Double Garage Modernisation

[B Mad]

Hi, my name is B Mad and i am a garage-holic, thanks to you guys

The wife and i have been in our house 7 years now and we have spent plenty of time and money on making our home our dream house.
Every room in the house has been changed, the outside and roof has also been repainted, but the garage is almost as it was the day we moved in.

The garage is a standard size double garage with 2 roll up doors, a pit on the one side and a couple of extra meter depth on the one side.
There is a massive carport attached in the front, which is extremely handy as my car sleeps outside as the bikes get preference . Unfortunately the wife does not get it, so her car sleeps inside too

Currently in my space, i have 6 bikes, shelving and a homemade workbench.
Space is seriously tight, but i manage...

The view

closer

The wife's side

My side

The Pit

So, being a bike guy, the pit is a storage area for paint and other odds and sods. I prefer it that way, i am afraid of what i can do with tool in hand!

The plan:
Having being inspired by so many garages on this forum, i decided it was time to add some style and flavor to my garage too. I do not have the kind of money spent on most garages here as i prefer to spend that on another bike

The roof looks shoddy and i don't think it has seen paint since the house was built in 1980. So it will get a fresh coat.
The floor is a perfect level and in good condition, just dirty. Still need to decide on what to do there.
The walls have a million holes from various brackets, cupboards and other attachments. Walls will be treated and painted, color scheme to be decided.

Progress:

The garage was cleared out, the floor given a scrub and a clean and looks ready for the decision.
The roof was cleaned and a brilliant white coat of paint applied.

The recessed wall has been measured up and materials ordered to create a full length wall to wall and roof to floor built in cupboards.

The walls in that area need to be painted in preparation for the cupboards.

For those interested, in the garage i have...
1936 Panther M100 600cc - Fully restored and running
1976 Yamaha FS1 50cc - Under restoration
1976 BMW R60/6 - Semi running
2005 Yamaha PW50 - for my boy
2003 BMW R1150GS Adventure - Daily commute
2006 Ducati Monster 695 - Daily Commute

and a couple of cars...

 

[B Mad]

The pit has a homemade cover on it which is not very stable, just a piece of sheet iron with 3 slats of wood. A couple of time my boy has stepped on it and given me and him a scare.

The plan is to put some form of flooring in. One of my mates, that can weld, owes me a favor. So i have roped him in to make me a frame that i can use over the pit and i will do a wood fill.

The cupboard i plan to put in the garage is to accommodate all the stuff (house junk one accumulates over time) that is currently in the 3rd room. We are expecting our second child and now we need another room. So hopefully i have planned out the cupboards correctly to store the house stuff and the garage goodies.

My garage time is limited to nights once the kid has gone to bed, so i want to create a space where i feel comfortable and have sufficient space to complete the projects.
Not sure how or where to store all the bikes, but we will see..

 

[-Brent-]

Neat mix of bikes. What's the bike with the springed seat? I can't really tell.

Is there enough room for your wife to switch to the other side to park?

 

[B Mad]

The sprung seat bike is the 1936 Panther

recent makeover thread here: http://www.wilddog.za.net/forum/index.php?topic=107239.0

There is less room where the wife parks due to the pit in the floor.
I need to confirm with my mate about the cover we plan to make, perhaps it could hold a bike, then moving will be an option

 

[-Brent-]

Very nice! I skimmed that build thread. I'm going to take a proper look at it when I get a chance.

I think if you get a sturdy steel cover over the pit you'll have a nice uninterrupted working area. And her car won't be in the way when you need to get to the bench.

 

[dubber]

Welcome! That car port in front of the garage is really cool. Would be amazing for detailing as you could still be outside but out of the direct sun.

 

[B Mad]

A little progress this weekend...

Had to clear out the workbench, cabinet and all the other bits where the new cupboards are going to be.

After the cleanup, i had a very holy set of walls

patched and then sanded to get nice and smooth ready for a lick of paint

first coat

9 crates of "stuff" that came out of the cabinet, off the table and in the cupboard...

Good progress

Carpenter arrives on Tuesday to build the cupboards, can't wait. It is going to make a huge difference both for the garage and storge of the house items earmarked for storage here.

I have been investigating flooring and color scheme, and i am really keen on doing a Black and Grey check pattern for the floor.
For the walls i am going full white with one feature grey wall (the one alongside the cupboards).
Then do two grey stripes on the white walls. Simple and clean.

