First Time Home Owner

[06malibu]

Hello all,

I have been lurking for some time now. I am getting ready to purchase my first house. I am ecstatic to finally have my own house and garage, mostly the garage part. I have rented for the last 3 years and finally found myself a house.

Im trying to figure out what exactly to do first and would like some opinions. The plan is to tear out everything the previous owners leave, then killz the walls before I even move anything into the garage. Any one recommend any other things to do first?

I would then like to work on lighting and building some storage. The garage really lacks lighting. It is a fairly deep single car that opens up and extra 4'-5' at the back on the left side.

Luckily there is a shed so all yard equipment will be stored out there. The space will fill fast with tool and dirt bike equipment as I have 3 dirt bikes.

Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

 

[Rickster]

I just moved in last year and one of the best things I did was to add LED lighting from Costco on the ceiling. Really bright and work in the extreme cold with no issues.

 

[slice]

I can tell you this. Don’t draw it out where goes what. Do your kilz and paint. Then start putting it together. Strange but it will become easier the more you do. It will talk to you. I am not crazy. It will Just happen. Sit there and just let it come to you.

 

[06malibu]

I just moved in last year and one of the best things I did was to add LED lighting from Costco on the ceiling. Really bright and work in the extreme cold with no issues.

Ill check them out of lighting. Going LED for sure, they're great lights.

 

[06malibu]

I can tell you this. Don’t draw it out where goes what. Do your kilz and paint. Then start putting it together. Strange but it will become easier the more you do. It will talk to you. I am not crazy. It will Just happen. Sit there and just let it come to you.

Thats what I keep telling myself but I keep seeing all these awesome garages here and my mind just starts racing with ideas and plans.

 

[Bluedodge]

Ill check them out of lighting. Going LED for sure, they're great lights.

Fresh. Bright. White. Paint. Semi-gloss.

 

[ford33]

First do not "plan to tear out everything the previous owners leave". Consider what can be re-used and what can be left alone. It will save you money if you can use what is there or put it in other areas of the garage.

Clean the garage from top to bottom. Then patch and paint the inside before you start installing cabinets and lighting. It is so much easier to paint bare walls and floors than to have to move things off the walls and around the floor. Choose a top quality primer and paint from Sherwin Williams or Benjamin Moore. It is likely the only time you will paint the walls so do it right and make it last.

I think you should have a general idea for a garage layout. Then start assembling your garage items.

 

[kazlx]

Clean everything, drywall, paint everything white, add lights. Go from there.

 

[ItsNemo]

Steps:
Empty it ALL out
Anything behind the walls (wiring, insulating, blocking for hanging items, etc) gets done first
Drywall/Patch/Sand
Primer and then paint with white/off white semi-gloss
Install lights
Finish Floor (if you ever intend on doing epoxy or similar)
Put in benches/shelving/cabinets

 

[bad_idea]

FLOOR! The first thing I did at my last house (first house) was paint the garage floor. Before ANYTHING moved into the house. Best move. I used the Rustoleum kit available at HD, it did ok. I used that garage hard for 8 years and it showed it's age when I moved. But it still did floor things when I sold the house. Spending the big money on a floor you're not going to use but 10 years is a waste IMHO.

As far as walls, paint walls bright white and start moving your stuff in. I assume you haven't worked in a home shop before? If so, let things work themselves out as you go. I made a few big changes early on and regretted them. Found the shop setup didn't support the kind of work I did. Keep it simple, work in the space, make it fit your work. Constant minor improvement over large steps. Saves rework.

I do a lot of welding/grinding in my garage (bumpers, rock sliders, suspension brackets, artsy metal furniture for wife, etc), and automotive work (tune ups, motor swaps, lift kit, etc). Enough wood working to take care of the house.

Electrical is easy enough to cut in later. No need to worry about it now. Klein makes a 4' long drill bit for punching through studs without opening drywall. Only have to cut outlet box holes. Can also use conduit surface mounted, even easier to install. I suggest holding off on the electrical until you get the layout sorted out. Would be a ***** to put the outlet for the welding machine where you later decide a large cabinet would be best suited.

I found pegboard is terrible - leaves my tools exposed to grinding dust coverage. Prefer drawers, lots of them.

Hate open shelves - same issue. Large cabinets are great for bulky storage.

I like a long, shallow work bench (mine was 13' long x 2' deep) built to a custom height dependent on your height. This bench was bolted to the floor. Very solid for reefing on things.

Then a nice sized rolling work bench. Size contingent on size of garage. My last garage was only 14x20, so my rolling bench was 30"x48".

 

[James-W]

Welcome to the forum.

