Between 705 & 1200 SQ/FT "Boxster Bay" Garage (24' x 30')

[supersaiyan93]

I’ve spent the better part of 30 years wrenching on my cars out in the weather, or at best, under a carport. The unrelenting heat and humidity of a south Louisiana climate sure didn’t help. I was fortunate to have access to a large metal building that my wife’s grandpa owned, and we shared that space for a short time, but it was uninsulated and was unbearable in the summer. Having a climate-controlled garage of my own always felt like an out of reach dream.

But it took turning my life upside down to change that.



In 2021, Hurricane Ida scored a direct hit on my hometown, at 1 mph below a Cat 5 storm. Sure, we’re not strangers on the Gulf Coast to storms. Gustav, Katrina, Rita. But nothing like Ida.

The damage was extensive.

We were fortunate.

We had damage, but nothing that made our home unlivable, and all our family and friends were safe, though, sadly, many people we know lost everything in the storm.

For us, Ida was the straw that broke the camel’s back. My wife and I said “Enough”, and we started making plans to get the heck out of Dodge. I don’t begrudge my hometown, and I certainly owe my life to my upbringing there. But the constant prepping, evacuating, and worrying about the tropics every year was bananas. We were tired. We were DONE.

Our search for a new beginning took us to the Blue Ridge mountains, specifically in North Georgia.

When the new house hunt started, we knew what we wanted. She wanted a smaller home than we had in Louisiana, and I wanted a GARAGE.

It took us two trips to the area to house hunt with our agent. We must have looked at 30 houses. Some had a 1 or 2 car garage, but the house was unreasonably decrepit, or the house was nice, but with no garage or even a place to build one. Dejected, it looked like we were going home empty-handed again. At the last minute, our agent showed us a house that had come on the market that day.

He showed us this picture.



The listing had tons of pictures of the house, but not one of the garage. I saw that little 8’ door, and figured you know what, if nothing else, I can at least use that little bay to set up my tools and a bench. That's better than anything I've had up to this point.

But when we arrived for the showing, and opened that front door, I couldn’t believe what I saw!



Why was this not pictured in the listing?! This thing is huge! 24’ wide and 30’ deep!

I knew I wanted the place before we ever stepped inside, and thankfully, the house itself was just what we were looking for. We put in an offer, and a few weeks later we closed. This was in March, but we didn’t get to move in until July, due to some work obligations still in Louisiana.

 

[supersaiyan93]

Let me tell ya, pro move on our part to wait until the summer in Louisiana to move! I think you could have baked bread in the “Mom’s Attic” of our U-Haul truck. We had some help from my brother and sister-in-law, but I don’t think I’ve ever sweated so much in an 8-hour period in my life up to that point.

At least the weather was perfect when we got to Georgia.

We used the garage as a staging area to unload the truck and then brought the stuff into the house gradually in the next couple of days.

Did I mention I hate moving? Lol.

It was a bit before I could start organizing all my **** and take stock of what I had.





Naturally, there were some things that needed attention.

• The “**** lights” on the ceiling were comically bad, and only on one end of the garage anyway. Also, the switches for the garage lights are by the man door at the opposite corner from the door into the house, so that’s super inconvenient.
• The concrete was solid with no cracks or spalling, but it was in rough cosmetic shape. Also, it had a brushed texture that was rough on the knees.
• The weirdly flesh-colored wall paint in an uncleanable flat finish.
• The previous owner left a safe and a big metal cabinet (that appears to have formerly been a safe itself) that was apparently forged from neutron star material, as it was the heaviest thing I’ve ever encountered.
• The humidity got crazy high in there in the peak of the summer, and certain things would grow mold if left out. My grandchild’s car seat got disgusting after about two months of sitting around. Climate control would fix this.
• On that note, there’s insufficient power, and no 240v available, so I would need to see about installing a subpanel since I’d need power for a mini-split, my 60 gallon compressor, and a welder.

 

[supersaiyan93]

It would have been awesome to have a place to store all my stuff while working on the garage, but I ended up just working around everything.

I wouldn’t recommend that to my WORST ENEMY.

I’m not going to lie, this has been a long process, with lots of fits and starts.

This post is being made after I’ve been here for 2.5 years, and progress was and still is SLOW.

