So moving house next week and new place has a double garage (with internal door)
One of these we plan to convert to a habitable room which leaves one for a man cave
I will no longer have to cram 5 bikes, tools, workbench etc into a garden shed, exciting times!

So what’s the essentials, provide me some inspiration including
– workbench and storage solutions (finallyI will have somewhere to put my bench vice)
– bike storage (secure, have already ordered a ground anchor and additional door bolts)

Bikes hung from wall (vertical by wheels or horizontal?) or a rack on floor?

Garage has a roof space I will board out, what to do with this space?

Congratulations! I’m on a six day countdown to move as well. Exactly the same for me, after 18 years of sheds and attic storage, I now have a double garage sized man cave.

I’ve got google sketchup and have been playing about with some ideas. That’s a good start. Unfortunately, the cave needs to take a back seat as I sort out all the really important things in the house. I’ve also been perusing ebay and gumtree for people giving away big, heavy work benches, industrial shelving and heavy tools. There’s loads for anyone who is prepared to go and collect!

Mine currently looks like this at one end.

manshed-wood by Jon Wyatt, on Flickr

And is filled with all the old carpet from the house at the other. I’m having to take it to the tip piece meal. ;-(

Good luck!

Paint the floor! Selves/draws everywhere along one wall, boxes from Ikea worked best for me, left a 2 gap at the bottom for shoes etc.

Tea facilities & a stereo also a must

Bike Security? Close the door and insure them.
The rest big bench, plenty of shelves and stuff for storage.
Hanging rail for dirty jackets etc
Lots of plugs and lights
Heating
Music
Water source would be good

Bike hung on walls as high as possible so you can store stuff under them. Bike take up a supprising amount of space.

Consider putting your work bench on wheels so it can be wheeled into the cneter of the room for some jobs and to the side most of the time. Big sturdy wheels.

Good lighting and radio. Ideally if you have room a small wodd burner and insulation.

Workbench must be as overbuilt as possible, here’s mine before the shelf supports, top surface supports & vice supports went in:

i got this bad boy for £7.50 from ebay:

treating floor and walls will reduce the dust.

It won’t be a proper man cave until you install one of these;
http://compare.ebay.co.uk/like/271110921046?var=lv&ltyp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar&_lwgsi=y&cbt=y&device=c&adtype=pla&crdt=0&ff3=1&ff11=ICEP3.0.0&ff12=67&ff13=80&ff14=63&ff19=0

That’s much the same as my car boot sale vice qwerty
Painting the floor a definite, as much as its a corner plot of a very small culdesac in a nice quiet area just locking the door isn’t enough security for me mikewsmith (bikes already insured) I wouldnt feel happy if they weren’t bolted down
Going to look into extending the alarm into the garage as well anyone know if you can have an alarm system that’s possible to just set one zone?

We’re moving soon… Just bought a house with a cellar…
Will be heading here for kit…

Big Dug

needs room for brewing kit too.

qwerty speaks the truth – overbuild your workbench. Mine isn’t, and has a slight wobble which irritates no end… Just need to get round to bolting it to the wall, but haven’t yet.

Music is critical, radio or cheap/2nd hand stereo is more than enough. Make sure you have enough light, ceiling + overbench is a bare minimum.

Oh yes home brew corner, cheers JD

I’ve got exactly the same issue. Moving tomorrow, and will have my first ever garage. One of the main reasons for the move was that my wife was fed up with four bikes in the hall.

Bigdug seems like the best place for new shelving. I’ve been watching eBay and Gumtree for weeks but to no avail. Old kitchen units coming our way soon, which will help, and some wall anchors going in very soon. Will also have a beer fridge, which is making me happy. Sticking extra locks on each side of the up and over door to keep things a bit safer too.

My question: what do people do about flooring, other than paint, which doesn’t cost a fortune?

For flooring check out:

http://www.ecotileflooring.com/

Keep checking the special offers pages as they update regularly, got mine for £14 a metre, which was less than half price. Really good stuff, its surprising how much difference a good floor surface can make.