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

[BajaScout]

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.

My grandfather immigrated from Sault Ste Marie Canada to Sault Ste Marie Michigan. Immigration papers state British citizen of Finnish descent. My mother was always proud of being Finnish.

 

[Matias]

My grandfather immigrated from Sault Ste Marie Canada to Sault Ste Marie Michigan. Immigration papers state British citizen of Finnish descent. My mother was always proud of being Finnish.

We sure like our climate like the one up there

Brief car news before updates on the shed. So I managed to sell my wife's Renault for $500, and we got her a lot newer Citroen in good shape, and with air conditioning which was missing from the Renault. Also, this can tow 1500kg, so I can use it to tow the trailer with a car on it. This will be our #1 car. It's got 110k miles and 2.0L petrol engine, which is big around here for a small car

What's funny with Citroën, is that they have quirks. For example, in this one the steering wheel center doesn't turn, only the steering wheel outside ring.

I also changed my car, got $1400 for mine in part exchange. I know, we are driving with expensive cars in my household... Changed it for an Opel Signum, not a very usual car here.

What's different in this car (for a hatchback), is that it has two independent rear seats. You can move them forward/backward and recline.

 

[Matias]

Let's get back to the shed (someday to-be motorcycle garage).

So, I put up the frame for the separating wall. The smaller side will be heated for now, and the bigger will remain cold.

Something that took me a lot of time and effort, was doing the electrics meaning buying and running the correct wires. I have to have an electrician at the end to come and connect everything.

Started the insulation of the shed, and got the electric cabinet in place. The electrician passed by to look that everything was ok, and I could continue.

What I should've done, even though not in the instructions of the shed, was to put some underroof lining. It would have been so easy before putting up the roof, now I had to put it between all the joists separately...

I insulated the rear wall of the warm side of the shed, and installed the ventilator which has a moisture sensor. When insulating the ceiling, I had to put cardboards at the end, to not have the expansion foam to block everything. To get the cardboard out, I had tapes which can be seen, to be able to pull out the cardboard.

I have to cut the OSB boards in my garage, so I have placed a mat on the car lift, although it doesn't mean much. I would really like to have a woodshop separate from the garage...

Here the ceiling OSB has been cut and drilled a hole for the light.

I have now nearly finished the ceiling on the warm side, and will continue on insulation on the walls next.

Hope you all have positive energy with the spring and summer coming!

 

[Matias]

Did two days training and certification exam in our capital city, and got home in the evening today. Felt so good, that I finished putting up the insulation boards on the warm side.

Issue was, that as it's -10C (14F) as I'm doing this in the shed, the expansion foam doesn't work in these temperatures so I will have to wait for tomorrow.

 

[Denwood]

Matias, those cars look very clean One of my favourite things to do while travelling Europe as a young back packer was to check out all the cool cars. The Peugot 205 GTI was popular at the time and caught my eye with all the modified versions in Europe.

I looked back a few pages to catch up and realize that you've built a shed and added a hoist!

The insulated floor of that shed is something you'd never see here. Very nice job!

That hoist is very interesting. I like the hoist's outrigger arms to catch the sills, as well as the the solid safety support design. My older Maxjax has limited physical safety stops which is a problem for sure. I love your idea to change winter tires over for neighbours...what a great way to recover hoist costs.

 

[Matias]

Matias, those cars look very clean One of my favourite things to do while travelling Europe as a young back packer was to check out all the cool cars. The Peugot 205 GTI was popular at the time and caught my eye with all the modified versions in Europe.

I looked back a few pages to catch up and realize that you've built a shed and added a hoist!

The insulated floor of that shed is something you'd never see here. Very nice job!

That hoist is very interesting. I like the hoist's outrigger arms to catch the sills, as well as the the solid safety support design. My older Maxjax has limited physical safety stops which is a problem for sure. I love your idea to change winter tires over for neighbours...what a great way to recover hoist costs.

