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First home one car garage.

golgothan

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Mar 25, 2015
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Location
Durham, NC
Its been a busy 2015 for me, and as a long time nameless lurker on GJ I decided to join and start actually contributing, especially now that I have a garage.

The wife(we were engaged when we bought the house, got married in 3 weeks ago after 8 years of being together) and I purchased our first home back in October but didn't really move in till December as we wanted to take care of a few things in the house before we moved in. First off I'll admit, I'm a horrible photographer and pretty bad at documenting things via photograph.

Here are some pictures from the ad we got the house from.
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The house has a sweet yard, but it NEEDS work. I'm a huge stickler for yard stuff and the drainage is all sorts of wrong not to mention the soil is a little ehh and will need to be taken care of. Nothing crazy but still something else to do. I did correct some drainage by putting in a french drain over the winter for the back yard. I still need to drain everything to a rain garden on the side of the house, I'll wait till it's cooler for that. This fall I plan on pulling out the Bosc Pear Tree and replacing the bushes with Hydrangea and Gardenia.

The wood floor in the place were in pretty bad shape, but the actual wood is pretty nice, it's 7/8" oak tongue and groove floors that cover everything but the back two bedrooms.
Lots of sun staining.
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and scratches
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but nothing a few beers and a huge sander can't fix.
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And on the first day we moved in the floors were pretty set.
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but the garage was not.
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However I had to start making some stuff for the house right away. Made a rustic bench for the foyer from a beam reclaimed from an old house.
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Did the whole thing with a hand saw, hand drill, a plane, and chisels. It turned out nice for what basically $40 in materials in a not adequate garage in 20 degree temps.

So any way, I insulated the garage walls and hung some drywall and painted everything and got one photo. I promise to be better about the photo stuff.
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I hung up a couple lights just sort of a test to see if it would be enough, it's not. I think i'll need to hang about 4 more sets.
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But it is getting better, steady improvement is nice.
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I picked up a 59 Craftsman roller that needed a "light scuffing"
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The color is certainly not correct, but I wanted to do some fun colors in the garage.

So then some life events occurred, I needed to impromptu replace the starter on the e91.
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Then went and got married.
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And after 15 years I was reunited with my first guitar that had gone missing in the shuffle of life. Felt really good.
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Got back from the wedding and had a week off so I thought I would build a bench, hey why not right? End of the first day I lag bolted a 2x4 to the wall and started to rough out the shape.
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Here is the "finished" toll box, its a little dusty in the picture so the finish looks weird.
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The other wall I neglect to show.
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and I hung a cabinet for chemicals and what not.
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So that's where I am now, with a one car garage I have to be smart about space and stuff so I can't really do everything I want and it requires a little bit of compromise. The future plans include putting up more lighting, peg board for tools. I need a solution for hanging all my porter cable stuff. I need to put a storage area above the garage door. I also plan on building a shed to get the yard tools out of the garage. I've contemplated doing the floor but I just don't think it's worth it to me at this point. I of course have to paint a bunch more stuff and flesh out my tool collection a little more. As I have projects and work on the garage I'll make sure to keep this updated.

I also want to thank Mavawreck for all his help.
 
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captain14

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Welcome to GJ .

Is that a fold down workbench? If so can you provide materials list. Another member just posted photos of his that folds up exposing the underneath. Questions were raised in that thread about making it fold down leaving the top exposed so you could maybe mount a vice or tool to it.

Can you post some closeups of the design?
 
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golgothan

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Mar 25, 2015
Messages
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Location
Durham, NC
I'll take some pictures after work but here is a sketch I drew in a minute to give the basic idea.
IMG_20150721_122727072_HDR_zpscbnsw8x2.jpg

The the process for holding it up would be determined by your situation. For me on one end I have an arm that that swings around and down to rest on top of the ledge of the foundation. On the other end is a 3/4" dowel that is stuck into a 3/4" hole that I can take in and out. As long as the table is slightly longer than it is high you could hide swing down legs and use a string for them to deploy/retract themselves. A third option I like to call the Ikea is possible too.
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But yeah, I wanted that extension so I could use this guy.
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MagicMarker

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Aug 20, 2014
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NJ
Good luck.. we closed on our home in Oct and trickled in through December. Always tons of work that needs to be done. I've begun focusing my efforts on the garage as well.

