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My Modest Texas Garage

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Speed4Life

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Jan 27, 2014
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Hey all. I just joined up and thought I'd post a few pics. I read about GJ last week on an automotive forum that I frequent, and decided to check it out. It's an awesome place with a ton of good info. Although, my 21x18 pales in comparison to most of the shops on here. Everyone's working on something right?

When I bought the house a couple years ago the garage had sheet rock and was taped but nobody ever floated the walls or ceiling so when the interior of the house was painted I had the garage walls done. I made it clear to the painter that I had just purchased a garage, and the house came with it so the garage walls were the most important. I didn't like the first attempt so he had to redo it.

The only major things I've done beyond the walls is building a workbench with my dad and installing ceiling lighting. It had one pathetic bulb that that fell far short of providing good light to the whole area. I wanted a smooth clean look so I skipped the fluorescent lights and put in 7 cans with a 750 lumen Cree LED light in each. I also mounted an occupancy sensor in the ceiling so when I open the door from inside or out the lights kick on. When I leave the garage they kick off after a few minutes. The lighting is much better now.

My next major project is the floor and the small storage area off to the right side. Trying to decide what to do with it. Any ideas? I'm thinking shelves all the way up, or a place to sit down low with a shelf or two up above. I'll stop rambling and post a few pics now. It's pretty messy right now due to the tear down of the Mustang, but is normally nice and neat.



















 
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rixtrix1

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About the same size as mine, but I've had 20 more years to accumulate too much stuff. Walls and ceiling look great, but do you really have enough light? Keep it as organized as possible and it will be more pleasant to work in. Try to get as much as possible up off the floor, either with cabinets or shelving that allows big items to be stored on the bottom.Nothing really new in this, just a collection from thoughts expressed here on GJ( that I hope to be doing myself in the next few months as I clean out my space). BTW, what do you have to spin those drag radials with?
 
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Speed4Life

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Kevkx125 said:
Nice project, try to keep it simple and organized. What year is your t-top and what are your plans for it?
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It's an 86 GT. I've had it about 10 years and I'm actually getting rid of it. I would have preferred to sell it whole, but needed the cash for a few unexpected events so selling it off a piece at a time was the way to go. Someone asked about the drag radials. There were on the Mustang. I hate to see it go, but at the same time I've always wanted a 66 Nova. That's what I'm working toward now.
 
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Speed4Life

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Rixtrix you asked if I had enough light. Not sure if you were joking or not, but here's one with the door closed and the lights at full brightness.

 
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Speed4Life

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Thanks dubber. I'm lovin that GLI and the garage is lookin sweet as well. The black and stainless on the cabinets tie in with the floor perfectly.
 
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Speed4Life

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GJ has inspired me to tackle my garage again. I got my dang workbench cleaned up and useable again.

 
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jsherid1

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A great canvas to work with--I like the recessed lighting and the general layout--so much potential here, keep at it!

The exterior shot reminds me of our old neighborhood in Plano, are you in the DFW area? There seems to be quite a lot of us here on GJ.
 
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Speed4Life

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jsherid1 said:
A great canvas to work with--I like the recessed lighting and the general layout--so much potential here, keep at it!

The exterior shot reminds me of our old neighborhood in Plano, are you in the DFW area? There seems to be quite a lot of us here on GJ.
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Yeah, I'm in Frisco. I make my way out to Lucas once a year for fireworks.
 
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MacTexas

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The good thing about having a messy workbench is that it looks so good when it is clean.

How long have you had your LED lights? I had a problem with my LED flood lights, one half of the LED's on two of the bulbs did not light after 6 months.

One more question. Does your driveway face an alley?
 
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3v0

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Nice space. I would build some overhead storage along the walls. Get some of the less used stuff up off the floor.
 
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Speed4Life

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MacTexas said:
The good thing about having a messy workbench is that it looks so good when it is clean.

How long have you had your LED lights? I had a problem with my LED flood lights, one half of the LED's on two of the bulbs did not light after 6 months.

One more question. Does your driveway face an alley?
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I've had the LED's for nearly two years with no issues. I pulled up the decking in the attic to redo it and cut the cans in and wired them up to the electrical that was already in place for the single incandescent bulb. I was worried when I put them in that they would be too bright on max power so I wired in a Lutron dimmer. Turns out they are perfect at full power, but the dimmer allowed me to also add an occupancy/vacancy sensor to the system so I never have to hit the switch. The lighting project took all my funds for decking the attic so it still needs done. I figure I might as well insulate it though before I put new decking down. As far as LED lights go I only buy Cree. They are spendy but they are the best. These ones have massive heat syncs on them. Each one puts out 750 lumens and they only draw 11 watts each. So I have 7 insane lights operating at the cost of just over a single 75W incandescent. Sorry for the novel but I thought you might like the info.


Yes the garage is in the back and does face an alley. I'm right in front of the spot where it T's off in another direction so there's tons of space for maneuvering cars, trailers etc. the only thing I hate is that my driveway is very sloped so when my garage is occupied long term by a car I can't do any car repair that involves jacking a vehicle up.
 
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Speed4Life

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3v0 said:
Nice space. I would build some overhead storage along the walls. Get some of the less used stuff up off the floor.
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That's the plan. I've been going crazy ever since I moved in because there is no storage space. There were a few shelves with L brackets up when I moved in, but they had been highly abused. Oddly enough I helped install the shelves many years previous when my oldest brother owned the house. He sold it in 2002 to the people I bought it from. It happened to be on the market in 2011 when I started looking so I snagged it. I'm currently looking for a shed for the backyard so I can move the mower and other related yard implements out of the garage. My backyard is pretty small and all the prefab sheds **** so it's slow going.
 
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jsherid1

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Thanks for the tip on the Cree bulbs, I have been wondering about what brands seem to hold up as we will have some can lights that are quite high up and changing them will be a PITA. With respect to the storage, Costco has really nice and heavy duty metal shelving--we left a few sets in my old garage in Plano as I really didn't feel like moving them.
 
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rixtrix1

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Speed4Life

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Yeah Rix, the door was open in the other one and was blocking 2 of the lights and the natural light coming in made it seem dimmer.

Thanks rbn54. I built the bench with my dad last time he was in town. Bolted the whole thing together so I can break it down easily and take it with me using minimal space.
 
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MacTexas

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Granbury Texas
I don't mind the novel the info was of interest. I am going to have to try the Cree LED bulbs.

Will be following your progress.
 
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