Advice on how to make my garage nice (without crippling me financially)

[Woots]

Ok so I’ve got a small garage outbuilding which is shared/adjoined to the neighbours one
It’s too small to fit the Exige in so at best it’s been a storage area but we’ve had some things in there bitten by mice and as our house is small it would be useful if I could use it as a secure storage area as well as a man cave/escape for when I’m wanting to escape neighbours/the Mrs etc

There’s storage space in the roof section which would suit our storage needs, leaving the ground level as storage for the bins, as well as an area to keep my new car washing equipment, any tools and if I can...an area for a fridge/dartboard/general man cave hangout area...

So the current idea is for the roof area, to add plyboards to the batons and ‘seal’ in the area, add a plywood partition to separate my side from the neighbours side...basically make it a nice area to store her keepsakes as well as Xmas decs. Add lighting up there too. Access will be through a hatch which is wide enough for a big person to get through, and just have a small wooden ladder

I’m thinking for lower level to fix wooden batons to the wall, and then plasterboard across one side...and between the slats in the ceiling to add some insulation, then plasterboard the ceiling. Then the other side I’m thinking of having wooden batons and then fixing strips of slatted wood across...almost barn-like? Fit some nice strip lights and paint the floor
Fit the fridge and bar in the corner, dart board against the back wall...maybe make a workbench out of an old wooden door I found up there and fit some sort of shelving...?

So that’s in my mind, only problem is I know f**k all about building or anything similar. I’ve got a friend who’s a sparky who is willing to help as he says he’s very handy with DIY but I’ll obv need to source and sort most of the materials. So any advice on what would work is useful

Basically I’m asking, what would look nice? What haven’t I thought of? Any tips you might have of how I could make the space of benefit to us seeing as our house isn’t huge and I’d like it nice enough to spend some time in there
I’d like to put some cool man cave type pics and models/f1 memorabilia in there too. The thought with the wooden slats was to make it ‘feel’ warm and maybe make it easy to hang things off?

I’ll attach some pics to show what I’m working with.

Any advice useful and apologies for using the wrong terminology in the items listed above!

 

[Smartbear]

I think to start with I'd paint the floor with an polyurethane paint to make it less dusty and a nicer place to be, I’d paint the walls white to make it less gloomy as well.
I used scaffolding boards for shelving as they’re cheap & very strong, you can get brackets to suit from ebay


Rob

 

[Phoenixboy]

Why have you got two people hanging from your ceiling mate

 

[Smartbear]

Why have you got two people hanging from your ceiling mate

They kept banging on about 4pot turbos not being any good
Rob

 

[Woots]

I think to start with I'd paint the floor with an polyurethane paint to make it less dusty and a nicer place to be, I’d paint the walls white to make it less gloomy as well.
I used scaffolding boards for shelving as they’re cheap & very strong, you can get brackets to suit from ebay
A173FAB5-214A-4E52-BCC8-85A6FC632520.jpeg8650C032-958E-4322-AA6C-82DB78ABD7D2.jpegDCA14947-4D94-4D05-8040-7AAA7C9A9EA7.jpeg

Rob

That looks really nice
Did you use anything to seal the walls or floor first?
Someone told me about using water mixed with pva glue but no idea if it’s a thing to do or not....

 

[Smartbear]

I think to start with I'd paint the floor with an polyurethane paint to make it less dusty and a nicer place to be, I’d paint the walls white to make it less gloomy as well.
I used scaffolding boards for shelving as they’re cheap & very strong, you can get brackets to suit from ebay
A173FAB5-214A-4E52-BCC8-85A6FC632520.jpeg8650C032-958E-4322-AA6C-82DB78ABD7D2.jpegDCA14947-4D94-4D05-8040-7AAA7C9A9EA7.jpeg

Rob

That looks really nice
Did you use anything to seal the walls or floor first?
Someone told me about using water mixed with pva glue but no idea if it’s a thing to do or not....

I swept the floor about ten times to get it as dust free as possible before painting, the walls were already white but I’ve gone over them in places to cover up some black overspray in random places I don’t think they were treated first & I just went over them with white emulsion paint.
It’s not fallen off yet
Rob

 

[Mr Tidy]

When I built a garage years ago I actually hoovered the concrete floor before I gave it a coat of PVA mixed with water 50/50 before I painted it.

That way the PVA/water mix seals it so you don't get dust in the paint. But I never thought of painting the walls, which does look good.

 

[Woots]

When I built a garage years ago I actually hoovered the concrete floor before I gave it a coat of PVA mixed with water 50/50 before I painted it.

That way the PVA/water mix seals it so you don't get dust in the paint. But I never thought of painting the walls, which does look good.

So pva and water is the way to go...didn’t think about the dust in paint thing but that makes sense so thankyou

 

[Geresey]

This was a similar garage to yours by the sojnds of it. Previous owner did the battens and plasterboarding out, years ago. We just used as a general storage area but my son just turned it into his man cave. Do it!!

 

[john-e89]

When I built a garage years ago I actually hoovered the concrete floor before I gave it a coat of PVA mixed with water 50/50 before I painted it.

That way the PVA/water mix seals it so you don't get dust in the paint. But I never thought of painting the walls, which does look good.

So pva and water is the way to go...didn’t think about the dust in paint thing but that makes sense so thankyou

Not that I want to contradict Mr Tidy but 50/50 PVA and water is too thick a mix. If the floor is anything but sound and not loose a 50/50 mix can lift, much like candle wax on your hand when it’s cooled off. Better to do a 10 PVA to 90 water or at most 20 PVA to 80 water, that way you don’t get the PVA skinning which can lift. You really don’t need it as strong as 50/50 either, that’s a waste of PVA tbh.

That’s just in my experience of course and how I’ve always sealed walls and floors prior to having them bonded before skimming or painting, I’m not saying that’s the only way it should be done.