The Fine Line - A suburban three-stall garage

[Stee6043]

I took this week off work and dedicated much of my time to completing my garage projects. Here is my story:

My garage "renovation" has been under way for the better part of six years now. I've got about 830 square feet of space attached to my home. I call this "The Fine Line" because the garage is the only room in the entire house I actually have any kind of control over. My better half, two kids and two dogs get the rest. And as you will see, I still had to build dedicated stroller parking into the garage master plan. Hence, the fine line.

Sadly, I wasn't able to find the photos I took of my garage before I did the epoxy back in 2006/2007. The only real "before" photo I could find was a shot I took when selling the winter wheels off a car I used to own. So here is the only real original photo I could find.

No flooring, no decent shelving, no cabinets and the entire 830 square feet of garage was being lighted by (3) THREE 100W incandescent light bulbs:




Fast forward to this spring when I decided I wanted to install a garage door opener on my third stall single-wide door. A review of the Liftmaster 3800 is what lead me to this site and I've really been enjoying it here. The Liftmaster lead to new flooring and cabinets after I officially axed a basement renovation in favor of garage updates. Along the way I scored some 1/8" plastic sheeting to install around the walls to create a nearly bullet proof 4' border in the garage.

Here is the garage before I installed the RaceDeck. I wish I had photos of my epoxy immediately after installation to compare. The floor was impeccable, nearly flawless and the finish was amazing (aside from my less than stellar joint covering). Unfortunately, the finish did not hold up. I'm not sure if the photos below do it justice but the shine was nearly gone and my prized floor become more of a matte/satin finish after six years of Michigan winters. Ignore the "curb" by the door into the house. That is a cheapo paint I used and not the epoxy





And of course once I had the new floor and new black border in the garage the existing lighting was not going to cut it. Previous to this year I had a total of (6) four foot T8 fixtures in the garage. I was actually pretty surprised by how much darker it got in the garage after the installation of the plastic border and flooring. So what is a guy to do? Add a 20A circuit for more lighting and make the dark go away (the Liftmaster also got it's own new circuit during this work). I ended up installing six 8 foot and four 4 foot two-bulb T8's. I have them on two switches so quick trips into the garage only turns on a few fixtures. One switch on a dedicated circuit turns on the bulk of the lighting.

So here she is. Not nearly as flashy as a lot of the garages on this forum but this is a daily driver, family man on a budget kind of garage! I'd say it's 90% complete at this point but funding is just about done for this year. I still need some wall coverings and the Yamaha banner has to go. I also need to do some paint on the ceiling and walls and eventually get a different heater. Projects for the coming years for sure.









Here she is all loaded up with two daily drivers and the dirt bike. When the kids are old enough to ride bicycles I'm not sure they're going understand why they have to park them outside. Such is life.





Thanks for all the inspiration from GJ! I hope to be sticking around and continue to contribute. This is a great board.

 

[KULIWOBBY]

Nice job on the redo. I really like the floor now. Good ideas for storage and such.

 

[55cadillacking]

Not only have your performed a remarkable garage transformation, you have convinced me to purchase a fisheye lens! Looks great.

 

[TheronZRT]

I'll take that yamaha banner, if you're trying to get rid of it!

 

[nmk_61802]

Looks nice. What is the height of your ceiling, and what storage lift are you using? I might have to consider something like that to store my Mustangs in my 2 car attached.

 

[Daniel Dudley]

Remarkable what a difference that made.

 

[Hottrod]

Nice job, well done!

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

You shouldn't be apologizing about it not being fancy, etc. It looks great to me! Congrats on a job well done.

 

[bmrisko]

Maybe I missed it, but what are the overall dims? I'm trying to decide on my suburban 3-car sizing and the dims would help. Thanks in advance! Looks great!

 

[marty_p]

That is one damn fine renovation, Boss!

 

[Derrickwade]

That looks AWESOME! Can you please tell me everything you can about the floor? Is it actually two shades of black and two shades of gray? Or is it just the angle of the ribs? im very infactuated with it. It looks so complex. lol Thanks!


Oh! and why on earth would you want to ditch the YAMAHA banner? It looks perfect there. However, If your looking for a good home for it, look no further.


One more thing, haha. Is that some sort of fish eye lens your using? thats pretty neat. What kind of camera are you using?

 

[Stee6043]

Thanks for all the kind words, guys! I do appreciate it.

My overall dimensions are approx 33' x 25' with 10' ceilings. The lift is a run-of-the-mill import brand. It's served me well since it's only used for storage and very rarely for some light tooling.

The floor is simply two colors of Racedeck Free Flow tile. The light does some wild things to the FreeFlow at different angles. I really like it but it's certainly not the traditional look. I struggled with Diamond vs Free Flow vs mix of the two. I'm quite pleased with the result of 100% Free Flow.

The Yamaha banner has been a bit of a joke ever since it's been on my wall. My first bike was a Suzuki and every other two wheeler I've owned since then has been a Honda. I've never even owned a Yamaha so when I won this banner at a charity event I decided it would be funny to throw it on the wall. And it stuck...literally. I'll certainly look no further than GJ when the time comes to part ways with the banner. I just don't know yet what to replace it with.

