Hi all - I learned an incredible amount lurking on this site and I figured it was time to give back in case my experience could help/inspire others.
The Patient: 2 car garage built in 1961 that needed some TLC
The Doctor: Regular guy (me) with minimal experience (e.g., never painted anything before) but with a willingness to watch many youtube videos
The Remodel: Started in April '14 and it is in it's current state as of December '14. I thought it would take me ~a month but it ended up taking 9 due to limited time to work on it and there being more work to do than i anticipated
Before Pictures:
In general, the garage was just beat up and the previous owner had not done a great job with maintenance
Work Performed:
- Insulated exterior walls. I went with GreenFiber Blow in Insulation. The machine that is used to blow in the insulation is a BEAST. 2 people are needed to load/unload it. I do keep a dehumidifier always on in the garage now as moisture can't easily escape but its not a big deal compared to the added warmth in winter
- There was a lack of outlets in the garage so I ran new electrical and while I was at it, I moved the exposed wires behind the walls as well as the garage door wires and new speaker wire. I have a 2 zone receiver in my living room so I ran Zone 2 out to the garage which I can control with my phone.
I struggled with finding something to cut away the drywall that wouldn't take forever, make a complete mess or accidentally hit wires behind the walls. I ended up getting a Saf-T-Cut reciprocating saw blade which is made to punch the drywall instead of cutting it and that worked pretty well
- Hid the gas curb. From an aesthetic perspective, it annoyed me. I cut away the drywall above the curb by ~2 feet and then installed new drywall all the way down with plastic sheeting behind it
- Skim coated all walls & ceiling and painted. I had not skim coated anything before and I started off going too thick. Then I figured out I could cut the premixed mud further with water in a 5 pound bucket and it worked out better after that. Sanding mud is pretty messy but I used a hand sander that connects to a shop vac and that made the mess minimal
For the wall paint I used Sherwin Williams Satin Extra White.
- Cheap Epoxy had been used previously on the floor and was peeling. I had a hard time deciding on a floor option but I ended up going with Norsk tiles. They are PVC and they have worked well for my use which is to park cars on as well as work out on. Cutting them with a utility knife wasn't too bad. I have only swept them to date but when time allows, i'd like to give them a good mopping.
- Gear. This was the most fun part as I could finally see the space come together. Garage gear is from Gladiator. I'd monitor the deal sites and whenever a piece came on sale that I wanted, I would pick it up. Work out gear is from Rogue Fitness.
Given I am in CT, I also put in a electric heater and I went with the Fahrenheat FUH54 which worked really well last winter. For lighting, I put in 4 Lithonia Lighting 4-Light Grey Heavy-Duty Fluorescent Shop Lights
In Progress Pictures:
Current Garage State:
I took these today as I was cleaning it up in preparation for both cars being parked in it for the winter.
There are a few more things I want to do like paint the doors and put some vinyl molding between the wall and floor but for the most part, it is done.
As I look back, I am not sure I would have started the project knowing how much effort it ended up being but I am glad I went through with it as I think it probably came out better than I expected.
Also, I was not the first person to do any of the tasks required. This site, google and youtube were invaluable to me as regardless of what I needed to do, I was able to find an example of someone else doing something similar that I could mimic. This also added on a lot of the time to the project but I think the final product was better as I avoided mistakes I would have made on my own if I had just been winging it.
Good luck all in your projects!
-
The Patient: 2 car garage built in 1961 that needed some TLC
The Doctor: Regular guy (me) with minimal experience (e.g., never painted anything before) but with a willingness to watch many youtube videos
The Remodel: Started in April '14 and it is in it's current state as of December '14. I thought it would take me ~a month but it ended up taking 9 due to limited time to work on it and there being more work to do than i anticipated
Before Pictures:
In general, the garage was just beat up and the previous owner had not done a great job with maintenance
Work Performed:
- Insulated exterior walls. I went with GreenFiber Blow in Insulation. The machine that is used to blow in the insulation is a BEAST. 2 people are needed to load/unload it. I do keep a dehumidifier always on in the garage now as moisture can't easily escape but its not a big deal compared to the added warmth in winter
- There was a lack of outlets in the garage so I ran new electrical and while I was at it, I moved the exposed wires behind the walls as well as the garage door wires and new speaker wire. I have a 2 zone receiver in my living room so I ran Zone 2 out to the garage which I can control with my phone.
I struggled with finding something to cut away the drywall that wouldn't take forever, make a complete mess or accidentally hit wires behind the walls. I ended up getting a Saf-T-Cut reciprocating saw blade which is made to punch the drywall instead of cutting it and that worked pretty well
- Hid the gas curb. From an aesthetic perspective, it annoyed me. I cut away the drywall above the curb by ~2 feet and then installed new drywall all the way down with plastic sheeting behind it
- Skim coated all walls & ceiling and painted. I had not skim coated anything before and I started off going too thick. Then I figured out I could cut the premixed mud further with water in a 5 pound bucket and it worked out better after that. Sanding mud is pretty messy but I used a hand sander that connects to a shop vac and that made the mess minimal
For the wall paint I used Sherwin Williams Satin Extra White.
- Cheap Epoxy had been used previously on the floor and was peeling. I had a hard time deciding on a floor option but I ended up going with Norsk tiles. They are PVC and they have worked well for my use which is to park cars on as well as work out on. Cutting them with a utility knife wasn't too bad. I have only swept them to date but when time allows, i'd like to give them a good mopping.
- Gear. This was the most fun part as I could finally see the space come together. Garage gear is from Gladiator. I'd monitor the deal sites and whenever a piece came on sale that I wanted, I would pick it up. Work out gear is from Rogue Fitness.
Given I am in CT, I also put in a electric heater and I went with the Fahrenheat FUH54 which worked really well last winter. For lighting, I put in 4 Lithonia Lighting 4-Light Grey Heavy-Duty Fluorescent Shop Lights
In Progress Pictures:
Current Garage State:
I took these today as I was cleaning it up in preparation for both cars being parked in it for the winter.
There are a few more things I want to do like paint the doors and put some vinyl molding between the wall and floor but for the most part, it is done.
As I look back, I am not sure I would have started the project knowing how much effort it ended up being but I am glad I went through with it as I think it probably came out better than I expected.
Also, I was not the first person to do any of the tasks required. This site, google and youtube were invaluable to me as regardless of what I needed to do, I was able to find an example of someone else doing something similar that I could mimic. This also added on a lot of the time to the project but I think the final product was better as I avoided mistakes I would have made on my own if I had just been winging it.
Good luck all in your projects!
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