I’m also one to overthink things to a fault, and executive dysfunction is a major problem. I know I’m not alone on that, but just throwing that out there that this was a struggle. Also, I’m stubborn, and end up doing everything myself, with help here and there from the missus.

I would sometimes in a moment of weakness get quotes for some of the jobs, but the price tag would always snap me back to reality.

I’m a proud victim of “guy math.” If I can buy a tool and do something myself for less than paying someone else to do it, now I still have the job completed, saved money, and gained a cool new tool in the process!

 

[kitdoctor]

@supersaiyan93 coming from a tropical part of Australia I know what you mean. I got to the point I simply couldn't lean over the fender/guard as sweat was just dripping everywhere.

We are now relocating to a far more temperate part of Australia. Yesterday I was pleasantly surprised and commented to my wife, "Did you feel how cool it was in the [unfinished] shed?". I can't wait to move in.

 

[supersaiyan93]

@supersaiyan93 coming from a tropical part of Australia I know what you mean. I got to the point I simply couldn't lean over the fender/guard as sweat was just dripping everywhere.

We are now relocating to a far more temperate part of Australia. Yesterday I was pleasantly surprised and commented to my wife, "Did you feel how cool it was in the [unfinished] shed?". I can't wait to move in.

Exactly! Not having to try to wipe sweat from my eyes with greasy arms anymore has been glorious.

I have also been bitten by mosquitos three times since I've lived here. Three separate, individual times! One bite each! Over 2.5 years!

By contrast, the mosquito is the Louisiana state bird.

 

[supersaiyan93]

The first thing I needed to tackle was the electrical.

I have a fair bit of experience with this, so this wasn’t much of a challenge except finding time to do it. I was initially going to hire this out, but of the dozen or so electricians I called in the area, only two called me back, and only one actually gave me a quote. Over the phone. Sight unseen. With a clearly “go away” estimate attached.

My main panel is in the basement, only about 25 feet total away from the placement of my subpanel. I installed a 60 amp breaker in my main panel, ran conduit to my new subpanel, and then ran #6 THHN wiring to the panel with a #10 ground.

I had to bust open the walls in some places to run wiring through.

I installed a 20 amp 240v circuit and ran the wiring out a disconnect box for a new Mr. Cool 18k mini-split.

I also got the appropriate wiring to run an outlet for my air compressor and my welder, but to date I haven’t done those yet. My Milwaukee M18’s have taken over what I used to use a compressor for, and to date, I haven’t located the appropriate sized Round Tuit to get this job done.

 

[slik560]

My hat is off to anyone with electrical skills. Well done

 

[supersaiyan93]

Next up was deboobing my ceiling. This is a perfectly ordinary English sentence. Stop giggling.

Those lights are great for hallways, but not so much for an active garage.



I saw some reviews on these lights on Amazon, and figured they were cheap enough to give a shot.



These were linkable with some included adapters, but that wasn’t practical for my layout. Despite the fact it would mean me and the attic were going to become very acquainted with each other, I chose to run the wiring into electrical boxes.

It is no exaggeration to say this is the best money I have spent on this garage. Been running them for about a year and a half. So far not a single LED has failed and they are rock solid.



I also installed some Lutron Caseta switches for the light switches across the room, and put the Caseta wall mount remotes by the front door and my door into the house. I can now turn on the lights without having to use a flashlight to walk across the garage to get to the switches. (Seriously, what was the guy who built this thinking?!)

For anyone in the same boat, I highly recommend the Caseta stuff. Super easy to setup, and they just WORK. They do require a neutral at the switch though. I got lucky and that worked for me, but if all you have is a switch leg in the box, these are a no go.

 

[mrbill55]

Looks like you are well on your way to a perfectly good rehab. Next you'll be adding on to the side of the house, I figure 30X40 or 30X50 will do, although from my own experience, I'd now go for a 40 wide structure to start.

Where in North Georgia are you located?

Bill S.

 

[supersaiyan93]

Haha. Yeah, I wish. The metal building I shared with my wife’s grandpa was a 40x60, but I only got a little corner for myself. I could absolutely see myself filling that whole space in short order if given the chance!

I’m out in the sticks in Ellijay.

 

[sh944]

I’m sorta hoping a Porsche shows up in some of your pictures before too long…. Lol

Congrats on the house, I am looking forward to watching the updates.

