With the finishing touches all that remains in the new home, wargaming is on the verge of resumption. Moving house certainly gets no easier as age takes its toll!
The first to complete towards the hobby was my new painting/study room. This enabled figure painting to resume but it has been far too long since the last wargame leading to serious withdrawal symptoms!
At the time of writing this, the garage modifications have mostly been completed with just new lighting to be installed. There are restrictions where I live on garage conversions. It must be capable of parking a car within and therefore the main garage door must remain. I therefore sealed it as much as possible with draught excluder and gaffer tape around the mechanism. An insulated ceiling was added with a rubberised tile floor. The breeze block walls and ceiling were painted white.
The garage is left open plan with the half nearest the main door given over to household storage and the rest becoming a wargaming area. The lighting immediately above the wargames section are 5 spots on a single bar housing adjustable daylight bulbs. It will allow me to have a playing area of 4'6" in width and up to 10' in length although I doubt if I will ever exceed 9'. More table supports would be needed!
All being well, the lighting will be installed within a few days and wargaming can resume. I will shortly be introducing the first game in my new retreat!
Funnily enough I was wondering whether you had moved yet Jon and you obviously have. The thought of moving again frankly feels me with dread, as our previous moves were drawn out and stressful.
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear that your painting/study room is finished and by the sounds of it, the garage is not far off too. I'm certainly looking forward to seeing your AAR's etc sometime soon:).
This really will be our last move. Never again! The sweetener is that I have more space than in the past albeit in a garage. Its first real test will be in the winter!
DeleteGood to hear you are installed and happy in your new castle. Actually, a month between posts is not bad, and knowing you are ready to record your games is a treat to look forward to reading. If you can rig it, a couple rings, some simple thin rope and a big enough tarpaulin at the garage car door would also cut down any drafts that evade your stated counter measures. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteI had actually considered something similar to your tarp suggestion and may well do something if the work done so far does not hold up. Fortunately the garage door is a fairly tight fit with the largest gap being at the base. That has been blocked so fingers crossed!
DeleteI did wonder whether you could make a removable wooden frame fitted out with insulation foam that would completely seal the garage door and help keep it warm.
DeleteThat's certainly food for thought Steve. A possibility that had not occurred to me and thanks for that suggestion.
DeleteMoving house is one of the most stressful activities at any age. Glad you’ve practically done yours so you can now finally settle down to some serious gaming. Looking forward to future AAR’s from your new base.
ReplyDeleteMany thanks Mike.
DeleteGlad to hear that you're in and that the Man Cave is shaping up. Winter wargaming in a garage sounds like it could be character building! You could do a series of sub-zero wargames - Berezina 1812, Moscow 1941, Stalingrad, The Battle of The Bulge?
ReplyDeleteSeveral good suggestions there Dave. The ice build-up will save some terrain modelling!
DeleteBest of luck in the new house and the planning for the new Wargames space. Very exciting to be building an area specifically for our wonderful hobby.
ReplyDeleteMany thanks Carlo.
DeleteGood morning Jon, my wargaming facility is in the garage exactly the same as you. Sealed the main door up and the side door and window are double glazed. A heater with thermostat keeps things comfortable in the colder months. Regards Peter.
ReplyDeleteThat's good to hear Peter. Can I ask you how you sealed your main door and also what heater do you use. I have yet to buy mine and looking at various options, the oil filled radiator currently being the favourite. Not sure how effective they will be in heating the garage though.
DeleteHi Jon, I sealed around the garage up and over door with a builders sealant that I have to renew every 6-7 years as we are not planning on moving any time soon in retirement. It peels away like bathroom silicon sealant when I renew. When I investigated heaters a straightforward Chinese job from Amazon came out on top but then we did not have the energy prices we have now. Having said that we are not poor so far have not noticed any real changes. The heater has a frost thermostat and a temperature control, timer plus a two stage fan. Have never used the fan or the timer and I also have it set on the one dot setting (for one element). I waited till it got to a level of cold that meant wearing a lightweight jacket and set it to come on then. This link takes you to something similar
DeleteSTAYWARM 2000w Convector Heater with 3 Heat Settings/Variable Thermostat/Frost Watch Protection - F2403WH – White [Energy Class A]
I have always assumed you to be as sensible as me 😊 so I would suggest once you get one, oil filled or not, that you just tinker with it as the colder weather arrives. You will be surprised that at even a low level of heat how snug it will feel. None of my primers or paints have behaved as if they were cold by the way.
Many thanks for that useful advice Peter. I had something similar to your heater in the past and it certainly heated a non-insulated garage then. My only concern is power usage given what is happening to energy prices. Have a few months to do some research.
DeleteThe builders sealant is a great idea and one I will definitely consider if my present arrangement fails (quite frankly I cannot see the draft excluder staying in place for long!).
All the best
Jon