Music studio in a garage

Music is your hobby and you want to practice with your band. The only available place that you can think of is your garage but you also have neighbors that must not be disturbed while you are practicing. The only solution to use your garage as a music studio is to soundproof it or build a small studio in one corner of the garage. For this, you need to use two existing garage walls and build another two new walls on an angle to improve the acoustics of the studio. 

After measuring the angle you will have to anchor sole plates to the garage floor and frame the first new wall. After finishing the framing for the second wall and adding a door to this one you have to insulate the garage walls to help deaden the sounds. Next, you will hang drywall on the new walls and patch the seams. The final layer of sound-deadening material will be applied to the walls and to the ceiling. This layer is made of some secondhand carpeting. After applying these carpets you can cover them with some strip boards pinned onto the wall with nails.

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Garage floor remodeling

Garage Space - Photo: Pixabay

The garage is a very important part of your house. It is not only the room where you keep your car but it can be used also as a storeroom. In the garage, you keep things that you do not use every day or things that you want to dispose of later on. 

Sporting equipment is usually stored in your garage. Also, a lot of people use the garage as a laundry, a workshop or even as a home office. The growing importance of the garage has increased the number of remodeled garages through the past years. Garages are becoming an integral part of the house. 

One of the things that need to be changed when planning to remodel your garage is the floor. Concrete floors serve the purpose of flooring but do not look good, even if you paint it, the floor will look bare. It is best to have a garage expert adviser to do the job. 

The best type of garage floor is made of specially formulated polyvinyl, this special material for flooring conceals cracks and protects the floor from getting stained. This flooring protects the floor from accidental spills: oil, battery acid, grease and any other dirt that gets into your garage. By making a few minor changes to your garage you can transform it into an attractive storage room.

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Major garage transformation

Garage - Photo: Wikimedia

One of the most commonly encountered questions when thinking about converting your garage for a new use is the warmth of the floor. Whether you are choosing to convert your garage into a spacious home office or to convert it into a gym room, you have to take into consideration some improvements for your floor.

Since the garage has a concrete and uninsulated floor you should focus on making it warmer and more resilient. Furring up the floor with wood and plywood can accomplish both tasks. As a warning, you should use pressure-treated wood or protect the wood which is in contact with the concrete by placing a layer of felt paper between the wood and the concrete.

First of all measure and determine how much you want to raise the floor. All garage floors have some amount of slope from the back wall to the wall with the garage door in it to allow the water runoff. To achieve a level floor you will have to adjust the joists, for this if you are placing the joists perpendicular to the slope in the floor each of them would have to be ripped down or shimmed up and if the joists are parallel to the slope, you can rip them on a taper or use shims to level them.

Ok, you finished remodeling the floors, now it’s time to examine your walls. You might be surprised to find out that your walls are not even with the foundation they sit on. They may be set back from the foundation or maybe overhang it in other areas. Only one step will solve these problems: selecting a lumber size that is deep enough to extend the framing past the concrete. By notching each end of the furring strip and attaching one strip to the face of each wall stud will result in an even wall that completely hides the foundation. Also, it will be deep enough for the R-21 wall insulation, this type of insulation being the most common code requirement. 

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When remodeling the walls and the floor several obstructions may appear. Obstructions like pipes, ducts, wires and other impediments to smooth walls may exist. For small obstructions such as wires or small pipes, you could adjust the furring strips enough to accommodate them. The solution for larger obstructions is to box around them. If the obstruction is a water heater or something that you will need access to, you can frame it in and enclose it on three sides and then provide a removable access panel for the fourth side.

A building permit may be required for a garage makeover. Of course, all the methods presented here are purely theoretical and only for guidance. All garages are different and some adjustments to the used methods or materials may be required in order to accommodate to your garage. 

GARAGE spring cleanup

Imagine a beautiful spring day. You want to go biking, go fishing or even enjoy a picnic with your family. When you enter your garage to gather your gear and head to having fun you have a tremendous surprise: your stuff is all over the place, on the floor, messed up in corners, misplaced in various drawers. Organizing your garage is as easy as figuring out where to start. The first thing is to purchase some cabinets, some shelves and hammer a series of nails into the walls. 

Garage sale. Spring cleaning  (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The storing and sorting goes as follows. Categorize each object and place it in a place specially designed for it. For example sporting gear should be placed in a cabinet or on some shelves, tools should be placed in drawers or hung on to some peg boards. Be ruthless about throwing away and don’t think twice before you throw away anything that you haven’t used recently or anything that’s broken. If you haven’t repaired it yet, chances are you won’t repair it.  Seasonal gear should also be sorted, boots and out-of-season coats should be organized in small closets. 

After you finish organizing, sorting and throwing away unwanted items you will be surprised to see your garage floor and corners again. Maybe your car will fit in the garage again.