Help me improve this garage!

[Graydingo]

Good day to you all. I'm a long time lurker living here in sunny Las Vegas and I recently purchased a 2nd home specifically for the detached shop. I currently live in a strictly monitored HOA community and though I have a 3 car garage, I've outgrown it with my ever expanding car hobby. The new space fit all my criteria when looking for a shop:

No HOA (though don't really plan to do anything that abuses my neighbors. I'll paint at a friends booth but will do minor grinding welding here.
Close by my current residence (only about 4 miles away)
Detached so I wouldn't bug my rental tenants of the main house
Easy access via separate driveway and RV gate
Enough area to park a few cars both inside and out.
And as always within my budget

With that said here's a look at the ugly duckling:



PO painted the house and shop white with mustard trim. He also hung this awful mancave sign. I think it was the first thing I pulled off. I'm a minimalist and want to make this shop clean and simple.



I'll probably do a external paint job end of this year.

Here's a look at the plan. Showing the dimensions and location relative to the house. The "2nd Story" is the upper level of the house. That area is one huge expanse of concrete that the PO parked his mammoth RV on.


And here's the inside, complete with recycled kitchen cabinets of three different origins. I'm seriously thinking about paying someone to stain or paint the oak cabinets (all 13 feet of them) to gray or black.



I've already removed the random mismatched leftover kitchen cabinet group hanging on the right wall.

Here's the other side showing the nice 8ft garage door and entrance. I might splurge for a screw jack eventually.



I also want to remove the swamp cooler that is below the AC unit. If you've ever dealt with a swamp cooler you probably agree they are a PITA and only work on the driest days. You are always dealing with the smell and the water hookups leaking. The unit isn't sealed properly and I'm getting sound and cold air leakage through the unit.

I'm really interested in installing Racedeck flooring. I've noticed they have a good relationship with the folks here, so I'll probably reach out and get that started. I haven't seen much in the way of the Tuffshield product versus the regular, but I'm interested in the glossy aspect of it.

I also want to remove the peg board (it just looks too busy with all the tools hanging on it) and just a pain with the clips and what not. I think I'll remove the single top cabinet too.

A part of me wants to rip all the cabinets out and put in home depot shop cabinets in red or black with two super long butcher block counters at extra height as I'm super tall.

I'm mostly a classic Porsche guy, but I also have a 32 three window and a 63 Impala.

Here's my 75 911. A front end refresh will be the first job completed once I get the shop to where I want it.




Anyway, looking forward to your feedback!

 

[Graydingo]

Oh here's a better look at the peg board and the shop is roughly 18 X 20ft if that wasn't clear.



The cabinets are surprisingly useless as they have a shelf inside the lower portion so you can't put any big things in there. And as an associate says, Drawers are where tools go to die. With that many drawers I'm already wondering (which is the tap drawer?) etc.

 

[steve308]

Get rid of the Man Cave sign. After that, I've got nothing. Looks like a nice space.

 

[FredWanaker]

carpet really nice in a dry climate. Stinks if car goes out and either drips AC, snow melt, or rain drips. Safety jacks will cut it too so put some hardwood plywood pads under them if you don't want that. Also I always found that hanging tools were a pain unless the hangers were fastened so they could not move. Nothing like removing a tool and the hanger falls loose so you go to get it and knock another tool loose. I prefer tool chests and shelves myself.

 

[Leaflessshadetree]

Start using it. Add tools/equipment as you need them. It's not too early to start planning the addition.

 

[Klokwerk]

I'm with Leaflessshadetree, use it and then figure out what you need. Sounds like the right order of operations.
You've already got another garage but this is extra space and not at your main abode. Nice. Great start too! Drywall, painted, garage door, AC....check, check and check.

Get the floor done and then figure it out later once you start using it. You might find that you thought you wanted isn't actually what you need. Even though it's close, it's a pain in the **** to drive out to it.

I've got another garage at my rental too. Two car with a loft. It's much larger than the one at my main house. But I'd never use it for anything more than storage. To drive to it to wrench for an hour or so is cool at first, but after a couple times you start to visit less and less. If I'm working on something, like the '76 2002, I like to have it right here right now.

Great looking mid-year. 2.7 right?

 

[Graydingo]

Get rid of the Man Cave sign. After that, I've got nothing. Looks like a nice space.