How much electrical power do you have in the garage?

What do you plan to do in the garage?

Do you plan to heat/cool the garage?

Where do you live? It helps to answer questions if we know at least the general area where you are located.

Is the garage insulated?

 

[ard]

Do you have a FIRM understanding of any possible issues with the home you are buying? ie a GOOD inspection done by someone not in the pocket of the realtors.

 

[matt_i]

OP mentioned lighting and I was thinking: is electrical adequate?

Imo a key part of any new shop space is setting out goals of what you want to do out there and then filling in the details...definitely there can be "scope creep" so any kind of future-proofing is a good thing, hence the electrical question.

CostCo had some really nice LED shop lights but they seem to have sold out of them

 

[exranger06]

OP mentioned lighting and I was thinking: is electrical adequate?

I was thinking the same thing. If the lighting is inadequate, then it's probably also really lacking receptacles.

 

[06malibu]

Welcome to the forum.

How much electrical power do you have in the garage?

What do you plan to do in the garage?

Do you plan to heat/cool the garage?

Where do you live? It helps to answer questions if we know at least the general area where you are located.

Is the garage insulated?

Do you have a FIRM understanding of any possible issues with the home you are buying? ie a GOOD inspection done by someone not in the pocket of the realtors.

I was lucky enough to use a friend of a friend as my inspector who did a great job and didn’t cost me an arm and a leg.

OP mentioned lighting and I was thinking: is electrical adequate?

Imo a key part of any new shop space is setting out goals of what you want to do out there and then filling in the details...definitely there can be "scope creep" so any kind of future-proofing is a good thing, hence the electrical question.

CostCo had some really nice LED shop lights but they seem to have sold out of them

I was thinking the same thing. If the lighting is inadequate, then it's probably also really lacking receptacles.

The biggest issue with the house is the breaker box. It is out dated and has some wiring issues. Attempting to get sellers to fix it but we will see. Nontheless it will get replaced first. Looking to go ahead and upgrade to 200 amp as well while I’m in there. Old box is 100amp

As for the wiring in the garage, it is questionable too. Once moved in I imagine I will assess the wiring and go from there. Lighting is the 2nd goal I have in mind after painting the walls. 2 of the 3 walls are concrete (4th wall being the garage door)

 

[06malibu]

Welcome to the forum.

How much electrical power do you have in the garage?

What do you plan to do in the garage?

Do you plan to heat/cool the garage?

Where do you live? It helps to answer questions if we know at least the general area where you are located.

Is the garage insulated?

I’m located in northwest Missouri. Luckily the garage is insulated and has duct work. The couple times I have viewed the house the garage was warm (guessing 70s) so I don’t believe heating/cooling will be an issue. Most of my garage work will be working on dirtbikes and normal household projects.

 

[mikeceli]

Fresh. Bright. White. Paint. Semi-gloss.

I agree.

Might want to scrub floor w/ TSP / hot water. Let dry and paint w/ epoxy flloor paint. LIGHT COLOR, NO CHIPS(to help find small clips, or whatever, when they fall or shoot away).

 

[bad_idea]

I'll never put chips in the floor paint again. What a PITA.

 

[steveo1o9]

FLOOR! The first thing I did at my last house (first house) was paint the garage floor. Before ANYTHING moved into the house. Best move. I used the Rustoleum kit available at HD, it did ok. I used that garage hard for 8 years and it showed it's age when I moved. But it still did floor things when I sold the house. Spending the big money on a floor you're not going to use but 10 years is a waste IMHO.

This! Depending on the condition of the floor that is where I would start. When I moved in to my house the floor in my garage looked great and had a fresh coat of paint. Fast forward 1.5 years the floor is looking like **** with the paint easily chipping off from everyday activities. Not sure what they used but it was not a quality product. Redoing the floor will take a lot more work once you get everything moved in, and that 1 car garage will fill up so fast it will make your head spin.

 

[06malibu]

I agree.

Might want to scrub floor w/ TSP / hot water. Let dry and paint w/ epoxy flloor paint. LIGHT COLOR, NO CHIPS(to help find small clips, or whatever, when they fall or shoot away).

I'll never put chips in the floor paint again. What a PITA.

This! Depending on the condition of the floor that is where I would start. When I moved in to my house the floor in my garage looked great and had a fresh coat of paint. Fast forward 1.5 years the floor is looking like **** with the paint easily chipping off from everyday activities. Not sure what they used but it was not a quality product. Redoing the floor will take a lot more work once you get everything moved in, and that 1 car garage will fill up so fast it will make your head spin.

