Between 265 & 485 SQ/FT Woody's Works Garage

[Denwood]

Thanks Sub. The CRV damage upon closer inspection today after a wash is more than it would appear. The rear bumper area over the hitch is crushed and pushed in on the driver side quarter, rear door was pushed in by impact to the spare, driver's side taillight and lower marker light. So given what I know about Honda parts and body shops..about $5000. We'll see on Monday after a quote or two.

 

[Matias]

As you said, good thing that wife and daughter are ok. And the Kia driver had insurance etc. so you will get the CRV back in shape on his expense (his insurance)?

I'd like to see my girls enjoying anything in my garage. Currently, if they have to be there, they mainly stay if they can watch something on the tablet

 

[drivesitfar]

Woody: sorry to hear your CRV was in an accident and happy to hear your girls are ok. i always like looking at your girls playing or hanging out or even working in your garage. fun times

cool little mat you made to wipe off your feet on.

hope you are having a great weekend (other than the CRV issue).

 

[Denwood]

Matias, we have "no-fault" insurance here in Ontario, but the insurance companies decide who is at fault with respect to rates, etc. In this case, as the other drive admits her foot slipped off the brake and she failed to stop, our rates should not be affected at all, and our deductible will be waived. My wife and 7 yr old had zero complaints of soreness etc. the day following, so I'm happy.

Drive, my 12 yr daughter loves the garage as a private hang out when her friends are over, and my 7 yr old is very enthusiastic about "projects" as along as she can get her hands dirty. Those are two great reasons the shop is a success in my book With the Racedeck pad, they immediately drop their shoes/boots (not sure why, other than it looks pretty clean) and go to town in their socks. The EPDM/Racedeck floor is much warmer on their feet than concrete evidently.

It looks like the overhead disco light will need to be permanently wired in. Ha.

 

[drivesitfar]

Woody: i just got back from the Seahawks game and saw your post. even though the Seahawks won your post made me smile more. better get that disco ball wired up and also so it can be lowered and raised.

cheers

 

[DarrenF]

For reference, here is the standard Racedeck ramp edge vs the solid 12' length ramp edge. Not sure if it's listed at all on their site but I can tell you that it's a hard to find profile..and their (RD) price is good.

The standard ramp edge (thanks Dubber

The solid ramp edge, suitable for containing water. I found a reference to it by Jorgen in an old post here on the journal, sent him a pm... and Melanie at RaceDeck was able to fix me up.

My assumption is that any protruding loops from the border tiles will have to be trimmed off. More next week...

I could use about 10' of that solid ramp edging for my little workshop. do you have a part number and could you ballpark a price for me? Thanks

 

[Denwood]

Darren, I would give RaceDeck a call (ask for Melanie) and reference this thread. I should mention that what I got was not exactly as pictured. It was closer to 2", and had less of a top lip. I'll take a pic and post it. I believe the price for 12" was under $50...so a lot less than "Tsunami" Seals.

 

[DarrenF]

Thanks Dennis. a 4" wide piece would be ideal. I didnt even know such a thing existed. Looks like some online flooring suppliers have similar products.

 

[Evolution-VII]

epic project...

 

[Denwood]

Darren, there are several other products out there that I found, both aluminum, and PVC. Bare aluminum is out for me due to the salt it would see. The Schluter product is anodized so would be ok.

Schluter reno ramp.
Tsunami Door Seal
PVC ramp edge.

I also found a wide range of aluminum profiles at our local "Quality Door" wholesaler which were displayed on a wall. They sell them as threshold ramps and get them in 12ft lengths. The one I looked at was $6/ft. If you google "ramp thresholds" you'll find more from flooring, carpet and tile specialists.

Evolution...thanks If I read your signature correctly, you're from Brazil, yes?


This morning saw our second snow. The Missus asked me to go out early and scrape her car. There was of course no need as a warm car was waiting for her in the shop.

I will admit that I had first "sold" the garage project to my wife on the premise that she would have a civilized place to park when it was -35C outside. An observant person would note that the project started in October of 2014, and the shop was unusable for winter parking (without a flood) until this week. I haven't been looking so good...until this morning

Last night I got the green light to start on the basement home theater project. I've got a 10'x20' foot room currently serving as an office space and play room for the kids. Once done, it will be a family room with a 90" screen, projector and 5.1 audio system. Should be fun The screen, AV equipment etc. is already in the inventory, so the project is more about labor, and less about cost.