Thanks Dennis! The 205 is certainly a hot hatch which was a game changer here in Europe. One of my dream cars still, and I have the toy car version waiting before I get the real one. The Renault 11's I have, are the "sister" cars of the Renault 5 GT Turbo, which was the direct rival of the Peugeot 205 and Golf GTI of the time.

Even though the shed is to be half heated/half cold, I know I will heat it entirely some day. As the floor is impossible to insulate afterwards, better do it at that phase. The Finnfoam I am using is polystyrene, which doesn't absorb moisture, and using it you don't need vapour barrier or wind barrier. The green tapes you can see is to seal the of the space between the two wood blocks. Ofcourse, to be perfect you should have this tape go from one foam to another, but it is a shed

The hoist has been working great, I'm using it for even my car speaker installs, just to get the car to working height. My back loves it Last time changing the neighbours wheels, all the money went to my daughters ringette team (kind of ice-hockey but with a donut and straight sticks), but I intend to use it to fix my neighbors and friends cars to recover the costs also.

Tonight I used the expansion foam to finish the heated side of the shed.

After, I started to do the cleanup. Thanks to Mikkeli and others, I bought some Stanley FatMax organizers, and one thing was to put all screws etc. in them. So I started with screws I had in the shed.

I still have a lot in the garage waiting to be organized.

 

[Motoman1100]

I bought some of those organizers, too. On a rainy day, I do enjoy sitting in the garage with my big container of scrounge (random hardware), a beer, stereo blasting and just organizing the screws, nuts, bolts, etc... Just bringing a bit of order to chaos.

 

[Mikkeli]

Wow, really nice progress with your shed/storage Any new progress?

I also dream having separate woodshop. Maybe in distant future...

 

[rixtrix1]

Matias, just read your entire thread over the last 2 days. Great job on all the projects. Really interesting to see the different types of construction around the world and especially guys who do as mucn as they can with the projects!

 

[Matias]

On a rainy day, I do enjoy sitting in the garage with my big container of scrounge (random hardware), a beer, stereo blasting and just organizing the screws, nuts, bolts, etc... Just bringing a bit of order to chaos.

Exactly!

Wow, really nice progress with your shed/storage Any new progress?

I also dream having separate woodshop. Maybe in distant future...

It's only been three months, but this is going to be many posts with a _lot_ of pictures

Matias, just read your entire thread over the last 2 days. Great job on all the projects. Really interesting to see the different types of construction around the world and especially guys who do as mucn as they can with the projects!

Thanks! I'm back at work, so I will now update my post, then will read yours from the start, it seems to have a lot of pages also

Ok, so as said, this will be a long update in multiple posts. First of all, let's start where I last left off. I finished the insulation on the shed, and put up the OSB sheets, and painted the walls on the smaller to-be-warm side. On the woodworking side, I used "saunasuoja", which is sauna-protection. This is kind of a matte wax which is used to protect saunas from moisture and mold issues. Thought it would be perfect for a cold shed. Also, it gives a slight reflection on the OSB-sheet which is nice.

Then I lacquer on the floors. I had it coloured to grey, so that it won't show dirt that easily. Also, if you leave it to clear, the floor would have turned to piss-yellow colour in a few years. So, the grey isn't that great of a colour in the workshop (I mean esthetically with the OSB sheets), but with the white walls it's ok.

Then I had a nearly 2 month break in the shed, as I had to wait for the electrician to come and do his work. As my younger daugher was really anticipating the woodwork side to be finished, we made a smaller project in the garage: a toolbox for her tools. I know I don't need to say it, but she chose the colour

It was really nice, and she enjoyed the work. As she in enthusiastic about woodworking, I try to keep the spark as long as she is willing to do projects. I prefer when you make stuff instead of buying when you can. It does come more expensive, as just the one board to make the sides and bottom was $10 and the paint $10, but I think she'll remember this and use it more that a $5 plastic one.

 

[Matias]

Let's continue. So after my last year's bike trip to Russia, I noticed my rear axle had a fracture when I was changing the chain and sprockets. I managed to grab a used rear axle, but it stayed untouched until spring.

