I dream of triples but play in a single!

@e91kiter · Oct 27, 2016

Hi all, I've been lucking on this forum over the past year or so and finally decided to make an account. I live in Canada just outside of the Toronto area in what used to be a small town but recently exploded in size. I love our house, but I'm sure as many of you in similar situations dream of a larger garage, but a single is what I have and must make do with. I like to be clean and organized but find it difficult being a packrat, my wife calls me her "Messy Besty", but you know what I mean right? The guys that has a hard time getting rid of something because you tell yourself you'll need it or you'll use it one day, but when the day actually comes you can't find it or just forgot you had it so you end up make a trip down to the store to buy it all over again. There are some rules about keeping things that you haven't used in X months, I just have hard time committing to X. I love mountain biking, kiteboarding and working on my car among other hobbies and interests which all compete for valuable real-estate space inside the garage. Currently the mountain bikes have found themselves in the garden shed just because they are so awkward to keep in the garage. Over the years I have built a storage shelf for the winter tires, recycling, garbage and compost bins. Made a movable bench on wheels and then added another fold down bench because I ran out of room on the first bench (HAHA). Added some 70s kitchen cabinets I got for free after freshening them up with some paint. Added some more shelves and bins for stuff I'll use one day and built somewhat of and organizational wall to keep all my kites, boards and gear. Working on the car is a challenge inside the garage especially on the sides of the car but workable. Until recently I would have long rollup ramps the length of the car which were about 4" off the ground, it allowed me to get a jack under the car (its low), lift it and set is on jack stand to work on the wheel etc.. Not too long ago I picked up an EZcarlift which should make life a little easier. Anyways, recently I got the notion to spruce up the garage space so I ordered a new insulated garage door and decided to lay down some Ribtrax flooring tiles from Swisstrax Canada. BTW Costco Canada now sells them too and at a pretty good price but you're limited to a choice of only 5 colours: black, slate grey, royal blue, racing red and pearl silver. They come in a box of 25 tiles which equals 4 sq.m or 43 sq.ft.

Below is the current state of my garage and as I move along in my garage journey I'd love to hear comments, feedback and suggestions on how to make the space more workable with innovative ideas.

:beer:

dwysywd · Oct 27, 2016

hello! welcome to the forum! nice car! wow if you have to pick just one car to have that's a pretty awesome choice!

I think you've done a pretty fair job with the whole 10 gallons in a 5 gallon bucket here. the floor looks nice.

do you have any room above your garage door? if so, and even if it's only as tall as a tote, it's a great place to store items. also, ceiling space is a great way to maximize your working surface area.

http://www.target.com/p/suncast-gar...gclid=CIG18djl-s8CFQeraQod6VgLww&gclsrc=aw.ds

you can also store ladders on the ceiling if you have one in the way.

finally, put some items on a mobile cart with a rain/weather cover on it.
makes it easy to just wheel out a bunch of stuff and leave it on the drive until you're finished. and it doesn't matter if it's rain, snow or shine.

https://m.uline.com/h5/r/www.uline....gclid=CN_L1Jrm-s8CFQmQaQodF9MCRQ&gclsrc=aw.ds

hope those ideas help! I had a single and now I have a double plus a 24x32 barn. I know your pain. but it looks like you're making the best of it.

jeff
Sent from my facsimile machine

dubber · Oct 27, 2016

Nice garage. Singles always get my attention :lol:

A buddy of mine had that same car but silver with red leather here in Ottawa, I think the new owner is in the GTA. :thumbup:

@e91kiter · Oct 27, 2016

dwysywd said:
hello! welcome to the forum! nice car! wow if you have to pick just one car to have that's a pretty awesome choice!

I think you've done a pretty fair job with the whole 10 gallons in a 5 gallon bucket here. the floor looks nice.

do you have any room above your garage door? if so, and even if it's only as tall as a tote, it's a great place to store items. also, ceiling space is a great way to maximize your working surface area.

you can also store ladders on the ceiling if you have one in the way.

finally, put some items on a mobile cart with a rain/weather cover on it.
makes it easy to just wheel out a bunch of stuff and leave it on the drive until you're finished. and it doesn't matter if it's rain, snow or shine.

hope those ideas help! I had a single and now I have a double plus a 24x32 barn. I know your pain. but it looks like you're making the best of it.

jeff
Sent from my facsimile machine

That's the Sunday driver that lives in the garage, the daily driver sit out in the cold :lol:

. Thanks for the suggestions, unfortunately there's only about 10" between the ceiling and garage door so not that much space but I might be able to fit the ladder but that's about it.

dubber said:
Nice garage. Singles always get my attention A buddy of mine had that same car but silver with red leather here in Ottawa, I think the new owner is in the GTA.