Done and Done.

Nothing like removing a tool and the hanger falls loose so you go to get it and knock another tool loose. I prefer tool chests and shelves myself.

Exactly this!

Start using it. Add tools/equipment as you need them. It's not too early to start planning the addition.

I would like two things: Bathroom (huge oversight) and a separate enclosure for the air compressor.

Great start too! Drywall, painted, garage door, AC....check, check and check.

To drive to it to wrench for an hour or so is cool at first, but after a couple times you start to visit less and less. If I'm working on something, like the '76 2002, I like to have it right here right now.

Great looking mid-year. 2.7 right?

Yeah, I worry about the "drive and wrench for an hour" deal. I figure it will force me to be more efficient with my time. I usually have a consistent window daily of about 4 hours. Not a whole lot, but enough to get something started. I will say the nice thing is I do a lot more planning, I can go home, think about the project and prepare for the next day. Yes it is a midyear 2.7 I converted to Webers.



I went over early this morning as I was a man on a mission. Before I was just sort of moving stuff in. Now I want to make it what I want. The things I don't like, I'm going to delete them.

Starting with the peg board.


Get thee behind me Satan!



Don't need the offset for the pegboard holes anymore...



A few f'ups that I had to correct. Like a remnant broken off screw.



Vise grips to the rescue.



Time to kill the lonely cabinet in the corner. He used heavy duty black lugs to screw it to the studs. t'was hell getting them out. I wasn't even the same style as the ones below it.



I'm immediately liking the change. Much cleaner.




Also got rid of the other carpet. The bigger one will follow soon enough. I have this massive safe that came with the house. It's nice to store things in, but not convinced I put it in the right spot. I kind of want big clean walls.



Stay tuned for more...

 

[CraigStu]

I'd grab a couple gallons of solid color stain, some throw away rollers and brushes, and paint those cabinets light grey. Hang all the wall cabinets over the base cabinets. I think if you use a light enough grey they will look a lot 'cleaner' and blend in well. For me having stuff inside cabinets is what makes the shop clean vs open shelves.

 

[Graydingo]

So I've been using jackstands for 40 some years. It's time to quit all that noise:



That's right folks, a new QuickJack 5000TL


Costco had it on sale for -$300 off and it's the newer model which goes up 3" higher to a grand total of 24" which will allow me to do 99% of the things I need to do quite comfortably in the smallish shop.

Here's a generic pic of it:


At 5000lbs max, I'll be able to lift over 2X the weight of my 911. I'm satisfied with the safety features and reviews on safety.

I also purchased some wall hangers to store the jack on the wall when not in use, as well as pinch weld rubber blocks. My car is really low, so I may have to build or buy some mini ramps to clear the pinch weld blocks. The jack points on the 911 are really wide, wider even than the QJ 5000TL length (at 37").

Before I can set that up, I want to get the floor in. I'm back and forth on a checker vs plain. Plain seems nice as it's less busy. One big factor is dropping things. Let's be honest. I drop parts all the time, tiny screws, nuts, whatever. So being able to spot it on a uniform gray floor will be nice.

So I'm thinking the Racedeck XL in gray.



One of my big concerns was rolling stuff around on it. I honestly think that I wont be rolling that many things around and since the diamonds are rounded it shouldn't be too bad. Anyone have thoughts on rolling jacks or engine stands around on this surface?

BTW has anyone used a company called Big Floors? They seem to have official Racedeck product, but it's priced much lower.

I was thinking I would go checkerboard with Alloy and Graphite (which is effectively black) but again, I don't want it to be too busy.
It would have also been nice to go with a border, but again the cabinets are taking up a section, making my rectangle "L" shaped.

So here's the question I have for you all: which option would you go with?

1. Delete the Oak cabinets, put down 4 of these: So shortening the cabinet wall:



2. Stain the cabinets or paint them (Thinking it will actually be more money, I recently did this with my home bathroom and it was $1800
I found this YT video (no affiliation) that shows the incredible amount of work involved in hiding the wood grains.
I'm thinking "no way do I want to do this---maybe 20 years ago"

3. Live with BROWN.

For a countertop I really like the aesthetic of these butcher blocks that Home Depot sells as well. For greasy work, I'll put down an oil pan. I've also had success with plastic rolls of clear sticky paper. Forgot what it's called.



