The home we built in Taupo has an old 40 sq meter double garage that was the original garage on the property prior to the section being subdivided for development.
The initial plan was to just line the garage to make a more usable space. After the first quote I realised two things:
- The quote was expensive and would just cover up a lot of the water issues that arise with a structure sitting on a ground-level concrete pad.
- It was a project I think I could manage with a little help from my friend Bruce.
Ann set to work with a blank piece of paper and a pencil and out popped a concept that looked manageable.
This followed with Ann developing a TradeMe wish list of things needed to meet the expectations of a self-contained one-bedroom unit with a sitting room, bathroom and a workshop for me.
So when the window and doors turned up to replace the two garage doors, I had to clean out everything that had accumulated over the past few years.
Then off came the old doors and we were underway.
There was more wood affected by rot and borer than we expected, this required removal and replacement with new timber.
We then covered the floor with black polythene followed by 50mil of polystyrene for insulation.
We had a bit of a wait for the concrete truck to arrive as this was only a little pour at a time when there were major new housing developments going on the area.
So while we waited we started on the fibreglass insulation in the external walls.
The concrete still hadn’t arrived. so we moved onto framing up and cutting a 2×1 metre hole in the side of the garage wall and fitted a new window.
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Finally, after two weeks delay, the concrete truck arrived and delivered the required 100 mm of concrete on top of the polystyrene. The job was over and done in under two hours.
We even had enough left over for the floor of the pump house.
Then it became time to drill holes and pull the electric power and light cables to the flush boxes that had already been attached to the timber framing at the agreed points. 
Then it was time to fit the large bedroom window and the front doors into what was the old garage door frames
Put up the last of the fibreglass insulation before hiring a gib-lifter and started on the task of lining the ceiling and external walls
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The internal partitions came next creating the spaces for the living area, bedroom, bathroom and workshop.
Gib-stopping
Gib-stopping & sanding was a long tedious business
Ready for Painting
Cheers
Smith's Journeys 