55cadillacking
Well-known member
This is a 5-star thread if ever I saw one.
Kyle -
Here are the links to the ones I found and used to calculate my lighting needs.
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=150938
It sends you to this article(which is great) about how to calculate how much light you need.
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/content.php?146-Lighting-the-Small-Workshop-by-Jack-Lindsey
Great start. You're going to have an awesome work space once the 'junk' is sorted and dealt with. Its a constant problem I have too![]()
For organization, I found it useful to draw inspiration from typical hardware store sections ("paint department", "plumbing", etc)
Kyle,
I wanted to offer you some encouragement. You've got some work ahead of you, but you are in the right place! Lot's of helpful tips here, lots of great folks to spur you on. Keep at it.
I see that someone gave you a 1 start rating. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I feel that such action is a little uncalled for. It is discouraging to post up your challenge and your work and then have it so quickly devalued by someone. I say keep up the great work and you'll get there. You'll have some days you win and some days you lose, but any day you get to be out there is a good day.
If you ever need any advice, thoughts or a friendly 'push', feel free to PM me anytime.
Now, about that rating...
This is a 5-star thread if ever I saw one.
Good on the lights. Cleaning up those hanging electrical cords will improve and provide more safety. Good looking white cars. What is the Minivan or SUV, and do those rear doors open out like suicide doors, or is it a slider? I am partial to white vehicles myself.
I have used "Simple Green" full strength with an electric power washer to remove even paint from my garage floors. Simple green will clean anything. Glad to see your posting your progress and I think you are doing great. LOL---don't lose sleep over it!!!
ps: Don't worry about thread ratings I don't think it matters. No one ever bothered to rate mine at all.
****, I missed this msg from you Herb. The van is my wife's, it's a 2004 Nissan Quest. The doors slide open on the sides.
The cords cleanup is on the to do list. But I'm planning on getting more lights first, well scratch that. I could clean it up as is, and it will look better until I paint.
I use Simple Green, but I had no idea it would remove paint? Cool.. I'll have to give it a try.
Thanks Herb.
Kyle,I've had this retractable air hose for like 7 years now, but never installed it.
I was thinking of mounting it on the wall between the garage doors here (attach a mounting board with lag bolts and bolt the retractable hose to it).
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Do any of you have inputs on the height you'd mount a retractable hose such as this? Also, any inputs you guys might have on the kind of hard airline you might have ran in your shop/garage.. pro's/con's.
Having a hose reel right next to the door is great (see my picture above).Corner after:
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I'm planning to install a retractable water hose next to the water softener system (there is a water spigot right off the end of the top of the softener system). Here in the Phoenix area we have HARD water (causes bad water spots). Best to use softened water when washing the car. A retractable water hose would make it much easier for me.
I think my next step is to get an attic door/latter for the garage and a storage bin for the side of the house.
Good progress Kyle. Get that shed, mine was paramount when I cleaned out my garage and garage attic, and now I will use it for permanent storage once I pick through and choose what goes in the attic, the garage cabinetry or stays in the shed.
Kyle,
Like you I have a 3-car garage (but with 3 small doors). That spot is a great place for a retractable air line. I would mount it above forehead height but that's just me -- I have a very lumpy forehead because of low-hanging stuff. I mounted my air hose reel above the air compressor because the tool cabinet with all the air tools is right there -- and there's a chance I'll remember to turn off the compressor if I'm putting the air line away (I'm old and forgetful).
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As far as the hard line goes, copper is probably the best because it is a great heat conductor. Based on price, I used galvanized. In the dry Arizona climate you probably won't need to install a long line but for Florida's underwater environment I put 60 feet of pipe between the compressor and air filter. I installed four 10-foot sections under a wall of shallow cabinets. That down-pipe on the right has about a half-cup of water in it for every half-hour the compressor runs (I replaced the small red compressor with the black one since this photo was taken).
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Having a hose reel right next to the door is great (see my picture above).
The pull-down attic ladder is a great addition to the garage. My house came with one but because of some repair work, the garage wing got a second ladder. It isn't as handy as the main ladder because I have to pull one of the cars out and then close the garage door. But that section is storage for the bulky parts for the cars.
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I had a big plastic shelf unit in the garage but it took up too much space so I mounted the shelves on some 2x4s added to the trusses up in the attic.
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Thanks.. yeah, working on the shed. It will probably be a few weeks before I get a shed and make much progress.
Bob, thank you for your response and your tips. As for the retractable hose, I was thinking waist level, but over head would be fine too. Only thing is I'm 6'1", so if I put it above my head, my kids and shorter people would not be able to reach it.
I do have a question about the piping, you said that copper piping is the best? So do you mean just get copper piping like one would use for water plumbing? And just solder it as I would water plumbing?
A shelf up there in the attic is a great idea. I don't plan to store anything heavy up there. Just suit cases, and X-mas decorations. Anything heavy that doesn't stay in the garage will be going in a shed on the side of the house.
Thanks again for your inputs, I do appreciate them.
Not just AZ. I really like working in the garage but without A/C I couldn't survive for long most of the year in FL.Something I find kind of funny is, I see so many here on GJ that are trying to get their garage to be warmer, where as hear in AZ, we want to COOL our garage.
, so that took priority.Workbench height depends on a lot of things. If you plan to stand at the workbench, elbow height is a good measure (bend your arm and measure from the floor to the bottom of your forearm). If you have a table saw, radial arm saw, or other large tool, having the adjacent benches at the same height is a good idea. I think Jack Olsen made all of his benches 37" high (except the one he sits at). Having overhead cabinets can also affect workbench height. It's nice to have at least 14" between the bench-top and bottom of the cabinets.Quick question, what height do most of you have your work benches at? Also, has any one here used, or thought of using formica as a bench top cover for the working area? I would figure it should hold up ok, clean up easy and be pretty cheap.
Comments?
a place for everything and everything in its place. I gotta work more towards that.
I tend to truly believe in this motto, and based on my personal experience it might take a few tries to find "that perfect spot".
Keep up the good work, if you just do a little bit every day or when you can it will go by fast.
What part of Chandler do you live in? I lived there for a few months in 2008/2009.
Also, I didn't realize you could do those diagrams like that in Visio; I have dabbled in Visio a little.
Good work, your garage looked like my dad's 2 car block garage; but his had a 56 Nomad in it and 1 small path through the garage. After he died and I had to clean it out I did come out with a lot of good stuff.
You guys really are an inspiration.
At this point I'm still in clean-up mode. To finish the clean-up I need to:
- Pick up one of those Husky or Craftsman rail system
- Get up in the attic - run copper air lines
- Get up in the attic - run power for lighting/tools
- Install attic ladder
- Sale more stuff
- Get storage for side of house
