Help me turn my new garage into a bike lounge (just don't call it a fucking mancave)

'mancave' is ungendered and I will die on this hill

I think they made it clear not to call it a man cave.

Shall I get my wife to do a gender check on me..? Would that help?

Interlocking floor tiles? Provide some degree of insulation and barrier for moisture and might work ? https://www.garagetileshop.co.uk/product/7mm-textured-interlocking-floor-tiles-per-m%C2%B2-premium

She-Shed

My other issue is that the floor is pretty rough. I'm half considering laying down dry sand to even things up a bit, running plastic sheet on top, then a tile like that.

For the floor in my conversion I had it totally floating; But I didn't have a threshold to worry about as I raised it up with brick and block work.

Sheet DPM
50mm foil backed insulation
Another sheet DPM as a slip layer
18mm T&G chipboard
Cork tiles over that

I do have a few progress photos.

This is precisely what I was thinking. It would raise it up about 3-4 inches at the entrance. So a small step which isn't the end of the world.

The costs of this are getting a bit out of hand. There doesn't seem to be a cheap insulated option.

I opted for IKO Enertherm PIR 50mm. It wasn't cheap. I think I paid £35 a sheet; and it was 1200 x 2400.

I will tell you something I did notice is that so many building sites seem to throw so much of it away. I was tempted to go around and ask for off cuts. I figured it it didn't need to be a continuous layer so why not save some dorrah.

I'm very happy with how mine turned out. I was concerned that 50mm wasn't enough as it was directly on to a concrete slab like yours, but the combination of the insulation, chipboard and cork have worked really well. And I thoroughly recommend cork as a finish. I found a husband and wife run company in Croydon and they were excellent.

I think this the plan I'm going to try.

Will think on the cork idea.

Il try to scrounge as much material as possible.

Was away all weekend so not much real progress.

I did start playing around with designs for the sofa though (may go wider than pictured, maybe 1500mm). Nothing complicated and made of ply with hardwood legs. Will order some foam and upholster the cushions.

Based on the Hans Wegner daybed, with storage instead of the folding bed.

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Complicating things by trying to add internal storage that doesn't interfere with the lounge vibe.

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Making this up as I go along.

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I like the plans and glad to see the progress. Keep going 🤗

I’m 100% sure you’ve thought of this, but have you left access to the roller door’s manual winder handle? One of ours tripped out the other day and I had to move a shelf unit and chip the edge of a couple of bricks to get the handle to turn to raise the door. I was quite surprised to see the angle you need to have the handle at.
Turns out it had tripped because something had fallen on the bottom of the door and there’s no sensor for that so the motor was trying to lift a box and a shelf unit it had slipped from. I don’t know your spacing ref the window to roller door, but make sure you remember to close the window .
Again I’m sure you’re on it, but

And oh loving the sofa! Think I’ll steal that.

I’ve just spotted the handle in the bike store bit, can you access that from inside?

No I had not thought of that…. But clearly my subconscious had as there is enough space to walk sideways between the internal door (not there yet) and the roller door. Good point though!

I really should have spent a bit more time planning where to place things and the order in which to do stuff as I’ve created some issues for myself. Not unfixable but will slow me down a bit. Im trying so squeeze the project in around work and family so I constantly getting pulled away and distracted which is tricky.

Ref the sofa. Cheers. Here’s the shape I’m going with. With a coffee table come armrest on one side. Il skip dive for some old wood to try design before getting some posh ply and hardwood for the legs.

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(Edit- did not look at time stamp when I wrote this reply, probably moot now!)

Not at all.

I’d you don’t need the big door there’s no reason not to. Just make sure you put some kind of membrane/dpm between the door and whatever you build as you don’t want condensation (which you may well get on the back of the door in winter, especially once you cover it and remove any ventilation) on the back of your stud wall. Plus it’s just a stud wall, if you decide you want the roller door back you can take it down.

The one thing I came here to say was insulate it! But sounds like you’re doing that. Obviously walls/ceiling is most important but you could do a floating floor very easily. Even 25mm PIR board with T&G floorboards on would make a hell of a difference.

Yep. All good sense. Before I board from the outside il insulate and add a damp proof membrane.

I will also do the same under what ever flooring solution I end up using. The problem there is that the cost of PIR board + t&g is astronomical! Mrs Clement is rapidly losing sense of humor about the spend.

Yeh it’s not cheap, and you’ve got a big area to do… annoyingly, it ideally wants doing before you do anything else, unless everything you install is relatively easily removable at a later date when you can justify the cosy.

Alternatively just deal with the concrete or get some of those plastic interlocking tiles that are designed for garages.

(Edit- reinstating my original “justify the cosy” typo after editing it out)

If I'm clever I can get away with 8 2400 x 1200 sheets of something.

But yeah. I'm approaching the point where I have to do the floor before I can progress any further. The frustrating thing is, the floor is so wonky, but I can't justify the cosy of leveling it properly. And doing a suspended floor would a. Cost a fortune and b. Cause a huge step up into the garage

justify the cosy

is a great typo

It's the title of my new smooth jazz album.

Advice needed. Which damproof/weather membrane stuff do I need for the outward wall? It's not weather facing but will get wet occasionally.

Also. At what stage do I get the electrician back in to fit sockets and lights etc?

Slow progress but some good news this week. One of our neighbors is having an extension so has pulled all of the wooden cladding of thier house to match the new stuff. Its in good condition and matches the stuff on our house so I rescued it from the skip. Should make the new wall look quite cool from the outside.

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Door to go in this weekend hopefully. Then finish insulation and boarding.