Humble 2 car tandem garage

[Hopalong604]

Hi garage journal. Long time lurker but only recently signed up. always dreamed of having my own garage space. I owned a condo for about 5 years with a shared underground garage. I have 2 vehicles and my poor little civic got broken into 5 times in 5years. By no means did I live in a "bad" neighbourhood but my little civic had many tempting toys to temp young kids. I'm just happy it never got stolen. In the end I wanted my own garage space for safety and plus I'm an auto technician by trade and dying for space for my tools and other toys. My fiancé was also getting sick of all my stuff in the balcony. I needed cash for a down payment on a town house so I sold my beloved civic that I dumped a **** load of cash in.



Bought a 1500 sq ft townhouse with an attached tandem garage. My first garage






Theres a lot more room than it looks in there. I can fit my 2 small cars and my xterra and close the garage door. I just tried for shits and giggles. There is a nook area in the back where I can put my tools and junks in. Oh ya and I bought a miata to play around with already loving the garage. Started modifying the miata ASAP!



I have a lot of ideas for my little garage, but furnishing a 3 bedroom place from a 1 bedroom takes a lot more coin than expected. I'll post more updates. I've done more but have to upload pics. All the other garage builds on here are great and I'll be stealing a lot of great ideas from fellow members.

 

[Hopalong604]

Good eye! It's a 95. Bought it from its original owner. He's retired and had a hard time getting in and out of the car. Bought it completely stock and couldn't resist modifying it, specially now that I have my own space to work on it.

 

[1/2 Cup]

You have yourself one nice place there, looking forward to follow your progress..

 

[Jay Sco]

Congrats on the garage/living quarters. Tandems are great when done right. I know what you mean with modding the Miata, I have an NC. They're addictive.

Congrats on the garage.

Love the BRG on gold. BRG and Mariner are by far the best colors. My brother and I have owned around 15 Miatas over the years. Currently we have one each and both are just track sluts.

http://clubroadster.net/vb_forum/89-roadster-projects/79130-1995-******-kitty-build-super-cheap-track-beater-ver-2-0-a.html

And I figured you for a Jeeper! Funny, I've seen that thread before, not sure from where. I'm a regular on miata.net but I browse clubroadster.net pretty often.

 

[Hopalong604]

Oh wow I remember reading up on your build. Great job!

Congrats on the garage.

Love the BRG on gold. BRG and Mariner are by far the best colors. My brother and I have owned around 15 Miatas over the years. Currently we have one each and both are just track sluts.

http://clubroadster.net/vb_forum/89-roadster-projects/79130-1995-******-kitty-build-super-cheap-track-beater-ver-2-0-a.html

 

[Hopalong604]

Miatas are fun as heck and really addictive. I was going to buy an NC but decided to furnish the house but now that we're settled in I want to start on my engine mods. I want a natural aspirated engine and I have just been recently presented with a maruha irtb set up. If I buy the Irtbs I know I have to spend another $5-$7gs on my engine. Arggg it's tough.

Congrats on the garage/living quarters. Tandems are great when done right. I know what you mean with modding the Miata, I have an NC. They're addictive.



And I figured you for a Jeeper! Funny, I've seen that thread before, not sure from where. I'm a regular on miata.net but I browse clubroadster.net pretty often.

 

[Hopalong604]

1st obligatory garage mod I bought off cl

 

[OldGG]

It looks like your running low on adult fermented beverages.

 

[Hopalong604]

^^^^donations are always welcomed

 

[EMAGDNIM]

I'm interested to see what you have planned for the space. I wish my first house (townhouse) had a tandem garage setup, that looks rather interesting.

 

[Chris83]

I am in a very similar situation right now.. Just sold my condo and looking to buy a townhouse with a tandem garage.

 

[Hopalong604]

I am in a very similar situation right now.. Just sold my condo and looking to buy a townhouse with a tandem garage.

Hey you're from Langley? I'm in south surrey so not too far from you. Good luck in your search for a townhouse!