Racedeck does not have an agent here in South Africa and to import is madness, never mind our 10 to 1 exchange rate
I have not been too impressed with any of the local offerings here for the rubber flooring, so i may just go with ceramic tiling, tough decision but will keep investigating.

Updates to follow when the Carpenter starts

 

[Dale Leeds]

Great place. I really like your cycles. They are outstanding!! Good luck.

 

[smokeysevin]

That is a cool idea having the "pit" in the garage. It would be cool to put a floor lift in there but you would sacrifice the space in doing so.

Sean

 

[B Mad]

Some progress has been made

The carpenter was supposed to start on Tuesday, but due to end of year rush and too many orders, the wood was delayed until Saturday.
The carpenter started on Sunday morning...

Wood arrived...

Planning the cupboard layout...

Start...

To keep myself busy, i moved the wiring that was in the way of the cupboard space and put in a new light.

Old light...

New light...

New light on...

Some cupboard progress pics. Made a couple of minor changes as we went along.

Building for the day done. Sampled one slot for the crates. I have 10 crates and we made 14 slots, so plenty room. The crates also have a label on the side so when i clean up and pack, i can label each one accordingly.

I also resprayed the wall mounted tool rack.
Before:

After:

all in all, great progress

I also bought the paint required to paint the garage, hopefully will start in the evenings this week.
I have also ordered the floor, but it looks like i will only get it in January though as they close on the 20th, but i go to the seaside on the 14th

More updates soon

 

[B Mad]

That is a cool idea having the "pit" in the garage. It would be cool to put a floor lift in there but you would sacrifice the space in doing so.

Sean

Would be a great idea, maybe a future plan, but for now not on my radar.
I like the space as storage for the paint and other big things.
Seeeing that the wife parks there and is reluctant to relinquish the spot, i will need to do some serious convincing otherwise.

 

[B Mad]

small update

Cupboard door are on and sealing of the unit is complete. Handles have been purchased and will be installed in the morning.

Full view from the door

This evening i wanted to tidy up a bit and packed the crates into the cupboards and even though i have not sorted through them, there is still tons of space as i just moved stuff into the cupboard.

really stoked as it is starting to come together.

 

[sunsation288]

Nice transformation , keep your good work

 

[B Mad]

This weekend was a good weekend, plenty progress

(apologies for the pic quality, it comes off the phone - my camera is in the house somewhere!)


Day 1:
Cleared out the garages to prep for paint

starting to paint:

First coat done

I consider myself a bit of an outsource specialist, if i can pay someone to do a job for me, why not
So while the painter was buy painting, i climbed into the cupboard space to straighten out the pallets and all the goods that need to go in there.
This is straight from the cupboard with no organisation

When i was done, i had a couple of spare crates available and everything sorted into respective category for easy reference. I labelled each crate and pack them back in order of frequency of use.

Day 2:
All walls go a second coat.
I mounted the wall cabinet and painted the go-fast stripe on the white walls
All in all, it is looking good...

and a look from the outside in

I am pretty happy about the progress to date.
Still to do:
- Electrics to be sorted at the cupboard so i can put the door back on
- Floor (delivery is the 13th Dec)
- Grate for the manhole (waiting for quote-sorry i cannot weld!)

Unfortunately, the floor will only be installed when i get back from December holiday. We leave on the 13th and return the 22nd, but i have to go to work on the 23rd. But i think i feel a fever coming on that day

My sister is a photographer, so i will rope her in to come and do some proper shots. Even my point and shoot stuff is bad

 

[B Mad]

Making progress...

The floor was ordered in the beginning of December, they promised delivery for 13 December before i went on leave but did not deliver

so yesterday afternoon i get home, and there is a pile of floor tiles, yippee!!
I ordered the visible lock tile as it was much cheaper, but they gave me the hidden lock tiles as apology ofr the late and slow delivery.

Lay a couple down to see what it will look like:

I also bought a workbench. There is a second hand catering equipment co up the road, i wanted a table on wheels and this one was perfect.

While at the shops a weekend or two ago, i saw this light, i had to buy it for the workbench because it looked so retro

So this weekend will be time to put in the floor and finalise the garage a bit.
Gonna be a nice day on saturday

 

[sakurama]

Nice stable of bikes!

