Hello from a young man seeking advice.

[sjabs667]

Hi All,
I moved into a new home last July. The (detached, deep 2 car) garage is in the back of the home with a single wide very inconvenient driveway. There's plenty of street parking and Me & the wife have never had a garage, so we don't plan on putting a car in this.

Anyways- They were renters of 20 years and the garage was mainly used as storage. They left the place full of junk... hoarders situation.... I had no idea what i would uncover (yes I found some goodies) but I knew the space could be awesome if done right. I quickly had a garage sale which paid for half of the dump bill.



Since last summer I've finished with reno to most the house and am ready to focus on making this garage a cool space.
As of Jan '23 this is where I am at (it's just a good first photo. She still ugly):



Mostly a clean slate. This is everything I plan to have in the garage plus (some new tools).
At this point I have a lot of questions- I will take some specific photos but in the mean time I am seeking any and all comments/ advice

(Upcoming Topics- floor/ wall cracks, electrical, insulation + drywall?, tools/storage, entertaining ideas)

 

[nadogail]

Welcome to the Forum from the Southwest corner of the continental USA.

 

[BetterDays]

Good luck on your build and I am sure this site and its members will give you lots of great information!

 

[PelicanPines]

Welcome from the jersey shore.

 

[Michael B.]

Welcome! That’s a good space to begin a cool project with. I would start with any repairs that need to be done first. Are there cracks in the wall?

 

[mike93lx]

Welcome.

I'd run a string line along the top plate of the outside walls to see how straight they are. With no rafters ties, they could be bowing out and may be the cause of the cracking you mentioned

 

[RoninB4]

Welcome to the ranch, pull up a chair.

 

[Jayman17]

Welcome, looks like you will need some better lighting in there too.

 

[sjabs667]

Welcome, looks like you will need some better lighting in there too.

youre not wrong! except the breaker keeps going off. Exploring this now but i think Ill need to hire to understand my options

 

[Maxcustody]

Welcome, that is a great space………..you can’t tell how big it is in the first pictures with all that junk. Lots of options and you will find a ton of information on this site.

 

[htmdude57]

Yikes! 4 or 5 lights should not make a breaker trip. You might try disconnecting them and reconnecting one at a time to find if one of them has a short? I also see in the pics that your wiring is in metal conduit. Do you hear a pop when the lights go out? Maybe there's a short somewhere in the conduit? You might try opening any electrical boxes you can and look for black burns from sparks? Might have to start disassembling the wiring.

 

[htmdude57]

If you are not comfortable/knowledgable in the electrical troubleshooting, you should get someone who can do it better/faster/safer.

 

[engineer2]

Wow! Nice garage. I'm jealous already!
Where are you? This will influence decisions on insulation, heat(?), and electric.