EZ's Speed Shop (Old Shop)

[EZ SPEED]

My Name is Eric, I was born and rasied in Alabama. I have been an Aerospace Technician for 16 years now, and a Car Guy all my life I have been lurking on here mostly since 2005 .
I thought that I would post my old shop first (since my new shop isnt finished yet anyway) then I will start a new thread with the new Shops beginings.

I starting building this shop entirely by myself with a little help from friends when I absolutly HAD to. I really enjoy working alone and working through my problems.

I have a little carpentry knowledge (just enough to be dangerous and not enough to be scared to try stuff ) I learned from my father and grandfather when i was a kid. I also had 4 years worth of Architectural Drafting when I was in high school / college. I also helped my ex-father inlaw
build his shop when I was around 20 years old (about 18 years ago )

I wish that there had been a website with this much knowledge when i build this shop.....Now on to my first shop that I designed and built myself

I made a comprimise of what i thought i could afford to build (before I ran outta money) and what would fit in my yard. The house that we lived in was only 1256 sq. ft. and building a 864 sq ft shop would work out ok. I decided on a 24 x 36 shop with a 10 foot ceiling height.

I started this build in March / April of 2002

I had to have a lot of dirt hauled in months before I started building due to the slope of my yard. I wound up renting a Skid Steer one weekend and moving a lot of the dirt around to get it exactly like I wanted it.

The first disaster was the concrete I remembered tackling this job on my ex father inlaws shop and it being a huge job. So I lined up 5 guys and myself to do it. Well only 2 guys showed up (and neither one had ever helped on a concrete pour) and the day turned out to be MUCH hotter than predicted...****! thank goodness that the truck driver felt sorry for us and helped a little But we made it work and the pour turned out ok. A little rougher texture than I wanted but it was no big deal.

Then i had a friend from work come over a few afternoons after work to show me how to lay block (since this was one of the few things I never had tried) he helped me get the corners started then I finished it up myself. Here is the first of a few pics.


For my next

 

[EZ SPEED]

As you can see....I decided to go 3 blocks high and build 8 ft walls on top to get my ceiling to around 10 ft. high.

I started building the walls next and put my old 95 Z28 on the concrete for scale.

 

[EZ SPEED]

The walls are 2x4 framing, and the front wall I did with 2x6 framing.

We also had a bad storm after the walls were up and the storm twisted some of my walls outta shape. That was the second disaster that I didnt realize till later.

I called in a couple of friends to help me put up the trusses.

Here are a few more pics of the progress.

 

[russlaferrera]

EZ, Looking good. 1st post , the garage looks like a shed. Once you put the frame up, it is starting to look like a big garage.

Why the xra height...lift?

 

[EZ SPEED]

Once the trusses were up I started the decking then the shingles. I tried to do as much of the shingling that I could late in the day....after the sun started going down, it gets pretty hot during the daytime now that we were in the month of May 2002. I dont have many pics of the progress at this stage...I was too busy building instead of taking pics

But here are some pics that i did take.

 

[EZ SPEED]

EZ, Looking good. 1st post , the garage looks like a shed. Once you put the frame up, it is starting to look like a big garage.

Why the xra height...lift?

Thanks !!

No, I had no idea that I could ever have or afford a lift way back then ( i did eventually get a lift). I just knew I wanted it to feel big and roomy. My very first garage space was my grandmothers basement garage that had about a 7.5 ft ceiling. I liked the 10ft ceiling in my ex father inlaws shop so I decided to go with that

I used my grandmothers basement garage as my "shop" from the time I was 16 yrs old, till now.

 

[EZ SPEED]

I bought a 3foot man door, and also bought some cheaper roll up style doors to get me dried in. It took me about 6 weeks to go from concrete to dried in doing 90% of the work by myself

Between June and November of 2002 ....

