Above 1200 Sq/FT The Ten Pound Garage

[bctexas]

Hi all! I retired at the end of 2016 after 43 years with the phone company, mostly in IT. We've moved 3 times in those 43 years, finally landing in the DFW, Texas area. It's just the wife and I living in the 2900 sf home where we raised two sons. They are out of college, employed and living on their own so the Bank of Dad is officially closed. Time for new digs!

Our current house has an oversized 3 car garage. But we have four cars (two daily drivers and two toys). So with three cars in the garage plus toolboxes, metal lathe, milling machine, parts washing tank, table saw, workbench, drill press etc, there is no room. It's the proverbial 10 pounds of candy in a 5 pound bag.....

When I retired, we started looking for an existing house with a shop (or room for one), or property on which to build. My wife wants a big kitchen and walk-in pantry and we had no luck finding an existing home. We finally scored a 2 1/2 acre lot in Aubrey, TX and construction is underway! We are building a 2150sf home with a 2 car garage, and a 40x50 metal shop. I'm finally going to get the 10 pound bag. Thus, the Ten Pound Garage!

Anyway, the slab for the shop was poured about 2 weeks ago, followed by some very cold weather that held things up. The steel for the shop is to be delivered this Wednesday. They predict completion around the 17th! It may take a week or so after that to get the garage doors for the shop installed. It will have a bathroom in one back corner. In the other back corner we will build a 12x13 enclosure with its own 8x8 exterior door for my wife's gardening stuff. In the front corner will be a counter and bar sink, kegerator, small fridge and a big screen TV. Once the dust settles, a two post lift will be going in.

The slab for the house should be poured this week, and completion of the house is predicted to be April 19. We'll see how that goes. In the meantime we are busy making selections for brick, roofing, paint, etc etc in addition to sorting, tossing, donating and packing stuff from our 27 years in this house. We want to move our stuff to the shop (or into storage) and camp in temporary housing pretty soon so we can finish off the inside of the house (paint and flooring) and get it sold.

So far nothing to show but 2000sf of concrete. I'll post some construction pics soon! Till then, here are the two toys.

Been reading the Journal for a couple of years now. Endless inspiration and entertainment. Thanks to the folks who manage the forum!

Regards,
BC in Texas

 

[LXCam]

Well best of luck on the new digs and congratulations on shutting down the bank so you can forcus on the important things in life.......like more track days for your toys

 

[bctexas]

Thanks LXCam!

 

[J4mes]

Subscribed! Really like the sound of the plans and the toys, you can't beat a 4AGE screaming!

 

[txst]

Congrats!

I think I met you several years ago when I was at Motorsports Ranch in Cresson. Does your Caterham have an S2000 engine it and is just over 1000lbs?

 

[bctexas]

Thanks J4mes! Mister Two is an old friend - we are the original owners.

Hi Txst! I have run at MSR several times, but the last time was a few years back. My car is actually a Birkin, not a Caterham. It has a stock Zetec and a Miata gearbox. The weight is about 1230lbs soaking wet. Once we get settled into the new place I really want to go back to MSR again and run a couple of autocrosses too. Hope to see you at the track!

The S2000 powered cars you mention were likely WCM Ultralites. They were built by a fellow named Brian Anderson in Lancaster, TX. He sold the business some years back and no new cars have been built since.

BC

 

[zmotorsports]

Congrats on building your retirement home and shop.

We were in the same situation, with the exception of being retired, about a year and a half ago when we actually found the home of our dreams and on the perfect lot and in the perfect neighborhood which would allow us to build my 50x60x16 dream shop/RV storage.

We now have our "forever home/property" and love it. I wish you and your wife the best in creating her dream home and your dream shop.

Looking forward to the pictures.

 

[Terranova]

I'm not gonna lie, I was initially drawn in by the name of your thread....

My garage thread
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=256086


Looking forward to checking out the progress

 

[txst]

Cool car - I meant to say the Ultralite was just over 1000 lbs. That thing was an absolute rocket!

Good luck with the project!

 

[bctexas]

Thanks Mike! I'm skimming your build thread - 91 pages! - great stuff.

Thanks Terranova! I searched for "Ten Pound Garage" and found no other instances so went with the name. Didn't think to look for Five Pound! I am also planning home build cabinetry for the shop. Will be studying yours for inspiration!

Txst - yup, the S2000 drivetrain works great in those cars. Unfortunately, the S2000 gearbox is quite large so it won't fit in a Caterham or Birkin. Brian designed the Ultralite chassis around it. In fact, stuffing a Miata gearbox in my car took a fair bit of surgery on the transmission case but it does fit - just.