And last - yes, I used a Canon 15mm fisheye to shoot these shots. I also used a 24-70 but my garage just isn't big enough to shoot the whole thing even at 24mm. I don't use the fisheye much but it is fun when you have the need and aren't worried too much about the perspective. I run these on a Canon 5D original, Mark I.

 

[55cadillacking]

The Free Flow as the right choice. You'll find your floor nice and dry in the winter.

 

[billscamaros]

Great garage! But you forgot to provide details on the 'vette and the SS. What have you done to them?

 

[colt zantop]

LOOKS KILLER! that floor is WILD! It looks like you have about 4 different types of tile. also, we need more pics of the 4th gen!!!!!!!!!

 

[Omphaloskeptic]

The Racedeck floor really looks sharp! Did you recently install it, or has it already been through the Michigan winter mess, and if so, how hard is it to keep looking good? I'm still debating with myself about doing a bay of the shop with epoxy or use Racedeck; could you recall for us the details of your epoxy job? How do you think the finish became dulled; was it possibly the brand, the prep, the application, the winter salt, did you do a clear coat, etc., etc., etc.? Sharing your 'lessons learned' would be much appreciated.

Your renovation certainly looks to me like it was professionally done with good planning and great execution. Great bang for the buck!

Now about that banner..... my '71 R5B is crying out for it too! lol

 

[Lurking in Maine]

The garage looks great. Is it difficult to roll items around (tool chests, cabinets etc.) on the free flow decking. Living in Maine I have some of the same challenges as you and I'm thinking of the free flow for my garage as well. I have alot of items on casters and son't want to run into problems.

 

[Stee6043]

Thanks again for the compliments!

The Camaro is a 1999 Z28. I'm the original owner. I did not chose to get the "real" SS when I bought it, which in retrospect I sometimes wish I had. I couldn't resist adding the hood and spoiler a few years after I bought it. It's got a GMMG exhaust (like the Berger Camaro's), plenty of Hotchkis suspension parts to lower it about an inch and it's got the widest set of wheels/tires (315 Nittos) I believe you cam cram under the rear of a 4th gen without having them stick out from the fenders. I really haven't done much under the hood aside from an airbox and K&N filter. I ran the car into the 12.99's several years ago and now I just drive it like an old woman.










I don't have any proper photos of the Corvette since it actually belongs to my father. I store it for him since it never gets driven and I like looking at it! He's owned it since it was 1 year old, second owner. It's a 1971 Stingray, 454, all original including the paint (which needs some help someday). I really need to get out there and take some pictures of it. Hmmm....

 

[Stee6043]

The garage looks great. Is it difficult to roll items around (tool chests, cabinets etc.) on the free flow decking. Living in Maine I have some of the same challenges as you and I'm thinking of the free flow for my garage as well. I have alot of items on casters and son't want to run into problems.

My Craftsman boxes roll around just fine on the Free Flow. Better than I expected, actually. No problems getting them to move and the "rungs" in the tiles seem to be close enough that the casters will not settle into valleys. Works perfectly.

 

[Stee6043]

The Racedeck floor really looks sharp! Did you recently install it, or has it already been through the Michigan winter mess, and if so, how hard is it to keep looking good? I'm still debating with myself about doing a bay of the shop with epoxy or use Racedeck; could you recall for us the details of your epoxy job? How do you think the finish became dulled; was it possibly the brand, the prep, the application, the winter salt, did you do a clear coat, etc., etc., etc.? Sharing your 'lessons learned' would be much appreciated.

Your renovation certainly looks to me like it was professionally done with good planning and great execution. Great bang for the buck!

Now about that banner..... my '71 R5B is crying out for it too! lol

Thanks, Ompha. I am pleased with the look. But the floor has only been down for a few weeks so I really can't tell you how I keep it clean yet! All indications are that my car wash routine will likely be enough to keep this floor looking great. That and a bit of vacuuming once in a while.

As far as the epoxy - my personal experience is that I wish I hadn't invested the time to lay it down. Based on what I saw it was the daily driver, salt, car wash, grime and junk of a daily use garage that cause the loss of gloss. The far side of my garage (the third stall) was definitely much better off since it sees nearly no traffic and zero winter garbage.

I used a reputable brand high solids solvent based epoxy. My installation took a full week +/- with cleaning the floor, etching, priming, base coat and urethane top coat. I was very pleased with the company I dealt with and was also very pleased with the finish. But like I said, it just didn't last. Maybe it was the gray I chose that made it more noticeable? Either way I'm certainly hoping the Racedeck will stay looking sharp for much longer than six years. I'm sure there are folks out there getting long life out of epoxy but I wonder if they are in cold climates and wash their cars as much as I do? Dunno...

 

[kippieland]

Looks awesome! But one question....how can you have a Yamaha banner next to a Honda CRF? Thats totally sacrilegious