Thanks, with such low productions numbers on this coupe I know exactly who you are talking about and have seen it earlier this spring when we did our GTA Z4 cruise.

@e91kiter · Oct 27, 2016

Here is my to do list for the future;

replace the shelves and storage bins on the right side with some wall cabinets
clean up the contents of the boxes on the left side with possibly a tall storage cabinet
replace the movable bench with a stationary one and add some deep lower cabinets that would hide all the bulky power tools and cases
come up with a way to drive the car straight into the garage and slide it sideways as close to the right wall as possible. similar to this Park and Slide, this would give me more room to walk by the car with the bins on garbage day.
redo the cabinets with some new ones

I have started looking for garage cabinets and came across a Canadian company Newage Products that seem to have some neat offering. Look like some good deals online here, I'm also looking into Husky so we'll see where I land.

dwysywd · Oct 28, 2016

I think the problem here with this is he need to back in on this video to maximize space. this allows you to get the passenger door on the RHD car next to walls and leaving the optimal room to get out of the driver door.

@e91kiter I don't know if your garage is wide enough for this kind of application or if you'd get maximum benefit for the amount that system costs. please keep up posted. curious how it all works out for you.

Sent from my facsimile machine

dubber · Oct 28, 2016

@e91kiter said:
Thanks, with such low productions numbers on this coupe I know exactly who you are talking about and have seen it earlier this spring when we did our GTA Z4 cruise.

I had a hunch you might.

@e91kiter said:
I have started looking for garage cabinets and came across a Canadian company Newage Products that seem to have some neat offering. Look like some good deals online here, I'm also looking into Husky so we'll see where I land.

I personally have several Husky pieces which i like. The model i have has been discontinued at Home Depot. Their replacement pieces are really nice IMO.

Pro-Slat also has quality pieces at a good price available through Costco. Helped to outfit a friends garage using them.

@e91kiter · Oct 30, 2016

dubber said:
I personally have several Husky pieces which i like.

I had a look at your garage and just wondering if the Husky wall cabinets can be mounted side by side touching each other without having issues opening the doors?

I'm going to check out the NewAge product line in person this week which I'm looking forward to.

s2kattracks · Oct 30, 2016

I feel your pain(single car). Same situation here! I am slowly making ours more usable too.

Will be keeping an eye on yours to see how you make it work for you!

@e91kiter · Oct 30, 2016

dwysywd said:
@e91kiter I don't know if your garage is wide enough for this kind of application or if you'd get maximum benefit for the amount that system costs. please keep up posted. curious how it all works out for you.

Honestly I want to only be able to move it max 24", just to give myself some walking room to the left of the car since its parked all winter. The general idea is to have 4 individual dollies travel on 2 tracks using a V-grooved caster. I'll use a U channel cut into the Swisstrax so which will give it a finished look and sit almost flush with the top of the tile and place an angle iron inside the channel. I ordered a couple v-grooved casters to to see it its feasible, we'll see how it goes.

Zeke · Oct 30, 2016

Interesting idea. I'd like to see how this develops. Seems a little tippy at this point.

@e91kiter · Oct 30, 2016

Zeke said:
Interesting idea. I'd like to see how this develops. Seems a little tippy at this point.

I think once you have around 800lbs per dollie sitting on top, it will stay put.

enginewizard1969 · Oct 31, 2016

looking good I'm in the UK and know what its like to just have a single our singles come up even small than yours. I have given up on trying to get a full car into mine and am converting it into a workshop to work on the bits of cars. I am lucky to have a carport on the side to work on one of my project cars but most of my work has to be done outside.

My problem also is I can't have one car on the go at a time and now my two sons have project cars the single garage has about 4 cars in it and all my tools!!! (well boxes of cars with the bodies outside)

Good Luck with yours and I may steal some of your space saving ideas for my garage

Graeme

Guster · Nov 3, 2016

Subscribed.

