Kyle's Garage Project

[taumac]

wow, great progess there..... i spent 8 years doing mine and still not done. I have 2 years of pics on here and alot of changes in just those 2 yrs. Dont give up it doesnt happen overnight for sure. Hey take a look at mine garage (link below) and shelving i did.... I see 2 walls i could make alot of progress on with shelves and bins.

 

[taumac]

Just saw idea. Moving fridge next to WH. Moving cabinets down moving softer down as far as you can You might be able to fit WH, fridge, softern, and cabinets. or total different idea is from side door to A/C unit move all those cabinets to back wall where you have more space for them. then use shelfs not as deep as cabinets

 

[G20-Budo]

Great ideas taumac.. thank you for the inputs. I have thought about moving the cabinets over to the front wall actually. I don't know if I will do it or not at this point? Right now I just need to get it cleaned up. Then I can think about that kind of stuff. If I do decide to move the cabinets, I'd probably get new ones. These are very cheap, not very good quality.

I won't really think about the cabinets until I can get some storage on the side of the house and over the garage. Once that's done, and I've cleared up the mess, then I can start to seriously think about flooring, cabinets, etc.

Keep the ideas coming though. It just might be awhile before I can utilize them.

 

[G20-Budo]

Sorry guys, I haven't posted in a few days. Here are some pics of the updates.

I HAVE A BENCH I CAN USE NOW!

I realize my garage still looks like a complete mess compared to some of your garages, but for me I'm very pleased. I now know where most items are in the garage, I can actually use my bench, and I've sold or given away sometimes?

Oh and the seats you see on the right side there.. they are now sold.

 

[taumac]

I have a thought for you to ponder. You have a 3 bay with single being closest to door into house. The plan at moment it to work on far side but what about putting work area in that single bay. You could put a storage wall idea where work area is now and 2 cars in garage and if third when not working in the single bay. This keeps work in the single bay and not having to move 2 cars out of way in double when wanting to work on something. The single is also considered a walk way into the house and out the garage its gonna get most of the traffic plus when you need a tool at 2am your not walking to farest part in garage to get a tool. I hope you understood that.

 

[HSpencer]

I have a thought for you to ponder. You have a 3 bay with single being closest to door into house. The plan at moment it to work on far side but what about putting work area in that single bay. You could put a storage wall idea where work area is now and 2 cars in garage and if third when not working in the single bay. This keeps work in the single bay and not having to move 2 cars out of way in double when wanting to work on something. The single is also considered a walk way into the house and out the garage its gonna get most of the traffic plus when you need a tool at 2am your not walking to farest part in garage to get a tool. I hope you understood that.

Taumac has an excellent idea there. I would do a one bay shop, and divide it off. I would keep the other two bays clear for parking cars. I do this with a two car in my own garage. You can spread out into the parking bays for working, and then return tools to the one bay shop when done. Keeps it all organized.

Best Wishes
Herb Spencer

 

[G20-Budo]

Yeah, not a bad idea at all. At this point, I'm going to need to leave it as is. I won't entertain doing anything like that until I have everything cleaned and all the holiday stuff/suite cases and such stored somewhere other than the garage.

My main concern with that idea is tracking stuff in the house. With the way I have it now, there is little chance that metal shavings, plastic pieces, wood, etc will get tracked in the house. If I move the "shop" closer to the main door from the garage, it is very likely unwanted items and oil/grease will get tracked into the house.

I'm more interested in the idea of moving the cabinets to the front wall, which would open up one car stall big time. Again, I won't be able to seriously look at doing something like that until I get more of the clutter, well.. to be less clutter.

Keep the ideas coming though, they're all good and they help me to envision my garage space in ways I haven't thought of yet.

On a related note, while working on my wife's van this past week I found I had PLENTY of room to place pieces I took off, I knew exactly where my tools were, and I wasn't bumping into items with my sides/legs while working on the van. I must say, I'm enjoying my garage 5x more now then when it was a complete mess. And I still have a long ways to go. I can't wait to finish getting the clutter out and organizing it even more! Thanks again guys for your inputs and inspiration.

