Between 705 & 1200 SQ/FT New 28' X 38' Garage Build in Portland
- Thread starter lyonkster
- Start date
Workspaces between 705 and 1200 squarefeet.
BORING HOP YARD
Well-known member
Great work on the install, I would consider installing a GFI in that circuit since they are pretty cheap insurance and protection.
You may have installed Dual Function AFCI/GFCI Breakers.
Thanks for sharing!
You may have installed Dual Function AFCI/GFCI Breakers.
Thanks for sharing!
gilr
Well-known member
You can get gray outlets (should be GFCI unless the breaker is already that or the combo AFCI/GFCI). The gray will blend well with the stainless.
Oh yeah, the two outlets near the sink are protected by upstream GFCI outlets. Code requires all outlets in garage to be GFCI protected. It also requires tamper resistant outlets, which I have and hate with a passion.
Good suggestion about using gray outlets; but I don't know how easy it is to get that high amperage dual switch in gray (it's for the IR heater). Maybe I'll try just the stainless wallplates and see how that looks.
Good suggestion about using gray outlets; but I don't know how easy it is to get that high amperage dual switch in gray (it's for the IR heater). Maybe I'll try just the stainless wallplates and see how that looks.
northern33
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jan 6, 2012
- Messages
- 121
Beautiful garage build. Can’t wait to see you to continue to build it out.
cccoltsicehockey
Well-known member
I recently completed my first big project in the garage, and got to check out how everything worked in practice. The camshaft seals and VVTi tube assemblies on my '01 Lexus were leaking worse and worse (not surprising at 250K miles), so I finally got around to replacing them. I decided to also replace all the timing belt components again (belt, tensioner, idlers, water pump, thermostat), even though I replaced them just 40K miles ago. I figured if I'm taking them out, I'm putting new parts in - cheap insurance.
Here's how it looked at all apart:
Here's the mess in the engine bay, before cleaning:
Still cleans up pretty nicely!
Here are the leak sources, the camshaft seal and the VVTi gear tube assembly:
So how did the garage perform? Overall I'm extremely happy (and I am not an easy guy to please). The sheer size of the garage allowed me to maneuver easily, and to lay out all the old parts on the floor (as in the first photo above) in a way that made it easier to know in which order the parts came out (and hence in what order to reassemble them). I'm so glad that you guys told me to maximize not just the width of the garage, but also the depth - it gave me plenty of space between the front of the car and the workbench/toolchest. A foot less and I would have felt a bit constrained.
I loved having the lift for this project. While most of the work was from above, there are some bolts, hoses, components, etc, that are more easily accessed from below, and it was nice not having to jack up the car every time, set up jackstands, crawl under it, etc. Been there done that, the lift is much better! Also the lift allowed me to have the car a few inches off the ground, so I didn't have to bend my back as much to get into the motor. I also love that little red utility cart that I got for free from a guy who sold me a couple of workbenches. It's not a particularly nice cart, but the price was right, and I found it very useful for this project to store all the tools right where I needed them, instead of running back and forth to the workbench, or worse, putting the tools down on top of the motor or in the engine bay. I'll probably upgrade the cart to four swivel casters, with two of them locking.
My other favorite part is the sink/backsplash setup. It worked out perfectly! The big sink and the full height stainless backsplash contained all (well, almost) the splatter from cleaning. And the side table with the stainless top was perfect for drying parts, and for storing greasy/oily parts before cleaning.
I was also very happy with my choice of having a very long set of base cabinets with a continuous workbench surface. Even with almost 20 feet of counter, I found almost all of it covered with stuff during this project:
Here's how it looked at all apart:
Here's the mess in the engine bay, before cleaning:
Still cleans up pretty nicely!
Here are the leak sources, the camshaft seal and the VVTi gear tube assembly:
So how did the garage perform? Overall I'm extremely happy (and I am not an easy guy to please). The sheer size of the garage allowed me to maneuver easily, and to lay out all the old parts on the floor (as in the first photo above) in a way that made it easier to know in which order the parts came out (and hence in what order to reassemble them). I'm so glad that you guys told me to maximize not just the width of the garage, but also the depth - it gave me plenty of space between the front of the car and the workbench/toolchest. A foot less and I would have felt a bit constrained.