This one's a monster at 10ft long and 25" wide.

 

[Graydingo]

I'd grab a couple gallons of solid color stain, some throw away rollers and brushes, and paint those cabinets light grey. Hang all the wall cabinets over the base cabinets. I think if you use a light enough grey they will look a lot 'cleaner' and blend in well. For me having stuff inside cabinets is what makes the shop clean vs open shelves.

Will the oak lines bleed through without a heavy filler base coat? I agree with hiding stuff away makes it look cleaner.

It should be noted that I reduced rent for the tenant with the condition that I get one of the 3 main house garages too. So I have that one for open rack storage.

 

[Blackbyrd]

Nice blank canvas to start with! I used to have a storage building 20 minutes away that I did the heavy stuff at, and I'll be honest it past 3 months before I quit going (granted it was at my business so it didn't cost me anything to not go as the space was converted to an office and shop)

I know have a large basement garage that is also minimal though cluttered currently. Bathroom is great, utility sink comes in handy! If I'm doing grinding and welding in a confined space ditch the wood cabinets. Cheap yes but as you said you already find them useless. Look into some metal cabinets and work tops. There are some that can be had that don't break the bank.

I bought my garage deck coin top for big floors. They look great, but Jack's and jackstands with prolonged use will leave dents. Same with a motor stand. They clean pretty well but will stain if you don't clean regularly if oil or gas has a chance to rest.

Big no for welding though. Slag splatter will melt them. I have a bare spot for the really indepth work in my garage just for this, but will likely use a welding blanket to keep it from happening if a can. Quality is great but they are noisy when walking on them as there is no mat to deaden5 the impact on concrete they are a floating floor after all.

Feel free to message me if you have more specific questions I have a roughly 60 x 20 space that is 85% tiled for reference.

 

[jkuro]

(which is the tap drawer?)

The answer is here:

Dual tower with stainless door- Value Line

The Beer Meister value series is loaded with features and will hold up to a full 16 gallon keg. With the front mounted electronic temperature control with blue LED display, you know the temperature your keg is currently being stored. Designed for indoor use this dispenser is perfect for...

www.beermeister.com

 

[Graydingo]

^haha yes!

And Blackbyrd, thanks for that great information.

Well today I had a head full of steam about taking out that swamp cooler. The dang thing acted like an open window and cool air was coming right through it all the time, not to mention all the other things I hate about swamp coolers. Hasta la vista swampy.



It looks nice, but would require a lot of time and a few hundred to get it working again.

I started by removing the cheeseball electrical hookup.



Once that was gone, took the cover off and all the screws out and cut around the perimeter with a razor blade. I tried to carefully save everything and not damage it. But I knew it wouldn't come out easy so I bent the sides in preparation to pull it out the backside. I also removed the main tank and motor from the back of the shop.





Tons of struggling and crowbars later I pulled it out. Took a lot of work to get here:




Made a hardware store run and got a 1/2" sheet rock patch panel. cut it to size and screwed it to the studs.



Packed in some insulation and just waiting on my stucco guy to get here to put in a piece of plywood and then blend it back in with the rest of the exterior.



Put on the first coat of drywall mud.



Getting less busy by the day.



Next up is paint. And decision time on the cabinets.

 

[mepstein]

Call racedeck to get the garage journal discount. It’s worth the call.

 

[CombatNinja]

I like where you're headed with this. Great progress so far!

FWIW, I don't like plastic tiles for any kind of welding or extensive metal work. Just put down a nice densifier and then a matte sealant.

 

[Graydingo]

Call racedeck to get the garage journal discount. It’s worth the call.

Mark! We keep running into each other on various forums. Hope your project is going good.

I like where you're headed with this. Great progress so far!

FWIW, I don't like plastic tiles for any kind of welding or extensive metal work. Just put down a nice densifier and then a matte sealant.

Thank you sir. Yeah I'm torn on the plastic tiles. Kicking around the idea of polished concrete now.

BTW here's the pile of parts I took off from swampy.



I also want to do something about this:



What you're looking at is a pile of bricks masquerading as a stoop / stair.

Any ideas to purdy this up?

 

[no704]

First world problems, I’ll gladly trade you!

 

[CombatNinja]

Did that portion of the slab sink over time or was it designed like that? Strange that it is not flush with the bit right next to it.