 

[supersaiyan93]

I’m sorta hoping a Porsche shows up in some of your pictures before too long…. Lol

Congrats on the house, I am looking forward to watching the updates.

Lol. Yeah, I'm getting there.

Now, let's address that pink-beige (peige?) wall color.

For this one, I have to thank all the inspiration from other cool garages on here. I loved the classic light gray, red stripe, dark gray combo, and I know it's a tried and true formula.

I picked out some colors at Home Depot for their Behr Ultra Stain-Blocking Paint & Primer with Scuff Defense technology paint in an eggshell finish.





For the walls, I went with Dolphin Fin for the top, Red My Mind for the stripe, and Elephant Skin for the bottom. That swatch on the top is one option I'm still mulling over for my cabinets.

I'm no painter, but I think I did pretty good given that the sheetrock finish was far from perfect. I saw a trick on Youtube for the stripe that worked AWESOME. You paint the top and bottom colors, then tape off where you want the stripe, and then paint OVER THE TAPE with the original top and bottom colors. That lets the paint bleed under the tape and seals the edge of the tape to the wall. The paint that bleeds through is invisible because it's the same color as the wall behind it. After that, paint your stripe and peel the tape. Perfect crisp lines.











Not bad huh?! For those curious, the top Dolphin Fin color took two coats to adequately coat, the bottom Elephant Skin color was good with one coat, but I put two to try to ensure durability, and the red strip took 5,432 coats.

With the walls done, I finally felt comfortable starting to organize a little better and get some wall art up.

And at this point, I also felt comfortable moving in my 2001 Porsche Boxster S that I just recently acquired, and is the reason for the garage name, which is at the ragged edge of the limit of my cleverness.





This is my first Porsche. First German car I've ever owned, actually, which I soon discovered meant that I needed a bunch of new tools to work on. Just to change the door lock actuator on the driver's side door required a Philips head screwdriver, an Allen socket, a Torx socket, a 10mm socket, and a triple square socket. lol. They missed the opportunity to throw in a random flat-head screw just to keep us all on our toes, but I digress.

Things are starting to look up! And by the way, we're getting pretty close to modern day at this point.

I also picked up some more organization stuff, including a couple of cheap chinese cabinets I got off of Amazon, which you can see pictured in the background in red and black. They're good enough to hold some random **** I had laying around, and they beat having stuff out in the open on shelves, but hoo-boy are these garbage. I think I've drank from Coke cans that had thicker gauge metal. Pretty sure the paint is load bearing.

 

[slik560]

Nice Boxster S.

 

[supersaiyan93]

Nice Boxster S.

Thanks! It's a definite work in progress though. Just found that my camshaft deviation numbers are out of whack and I'm looking into performing some major surgery to replace the Variocam pads on both banks of cylinders.

I ain't scared to try.

Since having the nice lit up work space, I've been able to do some major surgery in this space. My 2013 Lexus GX460 started leaking coolant. I noticed it when I went under there to regrease my u-joints.



It never overheated or even registered a problem. Couldn't be that bad right?

Yeah, well....




Valley Plate Coolant Leak. An apparently notorious issue on these trucks.

The fix involved removing the whole top of the motor. Ended up breaking some clips, had to order another knock sensor harness, some expensive proprietary Toyota sealant, and a bunch of o-rings and gaskets. Took a few weeks to complete the job and get it back together.

When Toyota decided to take the global market Landcruiser Prado and shoehorn a V8 into it to sell it to Americans as a fancy-shmancy Lexus, they ended up making a basically unserviceable vehicle unless you have mirrors, every type of wobble-socket the industry manufactures, and an arm with two wrist joints.




Good thing I work from home!

 

[slik560]

The Lexus issue reminds me of the first gen Porsche Cayenne. The used a plastic coolant crossover thingie and located it under the intake manifold on the v-8. Nightmares.

I used to do some DIY on my 911, but with 3 1/2" of ground clearance, even the old Rhino Ramps were a chore to use. I never got around to getting any kind of lift, which is damn near mandatory for serious work on the Boxsters and 911's. Now that I'm old and feeble I take the 911 to a local shop that I trust.

Good luck with the variocam pads. That might be Rennlist material!!

