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Craynerd new workshop project log

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raynerd:
I've now been in my house a week and a day and I've unboxed enough to start thinking about my new workshop. I've got countless questions and as always, I appreciate anyone's opinion and ideas. Rather than posting individual questions on the forum, I'll stick them all in here a bit like a project log.

The first issue is that the 18' x 8' garage is concrete in print. There is a leak in the roof which I need to seal but there is also damp coming through in one corner! I'm struggling to see exactly where it's from other than simply the join not tight enough in the corner. What's the best way of sealing it?? There is no clear gap to fill!

On a similar thought, the concrete panels that lie on the ground have holes in them for bolting together. The ones on the bottom that sit on the floor have nothing in them and I'm pretty sure that earth/soil is being pushed up through very slowly over time. Would I be best just using something to poke out the soil and cementing these up?

Door
I have both a main up and over door and a normal door next to each other. I know a lot of garage workshop owners bolt up the up and over door for security. I'm thinking of doing this also and it will also give me more room putting things up against that end of the workshop.
The wooden door is rotten and worn at the bottom. I'd like to buy a new door and my grandfather said to stick in a cheap uPVC door but that would require a frame fitting with a bottom cross piece and I want to keep the bottom free from any frame or cross piece so that things can be walked, wheeled and brought in easily without tripping. This does have the disadvantage that a little damp is coming in from below the current door as water simply comes under it with no barrier in the way. What would you do? What door would you fit? The current door needs changing as one of the first jobs.


Lights[\b]
There are currently 2x.  5' tubes in the centre. I have 3x 6' tubes in storage from my old shop. Would all those tubes be overkill - there is also a window.

I think getting these basics would be good this week before moving anything in. I'll post some pics later.

Pete.:
Pre-cast panels on the floor is not unusual, but it's normal for there to be an air gap below them. If you have no air gap you're going to need a moisture barrier of some kind else the floor will be forever damp even if you grout the gaps with cement.

Need a photo of the floor, and the damp section.

What door is an easy choice for me - an old fire door. Impossible to break through, hugely long-lasting and of course very fire resistant. You can usually get one at any local demolition site, I have some lovely hardwood ones on site right now but it's too far away for you.

raynerd:
Thanks for the reply Pete. I've attached a picture of the damp inside, picture of the printed concrete on the outside and one of the door. Looks like there is a slope on the concrete going into the door!!

awemawson:
Chris,

I'm afraid that those issues are rather typical of the various pre-cast concrete garages I've been involved with. My foundry at the last house had two extensions on it that I made from sections of dismantled pre-cast concrete garage assembled into a different configuration. Obviously there are tolerances in the making of the slabs, and both mine when I dismantled them has 'gaskets' of gooey stuff that had obviously been squirted on when they were originally assembled between the slabs and on the floor. Where they sit on the concrete base, unless it slopes away you will always get rain driven under them. Can be reduced by a generous fillet of cement at 45 degrees in the base / wall junction on the outside. Most certainly you must ensure that there is no build up of earth or leaves against the base of the walls.

Don't expect it ever to be truly dry.

Pete.:
I does look like the concrete put outside has a fall towards the wall - that'll be the source of most of your damp. Probably have a prevailing wind against that wall too I guess. Hard to say what the cure is - you could cut a section out of the path alongside the wall, dig it out 6" deep and fill with stones, or build a small canopy along that wall so the rain water falls outside the pathway. Personally I'd smash out that path and lay a new one with a healthy fall away from the building, and I'd lay a DPM inside the shop, bring it up the walls a bit and screed over it to keep the floor dry (and flat). a ton bag of sharp sand, few bags of cement and a borrowed mixer would sort that easy.

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