and I definitely want a garage / slash man cave. Quite a few places i've looked at have gym's/home offices at the end of the garden which would be perfect. Block built things with double glass doors.

Sorry, no help to you.

Why don't you do a Cameron and get a £30k shepherds hut?

keef66

Timber is probably quickest and easiest. No reason for it not to last if it's properly treated / occasionally retreated, and it's not sitting in a pond. Best raised to allow air circulation beneath the floor. My wooden shed is coming up to 30 years old and nothing's rotted.

The container is also a good shout provided you sort out insulation and ventilation. Secure too.

If I was doing that kind of thing DIY I'd probably:

Raised concrete base with a DPM, 5 or 6 courses of bricks then framing in treated 4x2, chunky shiplap cladding, roof in something corrugated and durable. (I hate roofing felt)
For the insulation bit use rigid foil backed PIR sheet like Kingspan between the timbers and protect it on the inside with plywood or sterling board

cougie

If you're turboing in it you really want it cold.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

cougie wrote:

If you're turboing in it you really want it cold.

Having done my first turbo sessions the last two days since April, I agree, in fact I'd look into giant fans integrated into the mancave's framework drawing in air from outside!

cougie

My garage also has the boiler in it. When I turbo the boiler goes off and I put three fans on. I'll wear a jacket for the warmup when it's cold but it gets taken off soon enough.

daniel_b

I was very fortunate to have, well let me rephrase that, when my gf showed me details of a 30's house, I was not that interested until I spotted the double garage in the description, so that is what we ended up buying, with the house included

It's only a concrete prefab, but is on a really solid concrete base, and came with a leaky roof with a joint in the middle, not surprising as it had a whole 1 degree of pitch.......... :roll:
I replaced the door also, and all the windows, bought polycarbonate sheeting from C&A Plastics, built the simplest of frames, applied privacy film, popped them in the old window slots, uses some pvc trim to make it look pretty outside, and to give something to silicone against, and jobs a goodun.

£2000 of materials and skip hire, and we replaced the roof with huge wooden joists, and 6m runs of polycarbonate roofing - I went for clear, but it gets stupidly hot in the summer, so if I ever had t oreplce it I would go with opal or some kind of coloured finish. This was all bought from C & A building plastics, and very good they were too, delivery too.

One of the the foam gaskets on top deteriorated after 7 years (Changed in in April 2011) and started leaking, but I have a supply that was included, so just popped up carefully using boards and replaced the lot - 20 minutes work.

It does get bloody cold in there in the winter, but it's fine, I soon warm up, and have the fans on remote switches, and they all have adjustable levels - I have 3 in total, in case my gf wants to turbo at the same time.
I also go out in bib tights if it is cold enough, and the layering idea also works perfectly, as you can easily take a jacket off once warmed up, undo a jersey etc etc
This is the biggest one of the family


I use remote switches like these:

secretsam

thistle (MBNW) wrote:

SecretSam wrote:

Brick built seems very expensive but top quality, concrete cheaper but not as robust/aesthetically pleasing. Wood a bit of a non-starter as I'm not sure it lasts.

Are you planning on doing it yourself?
You could do it in concrete blockwork and nail insulation to the inside? Depending how big you want to make Villa2 brick/block might not be strong enough unless you make the walls a decent thickness.

Maybe a concrete building and clad it with timber so it looks better? When the timber rots, just replace it.

What were you planning for the floor? Is there a half decent concrete slab already there or do you need a new one? Or do you want to raise the floor off the ground a bit?

Check you don't need planning permission for it too. If it's the same size as the old one you are replacing you're probably ok.

Concrete OK; would rather get someone else to do it than DIY (!); slab there already; will be same size as old one so hopefully no PP needed

elbowloh wrote:

Why don't you do a Cameron and get a £30k shepherds hut? [img]https://static1.<span class="skimlinks-unlinked">squarespace.com/static/56b0c0d6f699bb770fa8b7f7/56b0cc5ec2ea51978e5e1a95/58fd8f1a3a041197bb97dbe5/1500554771648/dc1.jpg</span>[/img]

Because he's a cnut

elbowloh

SecretSam wrote:

elbowloh wrote:

Why don't you do a Cameron and get a £30k shepherds hut? [img]https://static1.<span class="skimlinks-unlinked">squarespace.com/static/56b0c0d6f699bb770fa8b7f7/56b0cc5ec2ea51978e5e1a95/58fd8f1a3a041197bb97dbe5/1500554771648/dc1.jpg</span>[/img]

Because he's a cnut

I would not disagree.

