Even the humblest of garages can be transformed into a stylish hobby or games room with prefinished PlyPlay.

Standing inside his 1960s garage one day, eyeing the lawn mower and collection of tools, Jake Raines decided the space could be put to better use. It had a concrete floor, timber framing and metal cladding, all in reasonable condition. By making it dust-free and insulated, he could use it as a home gym and store his kids' sports and hobby equipment, all without the risk of things going mouldy.

Keen on a bit of DIY, Jake discussed lining options with a builder friend – comparing plasterboard with PlyPlay plywood – and decided on the prefinished product. This meant he could do the whole job himself and didn't need to book plasterers or painters. Plywood would also stand up better to the knocks and bumps of a games or fitness room and allow him to fix shelf brackets and hooks directly into the panels. If there had been existing plasterboard, he could easily glue and screw ply over the top.

So, armed with cordless power tools, two sawhorses and a drywall lifter, he set to work to transform the space over two weekends.

A 50-year-old garage comes with a bit of history. Jake ripped out old work benches and removed nails, brackets and shelves added over the years. It took him a day – including a trip to the dump – to strip it back to bare studs, nogs and rafters.

STEP TWO: LIGHTS AND INSULATION

He measured out where he wanted the new downlights for effective night lighting and got an electrician in to install the cables. Then he spent an evening fitting the insulation between the framing – a nice and easy DIY job.

With raking rafters, the third stage was to fit ceiling battens for a nice flat surface on which to fix the lining. Prior to deciding on PlyPlay, Jake installed Rondo battens for plasterboard. So instead of nailing off the PlayPlay, he simply screwed it straight to the battens.

STEP FOUR: INSTALLING THE WALL PANELS

Jake chose two different colours for the walls: PlyPlay Double Trouble (charcoal) for the rear and front walls and PlyPlay Blond Ambition for the side walls. First, he painted every second stud black to enhance the negative detail between sheets – it worked a treat. He then trimmed each panel to fit the stud centres using the two sawhorses and a power saw.

Because he was working alone, Jake used a glass pane lifter (with suction cups) to carry each 2400 mm x 1200 mm PlyPlay panel into place. With a cordless nail gun, he put one 40 mm panel pin on the top edge to hold it in place, then used his spirit level to get it plumb before nailing off the full sheet at 150 mm centres around the edges and 300 mm centres on intermediate supports.

He installed all 15 wall sheets of PlyPlay by himself in one day.

STEP FIVE: INSTALLING THE CEILING PANELS

Jake knew lifting the ceiling panels on his own was going to be a challenge, so he hired a drywall lifter from Hirepool. He booked this for 8.30am on a Saturday morning, allowing himself all day and all night for the job.

With eight sheets to install, he measured and cut for a symmetrical layout. Placing one at a time onto the lifter, Jake wound the handle to raise each panel effortlessly into the right location. Using his spirit level and square to position them accurately, he then screwed each sheet to the ceiling, and lowered the tool for the next one. A step-ladder was helpful, but he didn't need any scaffolding. To his surprise, he had the job done by 2 p.m.

STEP SIX: LIGHTS, POWER PLUGS AND SKIRTING

With all the linings in place, he marked and drilled 10 downlight holes for the electrician and marked where he wanted the surface-mounted power points.

While he had the wall and ceiling central joints neat enough, not being a builder, he decided to finish the floor and ceiling edges with a pine skirting and cornice, both pre-painted black. It took him only 15 minutes to nail these in.

STEP SEVEN: CARPET IS THE FINISHING TOUCH

With the linings fitted over the weekend, the carpet was booked for installation on Tuesday. Covering the old slab, it keeps the space soft underfoot and dust-free.

From start to finish, this DIY job took only 28 hours of his labour and cost $7000 in materials. Jake reckons that if he had employed a builder, it could have been done in two days.

ADDING VALUE TO HIS PROPERTY AND FAMILY LIFESTYLE

After doing some online research, Jake found that a basic garage costs around $35,000 to build, while a mid-range garage is around the $50,000 mark. So he was pretty happy with his $7k spend to achieve a really useful space, not to mention the value it has added to his property.

What was an underutilised vintage garage is now a comfortable space to spend time in for hobbies or exercise. It is well insulated, clean and dust-free, and has good acoustics, a warm timber finish, carpet underfoot and good lighting.

For more information or inspiration visit www.plyplay.co.nz, or for product enquiries and samples phone: 09 579 4392 or email info@batessurfaces.co.nz.