Garages – whether they are used to house a car, as a workshop, a hobby space, or just for storage, they are an incredibly useful addition to any home.
Whatever you use it for, a garage can be a valuable addition to your home, but in the winter months garages can be pretty bleak and unwelcoming places, so if you want to make practical use of your garage all year round you need to give some thought to making it fit for all weathers.
Retaining heat
Garages are usually built to keep whatever is stored there covered rather than to keep it warm. If you want to use the space to work in all the year round, you first need to give some thought to adding insulation.
The first step is to tackle any gaps around the door with some type of weather strip. You can also add a weather-tight seal at the bottom to prevent draughts and debris from entering underneath. If you are going to use the garage as a hobby room or workshop, you might want to consider insulating the walls too. Garage walls are usually just a single skin, but you can insulate by adding wooden battens on the inside and placing rockwool or polystyrene sheet between them before boarding over with plasterboard. Do this before you fit any garage shelving for storage. You might also want to consider insulating the roof; how you do this will depend on how the garage is built.
Fitting out
Once you have insulated the garage you might want to cover the floor using tiles or some other material. Depending on how you are going to use the space you may also want to add shelving for more storage space from a Shelving Ireland company for instance at links including www.rackzone.ie/shelving/industrial-residential-shelving. If you still want to put a car in the garage, this needs to be slim enough to leave the necessary space.
If you are going to be spending a lot of time in the garage, whether you are restoring a classic car, building a model railway, or using it as a home gym, you need to consider adding some form of heating. The simplest and cheapest option is an electric fan heater. If your garage is attached to the house, you may be able to add a radiator to your central heating system.