I loved having the lift for this project. While most of the work was from above, there are some bolts, hoses, components, etc, that are more easily accessed from below, and it was nice not having to jack up the car every time, set up jackstands, crawl under it, etc. Been there done that, the lift is much better! Also the lift allowed me to have the car a few inches off the ground, so I didn't have to bend my back as much to get into the motor. I also love that little red utility cart that I got for free from a guy who sold me a couple of workbenches. It's not a particularly nice cart, but the price was right, and I found it very useful for this project to store all the tools right where I needed them, instead of running back and forth to the workbench, or worse, putting the tools down on top of the motor or in the engine bay. I'll probably upgrade the cart to four swivel casters, with two of them locking.
My other favorite part is the sink/backsplash setup. It worked out perfectly! The big sink and the full height stainless backsplash contained all (well, almost) the splatter from cleaning. And the side table with the stainless top was perfect for drying parts, and for storing greasy/oily parts before cleaning.
I was also very happy with my choice of having a very long set of base cabinets with a continuous workbench surface. Even with almost 20 feet of counter, I found almost all of it covered with stuff during this project:
I had some other observations during this project. One is lighting - while I have adequate general lighting, I found my task lighting to be inadequate. For one thing, I needed more light under the hood. So, I set up an extra shop light I had on hand, using two magnets to suspend it from the top of the hood. I really liked how that worked out:
I found that the lighting provided by the Advantage Lift strip light was a joke. It's a $300 setup, and if I had paid for it, I would have been furious. As it was, I got it for free as compensation for the fact that my lift came with a dent. But the lighting is basically useless if I actually wanted to get some illumination (not just a mood light), so I'll be looking at some other ideas.
I also found that the under cabinet lights that came with my New Age cabinets were useless. They're source the yellow lighting in the photo below:
Just like the lift lights, these provide some accent color but almost no illumination. So I ordered some shop lights and will be installing them instead of these. (And yes, I get that the common denominator here is my older eyes, but not much I can do about that!
).
I also decided that my vise setup is not great. I had it clamped to the portion of the workbench that was attached on the right side to an angle iron piece that was bolted to the side of the cabinet, but that was not stiff enough when I had to really crank hard at the bolt at the end of the camshaft as it was clamped in the vise.
I tried moving the vise to the left, closer to the sink, but I didn't like that setup either. So I'm still pondering what to do with it. I do have a big vise mounted to a solid workbench in the workshop in the house, so maybe I'll just rely on this vise as a "clamping" tool, and leave the high torque or the pounding action to the workshop vise.
I found that the lighting provided by the Advantage Lift strip light was a joke. It's a $300 setup, and if I had paid for it, I would have been furious. As it was, I got it for free as compensation for the fact that my lift came with a dent. But the lighting is basically useless if I actually wanted to get some illumination (not just a mood light), so I'll be looking at some other ideas.
I also found that the under cabinet lights that came with my New Age cabinets were useless. They're source the yellow lighting in the photo below:
Just like the lift lights, these provide some accent color but almost no illumination. So I ordered some shop lights and will be installing them instead of these. (And yes, I get that the common denominator here is my older eyes, but not much I can do about that!
).I also decided that my vise setup is not great. I had it clamped to the portion of the workbench that was attached on the right side to an angle iron piece that was bolted to the side of the cabinet, but that was not stiff enough when I had to really crank hard at the bolt at the end of the camshaft as it was clamped in the vise.
I tried moving the vise to the left, closer to the sink, but I didn't like that setup either. So I'm still pondering what to do with it. I do have a big vise mounted to a solid workbench in the workshop in the house, so maybe I'll just rely on this vise as a "clamping" tool, and leave the high torque or the pounding action to the workshop vise.
BORING HOP YARD
Well-known member
Great work on the garage, hard to remember your first post on this project was a little over a year ago. The first project in a new or remodeled shop is a treat or a great way to build a list of next improvements.
Enjoy the moment and thank you for sharing!
Enjoy the moment and thank you for sharing!
