GTIDriver's 12'x20' Basement Single Car Build

[GTIDriver]

So this is actually a take 2 - I originally started a build thread about 2 years ago, but life got in the way and I didn't update it for a while. I decided to get posting again, but for the life of me I can't find the original post...at any rate, I've decided to start a new one. The good news is at this point all the major work is complete, so I'll be able to show the progression in pretty short order.

Some background - House is a colonial dating to the late 70s and the garage is located in the basement, within the footprint of the foundation...essentially half of the basement is the garage, the other half is a finished room, with the opposing end of the basement being a utility room connecting the two that also contains the furnace, washer/dryer, etc.

The total garage space is approximately 20' x 12' - so, not a lot of space to work with here. It is safe to say that the biggest ongoing challenge is storage space, or the lack thereof. Compounding the issue is the fact that the ceiling is fairly low - with the first floor directly above the garage, there is unfortunately no room for overhead or above-the-door storage.

Ultimately, my goal is to have a clean, organized workshop space where I can work on my car and whatever projects household/DIY projects I have going on, store all my tools and generally just have a spot with a nice vibe to get away from the madness.

I consider myself a total novice compared to many of you, but I am pretty mechanically/DIY-inclined and I've learned a TON over the course of this build. I've taken a ton of inspiration from the incredible forum community here - you guys are total masters of your craft. PLEASE - any and all advice and suggestions are welcomed!

With that being said, let's get started.

 

[GTIDriver]

Here's the state of the garage when I first moved in. As you can see, it was full of junk, haphazard organization at best, and the lighting was abysmal. My first order of business was to assemble a workbench out of a kit from 2x4 Basics (I can't recommend these kits enough - extremely sold, scalable to whatever size you want and couldn't be easier or cheaper to source the parts). I used a piece from an old solid core door for the top.

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The door was old, thin and uninsulated, and had clearly been backed into at one point with a big crack on the outside. The garage as a whole got very drafty and cold in the winter - we'll revisit that later.

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[GTIDriver]

Step one on the build process - demo. I pulled everything off the wall, including the ratty old fiber pegboard:

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[GTIDriver]

At some point in the last 30 years someone had liberally sprayed all the walls (both drywall and concrete foundation) and ceiling with some sort of textured popcorn material - even spraying right over shelf brackets. Obviously this all had to come off. I did get it tested for asbestos first, which luckily came up negative. Commence scraping.

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EDIT: This was absolutely miserable and it's hard to put into words the amount of dust all the scraping and sanding created. People, do NOT cover your house with popcorn, ever.

 

[GTIDriver]

This led me to the ceiling. At this point in time, as I was working on the garage I was also in the process of having my attic re-insulated with closed cell spray foam insulation. Directly above the garage is my kitchen and dining room, and in the winter there would be a seriously cold draft coming up through the floor. It was pretty obvious that the combination of uninsulated garage door and poorly insulated garage ceiling was causing this.

I decided to rip down the old garage ceiling and take advantage of the spray foam guys - they were able to use some surplus material from my attic job to insulate the garage ceiling at a steeply discounted price. The closed cell foam also will serve as a vapor barrier between the garage and living space.

There were a few baseboard heating pipes running along the perimeter, which I very carefully measured and mapped out on a schematic of the ceiling. I realize that this is a calculated risk, as if I need to access the pipes for any reason the spray foam will make this a much more difficult proposition. However, I'm banking on the fact that the spray foam will insulate MUCH better than the previous fiberglass batts, and a new insulated garage door will go a long way towards keeping the space much warmer than it ever was before (didn't have any issues with pipes freezing in the drafty cold garage previously). Where pipes were exposed out of the spray foam, I augmented with foam pipe insulation and some fiberglass batts.

Demo:

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After insulation; getting the ceiling prepped for drywall:

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[GTIDriver]

Ceiling going up. Did I mention how much I despise drywall?!

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It's all up:

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And after mud and tape:

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At this point it's starting to look like an entirely different space...have come a long way, but still so so so much work to do.

 

[GTIDriver]

Getting real late on the east coast...stay tuned tomorrow as we make some serious progress! Updates to come!

 

[ToolPolisher]

Looking forward to this. My situation is similar with low ceilings and the kitchen directly above. You'd never believe how much chemical smells can travel from an attached garage until someone is meal-prepping one floor above you!

 

[tbecktold]

I like this a lot! Looking forward to seeing it unfold!

 

[GTIDriver]

Looking forward to this. My situation is similar with low ceilings and the kitchen directly above. You'd never believe how much chemical smells can travel from an attached garage until someone is meal-prepping one floor above you!

Apart from dealing with the cold/draft issue, that was my main goal - I couldn't use any kind of PB Blaster, spray paint, solvent, etc. in the garage (even with the door open) without the fumes rising up and permeating the whole first floor for hours. The 30 year old fiberglass in the ceiling wasn't doing much of anything.

You can't really tell from the pics, but I made sure the spray foam guys really packed the cavity between the top of the two inner walls and the ceiling to mitigate leakage into the rest of the basement space. After 2 years I can definitely confirm that the foam insulation has made a HUGE difference. Garage fumes/smells are basically nonexistent in the living space now, and the draft is completely gone in the winter.