 

[Blondziegbart]

Neat thread so far. Good you're being verbose about the thought process; I may not have been, in these forums, for in my (relatively quick) concepts-through-execution interlocked projects (shed, hot tub, garage). There was were very specific reasons I lined up all three in a row and planned in moderate detail. Your thread reminds me of this:

- Could not triage garage stuff without ability to sort (and store)
- Cannot sort and store without an outbuilding (usually a pod, or shed), realizing there may be some later duplication of effort moving objects to and fro from shed to garage until all are sorted for storage, disposal, sale, or merger into workflow processes.

Now that I'm essentially done, thought about how I tackled all of it and realized:

- Only really detailed my execution phase of the project here in the forums: vision/scope and requirements actually occurred in late 2011 through 2012. Execution went fairly quickly for me, from c. May 1 - September 21. Thus mine was a multi-year process, with the early phases occurring at my leisure.

- I'm surprised you haven't(?) mentioned funding for the project(s) (plural, if we count shed or outdoor storage as a separate project or task grouping within the overall project). My funding process, from vision/scope, went like:

(Descending order of expense):
"what would I love this to look like"
"what would make me go 'wow' every day"
"what would simply improve the workflow and aesthetics (a little)
"can I live with the existing minor chaos"

Simultaneously, I thought on which option might have greatest ROI in increased home value. It appears to me that garage improvements usually do not return giant investment to home values, at least in my case (finishing an existing room), so that too figured in a little later in vision/scope. Call it, "Executing my vision may ultimately only return .50 to .75 on the dollar, long-term. At what price, then, merely peace of mind and eased workflow?"

By 2012 I had a pretty good idea the amount of funding available. Project managers may call that one leg of the famous "triple constraint" (other two being Time, and Scope). Funding constrained Scope, in my case: time was unconstrained.

In the end, I was funded for "this can make me go 'wow' every day" (vs. probably a $100K or more no-limits "love to look like" dream garage, some of which have been realized in these forums by others).

With finite funding, and a path to secure it, I could back-out Scope, and thus from my vision/scope into requirements and thence to acquisition (bidding, from vendors, for the heavy-lifting work I chose not do myself).

Circling back to:

- If you have a ceiling on funding (budget), as most do, from that you can constrain your scope;
- From known scope (limits), you can go into as much detail as needed to create materials lists and designs to execute the vision;
- With materials lists and designs, you can obtain bids from vendors (if applicable), seeking lowest cost and highest return;
- From vendor bids, and availability of other resources (like your time), you can build a schedule;
- The schedule can then be executed, including monitor and control (checkpoints).

End state: finished project.

Keep it coming: interested to see where this goes for you.

 

[G20-Budo]

Blondziegbart,

Thanks for your inputs. For me, I feel like I've got my scope pretty well down. The most expensive part is going to be the flooring, but I can wait on the flooring, I'm not in a rush. The rest of it for me really is a matter of spare time to work on the garage and not affect my wife who works weekend nights (she's a nurse).

I also have other projects that pop up; house, yard or cars related. And I have 4 kids and I choose to make it a priority to spend time with them on the weekends and not just do my projects. All of these other areas of my life push the garage project out here and there, which is fine for me. I'll get to it when I get to it.

With that said, I do feel a sense of motivation after cleaning up much of my garage so that it's more usable. Having a bench to work on is GREAT! I have to say that seeing all of the nice garages here on GJ also helps with motivation (that includes yours Blondziegbart). Great job on your garage.

 

[Blondziegbart]

Considering the !@#$pile mine started out as, I am pleased with the outcome. Thanks for kind words.

Your comments on my thread led me to your project, which is also interesting. I see in that seeds of my own, particularly minor "false starts." I'm not being critical, just thinking on some of the comments thus far.

Parallel to your process, perhaps, I thought: "easy solution to get rid of some of it (organize), at relatively low expense" = big buy of baker racks (metal, wheels, you know the ones) from Costco.

Six of them would be about $800, give or take, and at least get most stuff off of (my) floor, I thought.

Then I realized: hmm, now I have all the stuff at least on racks. That's great, but it's still only semi-organized. And looks OK, but still a bit cluttered.

But the solution was inexpensive. That may be a limiting factor of any project, I realize.

Then I thought about bins. But which bins, and why? Would bins, and racks, go well with any future cabinet options? Is there a "standard" cabinet depth? (A: no, I don't think so, though one can specify. My 24" actually had about 23" depth available, when all said and done.)

