Finnish 2-car garage build, by-the-book

[1/2 Cup]

Matias

Parts 1,2,3 & 4 great stuff

 

[Mikkeli]

Huge update! Can you post more photos of your garage to get better general view of garage in it's current state? Maybe even panorama photo?

Ikea cabinets are looking really nice, something to think about...

 

[drivesitfar]

MATIAS: WELCOME BACK BIG GUY!!

great updates and thanks for the pictures and stories.

in case you didn't know you might want to put a cover over the girl's sandbox cause around here the cats and other critters like to turn it into their personal crapper.

sorry to hear you had to be the side of the road pit crew to keep your bike running, but thankfully your skills kept you moving instead of having to sit in the wrong part of the country waiting for someone to fix it.

your landscaping looks AWESOME and not like you just built your home and shop a few years ago and hope you like it.

thanks again for posting up your progress and pictures.

 

[JohnnieMo]

Great updates! I did a trip to Estonia in December a few years ago. It has made me wonder about what summer must be lake. Gorgeous country. I've also always wondered the history of that little detached chunk of Russia. Your sentiments have helped fill out my understanding a bit. Just seeing the price of fuel alone tells you a lot. Over here in the west we often forget that Russia still really is a 2nd world country. They are made out to be far more spooky than they actually are.

As for the garage, I love the Ikea cabinets. They must be good value in Finland. I have them in my kitchen and considered them for the shop too. As for the washing machine, that is brilliant. My wife has my head anytime I wash my coveralls or car towels in the house. Now she sends me to a laundromat.

I don't think I realize you had plumbing in your shop. Is it attached to the house? I can't remember.

 

[Matias]

Matias
Parts 1,2,3 & 4 great stuff

Thanks 1/2!

Huge update! Can you post more photos of your garage to get better general view of garage in it's current state? Maybe even panorama photo?

Ikea cabinets are looking really nice, something to think about...

Mikkeli, I'll take a panorama when I've got the shed up (see photos below) and stuff moved into the shed so I have it back to normal with space for two cars For the Ikea cabinets, I'll comment below.

MATIAS: WELCOME BACK BIG GUY!!

great updates and thanks for the pictures and stories.

in case you didn't know you might want to put a cover over the girl's sandbox cause around here the cats and other critters like to turn it into their personal crapper.

sorry to hear you had to be the side of the road pit crew to keep your bike running, but thankfully your skills kept you moving instead of having to sit in the wrong part of the country waiting for someone to fix it.

your landscaping looks AWESOME and not like you just built your home and shop a few years ago and hope you like it.

thanks again for posting up your progress and pictures.

Sure, thanks Drives. Actually there is a cover for the sandbox, it's from wood and two pieces so that the girls can lift it off themselves. And it's exactly for that reason, we have had a cat pee on some snowsledge once which was left outside, and it stinked for a long time..

The trip was great, and actually as I've made it home, it will be a more exciting tale to tell with those incidents. Also, I'm happy I brought all the extra stuff and tools, so I could always try something. That was something that made me continue. I think that without those, after 5-10 shutdowns I would have called it quits and tried to find a van or something.

Great updates! I did a trip to Estonia in December a few years ago. It has made me wonder about what summer must be lake. Gorgeous country. I've also always wondered the history of that little detached chunk of Russia. Your sentiments have helped fill out my understanding a bit. Just seeing the price of fuel alone tells you a lot. Over here in the west we often forget that Russia still really is a 2nd world country. They are made out to be far more spooky than they actually are.

As for the garage, I love the Ikea cabinets. They must be good value in Finland. I have them in my kitchen and considered them for the shop too. As for the washing machine, that is brilliant. My wife has my head anytime I wash my coveralls or car towels in the house. Now she sends me to a laundromat.

I don't think I realize you had plumbing in your shop. Is it attached to the house? I can't remember.

Johnnie, yeah, the baltic countries have changed a lot in the last years. We have been going there since 2004, it wasn't usual for Finnish or other tourists going even to Estonia. In small villages the kids came to wave the motorcycles, and there wasn't motorcycles to be seen during the whole trip. In Russia, everything was bureacratic, and it was funny getting stamped receipts from everywhere, just like in China. Kaliningrad is a big town, still many of the smaller streets were without paving with holes that could fit the whole front tyre, so you needed to be extra careful while driving.

