Down Under Garage

[Anakist]

Right. Time to start one of these things. I am a Fitter in Australia. Nearly on the East Coast and nearly on the Tropic of Capricorn and this is the story of my workshop / garage.

I am seriously addicted to tools! Both buying them and making them. Luckily, my Wife understands as long as I don't leave a mess, and being able to fix or adapt nearly everything helps with the tool buying after she hears horror stories from her friends of house repairs gone wrong and massive bills for work done.

We have just moved into a new house, ~2400 of your square feet liveable area upstairs and the same downstairs as storage / laundry / carport / workshop. It is an old Queenslander style, and is likely ~100 years old so there is plenty of work for us to do.

Here is a photo of her dressed up in preparation for a new roof.
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We are into fish, and are still in the unpacking things and setting up tanks stage of dealing with this so my workshop is a mess while we try and make space for things and put them away then use that space for the next thing etc. Fish tanks are the current mess, I will have a lot more room once they are in place, and my anxiety about not having enough room for all my stuff!

Main workshop area. Cupboards on left were left by previous owner. I have power tools, stock and rags in there at the moment but it isn't working for me.
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General workshop space and storage area. Wooden shelves are POs, **** everywhere is mine. Sigh!
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Double inline carport masquerading as fish storage area.
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So far the workshop has been used to put levelling feet into one fish tank stand, change the suspension on my 2004 Mini Cooper S, oil and flatten the sliding door from our back deck, mod my Wife's FJ Cruiser and make things for the workshop. Short term future plans are to plane a door back so it stops sticking in the frame, find a rattle in my suspension, and install more fish tank feet.

Long term is a double garage with an extra pad for a work / gym area. There will be a lift of some sort in there for sure!

James

 

[Lyndon]

Mate - have a look at the start of my thread. I couldn't get the photos up either.

But welcome, and you'll get there.

It's a great place, if for nothing other than getting things off your chest. But ask tech questions and you'll attract a lot of attention, and many answers.

Lyndon
Don't worry - it will come.

 

[Terrick down Under]

Hey, Hey ,Hey,. another Fitter. The world needs more of us fitters. Welcome.

 

[1/2 Cup]

James good to see you have started your garage thread.

Have a read of the FAQ in regard to posting pictures or do a search and if all else fails ask the question in Free Parking.

Regards

 

[HOTFR8]

I can not see the photos and you will find many things that may help you post photos in the Q&S section of the forum and not FP. Ask in the Q&S section if you still have issues. My guess it is where you have them hosted and not a GJ issue.

 

[Terrick down Under]

Photos are there now. I can see them.
You'll find heaps of ideas here on organisation etc. and you find some very interesting people at the same time. Some have highly refined skills and some just blow you away with there ideas.
Enjoy

 

[HOTFR8]

I can see the photos as well now. Can you tell us what you worked out so we know why they did not show before?

 

[Anakist]

They were linked from imgur before. Now they are hosted on GJ and linked from my album.

More fish stuff today. Waiting for the roofers to go so I can get my power and space back. Two trips to Bunnings so far since I haven't been able to do anything!

James

 

[HOTFR8]

They were linked from imgur before.

Explains a lot in one go. Imgur we have found does not allow links to the GJ as we have a classified section. Nice to see the photos as the topic is now easier to follow.

 

[1/2 Cup]

Well done James.

POTENTIAL PLUS.

Looking forward to seeing how things go...

Regards

 

[Anakist]

Got one tank set up tonight (the smallest!). From memory it is a 5'x20"x20", or about 1.5m x 50cm x 50cm. The Wife and I are sick of tanks that aren't level so we put threaded inserts and adjustable feet in last week and levelled the base. One Bunnings trip was for tank bulkhead fittings and a container to use as a sump. Also got some EPS to use under the tank as insulation / padding. Now the tank is on and the bulkhead fitting in. Tomorrow is plumbing and some water before a final trim to level and fill.

Purchased threaded inserts and adjustable feet for the 6 footer tonight too. Will be here in a couple of days and I can start on it.

James

 

[Anakist]

Well that was a fun night. Three sides of our roof have been finished so far, the guys are here again today doing the last side, and the carpenter is here starting on the fascia and some other stuff. As part of this, I have asked for mesh to be put in as the eaves so the house is pest proof, but the solar ventilator has something to work with. I will add some decorative slats eventually, but just mesh as the eaves. Because of this mesh, our poor old house is as pest proof as we have ever seen it ( since about September last year) and the resident brushtail possum is seriously unhappy about it. The guys chased it out yesterday, so all last evening there were the sounds of a possum trying to get in. We went to sleep laughing at the possum and telling it to find a new house.