Thus, for me, I had to go yet one notch higher level in the planning (and out came Visio, similar to you). Several times. And being a planner, after a year of puttering around, I actually had plan that got more solid until I was ready to pull the trigger on "all" of it, at once (set the dominoes rolling).

I think some (most?) guys recommend lights first. Maybe, but for me lights were actually dead-last "large" piece of the puzzle. Why: I wanted to see where I was dimensionally constrained, by cabinets and other stuff installed, before investing in fixtures that I'd possibly have to move around. Maybe neither here nor there, but something to consider.

I further figured flooring was almost the first step, after 1) removing all stuff from the space 2) painting at least a thorough base coat and fixing wall blems (drywall). I'd hate to have to move racks of anything twice, much less cabinets.

Flooring is a hellacious subject on these forums, and seems to be a function of (very) many factors by itself. Seattle, my home, may be radically different in terms of soil moisture content, engineering creep over time, groundwater tables, etc. Dunno if there is an easy answer there, though in the end "for me" Racedeck looked cool and appeared impervious to some of my environmental conditions.

No criticism, just thoughts: I'm trying to learn from this forum, as well.

 

[G20-Budo]

Blondziegbart,

Again thank you for your inputs, they are of value. I agree that I've been a bit off and on again with getting the garage project moving. For me I'm ok with that for now. Your comment about the shelves or cabinets and bins has actually already crossed my mind. I have actually put some items in bins and boxes already, but I don't know that they'll stay that way. My goal is to have less extra "stuff", which will help greatly in keeping things organized and clean.

I actually like your thought process and how you've explained how you got to certain decisions. For me, the flooring was the same way. At first I thought "I shouldn't get that kind of flooring (Race Deck) because I can't use the floor jack or jack stands without messing them up". Then I did more thinking about it and realized that I don't do that kind of work that often. Maybe once every other month or less. With that in mind, I can just pull up the tiles when I need to. The other situation I have is there is paint (that is pealing) on the floor now, and I've used tire dressing on tires in the garage where the paint has pealed. From what I've read that means epoxy likely won't stick in some area's. So with the above information that pretty much answered the flooring question for me. Flooring is more about the look and ease to keep clean then anything else. The only concern I'd have about the flooring here in the Phoenix area is the afternoon sun in the hot summers causing cracking or warping. I prefer the free flow design over the diamond plate look. When I do more serious automotive work, I'll just pick-up the tiles in that area.

Your comments about the order in which you did things caught my eye. The fact that you did flooring very early because of cabinets reminded me that I will probably end up having to shift the flooring later (advantage of Race Deck type flooring). At some point I think I'd either remove the cabinets and get new ones put on the forward facing wall, or just do shelves. I personally like the idea of cabinets over shelves though, due to the high amount of dust here in the Phoenix area. In fact, I'd like to replace the shelves on my left wall (because they're wood with no doors of any kind) with wall mounted cabinets in the future.

Most of these items I'm thinking of doing down the road shouldn't be an issue. When I do get around to putting the $ up for Race Deck, I know that it is flexible, allowing me to put it in one way, and shift it or make changes to the design later. This is a big factor for me, because what if I get tired of the floor design and want to do something a bit different? That would **** with epoxy.

 

[taumac]

How have things been going? Any updates? I think flooring should be last thing. Build organize clean paint finish then floor. I did see the snap flooring at lowes other day. Its like a heavy rubber with circle pattern in it. I was thinking of doing runners but i dont know. My expy has held up well with all the work and welding i do.

 

[G20-Budo]

Taumac,

No real updates for me, other than I've been using my garage. The weather has cooled off here big time though. It was only around 92 at the highest today..so the weather is now good for working in the garage. I will be out of town for week, but after that I should be able to do more organization. I did actually clean up a few area's, but not enough to post. Thanks for the inquiry.. I'll have some updates in Nov.

 

[SBogaCH]

Is it cool in november?

 

[dubber]

Taumac,

No real updates for me, other than I've been using my garage. The weather has cooled off here big time though. It was only around 92 at the highest today..so the weather is now good for working in the garage. I will be out of town for week, but after that I should be able to do more organization. I did actually clean up a few area's, but not enough to post. Thanks for the inquiry.. I'll have some updates in Nov.

