First time Garage Owner - Slidemx5's Petrolhead Garage

slidemx5 · Aug 20, 2013

Gents (and Ladies),

I wanted to start a post so that in the several years it will take me to complete the garage, I can look back and see how far I've come. I recently purchased my first house with a garage (back in June) and am looking forward to it becoming a useable project space.

It's an attached 19.6' wide by 26' deep two car. It has 13' 4" ceilings :beer:

. It has no windows which is kind of a bummer but on the plus side came with two work benches (one of which was rather decent)

For better or for worse the PO also left some white metal shelving in the garage and some peg board. I've also noticed an odd recessed cubby hole on the interior side of the garage that is about 4' off the ground and fully sheet rocked and mudded. I have no idea what this area is purposed for but it seems weird to spend money sheet rocking it with all it's angles and walls for no reason. I'd love any educated guesses as to what it might be for.

Here are some pictures. I'll get some of the random cubby tonight.

keeping this workbench
My blue craftsman toolbox is rather empty as it stands - Does anyone have any GOOD socket and wrench organizing suggestions? Does harbor freight carry anything good for that? Right now they're all jumbled in my old red tool box and I'd like to move them over in an organized fashion.

I've done away with the work bench parallel to the camera in this picture so I've freed up some space. I kept the one running perpendicular. Ideally I'm going to chop a few inches off the legs (the work surface is 45" high and i'm 5'7"...the PO was a tall dude) I'm looking at getting some used industrial cabinetry and lockers for the kids sports equipment and my coveralls etc. Plus I think it'll give a cool father and son look to the garage. Eventually I'm planning on adding a 2 post lift and epoxying the floors as well. I suspect the lift will be a year or two off however.

Thanks for any input!

Lastly - Does imbedding images from flickr not work on this forum? Photobucket works fine but doing the same from flickr doesn't. Odd

slidemx5 · Aug 20, 2013

Adding some pictures of the weird cubby - anyone have any ideas what this might be fore?

tgb · Aug 20, 2013

Does that cubby sit under some stairs maybe? It looks like it does and they just took wasted space and made it garage storage, the sheetrock is probably fire rock to separate the home from the garage.

Mavawreck · Aug 20, 2013

Nice Miata and welcome to GJ. I'm a NC kid myself, family lives in Chapel Hill.

Moose97 · Aug 20, 2013

I really like the brick halfway up the wall. I think there is a lot you can do and it would give it a cool look. The cubby would be a nice place to store stuff you only use once or twice a year. :thumbup:

Radio Ron w4ron · Aug 20, 2013

Welcome to the group, looks like a great starting point, I love the 16' ceilings.
I'm also in NC, near Charlotte.

slidemx5 · Aug 21, 2013

tgb said:
Does that cubby sit under some stairs maybe? It looks like it does and they just took wasted space and made it garage storage, the sheetrock is probably fire rock to separate the home from the garage.

Now that I think about it, you're right it sits under the stairs inside the house. Thanks for pointing that out!

dubber · Aug 21, 2013

Welcome, and that is a great spot to add things such as extra tires, congrats and lucky you.

And i have to note, i love your Rising Blue!

Mr. 360 · Aug 21, 2013

16' ceilings?!?! Now that's a huge bonus. Assuming you slide your 2 post lift further into the garage, you could basically install a mezzanine over the roll up door, which would be in the way of the hoist anyways when it's up. A 19.6'x6' loft would gain you about 120sqft and you'd still have 20' of open garage space left for the hoist. Assuming you went 9' to the underside, you'd have about 6' of headspace in the loft, which is substantial.

Thoroughly jealous here

. Looking forward to this build, welcome to GJ!

slidemx5 · Aug 21, 2013

Mr. 360 said:
16' ceilings?!?! Now that's a huge bonus. Assuming you slide your 2 post lift further into the garage, you could basically install a mezzanine over the roll up door, which would be in the way of the hoist anyways when it's up. A 19.6'x6' loft would gain you about 120sqft and you'd still have 20' of open garage space left for the hoist. Assuming you went 9' to the underside, you'd have about 6' of headspace in the loft, which is substantial.

Thoroughly jealous here . Looking forward to this build, welcome to GJ!

I was thinking of your mezzanine idea which got me thinking of perspective and size. I was told the ceilings were 16' when we bought the house.

HOWEVER, I just measured them and its 160". Some realtor somewhere thought there were 10" in a foot

either way, I love the loft idea above the door, ill have to see if I have space to do that and a 2 post without moving the rails.

Thanks for helping me catch that!

Mr. 360 · Aug 22, 2013

slidemx5 said:
I was thinking of your mezzanine idea which got me thinking of perspective and size. I was told the ceilings were 16' when we bought the house.

HOWEVER, I just measured them and its 160". Some realtor somewhere thought there were 10" in a foot either way, I love the loft idea above the door, ill have to see if I have space to do that and a 2 post without moving the rails.

Thanks for helping me catch that!