Then the car which I had had for two months, broke down. I investigated during weeks, and it was apparantly a common fault, it was the fuel high pressure pump. And it's so common, you can't find it in the breaker's, and the price has now gone up from $300 to $600 even on ebay in the last years. So a) ordered a new one from ebay b) got motivation to start working on the bike.

Made some space, pushed the bike and setup a temporary table for the new rear axle to be cleaned and prepared.

While turning the rear hyb, I noticed that the brake disc was jamming on every turn at one point. Some careful measurements were taken

Luckily, it was only the rear disc. Although, that would be a chore on it's own.

Made some bespoke tools, and managed to change the rear axle. I was quite happy!

Here's the new axle in place, you can see the pinch bolts on the bottom, the "airspace" is equal and everything is fine.

Now, the rear brake disc. Ofcourse, as the bike was made only during 3 years, and it's italian, the rear brake disc is bespoke. I decided that I will try to find out if it could be changed for something else, so again some careful measuring took place.

I found after 2 nights on the net, that ducati monsters and some other bikes had a rear brake disc with the same bolt pattern (133mm), and it was only 10mm smaller in diameter. That will do.

Still one check before committing to cutting, I place the new disc on the old axle hub to see that the bolt pattern matched. It does.

Point of no return

Ahaa, this is why the disc is bespoke. It has some holes so that you can access the rear brake disc caliper with the disc in place. Here you can see the bolt hole in the background.

Marked the place to be removed.

Brake disc in place and everything is fine!

BTW, all this hassle because normally with this Aprilia, the brake disc can't be changed with the hub in place. The original disc won't go over the star pattern of the hub/disc carrier because it has a circle at the bottom. This can be seen in the picture where the cutting takes place. It is instructed to take the whole hub out, but at this point you risk breaking the rear axle bearing, which is again bespoke and currently at $400-600. So that's why all this trouble in finding something that a) would be cheaper than the original disc b) could be fitted with the hub in place.

 

[Matias]

Allow a small tangent. So while changing the rear brake disc, I had trouble with inserting the new brake pads. I thought that it was because I could not push the piston back enough, so I decided to remove the brake reservoir cover.

Ofcourse in my hurry, I somehow mixed up front and rear brake, so started to remove the front brake reservoir cover which is on the handlebars, and not the rear brake one which is just a lid to open

Anyway, trying to open the rusted bolts, both of them snapped! After some cursing, I decided that I need to somehow drill the rest which is in place, and try to tap again. The bolts are so small you can't remove them with removal tools.

So here's what I did.

1) Drill a hole in the center of the snapped bolt.

2) Put the drilled bolt in place, and use it as a guide. Now you can drill a small hole in the center of the part of the bolt which is still inside with a hand drill.

3) Now you can drill a larger hole, just a bit smaller than the tap.

4) Retap the hole.

5) Get a bolt of the correct length. As I didn't have one, I bought longer ones, and but some nuts on them so that I could put them on vice while sawing. Also, they would clean the thread when removing.

6) Put cover on with new bolts. Do not overtighten...

 

[Matias]

Now I have my bike in order. My daughters have grown, and they want to be able to ride on the bike. I managed to find some helmets which were for sale at $50 instead of $150, as there were only two sizes left. And by miracle, they were the perfect fit for my daughters.

Here we just tested the helmet and the belt doing 50m in front of the house. I have a belt with two handles, so the girls have somewhere to hold on to. Everything was fine, so I now got them also a jacket and gloves, so we could ride to the town center and back which is only a mile away. They are still too young that I would take them outside of town and going faster. And they would need more gear too. That's due maybe next year, I'm not in a hurry.

Did I mention I have a small notepad I carry everywhere? Well I have, and a pen, and I hate it when the pen always get's separated from the notebook, and I hurt my fingers when putting them in my pocket. So I decided to make a cover from leather with a small place for the pen.

This was just a test version. I will make a better one and buy some black elastic etc. when I have decided on my future notebook.

After a month without a car, my HP fuel pump arrived. I changed it and everything seems now to be working. Great!