 

[drivesitfar]

Woody: love to hear when the General is happy even though her perfect CRV has a couple dings from last week.

i've wanted a movie room since i saw one at our STREET OF DREAMS million dollar homes 20 or maybe 30 years ago now. we even designed one on top of our existing home and then my wife got pregnant with twins. still not sure how that happened, but they both came out with raincoats on so maybe there was a reason.

anyway if you want to ad a movie room to the thread it will become even better in my opinion.

i bet you liked not having to brush off snow and scrape off the ice off the windows of her CRV too so congrats and hope the water goes where you want it to.

cheers

 

[Denwood]

Drive, the pad is working very nicely indeed

One thing I've noticed though is that the Missus needs a bit more help lining things up when backing in at night. I also have been searching for some lift column pads, and found only one product out there.

I wanted something that would be quickly removable, and very visible. Canadian tire had some thick urethane (firm) exercise pads on sale, and the local fabric store had some iron-on reflective tape and blaze orange fabric. I couldn't find a color to match the yellow in the shop...so the orange will do. We use rare earth magnets a fair bit in production, so I had plenty of those kicking around. I've never used the 3M spray adhesive before, but was quite happy with it's performance.

Step one was to cut the foam to fit, and add an extra layer to give the corners extra padding. I taped the glued up bits to the columns overnight so they would set to the column shape.

Step two was to crazy glue 4 magnets to each inside edge of the foam, apply the 3M adhesive, and fit the fabric while the glue remained tacky. My cross country ski wax iron came in handy to iron on the reflective tape. 260F, and a damp towel over the tape worked well to activate the iron-on glue while protecting the tape itself. The fabric is wrapped around the edges, so keeps the magnets secure as well.

These should address visibility and door dings as well

 

[drivesitfar]

Woody: the Misses didn't hit the lift's poles did she? i'm sure there is a good reason why she is backing in and not pulling in frontwards so nice fix with the bright orange sleeves you made.

hope all is well in your world and hopefully you are almost ready for those -30 degree winter days.

cheers

 

[Denwood]

D, no contact yet, just a few askew park jobs. We always back in to the shop as backing out, one would be blind to crossing lane traffic. It's more or less dark here at 5:30pm as we approach Dec 21, so the reflective pads along with the interior motion sensing LED will make backing in through the 8ft door easier as well as easy exit from each side of a parked vehicle.

 

[sublime68charger]

Very nice work love the hi vis color!

 

[captainkarl]

What spacing do you have your maxjax columns anchored at? Your setup continues to impress!

 

[drivesitfar]

Woody: makes sense to me. next thing you'll probably figure out how to do is have the lights turn on when the garage door opens. great work as per usual on thinking of and designing a fix to a problem. also probably a good safety feature when the girls and their friends are dancing and playing on the new floor.

have a great week

 

[Denwood]

Thanks Sub. Would have been nice to find a "safety" yellow, or perhaps black in that material. Either way, the kids won't miss these.

Captain, 120" apart, measured from the closest facing edges of the floor plates. This gives decent room for the car doors when parked, and has been fine so far for a Westfalia van, Honda CRV, Ford Edge, and Audi A3. If parked in the right spot you can open the front doors fully with no contact, and have near full opening on the rear doors as well.

Drive, there is the one motion sensing LED over the roll up door. I have to turn it off (on same circuit as roll up door) so it stays dark for the disco lights. Ha. That motion sensing LED works great as also fires up if someone enters at night via the "man" door. The shop lights don't get touched if just pulling in or out of the shop.

 

[IONH]

Gorgeous garage, nice accomplishment!

 

[CodeRedZ]

Drive, the pad is working very nicely indeed

One thing I've noticed though is that the Missus needs a bit more help lining things up when backing in at night. I also have been searching for some lift column pads, and found only one product out there.

I wanted something that would be quickly removable, and very visible. Canadian tire had some thick urethane (firm) exercise pads on sale, and the local fabric store had some iron-on reflective tape and blaze orange fabric. I couldn't find a color to match the yellow in the shop...so the orange will do. We use rare earth magnets a fair bit in production, so I had plenty of those kicking around. I've never used the 3M spray adhesive before, but was quite happy with it's performance.

Step one was to cut the foam to fit, and add an extra layer to give the corners extra padding. I taped the glued up bits to the columns overnight so they would set to the column shape.