Fellow kitesurfer and general allround traction kiting enthusiast here. Always interested to see how others solve their storage needs especially as kite gear provide an interesting storage dilemma. Just upgraded my Ozone water quiver to a set of Cabrinha kites. Both my kite shelf and board rack are straining at the moment

@e91kiter · Nov 5, 2016

Guster said:
Subscribed.

Fellow kitesurfer and general allround traction kiting enthusiast here. Always interested to see how others solve their storage needs especially as kite gear provide an interesting storage dilemma. Just upgraded my Ozone water quiver to a set of Cabrinha kites. Both my kite shelf and board rack are straining at the moment

I hear you on kite storage! Here's my kite wall, a bit messy but you'll get the idea. Boards sit on some metal closet organizer shelves that I put a piece of broken water hose on to protect the bottom of the boards. The kites just hang on hooks just above the ground.

My quiver is Switch kites from your neck of the woods, and SU-2 kiteboards.

@e91kiter · Nov 5, 2016

So today I decided to tackle the right side of the the garage, specifically the make shift shelving with all the bins. It was a good idea originally as it organized loose items into the storage bins but it does look a little messy, so I decided to replace them with some metal cabinets. I was really set on getting a set of 3-4 wall cabinets from Newage in the Bold series (24w x 18h x 12d) which Costco sells for $100/unit. I was able to check these out at the Newage warehouse in Vaughn but after seeing them in person I change my mind. The Bold series is their lowest series using 24 gauge steel, and when I tried opening the door, the door really flexed which was a bit flimsy. There are 2 magnets holding the door closed, one on top and one on bottom of the cabinet, so if you pull the door handle towards the bottom, the bottom magnet will release and the door will flex while the top magnet holds it in place until it releases. It really flexes substantially IMO, so to avoid the flex you need to grab the handle in the middle of the cabinet so both magnets will release at the same time. It's not that big of a deal but if the cabinets are mounted high on the wall you'll tend to pull from the bottom. I guess you could remove the top magnet. Now the high end 18 gauge steel Pro Series did not have this issue and they looked great, but the they are a bit more then double the price $245. Right now Newage has the Pro series (28w x 22h x 14d) on sale at $190/unit which I was real contemplating on buying but I still found it a bit expensive for my taste. I was in Home Depot and checked out the Husky wall cabinets (28w x 29h x 12d) which I ended up buying 3 of them. Though they are not welded and you need to assemble them I just found that for the money at $128/unit and the larger size, it was a great deal for what I need and they didn't have that door flexing problem. I installed them today and they look great.

In the future I'll most likely get the Newage Pro Series set in gray/black so these black Husky cabinets should match pretty well.

BOLD SERIES

PRO SERIES

HUSKY

@e91kiter · Nov 6, 2016

So I had a chance to play a little with the car slider idea and mock up of what I want it to look like in the Swisstrax flooring. I have to stop by a metal shop to see if they can fabricate me some small ramps to get on these dollies without derailing it though.

Stuart in MN · Nov 6, 2016

I think your dolly idea is pretty innovative - the biggest problem with dollies with regular casters is getting all the caster wheels pointed in the right direction; once that's done they move pretty easily. Since your setup has the casters locked in one position the car should be easy to move.

Nice car, too. I really like those ///M coupes.

runt262 · Nov 7, 2016

Such a good idea on that sliding dolly. Do you have anything to prevent it from sliding sideways before the car is on? I imagine that the vibration of the car as it comes in might shuffle a dolly to the side a little bit.

You might be able to counteract that by putting the rails on a slope, but....that won't help you at all when the car is actually on there. It will just want to slide back over to the middle. Great idea though. I wonder if you used rubber coated castors to dampen any vibrations. Looking forward to seeing this progress

Where in the GTA are you? East, west? Im out in Halton Hills. Garage looks great.

@e91kiter · Nov 7, 2016

Stuart in MN said:
I think your dolly idea is pretty innovative - the biggest problem with dollies with regular casters is getting all the caster wheels pointed in the right direction; once that's done they move pretty easily. Since your setup has the casters locked in one position the car should be easy to move.

Nice car, too. I really like those ///M coupes.