Tbh, I'm slightly overwhelmed with people's DIY skills as noted in this thread. I'm absolutely fine with bike mechanics and will happily build up my own bikes. However, in spite of me actually working for a large construction and civil engineering firm would never trust myself to do anything more than put up some shelves and, even then, reluctantly. I hate DIY :evil: .

itboffin

hmmm second mancave now that's an idea hmmm

pretend to replace the garden shed and instead build a log cabin covering 1/3 of the garden hmmm

tyke999

elbowloh wrote:

We're looking for a new place at the moment too and I definitely want a garage / slash man cave. Quite a few places i've looked at have gym's/home offices at the end of the garden which would be perfect. Block built things with double glass doors.

Sorry, no help to you.

Why don't you do a Cameron and get a £30k shepherds hut?

Because he is a complete D.I.CK and Im not...nuff said,

secretsam

elbowloh wrote:

...in spite of me actually working for a large construction and civil engineering firm would never trust myself to do anything more than put up some shelves and, even then, reluctantly. I hate DIY :evil: .

Which firm?

elbowloh

SecretSam wrote:

elbowloh wrote:

...in spite of me actually working for a large construction and civil engineering firm would never trust myself to do anything more than put up some shelves and, even then, reluctantly. I hate DIY :evil: .

Which firm?

A green Irish one

secretsam

Murphy's?

elbowloh

SecretSam wrote:

Murphy's?

Yeah.

drlodge

A log cabin (44mm interlocking) makes an excellent man cave...mine is 5.5m x 3.5m, with insulated floor and roof, electrics etc.

fenix

Oh that's beautiful ! Nice work.

slowbike

Hmm - perhaps I should look at replacing my shed ...

itboffin

drlodge said:

A log cabin (44mm interlocking) makes an excellent man cave...mine is 5.5m x 3.5m, with insulated floor and roof, electrics etc.

Did you need planning permission for that?
Can you share cost and provider, i'm about to move into a house with no garage or shed and whilst the house has plenty of space I really dont want to live in a house come mancave garage well not for any length of time.

daniel_b

A house with NO garage OR shed

But you have a ton of bikes, where will they all live?

Are you changing areas?

thistle_

daniel_b said:

A house with NO garage OR shed

But you have a ton of bikes, where will they all live?

In the enormous log cabin/man cave once he has planning permission for it.

elbowloh

We're finally in the last knockings of buying our new place.

There's a brand new 14" by 8" "shed" in the garden, very similar to itboffins above. It has lighting, electric, double PVC double-glazed windows and double doors, but it's not lined or insulated. It's going to be my office and bike workshop/storage/turbo room.

itboffin, what's yours insulated with? And it's 44mm board on the inside and the outside?

daniel_b

@elbowloh, I believe it is not @itboffins but @drlodge's instead.

itboffin

Yep not mine but I have just rented a container in shrewton where hopefully I’ll be moving to if my buyers stop pissing around otherwise I’m stay here, just fed up with retired buyers who’ve no chain cash buyers and have been making noise since August when we could have easier sold many times over.

They need to make up their mind tomorrow or the move is off.

If it’s on then that container I’m renting could become a make shift turbo den it’s huge, I’m not joking you could park two cars inside and stack two more on top easy.

elbowloh

daniel_b said:

@elbowloh, I believe it is not @itboffins but @drlodge's instead.

Apologies.

elbowloh

itboffin said:

Yep not mine but I have just rented a container in shrewton where hopefully I’ll be moving to if my buyers stop pissing around otherwise I’m stay here, just fed up with retired buyers who’ve no chain cash buyers and have been making noise since August when we could have easier sold many times over.

They need to make up their mind tomorrow or the move is off.

If it’s on then that container I’m renting could become a make shift turbo den it’s huge, I’m not joking you could park two cars inside and stack two more on top easy.

Yes, buying/selling/moving is such a drag. I hope this is the last property we ever buy.

We accepted the offer on this place (wife's flat, we were selling 2 flats, one mine, one the wife's) in June and it's dragging on, but hopefully moving in a couple of weeks.

I sold my flat earlier this year after 3 years of trying and 5 buyers all pulling out after dragging things on for months (the last one due to COVID to be fair). In the end i went to auction just to get rid.

itboffin

yep i pulled the pin today the move is off, i'm remortgaging at massive expense but i will not be fucked around by anyone.

Garage situation resolved - silver lining and all that

andyh01

Oh well.
I did type an elongated reply yesterday but phone crashed, had the worse migraine too.

Anyway I went through the what materials best to build my "home gym" out of (I have a treadmill, multi gym with weights on back and pulleys and a rower, will add turbo and punch bag) ...

In end went for a log cabin by "quick garden's" 3.2m wide/deep by 9m long twin skin 47mm tongue and groove with 50mm celtex insulation. Under UK planning laws don't need planning provided roof not more than 2m high or 2.5m if 2m gap between boundary. Came all in at about £12k with couple custom amendments.