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Was your mention of a "3 gallon" tank a typo? If not, 3 gallons is a portable compressor for running air nailers and other low-demand tools on a worksite. It won't do anything in a garage except maybe fill tires. You probably can't run a grinder or impact wrench with it. If you need it for...

You sound like me at 18. Ah, to be young and in love again... :D Just make sure you're not lying to yourself, OK? I'm good at it, too, and it's gotten me into no end of troublesome pickles like this one. My Car Guy Consortium (CGC, Inc.) was my first (and only) attempt to do exactly what you're...

Man, that stinks. I feel your pain. I renovate houses in my spare time (working towards doing it full-time), and finding contractor for certain things is a PITA. I can do a lot of things myself, but things like concrete, plumbing and flat roofs are something I'd rather pay someone else to do...

When I was younger I often thought of buying some old commercial property and using it as a shop (heck, I still eyeball old warehouses and garages on my drive into to work each morning). But that place needs more than "a little work," I think. I renovate houses in my spare time, and even if you...

There's something about exposed brick in a finished area that really lends an upscale almost vintage look. VERY nice work. The track lighting looks awesome, too. Well done!

Using extra tanks is great when you're just starting a job, but once you drop below the kick-on point of your compressor, it'll take FOREVER to refill multiple tanks, especially with a 110V single-stage compressor. The added reserve capacity is nice, but unless your compressor can fill them...

In my area (Cleveland), driveways need to be 6 inches thick with a pea-gravel base. I'm guessing this is to keep it from breaking up when the ground freezes. I'm renovating a house and found a concrete contractor who will break up old concrete, haul it away and pour and finish new stuff for...

If a guy can afford a collection and a garage like that, I'm surprised he couldn't afford a better attorney. Awarding a collection like that to the wife sounds very suspicious--most courts would allow him to give her cash (and I'm guessing she doesn't have any interest in the collection beyond...

Beautiful work! I love it when garages are so well integrated into the entire plan of the property. The French doors on the garage are a very nice touch--I may steal that one... Thanks for sharing.

My wife actually has relationships with several "car guy widows" and exchanges E-mail with them frequently. She made the mistake of putting her E-mail address on my '41 Buick restoration website when she wrote one of the updates for me, and she got a TON of E-mail from other wives who could...

Here's my thought process and some plans on how I designed mine: http://www.harwoodperformance.bizland.com/1941buick/Editorial%2027.htm

Hi guys, I'm having a discussion with a friend about compression ratios vs. cylinder pressures and perhaps we're thinking too much and confusing ourselves. It's been my experience that boring and stroking a motor has the net effect of lowering the compression ratio because the volume of the...

You know, an engine hoist is one tool I'd really like to have but have a hard time justifying the purchase. I pull an average of one engine a year in a variety of cars, but I always end up renting one for $30. I can do ten engines for the price of a hoist. Then I have to store it in my already...

That's just assinine. The friggin' city issued permits, checked the plans, did the inspections and signed off on it when it was done. But now that people are griping and there's national attention, these jackass politicians are trying to do some grandstanding. Screw them. We've devolved in...

I think this bears repeating, so I quoted it in its entirety here. CFM is the only spec you should be looking at when comparing compressors. And make sure the ratings are at similar pressures. A 15 CFM @ 40 PSI compressor is likely lower-performing than an 11 CFM @ 90 PSI compressor. Tank size...

I usually recommend that people buy as much compressor as they can afford. You'll never regret having one that's too big, only one that's too small. I have an 80-gallon, 7.5 horsepower Husky (though it seems a little over-rated relative to what it can do in the real world), and I still wish I...

Insulation is a super easy but unpleasant job. Just buy the fiberglass rolls at Home Depot or something. Get the proper thickness for the studs and rafters in your garage. For example, my garage uses 2x4s for the walls, so I used R13, and 2x8s for the roof rafters, so I used R19. The package...

Now that I'm 15 years older and wiser, carrying shingles up a ladder is about the last thing I'd ever want to do again. I've never seen one of the gas-powered lifts someone mentioned above, but it can't be much different than the conveyor belt that they use for rooftop delivery. If you can find...

Aw, go ahead and carry them, Nancy! I worked construction all through college, and when we couldn't get rooftop delivery of the shingles, we had to carry them up the ladder, two at a time (if you took only one, you would be heckled relentlessly by the others). It's one hell of a workout too...

I've got those same little puck lights in my kitchen, and they shed a lot of light. I got them at Home Depot, as you said. They're plug-in, but what I did was buy a switch that plugs into a socket--basically an extension cord with a built-in dimmer. Works well and they shed a lot of light. You...