Originally I had the car on 4 dollies with swivel casters but since the garage is so narrow I actually had a hard time moving it because there was very little room for me to get in and push. I'd actually get down and put my shoulder on the front wheel, foot against the wall and push then do the same on the rear wheel. Now getting it back was even harder LOL. So locked or directional caster have to be used to make it easier. I did also tried to make it using the directional casters but since we're in a garage and floor has some debris, something always got caught in front of the caster that you really needed some strength to get over it or clean it up. I thought of running maybe on a steel plate to make it easier but never got around to it. Recently I found a v groove caster that is small and has a heavy load capacity, it will also allow me to keep it low profile and since the wheel will sit on an angle iron rail these there be no chance of obstruction and I hope it will move with ease.

Yes I have fun in that coupe, I just wish I could enjoy it year round.

lakeroadster · Nov 7, 2016

@e91kiter said:
So I had a chance to play a little with the car slider idea and mock up of what I want it to look like in the Swisstrax flooring. I have to stop by a metal shop to see if they can fabricate me some small ramps to get on these dollies without derailing it though.

Neat concept.

Food for thought:

You're probably not going to be happy with all four tires being in the recesses. 4 slicks plates, all recessed... Add a little moisture and you'll be doing a burnout.

Maybe just the front tires, and then flat plates for the rear tires?

Or something like a spotting dish, as is used on automotive lifts... they have a bump in the front and back, but the plate is flat. (see photo below)

Your idea had me thinking of this fella's approach

@e91kiter · Nov 7, 2016

runt262 said:
Such a good idea on that sliding dolly. Do you have anything to prevent it from sliding sideways before the car is on? I imagine that the vibration of the car as it comes in might shuffle a dolly to the side a little bit.

You might be able to counteract that by putting the rails on a slope, but....that won't help you at all when the car is actually on there. It will just want to slide back over to the middle. Great idea though. I wonder if you used rubber coated castors to dampen any vibrations. Looking forward to seeing this progress

Where in the GTA are you? East, west? Im out in Halton Hills. Garage looks great.

Well I was hoping to have the ramp sit on the tiles (floor) so one set of the casters along the same rail would actually not touch the rail. As the car wheel would enter the ramp the metal ramp would flex bringing the set of casters down to the rail and once the car wheel was positioned in the centre of the dolly the weight of the car you bow the dolly so the ramp that was sitting on the floor now is in the air making easy to move. Here is a rough sketch of what I mean. This is yet to be proven as it's just an idea as of now.

BTW I'm in Milton so not to far away. In the winter we actually kite on some fields in Georgetown.

@e91kiter · Nov 7, 2016

lakeroadster said:
Neat concept.

Food for thought:

You're probably not going to be happy with all four tires being in the recesses. 4 slicks plates, all recessed... Add a little moisture and you'll be doing a burnout.

Maybe just the front tires, and then flat plates for the rear tires?

Or something like a spotting dish, as is used on automotive lifts... they have a bump in the front and back, but the plate is flat. (see photo below)

Your idea had me thinking of this fella's approach

That's a cool concept of the 5th wheel LOL. I was actually thinking of only recessing the front tires just because have have these dollies and the rear flat maybe using a diamond plate for traction. I really don't have to recess the wheels at all really and use a bump stop or a plate like you suggested but this mean the car would sit a little higher. Thanks for the tip.

dubber · Nov 7, 2016

Very cool concept. Eager to see if this works out.

@e91kiter · Nov 7, 2016

I did a quick test to see if there is any flex in a 1/4" aluminum diamond plate that is roughly 15" between the 2 casters and it looks promising. This was done on the rear wheels so I only assume that the fronts because of the engine would have more flex. Maybe I'll try that tomorrow.

s2kattracks · Nov 8, 2016

Thats a slick idea! Like that alot!

If I had a weekend warrior, garage queen car, Id love to have something like that.

Kriesel · Nov 8, 2016

@e91kiter said:
I did a quick test to see if there is any flex in a 1/4" aluminum diamond plate that is roughly 15" between the 2 casters and it looks promising. This was done on the rear wheels so I only assume that the fronts because of the engine would have more flex. Maybe I'll try that tomorrow.

I wonder if the flex will be less when it's bolted to the wheels and sitting on the track? maybe a little less flex (at least in my head I envision it being less)? :lol_hitti

@e91kiter · Nov 18, 2016

So I got the 1/4" diamond plates back from the metal shop today. Hopefully all the casters will arrive on Monday/Tuesday so I can put everything together next week!

Aroberson77 · Nov 18, 2016

Very cool concept, I think it will work out just fine, that diamond plate is very ridgid and provides ample traction.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

@e91kiter · Nov 19, 2016

Testing out the position before the casters come.