Ok, so, 13' is still nothing to sneeze at. that's plenty of wall space too, just gotta get creative!

slidemx5 · Aug 23, 2013

Mr. 360 said:
Ok, so, 13' is still nothing to sneeze at. that's plenty of wall space too, just gotta get creative!

creativity is not a strong point of mine, but we'll see how things progress!

In other news I picked up a socket organizer which helped me go from a 3 drawer craftsman mess to taking up one drawer in my new craftsman ball bearing rolling box. It also makes me realize I'm going to be OCD about finding all the sockets I don't have.

"Gotta catch 'em all!"

Tbabble · Aug 23, 2013

slidemx5 said:
"Gotta catch 'em all!"]

There's always that one socket you know you have but can never find... :thumbup:

Caleb T · Sep 15, 2013

Nice garage! It should be a fun project.

Also, Liking what I see of the Miata, any more pics of that??

slidemx5 · Feb 21, 2014

Sorry for the late replies! We've added another (human) addition to the family and it's been quite a busy time here.

Here's another pic of the miata.

Also did the interior of it

Hopalong604 · Feb 22, 2014

Awesome miata! Looks almost like mine

even has the diamond stitch door cards.

Crackerballer · Feb 22, 2014

Is the green one missing a bumper right now (rear? maybe?). If so, I think I saw you on 40 this week. Let me know if you want help wrenching on them.

MonoxieChild · Feb 23, 2014

Nice Miata. And i like the Lapis blue Mazda6. I own one also, but mine is a full Grand touring.

Dale Leeds · Feb 23, 2014

Nice place!! Nice cars, too. :thumbup:

slidemx5 · Jan 1, 2015

It's been nearly a year but I've finally made some progress.

I've spackled most of the walls, taken all the shelves down and primed the ceiling.

Final prep and paint to come next weekend. I'm trying to decide if I want to replace my 3 standard 60-watt sockets with fluorescents, and if so how many.

slidemx5 · Jan 3, 2015

Decided on the 8500 by Liftmaster. Do most people go high lift doors in preperation for a 2 post lift? It looks like the posts would not interfere with the door track at all. It looks like my height would be limited with the standard door while it's open but I'm not sure that's worth the money for the high lift door.

Thoughts or anecdotes from experience would be welcome.

buildyourown · Jan 3, 2015

Nice R. I've got a twin.
I don't think I'll ever sell that car.

dhubbard422 · Jan 4, 2015

I was reading your build thread and looking through your pictures thinking that it'd be great if you could lift that door. I wouldn't expect that it would be terribly expensive or difficult to lift the rails, but I don't have that experience and I have been surprised before...

I've seen garages on this forum that "hide" the door when it's up, by framing around/beneath the door, although I can't find the garage I'm thinking of with a quick search... anyway, a frame can also afford a location to which one can mount some lights to. Otherwise when the doors is open some lights are often hidden, but there are other options such as wall mounted lights to help get some light under the open door.

I really like the brick. Looking forward to seeing what color you paint the walls, lots of opportunity there to create something really neat.

Oh, and thumbs up for the Miata. I have an NC for a DD, but I keep seeing really nicely sorted NAs, including yours and I've been thinking that I'd really enjoy having an NA...

slidemx5 · Jan 4, 2015

Thanks! The NA is/was nicely sorted, but now needs a new engine. That's some of the motivation to get the garage done so I can comfortably swap in a 99+ 1.8 and add 18 ft/lbs! woo.

I think getting the high lift door is going to definitely happen, just need to find a quote from someone who doesn't think it should cost 700$....crazy.

slidemx5 · Jan 5, 2015

Bought a few things for the garage today.

Hopefully it'll add more light than my three 60w cfls

CombatNinja · Jan 5, 2015

Good progress so far. Do yourself a favor and triple or quadruple that lighting now before you install. At your ceiling height and garage size, no way that is going to be enough light when you're done.

slidemx5 · Jan 5, 2015

9400 lumens isn't enough for general lighting?
(2400 lumens x3 + 1100 lumens x2)

I have a separate work area portable light and a separate workbench light.

Today I've got 2400 lumens total.

Happy to fix it before it's an issue, but I thought more than 3x would be enough.

slidemx5 · Jan 5, 2015

After some additional calculation and research you're probably right. Going to try and get 3x 4 light fluorescent units if I can find any I like tomorrow.

slidemx5 · Jan 8, 2015

So - your post was very helpful. After doing some research I'll be having the door lifted this friday. Pictures to come soon!

I managed to run 110v to the corner where the opener will be mounted today and also ran 220v to an existing breaker that was wired for a hot tub that was never installed by previous owner. I left myself about 10' in the junction box for the 2 post lift, hopefully that's enough.

Tomorrow is hanging 3x 17k lumen fluorescent fixtures thanks to Combat Ninja's advice. :lol_hitti

instead of the 3x 2200 lumen led fixtures.

Painting will start as soon as it's not in the teens. Cold snap in NC!

dhubbard422 said:
I was reading your build thread and looking through your pictures thinking that it'd be great if you could lift that door. I wouldn't expect that it would be terribly expensive or difficult to lift the rails, but I don't have that experience and I have been surprised before...