I looked at Ikea cabinets because a) price b) could get them black, for me a must in the garage c) you can really configure what you need. They were really easy to assemble, and to attach to the wall. I checked beforehand, and I had a horizontal frame going at around 2,2m height, that's why I have the shorter upper cabinets to be able to attach them there. Otherwise, I would have taken the longer ones which would arrive at the same level on the top as the big cabinet on the side.

 

[Matias]

Had to boot the laptop again before continuing as it started doubling most characters while typing, really annoying.

So regarding the plumbing, when we did the ground work for the house, at the same time we put the drain pipe in the garage, as well as pipe for water. Those can be seen in the previous page where there is the photo related to the epoxy. You can see the drainage ventilation pipe in the back which I had to insert in the big cabinet, the drain pipe coming out of the floor and also the black tube for the water, which was not attached to the water in the house at that point.

I actually at that point put also drain pipe and flexible tubing for water under the kids playhouse. In around 5-10 years when they are bigger, the playhouse will go and we will put a outside sauna cabin on that place

Week ago, my wife would have a workday on saturday, so decided to go with the kids to see my parents in their cottage at the seaside just to gather some energy back. Was there friday-saturday, but I managed to do a lot of stuff with the kids: visited a chocolate factory on the way in, then fishing, rowing and mushroom gathering. We got many fish and found a couple of mushrooms which we made a sauce out of to go with the fresh fish in the evening dinner. Here's a pic of me and my dad putting out the net.

 

[Matias]

And now again a pic post

So this arrives a week ago on Monday:

It's a shed where the walls are delivered prefabricated in elements. So worked all evenings on the base. You can see here that I had a big square of good foundation/rocks put in place when we put up the house, but the grass was coming on to the area. You can see that under the grass there is only 5-10cm (2-4") of soil before the rocks.

It took me 3 evenings to just take out all the grass and everything that had started to grow on the patch during the last couple of years. My brother was coming to help me with the shed on Saturday, but I was only at this point on Saturday noon, as Friday evening I spent some hours on getting the electrical wire passed in the tube from the house to this place, and from here to the playhouse:

BUT THEN, it turned out to be a surprise 40th birthday and shed work party! My wife had secretely invited her sisters and their families come over, and of course my brother and my sister and her husband. I had told her a couple of weeks ago that even if I would like to have a party for my 40th, I'm just too tired and busy to even think about organizing anything. I said I wouldn't do anything for my birthday...

It was MUCH faster with 4 men working at the same time! We had some sparkling wine and cake in the middle, then continued working. So we arranged the pillars, put some gravel on the patch (easier to do at this point), built the base and put some insulation in place. As the side elements were to be put up on the floor, the insulation of the floor needed to be done at this point.

Luckily, just before putting the floor, I noticed that the electrical wire was going to be at the place where there will be a door, so just put it under at this point and insulated the hole.

After this, on Sunday, we put up the elements by screwing them to each other with 3 nails, and screwing them down to the floor.After the walls and doors were up, we put the things holding the roof (roof hoists?) in place with a couple of screws and supports, and then put the roof boards. Sunday at 19:00 we were at this point, and I was happy My brother and wife's sister's husband had stayed until this and left home, as the other one had a 4h motorcycle drive and the other 2h car drive still, and next day was working day.

I must say this was a birthday I will not forget. Everyone willing to help, and I am so satisfied we got so far with the shed, that it is now again only small jobs I can do myself that are there.

I'll probably put some more detail photos later on.

 

[Mikkeli]

Happy 40th birthday! So you're just little younger than me (42 in December). Nice shed, hopefully you can finish it soon.

 

[drivesitfar]

Matias: HAPPY BIRTHDAY "OLD GUY" and I wish I was 40 again and know what I know now.

that's my kind of party too. WELL DONE for both you and your bride for thinking of that.

 

[Matias]

Happy 40th birthday! So you're just little younger than me (42 in December). Nice shed, hopefully you can finish it soon.

Thanks Mikkeli, I also hope it will be finished soon, as a lot of stuff in the garage is going in here

Matias: HAPPY BIRTHDAY "OLD GUY" and I wish I was 40 again and know what I know now.

that's my kind of party too. WELL DONE for both you and your bride for thinking of that.