I bought some grey concrete paint and painted the floor and conc blocks. ( I knew nothing about epoxy floor paint back then)

I then ran some wire for outlets and then I decided that I wanted to drywall the ceiling and use 8 of the 8ft. commercial type tube type fixtures for lighting. I also added an old window air conditioner that I had given to me.

Then I insulated the walls with R-13 and finished the walls with dywall also.

 

[EZ SPEED]

And finally I insulated the ceiling in January of 2003.
I built a shelf to put a 25 inch TV on, and played around painting flames and a waving checkered flag on my wall.

 

[autoist]

Nice wrok...you should run out sometime & give me a few hints.

 

[wagonmaster]

Looking good to me. I like the roll up doors, when you have more than one and you don't necessarily raise all of them every time you work in it.

 

[EZ SPEED]

Nice wrok...you should run out sometime & give me a few hints.

Looking good to me. I like the roll up doors, when you have more than one and you don't necessarily raise all of them every time you work in it.

Thanks to you both!!

 

[EZ SPEED]

Fast forward about 2 years from Jan 2003 to Feb 2005

During that time I bought a 80 gal 2 stage compressor, ran some air lines, put up another 27 inch TV onto another corner shelf, bought a small Eastwood Powdercoater and got a free oven . Added phone, cable TV, microwave, forced air propane heating.

Then I bought a Kwiklift lowrise style lift, and house type garage doors and electric openers to replace the rollup doors.

Here are some more shop pics with the lift

 

[wagonmaster]

Still lookin' good Eric. How do you like the Eastwood powder coating rig? I need one for various projects, but waiting until I move after retirement in two years...
May end up as a neighbor of yours!

 

[TheShrine]

Neat space! Lots of room, where did you get the flags around the ceiling?

 

[autoist]

Hmmm...like minds! I've got the yellow QuikLift...& there's a guy in Mobile who sells a real nice 4-post lift at a reasonable price.

 

[fotoflojoe]

And finally I insulated the ceiling in January of 2003.
I built a shelf to put a 25 inch TV on, and played around painting flames and a waving checkered flag on my wall.

Nice work!

If those flames and flags are the result of "playing around", I can only imagine how good the results are when you're serious!

 

[EZ SPEED]

Still lookin' good Eric. How do you like the Eastwood powder coating rig? I need one for various projects, but waiting until I move after retirement in two years...
May end up as a neighbor of yours!

Love the powdercoater !! I powder coated anything metal that would fit in my oven !! I havent used it in a while but looking forward to another project so that i can use it. Sounds great on the retirement !!

Neat space! Lots of room, where did you get the flags around the ceiling?

Flags came from someone on ebay. I used a hot glue gun to secure them

Hmmm...like minds! I've got the yellow QuikLift...& there's a guy in Mobile who sells a real nice 4-post lift at a reasonable price.

Glad you like your Kwiklift also, most people dont realize what great little lifts they are until they use mine ..he he he
I just sold my 2 post lift a few months ago (posting pics soon), and plan on getting a Bend Pak 2 post in a couple of months from a company out of Mobile and eventually plan on getting a 4 post also in another year or so.

Nice work!

If those flames and flags are the result of "playing around", I can only imagine how good the results are when you're serious!

Thanks !!

 

[Ray-CA]

I like my Kwik-lift as well. I wish I had it earlier in my car build. But it is a great tool, especially with the second bridge that I bought. It allows me to pull all four wheels at once when needed. For those looking for a four-post lift, Kwik-lift has one as well.

Ray

 

[EZ SPEED]

I like my Kwik-lift as well. I wish I had it earlier in my car build. But it is a great tool, especially with the second bridge that I bought. It allows me to pull all four wheels at once when needed. For those looking for a four-post lift, Kwik-lift has one as well.

Ray

I also have 2 of the center bridges so that i can pull all 4 wheels

 

[EZ SPEED]

I found some more pics of the build that I scanned in.

 

[sirswank]

nice work. i really like the lights around the perimeter of the ceiling. gives it a car dealership look. very professional.