JonM's everything's bigger in TX 2 Car

[JonM]

Fiancee and I are waiting for our new construction place to be finished in South Austin. I'm killing time by planning out the oversized two car garage that will serve as my man cave for fixing cars, motorcycles, bicycles, and any other mechanical toy that ends up crossing my path.

To get started, here's a couple shots of the garage that I left in upstate NY:

Sorry for the poor focus, but it gives a good idea of the 17' x 36' space that I left.

 

[JonM]

And here's the new place in progress:

And the quick initial layout:

 

[JonM]

Current plan is to pick up a MaxJax lift to place where the Porsche is sitting. Ideally, I'd like the ability to rotate and operate the right column as an independent lift for motorcycle projects. That way, I can leave a motorcycle project on the lift and still park a car in the garage.

 

[55cadillacking]

Cool. Your new garage looks to be quite similar, but bigger than my current space. You should have lots of fun with your various toys in there. Will be keeping an eye on your MaxJax aspirations.

 

[JonM]

Cool. Your new garage looks to be quite similar, but bigger than my current space. You should have lots of fun with your various toys in there. Will be keeping an eye on your MaxJax aspirations.

Thanks! I love your space. I'm looking to go with a similar color scheme, but a lighter floor with grey on the walls. I'm a fan of the German cars as well.

 

[55cadillacking]

Well, now I'm even more keen to see your space develop. Are you thinking RaceDeck floor or epoxy?

 

[JonM]

I'm planning on going with epoxy.

Something like this, but with black tool boxes:

I love this, too, but the floor is too dark:

I need to be able to find all the nuts and bolts that I inevitably drop.
-Jon

 

[JonM]

This thread will be a slow reveal for a while, as the house is still under construction, but the lift has been ordered. I went with the Triumph C-7000 as it sounded like a much sturdier unit than the MaxJax, and I was able to get a great deal on it from NAT.

Sheetrock is also up in the house (and garage), so progress is happening on that end.

 

[Xporter]

Looking forward to the progress.

 

[aka Larry]

Whatever will you do with all your time now that you don't have to shovel that white **** all the time?

Congrats on the new move and garage upgrade.

 

[naka843]

And here's the new place in progress:

Congrats on a new house. From this pic it looks like you built house around the garage, nice...love the space

 

[JonM]

Whatever will you do with all your time now that you don't have to shovel that white **** all the time?

Congrats on the new move and garage upgrade.

Thanks! The lift will give me plenty of fun stuff to do, now that shoveling isn't on my todo list.

M5 needs a new guibo, and the Porsche has a new suspension waiting to be installed.

 

[dubber]

Sweet new pad! Looking forward to seeing what you do with the new garage space.

 

[JonM]

Congrats on a new house. From this pic it looks like you built house around the garage, nice...love the space

Thanks! The house actually has quite a bit of space at 3100 sq. ft. If I had my way, I'd have a 1000 sq. ft. house and a 3000 sq. ft. garage, but my fiancee wasn't up for that.

 

[JonM]

Scored a deal on 7 new Hampton Bay wall cabinets in satin white off the local Craigslist. They should be a perfect fit for above the toolbox. I'm hoping that this will meet my covered storage needs, as the 10 ft. ceilings should afford me plenty of space for high shelves.

 

[jsherid1]

Welcome from N Texas! I hear you on the wanting to reverse the square footage between garage and house....damned wimmen, always spoiling the fun!

 

[HotRod68Camaro]

I'm going to be following along with this one. Probably going to be pretty similar to mine.

 

[JonM]

I'm going to be following along with this one. Probably going to be pretty similar to mine.

You might have me beat by a couple of months, so I'll be keeping an eye on our build, too.

 

[JonM]

Welcome from N Texas! I hear you on the wanting to reverse the square footage between garage and house....damned wimmen, always spoiling the fun!

Jim,
Your signature tells me that you have your priorities straight.

 

[MacTexas]

Nice looking house and garage. Welcome to Texas.

 

[j p smith]

Thanks! The house actually has quite a bit of space at 3100 sq. ft. If I had my way, I'd have a 1000 sq. ft. house and a 3000 sq. ft. garage, but my fiancee wasn't up for that.

I am keeping my gal, we have a 1500 square foot house and 3000 square foot shop/storage building. We bought the house on an acre and built the shop over 6 years.

 

[Morio]

Welcome to Texas!!! Looks like a wonderful home and a great garage!!

 

[Dodge]

I'm planning on going with epoxy.

Something like this, but with black tool boxes:

I love this, too, but the floor is too dark:

I need to be able to find all the nuts and bolts that I inevitably drop.
-Jon

What tool box???

 

[JonM]

What tool box???

Yeah, I should have mentioned that the dirty blonde would make a great addition, too. Not sure the fiancee will approve of that, though.

 

[HotRod68Camaro]

I'm planning on going with epoxy.

Something like this, but with black tool boxes:

I love this, too, but the floor is too dark:

I need to be able to find all the nuts and bolts that I inevitably drop.
-Jon

Both those floors are what i am considering. Any idea what product was used on the first one? i'm leaning to just sealing the cement with no staining but if i could get an epoxy to look like that i might be interested.

