25' x 25' blank canvas

Scott V · Aug 7, 2014

Been lurking here for a couple of months and enjoy checking out all the cool garage projects and ideas here. My wife and I recently bought a new home and with it came a nice 25’ x 25’ detached garage. It has some good features already and is a nice blank canvas to start with. After having some size limits fixing up a couple of other garages in the past I'm looking forward to doing something cool and different with this larger one.

I enjoy flipping through other members photos in this forum so here are some of my latest obsession and some ideas I'm throwing around-

9'6" ceiling and it previously had a ceiling mounted gas heater so all the hook ups are there, 140 amps of 110/220 coming into a breaker box, polished slab and a manhole sized drain in the middle. Tim Allen would bark "ah, ah, aahhh" at this drain.

It also has fairly new thermo-pane windows roughed in.

Scott V · Aug 7, 2014

I experienced a bit of anxiety having it packed with so much stuff scattered all over and digging through boxes got old pretty quickly. Funny how all that space quickly disappeared!

For grins I played around in Photoshop to see how it would look dressed in drywall. It livened it up but I looked at it and kind of felt "been there, done that". Plus, hanging, taping, sanding and painting a 9' high dry-walled ceiling just doesn't appeal to me. :sad:

Scott V · Aug 7, 2014

The garage has some nice attic space and the floor is 8" stringers on 16" centers so I can certainly store a lot of stuff up there. Problem #1: the contractor installed the new garage door opener where the previous stairs were... :sad:

After some frustration and throwing around the idea of moving the opener, I decided the middle of the garage really isn't the best place for attic stairs. Once I get my big ladder from my other house I can finally get up there and install the new folding stairs off to the side.

buildyourown · Aug 8, 2014

Nice space.
Though I don't really endorse their products, Grizzly had a pretty functional garage planner that allows you to create and save any shape and move it all around. More functional that Sketch-up IMO.
I used it last year for my garage of the same size and I'm still very happy with the function of the layout.
Oh, and I put everything on 4"x4" cribbing and bought a pallet jack. Priceless for moving full Lista cabinets and benches around solo.

taumac · Aug 8, 2014

I like the detached idea in back of house plus 25 x25 is nice so you can have stuff and cars in there. Looking foward to future posts.

5 Stitches Garage
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=211899
Florida GJ Group
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/group.php?groupid=117

Sunbimmer · Aug 8, 2014

Very nice garage, I'm very interested :thumbup:

Thanks for sharing and welcome to the GJ.

vekster · Aug 8, 2014

that I beam down the middle can be extremely handy if you put a trolly on it.
may want to look at the supports at either end and beef them up and check there footings before lifting anything to heavy.
Nice start for a cool garage!

Scott V · Aug 8, 2014

buildyourown said:
Nice space.
Though I don't really endorse their products, Grizzly had a pretty functional garage planner that allows you to create and save any shape and move it all around. More functional that Sketch-up IMO.
I used it last year for my garage of the same size and I'm still very happy with the function of the layout.
Oh, and I put everything on 4"x4" cribbing and bought a pallet jack. Priceless for moving full Lista cabinets and benches around solo.

Thanks- that's a pretty cool app on their site. Appreciate the tip! :thumbup:

I'm a Solidworks user in my trade so I'm lucky I can throw some personal projects at it now and then.

Scott V · Aug 8, 2014

vekster said:
that I beam down the middle can be extremely handy if you put a trolly on it.
may want to look at the supports at either end and beef them up and check there footings before lifting anything to heavy.
Nice start for a cool garage!

Yea for sure. I asked the inspector his opinion and he felt some steel columns at the ends would be smart if I used it for yanking engines.

Right now it looks like this at both ends. I want to secure it to the side walls. The way it is now it's only tied into the attic floor but not the supporting wall. Also feel like I need to some cross bracing on the vertical 2 x 4's.

dubber · Aug 8, 2014

Awesome blank canvas indeed. Good luck on the refurbish.

Scott V · Aug 8, 2014

More photos to toss in-

Some early shots after we got settled in. Once I started getting organized I hung some junk on the walls for fun and threw my Slide-Lok cabinets together for a temp workshop area for house projects. The garage had some rain water issues that showed up after we moved in. -poor door seals and rear drainage runoff issues that weren't too hard to correct, so far.

We went with AT&T Uverse for TV, phone and internet and I have to say we are very pleased with the service. Getting HDTV in the garage was amazingly simple. Plugged in the TV and the box, hit one button and voila, HDTV.

Scott V · Sep 8, 2014

Finally getting around to posting some updates on the garage upgrades. Been busy with fixing up the property here and there, but staying steady on the garage when I can.