 

[B Mad]

something is wrong with post, i will try again

 

[B Mad]

Great progress this weekend

Got the floor in and i am super impressed. Even the missus likes it

Put the bikes back in to get an idea *@#$

Nice space as well to get to the work bench

all in all i think it turned out amazing, very happy with the progress.

I have a some things to do still *@#$
- need a bar stool for the workbench
- Put up my race numbers on the wall and other garage decor to add character
- Put in the pit cover (in progress - materials ordered and now waiting on Ant Cafe to come and build it



Quick recap
Before:

After:

 

[Kaasdief]

Good going.

 

[Sunbimmer]

What's with the tennis ball ?? BTW very nice place you got there.

 

[Kevin54]

Bimmer...chances are the tennis ball is a parking ball. Once it hits the windshield, you stop and are clear in both the front and the back of the vehicle.

B Mad....great looking transformation, and WELCOME TO GARAGE JOURNAL!!!!

Not only does the garage look great, but the whole house looks great. What are the roofing materials? Some sort of a concrete tile or something else? Whatever they are, it sort of sets off the house.

Is crime high in your area? I see you have bars on the windows.

ANd again....Welcome, and look forward to seeing you around more.

 

[B Mad]

Yeah, tennis ball is for the wife to judge her parking so i can get into the cupboards when the car in the garage

The house is built of brick and mortar, that is how everything is built in SA.
The roof is tile, terracota type, strong and sturdy.

Crime is not a major issue, but it depends on the area where you live, like everywhere in the world you have the good and the bad parts (i live in the good parts ). It is better to protect and secure your assets as there is always someone that does not have what you have ....
This is a legacy thing in SA, and in order to keep the possibility of crime at bay, the windows have burglar bars, the doors have gates and the perimeter wall has electric fencing.

Typing this makes it sound like we live in a war zone
My wife and i have been in this neighborhood for 12 years now, never had a issue.

 

[Sunbimmer]

Bimmer...chances are the tennis ball is a parking ball. Once it hits the windshield, you stop and are clear in both the front and the back of the vehicle.

Yeah, tennis ball is for the wife to judge her parking so i can get into the cupboards when the car in the garage

Hmm, why didn't I think of that myself

 

[k1rodeoboater]

Yeah, tennis ball is for the wife to judge her parking so i can get into the cupboards when the car in the garage

The house is built of brick and mortar, that is how everything is built in SA.
The roof is tile, terracota type, strong and sturdy.

Crime is not a major issue, but it depends on the area where you live, like everywhere in the world you have the good and the bad parts (i live in the good parts ). It is better to protect and secure your assets as there is always someone that does not have what you have ....
This is a legacy thing in SA, and in order to keep the possibility of crime at bay, the windows have burglar bars, the doors have gates and the perimeter wall has electric fencing.

Typing this makes it sound like we live in a war zone
My wife and i have been in this neighborhood for 12 years now, never had a issue.

I lived in Jo-berg for about a month or so. SA takes security (home and auto) to a whole new level. Everything from exterior security to interior security seems to be in multiple layers. Does your home have a lockable gate to the sleeping quarters? That was one of the things that made me go, "Wow, now that's a good idea for layered security"

Never had an issue while I was there, only place I had stuff stolen from me the entire time I was in Africa was when I was in Kenya for all of 4 days. Smash and grab out of our vehicle, not much you can do about those though. Nothing was visible either, just by the fact we were white Americans in Kenya made us a target.

 

[B Mad]

I lived in Jo-berg for about a month or so. SA takes security (home and auto) to a whole new level. Everything from exterior security to interior security seems to be in multiple layers. Does your home have a lockable gate to the sleeping quarters? That was one of the things that made me go, "Wow, now that's a good idea for layered security"

Never had an issue while I was there, only place I had stuff stolen from me the entire time I was in Africa was when I was in Kenya for all of 4 days. Smash and grab out of our vehicle, not much you can do about those though. Nothing was visible either, just by the fact we were white Americans in Kenya made us a target.

We took out the gate to the sleep quarters when we moved in, kind of an overkill.

I travel Africa extensively for business for the past 10 years, and the only crime i have ever experienced is petty theft (pickpocket, etc)
Part of live in developing countries.