All night there were strange noises of scratching and scrabbling and thumping as the possum registered its disapproval of the new living arrangements. About 3am we were wakened by what my wife though was the cat on out bed head actually being the possum in a panic trying to find away out. The stupid thing had climbed in our bathroom window and was now inside with us. For all the non Aussies, our possums are pretty smart and can become quite tame with regular feedings. Unfortunately they aren't good with changes and have tree climbing claws and muscles, and a pretty savage preservation of self reaction when attacked. There are plenty of people who have had emergency vet trips because their dog has found a possum in the middle of the night!

Here is 4 or 5 pounds of scratchy, bitey, hellacious fury waiting to happen.
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I didn't feel like a trip to hospital in the middle of the night so after an unsuccessful attempt to chase it outside, we left it to sleep in our board games cabinet and went back to bed. Today it is still sleeping in there while I wait for the roof to be finished.

You can just see the curve of its back in the shadows.
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Because these hellacious little bastards are a native animal, it is illegal to do anything to them. And because they are territorial as all get out, not even possums like possums. If you move one into anothers territory, they will fight until at least one dies.

According to our laws, if there is one in your house you can:
Catch it.
Make your house possum proof.
Release the possum at dusk on the same day not more than 50m from where you caught it.
That's all. If it is injured you can look after it for up to 3 days but then it has to be released into a new house you build for it before another possum moves into the territory.

Since I don't want the little ****** needing to break in to either our house or our roof, and I definitely don't want my dogs having a go at it, we (my Wife) have decided to build it a house and put it in a tree so it can be happy not need to destroy our house.

I found a set of plans, headed to Bunnings and got some gear. The plan calls for a piece of 240x19mm DAR pine 2.4m long. Since I have a Mini Cooper I got 3 x 1.2m pieces so they would fit and just in case the design didn't fit on the 2 smaller pieces. As it turns out the pieces fit and I had about 110mm left on one sheet and 250mm on the other.

Here are the cut pieces. My cutting by hand of the angled pieces was pretty bad, so I cleaned them up with the plane so each side was the same.
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Glued with PVA and screwed with some 10gx40mm heavy duty galvanised outdoor screws. Drill a small pilot hole, redrill the face piece to clear the threads, countersink the front face, install screws.
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Here's the finished design from the side. They recommend hinging the lid so it can be opened for cleaning. I used some 3mm insertion rubber as weatherproofing which you can just see.
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From the front with the top open showing rubber.
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Spray painted flat black so it is unobtrusive up in the tree. Also added a piece of hardwood for a mount. It is currently drying / airing with a fan pointed at it to get rid of the solvent smell.
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I will install the box this afternoon once the smell of paintis gone. Then I will get my thick leather welding gear on and grab it out at dusk. Hopefully it will find the box and leave our house alone!

James

 

[racingtadpole]

Nice old Qld'er.

Possums are a pain in the ****. I had one a couple of years ago that put my ex girlfriends dog in the Vet overnight and cost me about 5 grand in followup.. Went outside to see what the frenchie was getting antsy about just in time to see him screaming down the side of the house in pursuit of a possum. Suffice to say if you've ever seen a frenchie chase something you'll know they are not the most agile of creatures. They got into the back yard, the possum beelined up a tree and watching the dog try and pull himself up was almost like watching a cartoon (think front paws pushing down, dirt mounding up in front of him and an oh **** expression on his face), right up to the point where he got his eye gouged by a stick... Vet did an awesome job and he kept his sight in that eye, but three visits a week for the next ten weeks to the vet wore a bit thin..
Completely unrelated.. the possum got into the roof about six weeks later and ate a power cable

 

[HOTFR8]

Why am I now reminded of Dame Edna and Hello Possums? I used to trap them and cart them well away into the bush and a protected area. I painted one with a pink stripe once and it came back. Luckily my present location I do not have that issue to deal with.
You will most likely find if it stays in the home you have built for it you could have a new friend although the Dogs will not like that idea.

 

[Anakist]

Hurray. The operation was a success. Although I tried to decant the possum out of the cardboard box we trapped it in into the wooden box outside it jumped outside the fence and ran off somewhere. Still, the box can stay there and the possum can move in whenever it likes.

James

 

[1/2 Cup]

Done well James.

 

[dlcwent]

James, that was a very interesting story. I do not share the same feelings for possums as your country does. That being said, nice little possum house you made for the little guy. I tend to agree with Simon that it's found a new home.Are you planning on feeding it?

