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Between 265 & 485 SQ/FT Nick's Two-Car Detached Vdub Garage

Workspaces sized between 265 and 485 squarefeet.
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nicholam77

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More progress:

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Next step will be to cut and frame the gable vents I think.


Took a "custom" approach for the lights as I couldn't find any accessory pieces that would fit well, and found some white wood grain 3/4 inch vinyl boards to mount the exterior lighting to. Need to set the nails, fill and paint the nail holes, still.

Also moved the boxes for the lights up a couple inches and centered them.

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Lastly I added an exterior outlet and waterproof cover. Will come in handy for plugging in the leaf blower, or if I ever get a pressure washer, etc.

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My makeshift vinyl cutting workstation:

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Not sure if I will keep it but kinda cool LiquiMoly flag I found on ebay:

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:beer:

-Nick
 
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sdavis622

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Looking good! I like the vinyl boards for the lights and outlet, they turned out nice and it looks like it was supposed to be that way.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
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racestatus

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I dig the vinyl boards for the lights!! much better than a surface mount setup.

im no expert but I think that exterior outlet is suppose to be gfi?
 
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nicholam77

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sdavis622 said:
Looking good! I like the vinyl boards for the lights and outlet, they turned out nice and it looks like it was supposed to be that way.
Click to expand...

racestatus said:
I dig the vinyl boards for the lights!! much better than a surface mount setup.

im no expert but I think that exterior outlet is suppose to be gfi?
Click to expand...

Thanks!

Upon further research it looks like your right about the outlet. I'll probably swap it out when I get a chance.
 
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nicholam77

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Front gable is done. Still have the back gable and shed side to do. But now the final outcome can be visualized from the below angle:

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I cut in a small gable vent:

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Will add a vent in the back as well.

I'm liking the way it's looking so far.

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Don't think I've ever shared but you can see the back of my house / back yard in this pic, and my MONSTER silver maple tree:

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Yes, the garage is white and the house is yellow (also vinyl), but they are both double 4" laps and I think they match much better vs. before.

One last shot at dusk with the exterior lights on:

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M-technik-3

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I like it and I'm sure the plywood interior wall stiffened up that structure. What did you reclad the exterior in?

Did not see a source of heat in there, plan to add it at a later date?
 
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nicholam77

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Thanks! I didn't replace the exterior sheathing. I had planned to replace it all with 7/16 OSB, which I purchased and is sitting in my garage, but most of the existing sheathing looked ok so I decided not to. It's a fiberboard material, not as good or strong as OSB would have been, but it would have been a LOT more work to replace it all, so I just replaced a few sections near the bottom that had damage.

I do like the plywood on the interior a lot though, and am planning on painting it up nice.

I would love a source of heat being in MN but not sure what the best approach is since it's detached. I have a torpedo style propane heater that works well enough but requires ventilation. My electrical service in the garage is only 110v, and I don't have a gas line or anything. Any suggestions are welcome.
 
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crab

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You will need more power at some point, put 100 amp service out there and use an electric heater that hangs from the ceiling, they're a couple hundred bucks for one that would do everything you need. That's what I have and it just takes about half an hour to get it warm in the winter when it's 15 degrees outside.
 
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nicholam77

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Added a second drawer unit to my tool bench last night. Need the extra storage and thought I better pick one up in case it gets discontinued.

Can't wait to finish up this vinyl and landscaping and get back to working on the interior.

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nicholam77

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nicholam77

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In lieu of garage stuff lately I've been trying to finish off a bathroom project I've been working on, on and off over the past 6 months.

This is what it looked like when we moved in a year and a half ago:

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It's hard to tell from that pic but the bead board around the walls was in rough shape, and the vanity and top and mirror were kind of ugly.

So far I've:

- Replaced the toilet with a more contemporary looking high efficiency model
- Stripped all the bead board and smoothed out the walls
- Removed the old vanity, mirror, towel bars, etc
- Added 1/4 turn shutoff valves to the sink supply lines (no shut offs existed before)
- Removed medicine cabinet doors and filled holes and dings
- Primed and painted walls and ceiling

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Still some work to do but at least it's starting to take shape.
 
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M-technik-3

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While it's vacant now might be the time to do a large wolfsburg or VW logo on fresh paint. I did bmw TriColors on one of my walls. Still looks good.
 
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Stuart in MN

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For some reason I've never looked in on this thread until today - it's funny, even before I saw the location in your signature I could tell just by the pictures of the alley that you're in Minneapolis. ;) The garage looks really nice, you've done a lot of hard work.
 