Step two was to crazy glue 4 magnets to each inside edge of the foam, apply the 3M adhesive, and fit the fabric while the glue remained tacky. My cross country ski wax iron came in handy to iron on the reflective tape. 260F, and a damp towel over the tape worked well to activate the iron-on glue while protecting the tape itself. The fabric is wrapped around the edges, so keeps the magnets secure as well.

These should address visibility and door dings as well

Nicely done.

 

[Denwood]

ION, thanks for the compliment

Code, thank you. The pads work very nicely. Instead of the kids worrying about car door dents, the doors can be opened fully until contact with the pads. Makes entry/exit a ton easier.

 

[CodeRedZ]

ION, thanks for the compliment

Code, thank you. The pads work very nicely. Instead of the kids worrying about car door dents, the doors can be opened fully until contact with the pads. Makes entry/exit a ton easier.

or them running into them ;-)

 

[Denwood]

Funny you say that, but my girls pretty much take over the garage when friends are over, turn out the lights, crank the tunes, and fire up the "dance" lights. My youngest immediately threw cartwheels on the Racedeck first time she saw it. No question the 2" of polyurethane foam will be pretty easy on people too

 

[Denwood]

Network access to my shop has been a bit of pain since doing the shop renovation. I tried a simple wifi extender, powerline (LAN over house wiring) and recently the Netgear EX7000 wifi extender. The EX7000 was the best performing of those efforts, but in my shop, about 50 ft from our house, the speed was only about 8 Mbps.

If you're eyes glaze over when reading networking tech, stop reading now Otherwise, there's a few things to think about if you'd like fast internet/LAN access in your shop.

Going back about 14 yrs, I had run a gas line to the shop and at the same time buried 1" waterline with 2 x CAT5 cables run through it. These have been left completely exposed to weather, coiled up at each end. A quick test of both lines last night (using my LAN analyser) showed surprisingly that they were both just fine. It was time to drill a few holes, including through my basement concrete walls, and sort out proper LAN connections to the shop. My 7 yr old daughter got a quick training session on using a LAN cable tester and was a great help fishing/pulling LAN cable through the basement ceiling, and testing the runs once terminated.

As usual I learned a few things, and sorted out at least one existing LAN wiring problem in my home network which turned up during testing. In terms of the speeds you see here, keep in mind that a CAT5 LAN cable plugged into a Gigabit ethernet switch is good for a maximum of 125MB/s, or 1000 Mbps. Previous to today's testing, I've never seen more than 120 Mbps from a WIFI connection...so finally some significant speed advancements from newer 802.11AC wifi tech. Surprisingly, my iPhone 6 plus has 802.11AC capabilities and showed very impressive performance when connected via WIFI to the Netgear EX7000 extender/access point.

First of all, there are a few iOS and Android apps that are very useful if you're trying to tune up your wifi network. Ookla's "Speedtest" is handy for quick tests of your internet speed. To test how fast your wifi access is to your local network (LAN) "Wifi Sweetspots" is very handy. You can use this app to tune up an existing wifi installation by testing speeds as you re-orient external antennas, and/or reposition your WIFI router or access point. I found a surprising difference can be made in weak spots in a house or shop by getting a helper (my 12 yr old was happy to help today) by just rotating the WIFI access point or router 90 degrees, and reorientation of the external antennas. If you have an Android device, Netgear's Wifi Analytics is free, and puts the iOS apps to shame. It will let you tune up your access point location, adjust channels and examine surrounding Wifi signals to avoid interference. It's excellent.

The pleasant surprise is that 802.11 AC wifi combined with the iphone 6 plus means I can finally play 1080p files from my NAS directly on the phone over WIFI. My kids will be happy.

Finally, proper LAN connections in the shop!

The old Wifi access point.

The new EX7000 extender/access point.

Speedtest is good for testing max internet speed. You may want to run this from a wired PC/MAC to set your baseline.

Netgear's Wifi Analytics on Android = awesome!

"Wifi Sweetspots" on iOS makes wifi speed testing easy. If you have an older router or access point, you may want to replace it, even if you're just using 802.11G wireless.

The new EX7000 is twice as fast over plain old 802.11G

Wireless N speeds were similar on both access points...much faster than G.

This result shows how much faster again 802.11 AC is. I'll be adding another EX7000 in the shop.

Hope that all makes sense.