First things first; got the new attic stairs installed so we can make use of some much needed storage above the garage. My wife was great helping me get the fold down unit in place. With a 9.5' ceiling it was a challenge but not too bad. Since my large extension ladder is still at my other house for sale I had to first build a scratch ladder to get into the attic through the rafters. Ripped out the nasty old fluorescent fixtures, shored up the rafters, cut out the old, got the new headers in place and installed the stairs. The attic floor is all 3/4" plywood so had to buzz a hole with the Sawzall....best tool in the world! :thumbup:

FINALLY got into the attic! :beer:

Scott V · Sep 8, 2014

Changed to a more functional layout for the work bench and cabinets at the back of the garage since it has some good depth. I still have a second collector car to fit in soon. And since I am also combining the basement workshop from my last house, space is quickly becoming a premium. Trying to put together a workable space for everything is a bit of a challenge but fun planning it out. Feels a lot better getting more organized. I hate wasting time looking for stuff in boxes every time I have a small project! :headscrat

Scott V · Sep 8, 2014

Made use of the floor drain and washed down all the construction dust left from the house remodel. The floor has a good polish to it- another nice feature of the garage.

tfb · Sep 11, 2014

Looking good Scott. Just wondering what size beam that is? w10? w12? and what weight per ft.

Scott V · Sep 11, 2014

I'm pretty sure the beam is a W12, 6+" flange x 26' long. There's probably a chart that would give load limit based on that. The previous owner built the garage. I want to add columns on the end for more support.

bonecrrusher · Sep 11, 2014

Is that a city sewer storm drain in there?

That grate is huge - I'd definitely be dropping bolts and **** through that.

tfb · Sep 12, 2014

So that measurement narrows it down to one of the following:

Size Wt/Ft. Depth/Section Flange/Width Flange/Thk Thk/Inches

W12 26 12.22 6.49 0.38 0.23
W12 30 12.34 6.52 0.44 0.26
W12 35 12.5 6.56 0.52 0.3

dubber · Sep 12, 2014

Man that drain must be handy, very jelly!

Scott V · Sep 12, 2014

bonecrrusher said:
Is that a city sewer storm drain in there?

That grate is huge - I'd definitely be dropping bolts and **** through that.

Yea that drain is the biggest I've ever seen in a garage. I have a rubber mat to put over it for that same fear. When I bought the house and saw this in the garage I remembered Tim Allen's stand up act about how every man wants a big drain in his garage. Ahh-Ahh-Ahh.

It's just a retention pit with gravel about 2 feet down. It's come in handy as the garage has a pre-existing drainage problem with heavy rain. Still trying to correct this. Some of the soil surrounding the back of the garage is too high and run off comes in under the wall plates and onto the floor. We've had the wettest summer in history here in Chicago so I guess I have to keep that in mind as well.

Scott V · Sep 12, 2014

tfb said:
So that measurement narrows it down to one of the following:

Size Wt/Ft. Depth/Section Flange/Width Flange/Thk Thk/Inches

W12 26 12.22 6.49 0.38 0.23
W12 30 12.34 6.52 0.44 0.26
W12 35 12.5 6.56 0.52 0.3

I measured it last night and it is the first on the list.

Scott V · Sep 26, 2014

Finally got some time to get back to some updates on the blank canvas garage. Between selling the last place (moving more things out, fixing inspection issues, maintenance, etc.), improvements in the new place, and making time slots for "quality time" with the wife, lately I'm lucky to get a couple of hours/week in the garage. But that will all change soon as I finally found a buyer for the other house. Finally! Now I'm just chest deep in boxes everywhere again. Stage 2 of moving has begun.

My wife is really getting a feel now for how deep my collector bug runs as I pile more and more boxes of things in my office and garage. Here are some examples of what I get every time I show up with more stuff; "...now what?" - "...what is THAT?" - "...you have MORE die cast cars?" - "...and how old are you??". :bounce:

Before I got married my place was filled with all kinds of collector stuff in not just my man cave, but just about every room in the house. While my wife doesn't really understand my collector bug, at least she isn't pushing me to get rid of stuff. But of course, living with a woman means the house has to look…well, like a woman decorated it. SO…most of my stuff will be centralized in my office and garage, which actually should be pretty cool.

Anyway...enough of the riff-raff. Let's get to the nitty-gritty of Garage Journal Gallery; vision, planning and progress. Here is what my crazy brain has been churning out... :see:

Scott V · Sep 26, 2014

After fixing up a couple of past garages in drywall I wanted to do something cool and unique with the interior of my new garage. Drywall is easy at first, but when you factor in all the taping, plastering, sanding, priming and painting it really isn’t all that easy, and the costs start to add up if you aren’t going to do all the work yourself. At 52 I’m too old to do all that work again, and with a 9.5’ ceiling I wasn’t going to go the drywall route. I want this be a show place for my 2 collector cars, an organized and functional workshop, a place to display things from my collector bug and hopefully still have some space for a small lounge area.