Come on buddy get to work, hahaha, i want to see a progress report!

 

[chenthu]

Yes, same comment as dubber above.. I am really waiting for a before and after picture on this thread! Get to work now!!

 

[G20-Budo]

Is it cool in november?

Yes, it will cool down more in November and December.

Come on buddy get to work, hahaha, i want to see a progress report!

Yes, same comment as dubber above.. I am really waiting for a before and after picture on this thread! Get to work now!!

I didn't know you guys were even paying that much attention to my lazy garage build thread. I will do more work when I get back from my business trip. You guys have all done such great jobs with your garage projects, very inspiring! Cheers for the support and motivation.

 

[ZRX1040]

Did you mount that air hose reel? If I may suggest, mount it between the doors as some have said but, mount it on the ceiling. A foot out from the wall with the fairlead away from the wall. That way you wont have to pull it around the corner when you want to use it in the driveway, just grab it and go, and it still works well in the garage. I ended up putting mine under the workbench right next to the compressor and it's still long enough to reach a vehicle in the driveway.

IMHO flooring can wait. You'll get more bang for the buck with some homemade cabinets/shelves and matching storage bins. I like the rubbermaid stuff. Scour the second hand stores or local contractors for cabinets. Your local cabinet store will try and sell you new stuff, but they can put you in touch with some installers, who probably just tore out a kitchen full on a remodel. (I just cringe when some idiot take a sledge hammer to a set of nice old cabinets in those Home reno - Pimp my Kitchen shows )

As for the floor, throw down some paint or cheap epoxy kit if you must, then when it starts going bad spring for the Race Deck. Big purchase like that needs some pondering time. Get everything like you want it first, find exactly what your needs are. My garage still has concrete, clear sealer when new 15-20 yrs ago. It's about ready for a second coat, maybe I'll tint it this time.

There's a shot of my hose reel, my old kitchen cabinets, and storage bins in the Motorcycle Lift link in my sig.

 

[G20-Budo]

ZRX1040,

I like the idea of the location for the hose reel. I was planning to mount it on the wall between the doors, but your idea should be more functional. And yes, my plan was to be able to use it in the garage and out in the driveway when needed. I was thinking either mount the reel to a piece of 2x6 wood, or two rectangular pieces of steel and then of course to the ceiling.

I also like your idea regarding the flooring.. I think I will do some cheaper paint to hold me over. If I've learned anything from Rick's thread, I've learned I can always repaint something until I'm happy with it.

Thanks again for the inputs!

 

[55cadillacking]

I've learned anything from Rick's thread, I've learned I can always repaint something until I'm happy with it.

Truer words have not been spoken!

 

[dubber]

Rick's garage is probably at least 10 mm smaller then when he started with all those layers hahaha.

 

[55cadillacking]

It's funny because it's true.

 

[G20-Budo]

Hey guys,

So I picked up a vise. It's a Wilton Multi-Purpose Vise, Jaw Width 5", Rotating Head. It's not one of the cool old school Wilton vises many of you have, but it will meet my needs for now.

This is what it looks like.

I haven't mounted it yet, but I have selected a location to mount it.

 

[dubber]

Nice score Kyle.

Hows the garage progress? Haven't seen an updated shot in over a month....I'm worried hahaha.

 

[G20-Budo]

Thanks dubber. As for the update? Well the update is my bench is covered with small boxes of car parts for a friend of a friend in NZ. I need to get them shipped out. Then I have to go through and organize a LOT of nuts, bolts, misc hardware that are on top of a my old school tool box, which is where vise will get mounted too.

I also looked up some mounting ideas for my air hose reel, and found the way I want to mount it. The issue is the board I have on hand isn't long enough to catch the studs in the ceiling of my garage. So I'll need to buy a longer board. So even though you haven't seen updates, I am doing research and getting items here and there to add to the garage. I also sold a few more items which helped clean up a bit.

 

[dubber]

Thanks dubber. As for the update? Well the update is my bench is covered with small boxes of car parts for a friend of a friend in NZ. I need to get them shipped out. Then I have to go through and organize a LOT of nuts, bolts, misc hardware that are on top of a my old school tool box, which is where vise will get mounted too.