I would def say build a shed. I have a pretty big shed and all of my garden tools go in there... the garage is only for cars and related items.
 
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golgothan

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Durham, NC
So here are more pictures, the build material I needed was 2 4 inch lag bolts, 2 flush mount door hinges(didn;t feel like cutting 2 mortises), no clue how many 3.5" Wood screws, 3 2"x4"x8's, 4'x26" 3/4 plywood, 1"x3"x26" of teak(thats just what I had, well I have a bunch of Morado too) and a 6" piece of dowel.
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Ignore the gas lines and drywall, I still need to handle those lines and put drywall behind them and paint. But I'm pretty happy with the bench, it sits perfectly level and it can support my fat *** when I sit on it. That said I have a little more tinkering to do on it. I want to change the pivot point on the leg to something more substantial and cut the top a little straighter before I put chemtop2 on.

But first I'll take care of this White Cypress that's being held up by my fence that it decided it wants to test the strength of after the storms we had recently.
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golgothan

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Durham, NC
Not much to update with as I've been working in the yard a lot and doing stuff around the house, but also helping friends with their stuff and going out.

Anyway, painted the cabinet then the wife came and painted it too, in a decidedly less uniform way.
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I also started painting the bench, but ran out of paint, Valspar evening sable in eggshell.
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I also modified the table and installed a t-track and stainless bolt with brass washers for the pivot point, because that's what I had laying around. I contemplated installing oil light bushings and then decided lets not try to over do this one too. I still have to poly the bench top but I did start the stairs.
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Fun fact, there is phosphorescent powder in the poly so it glows a bit, which is nice at night when you come in and it's really dark.

They were throwing out a fan at work so I decided to mount it on the ceiling temporarily as I still have to fix the ceiling and I'm thinking about putting a set of pull down steps as their is quite a lot of space above the garage that could be used for storage.
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Looking at this picture I'm reminded I need to make that door look less disgusting.And do something abotu the water heater, I've been thinking I could either box the tank in or go to tankless.
 
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dubber

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Welcome! Congrats on the recent new 'Single' garage/home, along with the wedding. Also cool to see another VW fan on here.
 
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golgothan

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Welcome! Congrats on the recent new 'Single' garage/home, along with the wedding. Also cool to see another VW fan on here.

Thanks! Yeah I love VW's, right now is the first time in 15 years that I don't have one VW in the stable, but the wife is looking at new cars and I keep trying to push her into a mk7 gti. I also like Volvo's and BMW's
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bro's
 

coykiam

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Mar 6, 2014
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wow looks awesome...you just made a single garage feel bigger.

I still need to work on mine till then I'll just envy dubber's ex single garage..lol
 
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golgothan

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Yeah, I have to make as much of the space as possible just to get all my tools in. I think I am most definitely going to put a small shed in back.
 
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golgothan

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Small update, I've been busy with everything else so I haven't had a chance to really do any more improvement on the garage. But I did accomplish a few things. I polied and painted the whole work bench/stairs unit.
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I had to re do some paint on one of the cars, I haaaaatteeee doing autobody work as it's so tedious, and I didn't get any after pictures but it came out really nice one I painted it and replaced the rubber.
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I had to do this as the wife wanted a new car to replace the Volvo, and she's been jealous of my BMW so, we got her this.
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Fresh off lease and well maintained, I'll let some other sucker take that new car hit.
At least it fits in the garage.
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dubber

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Congrats on the new addition to your stable. What BMW are you rocking? My dad used to have a 2001 S60 T-5. I really enjoyed the ride in it..... Minus the horrible steering radius lol...
 
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golgothan

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I have an E91.
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The S60 turning radius is pretty bad, but once you put a tune on them they are pretty quick.
 

dubber

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/\ Big fan of those. I've longed for a proper wagon for awhile, ever since being a kid with our V70...... Still want a V70R with a stick. ;)
 
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golgothan

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The wagones are nice, I can basically treat it like a small truck but with better gas mileage and better handling.
 
