Jump to content
 

Using Garage for Layout


Delorean1984
 Share

Recommended Posts

Over last few months I've been trying to get my garage ready for my layout.

 

Problem that I'm worried about is dust from concrete floor. How's best to combat that? It's a double garage so I still store my car in one half and have the layout in other. I've put false ceiling in and got insulation in the loft area of the garage as well as a insulated garage door.

 

In just concerned that I build my layout for it to be ruined by dust in the future and possibly the changes in temperature.

 

For those who have theirs in the garage how did you combat these issues?

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

I don’t use my garage for my layout, but when we bought the house 3 years ago, the previous owner had laid carpet completely across the double garage floor. Obviously, ‘old’ carpet, but not threadbare at all. I’ve been doing a lot of layout building (baseboards, track laying, wiring etc) in there recently, before moving boards into indoor railway room, and there’s very little dust. It also makes for a more comfortable surface to be kneeling on whilst working. When car is in garage, we park it on said carpet. Seems to stand up well to a few drips of rain off car.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I painted the floor of my garage as primarily it used for storage of my old Land Rover but the layout is in it as well you can get the paint on ebay or similar.  Make sure you give it a good brushing before hand otherwise the paint will lift.

 

Other option which are good are the interlocking floor tiles from Machine Mart or big dug. They have a little give in them which is handy if you stand up to operate. 

Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi A photo of my garage inside, was new twenty years ago fitted ceiling with insulation, sealed half brick walls outside with silicon sealant, painted inside with sandtex, added draught excluder to door, painted floor with floor paint, have two small tubular heaters, which are not often on.  Does not feel at all damp and no dust, only a problem with spiders!

IMG_0449.JPG

  • Like 10
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium
13 minutes ago, fulton said:

Hi A photo of my garage inside, was new twenty years ago fitted ceiling with insulation, sealed half brick walls outside with silicon sealant, painted inside with sandtex, added draught excluder to door, painted floor with floor paint, have two small tubular heaters, which are not often on.  Does not feel at all damp and no dust, only a problem with spiders!

IMG_0449.JPG


Lovely layout, too.

  • Agree 5
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

I sealed my floor, laid laminated floor underlay and then laid a hard wearing carpet on top.

 

Sealed up the garage door inside with breeze blocks, painted all the walls and with a small electric heater, the garage is perfect for my railway room all year round.

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium
2 hours ago, Delorean1984 said:

For those who have theirs in the garage how did you combat these issues?

 

I Knocked all the 'bumps' off the concrete floor, gave it a good clean and laid good quality carpet tiles.

I just stuck the tiles at the edges down after it was laid. As it had skirting boards the tile were slid under to give a good finish. 

 

DSCF1802.JPG

DSCF1797.JPG

  • Like 3
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

My single garage is integral to the house - I don't need to go outside to get to it. We had some work done to the radiator pipework in an adjacent room so I got them to add a radiator in the garage. The up and over door hasn't been altered but I've built a "drop in" wood based partition on the inside and lined the components with insulation. The ceiling has also had insulation added.

 

I always found the concrete floor was too cold to stand on for any length of time and initially laid some of the large square rubber tiles over it. I had a couple of wheeled machinery in the garage at that time and moving them around kept disturbing the tiles so I've subsequently used the over-lapping chipboard loft floor pieces over the top of the tiles. They don't move and my feet don't get cold!

  • Informative/Useful 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

Forgot to mention.

The garage is integral to the house, bedroom above, our house to the left, next door to the right and our kitchen at the back.

Only the door is exposed to the elements but it is a very good electric door and seals top and sides perfectly.

However the bottom seal is not 100%. I need to get this sorted.

Pete 

Link to post
Share on other sites

I raised the floor and slotted celotex in between the batons. Then covered it with interlocking chipboard. Remember that the concrete floor slopes so anything you build on top of it will also slope. For the most oars this doesn't matter and for the layout itself I compensated by adjustable feet on the baseboard fitted to 2x1 of varying lengths.

 

The main problem is dust and leaves getting blown in through gaps around the up and over door.

 

So it's a good idea to put those draught excluding brushes along the door edges. 

 

My garage also had damp so I put damp proof membrane on the walls batons and celotex sheets to insulate then topped it off with plaster board. 

 

Hope this helps. 

Link to post
Share on other sites

Definitely pain/seal the concrete, but if the house/garage is new, let it go a full year (very conservative) before doing so, and do it is summer.

