First House, 40x30 garage!

Dugan · Oct 30, 2013

Well im moving tomorrow from my NJ parents house which had a 45x20? attached garage to this 40x30 pole barn with 14ft ceilings and 12ft doors in New Castle, DE.

On the side I run my shop (AHG Performance) which we do all basic work to custom fab. We do a lot of racing and mud/crawlers.

Its gonna **** trying to re-organize my garage life from what I had. Thought id start a post to document the building up and organization of the garage to maybe get some critiques... much like every vehicle I build. Moving away from a garage lift so everything is going to be strange for awhile.

Pics from Realtor site:

dubber · Oct 30, 2013

Nice, is the PO going to leave the lift for you?

Dugan · Oct 30, 2013

dubber said:
Nice, is the PO going to leave the lift for you?

I told him if he wanted to leave it for free I would, but he wanted 2k for it. Its brand new, but for the work I do a 4 post is useless to me. The only thing I could use it for would be storing two of my cars, or a makeshift paint booth.

rieferman · Oct 30, 2013

Great starting point!

Do you know which builder put the pole barn together (sometimes the gable peak has a logo, or elswhere in the building)? And, is your plan to insulate and heat as part of moving in?

Dugan · Oct 30, 2013

Ill find out that tomorrow riefer. Eventually I would love to insulate it. Still need to research which type of insulation wont kill me in the summer.

Also its a budget issue got a lot of school loans to repay!...damn Drexel

rieferman · Oct 30, 2013

Another Drexel alum! Nice! I finished grad school there in 2004.

Lots of good info on here about how to finish the interior. I once worked for a pole barn company, so I have a pretty good feel for the methods that you can use.

Dugan · Nov 5, 2013

First Vehicle in.

Got everything moved in, Got a few things I still need to rearrange. Prob gonna move those storage shelves so I can put 3 cars in a row and in the future a lift and two cars next to it.

The garage has Outlet Receptacles ever 8 ft with 4 outlets each which is awesome as well as 3/4" PVC piped around with an outlet every 12 ft.

I got a 20 gal sears air compressor from a buddy, and I want to jump up the fittings. Ive read on here about the milton high flows and such, but they seem to be the exact same thing as the 3/8" fittings as far as through size.

Anyone have any input if there is a difference? I know 20 gal isnt much coming from a 100+ gal one originally, but I want to in the future be able to use my 3/4" gun without starving it for air.

Also in the works is a spot light with three lights containing 3 LEDS each ( Bright AF). This will come equip with my little annoying neighborhood kids motion detector I bought to keep the kids with spray paint and hack saws away... (Theres a peice of siding from the garage in the rafters the local kids cut through in the past... but there is now a security system out there, and kids have sprayed it in the past too the neighbors told me.) Any maybe 2 or 3 fans for the ceiling.

I want to insulate this, but I dont want to lose the wood to mount things too. Im getting some 8ft tall metal paneling for the inside from a friends garage and i might just use this to do the upper 8 ft of the walls as I will be keeping the rafter look and trying to insulate above the rafters on the roof and the highest 8ft of the side walls. I think this will be better than nothing, and Like i said i like the wood beams to mount things to.

tdkkart · Nov 5, 2013

Dugan said:
3/4" PVC piped around with an outlet every 12 ft.

Wait for it...........

dubber · Nov 5, 2013

Oh well it was worth a shot eh.

That is one huge blank canvas! Enjoy.

Dugan · Nov 5, 2013

tdkkart said:
Wait for it...........

Whats that... the first idiot to bump into one and take it out? haha

3/4" PVC air line* sorry

tdkkart · Nov 5, 2013

Dugan said:
Whats that... the first idiot to bump into one and take it out? haha
3/4" PVC air line* sorry

You haven't been here long enough.
Waiting....... for the first person to come through and tell you your building is a public nuisance and should be condemned before it kills all the neighborhood children.

Seriously, PVC is dangerous stuff not intended nor safe for use as air lines. Eventually it will explode, throwing splinters of plastic through whatever is in the way.
Search it, you will find volumes of discussion.

Dugan · Nov 5, 2013

tdkkart said:
You haven't been here long enough.
Waiting....... for the first person to come through and tell you your building is a public nuisance and should be condemned before it kills all the neighborhood children.

Seriously, PVC is dangerous stuff not intended nor safe for use as air lines. Eventually it will explode, throwing splinters of plastic through whatever is in the way.
Search it, you will find volumes of discussion.