 

[Graydingo]

First world problems, I’ll gladly trade you!

Sure. I'll take youth and health in trade if you got it. ;-)

Did that portion of the slab sink over time or was it designed like that? Strange that it is not flush with the bit right next to it.

The garage slab is 4" or so above the driveway to match the house. You'll notice the big garage door has a concrete ramp that goes up to the building. Consequently, the entrance door just drops to the driveway level. Bit of an optical illusion.

Besides being an eyesore, the makeshift stoop moves around and has the gap between the stoop and the garage ramp that I've nearly killed myself on a few times.



Leaves and small bits of debris get trapped in the valley as well which is annoying.
I think it needs a little concrete pour. Something that makes the transition nicely from the ramp to the door. Immediately to the left is the gate to the backyard which means the stoop would need to end on the left where the current bricks are to prevent tripping hazards.

 

[CombatNinja]

That is a weird situation, you can see the DIY nature of that build in some of the decisions. I guess the best solution would be some concrete that has a flat 'landing' at the top for safety when stepping out of the garage and then tapers in two directions (toward the drive and toward that gate. But I can see with how close it is to that gate that you will have to taper it much steeper than you would really want to. Do you have a farther out picture showing the whole area?

edit: I see in your original post the picture I was needing. Is that fence modular with the panels swappable? I would look seriously at moving the gate a panel away from the corner of the garage to remedy this tripping hazard dilemma.

 

[Graydingo]

Is that fence modular with the panels swappable? I would look seriously at moving the gate a panel away from the corner of the garage to remedy this tripping hazard dilemma.

You are absolutely right. There is a modular white fence there and the gate is right at the garage, it could be one panel further toward the house. I added the security door as well so the whole area there is a real cluster.

Here's a sketch.

I'd like to move two sections of the pool fence actually.
1. The short section shown in red in the top right that completely blocks access to the back of the shop. I have to enter the tenants back yard to walk around to the back.
2. The pool gate door that is too close to the shop entrance, move it one panel down.

I think address these now will save so much headache later.



Actually now that I think about it, I'd like to move the gate to adjacent to the porch to free up the hose bib.

 

[Graydingo]

Well the pool fence, as annoying as it may be, isn't the top priority at the moment. Getting the shop done the way I want it is.

Mentally, I've been back and forth on the existing cabinets. Ultimately I decided to take them out for the following reasons:

1. I don't like brown, I don't want to paint them myself (needs wood filler to hide Oak lines) and I was quoted nearly $2k to paint them.

2. The layout was not efficient for the things I need to fit in the shop. Taking up nearly the entire length of the left wall with little usable upper space was a waste.

3. The counter tops were too low for me.



So out they went. I cut around the countertop with a razor blade to score the caulking. Then I just jerked upward on one end until the liquid nails started to give. It wasn't screwed to the cabinets, only liquid fails.




I was surprised to find the countertop joined by bolts in the middle.




Simply unbolted those and scored the divide so as not to rip the surface of the countertop.

Each countertop is 6.5' long and quite heavy.



Of course there's always one problem child screw. The cabinets are joined at the face by tiny square headed screws. They were tricky to get out but were easing out until I got to the third one. The head snapped off and I didn't have an easy out or a Dremel to get it out. I didn't want to break the cabinet face either, as the cabinets are still good and someone will want them.



I also need a hand truck. My days of dead lifting giant objects are done. Not because I can't. I just don't want to anymore. :-D



Think I settled on a floor too. Vinyl laminate in light gray. It's a lot less money than many alternatives. I can DIY it, and I love the look. It's waterproof and pretty durable. The floor is patterned to give it some flair, but not enough that I feel I would lose screws or tiny parts on it when I drop them.

I also thinking walking on this will feel better as well. The interlocking planks can be replaced as well if I damage them.



I will also paint the walls either light gray or a darker gray. Thinking the light gray to keep the shop bright.

Which one would you do? 1. is the lighter gray, 2. is the darker gray. What should I paint the ceiling?



My one concern with the vinyl is the sheer weight of the car on the quick jack. The quick jack has a lot of surface area spread out to carry the weight, so I think it will be fine.

I don't see a lot of garages using this options, if you have one, leave a comment because I'm curious how you like it.