 

[GTIDriver]

Time for paint! At this point some of you may have an idea of the theme I'm going for...

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I painted the outer concrete foundation wall with a couple coats of a white masonry paint. At some point in between getting the walls done I also painted the ceiling white. The combination of bright white wall and ceiling goes a long way towards reflecting light and brightening up the space.

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[GTIDriver]

Floor time. It was clear the existing floor had been painted gray at one point in time, but this was about 90% worn away at this point to bare concrete. The same concrete floor extended into the utility side of the basement.

I decided to go with an epoxy coating; just needed to decide which pattern to go with:

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[GTIDriver]

I decided on a black/white/gray chip pattern:

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Note - I didn't do this myself, as the combination of lack of time, lack of experience and a weekend of reading horror stories of guys who screwed up their DIY epoxy floor jobs convinced me to outsource it to a pro. Went with a local garage floor specialist who did a great job. I believe this pic is after the base coat and chips were spread, but before the final topcoat:

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[GTIDriver]

Let's talk electrical. At the outset, there was just a single outlet for the entire garage My goal was to basically to saturate the space with outlets so I would never run out or have to mess with extension cords, etc. I had conduit run along each side about 4 feet up with outlet boxes at regular intervals, as well as a few outlets in the ceiling for lights, garage door opener, etc.

Along with the epoxy floor, this is really the only part of the whole build that I didn't do myself. I envy those of you with the skills and know-how to do all your own electrical work, but in the interest of not burning my house down I had my electrician do it.

You'll see the finished electrical in some of the upcoming pics.

 

[GTIDriver]

After workbench, paint, floor, electrical and some lighting, we're really starting to look like a real workshop!

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The lights are the forum-favorite Costco LEDs - got them on the BOGO sale a while back.

 

[GTIDriver]

Time to start working on some storage. With so little extra space in this garage, it was paramount to use up every bit of dead space possible. I decided to put in a cabinet in the corner, above my HF tool chest - had to leave enough space in order to allow the topchest to open:

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A little bit of paint and it's as if it was always there:

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[GTIDriver]

Keeping with the Gulf theme, I painted the underside of the shelf orange:

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For the topside, I ordered a bunch of aluminum diamondplate online and cut it to size. I lined all the shelf bottoms with this stuff, and also used it on the shelves underneath my workbench. Not only is it a durable surface to protect the cabinets, but it also has a pretty sweet industrial look:

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[GTIDriver]

Forgot to add - somewhere in between the electrical and the cabinets I replaced the paper thin garage door with a brand new, well insulated one. Not to mention the white obviously looks much better than the faded blue of the old one.

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[GTIDriver]

Back to the cabinets - I made some simple rail & stile doors:

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Barely got them to all fit with the hinges, thank god. Yes, I know the handles aren't perfectly aligned. Yes, it drives me nuts every time I look at them.

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The door on the diagonal corner cabinet had to flip up, otherwise it wouldn't fit:

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All done:

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At some point I'd like to install some sort of moulding to cover the gap at the top. Ideas welcome.

 

[Bessy]

Very nice progress! I'm in for this build as I am currently confined to the 17*11 space in the back of my Dad's workshop. Love the Gulf paint scheme and the diamond plate in the cabinets, keep up the excellent work!

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[DavidR8]

Looking good!


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[Stuart in MN]

Looks good, but I think your toolbox needs a Gulf livery paint job.

 

[GTIDriver]

Looks good, but I think your toolbox needs a Gulf livery paint job.

Hah! Of course Harbor Freight came out with the new Gen 2 tool chests with all the color options shortly after I got mine, including an orange one :

Can't say I haven't thought about how to justify buying one! I do like the classic red though, it looks good with pretty much anything.

 

[joneschase]

Just run a board the same size as your cabinet door rails/stiles along the top if it will fit.

Looks great! Keep the updates coming!


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[GTIDriver]

I added some metal pegboard from Wall Control above the bench. I wanted a metal pegboard (I hate the particleboard type ones, especially in a potentially humid basement) and after searching through options this one was my favorite. It uses a proprietary slotted hook system which seems to stay in place much better than your regular circular pegs (but also has holes for standard pegs too).

I also hung another Costo LED stoplight directly above the workbench, and added an additional 1/2"+ layer of plywood over the solid core door top, with a layer of pressed hardboard as a sacrificial topper. This now gives me an overhang to clamp stuff onto, and allows me to mount my Wilton bench vise flush with the edge to clamp long workpieces vertically.

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[kwyjibo]

Nice job on the space. My favorite color scheme! If you're thinking of painting the door, how about this livery for inspiration:

 

[GTIDriver]

Nice job on the space. My favorite color scheme! If you're thinking of painting the door, how about this livery for inspiration:

Yup, I love the Gulf Racing orange and blue combo! I went back and forth for a while about painting the garage with a Gulf theme or a Martini theme, but in the end I think I made the right choice...plus all those extra Martini pinstripes would've been a *****, the one dark blue one was hard enough!