I also looked up some mounting ideas for my air hose reel, and found the way I want to mount it. The issue is the board I have on hand isn't long enough to catch the studs in the ceiling of my garage. So I'll need to buy a longer board. So even though you haven't seen updates, I am doing research and getting items here and there to add to the garage. I also sold a few more items which helped clean up a bit.

Atta boy. A little behind the scene planning definitely counts. Keep it up!

 

[G20-Budo]

Yeah, and I've decided to use copper hard lines to route air to the hose reel.. Now that the temps have dropped in my area, I can get up above the garage and run the lines.

 

[Alexbn921]

Nice work. I wish my garage was that size. Your work bench looks like it is far from the house. I like to have mine right by the door so I don't have far to go. Good luck with the air line, it will make a huge difference having it mounted and easy to use.

 

[taumac]

I got a hose reel from friend. I really dont know if like it too much. For the longest time, I just had about 100ft of hose on hanging on handle of compressor and yes it was a pia cause I dragged it across garage to bench and everywhere. Now, I have a 50ft on compressor and air hose i cut in half to run to reel and other on the reel. I connected it to 50 on compressor so a can use other 50 by itself or conect to hose reel run. I guess what I saying I would hook it up with air hoses and use it before spend money on hard lines to see if thats where you want it how it works first. I thought a hose reel would be great but it just not working out as thought. Now Im thinking of getting rid of reel and just running line to bench and using a simple coil hose on bench or small reels right above bench. I think if I didnt you up every inch of wall space I think I probably could have mounted it somewhere but ceiling LMFAO!!!!

 

[Alexbn921]

I wanted to run copper air hose, but my skills where not up to the job and I was planning on moving stuff around so for $100 I picked up a kit off amazon. Not as nice or perminate as copper but it has worked will for the last year for me.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0015A11U2/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[G20-Budo]

Not a bad idea.. and I have a roll of soft line laying around. I'll go ahead and run the soft line to the real for now and see how it works.. I can always run the copper later.

 

[dh1]

Wow, doing better than me. Moved into my place summer 2012 and in the process cleared out a self storage place, bulk was just dumped into the garage. Fall 2013, it is all still there.

 

[G20-Budo]

Don't feel bad dh1, I spent 12 years making my garage a mess..and just now starting cleaning it up (and I'm getting to it slowly). Just get a goal in mind, and idea of how you want it to look/work for you..and start working on it. You'll get there.

 

[taumac]

Re: "Kyle's Triple" Garage Project

Yep, ill admit it takes time.I just thought I finished after 8+ years and now once again moving and changing stuff although not a big remodel but enough to make a big mess again. You'll get there.

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk

 

[ZRX1040]

From Old Car Guy's thread

 

[G20-Budo]

Well, that's exactly where I'll be mounting mine, but my garage isn't nearly that tall inside.

 

[G20-Budo]

Hey guys.. not a big update, but I've been doing a few things here and there. I took the time to go through every bolt, nut, screw, washer, bracket, anchor, odd and end on my "heavy duty" rolling tool box. The top has some how gathered these items over the past 10-12 years or so. Needless to say, it was a mess. So bad I don't think I'll post it.

I decided it's time to get that area cleared/organized so I can mount my vise, the one that has been staring at me for the past 2 months.

I also picked one of these up from costco today while with the wife (Merry Xmas to me! )

I also moved my shop vac back into the shop, from the back eve of the house. I just need to decide where it will best fit. Even though the garage isn't where I want it, it sure is more fun working in there now that I have some room.

 

[chenthu]

looks nice.. got to love costco, you go there to buy milk and come back with a big screen tv and 32 cans of soup cas the sample was sooo good!

 

[taumac]

Re: "Kyle's Triple" Garage Project

Nice stool there. I've had the luck of finding all seating in my garage.... I call it repurposing wife calls it trash picking. LOL... Think up to 3 old desk/office chairs and 3 stools now.

 

[G20-Budo]

Well, Christmas was good to be yet again. My parents visited for the holiday and picked this up for me.

Looks like I need to purchase some plywood for the attic before I start my install. I was thinking 1/2" or 3/4". Anyone have any inputs one way or the other?

I even found a cool installation video by the maker of the ladder.