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golgothan

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Baby steps, painted the trim and the door, boxed in the water heater, left the top and bottom open like you should to account for backdraft. The free fan I got showed me why it was free by burning out a bearing, yay. So I'll need to get a new one and find a better placement.
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I will be on the look out for a compressor, router table, table saw, MIG, and a bench grinder now that the bones of the shop are getting sorted out.
 
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golgothan

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Realized I hadn't posted anything on here in a while but I did make some more progress. Epoxied the floors redid some electrical, bought a lot more tools, and finished the Kitchen.I've had the house for a 1.5 years and I've redone 2 bedroom and a kitchen so far, next I'll be building a shed in the back, thinking 10X15, just something to hold a motocross bike and yard tools, but also a couple wood working tools. I intend to build it like wone would build a house so that I can protect everything from "shed life" aka rusting, bugs and animal feces. the yard work has been killing me trying to fix ten years of neglect.

And some pics.
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Kitchen when we first bought the house last year.
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Omce I started to tear the old cabinets off the wall I was kind of committed
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But I did finish it.
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Including the floors. I went with Cali Bamboo flooring and it's really nice but it eats blades.
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I promise as I start the shed and the bathrooms I'll try to take more pics.
 

hnsy

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Great job on the wood floors and the bench

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
 
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golgothan

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A little update, I've been super busy this summer with yard work, and getting this place it to some sort of shape that is respectable. It's funny how you can move into a move in ready house then spend the next year and a half working on stuff for it. Thankfully the plumbing, HVAC, and electrical in the house are good. Unfortunately the bathrooms have all the makings of the mid 90's and the room flow does as well. Might have to remove a wall in this house at some point to make the rooms flow a little better. Anyway.

So I love to garden as well and I was really stoked about this house having a Fig tree, Plum tree, Pear tree and lots of roses on it. I'm not a fruit person but I like to make jams and liquers using the different stuff to give out as a gift. I need to set my still back up at some point so that I can start making hooch again. I don't sell the stuff and I make under the legally allowed amount so I'm in the good with the local police officer that I live next door to, sad face.
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So far I've gotten a lot of tomatoes, beans, squash an d cucumbers for making pickles, made about 8 of these suckers.
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Had a friend ask me to make him a wrench for holding some old gun and he brought me the tool he bought off of some forum, I had to ask him if he seriously paid for this **** when I first saw it and he was worried it wouldn't fit. After doing a 3d print of the gun piece that needs held I was like, yeah no **** this isn't going to work. So I as a friend am going to try and salvage this tool he paid for and make it work. Ugh.
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Also I've been making furniture for around the house. I neglected to get a lot of photos per my usual stance on things. Did an A-Frame shelf for holding bric a brac for the wife. Ended up finishing it with Briwax Dark Brown. I'm a big fan of natural finishes.
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Also made some sling back chairs for going to the beach or camping or whatever, I really like the old style sling backs even though the modern stuff is lighter and more compact.
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And now I'm to the stage of building/putting together 3 42"x48" book shelves for a friends sports memorabilia. I asked if it was participation awards and good job medals, apparently people actually do enjoy sports and collecting. Who'da thunk it. Please ignore the gaps, I snapped this picture to give the guy and idea on what it will look like when it's done. It's pretty much standing like this with a couple pieces of tape and it's own gravity.
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Also had my one year anniversary, wife got me a clock made of mostly paper (Paper and time pieces are apparently first year gifts) I ended up making her a locket.
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Just a little update, I know I'm bad at the actual garage updates but I'm just super busy, Once it cools off a little more I'm going to finally paint the damn garage the way I want it and finish the lighting and another storage shelf or 5, and finally the stereo and tv/computer monitor mounted on the wall.
 
