HOME OF AUTOMOTIVE CREATIVITY
The V8 Man Cave
PART 2
At times like this I feel like a beer to celebrate. Having grafted for a good few weeks in my old and tired garage, covered in plaster, paint, dust, you name it, I am now surrounded by brilliant white walls. I must admit the cave looks more like an operating theatre than an automotive residence. Anyway, the messy part of the build is at last behind me and I can look forward to the rewarding - and clean - phase of the project.
LIGHTING
You would think choosing lighting for a garage was easy wouldn’t you? Well in reality it is a little more involved than just opting for the obvious fluorescent strip lights. Even though inexpensive to buy, they look a little outdated and in time start to flicker and hum. My aim was to have ultra-modern lighting which emitted a crisp white light and resulted in a well-lit, shadow-free environment in which to work.
Wanting to ensure the full 40 square metres of V8 Man Cave would be literally flooded with light my search began in earnest. After a fairly long pursuit, the winner was LED technology. Available in battens, panels and several weird and wonderful options it soon became clear the best to obtain the adequate spread of light desired was a batten design. A shame really since these can look like miniature fluorescent strips, but this is where the similarity ends – abruptly. The holder is formed from extruded aluminium rather than crude pressed steel, and the ultra-low profile ensures the units hug the ceiling rather than protrude into the room. Alternatives such as LED panels were considered (they look amazing), but as previously mentioned, the limited light spread was not conducive to a shadow-free environment.
Two options of LED batten are available from the supplier I chose: the 4000K daylight option and the mega 6000K cool white version. Undecided on the best way forward I purchased one of each to compare the outputs. On delivery I was rather excited about this experiment and, as is common my household, I rounded up the wife and children to give their impressions. Closing the curtains I flicked on the switch of the 4000K daylight version (the dim option) and the room was immediately flooded with intense light. The audience turned away, shielding their eyes and were clearly impressed (or at least they feigned it well at the time). Feeling rather pleased I turned my attention to the cool white batten. Instantly the dog took the opportunity to escape and ran out of the room as if he knew what was about to happen. On applying power there was a gasp from the audience. It was as if a thermonuclear device had detonated on our coffee table. Concern for permanent retina damage saw me reach for the off switch as the audience (with hands over eyes) voted with their feet and followed the dog, leaving me to decide on which was best. The next morning after considering my options I ordered another 7 daylight units to make a total of 8 for the Cave. The supplier recommended 6, but, well, its a V8 Man Cave so why not 1 light per cylinder?
Placed at regular intervals on the ceiling I must admit they look pretty amazing, almost space age, in fact. I made the conscious decision to wire each row (pair) on a separate circuit just in case the 32,000K (35,200 Lumen) was a little over the top on some occasions (during beer-fuelled 7 ball pool competitions, for example.)
You are probably wondering what happened to the cool white unit which has subsequently been nicknamed thermo? Well, that has been fitted inside my inspection pit … along with a pair of welding goggles hung at one end for personal protection!
FLOORING
With all the walls and ceiling painted, the time had come to start laying the 180 floor tiles (each 0.5m x 0.5m). Supplied by Garage Pride (www.garagepride.co.uk) they are made from PVC and finished in a smooth texture. OK, not your mirror-like porcelain tile finish but perfect for aging knees while scrabbling around under a kit car. The vast majority of the floor was covered in dark grey tiles, and the ‘parking bay’ finished in graphite. This is recommended for resting car tyres as any colour transfer/rubber over time is less likely to show on the darker graphite. Using an interlocking design, the tiles were laid in a matter of minutes and only required the odd whack with a rubber mallet to encourage the joins to interlock.
My only concern with this exercise was the risk of grit becoming trapped under the tiles and making cracking noises when I drove or walked across the surface. After a little internet research a simple solution was found: garden weed control membrane. Laying this all over the garage floor before fitting the tiles provided a soft barrier and silence when traversing the garage. Also a good tip (offered by Ken at Garage Pride) was to give the floor a good sweep and hoover before starting the whole process. Just ensure you don’t make the same mistake as me and ask before borrowing the home Dyson: rough concrete makes rather a mess of vacuum accessories.
Starting in the centre of the room, complete tiles were laid until as close as possible to the walls. Cutting them to size to fill the gaps was extremely easy and my Dewalt chop saw came into action for an afternoon or two. The end result looks amazing and benefits from being warm, easy to clean and able to withstand trolley jacks and engine lifters. Driving the car over the completed floor for the first time was a little concerning in case the whole lot shifted or even lifted as I turned the wheels, but there were no dramas at all.
GARAGE UNITS
With the floor laid, the next phase of the project was fitting the units. Again Garage Pride were selected as they provided a choice from several suppliers: New Age, Dura and also Garage Pride’s own range. I deliberated for a long time over which to choose and eventually opted for New Age. These are made in the US and imported by Garage Pride for sale in the UK. Two ranges are available, the Performance and the Professional series. Much like a fitted kitchen you buy base units, wall units and floor to ceiling cupboards. As for worktops, the material of choice was bamboo. Yes, you did read that right: bamboo, due to its incredible strength. Other accessories are available including under-unit lights, portable tool cabinets (on wheels), and castors if you wish to mobilise a base unit.
As you have probably guessed I opted for the Professional series and ordered two cupboards, four base units, six wall cabinets and a mighty tool chest measuring a whopping 42 inches wide. To give you some idea of the quality of these products, the tool chest weighs in at 136.5kg alone!
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Two of the walls were to be populated with garage units. The end wall would have the majority, stretching the entire width of the garage and in doing so provide a large work surface between the cupboards at either end. Secondly, my entertainment zone (as I call it) was to have wall units framing a large 50 inch smart TV and an additional bench for close-up and PC work.
Starting with the longest wall, the only assembly required was to add the four adjustable feet per unit. A straightforward exercise for any kit car builder and within a few hours all the floor units and cupboards were in situ. With a storage depth of 24 inches which is massive, the latter easily swallow up large pieces of machinery. To test the theory I loaded my Machine Mart bench toolboxes into the cupboard and they were lost (see picture). Even though the pillar drill weighed in at some ridiculous amount the cupboard gave no complaints, with the doors shutting millimetre perfect. The floor units come in two designs, the first being a two door cupboard with a slide-out shelf for heavy items, and the other designed to hold tools and consisting of 5 ever-increasing size drawers.
Fitting wall units is always a challenge - especially when they weight 90kg each - so I stacked spare floor tiles and boxes to provide a platform to hold the units at the correct height. Using huge hex head screws, my impact driver soon had the units in situ. Luckily I had planned for the massive weight and fitted extra battens in the walls at the appropriate locations to accept the fixings.
BEER TIME
As you have probably guessed, it’s beer time again. The cave is starting to take shape now, and I’m leaving the finishing touches for next month: bench tools, pool table, TV, and a second set of garage units.