 

[Matias]

As most of the guys in Finland, I also have done my military service when young. I now got called (again) for some rehearsal. It was nice, 1 week completely outdoors, I must say I didn't think about work once! We did some shooting, training on the new equipment and also some real life training with some jets and helicopters in the air.

I decided that would be a good start for my summer vacation. A couple of days after coming back from the army, I went on a trip to Saaremaa (small island on the coast of Estonia) with our company's bike club. We were 20 bikes.

We visited war memorial sites, old russian military places and found for example the old missile silo in the woods.

And ofcourse, I visited local hardware stores to search and buy new tools

Speaking of tools, after that trip, I went on a trip with the family, I guess that is kind of mandatory when on vacation

I found these hex tools. They cost $50, but I reckon they will be worth it. I use hex all the time when removing the fairings of my bike, and ratchet is not that good for the job, neither are usual hex keys. Hopefully these will make the work easier.

I also bought a Martini pocket knife. I like knifes

 

[Matias]

As it's vacation time, I have continued on some other misc projects. I want to get my project car running, so took the carb off, and stripped the old cardboard gaskets which were stuck.

Bought a Grease Ninja, and cleaned the chain with Lamp petrol (?) and used the GN for greasing the chain.

Finally the electrician came, and my shed is now officially finished (some minor things like doors not counting)

I started removing stuff from the garage shelves, putting them either a) in the bin b) in the shed c) to be kept in the garage pile. I have now cleared three shelves, and have moved them to the shed.

Also, the bench is now in the woodshop, and we have actually used it.

I put some racks at the back of the shed, to store the wood I have behind the garage. That is some thing yet to do, to go through all of it, and place here only the ones that are to keep.

I've also tackled some projects on the garage. First, I managed to put the panels on the underside of the shelter over the door. Notice the Swanson speed square for making perpendicular cuts with the circular saw

I made a small hatch to be able to put some stuff in there.

I just put some 2x2 as a frame. On the opposite side, it is hold in place just by a small piece of wood going over the 2x2 on the ceiling. The other side is hold in place with 2 pieces of round wood, going through the 2x2 in the ceiling and the hatch frame.

In the last photo I have just used the knive to shape the handle, so that it is just big enough to fit between two planks, and short enough so that it doesn't protrude.

 

[Motoman1100]

Some really good updates to your thread. I feel kind of lazy just seeing everything you've been up to..Ha. Seeing your daughter on the bike made me smile. My kids basically grew up on the back of my Honda ST1100, especially my youngest daughter. She spent many miles listening to her iPod as we cruised the countryside on warm summer evenings.

 

[cash68]

How are you going to keep the weather off the wood in the back fo the garage?

 

[Matias]

Seeing your daughter on the bike made me smile. My kids basically grew up on the back of my Honda ST1100, especially my youngest daughter. She spent many miles listening to her iPod as we cruised the countryside on warm summer evenings.

That's some nice memories for you both.

How are you going to keep the weather off the wood in the back fo the garage?

Well, most of the wood is currently at the back of the garage, under tarps with holes, so they're not really weather protected. And it's mostly wood used outside. I think the main thing is, that air circulates, so that even if they get wet, they also dry. But I'm thinking of putting a tarp from the inside edge of the roof, to the lowest level of wood. And keeping the ends open.

I got some garage time to myself after all these, so here's some pics.

I've now moved 3 shelves to the shed, still one to go. I've also moved the old workbench, so put a temporary one in place to get things done.

Getting rid of some junk and cleaning. You can notice the stuff in the leftside hand corner, as there will be more pictures from that area.

This is the corner I decided to tackle first.

Junk cleared

I had already designed a $170 shelving unit from Ikea, then remembered I already had to shelve rails in place. Added a third one and some rails for coat hangers, and voilà! Then I suddenly noticed I had not painted this area the same was others. Luckily I had some left.

Then I cleaned everything, and also used the extra remaining trim I had to finish the door surrounds. Now I can come in the garage to put my gear on before riding.

I could say I'm tackling my garage one corner at a time

 

[LaneRover]

I like the porch ceiling/roof storage hatch! And finding an old missile silo in the woods too . . .