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golgothan

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Also, I kinda had to laugh at myself but I needed a router table to do one cut, I typically don't like to use router tables as I find them annoying and then at the end i'm not happy with the results and up using a plane/molding plane to fix it. Anyway, I had a few pieces of plastic left over from a job building a sign decided to ghetto fab up a table. Here's a picture and a song to go with it. Also don't stare directly at the garage door, a replacement is on it's way.
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turbowoodworker

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Apex NC
I had not seen your posts before but I like what you are doing. I am right down 751 from you with similar aspirations, but I have never seen a Volvo do a burnout! Looking forward to more posts and pics.
Rick
 
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golgothan

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I had not seen your posts before but I like what you are doing. I am right down 751 from you with similar aspirations, but I have never seen a Volvo do a burnout! Looking forward to more posts and pics.
Rick

Hey thanks and yeah I'm up off Barbee in South Durham. Go down to Apex time to time to a garden center down that way.

Nice projects you got going on there.

Thanks, I really wish I would detail how I build things more, I just get in the middle of a project and think "what do I have to to to finish this and make it look good" then several hours and a few beers later it's done.
 
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golgothan

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Durham, NC
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Finally done with those book shelves. Now with that I can actually start making something for myself. Starting this upcoming weekend I'm going to build shelving in the garage, you can never have enough storage.
 

jp828108

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Like the build and what you have done in the house. Look forward to seeing some more updates.
 
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golgothan

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I have not been doing anything in the garage really as I've been busy with yard stuff. During Hurricane Matthew we had 10 Leyland cypress come down and damage the fence. Which then became no power for two days and then almost three weeks of me fixing things in the yard.
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First tree down, no biggie. But then four more came down, and I got the point.
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I ended up having to run out in the middle of the storm to brace the other trees as those were aiming towards the house. Here is a picture of that two days later.
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So the neighbor and I ended up ripping out all the trees which wasn't that bad, one of those right tools for the job situation.
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And I got to rebuild maybe 80' of fence in total. I was able to reuse a lot of stuff which is nice cus ten panels would have been pricey and it would have looked odd too.
Then to reward myself I sold the E91 that I just never fell in love with and bought a mk6 from a guy that was looking to get out from under the car so I got a great deal on a car I know was maintained well. He lowered it on H&R super sports and Koni's and I got it flashed to APR Stage 1 and did the front end stuff the last two weeks. I plan to go Stage 2, down pipe, and intake.
Here is a pic the day I brought it home.
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and one week later.
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dubber

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Nice score. I'm a fan of the yellow fogs. Recently did that same thing on my Jetta. Does it have leather or the plaid seats? Did you already order clear or smoked side markers? :)
 
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golgothan

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Nice GTI!

Thanks! Wanna drive it?

Nice score. I'm a fan of the yellow fogs. Recently did that same thing on my Jetta. Does it have leather or the plaid seats? Did you already order clear or smoked side markers? :)

I haven't ordered any side markers for it, just an intake. Taking it to get checked to see if it already has a tune on it over the holidays, I suspect it does. Put in a Revision D Diverter Valve. If it is tuned I'll buy a downpipe and exhaust. It sits on HR Sports and Koni's so it handles nice.
 
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golgothan

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Nice mk6. It's sitting perfectly on those H&R's (IMO). Manual or DSG?

I have an mk7 and it's been fantastic.

Cheers!

Thanks, yeah I think it's low enough for sure.

I wanted a manual, but it's a DSG and I have to say I really like the DSG shifting style.
 

dmw16

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Nov 29, 2011
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291
Nice GTI. I had a 2008 Mk5 w/ a DSG and put a lot of miles on her. Was a great car and I really liked the DSG especially after they recalled the mechtronics unit.

Glad to see other 1-car-garage-warriors on here. You can get a lot done. I've rebuilt one race car car from the ground up and then after that one got totaled have another one that's cared for out of my 1-car. Just gotta fight the good fight and make use of the space you have.
 
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golgothan

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Not much of an update as I have been mostly playing guitar and doing other house projects, but I did make some more room in the garage. I think the car fits in there pretty well.
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Interesting to see the before and after.
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Not in the picture but I switched to 8 Led Can lights in the ceiling and I really like it, very bright, and the light quality is very nice too.

I also used one of the old fluorescent lights to hang above the work bench.
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I also decided to paint the top of the workbench with White Rustoleum as it was getting pretty beat up from all the projects. I think it came out really nice and it seems very durable.
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