 

[JonM]

Both those floors are what i am considering. Any idea what product was used on the first one? i'm leaning to just sealing the cement with no staining but if i could get an epoxy to look like that i might be interested.

Kyle, I'm leaning heavily toward the acid staining, which might be what was done for the grey floor. LLC Flooring on here offers a ton of great products, and I'd check them out. I'm fairly certain that the first floor is an epoxy with color chips added.

This is one pattern that I really like:

 

[JonM]

I'll be posting updates on progress in a day or two, as we took possession of the house on Friday. So far, the cabinets are installed, a beer fridge has been acquired, and the road bikes have a home on the wall. After filling it up, I'll be clearing it out, tonight, in order to prepare the floor.

I talked to Scotty from Legacy Flooring, last night, and I'm going with the acid stain. I'm taking a bit of a risk from a color/style standpoint, but I think it's going to work out in the long run. The ground penetrating radar guy is stopping by on Friday, and I'll have the floor mapped. I figure it's better to be safe than sorry, when it comes time to install the lift. That's getting delivered, next week.

-Jon

 

[Morio]

Nice!! Congrats on moving in!! Can't wait to see the pics of the floor

 

[JonM]

Nice!! Congrats on moving in!! Can't wait to see the pics of the floor

Morio,
Just looked through a bit of your garage thread, and it's a bit presumptuous, but you and I are going to hang out.

Way, way too much in common, between the 996's, the front-engine Porsche and Audi history, and the e30's.

If you're up for a beer, and willing to brave the HOA of Circle C, let me know.

-Jon

 

[Morio]

Morio,
Just looked through a bit of your garage thread, and it's a bit presumptuous, but you and I are going to hang out.

Way, way too much in common, between the 996's, the front-engine Porsche and Audi history, and the e30's.

If you're up for a beer, and willing to brave the HOA of Circle C, let me know.

-Jon

Any time!!! Wife and I were just there (Slaughter Lane- Alamo Drafthouse) watching a matinee for our anniversary yesterday! It's a wonderful area!

 

[JonM]

Long overdue for an update, but I've been busy moving in, and working on the garage.

We'll start at the beginning with Day 1:


Priorities are straight - beer fridge acquired.



10 lbs stuck in a 5 lbs bag.



And a half a car makes an appearance in it's eventual home.

 

[JonM]

Day 2:



Remove beer from beer fridge and open.



Set down beer and assess the situation.



Do something.



Do something more.

 

[JonM]

For the next couple days, I procrastinated and took care of some stuff around the house, like assembling furniture and unpacking. I was avoiding the floor. I had an idea, but lacked confidence. Finally, I called a local ground penetrating radar company. They came out and shot the whole garage for $350. I wasn't there to actually watch, but the guy did a great job of marking the intersections of the post-tensioned cables, getting me my slab depth (9-10"), and finding a pvc drain pipe that ran under the slab.

Armed with this info, I called Scotty at Legacy, and gave him a rough idea of my plan. He told me that I needed to score the floor to achieve what I wanted. I was pretty reluctant, as this was a brand new pad.



Needless to say, Scotty won out.



I didn't realize this, but the post-tensioned cables do not run in a straight line. My main objective was to create a diagram of the underlying structure with the acid stain, so I gave up on the idea of laying down a perfect grid.

 

[JonM]

Taped for the first round of stain:



After stain with Malayan Buff:


Ended up with pooling of the azure blue in sections, chose to push it out with a brush, rather than just let it run off.



Neutralizing process:

 

[JonM]

I'm waiting for the Nohr-S sealer to arrive on Wednesday, and it should be sealed and ready for traffic, Sunday.

In the meantime, I added a 45" x 45" Hyloft storage shelf to the section where the motorcycles will be parked. Plan is to use it for long-term storage items. Two more shelves are on the way, as well.

The C-7000 is in the driveway, and I hope to get it installed shortly after the garage floor is cured. I need to get a 30 amp outlet installed for it, and I'm debating doing it myself. The breaker box is very easy to access, so it will just be carving up the sheetrock to run the wire and install the box and outlet.

Another item that's still on the list is to get the garage door raised. Another job that could be a DIY, but I really need to get rolling on fixing cars, and stop working on the garage itself.

 

[Morio]

Floor looks great!!!

 

[JonM]

Floor looks great!!!

Thanks! I really hope that the Nohr-S gives it a similar look to the last picture, as it really does pop. It sounds like the sealer arrived a day early, so I should have the final results, tomorrow.

I hope you weren't hit too hard with the storms that blew through. It was one hell of a weekend for Central Texas.

 

[JonM]

And the Nohr-S is applied and curing. Ended up putting down 4 coats, as the coverage per can was better than expected. Needless to say, I should have a pretty thick layer of protection.

 

[sean Buick 76]

Cool floor!!!

 

[JonM]

Thanks, Sean! The look of acid stain really grew on me, and I'm really happy with it. Can't wait to get the lift in, and get rolling on car projects!