Drives, I have the same feeling every year, I'm so glad that I think that I have learned something along the way. Thanks for the comments, I feel that you are one of the positive motors around here getting everyone going. I appreciate your dedication to this forum and it's members.

In celebration of my turning older, here's a photo I found a couple of months ago. During my studies in the late nineties, I worked in a smallish factory making railway crossings, and I did mechanical drawing. It was actually near art, when I had the old designer in trade show me how to draw the perfect lines when turning the pencil to get an even line width etc... I just loved the drawing board (had it for a couple of years at my parents house after the switch to cad)...

Later on, I was there to help the designer to get a grasp on autocad. We had the old drawings vectorized to be able to modify them in the future, and then used autocad for new pictures. It's strange how tables can turn just in a few years. I started with autocad in 1987 when we got our first pc, and dad brought autocad V2.15. I was fascinated by the space shuttle demo drawing, and learned how to draw using the keyboard using just commands and points. At 9 years old. It's kind of a shame I didn't make it to be a professional in that field, as I was good at it even during my studies, top of the class in 3d modeling, and it still is something I like (drawing with pencil and pc and 3D models). IT and my first steady job just took over...

 

[Matias]

As the plumber made the outside tap, I could now add a hose outside of the garage, which will make it easier when washing the car for example. Earlier this summer, I also managed to put the stands for the bikes, so that they are now under shelter all the time. These stands were nice, as you could rotate the stand to put them at the desired angle. This way, I could put the longest bikes at an angle, so that they fit under the shelter.

I've now worked a lot on the shed. First, I finished the panels above the doors, here the first one is done.

What I've been mainly doing, is painting...

On the outside I've put three layers, as the layers are a little bit thin. That way, they should stand the weather better.

Also, no electricity yet in the shed, and as it's getting dark sooner that before, means painting with the flashlight.

Sometimes I get company in the garage. The girls like to work on pieces of wood they find, and I always encourage them. And it's nice not to be alone in the garage all the time.

 

[drivesitfar]

Matias: thank you very much for the good words about me and there are several members like me that are very positive around this forum.

in case you can get an extension light to the shed the little stand up flood lights work great for outside painting in the dark and also there is a cool little light some contractors use called the WOBBLE LIGHT that might be a good investment since you have pretty short days in the winter it might also be good in the shop for those smallish jobs where you don't need all the shop lights on. here's a link showing you what they are:

https://www.probuiltlighting.com/wobblelight/

keep up the great work and great to see your girls working on stuff out in the garage too.

 

[Matias]

there is a cool little light some contractors use called the WOBBLE LIGHT that might be a good investment since you have pretty short days in the winter it might also be good in the shop for those smallish jobs where you don't need all the shop lights on. here's a link showing you what they are:

https://www.probuiltlighting.com/wobblelight/

Thanks Drives, that wobblelight seems interesting. I'll keep my eyes open if I see one locally. I just purchased a led floodlight operating with 4xAA batteries, and it seems to work nicely to be able to work in the dark.

I've got more updates to come and so little time to write these I'll do the door update first. So when we put the shed together, we just bolted on the door frame.

The problem is, I know you can't just do that. First, there needs to be a moisture barrier between the floor and the frame, and you need to use special frame screws to be able to adjust the frame later on. So, first of all, I removed all the screws and the door frame. Here are the normal screws on left which I removed, and the frame screws on the right. The frame screws don't have thread in the middle, and the end is just to keep it in place in the frame. Now by rotating the screw, you can adjust the distance between the frame and where it is mounted:

Then, I screwed two screws to the floow where the door frame will be sitting, and with the help of a stick, checked that they were level:

Then, I put the door frame back, resting on the two screws to give me a small clearance between the floor and the frame. Then i used small pieces of wood between the shed frame and the door frame, to keep an air space there also. Then put the frame screws in place. These one hand operated grips make it easy to put the grip in place with just one hand, and also permits me to be able to easily put the door frame in place without extra hands, I can recommend these!

Now I have the door frame in place, and an airspace all around, where I can put that expanding foam to get insulation.

Also, now I can paint the frame, and then I can finally put the door on. I still have to paint one layer of yellow to the shed also, and will do that before putting the door, so that I won't get any paint drops on the door...