I like the idea of painting the door...right now there's some sort of metal flashing that the previous owner put in it for whatever reason. I have added a couple more thematic touches elsewhere...more on that later!

 

[GTIDriver]

Here is the view looking into the garage from the utility room/corridor that connects the garage with the finished side of the basement. This space contains the furnace, hot water heater and washer/dryer. It's not very big, so I need to make the most of my storage opportunities.

As you can see, I extended the epoxy floor all the way through here (was bare concrete like the garage), and painted the formerly bare drywall walls white. It's amazing how much finishing the floor completely changes the feel of the space. If you ignore the furnace over on one side, it honestly doesn't feel like a basement anymore at all.

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[GTIDriver]

There was an ugly exposed PVC pipe in the corner above the workbench. This is the drain from the kitchen sink, which is directly above it. I didn't want to look at it anymore, so I decided to cover it up.

Before:

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And after - I added a magnetically latched door on the end in case I ever need to access the endcap:

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Much better!

 

[nicholam77]

This is looking really good, a lot of work so far. Jealous of those floors.

Got a pic of the GTI? (assuming you have one based on your username). Another VW fan here

Where do you store your woodworking tools? I assume you at least have a table saw and router if you made rail and stile doors.

 

[GTIDriver]

This is looking really good, a lot of work so far. Jealous of those floors.

Got a pic of the GTI? (assuming you have one based on your username). Another VW fan here

Where do you store your woodworking tools? I assume you at least have a table saw and router if you made rail and stile doors.

Hey man, your GTI is awesome! I may be biased because my GTI is literally almost identical to yours...2015 Mk VII GTI 4 door in Carbon Steel Gray with the Performance Pack, Lighting Pack...the only thing I have on you is Dynamic Chassis Control I honestly haven't a whole lot with it mod-wise (really just wheels, tires and some minor touches like an autodimming mirror, etc.) as I just haven't had the time or funds (and also wanted to wait out the warranty), but I have some plans for the near future. Here are a couple pics, in winter and summer getup:

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Regarding the woodworking tools, I actually didn't have own any major big ticket saws or etc. at the time - when I bought my house I was coming from a small apartment with no shop space, so I ended up borrowing the table saw for the cabinet build and a coworker of mine with a woodshop and routing table helped me out with the door components. If I need to do anything more involved right now I can go to my parents house or borrow - I've ended up renting a bunch of stuff from Home Depot (ex. the drywall lift when I did the ceiling, etc.). Smaller power tools (drills, drivers, circular saw, jigsaw, etc.) are living under the workbench or on the pegboard for now.

I'd love to get more self sufficient and add in some larger fixed position saws, a routing setup, etc. but it's really tough with the limited space as I really still want to be able to fully pull a car in with the door closed...at minimum I'd really like to fit in a decent drill press somewhere. Any ideas from the forum community on how to maximize the space are welcome!

 

[GTIDriver]

Here are the dimensions of the garage for reference (not to scale):

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As you can see, there's a sliver of space on the left wall (where the tool chest and cabinets now are where I could conceivably put some bigger stuff. It would cut down on the available space for maneuvering around the car though, so I have to be careful.

 

[964haus]

Love this.
I too have a small 10x18 space that I'm trying to fit out to accommodate some storage and a usable workshop. Really love the detail and colour choice. I did a go-kart for my kids years ago for a block party and painted it in the Gulf livery. Really love it.

The floor rocks too - I went with VCT tile for the cost, but regret is as the epoxy is really the way to go to look finished. Keep up the great work, subscribed.

M.

 

[sqznby]

Nice man, lookin good.
Love the scheme and use of space, nicely done.

 

[polexican23]

since you already posted all your pics, so this may be useless. but here is your first thread.

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=362226

simply go to your own profile, click statistics....then threads posted by

 

[kwyjibo]

Because you have the orange on the bottom of your walls, you could paint the door with an orange band at the bottom that curves into the vertical stripe like the nose of the 917 I posted earlier.
Here's my Gulf door based on the 908/3s from the Targa Florio and Nurburgring in '71.

 

[M-technik-3]

Love the creativity with the small space but we have yet to see what lives in the garage...lol.

Nice work on the small cabinets along the ceilings.

 

[banjopete]

The space looks awesome, and the really makes it. Should be a fun space to be in when you're all finished. So, where's this car thing?

 

[GTIDriver]

since you already posted all your pics, so this may be useless. but here is your first thread.

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=362226

simply go to your own profile, click statistics....then threads posted by

Okay, now I feel like an idiot. Looks like all the pics from that thread are gone now though, so oh well. Will remember for future reference, thanks!

 

[GTIDriver]

Because you have the orange on the bottom of your walls, you could paint the door with an orange band at the bottom that curves into the vertical stripe like the nose of the 917 I posted earlier.
Here's my Gulf door based on the 908/3s from the Targa Florio and Nurburgring in '71.

I like that idea - I'm just not sure the door is wide enough to allow for a thick enough vertical stripe with the right curve arc and still look right. I'll have to do some more measuring and mock-up.

Love your door too, that livery with the arrow is a classic one!