 

[CraigStu]

We have that tile in our kitchen and bath rooms and really, really like it. It will be interesting to see how it works in your garage. Re; the blocks at your man door, I'd just take them away. It looks like your step up will be 5-6 inches which is less than a normal step so seems to me it won't be a problem. You would still have the step up to the tapered garage door apron but at least you don't have the cavity that you could catch you foot in. Last garage I painted I went w/ a light grey. It was light enough that I did the ceiling the same. It sure was nice to rent a sprayer and just keep spraying. The paint dried fast enough that I took maybe a 5 minute break at the start point and then sprayed another coat. If you spray first and then install the flooring you don't even need to mask at the base.

 

[Graydingo]

Whelp, one thing I didn't consider is that with that small AC unit, I'm only going to cool the garage when I'm there. It's not climate controlled throughout our super hot summer.

So that means the vinyl floor as an option is out. I'm back to Epoxy. I'm getting a quote today on it. With the potential for the interior of the shop to reach well over triple digit temperatures for days on end, I'm thinking the vinyl would warp, curl and separate.

Epoxy will be set it and forget it.

I went back over all the holes, the edge where the countertop used to be, and the swamp cooler fill section of drywall with some sprayable knockdown. This stuff aint cheap at nearly $19.00 a bottle. I've never done it before but I threw caution to the wind and just followed the on-bottle instructions.


You spray it out following a circular motion and then run back over it with a knockdown knife.



I was worried the bottle would clog as it's really dry here, so I did all the areas I needed coverage on first before coming back around and using the knife to get the knockdown pattern.

If you wait to long the mud dries and then becomes crumbly, so you have to work fairly fast before it cures to get the smooth pattern.




Here's how the spray looks on the wall. You just lightly drag the knockdown knife across it. My knockdown was larger than it should be as I chose the heavy spray pattern from the selectable nozzle control.



I think once I paint it it will look totally fine. It doesn't have to be perfect but I wanted the walls to look as good as possible.

I'll post some follow up pics after paint.

 

[Blackbyrd]

My garage is actually pretty close to color number 1 and I painted my ceiling flat black. Clean and professional looking (I know silly for a hobby garage)

You could always just stain the concrete instead of epoxy, less prep work and adhesion concerns.

There's also tile options

 

[Graydingo]

Few small updates. I've mostly been spending a few hours a day moving stuff back out of the shop in order to prep for the floor. I went with Garagekings which is a national brand. They got me with the excellent customer service. I'm a sucker for people who pick up the phone and can commit on an appointment, show up and represent well. Are they they cheapest? probably not, but I ain't got time to chase discount flooring with questionable or no warranty. Garagekings had a full line of products and their local rep Scott here in Vegas was 100% professional and had a 'can do' attitude.

My biggest concern was having camouflage style flooring where if I dropped a tiny o-ring, nut, or part - I wouldn't be able to spot it and I would be searching around with my eyeball 1" off the floor.

To address that concern, we decided on a 1/16 flake as the overall illusion of the epoxy (well... poly-whats-it-called) is that it's more uniform in color and less "contrasty spots galore" if that makes sense.

I literally dropped a few tiny rubber o-rings on different samples that he brought and used that to inform my choice. Because the 1/16 flake is not as common he had to order material so that pushed me back a bit. I did need a bit of extra time because I ended up selling that monster safe. I'm excited about having much more usable floor space.

I also found a stucco guy. He actually called me. That's when you know someone wants work. He did a killer job on the stucco and also fixed up a few spots on the main house that had been damaged.

Remember the before where I pulled out the crusty swamp cooler:



And Voilà. Or as they say in France... Voilà.



Another similar shot: showing how well the texture blended.


There was a 5 gallon bucket of old exterior paint which was on its last leg, but It was good enough for now before I paint the exterior of the house and shop a more subdued sand color to match the neighborhood. No idea why the previous owner thought bright white was a good idea.

Until next time.

 

[Graydingo]

Ha well y'all are going to laugh at me but I paid my stucco guy (who did a fine job on the stucco) to paint the inside of the garage and he did a fair job *sprayed over the garage mounts instead of taping them off) but he painted it the wrong color. My fault - I'll take 100% ownership on that as I approved the color, even though in my mind I was thinking "that's way too dark" when looking at the 5 cans of paint he had on the back of his truck. Later in my mind he had gray paint left over from a job and tried to make more money on the job by matching the 3 new cans to two or 3 old ones he had.

