Operation Replace Garage Roof and Refurb!

[Stuart Davis AO - Devon Cornwall & Somerset]

Success!

 

Stu’s patented Easy Slide Carcoon Access Pulley Erection, or ESCAPE is up and running!! 🤣🤣

 

I’ve been planning this one in my head for a few years now (!) and have finally been able to get it sorted. Basically it’s just two tensioned wires with three pulleys each side connecting to the loops on the top of the Carcoon. This makes things much easier in that I can collapse the bubble and it remains supported and can be slid either to the front or the back of the garage so it is out of the way. Much quicker and easier, and also inflates more quickly too 👍

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Craigieboy]

41 minutes ago, Stuart Davis AO - Devon Cornwall & Somerset said:

Success!

 

Stu’s patented Easy Slide Carcoon Access Pulley Erection, or ESCAPE is up and running!! 🤣🤣

 

I’ve been planning this one in my head for a few years now (!) and have finally been able to get it sorted. Basically it’s just two tensioned wires with three pulleys each side connecting to the loops on the top of the Carcoon. This makes things much easier in that I can collapse the bubble and it remains supported and can be slid either to the front or the back of the garage so it is out of the way. Much quicker and easier, and also inflates more quickly too 👍

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wow, that's actually quite complex, bet it took an age to get it right and working smoothly. 

 

Well done for having such an understanding wife 

[Stuart Davis AO - Devon Cornwall & Somerset]

28 minutes ago, Craigieboy said:

 

Wow, that's actually quite complex, bet it took an age to get it right and working smoothly. 

 

Well done for having such an understanding wife 

Actually no! I just made sure the wires were parallel and the same angle and it worked straight away 👍

 

Hmmm, I’m not totally sure I do! 🤪

[DIY-Si]

I meant to post those earlier in the week, but then forgot.

 

When it comes to the lights, if you're happy with mounting them, I'd suggest the type of lights that go into suspended ceilings. I use them in my garage, and I've people walk in and ask where I got the light tubes from! I can grab a more recent photo of you'd like, but the below is from when I was at a similar stage to you, only I hadn't built my racking or work bench at this point. They give a good spread of light, and as they're not a tube, I find they help reduce shadows. Having a thoroughly ok-lit garage will be easier to work in than one with a few really bright lights but loads of shadows. With 9 of the panels (switched in 4's, front and back, with a single over my workbench) means it's always well lit. They were a reasonable price at the time, maybe £20-25 each, given that I didn't have any fittings to buy.

 

 

If you do stick with LED tubes, don't forget to dust them from time to time. It's amazing how much the light output can reduce from a little coating of dust.

[Paul Hurdsfield - Joint Manchester AO]

1 hour ago, DIY-Si said:

I meant to post those earlier in the week, but then forgot.

 

When it comes to the lights, if you're happy with mounting them, I'd suggest the type of lights that go into suspended ceilings. I use them in my garage, and I've people walk in and ask where I got the light tubes from! I can grab a more recent photo of you'd like, but the below is from when I was at a similar stage to you, only I hadn't built my racking or work bench at this point. They give a good spread of light, and as they're not a tube, I find they help reduce shadows. Having a thoroughly ok-lit garage will be easier to work in than one with a few really bright lights but loads of shadows. With 9 of the panels (switched in 4's, front and back, with a single over my workbench) means it's always well lit. They were a reasonable price at the time, maybe £20-25 each, given that I didn't have any fittings to buy.

 

 

If you do stick with LED tubes, don't forget to dust them from time to time. It's amazing how much the light output can reduce from a little coating of dust.

they are the ones I have fitted, I had some very old (but free) fluorescent fittings for about 40 years, they took an age to light up, flickering for ages, it was very frustrating going into the garage on a dark night just for a screwdriver or something and having to wait for ages to be able to see, so I got four of them, what a difference , I should have done it years ago.

[Ewan]

Good work Stu.

But for anyone thinking of buying a car storage bubble, I think this demonstrates the advantage of an Airchamber over a Carcoon. 

[Stuart Davis AO - Devon Cornwall & Somerset]

11 hours ago, DIY-Si said:

I meant to post those earlier in the week, but then forgot.