 

[jbmatth]

Way over my head, but seems as though you've made some quality upgrades to your system that will pay dividends for a while to come. I may have to try learning more about wireless speeds in the future, but the longer I wait the further behind I become. Computer/tech people impress the heck out of me.
JB

 

[Denwood]

JB, I used to run a computer business, worked for the federal gov't for 8 yrs as a systems analyst..and now take care of all of Cinevate's IT needs. I wash dishes there too

Like all trades, you tend to learn a bit more every year, and constant learning is part of the deal. A few hrs of wifi testing and playing with new hardware has been educational for me. My 7 yr old took a piece of terminated network cable with her to school so she could show her teacher how she spent a few hrs helping her Dad. We had 10 minutes of dance time in the garage before her bed time to test out reliable Spotify music streaming

On the wifi thing, the basic takeaways are this:

1. A wifi extender like the EX7000 performs far better than anything I've tested to extend wifi. For some, this would be all that is required.

2. If you have a smartphone that supports 802.11AC wifi, a new access point like the EX7000 will be much faster than wireless "N". We store all of our family pics and movies on a NAS connected to the home LAN. With AC class wifi I was able to finally view HD footage directly on my iPhone 6 Plus. Slide shows of higher res pics work flawlessly as well.

3. If you can run CAT5/6/7 cable to your shop, do it! Plug a switch/access point like the EX7000 and you'll have both fast wifi and 5 LAN ports to plug other bits into.

 

[sublime68charger]

Nice work Denwood!

can you stream me now!

Good!

 

[bj383ss]

Another great update. Love the photo of the cat5 plugs next to regulator!

Bret

 

[JohnnieMo]

Great update. I am running CAT6 out to my shop in the new conduit I put down. However I think my home wifi router has enough range to cover the distance for portable devices.

Thanks... I learned stuff

 

[larry_g]

...................cut

Hope that all makes sense.

I still have point ignition in a couple of rigs, these other types befuddle me.

lg
the poor humorist

 

[1/2 Cup]

Thank you Dennis, great explanation.

We are about to get our National Broad band network here, we are currently on ADSL over copper so I am looking at what system enhancements I can do here.

Regards

 

[Denwood]

Nice work Denwood!

can you stream me now!

Good!

Sub, in a few yrs...probably Now did you remember to drop a LAN line in with your power cable?

Another great update. Love the photo of the cat5 plugs next to regulator!

Bret

Bret, it's tucked in behind the door so the regulator more or less shields the LAN box Your garage is looking pretty amazing btw. You must be quite stoked to get in there.

Great update. I am running CAT6 out to my shop in the new conduit I put down. However I think my home wifi router has enough range to cover the distance for portable devices.

Thanks... I learned stuff

Johnnie, I learn so much from these forums, I'm very happy to spend the time posting up information in the spirit of sharing. I'm happiest learning new stuff too

I still have point ignition in a couple of rigs, these other types befuddle me.

lg
the poor humorist

I hear you. I had to spend $400 on a cable and software to do even basic service on my A3 TDI. Thank goodness for youtube and the web That's a big reason for LAN in the shop.

Thank you Dennis, great explanation.

We are about to get our National Broad band network here, we are currently on ADSL over copper so I am looking at what system enhancements I can do here.

Regards

1/2, I'm always looking for a nice mix of performance, and power efficiency. With all of your solar panels, my guess is you're looking for the same. I've become quite "dependent" on solid tunes in the shop, so any network issues drive me crazy. It's very nice now...can even use the "extreme" setting for Spotify to stream at higher bandwidth. Quite happy with the results.

The EX7000 AP is on sale right now for $40 off ($129) at Best Buy in Canada. Got a credit on the first one, and added a second for the shop

 

[sublime68charger]

Denwood no lan line at this time!

When the trench gets redone next summer for the wood boiler lines I'll add the lan lines then!

 

[Denwood]

Well, it took me 15 yrs or so to terminate already buried LAN/conduit. You're already ahead of the schedule

 

[Matias]

Hi Denwood,

Looks good, and those speeds are great!

In our old house, we had ADSL, which was company provided, so it was probably a 2M/1M (download/upload). Now that I moved, we have the opportunity to have fiber optic. I already have the cable in my house. However, the local electrical company wanted to be the middle, so the connection would cost a nice $2500, plus over $40 month for maintenance. That's still without any internet connection or TV... Needless to say, I opted for a new possibility in our company, I have the 4G connection. Usual nights, it's around 10-20Mbps (speedtest.net), during the day I can get 40-60.