 

I did mine when the house was brand new, in damp spring weather, even before we'd moved-in, and the paint didn't adhere 100%, I'm sure because of trapped moisture. Ten years on, it has numerous tiny chips/flakes and really needs to be done again, whereas in a previous garage, already years old before I painted the floor, the exact same paint and method gave a really excellent result.

  • Informative/Useful 5
Link to post
Share on other sites

Thank you for the tips and help guys. I'll try and get a photo of the garage as this might give better idea of my setup.

 

Sounds like sealing the concrete should be done to reduce the dust. Do I need a machine to grind down the concrete before sealing or painting or just seal or paint on top.

 

The concrete floor is old, about 30 years old. I've looked at those interlocking tiles, they look good. My thoughts on the tiles were to tile the car area and someone gave me idea in this thread to put plywood under the layout and attach legs to it, what do you guys think to this idea?

 

Do you guys paint the bricks too? I'm not sure if to do this and if there is any benefit in doing this?

 

For those wondering on my layout design, this is what I'm going for. Big thanks for help from @Harlequinfot his assistant in the design.

 

 

Screenshot_20201018_081202.jpg

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

If putting down plywood, fix it securely rather than simply lay it on the concrete. I have done this in two sheds. First shed had a level concrete floor. In this shed I used rawl plugs to fix the ply to the concrete.  I used 8ft x 4ft sheets of 18mm ply as the floor with a damp proof layer under the ply. I supported the ply floor with strips of ply. 

 

In my current shed the concrete floor is on a slope so I levelled the floor by making a level framework of 4x2s that I screwed the ply to.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I recently treated our garage floor with PVA as described by "The Johnster" above. I vacuumed up all the concrete dust and then painted PVA mixed at 1 part PVA and 5 parts  water. It soaks in and makes it quite solid and dust proof.  

 

Dave

  • Like 1
  • Agree 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium
43 minutes ago, Delorean1984 said:

Sounds like sealing the concrete should be done to reduce the dust. Do I need a machine to grind down the concrete before sealing or painting or just seal or paint on top.

 

Unless the floor is unacceptably uneven just brush it, then paint it. 

  • Agree 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

It might be worth lining the walls with plasterboard which could then be painted if necessary. It should make the walls/area brighter. Mind you, you fix the plasterboard with the dark side towards the wall so the lighter side faces the layout then you might not need to paint it.

 

Do the same on any external wall but put a layer of insulation behind the plasterboard.

 

Your plan shows the two walls being plain. I thought a lot of garages had a pillar midway along at least one wall that makes the width narrower at that point. I forgot that when planning my layout.

Link to post
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Delorean1984 said:

Thank you for the tips and help guys.

 

Do you guys paint the bricks too? I'm not sure if to do this and if there is any benefit in doing this

I was going to paint the walls as it will make the garage brighter. I meant to do this before I started my Land Rover rebuild but didn't so will paint it when it is finished.  I did paint the wall by my workbench so here is a comparison. (The workbench is not usually this messy, I have had to clear some space for an electric cable to be run through)

20201018_093328.jpg.c0462eb0c9bce5b1e7b007ea6dc6032b.jpg

My garage is integral and I have a good quality roller door and have never had damp issues 

Link to post
Share on other sites

36 minutes ago, 37114 said:

I was going to paint the walls as it will make the garage brighter. I meant to do this before I started my Land Rover rebuild but didn't so will paint it when it is finished.  I did paint the wall by my workbench so here is a comparison. (The workbench is not usually this messy, I have had to clear some space for an electric cable to be run through)

20201018_093328.jpg.c0462eb0c9bce5b1e7b007ea6dc6032b.jpg

My garage is integral and I have a good quality roller door and have never had damp issues 

@37114 do you have your layout in here too?

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Delorean1984 said:

@37114 do you have your layout in here too?

Yes although they are predominantly for exhibition use the 2 layouts live on top of each other boxed up! The 00 gauge one is at the bottom, O gauge one visible is on top.

20201018_115707.jpg.c76b5dfe980b810ef391a56cd77367c7.jpg

The Land Rover is on a plastic sheet for cleanliness and it makes it easier to source oil leaks (of which there are a couple). The floor paint is nearly 8 years old and the floor wasn't properly sealed so the whole garage will be redone next year when the Land Rover is finished. 

  • Like 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...