Steel delivery is scheduled for early this morning, with construction of the shop starting too! Inspection of the foundation prep for the house was supposed to be yesterday - don't know if that actually happened.

BC

 

[bctexas]

Well, some progress last week. Steel was delivered, and the shop frame is partially completed. But mother nature is now standing on our air hose. Between cold, wind and winter precip, progress on shop and house are at a standstill. Oh well, it is what it is. We're staying plenty busy packing and working on selections for the house.

 

[bctexas]

Progress! Finally the wind has died down and the temperature has come up so they are back at work. The slab for the house was (finally) poured today. The shop should be done tomorrow - except for the garage doors. The metal building company does not manufacture garage doors so rather than subcontract it, mark it up and add it to the cost of the building, they have you get your own vendor. I shopped around and ended up with the same company that has worked on the garage doors in our current home. They should be out Tuesday.

My house contractor was there today and he flew his drone to get some overhead pics. Interesting!

More as progress warrants!

 

[bctexas]

Hmmm - pics didn't show up - one more try....

 

[Stellaontap]

Looking good....nice big shop! How big is your lot? We have just recently been able to close the bank of Dad too....we have 3 kids all done school and starting their careers.

Congrats

Eric

 

[bctexas]

Hi Eric, and thanks! We are on 2 1/2 acres. My wife is a gardening nut so she now has plenty of room.

Congrats on the successful launch of your offspring!

 

[ap2002]

looking forward for the build....we also purchased 2acres last year and planning on building a home a shop soon... looking forward

 

[bctexas]

The Ten Pound Garage is officially mine! Construction is complete, and the keys are in my pocket! Next is hvac and floor coat. Meeting the hvac guy to do the planning tomorrow morning. I'm not going to step up to do a 2000sf floor myself. I have a floor guy lined up who will do a wet diamond grind and single color epoxy job.

Then there lights to hang, frame up walls for the perimeter, garden room and bathroom, wiring, plumbing, cabinets, lift, moving the mill and lathe, move everything else - oh and move the household. Sheesh, I thought retirement was going to be relaxing.....

 

[marklc]

Maybe do your overhead stuff before finishing floor so you don't scratch it or drop something on I while working ? Just a suggestion. Looks great!

 

[bctexas]

Thanks Marklc! Doing the overhead work first is great advice. But I need to get the floor done so I can park a couple of my cars there. That will make room for me to start packing up the garage at our current home. Right now I have no place to stack packed boxes. Both of the cars have minor oil leaks, and I don't want to take any chances on oil stains in the new concrete.

 

[marklc]

Gotch ya , good luck!

 

[bctexas]

Finally, progress. Construction of the shop was completed Feb 1. The next step was to have the floor coated. But humidity and/or temperature made it impossible. We had a very, very wet February. Finally, it has dried out. My floor guy has done the diamond grind, has the primer coat/water seal down, and the first coat of epoxy. He has suggested that we get at least some of the construction done, and the AC rough in done before he puts on the final layer. He tells me that any damage likely to occur during the work will be easier to repair that way. Works for me....

So yesterday my buddy Pete helped me (well, truth be known I helped him as I have never done this before) pull my ethernet and coax through the conduit from the house to the shop. Getting the fish tape through about 85 feet of conduit with some bends was a bit of a challenge, but Pete knew some tricks to make it work. We also finalized plans for the bathroom and garden room, and will start on those today.

The house is progressing. They are almost ready for insulation. Looking like a mid-May move in....

 

[RacerX]

Finally, progress. Construction of the shop was completed Feb 1. The next step was to have the floor coated. But humidity and/or temperature made it impossible. We had a very, very wet February. Finally, it has dried out. My floor guy has done the diamond grind, has the primer coat/water seal down, and the first coat of epoxy. He has suggested that we get at least some of the construction done, and the AC rough in done before he puts on the final layer. He tells me that any damage likely to occur during the work will be easier to repair that way. Works for me....

So yesterday my buddy Pete helped me (well, truth be known I helped him as I have never done this before) pull my ethernet and coax through the conduit from the house to the shop. Getting the fish tape through about 85 feet of conduit with some bends was a bit of a challenge, but Pete knew some tricks to make it work. We also finalized plans for the bathroom and garden room, and will start on those today.

The house is progressing. They are almost ready for insulation. Looking like a mid-May move in....

That floor looks awesome! Congrats! I hope to build one similar someday.