But, I don't get the wifi to the garage, so I put a Cat5 like you. I don't know yet if I'll have wifi or only Lan in the garage, as the cellphones already have internet connection.

You really have now good speeds in the garage. Now you can put a screen and projector and have a movie cinema streaming from the house

 

[Denwood]

Matias, I'd run fiber and offer Internet service to a few neighbors . Thunder Bay telephone is the last municipally owned telco in Canada. They're running fiber, so at some point I'll dump the dual WAN connection (it's about 60Mbps aggregate) and go with fiber.

Most cell phone plans here in Canada have a data cap, so we have them connected via wifi whenever possible. The APs in the house and shop are set at the same SSID, but different channels. For the first time ever, we now have fast and stable connections anywhere on our 60'x150' lot.

I have an extra few PCs kicking around, and an older 47" 1080p LCD to spare. The shop already has a 5.1 audio system, so I'm debating now if I should throw a screen in there. Come to think of it, we have a 120" projector screen at the office virtually unused. Hmmm. The kids already like dancing in there..imagine the reaction to a 120" screen and summer movie nights. The 802.11AC wifi is fast enough to reliably stream 1080p videos to virtually any device.

 

[sublime68charger]

Well, it took me 15 yrs or so to terminate already buried LAN/conduit. You're already ahead of the schedule

My old house I had wood boiler in garage that heated water to heat the house.
When I dug the trench for the wood boiler lines I put in conduit line with 2 lan lines and a coaxial cable as well.

Never hooked them up before I sold the house but the next guy did!
It was on my to due list!

 

[nwdustin]

Welp, we bought our house about five years ago and it had this "dinky" shed in the back that is 16x24 and I dreamed of the day I could demolish it because it wasn't big enough to do anything....
Yeah, that dream has changed a bit, hahahah. Thanks for all the motivation and inspiration. I just looked through about 30 of these pages and can't wait to start working on my "dinky shed" in the backyard, lol!

PS Somehow wandered onto this thread through some random google searches and had to join once I got through this thread!

 

[drivesitfar]

Destroy: your dinky shed is maybe even bigger than Denwood's so you picked a great example to shoot for. we're a pretty friendly group and some of these guys and gals have designed or owned some of the products we use daily so if one of those sees a question you might not know you are talking to the inventor.

looks like you are in my neighborhood too so best of luck and hope you get the shed or garage weather tight so you can start it's transformation.

cheers and welcome to GJ

Woody: i'm still dealing with a crashing laptop, but doing my best to find time to make a few posts and read some of my favorite threads. i saw all your Wifi and technology stuff and while I don't understand all of it i do know that you have improved your situation that might not have been great or at all before you did. Now you already are getting DAD OF THE YEAR for GJ and you still are gathering points. that 120 inch screen TV or projection for movies and such for the girls and their friends along with the race deck flooring and the music you can hear down the block should make you and them the hit of the neighborhood. nicely done and looking forward to you completing that project and posting pictures

thanks for joining me (us) on our weight loss quest and hope you had a better weekend than i did. i'm still trying to not see the ice cream left here from Thanksgiving that's sitting in both our freezers.

cheers

 

[Denwood]

Des, congrats on making it through 30 pages It's great that you could find some inspiration in the shop. I found the GJ the same way as you after googling scissor trusses as a solution for more ceiling height.

It's very tempting to just tear down existing and build bigger, but we've worked hard at improving the usability, comfort and quality of existing spaces across our home and shop. The 16x24 looks pretty small from the outside, but feels quite spacious inside. Vaulting the ceiling to around 11ft on a 16 x 24 footprint gives an expansive feeling to the space. There's a great book series, "The Not So Big House" which favors smaller, high quality spaces over square feet. Just as we employ LEAN principles at the business, the same concepts of simplicity, purpose and function can be applied just about anywhere.

What google searches ended up bringing you to this thread? Just curious

Drive, I ended up breaking in a new pair of walking shoes, got a few new blisters and did just fine on the quest this weekend It's been crazy warm here, hitting 8C and sunny over the weekend. Normal lows are -14C (7F) for this time of year. I'm cleaning up the basement to prep for an external wall "gut" and spray foam...so the nice weather has been great.