@e91kiter · Nov 20, 2016

I received the casters today "Sunday" out of all days and was able to get one unit completed.

Check out the video.

Bib Overalls · Nov 20, 2016

Neat idea. After reading your post yesterday I spent all night writing up the patent application. Going to drop it in the mail in the morning.

Actually, I didn't and I won't. But you should. The self articulating ramps are genius. However, aluminum may not be the best material. A steel with good "memory" or spring qualities may function better over time.

If your patented design does well in the market place you can buy a bigger house with more garage space and really solve your root problem.

@e91kiter · Nov 21, 2016

Bib Overalls said:
Neat idea. After reading your post yesterday I spent all night writing up the patent application. Going to drop it in the mail in the morning.

Actually, I didn't and I won't. But you should. The self articulating ramps are genius. However, aluminum may not be the best material. A steel with good "memory" or spring qualities may function better over time.

If your patented design does well in the market place you can buy a bigger house with more garage space and really solve your root problem.

HAHA I don't think that there are too many people with this particular issue or that they particularly care to solve it. I don't know much about patents but from what I hear they cost a bit to get written up which ultimately it will put me further from my triple garage goal. :beer:

I did ask the metal fabricator about the difference between aluminum and steel and how they behave and the amount of flex each would have. The main difference I went with aluminum was that I was told it flexed more and is obviously lighter but I will be curious how it stands up over time.

@e91kiter · Nov 24, 2016

Getting a bit more organized. I had a small 4'x4' white slatwall section on part of the wall which functioned well but just didn't look so nice. I decided I wanted to cover the entire section of the wall top to bottom with a more uniform looking slatwall. Ordered two 4'x8' lite gray slatwall sections from ProSlat which arrived yesterday and after putting it up I think that I just might color match the gray colour and paint the rest of the garage in it. I really like how it matches the Swisstrax floor.

BEFORE

AFTER

Denwood · Nov 25, 2016

Loving the ramp ideas! Will be interested to see how they work out.

If you're ok doing a bit of painting or sealing, you can buy 4x8 sheets of slatwall from HD. I liked it so much, the entire 16x24 shop got the treatment. Two coats of clear polyurethane was used to seal this. The slatwall holds a lot more weight than I would have guessed.

@e91kiter · Nov 28, 2016

Denwood said:
Loving the ramp ideas! Will be interested to see how they work out.

If you're ok doing a bit of painting or sealing, you can buy 4x8 sheets of slatwall from HD. I liked it so much, the entire 16x24 shop got the treatment. Two coats of clear polyurethane was used to seal this. The slatwall holds a lot more weight than I would have guessed.

thanks.... I debated going the MDF route as it was cheaper but painting and sealing it was going to be a pain so just waited until the plastic ones when on sale, so for an extra $30/sheet it was worth it from me.

@e91kiter · Nov 28, 2016

Yesterday I decided to tackle the right wall under the Husky cabinets. So here were my thoughts on what to do:

Paint it which would require some patch & drywall work so wasn't keen on that.
Do another slatwall since it looked so nice, but it would be pointless since the car is right against not to mention the cost.
Since the water hose was there do stainless steel as I've seen some other garages with that which looked really nice but was pretty expensive.

I decided to do option 3 with a twist. I bought a roll of the NewAge VersaRool PVC Garage Flooring and put it on the wall. I think it look pretty good and since it's water proof I can get that part of the garage wet without worry. I'll take some better pictures when I get a chance.

@e91kiter · Nov 29, 2016

Also over the weekend had some progress with the car slider. Few things still need to be worked out but it's functional. It's amazing how much space 18" can give you.

dubber · Nov 29, 2016

Honestly that is genius. I know from experience that a few inches, let alone 18" can make a huge difference. How is it actually sliding the car over? A little worrisome?

@e91kiter · Nov 29, 2016

dubber said:
Honestly that is genius. I know from experience that a few inches, let alone 18" can make a huge difference. How is it actually sliding the car over? A little worrisome?

Car slides over just fine with no worries. It's a little tough to get going but once it's moving it would keep going as long as it has rails to slide on, I'll make a video when I get a chance. I'm going to extend the rails a bit longer so I can get another 6"-8" closer to the wall which would give me a total of roughly 2 feet of extra space.

I dream of triples but play in a single!

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