 

When it comes to the lights, if you're happy with mounting them, I'd suggest the type of lights that go into suspended ceilings. I use them in my garage, and I've people walk in and ask where I got the light tubes from! I can grab a more recent photo of you'd like, but the below is from when I was at a similar stage to you, only I hadn't built my racking or work bench at this point. They give a good spread of light, and as they're not a tube, I find they help reduce shadows. Having a thoroughly ok-lit garage will be easier to work in than one with a few really bright lights but loads of shadows. With 9 of the panels (switched in 4's, front and back, with a single over my workbench) means it's always well lit. They were a reasonable price at the time, maybe £20-25 each, given that I didn't have any fittings to buy.

 

 

If you do stick with LED tubes, don't forget to dust them from time to time. It's amazing how much the light output can reduce from a little coating of dust.

They do look great, and give off a nice even light as you say. I don’t have the rafters in place to easily mount something like this, so I think I’ll stick with the replacement LED battens in the first instance and see how I get on. Thanks for the info though 👍

[Stuart Davis AO - Devon Cornwall & Somerset]

1 hour ago, Ewan said:

Good work Stu.

But for anyone thinking of buying a car storage bubble, I think this demonstrates the advantage of an Airchamber over a Carcoon. 

I think it’s a case of horses for courses. The Airchambers look great, and I'm sure they are much more convenient for quick access to the car. The benefit of the Carcoon, particularly how I’ve got mine setup is that it can be out of the way in a few minutes giving me much more space to work on the car. If space wasn’t an issue I would definitely have an Airchamber.

[Craigieboy]

12 hours ago, Stuart Davis AO - Devon Cornwall & Somerset said:

They do look great, and give off a nice even light as you say. I don’t have the rafters in place to easily mount something like this, so I think I’ll stick with the replacement LED battens in the first instance and see how I get on. Thanks for the info though 👍

 

 

Exactly what I did. Mate has the led panels and they do work brilliantly with no shadows, but just wouldn't fit in my application. So Screwfix it was and very happy. 

[Ewan]

On 21/09/2024 at 09:03, Stuart Davis AO - Devon Cornwall & Somerset said:

I think it’s a case of horses for courses. The Airchambers look great, and I'm sure they are much more convenient for quick access to the car. The benefit of the Carcoon, particularly how I’ve got mine setup is that it can be out of the way in a few minutes giving me much more space to work on the car. If space wasn’t an issue I would definitely have an Airchamber.

Good point. I’d not thought about that. Dismantling and/or building an Airchamber is not the work of moments!

[Paul Hurdsfield - Joint Manchester AO]

The roof joists in mine are 600mm centres, so perfect for those panels, I just drilled four holes in the outer frame and screwed em up, dead easy👍

 

and when they are on, perfect😀

[Stuart Davis AO - Devon Cornwall & Somerset]

11 minutes ago, Paul Hurdsfield - Joint Manchester AO said:

The roof joists in mine are 600mm centres, so perfect for those panels, I just drilled four holes in the outer frame and screwed em up, dead easy👍

 

and when they are on, perfect😀

They do look great, ideal if you have rafters like that but unfortunately I don’t 🙁

[Paul Hurdsfield - Joint Manchester AO]

39 minutes ago, Stuart Davis AO - Devon Cornwall & Somerset said:

They do look great, ideal if you have rafters like that but unfortunately I don’t 🙁

can’t you hang them on chains from the rafters?

[Stuart Davis AO - Devon Cornwall & Somerset]

11 minutes ago, Paul Hurdsfield - Joint Manchester AO said:

can’t you hang them on chains from the rafters?

To be fair, I could easily run some battens across the joists to create the necessary spacing. Might be a job for future though as Mrs Stu would like some work done on the house at some point soon! 😬😬

 

Will have a think about it, thanks 👍

[Stuart Davis AO - Devon Cornwall & Somerset]

Finally got somewhere near finishing this off now. I’ve finished my tool boards, painted them white to keep everything as bright as possible. I’ve also built myself a small bench from scraps I had lying around, with a vice for any car related stuff and fitted a vice to the other bench for woodworking which was very handy for building the new one. Racking is fixed to the walls where possible so nice and secure. Just a bit of cabling and lighting to sort out now.