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dubber

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About time you paint the inside of the garage hahaha. I can remember when i first painted my single garage interior in white. With good lighting it felt huge!
 
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nicholam77

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M-technik-3 said:
While it's vacant now might be the time to do a large wolfsburg or VW logo on fresh paint. I did bmw TriColors on one of my walls. Still looks good.
Click to expand...

Not a bad idea.

Stuart in MN said:
For some reason I've never looked in on this thread until today - it's funny, even before I saw the location in your signature I could tell just by the pictures of the alley that you're in Minneapolis. ;) The garage looks really nice, you've done a lot of hard work.
Click to expand...

Thanks! It kind of started out as a turd, but I'm trying to make it work for me since I love the neighborhood and don't plan on moving anytime soon. Kinda wish I had an attached with proper driveway for security and extra space, but the alley life it is, for the foreseeable future. It's funny how the locals can pick out the location. Think I had another person say the same thing earlier.

dubber said:
About time you paint the inside of the garage hahaha. I can remember when i first painted my single garage interior in white. With good lighting it felt huge!
Click to expand...

I know, I've been procrastinating :D. And just plain busy with work and other projects. Hopefully getting this out of the way will get me excited to whip the rest of the interior into shape this fall and winter.
 
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nicholam77

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Phase II of painting:

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Went with a cool gray on the bottom. The idea was to have a bit darker color on the bottom to help hide dirt and contrast with my red bench and accessories, and white on top for good light reflection. Going to have a blue stripe cut through the middle. Will put gray vinyl baseboard at the bottom to tidy up the uneven plywood edges.

The paint looks splotchy in the pics because it's only partially dried. Probably needs another coat anyways.
 
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nicholam77

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Finished the blue stripe last night. Man that was a PITA! Came out pretty clean though. Really happy with the colors.

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I also added some vinyl baseboard (can be seen in progress on back and left side above, and on door pic below).

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Still need to fix the door frame and trim out the door.

Also picked up some Leviton stainless steel face places for all the outlets / light switches.

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Lots to do yet, but stoked on the progress!
 
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nicholam77

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nicholam77

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M-technik-3 said:
Leaving the floor alone? Or is that down the road?
Click to expand...

Yeah, leaving it alone for now :(

Maybe later in life I will get a crack at a new (bigger!) garage with new floor, but for now I don't feel it's worth the money to truly fix this one. Even if I did something like fill the cracks and epoxy over it or paint it would still be very uneven and obvious. Racedeck is also very expensive and the cracks are too uneven for that as well. It's ugly, but it doesn't prevent me from doing anything I use the garage for, so for now I think I'll be leaving it the way it is.
 
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nicholam77

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Latest update is I recently added a rain diverter to my shed in order to help with water control.

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Also added some foam gutter sponges which you can see are keeping the leaves out.

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The plan is because the garage and shed are so tight together, this will route the water off the back of the shed instead of letting it go between the two buildings. Then in the back I have dug a rudimentary trench out to the alley for relief. I hope to come up with a better solution that's more permanent (French drain??) next season. But this should get me through the winter.

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nicholam77

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Nothing major but here are some photo updates of what I've been up to lately since I haven't posted in awhile. Apologies in advance for the long and pic heavy post. Wait a minute... that's what Garage Journal is for, right? :bounce:

First, some winter prep on the GTI. Fresh oil and swapped the wheels over to winter setup.

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With the car lifted and the wheels off I took the opportunity to clean the calipers and wheel wells, as well as spray Fluid Film everywhere!

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Then I thoroughly cleaned the summer wheels of brake dust and put them in some new OEM VW tire bags I picked up. Matches my blue wall stripe.

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Finally, I did an exterior detail. Chemical Guys Citrus Wash to get it nice and clean, then did Mequiar's OG Clay Bar, followed by another wash, and then sealed with Chemical Guys Jet Seal. It was my first time claying and the car is only a little over 2 years old. Not a ton of gunk came off but it was still worthwhile. The sealant was very easy to apply and after all was finished I honestly think the paint looked better than when it was brand new! The sealant is also supposed to hold up much longer than a traditional wax.

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I also finished my upstairs bathroom remodel (new toilet, sink plumbing, vanity, mirror, lights, deleted wainscoting and smoothed walls, new towel and toilet paper holder, painted everything, added baseboard).

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This little California Air Tools compressor is GREAT for doing finish nailing inside the house. Makes baseboard so much easier.

