What's YOUR garage look like ???

[Rusty]

   That would be a good day out for anyone .. I did not know about the memorial .... something else to stick on my "To Do" list !!

[Boomer]

You can use Armoured cable but as Viper said, better to use steel conduit.
Cut a slot in the concrete with a disk cutter, dig out underneath to about 6" depth.
Fill bottom 1" with gravel, next 1" with sand.
Lay the armoured cable or conduit.
Add more sand and gravel to fill to original level.
Pack it down hard.
Put in some mortar (3 sand to 1 cement) and press the cut out piece in until level and the mortar oozes out the cuts.
Scrape off the excess mortar and put a board over it for 2-3 days.

Now get your local friendly electrician to come and wire it in for you.

I wired my garage with a ring main, 6 steel cased sockets, and 32A consumer unit.
Had a friend come round to inspect it (he is a qualified Leccy) and he wired it into the house consumer unit via a spare RCD.
We just had to drill a hole in the adjoining wall to feed the cable through.

When it comes to your garage electrics you can never be too safe.
Its the one place you tend to use higher currents (fan heaters, welders, etc) and the most prone to damaged cables.

[Kwikasfuki]

You can use Armoured cable but as Viper said, better to use steel conduit.
Cut a slot in the concrete with a disk cutter, dig out underneath to about 6" depth.
Fill bottom 1" with gravel, next 1" with sand.
Lay the armoured cable or conduit.
Add more sand and gravel to fill to original level.
Pack it down hard.
Put in some mortar (3 sand to 1 cement) and press the cut out piece in until level and the mortar oozes out the cuts.
Scrape off the excess mortar and put a board over it for 2-3 days.

Now get your local friendly electrician to come and wire it in for you.

I wired my garage with a ring main, 6 steel cased sockets, and 32A consumer unit.
Had a friend come round to inspect it (he is a qualified Leccy) and he wired it into the house consumer unit via a spare RCD.
We just had to drill a hole in the adjoining wall to feed the cable through.

When it comes to your garage electrics you can never be too safe.
Its the one place you tend to use higher currents (fan heaters, welders, etc) and the most prone to damaged cables.

Thanks Boomer (and Viper for the PM)

What width does the disc cutter need to be? I did have someone lined up to do this for me last Saturday but they failed to turn up. I don't mind giving it a go to lay the cabling

[viper]

can you go around the concrete?

to lay exterior cable is a nightmare in terms of following the 17th edition regs , you are even supposed to lay marker tape near the surface , to do this job to the regs for someone would cost an absolute arm and leg, in soft ground it has to be about 3 foot deep, its crazy.

running usable power into garden sheds can cost up to a £1000 , thats why most just armour cable it them selves !

[Mogster]

I have mucho power to the gym at the end of the garden. so i got round the problem of having to get another cable laid  *snigger* for the garage by getting some Light SWA cable sticking one end in a plug and the other end in a 6 way conector, i can run most things at the same time, power tools, lights, heater, stereo etc...
The cable coming from the gym is suspended overhead and the socket it's pluged into has an RCD breaker...

I had an electrician friend come round and test it and it and he said 'fook me  that'll do i suppose' lol.. Captain bodge strikes again!

[viper]

I have mucho power to the gym at the end of the garden. so i got round the problem of having to get another cable laid  *snigger* for the garage by getting some Light SWA cable sticking one end in a plug and the other end in a 6 way conector, i can run most things at the same time, power tools, lights, heater, stereo etc...
The cable coming from the gym is suspended overhead and the socket it's pluged into has an RCD breaker...

I had an electrician friend come round and test it and it and he said 'fook me  that'll do i suppose' lol.. Captain bodge strikes again!

so everything is running through a plug with a 13 amp fuse?

if you have any cable in the shed such as lighting cable that is rated at less than 13 amp ie 1.5mm then you have a potential fire risk as the cable would melt before the fuse blew.

in any circuit the fuse should always be the weakest part of the link

[Ziderman]

Bastards....all these tidy garages....Just going to have to tidy mine now !

[Lonewolf]

I'm convinced mine wins 1st prize for being the biggest shit hole! 

I challenge anyone to show us a crappier garage...

[2kwacks]

I'm convinced mine wins 1st prize for being the biggest shit hole! 

I challenge anyone to show us a crappier garage...

how about this one
http://imacomputa.org/2011/03/17/worst-garage-ever/

[viper]

I'm convinced mine wins 1st prize for being the biggest shit hole! 

I challenge anyone to show us a crappier garage...

well, ive had myself and my entire workforce on this challenge night and day since you posted it, we admit defeat and cant find one , anywhere 

[aldav]

mines just a bike tent  no room for one   

[Boomer]

Lonewolf, your garage isn't a  :shit:hole. It's just empty and a bit dirty.
Jetwash and a lick of paint and it'll look much better.
Then you need to fill it with biking stuff like more bikes and bike bits and bike gear.

Resist all attempts by your other half to store other stuff in there.
Cars, paint, carpet (unless its on the floor), washing machines or dryers, are all VERBOTEN, and definately no gardening stuff!  

Finally you need heating, a decent sound system (I use a 6 year old PC with a 5.1 Surround speaker system), and a comfy chair.

[Lonewolf]

Shes sat at the side of me now and the computer says NO!!

[kwarrgtr]

on a serious note.... what locks do you guys use. I really need to beef up the lock, its only a bloody flimsy handle with a pathetic looking key and thats on a ali door. AND the garage aint attached to the house!! Alarm out of the question so what do you reccomend?

[2kwacks]

on a serious note.... what locks do you guys use. I really need to beef up the lock, its only a bloody flimsy handle with a pathetic looking key and thats on a ali door. AND the garage aint attached to the house!! Alarm out of the question so what do you reccomend?

well of course! the least eccess there is to a garage the better. you could allways have ground anchors fixed to your garage floor and chain your bike or bikes to it! and use a good quality disc lock and fit a heavy duty clasp and Lock to the garage door or fit a battery or electric mains powerd proximity alarm inside the garage or fit a movement sensor security light front and rear or if your like me and love your bikes fit the lot mine is a intergral garage with a double powerd "up and over" door with no windows, and the only other eccess is from my kitchen which the door is alarmed with the rest of the house. when I had my flat roof replaced last year. I would not let them remove the old roof, so they just built another flat roof over the original and made it on a steeper slant, so getting through the 2 flat roofs is a defo one side of the garage is "obviously" attached to my house, the other side is attached to my neighbours garage which is also a intergral garage and share the same double brick wall separating mine and his garage. the rear wall is attached to my kitchen which has been extended into the garage, the solid wood doubled mortice locked kitchen door is also alarmed with the rest of the house. so the only eccess from the outside is the electric door which as all the chain mechanism attached to the motor winder, so forget about manually lifting the door up! also I've drilled a hole in each side of the door and the steel frame "from the inside" so a long bolt and nut can secure the door and the frame together, also use 2 lenths of 2 x 2 wood which I "sandwich"  between the top of the door and the roof beams but only use the bolts and wood if I'm on holiday. also I've the bike's chained together by the front and rear wheels "plastic cover coated chain of course! so think it's fair to say you would need to be houdini to escape with either of my 2 beauties