 

[Mikkeli]

Nice work with the shed, just a final push and it is ready before the winter arrives. I have to get some one-hand operated grips for myself, maybe something similar to yours.

 

[drivesitfar]

Matais: we usually put metal (usually aluminum) thresholds under our doors at ground level, but since you are building yours a step or so off the ground i'm guessing you are preparing for several feet of snow with your air gaps and insulation?

looks like you are making good progress. is the cold dark and snow season coming to your part of the world soon or do you have another month or two before that?

keep up the great progress and always great to see kids working with dad in the garages here on GJ!!

 

[Matias]

Matais: we usually put metal (usually aluminum) thresholds under our doors at ground level, but since you are building yours a step or so off the ground i'm guessing you are preparing for several feet of snow with your air gaps and insulation?

looks like you are making good progress. is the cold dark and snow season coming to your part of the world soon or do you have another month or two before that?

keep up the great progress and always great to see kids working with dad in the garages here on GJ!!

Thanks Drives! Been some really busy days and weekends, so no time on the computer = this will be a huge photo post again.

Yes, the air needs to circulate well under the shed, so that's why it's off the ground. You are correct in saying that it's also due to the fact that there will be a lot of snow around, and if it was lower, it would prevent it soon. It's now getting dark at around 6pm, but will be getting darker day by day. We already have had snow in the north, but also last evening here more in the south where I live. Won't be permanent, but will be changing the winter tires soon.

So regarding the shed, the first priority before the fall rains was to get the roof done:

Regarding the doors, I modified the manufacturers basic installation by adding a piece of metal to protect the frame on the bottom. Also added a piece of metal on top of the door so for weather protection.

Next thing to do was the windows. I received only 4 strips of wood per glass. And there was 2 glass elements per window. This means I couldn't just put the glass between the wood strips (the manufacturer had forgotten to include the additional strips...). So I learned that usually when making windows, you put the window in the frame, holding it in place on the other side with the strips, putting some window putty between the glass and the strips. Then nailing with special nails on the other side.

So to nail it in place, you get this strip with indents in it, bend it 90 degrees and hammer the nail in place, then bend it back and forth to cut it. This will allow you to have nails without heads in place, and it it's easy to hammer it this way. Here's one glass in place with the nails.

Here there are the two glasses in place. It's really ugly, due to the fact that when you have the glass in place with nails, you then put window silicone on the edge. I started doing that, but immediately noticed it was transparent. As it's the inside glass, and it's a shed, I decided to continue with it. I now have white silicone, which I still need to put in place on this glass in the front. That will hide the nails.

BTW, those water drops are on the outside of the outer glass...

As I had some travel to do at work, I went to get the skiidoo from my parent's cottage at the seaside at the same time. (just to drive it to my father in laws cottage ).

I did one work day there, the view wasn't that shabby

Also, during the weekend was my 6 yo. daughter's first tournament in ringette. It's like ice hockey, but you play with straight sticks and a small hoop. And it's for girls only. I think there are not a lot of countries where it is played, Nordics and Canada...

 

[Matias]

It was the fall vacation from school for 1 week. We sent the kids to the grandparent's place for a couple of days and my wife went on a trip to Hungary with a co-worker, so I was home alone! Not enough of there kind of days in my life lately. So I took 2 days off work, and did some 12 hour days on the shed. It is now finished from the outside:

There is only one horizontal strip missing in that pic which is now in place. Now I could start working on the inside. First thing to do is to build the inner wall. To do that, I need to insulate the walls and ceiling where the wall is going to be, because it will be impossible to do afterwards.

So you can see the insulation foam in place. It is held by small wood strips. Then you put the expandable foam, and after it settles you remove the strips. Here you can also see the wall beam already in place. I added three vertical woods behind, that is only to attach the side wall edge when I will be surfacing the walls. Otherwise, the side wall edge would be attached to nothing in the corner.

After the couple of days, got the kid's back. The next day was bring you daughter to work at our office. It was really nice, as my kids (6 and 8) don't really know what I do other than sit at the computer. So it was great to show them around, then they had some activity points while the parents worked, and after lunch we had an organized coding session together. Great day!