 

[supersaiyan93]

The Lexus issue reminds me of the first gen Porsche Cayenne. The used a plastic coolant crossover thingie and located it under the intake manifold on the v-8. Nightmares.

I used to do some DIY on my 911, but with 3 1/2" of ground clearance, even the old Rhino Ramps were a chore to use. I never got around to getting any kind of lift, which is damn near mandatory for serious work on the Boxsters and 911's. Now that I'm old and feeble I take the 911 to a local shop that I trust.

Good luck with the variocam pads. That might be Rennlist material!!

Completely understood. A 2-post is on my stretch-goal wish list. Or is that my pipe dream wish list? Yeah, one of those.

 

[sh944]

Thanks for the tip on sharp edged stripes, but I’m out if it takes anything more than 5,200 coats. Lol

After owning a decent number of Porsches, I’m down to a 2011 Boxster Spyder and an 1982 928, and I’m hoping I ride out the rest of my days with those two cars. They provide all the “Porsche” I am liable to need and since I no longer do track events, they are way more car than I need for the streets.

Welcome to the club!

 

[supersaiyan93]

So I just realized I jumped right in and never really introduced myself. My name is Trent, I’m in my early 40’s, and I work in IT consulting.

My love affair for all things automotive started when I was a little kid. My dad and I would work on projects together. Nothing elaborate and not on anything particularly exciting. Think less “putting headers on a ‘69 Camaro” and more “fix the misfire on this ‘80 Skylark.”

My old man is one of those guys that just Knows Things. I was always amazed at it, particularly in the days waaaay before Google, where if you got stumped, it usually meant having to ask for help. And The Guy Who Knows Things would never do that in a thousand years.

“We need to run a wire through the attic to install a new outlet? Well, climb up there kid, and I’ll show you how to do it.”

“Come on boy. The window regulator on your sister’s car broke. We’re going to change it. Grab my tools.”

“Our 30 year old central A/C quit. Probably needs a fan motor or a capacitor. I’ll show you how to figure that out.”

“We need to change out these busted tiles in the kitchen. You and your brother are going to help me.”

Dad definitely wanted to make sure his kids knew how to take care of themselves. Those practical skills and learning not to fear projects, but see them as opportunities for growth has always stayed with me.

Dad got me my own set of mechanics tools (A ratchet and socket set from Sears) when I got handed down the family car, a ‘90 Dodge Spirit with the 4 banger and a three speed auto. It was…not fast. It was also a 90’s era Dodge, so got real acquainted with that tool set.

I ended up going the Japanese car route pretty early on. The first car I bought with my own money was a Mazda Mx6, essentially a Ford Probe in a Kimono.

Not long after I got into Miata’s. I built out a sweet ‘91, put on a Bell Engineering turbo kit, a MSPNP standalone, Tein coilover suspension, and so much more. I sold that car about 6 years ago, and even though it was definitely time to let it go, it was like putting down the family dog to get rid of it.



Many family cars have come and gone over the past 15 years, but that little Mx5 will always hold a special place in my heart, both for the fun I had, but also for all it taught me about wrenching on cars.



Unfortunately, somewhere early on in our relationship, I made the biggest mistake a man can make, and I inadvertently let my wife SEE that I was handy.

I have never known peace since.

I won’t make the same mistake with the next one!





(My wife hates that joke)

 

[supersaiyan93]

Now, the next thing to tackle is that awful concrete floor.

I mentioned earlier that it has a rough textured brush finish in it. Also, it’s covered in 30 years of dirt, oil, paint, and God knows what else.

I figured a good start would be to clean it up. I used one of those round pressure wash attachments that spins and cleans circles on the concrete and hooked it up to my electric pressure washer. This, combined with some liberal application of Zep floor degreaser did a great job of cleaning the concrete, but the old staining was persistent and it became apparent it was permanent.

At this point I started looking into flooring options. I spent an unhealthy amount of time on the Flooring forum here on GarageJournal. I considered going the DIY Armorpoxy route, but given I had 720 sq ft to cover, I knew this option was going to be expensive.

I loved the idea of porcelain tile, but that was going to be incredibly expensive for the square footage I had. But I looked at some of the wonderful garages on here and couldn’t shake the tile idea.