I've seen garages on this forum that "hide" the door when it's up, by framing around/beneath the door, although I can't find the garage I'm thinking of with a quick search... anyway, a frame can also afford a location to which one can mount some lights to. Otherwise when the doors is open some lights are often hidden, but there are other options such as wall mounted lights to help get some light under the open door.

I really like the brick. Looking forward to seeing what color you paint the walls, lots of opportunity there to create something really neat.

Oh, and thumbs up for the Miata. I have an NC for a DD, but I keep seeing really nicely sorted NAs, including yours and I've been thinking that I'd really enjoy having an NA...

slidemx5 · Jan 8, 2015

Lighting was finished today. I bought and put in 3

Home Depot Link:
http://tinyurl.com/or9lytn

Lithonia T5HO 4 bulbs per. I have 3 of these now. Two "front to back" above where the typical car bays would be and one "left to right" over the back wall of the garage.

The fixtures are 8 ft long and really disperse the light well. I know it's probably not as much light as some people would do with 13'6" ceilings but coming from three tiny CFL socket bulbs I'm ecstatic. I believe they're roughly 20k lumens per unit. Very happy I was talked out of the much lower lumen LED lights a few posts earlier.

The lights are very difficult to photograph, at least all three of them. Keep in mind that the bulb in this picture isn't out, I had JUST turned them on so it was about a half a second from lighting.

spngr311 · Jan 8, 2015

I am looking forward to what you do here. All that vertical space sounds awesome!

slidemx5 · Jan 9, 2015

The garage door folks came and put in the 8500 and high lift. Apparently the 8500 had a max additional height of 54", so it's about a foot lower than I'd planned but I'm happy overall. Given the amount of engineering my old tracks took to be extended I'm glad I called in some help!

https://vimeo.com/116402078

Tomorrow I'm borrowing a pickup to drop off my old work bench and pickup the new one.

Paint prep begins Monday!

Again, many thanks for all the suggestions on the board, they've been most helpful.

dhubbard422 · Jan 10, 2015

Nice. I expect that you'll appreciate the extra headroom when you get that lift! Even though you didn't get all of the headroom you wanted, you should be able to raise your Miata with the door open and walk under it without fear of smashing your head into the lift!

Other than the max-height lifting issue, how do you like the 8500 so far? Your video shows it holding the door open in a low position; I often just raise my garage door just far enough for my dog to go through... I have no idea if Liftmaster would recommend that as standard behavior, but, if so, you might be able to shorten the rails and get even more headroom. I'm curious if this is something you discussed with the door installer?

Keep the posts coming!

DeliveryGuy · Jan 10, 2015

There is no "max additional height limit" to the 8500. The cable drums they used are what limit the high lift. Those drums can only lift an additional 54". The next size up of drum, which lifts an additional 120", would be much larger, and require different/more expensive springs. It would be a significant cost increase to go above 54" of high lift.

slidemx5 · Jan 10, 2015

DeliveryGuy said:
There is no "max additional height limit" to the 8500. The cable drums they used are what limit the high lift. Those drums can only lift an additional 54". The next size up of drum, which lifts an additional 120", would be much larger, and require different/more expensive springs. It would be a significant cost increase to go above 54" of high lift.

Thanks, that explanation makes more sense than what I was told. I would've ended up with the same result anyway.

slidemx5 · Jan 10, 2015

dhubbard422 said:
Nice. I expect that you'll appreciate the extra headroom when you get that lift! Even though you didn't get all of the headroom you wanted, you should be able to raise your Miata with the door open and walk under it without fear of smashing your head into the lift!

Other than the max-height lifting issue, how do you like the 8500 so far? Your video shows it holding the door open in a low position; I often just raise my garage door just far enough for my dog to go through... I have no idea if Liftmaster would recommend that as standard behavior, but, if so, you might be able to shorten the rails and get even more headroom. I'm curious if this is something you discussed with the door installer?

Keep the posts coming!

8500 is awesome. It's quiet! The door is actually being held fully open @7', though I agree the perspective in the video makes it look lower.

As soon as it stops being below freezing (next week I hope) paint will start!

bikingpro5 · Jan 15, 2015

wow you have some ceiling height, i hear you on the cold my real good friend lives just east of you and hes been telling me how cold its been and i guess a few icy mornings.

Looking forward to how you like those lights once the lift is installed and you start working under them a bit more as they are on my list of potential upgrades.

dubber · Jan 15, 2015

Awesome project you have brewing there. Can't believe that ceiling height. Nice choice getting the 8500 in with the high lift kit. Now get that R in the garage

Jay Sco · Jan 15, 2015

Nice garage, lots of potential. Nice Miata too!

slidemx5 · Jan 15, 2015

dubber said:
Awesome project you have brewing there. Can't believe that ceiling height. Nice choice getting the 8500 in with the high lift kit. Now get that R in the garage

I no longer have the R....traded it in for a M3, which got hit, so I have a mk7 GTI to hold me over until I get the next R....

First time Garage Owner - Slidemx5's Petrolhead Garage

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