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And lastly I got Xmas lights on the house this past weekend. First time! Ordered some old school incandescent C9 bulbs online. Quite happy with how it looks. Got an Xmas tree up as well.

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:thumbup:

-Nick
 
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MK5CNY

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Nice! I hope to be this far next Summer. Closing on our house in 2 weeks, similar size garage, for the Mk6 GLi and Mk5 Rabbit.

Remember to replace your plastic handle extinguishers. There's a recall.

Sent from my VS987 using Tapatalk
 
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nicholam77

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MK5CNY said:
Nice! I hope to be this far next Summer. Closing on our house in 2 weeks, similar size garage, for the Mk6 GLi and Mk5 Rabbit.

Remember to replace your plastic handle extinguishers. There's a recall.
Click to expand...

Thanks, and congrats on the new home! It's been a lot of work for me (I've done a lot more stuff on the house not pictured in this thread) but it's kind of fun to be able to make decisions on how you want things to look and function.

Good to know on the extinguishers.
 
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nicholam77

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A few more updates / Xmas goodies:

I picked up two Gladiator wall boxes when they were half off recently. I like them. They aren't the premium ones so they don't have locks but I am just planning on storing detailing supplies and other lightweight items in them like batteries and chargers.

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Will probably put something in between them (like a shelf, wall control board, or small flatscreen TV), but haven't decided yet.

I also got a vice for Xmas. It's a Yost 5 1/2 inch. It seems heavy duty and well-built. I know vices are a heated topic on Garage Journal and based on some of the vices I've seen on others' build threads I'm sure there are those who would frown upon buying a new vice made in China. But... honestly 99% of what I do in the garage is car or house maintenance and light woodworking projects (don't even have a table saw yet). So I feel like it will suit me well for the casual use it will get. And I like the blue color :D

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I haven't bolted it down yet because I am planning on building a miter saw bench on the other side of the back wall (hopefully soon!) and I may integrate it into that.

On a tool related front I picked up some awesome Milwaukee drill bits. The have hex bottoms so they lock into a drill real nice. Especially with the smallest bits I used to have trouble with them slipping or falling out. This completely solves that.

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Last update is a fireplace mantel project I've been working on. The old one was a piece of **** -- just a bunch of irregular boards glued together and loosely nailed into the grout of the brick.

I am planning on painting the brick white, and then I built this simple box beam mantel to replace the old one. It's mitered on 3 sides so it looks like a beam, but hollow. This way I can conceal cords inside if I ever want to mount a TV or sounder or something. The top, bottom, and side caps are maple, and the bottom and ribs are pine. Going to be finishing it with a non-yellowing water based poly for a light, natural look. Will attach to the fireplace via a French cleat.

OLD MANTEL:

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NEW MANTEL (in progress):

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st4ngster

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Europe
wow, i really like what you did with the bathroom.
you have some serious skills and great taste.
 
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nicholam77

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hatzo1 said:
Nice setup. I saw your garage on the MK7 Forums. Small world.
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Thanks! :beer:

st4ngster said:
wow, i really like what you did with the bathroom.
you have some serious skills and great taste.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the kind words! I don't know about serious skills (especially compared to a lot of the people on this forum :D) but I am learning with each new project. There is so much more I want to do to the house... but it definitely feels good to check a project off the list and enjoy the results.
 
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nicholam77

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Finished the mantel over the holidays. Had to use woodfiller in the gaps as my miters didn't fit perfectly together, but I think it turned ok. Overall I'm happy with it.

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Now I REALLY want to get rid of the carpet in there. Eventual plan is oak hardwood.

I also started the miter bench in the garage.

I used this post as a guide for the construction https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=85769 (thanks!)

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I liked this design because the front face is flush. It's 24 inches deep. Still need to build the other side, and then they will be bridged by a 3/4 inch quality plywood top. Miter saw will sit in the middle and then will be adding a raised fence with measuring tapes and stops. The left side will have a shelf underneath at the bottom (framing of that pictured) that will hopefully store a compact table saw someday as well as an upper drawer for more tool storage. The right side will house a shop vac and dust cyclone. In the middle underneath the saw will be a bin for cutoff scraps and some dust collection tubing.

Will wait until it all comes together, but still trying to figure out how to finish it (i.e. should I paint parts of it?).

I'd love to get back at it but temps in MN have been in the negatives for over a week and my wife's car just got rear-ended so I'm in the middle of trying to get that sorted.

Hope everyone had a great New Year!
 
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