Damn in all the time ive worked in shops ive never heard of one popping. But still this is my garage now and I dont want to add to the risk of working in a garage by spiking someone to the wall with a pvc shard. Im currently only using 125psi, which would be fine.... but Ill be changing this up soon..

What would be the next cheapest/high supply/safest setup? Black **** pipe?

sunsation288 · Nov 18, 2013

1 inches Stainless steel ...it's how i do mine

Dugan · Nov 25, 2013

Newest addition to the shop, been wanting these for years.

CL score for 150$, wouldnt work when he tried to demonstrate them for me and i drove over an hour to get them. He wouldnt take less than 150$.. even "broken"

To me if they didnt hold fluid i could atleast jack up the side of a vehicle and use to slide it around. Still cheaper than a newer set of wheel dollies. But after an hour of messing with them and not listening to the priming method listed on them, I was able to get them to hold pressure and crank.

Also, im pricing out running 6/3 nm-b to two parts of the garage for access for the welder/plasma. One would be in the back by the lift and another by the front door. I was going to set up this circuit for 50A so I never have to change it in the future.

After seeing how much it would cost to do it like that, is it worth it to run it static on the walls or just have a 50ft ext cord coming from the fuse panel?

It would require atleast 60ft to run it static plus two 15$ outlets and a junction box.

Ray Kelly · Nov 25, 2013

40X30? Seriously!? That place is awesome!! Plenty of space. And I love the truck. Nice place, guy!!

Dugan · Nov 25, 2013

Ray Kelly said:
40X30? Seriously!? That place is awesome!! Plenty of space. And I love the truck. Nice place, guy!!

Thanks, Its kind of scary... I already think its too small haha. But I guess we all say that about the space we use. More space = more stuff.

Yea its kinda hard to realize for me how young I am and how I was able to get almost my dream garage this fast. Can only move up from here, and time to tackle larger projects.

NorthNjWK · Nov 25, 2013

CONGRATS!! Looks awesome!

Dugan · Mar 6, 2014

Got some updates.

I had to move those damned storage racks from the back of the garage, it was making it so I had a 20x40 garage.. cant be having that!

So the best thing I came up with was this:

Original Before we started

Got one moved, but where to?

Man does that allow a lot more room.

We moved one over the door and removed the bottom shelf, and the other into the other corner of the garage. I figured that in these spots the vertical space was wasted so why not use it.

All up after climbing like a monkey all night :lol:

Also, after rebuilding a starter and doing a few things with my vice sitting on the floor (PIA) I had to build a work bench. Cost me about 50$ overall since I didnt have any wood from my old house left.

We made it so it would fit perfectly between the two beams (7'4"). I did a back drop to keep thing from rolling off the back by screwing the plywood to the wall, but there is still a small gap, Im gonna remove the bench again and put a small 2" strip on the back of the bench. This will solve my gap.

Also it fits 2 1ton axles under it nicely until i find a use for them hehe :rocker:

Dugan · Mar 7, 2014

Looking at a Derek Weaver 10k certified 2 post lift now.

Whats the avg distance from the wall to mount these?

Dugan · Apr 23, 2014

Half a panoramic, Organization is the hardest thing to do right now haha. Im getting so many jobs before I have a chance to clean up, im getting another.

I cant complain about cash haha but i hate the clutter!!

And working 12 hour night shift at work right now for a month straight is killing me on garage time!

Dugan · May 14, 2014

Just bought a ceiling fan for the garage. Saw a lot of people posting about it on here, 90$ for a 9600 CFM fan. Cant wait its been hot as a mofo out there with no air movement. In the sun outside the garage its atleast 10-15* cooler... so strange.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Hampton-...-Fan-26629/202670138?N=5yc1vZbvlqZ12l2Z2bctnt

Question though. With the truss structure, should I run some 2x4x12s staggered on the trusses to support more weight?

I was going to build a box between the center most ones and mount this to it.

Will that be enough or should I do some serious bracing first? Always afraid of these pole barn setup, they look so weak at the trusses.

Dugan · May 16, 2014

Mounting up the fan bracket, I put two 47" 2x4s together then placed them dead center on the truss. The trusses were twisted a bit, I couldnt **** the bottom on one of them back in.

Pretty good blade span, I had to make sure it wouldnt touch the garage door if thrown up, and when I get my lift that I wont touch it. If you notice the siding above the fan, this is where someone broke into the garage with tin snips a year before I moved in. He cut himself pretty badly and they caught him. I think he got a year in prison.

I realized with my screw driver 3/8 sockets my IR 3/8 gun doubled as a impact driver. Def better than my HF drill I bought to get me by. Until I snapped the teeth off my #2 phillips.. gah but its husky so ill go get another.

scottman50 · May 16, 2014

Just Built a 30 X 40 and put 4 of those fans up. They are great.