 

[Matias]

I like the porch ceiling/roof storage hatch! And finding an old missile silo in the woods too . . .

Thanks! The hatch will be handy when storing sun protection nets for the hedge, tarps and sleds and anything bulky but not that heavy.

The shed is starting to get full. Added the table from the garage, and I will store all my ryobi battery stuff in this warm side during winter.

We have already made some small projects with the daughters here. The last shelving unit needs to be moved here from the garage. Also, I will bring all my ryobi stuff here, on the walls during summer. I have some of those boards in the garage, but I'm thinking of putting french cleats, as it's a woodworking shop so that would suit better.

 

[Jyzze]

Nice! Race corner look's handy and well planded, you need some Aprilia dekoration on the wall? Woodworking bench is classic!

 

[Mikkeli]

Nice to see some updates after a break

Motorcycles are not my thing, but road trip stories and pictures are most welcome. It seems that it all Garage/shed building are one universal size: too small...

 

[Matias]

Just a quick update, as I passed my last week in Spain with a friend for some motorcycle riding. We flew to Spain and picked up our rental bikes. I had a Yamaha FZ8 (800cc naked) and my friend got a BMW 850 GS. Our main destination was Almeria and Sierra Nevada. We saw a lot of mountains and some beautiful scenery at the coast. And some incredible twisties...

Behind you can see the location where they shot for example the western scenes for the Good the Bad and the Ugly in Almeria.

It was quite hot, with 37C which is around 99F. Didn't matter that much while on the road, but in the cities or during crawling traffic in the coastal roads it started to feel. Luckily I had bought a backpack (Kriega R20) with the Hydration pack. This means I could put 3L of water in the backpack and drink from a small hose which came to the front. And I used this everytime we stopped to take some photos or traffic lights etc...

Had to grease the chains and fix the licence plate which was falling off...

Lot of great rides, food and memories.

 

[Motoman1100]

Wow, that is some beautiful scenery! I would love to do a ride like that. My wife is cool with me going, but none of motorcycle buddies say they can go without their wife. Ha

 

[Matias]

Nice! Race corner look's handy and well planded, you need some Aprilia dekoration on the wall? Woodworking bench is classic!

Thanks! Yep some decoration is definetely needed. Been thinking about getting an Aprilia mat.

Nice to see some updates after a break

Motorcycles are not my thing, but road trip stories and pictures are most welcome. It seems that it all Garage/shed building are one universal size: too small...

Couldn't agree more, always too small!

Wow, that is some beautiful scenery! I would love to do a ride like that. My wife is cool with me going, but none of motorcycle buddies say they can go without their wife. Ha

We started this 15 years ago when I got my first big bike. We went for a weekend trip. Then after we have added a day once in a while, and we have now arrived at one week On the other hand, my wife goes on a trip also usually within 6 months of my trip, so that we both get those trips without the spouse and kids.

I'm now again motivated to finish the garage, so started emptying again a lot of boxes and want to finnish the wall opposed to the current cabinet and sink wall. Some before and after pics:

We went through a lot of boxes, and in the last pic you can see 5 big garbage bags I took to the dumpster today, with the old paint cans and dried cement etc. It cost me around $30 It's like doing Kon Mari in my garage, "does this tool or object make me happy?" ;9 I just have had too much stuff, time to get rid off all the extra junk.

So the last shelf to be moved from the wall found a place in the shed:

I also found 4 casters lying around, so put them on an old shelf to be able to move around the junk I am keeping in the garage. The girls joined me.

Also, winter is approaching so it's getting dark in the evenings. It was the first time I saw the shed with the exterior lights on.

This also means I need to finish some tasks which can't be done during winter, starting with the stones you put at the edge of the asphalt.

One part finished.

 

[rixtrix1]

Funny to read you talking about winter approaching as it's between 110F-115F every day still, although my son commented yesterday the sun is going down at 6:30PM instead of after 7:00PM . Thanks for all the pics of the garage and all your trips out and about. I'm jealous!