CombatNinja
Well-known member
- Joined
- Aug 24, 2013
- Messages
- 1,456
You've got plenty of time to work out the little details. The broad strokes are all in place and it sounds like your shop is going to work out great for you. Congrats on getting it done and actually using it for its maiden voyage. Always feels good to use something for the first time.
cccoltsicehockey
Well-known member
Congrats on knocking out the first big project in the new garage on the lift. It almost seems like a right of passage getting that first large project done in the new space. I know it was a great feeling when I knocked out my first one.
Regarding your lighting issues, you found during work. I have been super happy with both of these options I found after a bunch of research.
For car work, this bar from Harbor Freight with movable magnet locations and 2 of the Icon puck lights seems to be about as good as I can find. With having two lights you can place at different angles it really allows you to a lot of time have no shadows in your way. The same puck lights are great under the car. I have 3 of the lights at this time and find them helpful all over the house. They are insanely bright. Recharge with USB-C and have a really good battery life.
For undercabinet lights, I used these from MaxLite. You can get them in multiple lengths and use connectors to build the sides you want. They have a magnet mount kit so that you can also just stick them to the bottom of your NewAge cabinets vs adding holes. They make both hardwired and plug-in power kits for them as well. They even have an integrated switch option that can be used with both as well. They come in 2700, 3500, and 5000k color options as well. I went with the 3500 to be closer to my everyday recessed cans in my garage.
www.1000bulbs.com
Regarding your lighting issues, you found during work. I have been super happy with both of these options I found after a bunch of research.
For car work, this bar from Harbor Freight with movable magnet locations and 2 of the Icon puck lights seems to be about as good as I can find. With having two lights you can place at different angles it really allows you to a lot of time have no shadows in your way. The same puck lights are great under the car. I have 3 of the lights at this time and find them helpful all over the house. They are insanely bright. Recharge with USB-C and have a really good battery life.
For undercabinet lights, I used these from MaxLite. You can get them in multiple lengths and use connectors to build the sides you want. They have a magnet mount kit so that you can also just stick them to the bottom of your NewAge cabinets vs adding holes. They make both hardwired and plug-in power kits for them as well. They even have an integrated switch option that can be used with both as well. They come in 2700, 3500, and 5000k color options as well. I went with the 3500 to be closer to my everyday recessed cans in my garage.
36 in. Linkable LED Light Bar - 12.2 Watt
Bring light to your spaces with MaxLite LB3650 light bars! Delight in multiple lighting options along with a wide selection of light bars at 1000Bulbs.com.
Thanks! And yeah, it's interesting to see the focus change from building the garage, which has been the case for the past year, to actually using the garage for its intended purpose. It is indeed a great feeling.Congrats on knocking out the first big project in the new garage on the lift. It almost seems like a right of passage getting that first large project done in the new space. I know it was a great feeling when I knocked out my first one.
Regarding your lighting issues, you found during work. I have been super happy with both of these options I found after a bunch of research.
For car work, this bar from Harbor Freight with movable magnet locations and 2 of the Icon puck lights seems to be about as good as I can find. With having two lights you can place at different angles it really allows you to a lot of time have no shadows in your way. The same puck lights are great under the car. I have 3 of the lights at this time and find them helpful all over the house. They are insanely bright. Recharge with USB-C and have a really good battery life.
For undercabinet lights, I used these from MaxLite. You can get them in multiple lengths and use connectors to build the sides you want. They have a magnet mount kit so that you can also just stick them to the bottom of your NewAge cabinets vs adding holes. They make both hardwired and plug-in power kits for them as well. They even have an integrated switch option that can be used with both as well. They come in 2700, 3500, and 5000k color options as well. I went with the 3500 to be closer to my everyday recessed cans in my garage.
36 in. Linkable LED Light Bar - 12.2 Watt
Bring light to your spaces with MaxLite LB3650 light bars! Delight in multiple lighting options along with a wide selection of light bars at 1000Bulbs.com.
Thanks for the tip about lighting - I already have some under cabinet lights coming to me in the mail, but if I am not thrilled with them, I'll look at the MaxLites you suggested. I suspect though that they may not be bright enough for my likes, if they're ~1000 lumens - I tried some Barrinas at 1900 lumens, and they didn't seem bright enough, so I ordered some with 4000 lumen output
.The under hood light looks great though, I never knew such a thing existed, I'll have to check into it.