To be fair I did text him in all capitals "LIGHT GRAY" but then I stupidly approved the color even though it wasn't light enough.

Here's a shot of the black hole.


It just had this purpley downer vibe. I knew it wouldn't stand. The painter had the garage door open when I showed up to pay him and inspect and my heart just sank.

It was purple-gray.

It did dry a bit lighter, but still way way too dark and with hints of blue it was going to drive me mad. So to punish myself for trying to pay my way out of work, I immediately went to my hardware store and grabbed a 5 gallon bucket of a LIGHT GRAY that I liked.

Here's a shot of the contrast between the two colors.



I should have stopped him and just bought new paint for him. It would have been a $160 mistake instead of a $160 mistake and 2 days of my time rolling paint.



Hopefully the flakes came in for the flooring, ready to move in ...again.

 

[smackey05]

I like what you are doing with it. It's coming out well. I've been going through the same thing of what should I do with my shop. I've marked out toolboxes and benches on the floor with the vehicle in and checking function. I'm a big fan of using it for a while before modifying it. Actual use definitely helps guide your decisions.

 

[Spacep0d]

Lookin' good. Good that you didn't compromise on your choice of paint colors only to drive yourself nuts looking at it. It's looking much cleaner than when it started!

 

[infinkc]

Mark! We keep running into each other on various forums. Hope your project is going good.

Thank you sir. Yeah I'm torn on the plastic tiles. Kicking around the idea of polished concrete now.

BTW here's the pile of parts I took off from swampy.



I also want to do something about this:



What you're looking at is a pile of bricks masquerading as a stoop / stair.

Any ideas to purdy this up?

It it was me, id have another ramp poured and **** it to the one on the driveway keeping that same slope. ramps are much nicer than steps.

 

[mepstein]

Great progress. I often like to get everything out rather than try to work around stuff that is already there but not exactly what I want.

Maybe not now but in the future I would think about a mini split. Keep the temp bearable all the time and have it on the internet so you can adjust it an hour or two before you plan to use it. If the shop has half decent insulation, the energy savings from a constant running mini split might make it a wash over running the wall unit for short bursts. It depends how much you plan to be out there but you will use it more if it’s comfortable without a 45 minute prep to cool. Insulation will be your friend.

 

[Graydingo]

I like what you are doing with it. It's coming out well. I've been going through the same thing of what should I do with my shop. I've marked out toolboxes and benches on the floor with the vehicle in and checking function. I'm a big fan of using it for a while before modifying it. Actual use definitely helps guide your decisions.

Marking out is a good idea, will maybe do that this coming week. I have several large items that need floor space.

Lookin' good. Good that you didn't compromise on your choice of paint colors only to drive yourself nuts looking at it. It's looking much cleaner than when it started!

For sure! Thank you.

It it was me, id have another ramp poured and **** it to the one on the driveway keeping that same slope. ramps are much nicer than steps.

Thought of that, the problem lies in where the pool / backyard fence and entrance is located. Right next to the shop door. I think If I move the fence, I can then pour a ramp there. That would be the most sensible thing.

Great progress. I often like to get everything out rather than try to work around stuff that is already there but not exactly what I want.

Maybe not now but in the future I would think about a mini split. Keep the temp bearable all the time and have it on the internet so you can adjust it an hour or two before you plan to use it. If the shop has half decent insulation, the energy savings from a constant running mini split might make it a wash over running the wall unit for short bursts. It depends how much you plan to be out there but you will use it more if it’s comfortable without a 45 minute prep to cool. Insulation will be your friend.

Getting everything out was key. I looked at split AC units a lot, and I agree with you. I almost pulled the trigger but it was going to be another 800-1k in cost and I think I might try to make it through one Vegas summer with the small unit and see how it goes. The garage is quite well insulated with an insulated garage door too.

Oh I found a come-along threaded socket in the floor that was hiding under the carpet. I believe it's for a missing eyelet for pulling cars into the shop via a winch. I'll try to get a pic for you guys, but what else would I use this for? I think it's 3/4" thread. Just trying to decide if I leave it when I epoxy or have the guys cover it.