The chosen material for the interior is PLYWOOD.

My goal was to design something interesting that combines form with function. I want an interesting backdrop for everything else that will be occupying the garage. I started eyeing some ideas online and in retail stores.

I really dig plywood done in contemporary settings like this...

dzn_Kensington-Lighthouse-by-Tandem-Design-Studio-01_zpsc233e930.jpg

Or this...

Problem is the super nice, contemporary designs use expensive birch plywood. I’m looking at something like 25-30 sheets. The price of birch plywood will add up quickly. So now I'm looking for something geometric, less fancy, with more of a contemporary industrial design feel to it.

But more realistically I am leaning towards a natural grain pattern like this...

So in the month of July I take a trip with the wife to her home town...Ottawa Ontario. Beautiful city. We walk into the new Loblaw's grocery store, and low and behold.....plywood, concrete and steel. :bowdown:

She's shopping and I'm like Hmmmm, walking around looking at the interior design.

My brain is getting a direction....

Love the look of the natural plywood with the zinc coated fasteners....

Scott V · Sep 26, 2014

Also love the look of the natural plywood edge when done right. Simple, clean, geometric. I'm thinking this is a direction for shelving, storage and cabinet work....

Minimalist-Home-09-Of-Pine-Plywood-with-white-black-wall-big-window-stair-table-cabinet-glass-door-red-carpet-and-ceramic-fl_zpsb0f4334b.jpg

More inspiration....

(minus the lime green panels...)

Scott V · Sep 26, 2014

So I start brainstorming in CAD, trying to get the design and materials nailed down to give me something interesting in some renderings. I measured every square inch of the garage and brought it all into Solidworks. Board by board I built the entire virtual garage in scale exactly like the real one. I then went about modeling most of my work benches, cabinets and power tools that will occupy space. I started playing with layouts.

These were some early designs just playing around with the material editor....

The goal is to maintain a perfect .50" spacing between all panels with a fkat black fill behind to bring out the edge. To get a feel for fastener spacing I went with a 1.25" edge offset on 32" centers for the vertical runs, 24" center horizontal runs. However this means some work for fastening the panels into a garage with 16" centered wall studs.

This gave me an idea of how it would really look before I spent one dime.

Scott V · Sep 26, 2014

More and more the design was tweaked to get an idea for the look and the work it would take to produce this design. So far I'm really digging the geometric design and look of the wood with the connector screws.

I wanted to see how darker panels would look, but started to realize it would be too dark before I went any further with the renderings. But as I go along I'm beginning to realize one thing is for sure; It's gonna need a LOT of connector bolts! :eyecrazy:

Scott V · Sep 26, 2014

Still don't have the lighting nailed, but here it is with the galvanized steel ceiling I want to go with...

Scott V · Sep 26, 2014

This is getting a little closer to the actual look I want. The South wall will be the display side for all kinds of collectible car guy stuff. I want to go with floating shelves along most of the wall...

Camaro Mike · Sep 26, 2014

Great concept. Can't wait to see it take shape.

dubber · Sep 27, 2014

Scott V said:
So in the month of July I take a trip with the wife to her home town...Ottawa Ontario. Beautiful city. We walk into the new Loblaw's grocery store, and low and behold.....plywood, concrete and steel. She's shopping and I'm like Hmmmm, walking around looking at the interior design. My brain is getting a direction....

Awesome, you were in my hood. Which Loblaws did you go to? The wife and i both love the look that Loblaws is now creating. Another local chain called Farm Boy also has some similar themes, which also are loosely based from Whole Foods.

jesse72 · Sep 27, 2014

Very awesome detached garage! Having that beam will come in handy for sure! How about some pictures and info on that awesome Camaro? Looks great!

Mech33 · Sep 27, 2014

Awesome planning! Sure you don't want to pitch the ceiling so you can put a lift in there?

Scott V · Sep 29, 2014

dubber said:
Awesome, you were in my hood. Which Loblaws did you go to? The wife and i both love the look that Loblaws is now creating. Another local chain called Farm Boy also has some similar themes, which also are loosely based from Whole Foods.

Dubber, we went to the one in Ottawa right by the canal where they reworked that intersection by the bridge. Great store. I especially liked the liquor store next door with the giant walk in refrigerated beer and wine section.
:beer:

Here's a little secret about "Farm Boy"; my wife is the voice of Farm Boy. That's her singing the song when you walk in the store. She was a big Pop Music star in Canada in the 80's and 90's and did some jingle work later in her life.

dubber · Sep 29, 2014

Scott V said:
Dubber, we went to the one in Ottawa right by the canal where they reworked that intersection by the bridge. Great store. I especially liked the liquor store next door with the giant walk in refrigerated beer and wine section.