 

[drivesitfar]

Matias: looks like a fun trip and if you hadn't told me (us) where you were taking those pictures I'd have thought it was of the Southwestern USA.

If you get a chance to buy some steel racks from a warehouse where tenants are moving or upgrading theirs I bet your garage will seem bigger cause it would free up a lot of floor space. or build racks with wood.

one thing that worked pretty well for me at my leased storage space was i turned 12 foot tall racks on their sides and the 9 foot beams allowed me to not only park my little 4x8 utility trailer under them, but I could have storage on the sides and a ton of stuff on racks above the trailer. since you do a lot of work on your motorcycles maybe having racks with supplies above you might be a solution to your smallish garage.

good luck and keep up the great work at home and also keeping the family happy.

 

[Matias]

Funny to read you talking about winter approaching as it's between 110F-115F every day still, although my son commented yesterday the sun is going down at 6:30PM instead of after 7:00PM .

Thanks rixtrix1! Yes, the inevitable is approaching It's getting dark quite early over there. The sun sets here only at 21:09 today. On the other hand, at Christmas, it sets already at 15:07. So when you leave work at 15:30 it's already dark.

Matias: looks like a fun trip and if you hadn't told me (us) where you were taking those pictures I'd have thought it was of the Southwestern USA.

If you get a chance to buy some steel racks from a warehouse where tenants are moving or upgrading theirs I bet your garage will seem bigger cause it would free up a lot of floor space. or build racks with wood.

one thing that worked pretty well for me at my leased storage space was i turned 12 foot tall racks on their sides and the 9 foot beams allowed me to not only park my little 4x8 utility trailer under them, but I could have storage on the sides and a ton of stuff on racks above the trailer. since you do a lot of work on your motorcycles maybe having racks with supplies above you might be a solution to your smallish garage.

good luck and keep up the great work at home and also keeping the family happy.

Thanks Drives, and those are some good ideas! That 8-9 foot would be just what I need. This is how I vision the thing: having the bike where it is now in the picture below, but I will have to think about something to be able to push the bike rear end near the wall. Bike movers etc. exist, but I want to check if I can use some existing stuff I have.

I will have the same kitchen cupboards I have on the other side, just ordered them from Ikea. I will have one set, then have my tool boards in the middle, then have two sets. I decided against having one in the corner, to be able to buy/build shelving or racks fitting over the bike, and using that high ceiling.

As I now I am going to fit those cabinets, and then use the shelves that are quite high, I invested in new step ladders. I have already many basic ones, but these will live in the garage and should be safe and very good for lifting boxes up and down from shelves:
Little Giant Safety Step
Again a rabbit hole I dropped into while going through garagejournal...

We also started making some tool holders for my daughter's tools in the shed. I think it is only appropriate to make it with french cleats and using wooden sticks instead of metal hooks.

 

[drivesitfar]

Matias: one GJ member on here had high ceilings in his garage and he not only put the racks sideways so he had a full work area underneath them on one side of his garage, but he also hung up a big flat screen on a wall and put a sofa up on one of the racks for he and his buddies to watch games on.

i'll see if I can remember which thread it is cause unfortunately it was a couple years ago and i'm subscribed to over 4000 threads.

have a great weekend.

BTW I just received some AWESOME chocolate from SWEDEN that was shipped out from FINLAND you might like. do you like milk chocolate and black licorice?

here's the candy bar and we had to order 10 so they wouldn't cost us $10 for each bar.

pretty tasty

 

[jbwest72]

Hello!
I have done some work at the chocolate factory that make these bars in Upplands Väsby outside of Stockholm. the company I work for have the global facility management contract for the owner of the factory. One of the bonuses is that my company runs the staff shop where you can buy chocolate for a very discounted price reason for edit: misspell

 

[Unruh]

I like your French Cleat idea. It will be very convenient to have a system that allows easy change in that space. I also love that Workbench!