 

[CraigStu]

Yes, try it for a summer w/ the AC you have. Try to remember to turn it on an hour before if you can. Also a cheap fan can really help keep the air moving so even 80deg w/ a breeze isn't too bad. I assume humidity isn't a problem in Vegas so compared to my experience in Md/Va you will be fighting temp only. Last spring I did a lot of looking on how to cool our 28x32 attached garage just when I am working there. Looked at mini-splits, but since I already had a heater I didn't want to spend the $. I liked the idea that all the wall would need would be 2-3inch hole to pass tubing through. But I finally just got a large window AC unit and cut a hole in the wall to install it.

 

[Graydingo]

Here's the threaded hole in the floor: soda can for size reference. It's probably like a 3/4" tread.



Position centered near garage. I'm guessing he had a removable loop, and using a winch on one vehicle he could run it through the loop and winch a car up the ramp.







Anywho, I was thinking Garage kings would start as soon as they got my flake in, turns out they schedule once they get the flake in, so I'm two weeks out on install. Did not plan on epoxy flooring taking a month to get done.

 

[Graydingo]

Well I set about designing a work bench that I would love working on. And that meant taller than your av-er-age bear. I'm 6'6" so the normal countertop height of 35"? is way too low for me.


I love my home built work bench that I have at home. It's a solid wood door from Home Depot that I painted with house paint. I use clear plastic countertop film to protect it from grease and oils. Then when the film gets ripped I usually put a new layer on. I'll probably epoxy it some day.



I used a 2X4 bolted with heavy duty lag bolts to the wall. I glued the door to that and then I have Ikea bar top adjustable legs that are reinforced with two screws to hold the adjusters in place.



It works well and is rock solid. I have a vice mounted to it and have done plenty of heavy duty work on it. The top of the bench is at 44"

It's probably an inch too high even for me.

I've been looking at the butcher block counters from home depot. The idea was to stain it gray, and then clear epoxy the top. I planned to have a 10ft long bench, but standard depth (the door is 32" wide by 72" long which the deeper depth makes for an excellent work surface as stuff is never hanging off and you can put projects back toward the wall and they aren't in the way (compared to a standard 25" deep countertop.


So I thought instead of deeper, i'd go longer this time with a 10ft countertop. This is great for laying out engine builds or other projects where you need to visualize all the parts in certain steps.

I figured a 10ft long table would need center reinforcement. So I came up with the black iron pipe leg idea. The black iron is obviously very strong, but it's like Lego where you can build exactly the dimensions you want with the simple threaded ends and Ts. I want the left side to be longer, so I can roll a 60" tool chest under it. Here's my initial design for the work bench:



I nearly pulled the trigger on ordering all the parts I needed online and then I thought "Lemme go look at this stuff and be sure"

Initially I had 1" pipe for super heavy duty design, but I don't think I need that big of pipe after looking at a physical piece. 3/4" should be plenty. 1/2" is the standard for the home "industrial look" desk leg and consumer design iron pipe stuff. By the way there's a company called pipe decor that specializes in this stuff and their prices aint bad. No affiliation and I think Home depot carries their line of products. You can buy this off the shelf for less than 100 bucks:



I learned a little bit about this sort of pipe. There's black steel and Iron. Iron is tough to come by in pipe form at my local retailers, but the steel is plentiful. You can find iron T's and fittings, but the pipe itself is all steel. FWIW the malleable iron is the old school stuff that most want the textured look when you think of classic iron pipe.



Here's just plain old greasy black pipe:



Another option is to finish the steel pipe. It has to be cleaned in TSP or brake cleaner before being painted, as it has an oily finish. And anyone that has worked with it before knows the ends can be razor sharp where they threaded the pipe. I suppose I could even powdercoat it if I wanted to get fancy.

So I think I might scale the whole thing back - 3/4" pipe and only 8ft long by 25" deep countertop. If I do that, I actually have two left over ikea legs that I could use at the new shop.

Anyone built their own black pipe desk?

 

[brownbagg]

first thing i do is sell the HOA house and move to the shop house

 

[toyotadriver]

Looks nice.

I've got a few black iron pipe things around the house (all 1/2 inch). I cleaned it with acetone and then painted it with a hammered finish. Came out REALLY well. We love it.