 

[Matias]

Lastly, some progress in the garage. With the help of the friend who has time to search Facebook, now he got me a dishwasher for free, just needed to get it quickly. Installed that also and now this side is soon finished.

Getting a little crowdy under the sink with the water heater there also:

I think I mentioned last time I was changing the sprockets and chain on the bike. Yes I was, until I noticed something:

That's rear axle, and a previous owner has tightened too much, and it has cracked. Luckily I noticed this before the axle could break during riding. I was de-motivated for a while, but then got on the Futura facebook group, and secured myself a second hand axle. I was lucky, these are not so easy to find, the bike was only produced during 2000-2003, and the axle is specific to this bike. The other aprilias of the time (which have the same engine also), have the double sided swing arm (the RSV Mille, the Falco etc.).

So I had to use cash I had saved for my second bike on this, and I have to put my plan on buying the bike (Ducati Monster) on hold for a year.

But, with every bad news there is good news. I've always been on the look for a second hand lift for my garage. Ideally, I would want a one post lift or a scissor lift which lifts high enough, but those cost money. A friend of mine asked if I was interested in a lift his friend got. The friend was moving to a new house, and there was a lift he didn't need. Got some photos and we struck a deal. Got it at home, and yesterday tested it for the first time with a car. You might notice I have turned it around to have better access to the front of the car.

The lift works off only air, so no electricity needed!

 

[Mikkeli]

Shed turned out really nice, congratulations. I just noticed that our Garages have virtually identical paint theme (white and grey with black stripe). I'm also looking for lift, at the moment i'm looking for Quickjack.

Did you change your avatar, from bike to night time garage?

 

[Motoman1100]

Thanks for sharing Matias, I'm not sure how I missed this thread. I sure enjoyed reading through it all. It's always fun seeing how things are constructed in other countries. From the looks of your pics I understand why so many Scandinavians settled in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan as it looks just like your homeland. I spent 8 yrs working there and can appreciate the amount of insulation you have to install to endure the long cold winters.

 

[Matias]

Shed turned out really nice, congratulations. I just noticed that our Garages have virtually identical paint theme (white and grey with black stripe). I'm also looking for lift, at the moment i'm looking for Quickjack.

Did you change your avatar, from bike to night time garage?

Thanks! Yes our theme is quite close. As mentioned, I'd like/need a lift which lifts even higher, but I got that one for €700 (about $800 US) so took it immediately. I wanted something I can run over on a daily basis when keeping my daily in the garage. I'm going to buy a small horizontal mirror to ease the driving inside.

Yeah, changed the avatar but didn't like it, so changed again

 

[Matias]

Thanks for sharing Matias, I'm not sure how I missed this thread. I sure enjoyed reading through it all. It's always fun seeing how things are constructed in other countries. From the looks of your pics I understand why so many Scandinavians settled in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan as it looks just like your homeland. I spent 8 yrs working there and can appreciate the amount of insulation you have to install to endure the long cold winters.

Thanks a lot for taking the time to reading and commenting

Yes, I suppose when you get used to certain things like nature, with forests and lakes everywhere, and a cold winter but reasonably hot summer, you want them in your live if you can choose so. I have a couple of French friends who have moved from France to Finland after a shorter period stay here, just due to the possibility of doing sports like cross country skiing within 10 minutes of your house. Ok, sure, they like the normal 8h workday which ends at 4pm and the vacations also, but that's another story.

And you are right, good insulation ensures cheaper living costs, so is a necessity. Even with a small shed

 

[wasfast]

Always enjoy your thread, garage and motorcycle related things. Now perhaps a bit late but I saw you have the Ryobi cordless tools already. Ryobi just introduced a good looking portable LED light:
https://www.ryobitools.com/power-tools/products/details/18v-one-plus-hybrid-led-project-light
Perhaps that would be a good long term item to have. It definitely gets dark in your country in the winter!

 

[Jyzze]

Lift looks handy, how big compresor you need to work whit it?

 

[drivesitfar]

Matias: you are a super busy guy that is for certain. nice work on the shed and showing us Finland's version of a thermal break window treatment. WELL DONE!!

nice catch on the bike!!! I have no idea how some of you guys find all the issues that would normally be an accident waiting to happen and maybe fatal if you were riding that bike when it broke apart. WOW!!

if you like that lift that looks like it works ok then great news there.

love the parent's place and i'm guessing you and your family get to use it now and then too?