 

[Hopalong604]

Wifey got me this sweet bottle opener to go along with the bar fridge.



I got tired of listening to just music while I hide in the garage so I installed my old 32" TV. Install was easy since all my cable and internet boxes were in the garage. I think next year I'll get a 55". 32" looks so small now...




Also bought a ping pong table for late night shenanigans. Word to the wise...a dart board isn't safe when booze and testosterone mix

 

[HSpencer]

You have a very fine place and garage. I am sure it will be serving you very well.
Keep us posted as to how your arrangements in there go!!

Best Regards
Herb Spencer

 

[kyle@hcb]

That's a unique setup!

 

[ripper70]

1st obligatory garage mod I bought off cl

Tilted drink holders...WOWZERS!! I want some of those..lol

 

[dubber]

Welcome! Love the garage and the cars.

 

[TiFJ]

I will be watching your thread as our current garage is a tandem. Interested to see what you do with the space.

 

[e-tek]

AWESOME set-up! I've never seen a tandem garage like that. Wouldn't it be cool if you could put an OH at the other end - But just having a door is awesome. Seems like you got a cool wife too for getting the opener sign!

I'm originally from Richmond. Looking forward to seeing you set it up - and tune the Miata!!

 

[taumac]

I really like the tandem garage. Its unquie space.

 

[Hopalong604]

What's an "OH"??? Sorry if I'm stupid. ya having that door at the back is awesome. Great place to chill and drink a beer. Some of my neighbours in the complex doesn't have a door in the back of the garage, feels like a cave. The backyard faces a park so it's nice and quiet. And the miata...don't get me started!!

AWESOME set-up! I've never seen a tandem garage like that. Wouldn't it be cool if you could put an OH at the other end - But just having a door is awesome. Seems like you got a cool wife too for getting the opener sign!

I'm originally from Richmond. Looking forward to seeing you set it up - and tune the Miata!!

It's hard to show how big it really is in pictures, specially since I have an SUV in there but it really is pretty spacious. My next door neighbour has a Double garage and he only has room for 2 small cars. Barely enough to get in and out either. They have a shelf on 1 side but that's it.

I will be watching your thread as our current garage is a tandem. Interested to see what you do with the space.

I really like the tandem garage. Its unquie space.

 

[Hopalong604]

I'm really sorry for the horrible phone pics but it's the most convenient.

As you can tell from some of the previous pics, it's dark in the garage when the doors are closed. All that came with the place was 3 whopping 40watt bulbs. So for a while I used a stand up work light. You can see the work light in this before pic. Rip little work light



I bought 3 fluorescent light fixtures from home crepot. Wired it up and bammmmmm!! What a difference! the. Difference was literally night and day.



You can see how bright it is in this pic after my friend and I finished installing my miata roll bar. This was taken at 2 in the morning.

 

[Chris83]

Hey you're from Langley? I'm in south surrey so not too far from you. Good luck in your search for a townhouse!

Yep been out in langley for just over 5 years now. We just accepted an offer on a townhouse in Clayton this morning and it's got the same garage setup.

 

[zkling]

Nice house, cars and garage. I'm really liking that hard top miata.

 

[Hopalong604]

Yep been out in langley for just over 5 years now. We just accepted an offer on a townhouse in Clayton this morning and it's got the same garage setup.

Clayton heights is a nice area. Congrats!

 

[Hopalong604]

Ya that would be long enough for sure and it could fit 3 miatas inside after you're all done

Love the interior.

I enjoy shooting airguns and a tandem seems like a good place for a range. Most of the old vintage ten meter guns make little noise and shoot light pellets at low velocity.

 

[Hopalong604]

As you can tell from the previous pics, the garage didn't come prepped or painted. Every time I opened the garage door I would be like next week I'll paint it. Weeks becomes months and junk starts starts to pile up. And I hate mess.