Sent from my hammer and chisel using Tapatalk

 

[bctexas]

Hello again from Aubrey! Sorry to have dropped the ball on posting. Thought I would get caught up. As I mentioned, we decided to do the majority of the construction work in the shop before finishing the floor. First up was building the bathroom and garden room. Instead of a separate garden shed, I had an 8x8 garage door put in the back of the shop, and we built a 12x13 room in the shop. Next, we added 2x4 framing on the perimeter walls. This gets us to about the end of March....

 

[bctexas]

Next, the AC was roughed in, and then lights and electrical wiring were done. I went with a 4 ton heat pump, mounted on the roof of the bathroom. With that work complete, it was time to complete the floor and hang the OSB on the outer walls. Finally, around mid-April, we could start moving things into the shop.

 

[bctexas]

The driveway was poured May 17th, and on the 31st I had riggers come move the lathe, mill and scissor lift to the new shop. He has a fork lift that fits in a residential garage and they did a great job moving my stuff. We finally moved into the house on June 6. The last pic is a couple weeks later, but the shop was pure pandemonium until I had some time to start organizing.....

 

[bctexas]

So, the walls are now painted, and I've been able to finish most of the construction type stuff. The walls are painted and the bathroom is done, along with most of the "man-cave" type stuff. My oldest son got a new TV and I got his old 55 inch. Added a full size fridge, and installed Lowe's unfinished kitchen cabinets along with a bar sink I bought on Craigslist. The network has been up for a while now - I have an access point in the shop connected back to the router in the house via ethernet. The cabinet above the workbench is one I brought from the old place. The one next to the workbench I built here.

 

[bctexas]

I picked up a couple of shelving units from Lowes and got a bunch of stuff off the floor. Still need to finish organizing the machine shop area. If I had planned a little better, I would have run power for under-cabinet lighting over the workbench. I'll get that figured out. Still need to sort through the rest of the "stuff" and stash the longer term storage on the top of the garden room. In the meantime the beer is cold, the ac and stereo are on and garage life is good!

Oh, and we built a house too - it turned out just as we had hoped so SWMBO is happy too.

 

[bctexas]

Sorry, the third pic in that last post was a repeat.....

 

[zmotorsports]

Looks great. I love the movin' in pictures. Shop has turned out great.

 

[bctexas]

Thanks for the kind words! Moving in was pure pandemonium. The painters were still working on the baseboards, so we couldn't assemble our bed. After a very, very long day dealing with loading and unloading of moving trucks, we ended up spending the night in a motel. The next night, we just flopped the mattress on the floor and stayed home. What a zoo. And the stories involved in the construction of the house could be a thread of it's own.

 

[AA7483]

Shop looks awesome! I just finished mine after a long year and I'm finally getting moved in and aet up. What a great feelimg!

 

[zmotorsports]

The place is looking fantastic.

 

[wazzza]

That shop looks awsome! I love your floor. Do you have some sort of friction-additive in it?
I would love a shiny floor like yours but my experience is that shiny floors are extremely slippery with snow and ice... Dont know how much of that you have tough.

 

[bctexas]

Hi Wazza, my apologies I didn't mean to ignore you - just saw your question this morning. Yes, the floor guy added abrasive to the mix before rolling it on and it is not at all slippery. We are on the northern fringe of the DFW area, so not much ice or snow, at least none since we moved here so cannot comment.

Thanks for the kind words all!

 

[wazzza]

Hi Wazza, my apologies I didn't mean to ignore you - just saw your question this morning. Yes, the floor guy added abrasive to the mix before rolling it on and it is not at all slippery. We are on the northern fringe of the DFW area, so not much ice or snow, at least none since we moved here so cannot comment.

Thanks for the kind words all!

No worries, thanks for the reply. Sorry to bother you with questions about flooring, but how rough is the surface? Can you use a Wiper (best translation I could find) on it or do you need to use a brush?

Here is a picture of what I mean.

 

[bctexas]

The only things I have ever used were a broom and a mop. The type of mop and wringer bucket is in the pic that I found on the net.

I googled a bit and found the tool you show. I think that would work fine, but don't have access to one to test.

 

[wazzza]

The only things I have ever used were a broom and a mop. The type of mop and wringer bucket is in the pic that I found on the net.

I googled a bit and found the tool you show. I think that would work fine, but don't have access to one to test.

The wiper is a great sweaper for garages etc because it does not swirl up fine dust like a normal brush would typically do.. I think there is a fine line between slippery floors were a wiper is super and a floor with friction-additives were a wiper would not work because of the roughness of the surface. Yours looks like the middle.