 

[wazzza]

I have just read through the entire thread and enjoyed it a lot! Its nice to see other nordic builds. Its a whole different technique than many other builds...

What is the brand of the garagedoor opener, and do you know the price? I wnt the same type of opener for my own doors.

 

[Matias]

Always enjoy your thread, garage and motorcycle related things. Now perhaps a bit late but I saw you have the Ryobi cordless tools already. Ryobi just introduced a good looking portable LED light:
https://www.ryobitools.com/power-tools/products/details/18v-one-plus-hybrid-led-project-light
Perhaps that would be a good long term item to have. It definitely gets dark in your country in the winter!

Thanks wasfast, it does get dark and there is never enough light. Good tip, will check on the lumens I have with the current ones, and if this one is brighter, might need this one too

Lift looks handy, how big compresor you need to work whit it?

Jyzze, not that big, I use my cheap Einhell 6-8bar 400l/min 50L compressor if I remember the specs right. Here's a specsheet of the newer lift:
http://www.wdw-lift.de/eshop.php

Matias: you are a super busy guy that is for certain. nice work on the shed and showing us Finland's version of a thermal break window treatment. WELL DONE!!

nice catch on the bike!!! I have no idea how some of you guys find all the issues that would normally be an accident waiting to happen and maybe fatal if you were riding that bike when it broke apart. WOW!!

if you like that lift that looks like it works ok then great news there.

love the parent's place and i'm guessing you and your family get to use it now and then too?

Thanks Drives, I'd like to think I caught the fracture on the bike the same way you caught the leak on the trailer tires. There's just something not right and it bothers you and you need to find out why

Yes, the lift is working great. To raise some money for my daughter's ringette team, I sent a facebook message to all of our street, that I would change their winter tires for €10 ($12). Good timing as it will freeze tonight Did two cars this evening, my back did hurt a little but is now a lot better after the sauna Here's the neighbour's car:

And we do get to use the cottages of both of our parents. Our difficulty is the distance, so we don't go often, 1-2 times per year. My parent's cottage, where the photo was, is by the sea, and this was the first time in my life I was there alone. Even if I was a little bit afraid of being attacked by a bear (which is totally crazy there), I really enjoyed myself.

I have just read through the entire thread and enjoyed it a lot! Its nice to see other nordic builds. Its a whole different technique than many other builds...

What is the brand of the garagedoor opener, and do you know the price? I wnt the same type of opener for my own doors.

Thanks wazzza for taking the time to read the thread. Sometimes there's a lot more than just garage stuff...

Regarding the opener, all I know is they wanted the "industrial" one, as it was a 5m door and also going upwards and not horizontal, which eliminated many of the normal garage doors. Looking at their site, all I can see is the spec "Shaft-30/60" or "Shaft-120".

http://www.lametek.fi/teollisuuden-nosto-ovet/

When you google that, you can find at least images of similar ones, but they are all russian sites. So that's all the info I could find with a quick search

 

[drivesitfar]

Matias: what an AWESOME way to raise some funds for your daughter's team and I bet the neighbors really appreciate it a lot.

also in case you hadn't already met the new neighbors since you built your home what a great way to get to know them a little more while helping them with their cars.

 

[1/2 Cup]

Matias that is a lovely gesture to help raise funds

 

[Pluribus]

Great thread with lots of interesting details of your garage and other projects! It's always interesting to see how things are built and what materials and techniques are used in other parts of the world.

 

[wazzza]

Regarding the opener, all I know is they wanted the "industrial" one, as it was a 5m door and also going upwards and not horizontal, which eliminated many of the normal garage doors. Looking at their site, all I can see is the spec "Shaft-30/60" or "Shaft-120".

http://www.lametek.fi/teollisuuden-nosto-ovet/

When you google that, you can find at least images of similar ones, but they are all russian sites. So that's all the info I could find with a quick search

Thank you. I will look into that. I have to use google translate to read anything in that site

 

[jimmie jam]

Wow, just found this thread. Very nice build indeed! Interesting to see how things are done in other places...especially with such temp extremes. WELL DONE.

