Man Cave Is Go!

Scaffolding removed at last



Electrics were fitted upstairs and downstairs, main wiring runs, network cables and backboxes fitted to blockwork. Then both floors were plastered and holes cut out for downlighters (electricians are fitting LED fire rated ones which have a narrower beam than conventional GU10 halogen bulbs, so they opted to fit 34 of them just in the garage ceiling!!) Can't wait to see how they look when fitted.



Exterior separate circuit will control the pathway lights (which will fit into the sofit cavity) via the Wifi bridge from the main house.

 

Upstairs taking shape before it was boarded out and plastered. On the left is the bathroom and to the right is a 2.5m deep cupboard which will house a removable false panel at the rear, behind which is located the immersion tank and mains accumulator tank as well as the WiFi spur socket to control the immersion tank from the house.

Here the electric runs have been set-out and the initial 150mm insulation is being fitted in between the roof trusses. Batons will span across these trusses and a further 25mm layer of insulation will go on top before the roof is plaster-boarded out. Another thick layer of loft-type insulation is then fitted under the floorboards above the the garage ceiling. First fixing for plumbing and cavity backboxes go in next plus plaster board, permanent floor and then plastering of the walls and ceiling.

Bathroom is not being plastered as it is having splash panels and flooring put in. Wiring is all in place upstairs ready for LAN sockets, POE switches, aerial and WiFi wall socket plates to towel rail and wall mounted radiator. The idea is to be able to switch off/on heating and immersion tank remotely, before the annexe is going to be occupied (useful in the Winter or when not at home) if you can't be arsed to go out side and switch it all on manually or you are not there to do it in person.



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My wife's has visions of a bar, a TV and red sofas in the garage, as well as the bikes of course. Not sure on that one. Pretty sure she'd love the disco ball, the pole less so!

 

More garage pics coming soon. In the meantime while I await the decorators to finish inside and out, I decided to "lightly mod" the garage door opener control units, to make them smart/wifi enabled. Basic wif-fi unit as supplied was too big to fit inside the control unit box, so I dismantled and removed the circuit board from inside the Wi-Fi casing, made some modifications to the control box and then it was just a case of connecting the control wire to the main circuit board and finding a way to enclose the generous wiring inside for the new door status sensor and lastly the USB power supply out of the control box. Powered up and tested.

Now have to wait until the paint is dry to refit them both to the garage wall and re-connect them to the doors. The doors can now be controlled manually (in the event of a power failure, using the winding handles), or by using the supplied remotes, using the control box panel and now via the dedicated app on a smart phone or tablet or by voice using Google/Alexa (though this requires an additional pin code for security) Door status sensor records and sends a notification to your phone each time the doors are opened or closed and a reminder if the doors are still open after a preset time (which you can specify). Using IFTTT, you can also setup a routine to trigger different devices behaviour when the doors open or close, such as security cameras, external floodlights, internal lighting etc. Not bad for £40 all in.

Control Box stripped out and slot cut for USB power supply cable to Wi-Fi card



Step dremelled out to allow Wi-Fi board to sit below level of main garage control board and to allow cover to clear Wi-Fi board reset switch





Control box LED status light refitted (operates whenever door is opening or closing)



Test fit of Wi-Fi card in the control box. To the left is the status wire sensor connector (red plug), the power supply USB cable and to the right is the signal wire to the control unit main board. The Wif-Fi kit comes with a small shorting wire so you can test which terminals you need to connect to for the control wire.



Card removed and then it was a case of finding the best way to lose all the excess status sensor wiring within the control box. The main board will sit over this (just)



Wi-Fi board and main control board fitted. Mains cable supply to high voltage terminals (3/4), control wire to low voltage terminals (19/20) status sensor connected (under the main board) and control box LED connected back to main board (top left). All that remains is to re-fit the anti-tamper alarm, ribbon cable (for the control box panel buttons) and the mains cable feed wire from the garage door motor, which I will refit once the control boxes are ready to go back on the wall.



Anti-tamper alarm fitted (bottom right)



Front Panel and LED light cap temporarily re-fitted. Ready to go back into the garage once the paint is dry. Here you can see the mains supply, USB Wi-Fi power supply and the status sensor (which I will to fit to the door frame and door itself, to detect opened/closed status. I will post up more pics once I refit the control boxes. The app also has a geo-location option so that you can have the garage doors close when it detects your range outside a set distance from home (using your mobile's GPS)

 

It's been a loooong time since I updated this thread and so many things have conspired against me, personally and professionally of late, so forgive my absence. Too much has changed to mention so I'll just say that to all intents and purposes barring a few snags, the build is now complete. The only real change on the cards is to replace the four internal doors with oak ones as the current doors are frankly a bit gash and spoil an otherwise excellent job. Here is a view of the bathroom, which is 95% complete, save the LED mirror and threshold plate (door to be replaced as mentioned) and the garage from inside. Lots yet to do, shelves, workbench, pictures to hang and flooring to go down, but you get the idea.....


Still on the hunt for an LED mirror that will fit in the limited space, hence wire on show.



Finally fitted the modified garage door control boxes, which can now be voice activated (with a PIN code)



The receiving end of the wireless point to point network bridge feeds in to this cabinet which then switches out to all the LAN services/utilities and POE security system.



Most of these boxes are full of parts for the V4S, which I hope to retrieve shortly, after 17 months in storage.







Sorry for the "fish-eye" view but the camera is not wide-angle so this was the only way to fit it all in shot. The left door is the under-stairs cupboard. To the right, the door into the hallway that leads upstairs to the bedroom and en-suite bathroom. The alcove to the left of the cupboard is where the workbench, tools and shelving will go.

 

Just north of 70K. Still have the driveway to do, but hopefully my redundancy money will cover that, if not ill have to raid the piggy bank and do some serious overtime.

 

Pictures going up and started laying the flooring.

 

More work on the flooring this morning. Spent a fair bit of time marking out an accurate plumb line to ensure the tiles are square to the walls.