Intro - former NYer in the Mountains

[gho100]

Hey folks,

I've browsed the forum for a number of years off and on. More active over on advrider.
Recently moved the family from NYC (20 years) out to the White Mountains in NH. We've traded a condo, and a shared garage space 45 minutes away for a house with a detached garage and ~7 acres. Couldn't be happier! Well, I could use more money - that would make me happier.

We've been moved in for about 6 months, and it's time to start planning the garage, which has been very haphazardly filled with my junk.
Thankfully, it's a nice size space.

Specs: 2 car garage. 36ft deep, 24ft wide, 12ft high ceilings, 10ft doors. 2nd floor with standing room, but slanted ceiling.
Electrical: Has it's own breaker box. 1 outlet, and 1 circuit for the door openers
Lighting: None yet
Flooring: Smooth concrete, not sealed. There is a central drain, but it's not in the low spot. The floor isn't level and does have some low spots where snow melt has collected this winter
Water: None
Heat/AC: None

What the hell am I doing with this?
I've got 2 motorcycles, a Triumph Speed Triple and a KTM EXC with dirt and sumo wheels. Picked up a basic craftsman riding mower for grass and snowblowing, and I have 2 SUVs. Generally I do all the motorcycle service and repairing myself, and I try to do the same with the cars. I do have some aspirations for some wood-working, but it's mainly the machine care I plan on doing in the garage.

Dreams: Epoxy flooring, wash sink, some type of hoist/elevator system for getting **** to the second floor, car and motorcycle lifts, mini split heating and cooling powered by independent solar system

Realistic goals: Figure out where **** lives. Install electrical outlets and lighting. Move the damn staircase

This is the first time in my life I've had the luxury of having my tools and motorcycles in the same zip code that I live in - it's been a long time overdue.

So what do you think? Any thoughts on layouts, flooring, lighting, etc, all welcome!

Photos attached - dog and kid tax included

 

[gho100]

I'm having trouble uploading the other photos

Fixed, resized to smaller files

 

[DekNgo]

Welcome

 

[Buckgnarly]

Where in the Whites?...the dog shot taken in Acadia by chance? I can't imagine going from that city to the Whites!

 

[gho100]

Where in the Whites?...the dog shot taken in Acadia by chance? I can't imagine going from that city to the Whites!

Yes it was in Acadia!

Bethlehem, just outside of Littleton. It was a very welcome move, and about 3 years overdue

 

[nadogail]

Welcome to the Forum from my little shop in Southwestern California. I have visited NYC and can no longer imagine myself being happy there, 60 years ago I might have loved it, but now I have become pretty set in my ways and no longer am willing to make the social adjustments life in Manhattan or Brooklyn would require.
May you enjoy your new place in Good Health for many years.

 

[gho100]

I'm about elbow deep into cleaning and fixing the lawnmower but I got tired of walking back and forth from the front, where I dropped the lift, and the back, where my tool box is parked.

So instead of working on the sludge machine, I did some organizing.

I moved the lift back to where I wanted it... With the tractor on it. Tricky, probably ill-advised, I jacked up the rear with a 3t floor jack and pulled it forward on the front wheels and the casters on the floor jack. It worked well enough.

Next I moved a bunch of ****, took apart the workbench/shelf I made, and moved the shelving unit flush into the far corner, rebuilt the workbench/shelf, and got started on box #3 of the gladiator shelving.

I measured it out, and I can fit 5 of the 77" wide shelves connected together, so I used my 6 uprights to get 4 shelving units and a workbench.

Of course I only figured out at the very end that I wasn't going to be able to open the circuit breaker box unless I got some spacers under the uprights.

At this point, stupid decisions get made, so I got a flat scissor jack out and started lifting the shelves one end at a time, fully loaded, to slide little blocks of 2*4 under the feet. It worked, I still have all my fingers.


So this is from 3 shelf unit kits. I have a floor level shelf on the one in the far corner I may take out and move to shelf #2

My hopes of getting both cars in are slim, but still possible.... Maybe... Probably not.

 

[gho100]

Bonus, sad photo of lawnmower engine

 

[driftpin]

Congratulations on your move/purchase. You have lots of room for projects!

Heat, light, outlets/service, 120/240V. Suggested priorities.

I have multiple Gladiator shelving, I paid ~$150 apiece for them a few years ago after having built a new garage w/a loft. The Gladiator comes in different widths and depths. I put my Gladiator shelves in the return area next to the OH garage doors, and I altered them to make a custom depth. There is a thread on how I did it. I suggest you consider using masonite on the shelves' welded wire racks, to make it much-easier to slide items on/off the shelving. Cut it so the masonite is just shy of the front, back, and sides of the steel structural members, while resting on the welded wire shelf surface. It also helps prevent smaller things from falling between the welded-wire shelf surface without the masonite.

The original depth Gladiator and the depth I needed to fit between the OH door opening and the garage side wall.


I thought originally about welding the pieces, but decided to use a combination of aluminum box-section tubing, and PT lumber about 1-3/4" square, through-bolted with SS machine screws, fender washers and nuts, which is what I used on the end pieces. It went pretty-quick once I made templates for the drilling in the steel braces and the wood.


Template for drilling. The 'drill butter' helped during the (w)hole operation.



Ratchet straps helped holding things during assembly.





The end result.

"Gladiator" shelf on sale at Sears- $150

Found the following on Sears.com along with plenty of other Gladiator storage / organization accessories: http://www.sears.com/gladiator-77inch-4-shelf-rack-8000-lb-capacity/p-00959093000P Most of the shelving in my garage is used, craigslist pallet racking. However, at $150, this has my...

www.garagejournal.com

I also made a swiveling jib crane with a rated 1-ton Harbor Freight 120V electric hoist to move things into and out-of the loft. There's a thread on that too. Start at the beginning of this thread, below.

shop hoist

I have a loft above my two-car garage. I needed to improvise a way to get heavy things up there safely. This is what I came-up with. It's a 1-ton rated cherry-picker adapted to sit in a floor joist bay on a 'shoebox' of welded 3/8" steel, on a swivel pedestal. The arm is adjustable for reach...

www.garagejournal.com

Test hoist of a Powermatic table saw, ~400 lbs.

 

[gho100]

Been a while, but I'm making progress with organizing.

Right now several shelves have "misc" junk on them and need further organizing.

I'm planning on putting some little shelves inside the studs near the workbench for all of the cans and bottles

I got the racks on the back wall up onto the foundation footing, and screwed to the walls. Sturdy enough to climb on and 4" of floor space back.

Hopefully soon I can move my staircase and really get things well sorted.

I also got lights and power up to the loft, forgot to take photos

 

[gho100]

Well, finally getting around to moving the staircase and getting the elevator set up


I'm also trying to deal with a carpenter ant situation, so if anyone has tips on that, let me know. I'm feeling pretty close to covering the entire building in Ortho home defense, but I'm not sure it's very effective

 

[gho100]

Little more work today deconstructing the existing staircase

 

[gho100]

Almost there