In particular I got inspiration from cairo94507’s old garage:



Once I started shopping around, I quickly dismissed the idea again. I couldn’t find a way to do it for cheaper than the epoxy options.

Until I was killing time at Home Depot one day and saw this tag out the corner of my eye.



Wait, WHAT?!

This is 12x24 PEI 4 tile for about 25% of its regular price.

They didn’t have enough, but they called another store an hour away, and they said they would honor the price too. So I spent the better part of the afternoon running around to pick up the amount I needed.

I had to take a couple of trips with my relatively small utility trailer so as not to bend my trailer axle into a happy face.

I actually had to end up visiting three different Home Depot’s to get enough of this tile, and all three honored the sale price. I think I bought every case of this tile in a 75 mile radius of my house. lol.

That pile of tile sat there for a few months until life got out of the way enough for me to get enough time to get started.

So I picked up about 20 bags of LFT mortar and some buckets of Mapei Flexcolor CQ grout.

Add some sponges, a three pack of Homer buckets, some grout spacers, and a corded drill from HF, I’m right around $1,000 for all the materials and tools. I already had the notched trowels, knee pads, and grout floats.

With the holidays here, and some free time finally available, it was time to get started.

 

[slik560]

Excellent. Great find. Might as well pick up a couple of lotto tickets while your luck holds.

 

[mrbill55]

Lol. Yeah, I'm getting there.

Now, let's address that pink-beige (peige?) wall color.

For this one, I have to thank all the inspiration from other cool garages on here. I loved the classic light gray, red stripe, dark gray combo, and I know it's a tried and true formula.

I picked out some colors at Home Depot for their Behr Ultra Stain-Blocking Paint & Primer with Scuff Defense technology paint in an eggshell finish.





For the walls, I went with Dolphin Fin for the top, Red My Mind for the stripe, and Elephant Skin for the bottom. That swatch on the top is one option I'm still mulling over for my cabinets.

I'm no painter, but I think I did pretty good given that the sheetrock finish was far from perfect. I saw a trick on Youtube for the stripe that worked AWESOME. You paint the top and bottom colors, then tape off where you want the stripe, and then paint OVER THE TAPE with the original top and bottom colors. That lets the paint bleed under the tape and seals the edge of the tape to the wall. The paint that bleeds through is invisible because it's the same color as the wall behind it. After that, paint your stripe and peel the tape. Perfect crisp lines.











Not bad huh?! For those curious, the top Dolphin Fin color took two coats to adequately coat, the bottom Elephant Skin color was good with one coat, but I put two to try to ensure durability, and the red strip took 5,432 coats.

With the walls done, I finally felt comfortable starting to organize a little better and get some wall art up.

And at this point, I also felt comfortable moving in my 2001 Porsche Boxster S that I just recently acquired, and is the reason for the garage name, which is at the ragged edge of the limit of my cleverness.





This is my first Porsche. First German car I've ever owned, actually, which I soon discovered meant that I needed a bunch of new tools to work on. Just to change the door lock actuator on the driver's side door required a Philips head screwdriver, an Allen socket, a Torx socket, a 10mm socket, and a triple square socket. lol. They missed the opportunity to throw in a random flat-head screw just to keep us all on our toes, but I digress.

Things are starting to look up! And by the way, we're getting pretty close to modern day at this point.

I also picked up some more organization stuff, including a couple of cheap chinese cabinets I got off of Amazon, which you can see pictured in the background in red and black. They're good enough to hold some random **** I had laying around, and they beat having stuff out in the open on shelves, but hoo-boy are these garbage. I think I've drank from Coke cans that had thicker gauge metal. Pretty sure the paint is load bearing.

Just sold my ex track prepped 2001 Boxster "S", but kept the other 5 (6) convertibles, including my 2.5L Ford Duratec powered 06 Miata GT (6spd).....Watch the coolant tanks, if they crack, you can blow your head gasket in a minute or two, long before you'll notice the temp rising, and hopefully you did your homework on the IMS bearing issues and solutions (LN Engineering is the only one I would trust). PCA's site is full of tech tips, Renlist is not bad either.

Bill S.