Any suggestions on floor paint/epoxy? Preferably budget friendly.

 

[sierradmax]

Are you married or will it be a joint purchase with a GF or fiancee? With our first home, the garage and basement came last on the totem pole to work on. Furniture, drapery, appliances, electronics, decor, & most importantly..T.P. were tasks to get done first. And, it adds up quick!!

 

[06malibu]

Are you married or will it be a joint purchase with a GF or fiancee? With our first home, the garage and basement came last on the totem pole to work on. Furniture, drapery, appliances, electronics, decor, & most importantly..T.P. were tasks to get done first. And, it adds up quick!!

Soon to be fiancé shh. But yes I know it will add up fast when first moving in. Luckily we’ve been able to save and prepare best we can for the move. We’re pretty set furniture and appliance wise. Knock on wood we don’t need anything. Just have to fix a few things within the house and get things the way we want them

 

[bad_idea]

The prep work is more important than the product used. Poorly prepared floor with expense product will have poor adhesion and vice versa.

I got 8 years out of the Rustoleum kit from Home Depot. I beat the hell out of that floor and it looked great the first 5 years. Was functional the day I sold the house (owned 8 years), but was rough looking. I'm thinking would have needed a recoat at the 10 year mark. Not a bad ROI, 10 years for ~$100 for the kit. Look at the cost of the professional kits in the flooring section of this forum, likely 5-10 times the cost. You plan on dying in that house? Be realistic, you'll probably sell it in 5-10 years. The Rustoleum kit should handle your uses.

 

[zbyler]

Do you have a FIRM understanding of any possible issues with the home you are buying? ie a GOOD inspection done by someone not in the pocket of the realtors.

This is SO IMPORTANT. I just bought my first house back in June and hired a "professional inspector" to complete the home inspection. He missed multiple issues like a failing well pump, chimney that's falling apart, and a vermiculite (asbestos) insulation problem in the attic.

Tried to go after the inspector for these gigantic expenses and the fine print in his contract basically prevented him from being liable for anything he missed......

Don't be an idiot like me!

 

[ItsNemo]

Are you married or will it be a joint purchase with a GF or fiancee? With our first home, the garage and basement came last on the totem pole to work on. Furniture, drapery, appliances, electronics, decor, & most importantly..T.P. were tasks to get done first. And, it adds up quick!!

Funny, my then fiancé (now wife) and I when we built our new house a couple years back, the first summer in the house I did almost everything I wanted in the garage right away. Painted, lighting, benches/storage, lift, new compressor and air system, etc...not a problem with her at all. We didn't buy hardly any new furniture other than a new bed but we did do blinds that year too. Just need to find the right woman who knows where the priorities are

 

[rburke65]

Inspectors....I don't think....are responsible for anything. Yes, paint and get the lights up. Form follows function. You can always move stuff around....and you will be.

 

[steveo1o9]

Are you married or will it be a joint purchase with a GF or fiancee? With our first home, the garage and basement came last on the totem pole to work on. Furniture, drapery, appliances, electronics, decor, & most importantly..T.P. were tasks to get done first. And, it adds up quick!!

Pretty much my experience too. The garage became our catch all for everything until we settled into the house. I didn't have a usable garage for many months. The biggest thing to remember is it all takes time, no need to rush to get everything done all at once.

 

[bad_idea]

F#ck that. When my wife and I bought our first home we had a talk. I told her the garage door from the house had a thumb latch on the deadbolt. If she started stacking **** in there I would change it to a key lock on the inside. Not a hostile conversation, just blunt and to the point. She has NEVER dropped **** in my garage. The house though, that's hers. We bought a 3 bedroom house with just the two of us (at the time), so one of the bedrooms was the project/storage room.

 

[06malibu]

F#ck that. When my wife and I bought our first home we had a talk. I told her the garage door from the house had a thumb latch on the deadbolt. If she started stacking **** in there I would change it to a key lock on the inside. Not a hostile conversation, just blunt and to the point. She has NEVER dropped **** in my garage. The house though, that's hers. We bought a 3 bedroom house with just the two of us (at the time), so one of the bedrooms was the project/storage room.

Pretty much the same page we’re on. Buying a 3 bedroom so there’s an extra room which will be an office. There’s also the basement for now (till we get a pool table). When we started looking I told her if we ended up with a single car garage she had to park outside (my truck won’t fit or I would). She understands it’s my work area as I’m constantly working on bikes and other projects.