Here's a little secret about "Farm Boy"; my wife is the voice of Farm Boy. That's her singing the song when you walk in the store. She was a big Pop Music star in Canada in the 80's and 90's and did some jingle work later in her life.

Small world! I'm actually friends with the founder's son. I also worked there several years ago so all of their jingles are ingrained in my memory

As for the that new Loblaws at the pretoria bridge/elgin its great. They just finished redoing that whole plaza. The also have a really unique industrial/barn style sliding door set-up for their cheese displayed.

Scott V · Sep 29, 2014

jesse72 said:
Very awesome detached garage! Having that beam will come in handy for sure! How about some pictures and info on that awesome Camaro? Looks great!

Thanks Jesse! And yes that beam will be handy. I just need to get some columns under it before putting any more load on it.

The Camaro is a '67 RS I did a frame off resto on way back in 1989 and it still looks amazing today. Did many shows in the Midwest when it was finished and pulled down some nice awards over the years. Then car shows got boring so now it's mostly just a boulevard bruiser on weekends. I did put it in the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals last fall which was the first indoor judged show it's done in 20 years and it still pulled a nice Gold Award with 978 points out of 1,000.

It's seen a few engine combo's over the years, but right now it runs a stout 6-71 blown 355 pushing somewhere around 625HP. I had Straub Engineering set up the top end a couple of years ago but the bottom end has been spinning for 16 years. It runs a built T-400 with a stall. The previous top end combo put it in the mid 11's. The new combo should put it in the 10's but I haven't had the chance to run it again. It's a good attitude adjustment vehicle that always leaves a SEG on my face after I take it out and beat on it. :evil:

Here it is at World of Wheels 1991 when it took First place, the first year I completed it.

Now here it is 23 years later:

Before the new exhaust in June-

Scott V · Sep 29, 2014

dubber said:
Small world! I'm actually friends with the founder's son. I also worked there several years ago so all of their jingles are ingrained in my memory

Yes and they say the world gets smaller as you get older. Her brother lives just a block off the canal right down from that store. I really enjoyed my trip there.

As for Farm Boy- She has said that most people that work there probably want to kill themselves after listening to the song all day. :eyecrazy:

She's told me about some of the "special versions" they did in the studio that were not for public ears... :wtf:

Scott V · Sep 29, 2014

Mech33 said:
Awesome planning! Sure you don't want to pitch the ceiling so you can put a lift in there?

Thanks on the planning comment. I've been a little strapped for cash until I sold the other house so I've had plenty of time to plan and screw around with ideas in the meantime.

As for the pitched ceiling....Thinking about it. I'm at 9'5" right now which would be really tight to squeeze both cars on a lift and the beam also presents an issue. I'd also like to build a loft above so gotta figure out how to work that in. ...some day.

sean Buick 76 · Sep 29, 2014

Nice car, and i love the plywood walls with zinc fasteners idea!

Scott V · Sep 29, 2014

sean Buick 76 said:
Nice car, and i love the plywood walls with zinc fasteners idea!

Thanks Sean, I've enjoyed following your thread and your Buick sounds bad-***. Pretty cool article you wrote in CHR too. :thumbup:

Scott V · Sep 29, 2014

...OK back to the garage;
So along the planning stages I began to realize the extra amount of work this will take to make it look and work right. So I weighed out the advantages and disadvantages before throwing my time and effort at something that just looks cool;

Advantages:
1.) It will look cool. :lol:

2.) It might be less work without all the taping, mudding, sanding, priming and painting of drywall.
3.) It might be cheaper than drywall and all that.
4.) The plywood panels will be removable if I want to get at something in the wall like adding electrical, cable, speaker wires, etc.
5.) It will be more durable than drywall.
6.) It will look cool. :lol:

Disadvantages:
1.) Every 4'x8' panel will need .50" cut off the vertical edge
2.) Every cut must be perfect
3.) All .50" gaps between panels will have to be perfect
4.) Garage walls are not square, plywood panels are.
5.) Proper bolt spacing on the panels means nothing will line up with the wall studs.
6.) The wall studs in my garage aren't all on 16" centers. :headscrat

7.) You have to find the right wood stain and you get ONE shot...can't just repaint.

So from what I can figure, the disadvantages seem to outweigh the advantages. But this isn't going to stop me just yet. In my mind one will appreciate the work involved to produce the final finish that will be simple, functional and clean. ...And different. Then again, I might be crazy. :tard:

25' x 25' blank canvas

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