 

[supersaiyan93]

Just sold my ex track prepped 2001 Boxster "S", but kept the other 5 (6) convertibles, including my 2.5L Ford Duratec powered 06 Miata GT (6spd).....Watch the coolant tanks, if they crack, you can blow your head gasket in a minute or two, long before you'll notice the temp rising, and hopefully you did your homework on the IMS bearing issues and solutions (LN Engineering is the only one I would trust). PCA's site is full of tech tips, Renlist is not bad either.

Bill S.

Nice!

I have some friends already in the P-car world, I asked for and got plenty of advice before jumping in to a 5 chain M96. Fortunately the expansion tank and AOS were changed recently before I got it. Bores and compression look great. It does need a flywheel though, which was a bargaining point to get it cheaper. I scored a new in box LUK one on eBay for $150.

I picked up a new clutch and RMS as well.

I’ll consider changing the IMS while I’m in there.
(EDIT: Don’t worry, I’ve decided to bite the bullet and replace it while I’m in there.)

I have the car down for the winter and I’m going to sort out the problems. I’d love to have it sorted by the Spring.

I know how that works though.

 

[mrbill55]

I’ll consider changing the IMS while I’m in there.

Don't even think about it, just do it, it will add value to the car, and make you lose less sleep than if you don't. Ask your friends, ask on the PCA owners forum, ask on Renlist, ASK.............Then of course, bite the bullet and just do it.


Bill S.

PS: I'm searching for an air cooled 83/84 911 cabriolet if you know of any

 

[sh944]

I’ll add my encouragement as well on it…. When that one bites, it bites hard. If you are working anywhere in the area of the IMS, it’s worth doing on those cars.

 

[supersaiyan93]

I’ll add my encouragement as well on it…. When that one bites, it bites hard. If you are working anywhere in the area of the IMS, it’s worth doing on those cars.

You guys are right.

I’ll check to see if it’s a single or double row when I take it apart.

 

[supersaiyan93]

I’m not a fan of tile work.

Why in the world I thought that me and the wife would be able to knock this job out quickly is beyond me. Hopeless optimism meets blind ambition.

On Monday I laid out the pattern and marked my starting line at the back of the garage. Since all my stuff had to move out of the way, the most efficient way to do it was to start at the back and work my way toward the door.

I discovered with my measurements that the garage is ever so slightly out of square, so I measured out from the front about 29.5’, and snapped a chalk line. I then filled in the row back to the back wall with tiles that got gradually thinner from left to right. It was about an inch difference. Not much over the distances were talking, but I’d rather the crooked tiles be at the back where they’ll mostly be under cabinets and invisible anyway so the grid is even at the door where they’ll be visible. In a perfect world I’d start in the center and work forwards and back, but I put the 6.2 billion lbs of tiles in a stack that was completely in the way for that, and there was no way I was moving all that for the sake of layout.



By the end of the day Monday, everything was laid out and in motion, but the day got away from me and I didn’t end up laying much tile down. Most of the day was spent doing setup, dry layout for the pattern, and setting up tools. And I really didn’t get started until after lunch anyway.

I backbuttered every tile and pulled one every now and then as I went to make sure I was getting full coverage. That part is CRITICAL in a garage environment. Porcelain tiles are harder than a coffin nail when they are put down with no voids, but shatter like glass if done wrong.

Towards the end of day one:






Day two went much better. I asked my wife to come out there to help me backbutter the tiles. She also filled in to give my back a rest and spread some mortar every now and then.







On Wednesday, we got to the 1/3 mark for completion. On Thursday, I grouted with Flexcolor CQ grout in Charcoal, and today (Sunday) I started mounting my cabinets. Don’t mind how ugly they are. They are really nice cabinets, and I got them for stupid cheap on Facebook Marketplace, but they were in someone’s shed and the finish he put on them looks terrible. They are getting painted anyway.



Gotta say, it’s looking good so long as I don’t turn around and see the mess behind this photo. lol.

My back and my knees are killing me. Major respect to guys who do this type of work for a living.

Only 2/3rds of the garage left to go!

That catches this thread up to today. Updates will be a bit more sparse as I go. Next plan is to sand and paint my cabinets so I can mount the butcher block countertop on it. I need to finish that countertop too. Looking for ideas on that actually.

 

[Krfjkm]

Well done!

 

[Mr onetwo]

Great floor! There is a reason that Ferrari and Porsche USA use tile on their floors.

 

[slik560]

Great work, but my back aches just looking at the photos. I've done tile, both horizontal and vertical, and the best part is when it's all DONE.