 

[Matias]

Matias: one GJ member on here had high ceilings in his garage and he not only put the racks sideways so he had a full work area underneath them on one side of his garage, but he also hung up a big flat screen on a wall and put a sofa up on one of the racks for he and his buddies to watch games on.

i'll see if I can remember which thread it is cause unfortunately it was a couple years ago and i'm subscribed to over 4000 threads.

have a great weekend.

BTW I just received some AWESOME chocolate from SWEDEN that was shipped out from FINLAND you might like. do you like milk chocolate and black licorice?

here's the candy bar and we had to order 10 so they wouldn't cost us $10 for each bar.

pretty tasty

Thanks Drives, I was also contemplating about the idea of having a sofa higher up, but I think it will not be feasible. As on the right side of the garage I have the lift and so need the space, and on the left side I have the one higher cabinet (I regularly slap myself for buying a cabinet that is higher than the rest )...

Oh yes, I do like that, and here in Finland the salt liquorice is called salmiakki. There is a new chocolate which was launched some time ago, with turkinpippuri, literally meaning pepper from Turkey, but is something like spicy salt liquorice. Maybe I should send you one so you can have a taste

Hello!
I have done some work at the chocolate factory that make these bars in Upplands Väsby outside of Stockholm. the company I work for have the global facility management contract for the owner of the factory. One of the bonuses is that my company runs the stafv shop where you can buy chocolate for a very discounted price

I think that kind of bonus would be my ruin

I like your French Cleat idea. It will be very convenient to have a system that allows easy change in that space. I also love that Workbench!

Thanks! Need to continue with the woodshop soon, but first I need to finish this side of the garage. More on that below

We have had exceptionally nice and warm weather, around 25C which is 77F. Due to this, I went on my bike for my work trip. There is a lot of activities now ongoing on the fields, and a lot of tractors on the road.

In anticipation of setting up the cabinets next week, my amazon order arrived brinning me my new ladders. At around $150 they were not cheap, but damn are they good. As I will be using them a lot in the garage, I think they are the best safety update I have done.

Garage workbench

I decided to save some money, and instead of ordering a table top from Ikea, I wanted to use some old lumber I had and the two sheets of cheap basic mdf which I had saved. They came as tops for pallets containing random stuff, so you know they're the cheapest ones you can find. But they are heavy.

I decided to use nearly the whole length, just trimming the edges, as these were 270cm long (106"). Then just had to narrow the width.

Here just getting the top of the frame straight, then measuring each leg to have perfect height everywhere.

To attach the pieces of the frame together, I used pocket holes. I had ordered this Kreg jig some time ago, really handy. I must have paid double or triple what you pay in the states...

Attached the pieces together with pocket holes, then painted it all black and attached it to the wall. I will screw a couple additional screws still. It is attached to the studs.

For the top, first thing to do was to attach a strip on the bottom. This was glued and screwed in place.

As it will be visible even from below, "I" painted it the same black as the frame. The rest of the top was just painted with rattle can black.

I then cut and painted the supports.

The smaller edge is against the support, the bigger one against the table. I marked the supports with some screws, to know the top of the support, and which is which. They are all jsut slightly different lengths. Also on the top the angle is 90, but on the bottom it is a couple of degrees bigger, due to the slope on the cement floor towards the drain.

I predrilled some holes with countersink, to attach the second sheet of mdf later on. Also, there are some additional holes on the strip, to secure that also to the second sheet.

And here it is in place. It's still missing the top sheet, which needs to be painted and attached. Was going to glue and screw it, but will skip the glue. This way I can change it later on if I want to. Also, it is easier to manage the top when the pieces are separate.

As you can see, the design includes hinges (will still add 4 hinges to it), so that it can be stored away if needed. The hinges are on the bottom, and placed so that the weight of the top is on the frame, not the hinges. With the supports at angle, it is easier to move the toolbox in and out, and also keep the floor clean underneath.

 

[Matias]

And today even with a flu, I wanted to finish the table. After all the overturned colour decisions, I finally painted the second (top) board silver. First options were red, grey and black. It is kind of a nice colour and texture on it, rough but still light, and I hope I can see different bits and pieces easily on it. That's why I didn't go with grey or black. Screwed it on and nailed the trim in place.