So I got rid of the bow flex, aka hanger for anything and everything. Just bought a folding bench and used free weights. Moved all my stuff in the garage and into the back yard. That was a task on its own. Took a few hours. Prepped the dry walls. That took the rest of the day. The next day we started painting the first coat.

 

[kingnba6]

nice amount of space. should be fun building up the tools, storage and such.

 

[Hopalong604]

nice amount of space. should be fun building up the tools, storage and such.

Thanks!

We finished the second coat late night. Garage was filthy with dust from all the sanding. Remounted the tv and a few other stuff back on the wall.



Couldn't stand walking around in all the dust and tracking it back in the house. so after I removed everything back in the backyard I pressure washed the garage floor. It felt so fresh and clean in there after


I also installed a couple of the home crepot 45x45 ceiling shelf. If fits perfectly in the nook area. It doesn't protrude pass the nook. Can't wait to take all stuff off the floor and put it up there. it says it can take up to 250 lbs. I'll put that to the test.

 

[Hopalong604]

Soooo since I was insanely pleased with how the paint turned out, I was motivated to do the floor. I'm a auto tech so I do a few minor things at home like brakes, oil changed etc. after a while I got huge oil stains all over the floor.



I acid etched the floor twice to get rid of all the oil stains. You can see all my stuff in the backyard. It started to drizzle so I had to tarp it up.



I got hooked up with a great deal with the ppg aquapon 35. I was going to go with the bland but safe color of grey with flakes but my wife said that wasn't me. So we went through paint store color booklet and chose a bright red epoxy color. I did 2 coats of base and 2 coats of clear.





Waiting for the 2nd coat to dry.

 

[Hopalong604]

After the second I couldn't stand the lower concrete border red. I had a lot of grey paint still so I painted it grey.



I'm glad I did. After a week I finally parked my car inside. I love the way it turned out

 

[seanmoonye]

Looks brilliant.. Love the red.

I would of done the same with the grey border.. The red border looked a bit much.

 

[captain14]

I have two questions about the garage.
How do you heat it so you can work in there?

What space inside the townhouse don't you have if your neighbor has a small 2 car and you have a tandem than runs front to back? And Mrs. Hopalong is ok with that is even better.



There's got to be some sort of trade of space I am sure?

With doors in front and back it has got To be easy to keep it cool during the summer

 

[taumac]

Wow, painted floor looks great. Some of the new pics really show how big of a space you have now. I'm quite jealous now.

 

[Hopalong604]

Captain I use a digital heater from Home Depot. It has a timer so it turns off after I leave for work and heat up my garage 30mins before I get home. It works great!



My neighbour has a double garage with a small room in the back. We've discussed this with each other and I would rather open up the room and have 1 huge area. And he would have great lighting cause they have a huge window in the back and direct access to their backyard. It such a waste of space since he doesn't even use the room behind the garage.

 

[Hopalong604]

Since the floor and wall are done I needed to tidy up the nook area. I bought a couple of stanley base cabinets from cl for $40!



I also bought a stanley tall cabinet from canadiantire.



In order to fit my old craftsman 26", the tall stanley and the 2 base cabinets, I had to shave off half an inch off each side of the 2 stanley base cabinets. It was a PITA but it was worth it.

 

[Chad G]

this is coming along quite nice! great use of the small space you have. the red floor really sets it apart.

 

[55cadillacking]

Your space looks like a double-long version of 93Toy's space! You have so much usable space in there. Everything has been very well executed. Great work.

 

[Hopalong604]

I have to check out 93toys build! Anytime someone steps in my garage they're shocked on how spacious it is. Looks small from the front.

 

[Hopalong604]

As you can tell from the last pic, it's darker in the nook area than the rest of the garage. So I bought a hanging fluorescent unit from Home Depot. Have to figure out the cleanest route for the cord though.



Last week I brought home an old table top that was going to be thrown out at work. I thought it would be a great top for my base Stanley's since I butchered them to make it fit, it be a great way to hide the massacre. I also bought a couple of cabinets as you can see in the back. But that will be for another weekend project.



Cut a foot off and test fitted it