 

[TX4runner]

Tile looks great. Hope the back feels better and the rest of the tile goes down quickly. It's going to be amazing and special when it's done. Nice to see getting the TV up was a priority When do we see Trent's Garage sign lit up? Envious of your mini split. We just moved also, we'll have to see how painful the heat is this summer to see if beg the guys to help me put one in next winter. And another +1 on replacing the IMS.

 

[supersaiyan93]

Got a little thing done today that’s been nagging me. The bottom plate going around the garage has been beat up pretty good and is full of paint, Sheetrock mud, and other detritus. A little time with a paint scraper made it nice. I’m almost done enough with this back wall to put my cabinets back.





Here’s a fun thing I found. A key stuck in the wall.



The guy who built this house was a locksmith by trade. We find random old keys and lock parts seemingly every time I take something apart.

We also found four safes on the property.

Oh, TX4Runner, here ya go. The sign was a nice anniversary present last year.



I have a cabinet that sits right below this. There will be some cable management in the future. lol. Also, I have more stuff for this wall going up so it doesn’t look so lonely there.

 

[supersaiyan93]

One detail I forgot to mention was the install of a shop sink. The garage was already plumbed for one, so it was pretty easy. The only issue there is that the sink I bought was a little short. The drain went into the wall higher than the level the bottom of the drain sat, so that wouldn’t work. I solved it by building a little platform out of some spare 2x6 and plywood to raise the sink high enough. Truthfully, I like it at that height anyway. Much easier on the back to not have to lean over it.

It’s been really nice having hot and cold water out there. For this tile project I screwed my garden hose into the shop sink faucet and had warm water, which was handy when hauling the buckets and tools right outside the door into the yard to clean them when it was 35 degrees F outside!

 

[ErickForest]

Nice place. I like the tile, I wanted to do that in the garage, but ended up using Race Deck.

 

[GlennSullivan]

Wow, kudos to you and your wife for that tile project undertaking. Unbelievable amount of work for 2 people that don't do tile for a living. Not something I would have attempted in my 40's and certainly not now, 20 some odd years later. Well done.

 

[supersaiyan93]

Ha! I read your second sentence in my head as "Unbelievable amount of work for 2 people that don't know what they're doing." And I was getting ready to wholeheartedly agree!

For the sake of being able to visualize the garage, I made a Sketchup of what I hope it's going to look like when I'm done.



The woodworking equipment is a necessary evil right now, but let's just say I have a plan for that in the future, but like waaaay in the future. Wife wants me to make our next project an expansion and remodel of our master bathroom.

I hope to one day make this woefully underutilized shed/shop in my backyard into a woodworking shop. I'd love to be able to finally completely separate the greasy projects from the sawdust projects. For now, I just wheel the table saw or the miter saw over by the door and into the driveway to keep the sawdust down. I'll post more about this shed in the future.

 

[Rommel]

Are you sticking with the single OHD or going to add another? Looks like it either used to have another garage door or was at least built for 2.

 

[supersaiyan93]

Are you sticking with the single OHD or going to add another? Looks like it either used to have another garage door or was at least built for 2.

It looks to me like the front door and the window were installed where the second bay either was or was planned. There’s even an outlet on the ceiling for another opener.

You might have noticed that I didn’t paint that front wall. That’s because I know I’m going to be tearing into it to see what the framing looks like.

 

[supersaiyan93]

It looks like our area is going to get some winter weather later this week, and there's a decent chance for snow. I spent some time cleaning and moving some stuff around so I could get the Porsche back in the garage.

 

[Xti04]

Garage is looking good, dont know what it is about a tiled shop floor but I really like them. My only concern is dropping something and breaking a tile.

 

[supersaiyan93]

Garage is looking good, dont know what it is about a tiled shop floor but I really like them. My only concern is dropping something and breaking a tile.

Thanks! I really think I'm going to like it when it's done. It's so much brighter than the dingy concrete too.

When a quality porcelain tile is set down correctly with no voids, the tile is effectively harder than the concrete it's laid on. Many dealer service centers use tile in their facilities, as pictured above. I haven't been brave enough to drop a hammer or anything as a test. lol. I'm sure it will get tested soon enough naturally, because I'm very much a klutz.