For the trim, I had a can of anthracite grey laying around, thought it would stand out more than basic grey or black.

I'm actually quite happy how it turned out. It's tough and stable (and heavy), and it can hold my weight and I'm no small guy.

Now waiting for my Ikea cabinets to arrive on Tuesday. Maybe tomorrow I'll start with the shelving on the right side of the wall...

 

[Motoman1100]

I like the workbench, I think it turned out pretty nice, too. It's a very similar color scheme as my setup...but a lot more organized. Ha

 

[Unruh]

Great work and I think you made the right choice on the color!

 

[drivesitfar]

Matais: great looking bench and if you can keep FSD controlled maybe you'll be able to use the folding up feature in the future.

have you posted pics of your daughter's cool well built OLD SCHOOL (actually was I think you said) woodworking bench you put in her shed? IT IS VERY COOL!!

keep up the great work and hope you figure out the organizing and a second level couch might be a good thing too.

cheers

 

[Matias]

I like the workbench, I think it turned out pretty nice, too. It's a very similar color scheme as my setup...but a lot more organized. Ha

Motoman, It's organized, but only now

Great work and I think you made the right choice on the color!

Thanks Unruh!

Matais: great looking bench and if you can keep FSD controlled maybe you'll be able to use the folding up feature in the future.

have you posted pics of your daughter's cool well built OLD SCHOOL (actually was I think you said) woodworking bench you put in her shed? IT IS VERY COOL!!

keep up the great work and hope you figure out the organizing and a second level couch might be a good thing too.

cheers

Thanks Drives. Here's one better pic of the woodworking bench, the rest of the pics can be found here bench-thread

It is old school from an old school

Some progress in the garage as well, set up the new ikea kitchen cabinets:

I'm moving the tools from the end of the garage to between the cabinets. Most of the ryobi tools will go to the woodworking shed. I'm also removing some of the tools, I want to have only those I use often, and like to pick from the wall and not look for in the toolbox.

So here's what needs to be moved:

Had to cut holes for the different outlets I had on the wall.

Here's the new setup. There's some extra places in anticipation of my new Vessel-screwdrivers which are on transit coming from Japan

Today I had meetings in the morning where I'm mostly listening, so decided to take them in the garage and do some organizing at the same time

 

[Unruh]

Every time I see a pic of your garage, I think I should have painted mine that color. Looks great!

Here's the new setup. There's some extra places in anticipation of my new Vessel-screwdrivers which are on transit coming from Japan

I do something similar. I leave spaces on the things I build, then show my wife what I made. She has a little bit of OCD like me and usually says something like, “Why are those spots empty? You should fill them.”...I hear , “Why are those spots empty? You should buy new tools to fill them.”!

 

[T-handle]

New workbench looks great Matias Good work and your thread is very nice too

Are you really allowed to use that coffee mug in garage?Every time I accidentally pick up the "muumi" mug into the workshop I get yelled big time

Keep up the good work

 

[Matias]

Every time I see a pic of your garage, I think I should have painted mine that color. Looks great!

I do something similar. I leave spaces on the things I build, then show my wife what I made. She has a little bit of OCD like me and usually says something like, “Why are those spots empty? You should fill them.”...I hear , “Why are those spots empty? You should buy new tools to fill them.”!

Thanks Unruh! I still have mixed feelings about having blue and red in the garage though... As my lift is blue, but the bike lift and accessoires are red. And in Finland, there are two big automotive part shops, Biltema and Motonet. Biltema colour is blue, and Motonet is mainly red. So it will be the same mix in the future also

New workbench looks great Matias Good work and your thread is very nice too

Are you really allowed to use that coffee mug in garage?Every time I accidentally pick up the "muumi" mug into the workshop I get yelled big time

Keep up the good work

That's some good observation T-handle! We have several muumi-mugs at the house, and would get killed if I took the wife's or daughter's. However, I have one mug of my own, which I received from a customer, when I shifted from a project manager position to a group manager, and had to leave the project after leading it for a year.