Dugan · May 16, 2014

scottman50 said:
Just Built a 30 X 40 and put 4 of those fans up. They are great.

4 really needed? 1 seemed to do great

Dugan · May 16, 2014

Is it better I used the short down rod? Supposedly there is another in the box. I didnt see it but would it be better to have it closer to the floor? I have 14 Ft. Ceilings.

Dugan · May 20, 2014

Sis got me a computer from her work for the shop so I dont have to rely on my phone for music and researching. I tried to use my wifi card and i knew it, I got no signal from the house.

So I bought a 200ft ethernet cable from amazon for 13$.

Went to HF last night got me some goodies to mount my jackstands and gojax along with a 100ft fish tape.

Well my security system line runs in the one conduit to the house and I know it would be best to run my ethernet next to this instead of the power line to avoid interference. Well I thought it would be a simple task seeing how there was plenty of room in the conduit.

Sent down the fish tape, got it at the house and electrical taped the ethernet cable to it and covered all edges to not allow snags. Got about 25Ft down the 75 or so ft of conduit and hit a snag. Pushed and pulled a few time and got past it. but about 2 feet later hit a hard, very hard snag. Tried again but to no avail.

I pulled the fish tape as hard as I could, no luck. Tried to pull backwards lightly, no luck.

I knew i needed leverage to just bump it past the snag. Well i hooked it to my engine crane to slightly pull it. Started pumping slowly. Nothing. Wouldnt budge. So i kept going.....Started to pull pretty hard and then it budged! Success right? NO it was hard as a mofo to pull with the crane. Couldnt figure it out. So i kept going with the crane, readjusting the fish tape ever 2 ft or so. Then... BANG.

The fish tape now pulled out easy and with nothing at the end, but the spiral to hook cables too is now bent flat.

And my security was not working ofcourse... so i pulled that cable up to show that I stretched the hell out of it and broke the cables..

Went back to the house and pulled the ethernet through, End looked fine, had electape still on it. Well I looked at the security cable and it looks like it had a kink in it from when the PO ran it and it snagged the fish tape.

So I tested the ethernet and all but one wire tested fine... OF COURSE.

So kept trimming back and testing....till i found a whitened blue shielding on the ethernet. Cut it and checked there. Found the open.

Todays adventures will be to send the open ethernet cable along with a repaired security cable back into the garage..

Going to stagger and solder and heat shrink the security cables and put a new end on the ethernet ONCE its in the garage.

All this work for internet and music... What the heck.

Dugan · May 21, 2014

Spent yesterday getting the cables ready to run to the garage again. Soldered and heatshrunk the broken leads on the security lines. I felt accomplished after being able to do 3 things at once, hold the wires, hold the solder gun and hit it with solder that my little finger was directing...

Got the fish tape ran back to the house and hooked up the wires, I made sure to organize the wires to not kink whist being pulled. Got the ethernet and security cables back out to garage, re hooked up the security motion sensor and success it worked again.

Got the ethernet ran and got some internet. The computer i was given is an old HP with 512 mb ram.. Its slow as anything but hopefully Ill be picking up some free ram soon. The internet was slow, but Im gonna base this off the computer. Ill be running a speed test tonight.

Now its time to mount everything in the right spots and organize the cables.

I also found what snagged me last time. The PO had put nylon cord into the tube to pull things through later on. Well I guess it pulled it with the ethernet cord last time and bundled up

Todays plan is to get my jackstands and go jax mounted on the walls. Ive looked up others setups to mount them off the floor and havent seen anything!. So hopefully I can help some people with my design.

Garage Junky · May 21, 2014

Drexel class of '02 here LeBow COBA. The space looks sweet!

Dugan · May 21, 2014

Garage Junky said:
Drexel class of '02 here LeBow COBA. The space looks sweet!

still paying off those loans? hah

Dugan · May 28, 2014

Vid of truck

One of our race trucks we got going last weekend.

Still has a small backfiring out carb issue. Got to install a timing curve kit still.

roughly 500hp 600tq

188slo50 · May 28, 2014

Currently building the same size right now so I'll be watching this orginazation of stuff. How well is the fan working? I was thinking of do in 2 of them and reversing one to get air to circulate.

Dugan · May 28, 2014

188slo50 said:
Currently building the same size right now so I'll be watching this orginazation of stuff. How well is the fan working? I was thinking of do in 2 of them and reversing one to get air to circulate.