Aside from the possum dilemma, I'm anxious to see more of your fish when you find the time to get that all set up.

 

[Anakist]

I think it is because our possums are different from yours. Ours are much more like your trash pandas. Now that it isn't in our house, I will definitely be feeding it. I don't know if I want it to be a girl or a boy. Seeing the babies will be cool, but the mating ritual and prowling males are annoying.

I will definitely be putting the fish stuff up. I figure they will be a large part of what I do in the garage so they can be in the journal!

James

 

[dlcwent]

Well James, thanks. They say you learn something new everyday and you just gave that to me. I have never heard of a trash panda before. We call them raccoons over here. And they can be a big pest but there are folks that have them as pets. They are very intelligent animals for sure.
I am interested in seeing your fish as I used to have a few tanks myself and at times I miss them. Are you into fresh or salt water or both?

 

[Anakist]

I find the trash panda name amusing.

I know how you feel, our tanks have been in storage between houses for 12 months and we are both pining to have tanks set up again! We are mainly into freshwater fish. Mostly addicted to catfish in all their wonderful forms! My Wife loves fish with whiskers!!

I tried getting into marine, but our climate means I need a lot of chilling so it isn't cost effective without a dedicated fish room. Still kind of thinking a climate controlled fish room is in the future, but not in the next couple of years. Having said that, I think a tall octagonal tank of around 20 gallons will find its way into the house to become a seahorse habitat. We used to have a couple but went on holidays for a what turned out to be a record heat wave and everything cooked. That cleanup is most of the reason we didn't go further in marine.

James

 

[Mudnut]

Welcome to the forum.

Your house looks like one I looked at as an investment property in Townsville. Lots of room to expend if you wish.

When we used to live in Belgrave Vic, we had a possum family that had to be moved from our house. I put a cathedral ceiling in our master bedroom, and the possum that was living up there did not like the change. I awoke to hear scratching of him trying to get out through the pine lining boards I had recently installed. I stupidly climbed up a ladder and tried to scare it out with a broom. It turned around and lunged from rafter to rafter coming at my face. I quickly came down off the latter (read fell), and ran out of the room. Left the French doors open for it to get out. In the morning was about 60 piles of possum poo spread throughout the room. Used wire mesh to keep it from getting in under the eaves in the future.

Cheers,

Ken

 

[Anakist]

Headed out to Stonehenge over the weekend to lay a plaque for my Wife's Grandmother who died earlier this year. She grew up out there and her will requested her ashes be scattered and a plaque be laid next to her Brothers at the natural springs near their property growing up. Amazing stories from the weekend and really brings home how far we have come in 90 short years!

I had the levelling feet and inserts arrive on Friday last week so I went and collected them and purchased a 30mm wood spade bit to install them this week. After drilling a hole in a piece of 3/4" pine and putting the insert in, I changed my mind and decided 28mm was a better size so I headed back to the hardware store to tool up. Ended up buying a cheap 8 piece kit from 12mm - 32mm so I could fit the long (4") bolt of the adjusting feet further into the wooden leg of the tank stand.

Here is my workshop space slowly clearing! Only the largest tank by length left, 7x15x18. That stand needs a fair bit of work before we use it again - there is a lot of particle board and MDF used for the non-structural bits.
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Here is the stand with the levelling feet installed. This is the largest tank I have by volume. 6x2x2 for around 660l or 175gal. You can see the tank end on in the background.
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When the stand was upside down I found a fair bit of water marking from when my old house used to flood in heavy rain, and you can see the water marking on the top from splashes and overfilling, so I decided I was going to put some decking oil on to give the wood a bit of protection. There is no chance my new house can flood so I was just going to slap it on and recoat every now and then, however I have half a 20l (5gal) tin of paint left over from the roofers painting the fascia so I decided to use that since it is self priming and will protect the wood and make the stand a little more attractive. It is the Colorbond colour Ironstone, I actually really like it!
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I am heading back out to the salt mine this arvy (coal mine actually) so it can dry and I will flip it and paint underneath when I get back.

James

 

[1/2 Cup]

James, Sadly it takes some ones passing for a family get together, cherish the memories and pass them down.

Wow, that is one huge tank.

Regards

 

[BBChevro]

I just found this thread - great to see another Queenslander on the forum.

Are there prizes for guessing what area you do your mining, I feel that there may be a clue in your user-name?

Welcome aboard, I'll keep watching.

 

[Terrick down Under]

So what is happening, any updates?

 

[1/2 Cup]

Ditto..

Looking forward to it..