I made a few mods to my Advantage 4 post lift's ramp setup. I initially set them up as instructed in the video, with the ramps sitting on the ground butted up against the lift, underneath the automatic wheel stops:
Unfortunately on one of my early attempts to drive onto the lift, I must have hit the throttle a bit too enthusiastically when my rear (drive) wheels were still on the ramp. That, combined with the SPGX coating on the floor, caused the ramp to come flying backwards, gouging the floor and leaving my car stuck on the wheel stop. I had to jack it up with a floor jack to undo the mess:
I decided to remove the automatic wheel stop and hook the ramp over the lift, as was done in previous versions:
But the geometry was such that the ramp was not resting on the floor, but rather on the pivot in the lift, which caused two problems - 1. The ramp was flexing because it was not properly resting on the floor, and 2. because the ramp was acting like a see saw over that pivot, it made a horrible banging noise every time a car went on or off the lift and the ramp banged against the floor.
I studied this geometry for a long time and tried a few different things, none of which I was happy with, until I came up with this:
The ramp can hook over the threaded rod, preventing it from ever sliding backwards, and the threaded rod is low enough to allow the ramp to sit firmly on the ground:
Here's what went into each side of this - two 1/2" threaded rods, two home made aluminum "links", two 1/2" nuts and two 1/2" locknuts.
The setup works great now.
Unfortunately on one of my early attempts to drive onto the lift, I must have hit the throttle a bit too enthusiastically when my rear (drive) wheels were still on the ramp. That, combined with the SPGX coating on the floor, caused the ramp to come flying backwards, gouging the floor and leaving my car stuck on the wheel stop. I had to jack it up with a floor jack to undo the mess:
I decided to remove the automatic wheel stop and hook the ramp over the lift, as was done in previous versions:
But the geometry was such that the ramp was not resting on the floor, but rather on the pivot in the lift, which caused two problems - 1. The ramp was flexing because it was not properly resting on the floor, and 2. because the ramp was acting like a see saw over that pivot, it made a horrible banging noise every time a car went on or off the lift and the ramp banged against the floor.
I studied this geometry for a long time and tried a few different things, none of which I was happy with, until I came up with this:
The ramp can hook over the threaded rod, preventing it from ever sliding backwards, and the threaded rod is low enough to allow the ramp to sit firmly on the ground:
Here's what went into each side of this - two 1/2" threaded rods, two home made aluminum "links", two 1/2" nuts and two 1/2" locknuts.
The setup works great now.
Last edited:
cccoltsicehockey
Well-known member
Those are going to be bright lights under the cabinet. Mine are mostly to cancel out shadows since my high bays hand up enough for me to have bright light shine between me and the cabinet for the most part.
Really solid solution on the lift ramps. Not sure I understand what Advantage was even trying to accomplish with their change there. Almost like attempting to solve a problem that wasn't a problem.
Really solid solution on the lift ramps. Not sure I understand what Advantage was even trying to accomplish with their change there. Almost like attempting to solve a problem that wasn't a problem.
They may well be, in which case I'll go to plan B (or C). But I did like my 4000 lumen shop light that I tried under the cabinet, it didn't seem too bright.. I think my eyes are older than yours, getting old has its downsides
.Thanks! I suspect they want us to use their auto wheel stoppers, but I didn't like them. And besides, the wheel stoppers wouldn't keep the ramps from flying out, like they did in one of my earlier attempts to drive onto the lift. I might talk to Advantage anyway, and see what they say - I spoke to the owner before, he seemed like a super good guy, not defensive at all.
I also was getting frustrated when after adjusting the cables (without a car on the lift) so that all four locks engaged at the same time using the procedure in the manual, the locks still did not engage simultaneously when lifting a car (I got two "bang" sounds, one for front locks the other for rear). Finally I decided that the weight of the car must be stretching the front cables differently from the rear ones, due to different cable lengths. So I adjusted the cables again with the car on a lift, and now they all engage simultaneously. I did call Advantage after that, and they said that that's the right way to do it. Why not say so in the manual then??
Last edited: