As early man will tell you, their cave was their home. Well, modern man has their own cave, it the house we live in. As men, we get to do whatever we want to it. Thre are some many things to do with a garage in your home to great the ultimate space.
There is nothing better than adding a room to a house and getting more space. Let’s take a look at adding a garage to your Man Cave
Adding an addition
Does your older child need their own space? D you work from home or maybe you just feel that you need another room to get away from the rest of the family? Then the solution is to construct a new addition to your garage.
By making an addition, you can add to the living space in your house, no matter what type of garage you own: detached or attached to the house.
Space above can be converted into a private living space for your older child, guests or a live-in parent.
You can convert your garage into your home office. You could very well find the peace and quiet needed for your work.
Also, the new addition can be converted into a music studio or home movie cinema, if you put some simple soundproofing measures into place.
In order to start planning for your garage addition, first, prepare a budget and then hire a professional because this can be a complex project.
Also, you may need to hire an architect to help you with the construction plans.
Garage flat roof
Whether you have an old garage or if you’re going to construct a new one you should take into consideration the quality and the type of roof that you choose for your garage. You might encounter problems with a home inspector if you don’t have an adequate roof for your garage. He may cite your garage. And of course, you want to make sure you have a stable and reliable roof that can face nasty weather conditions.
A flat roof with sagged joists allows rainwater to pool at the centre, rather than draining toward the roof edges. This is a common problem and it affects nearly all the so-called flat roofs. Having an insufficient roof slope promotes standing pools of rainwater and this increases the likelihood of leakage as the roof becomes older.
Roof drains should be installed at each low point of the roof. Since the roof joists have sagged it seems that they were not designed to support accumulated water. Therefore if you can add drains at the lower points of the roof it could prolong the life of your roof.
Adding A Garage Doors
There are four basic types of garage doors and three types of materials commonly used to construct these doors.
If a traditional look is desired for the garage, then the side hung garage door is the usual solution. Side-hung doors can be fitted directly on a wood frame or on bricks.
Another type of garage door is the sectional door. These doors are perfect where the space in front of the garage is limited because they open vertically. They are perfect for a new garage that is intended to have an aesthetic appeal.
Similar to sectional garage doors are the roller doors. The door rolls up inside a drum above the opening of the garage door.
Also, there is no need to allow any room inside or out to operate the door so it would be well suited for limited space in front.
The last type of door is the most common one, up and over garage door. This is the most popular type. They can be manufactured from timber, steel and GPR materials. They can also be manual or automatic and they are relatively easy
to install.
Five steps to a clean garage workshop
If you already have a Garage, and you park your car in the driveway and you still have to work on your projects in the back yard. If you don’t use your garage for its designed purpose, why not turn it into a tidy workshop?
Here are five steps to turn your garage in a perfect small home workshop:
1) Create your own workbench from an old door, some sawhorses or scrap wood.
2) Mount a pegboard on the wall to store your tools. It would be a great idea to mount it above your workbench. Strategically place pegs according to the type of tools you will be placed on the board. After hanging your tools, trace around them with a marker so you will know where each one goes.
3) Use old jars for holding nails, nuts, bolts and screws.
4) Make a storage box for the rags because they tend to accumulate in the working area.
5) Use a small tackle box for transporting items such as screws and nails as you move around the shop.
How to Give Your Garage A Facelift
You would probably ask yourself why would you give it a facelift.
After all, It is only a garage! But what if you have a two or more cars garage? The doors take up a significant portion of the front of the house.
What is the use of having a great design for your house but having only generic doors?
Nowadays the garage door trends are to incorporate the doors into the design of the house. For example, you could choose carriage-style doors(look like they open like old-fashioned doors in carriage houses, but they open like normal garage doors) or you could choose wood carriage doors.
These wood carriage doors are reminiscences of the horse-drawn carriage days and they are very popular. You don’t need to go as far as to order custom made garage doors because you can find more appealing garage doors at most home improvement stores.
In addition to the doors, the floor of a garage gives style and can integrate to the overall aesthetics of your house. You could try interlocking garage floor tiles that come in multiple colours and patterns. They are made of polypropylene and are easy to install and clean. Another interesting and practical flooring is the coin-shaped G-flooring.
Garage materialism is growing
Ever since the first suburbs were built, the garage became a measure of the financial prosperity of a family. At first, there was one, then two, but now four-car garages are becoming the newest form of decadence in homebuilding.
A real estate agent would say that people have a log of gear and items these days so there is a huge demand for a place to store them.
These garages, in some instances, maybe larger than many apartments, housing more cars than ever. The third and maybe fourth family car is a necessity for families where kids stay home longer and the restrictions on-street parking are one of the factors that point towards building larger garages.
Moreover, every man has his love for the “toys” such as boats, jet skis, motorcycles, bikes, power tools and workbenches and these “toys” need storage.
More toys more storage is needed
A look into a three or four-car garage may reveal tools, bikes, sporting gear, a workshop and a 25-foot boat. This visual degradation of the suburban landscape is an aspect of materialism that won’t stop turning any time soon.
Not everybody likes this trend. Some home builders spend the extra time and money on architectural plans that can split these huge expanses of square footage into opposite sides of the house.
A problem that appears here is the problem of the house’s design after this transformation. The most aesthetically are the back-loading garages but they require the use of the backyard space for turning radius.
Side-loading garages need wider home sites but can make the front of the house look enormous. With the current rising costs for land, in many areas, this is not feasible in the long run.
This is a sign of a mega-materialism, that is: if one is good five is better so more and more people understand only one thing: that a garage is not good unless it is as big as a basketball court.
When will it stop?
Are we going to have the house attached to a garage ten times bigger than the house? Maybe it would be better for everyone to think twice before making such a commitment when buying a house attached to the garage. Maybe it would be better if people would care about the simpler and more basic things in life than owning a four-car garage.
Garage floor remodelling
The garage is a very important part of your house. It is not only the room where you keep your car but it can be used also as a storeroom. In there, you keep things that you do not use every day or things that you want to dispose of later on.
Sporting equipment is usually stored in your garage. Also, a lot of people use the space as a laundry, a workshop or even as a home office.
The growing importance of the garage has increased the number of remodelled garages over the past years. Garages are becoming an integral part of the house.
One of the things that need to be changed when planning to remodel is the floor. Concrete floors serve the purpose of flooring but do not look good, even if you paint it, the floor will look bare.
It is best to have a flooring expert adviser to do the job.
The best type of garage floor is made of specially formulated polyvinyl, this special material for flooring conceals cracks and protects the floor from getting stained.
This flooring protects the floor from accidental spills: oil, battery acid, grease and any other dirt that gets into your garage. By making a few minor changes to your garage you can transform it into an attractive storage room.
Gadgets for your garage
If you spend a lot of your time at home in your garage or if you want a clean and organized garage you need a few gadgets. There is a ton of different gadgets that come in many forms and for different purposes.
For example, a stoplight for parking may come in handy for someone who has a problem with depth perception or for someone who comes home late from work and is very tired.
If you have such problems, you need this tool. It is easy to install and use and it helps you to park the car in the same spot every time when the motion sensors are triggered.
If you need space on the walls next to the door, you can mount a door opener on the ceiling above the door to eliminate chains.
Bike storage is ideal in a garage for “hanging” your bike on a wall. That way you will have easy access to it with the advantage of having more clear space.
If you have a lot more items in your garage than you really have room for. Or the walls are full of shelves and cabinets, you definitely need additional storage devices. You can get things like an overhead storage system mounted directly on the ceiling.