 

[CraigStu]

You only need the pipe on the side away from the wall. That 2x4x10' is solid to the wall so screw the butcherblock to that. I went even easier on my butcher block for my old metal lathe. Got three heavy duty hinges to attach it to the wall. Screwed the pipe fittings like yours together but simply straight legs made up of shorter pieces and unions to get the perfect length floor to bottom of butcherblock. I adjusted them until the top was level.

 

[Graydingo]

first thing i do is sell the HOA house and move to the shop house

Ha, well I'm actually the guy that likes that people don't park RV's, broken down cars, and boats in front of their houses. My current HOA even says you can't park on the street at night. I love it. Neighborhood looks clean and minimalist. Of course there are definitely hassles, like getting mail for yellow spots in the grass, endless basketball hoop fights, etc, but overall I prefer it.

Looks nice.

I've got a few black iron pipe things around the house (all 1/2 inch). I cleaned it with acetone and then painted it with a hammered finish. Came out REALLY well. We love it.

Yeah the hammered finish would do well for this.

You only need the pipe on the side away from the wall. That 2x4x10' is solid to the wall so screw the butcherblock to that. I went even easier on my butcher block for my old metal lathe. Got three heavy duty hinges to attach it to the wall. Screwed the pipe fittings like yours together but simply straight legs made up of shorter pieces and unions to get the perfect length floor to bottom of butcherblock. I adjusted them until the top was level.

I agree with you. I think I went all the way back because I was concerned with cross bracing and just overall structural rigidity. So I wanted to reinforce each leg to each other while still not blocking access to roll stuff underneath the workbench. My design is way overkill though. I like your hinge method. Could even fold it out of the way if I ever wanted to park two cars in there.

 

[Graydingo]

Well yesterday was an eventful day in the garage evolution. The Garage Kings showed up to install the polyaspartic flooring so I got to the shop early to do any last minute prep. I mainly wanted to cover my AC unit so it didn't get filled up with dust from the floor sander. Soon the installers showed up and began work. The install took about 4.5 hours.



The garage ready and willing:




Garage Kings (no affiliation, but I thought I would sort of give them a mini review here) offers a 4 step method:

1. There were two installers and they started by filling any cracks with a "10 minute" epoxy and some fairly big granules of brown material. There was a pretty good crack that spanned the middle of the shop slab (not wide, but meandering and started to lose material around the entrance.)


The crack and hole filler material looked like tabaco and he filled in all the holes with it then came back over it with a paint stick and the quick setting epoxy. My main prep guy was a 44 year concrete guy now working for Garage Kings. I was glad to have an experienced installer like that. He also cut off the two studs that were in the corner for the safe and filled the big 'come-a-long' hole near the garage door. Lastly he went around the edges with a hand held sander and treated the transition points like where the garage slab ends.

At this point I had to leave to take care of some business so I missed photos of the next steps but here's the process:

2. They base coat it with a primer.

3. They put down the flakes.



Definitely a plasticy feel.




4. They finish with a industrial grade top coat. Which I did come back and see them apply the top layer with a big squeegee.

They also offer three price points for durability depending on how many layers you go with. I went for the middle of the road 4 layer price point which offered a 21 year warranty. For additional monies you can do a lifetime warranty and they install an extra layer of flakes and a receiver coat before the top coat.

Overall I'm very satisfied. The price was about $1900 out the door for my 18X20 floor so that breaks down to $5.27 per square foot. That's pretty high but I think there are a couple of reasons for that and I was willing to pay as much for the following amenities:

1. From my first call, to the estimate, to the install, the entire experience was totally professional. They answer the phone, they set and keep appointments, they follow through.

2. The 'sales' experience from the estimate was great. He had samples, he had options and he had knowledge.

3. The installers showed up in a nice truck and trailer with good equipment and competent hard working people. Also, this might seem like a silly detail, but they both wore red Garage Kings shirts. I like that. Call me old school, but I appreciate professionalism in both appearance and results.

My only very minor negative was the long time period, because I wanted product they didn't have on hand (1/16" flake in a certain gray) they had to order it and it took an extra 10 business days or so. After the flake came in, I was then scheduled to install so it was another week and half wait to get installed. Worth noting, but honestly not a real issue, I understand you don't want to schedule unless you have product in hand, and the wait is the wait.

Well what does it look like? It was tough to take pictures at that point because of the way the sun entered the garage, so I'll add the final finished result in my next post. Stay tuned...