 

[Matias]

Matias: what an AWESOME way to raise some funds for your daughter's team and I bet the neighbors really appreciate it a lot.

also in case you hadn't already met the new neighbors since you built your home what a great way to get to know them a little more while helping them with their cars.

Matias that is a lovely gesture to help raise funds

Thanks Drives and 1/2! Having lived in one place for maximum 3 years in my first 20 years, I really appreciate a sense of community, and want to do my fair part. We will soon have a "pre-christmas" party on the street, organized by me, which I do now every year. No one else does any meeting for the whole street since we have lived here. But everyone likes it, so I shall continue on doing it

Great thread with lots of interesting details of your garage and other projects! It's always interesting to see how things are built and what materials and techniques are used in other parts of the world.

Wow, just found this thread. Very nice build indeed! Interesting to see how things are done in other places...especially with such temp extremes. WELL DONE.

Thanks Pluribus and jimmie jam, but this works both ways, I am also always fascinated by other projects elsewhere. Thanks for stopping by!

Thank you. I will look into that. I have to use google translate to read anything in that site

Well, if you get on those russian sites, I would need to have them translated also. If you really need info on that, I can try and call the guy who installed it if he has anything more on the topic.

 

[Matias]

As I had no tires to change this evening, I wanted to wash the summer wheels of my wife's car which I had changed yesterday (which are my wheels but on a loan on the wife's car ).

So in the rain and darkness, I set up a couple of lamps to see something I am doing:

I do a prewash with some sprayable pre-wash cleaning agent, then rinse. Please notice, that as it is going to freeze again this night, I use buckets to rinse and not the hose, as I do not want any water in the hose when the temperature freezes. This means a lot of buckets...

Then I spray some Dragon's breath, which is something to remove the brake dust. It turns violet when reacting with the brake dust. Awesome stuff!

I must say, if women are into jewelery, I am into wheels As I have not very new cars to say the least, I like anything from 60-90's. I have a soft spot for turbine wheels, for example in the 80-90's? Corvette, original Ronal Turbos and of course the Renault Clio 16V Speedlines which I have:

Here's an original Clio 16V with those wheels from Pistonheads:

 

[Unruh]

Great thread! I just read it all the way through and was happy I did. I got some ideas for my place I wanna try! Thanks for sharing!

 

[1/2 Cup]

Matias your wheels came up a treat, well done.

 

[wazzza]

Well, if you get on those russian sites, I would need to have them translated also. If you really need info on that, I can try and call the guy who installed it if he has anything more on the topic.

No, dont bother, but thanks anyways. When I think about it, I have a few friends who installs garagedoors for a living, I am sure they can help me get a suitable opener.

 

[Matias]

Great thread! I just read it all the way through and was happy I did. I got some ideas for my place I wanna try! Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for taking the time Unruh, and I'm glad you found something to try!

Matias your wheels came up a treat, well done.

Thanks 1/2!

No, dont bother, but thanks anyways. When I think about it, I have a few friends who installs garagedoors for a living, I am sure they can help me get a suitable opener.

Sure, I think the main point is that when asking for an opener, it's not the normal garage door opener for one door on the ceiling. These must be common everywhere when you are lifting more than that.

 

[drivesitfar]

Matias: did you get the sheds finished before you got a foot of snow or is it snowing in your area yet?

nice work on the wheels and we all should spend a few minutes just to put our stuff away clean for the winter along with running all our small engines dry so gas doesn't sit on the carbs all year round.

cheers

 

[Matias]

Matias: did you get the sheds finished before you got a foot of snow or is it snowing in your area yet?

nice work on the wheels and we all should spend a few minutes just to put our stuff away clean for the winter along with running all our small engines dry so gas doesn't sit on the carbs all year round.

cheers

Thanks Drives, the wheels are now waiting spring, and a car to which I can fit them to!

All, the shed is not finished (surprise! ). I just had too many projects, the shed, the bike and a lot of stress at work, so started having health issues. Long story short, I now work on the shed when I really want to, which makes it about once or twice every two weeks. Waiting for parts on the bike, means I haven't furthered that either.

Currently I've been spending my evenings more with kids, sleeping more and trying to read magazines etc to be away from the computer also. Now with the sun coming out, motivation is starting to pick up, so more updates here to come