Show us your Man Cave

[Fat Rat]

It's about time we had an update here, Kodkod, Gassoon  

 

[Gassoon]

I totally forgot to take any photos once it was done...now its half full of tat being stored for the winter   I'll take some tomorrer!

[Fat Rat]

 

[Gassoon]

Alright, alright...in the morning, I'm on me tablet ...

But I feel inadequate now I've seen the size of your mancave, Rat, which is bloody palatial:-[

[kissofdeath]

OK OK I'll see what I can do. working nights atm so its constantly dark for me.

[2112]

But I feel inadequate now I've seen the size of your mancave, Rat, which is bloody palatial:-[

You have a mezzanine garage, few can match such splendour  

[Gassoon]

You're right 2112, mezzanine trumps palatial! ;-)

Anyway, reminder (refer back to previous photies if you can be arsed): single garage, but with tall pitched roof. Decided to build a platform level, giving a 'utility room' for the washer, extra fridge/freezer and exercise equipent etc. A wee workshop with a bench upstairs and still have a garage bit for the bike. 3 rooms out of one. My big mistake was letting the wife have too much space for the utility room  My fault for sure.

I also put in a super-strong shelf for storage over the 'garage' space (for camping kit etc) with beams bolted together and heavy duty eyelets in case I need to suspend owt.
This view from the top of the ladder which goes to the 'mezzanine'. (it's middle-class for 'big shelf you can walk aroond on') Just enough room to get the bike in the garage, though...not good if I need to do serious work on it. If needed I could alter the partition wall sometime to extend the garage area. At least I have the bike and all bike-related stuff in one place now!



Anyway, upper level now got power, light, heat, bench, tools etc - and a lot of stuff just hoyed up there for winter storage now. But I like the bench under the velux - great light, and decent view! (The horizon is County Durham).

[Descolada]

Here's mine!



Oh God, I'm so sorry, you didn't mean that did you?

[Gassoon]

Don't be ashamed, Des.



But I dread to think of the 'search terms' history on your computer now ;-)



Or was it a selfie

[Descolada]

Auto "Clear History" is your friend - as is 'don't track' and 'private browsing' :-)

[Twiggy]

Here's mine, a tad untidy at the moment but Hello.

[Brockett]

I treated myself to a bike lift off Flea-Bay £285 delivered.
Also got a pair of M&P stands.
Lots of work to do on the VTR.
The Glee is covered.
And my free tip for using a bike cover is to wrap the rear sprocket with a plastic bag so as to keep the inside of the cover free of oil.
 
A quick bench / tool table can be made up using two small trestles and an old door and it stacks away when not in use.





I painted the inside walls with two coats of Thompsons water treatment and then applied a coat of 4 to 1. water and PVA. When that went off I cut thin decorators polystyrene into strips and pasted it in the rebate sections of the concrete walls. It's not cosy but there is no condensation (yet).
I now have to pipe in a power supply and then I can have the radio on.

[Juvecu]

In the meanwhile you can use a battery operated radio, a bit of background radio is essential

[Brockett]

Yes and it's default station is Radio 4  ( can't get Radio 5 due to being too close to the coast)

[mr_diver]

I need to buy a generator for the garage... It's on a compound across the road, so no mains. I do have a solar panel and the mrs old car battery, useful for pumping up the tyres on the bikes and it's running a couple of 12v lights so I can see when it's dark in there. no use for working on the bike but I can see to lock it up.

I do have a wind up/solar FM radio I bought for camping... 1min for cranking gives about 20 mins of radio... if it's sunny and I pop it out side the garage it will be fine until the sun goes behind a cloud.

The radio, speakers and all the wiring got 'stolen' from the mrs old car before it got collected by the scrappers.
all I need is some time and my soldering iron and I'll get that rigged up over there. Best thing is it is a cassette tape with FM radio so I have the cassette and cable that will plug into my ipod or phone  

I have mains power in one of the two block-work sheds in the garden but the only way to get a bike into it, is handle bars off and straight thought the kitchen... I'm not doing that again.

[Juvecu]

Get an old low RPM Lister Diesel engine and an alternator. Run the engine on used, but filtered vegetable oil and you have a cheap reliable generator. You just pipe the exhaust outside and most of the noise goes out with it. Doesn't take up too much space and you can use the exhaust heat to warm the place up too, just need a few copper tubes to run around the exhaust and some sort of radiator which you can usually pick up cheap at a tip shop. That's the quick version of how to do it, the detailed version is in my head and has different permutations depending on the system's requirements Poke me if you want to know more

[kissofdeath]

as promised, an update



its getting there   

[temporaryescapee]

Finally got round to digging out a couple of shots.  4 motorbikes and 6 pedal cycles make for a bit of a squeeze in a single garage.  The XR is off to another forum member and I need to move on a couple of the kids bikes they have outgrown but I am not sure it's ever going to be minimalist!

[Juvecu]

That little Yamaha, I had the 50cc engined one as my first bike. Mind, it wasn't near that neat when I had it.

[temporaryescapee]

Good memories; I saw an 80 up for sale recently which I'd have bought if I could get my kids interested but no such luck.

Mine's great fun to ride - I use it every 6 weeks or so for a classic trial, although it's been misbehaving of late so I've just bought electronic ignition to fit (with the help of a more knowledgeable mate).