It was great on mild days. The last few days have been close to 90. Def dont feel it as much. Standing under it is fine, but anywhere else you just feel it at your ankles. Def makes it cooler but ill be investing in atleast another once price drops or i get a sale flyer/coupon.

Ive been using my floor construction fan to blow outside air up to it. Doing a good job so far.

Dugan · Jun 12, 2014

Ive been messing around with the HF tire changer for awhile trying to make it semi portable.

I came up with an idea to mount the tire changer to a truck hitch. This will give it plenty of extra support and I can bring it anywhere we go.

I took some scrap metal I was given and made the mount. Its a 1/8" peice of 2x3" angle iron about 12" long and a 1/8" 2x2 square tube about 4 ft long. I was trying to find a base to use for the machine. I looked at my scrap pile and saw a bunch of rotors and drums. I chose a drum because it had enough surface area to weld to.

I cut a V into the top and bottom of the square tube and tacked the square stock to it.

I kept the square stock at the length I got it because I can move it out to mount larger tires and it helps adapt for changing surface heights.

Instead of welding the tire machine to the angle iron, I got two 4" exhaust clamps from autozone and cut two small Vs, top and bottom, into the clamp stamped steel part. This allows me to hold them tight to the square stock and tighten the tire machine to it.

Tried a basic tire, no problems at all.

De-beaded a bogger that was bead sealed. Boggers always give me issues when trying to debead.

Overall, the weight of the truck helps stabilize the machine and allows me to use more leverage when breaking beads. I use a piece of pipe instead of the breaker arm that came with it as I have put bends into it. So i just use that to dismount tires now. I need to strengthen the bead breaker lever arm and it should be perfect. It is a lot more stable then when i had it on a pallet.

Also I have strengthened the bead breaker anvil. The arms tend to bend and I had made the anvil into a 90* angle from its 135* angle.

I might even hack up the original arm and weld the tire changing ends to the blue pipe I have. Then I wont have to carry around two pipes.

Gonna add some paint and maybe an AHG Performance logo and itll be good to go.

Dugan · Jun 16, 2014

Ok I think ill be buying a lift here soon.

Probably going to settle on the:
Derek Weaver

Now as far as positioning in this garage, I want the most usable space still.

I have two garage kept vehicle atm. If i was to mount the lift in the middle toward the back of my 40' Long(deep) x 30' wide garage, this lift would be 12' wide leaving 18', 9' on either side. Is this enough viable space to park a car on either side?

Edit: I just looked up the federal Reg on vehicle width, its 2.44m or 8ft roughly. Anyone have any ideas on how I can mount the lift for best use? Would in the middle be the best or what?

fireeqpsrv · Jun 16, 2014

Great shop you have going there. Keep up the great work.

bazzateer · Jun 16, 2014

If you're just going to park them and not work on them then 9' is fine.

Dugan · Jun 16, 2014

fireeqpsrv said:
Great shop you have going there. Keep up the great work.

Thanks, means a lot being my first home/shop.

bazzateer said:
If you're just going to park them and not work on them then 9' is fine.

Yea they sit till driven. I was just hoping that if I put them on either side, will pulling an axle out of a vehicle hit them being that close.

metalhead212121 · Jun 27, 2014

Been following your progress from the start. Congrats on making the move from NJ to DE. I see your friends with my friend Justin who lives in Middletown DE (happen to see a post of yours on facebook). Is that his Jeep on your AHG Facebook page?

Dan

Dugan · Jun 27, 2014

metalhead212121 said:
Been following your progress from the start. Congrats on making the move from NJ to DE. I see your friends with my friend Justin who lives in Middletown DE (happen to see a post of yours on facebook). Is that his Jeep on your AHG Facebook page?

Dan

Yup that's his hole in the ground haha. I've worked on his truck more than my own lately haha

Dugan · Jul 9, 2014

Was in the field for a drill press when I was contacted about an estate sale. They are selling a drill "press" and other machinst tools. A machinst using a drill press? i was quite perplexed. I was then told the model number.. I cant wait to go get my new MILL. hehe

They also have some other tools for sale,

SouthBend Lathe (1800$)

Kalamazoo Band Saw ($1500)

Rockwell 21-100 Mill. (200$) unless I find its broken, then I can have free.

Someone tried to move and it fell over. Hopefully nothing was damaged. I will find out however.

I was going to try and offer 1500$ for all 3 and see if they are desperate.

I dont know why I would need a lathe truly, but If i can get for nothing I can resell. Also Id love a band saw, but that seems like overkill.

But I really hope the Mill works

First House, 40x30 garage!

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