 

[Adam R]

Speaking from personal experience, there is a significant amount of euphoria when it comes to buying your first home. Everything, or most everything, will look acceptable, if not perfect. Although I've done plenty of construction and building over the years, I did not have a lot of time to look over the first home we bought before needing to get back on a plane, but I did bring a flashlight with me to look around. I also did the customary "home inspector" and lets just say that he (and I) missed a few things. He missed enough important stuff like a faulty dishwasher and dry rot in the attic that he refunded his inspection fee to me and I still had fix all of the missed stuff out of pocket. Had it been found sooner, I would have gotten a slightly better price on the house.

I would highly suggest that you find a couple of older friends who have experience with home ownership and construction and hire an hour or two of their time to find everything possibly wrong with the house. Some items they discover might be minor and not worth pursuing, but at least you'll go in with eyes wide open.

If on a well, do a flow test to verify that it meets minimum code requirements. On paper, mine did, but when I left a single sprinkler flowing 2 gpm on overnight I learned that my well did not flow the advertised 3.1 gpm (code requirement was 3.0, how convenient of the well driller?)

Anyway, after owning a semi-fixerupper and a semi-custom built house, both can have a few hidden issues that others might be able to spot.

My $.02. Good luck and congrats.

Adam

 

[coljar]

Any suggestions on floor paint/epoxy? Preferably budget friendly.

Yeah, don't. You said you'd actually be working on stuff in there.

 

[crewchief888]

First do not "plan to tear out everything the previous owners leave". Consider what can be re-used and what can be left alone. It will save you money if you can use what is there or put it in other areas of the garage.

Clean the garage from top to bottom. Then patch and paint the inside before you start installing cabinets and lighting. It is so much easier to paint bare walls and floors than to have to move things off the walls and around the floor. Choose a top quality primer and paint from Sherwin Williams or Benjamin Moore. It is likely the only time you will paint the walls so do it right and make it last.

I think you should have a general idea for a garage layout. Then start assembling your garage items.

i agree, dont toss everything out right away....

everything (except, tools,toolboxes, and equipment) has been salvaged or re-purposed from somewhere else.
i still use a couple shelfs that the PO had installed many years ago for large, bulky items. we've been here 13 years, and ive probably reorganized and shuffled stuff around 10 times. the garage is small, (19x22) and only had 1 light, a switch and 2 outlets as required by current code. i added a few more outlets, and some salvaged lights, some just temporary, some permanent.
as my storage needs and equipment change, i move stuff around to make it fit.

the garage is uninsulated, unpainted, full of grinding/cutting debris, dust and cobwebs. we had planned on building a larger garage, with enough lights and electric behind the old one and then demoing the original. didnt happen 10 years ago like we had originally "planned", and wont happen in my lifetime.


i didnt have a "choice" when we moved in, our closing got delayed by several weeks, and suddenly it was "close on wednesday, or loose financing".
all our furniture was stored in a friends enclosed trailer, tools, toolboxes, and yard stuff was stashed in several very temporary places,
it was thanksgiving weekend, and we had her kids for 4 days for "slave labor"
the girls helped their mom sort out the house, me and my 12 year old stepson spent 2 days with my truck and trailer gathering up and moving tools, toolboxes, and yard stuff into the garage and basement

 

[Parrothead]

I was lucky enough to use a friend of a friend as my inspector who did a great job and didn’t cost me an arm and a leg.

The biggest issue with the house is the breaker box. It is out dated and has some wiring issues. Attempting to get sellers to fix it but we will see. Nontheless it will get replaced first. Looking to go ahead and upgrade to 200 amp as well while I’m in there. Old box is 100amp

As for the wiring in the garage, it is questionable too. Once moved in I imagine I will assess the wiring and go from there. Lighting is the 2nd goal I have in mind after painting the walls. 2 of the 3 walls are concrete (4th wall being the garage door)

Make sure this is the #1 priority, with or without consideration from the seller. It's easy enough to rent a POD to move stuff out of the garage at a later date to epoxy the floor or paint, but if it burns to the ground...well.

There's so much I want to tell you about owning your first home, but I would fill the internet.

I'll just leave you with this, you're now about to be part of a partnership with your soon to be wife, so while you might want to epoxy the floor and get an air compressor, she might want to get granite countertops and a new faucet for the kitchen sink. I can tell you which has better resale value when you do indeed move.

 

[soloz2]

Firs today all, congrats!

Ask for sellers to update wiring, or put money in escrow for you to do it. I'm closing on our first house next week and the sellers replaced the old fuse boxes in the house with a new 200am panel and installed new service lines to the house and garage. I would have liked to have more say in who did it and all, but having them do the updates made getting insurance and financing go more smoothly. Apparently, insurance companies do not like insuring properties with screw in fuses.

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