Log Garage in Colorado!

[Scotts Elle]

We moved here about a year ago as the final move in my career with my previous employer. We love Colorado so this was a exciting move for us. The guy before me owned a deck company so the garage was full of junk. We went to work right away and got it the way I want it.

We will talk about my car addiction later...




There is a loft above the garage that was a storage room. We finished that into my office (I work from home so this is great... away from kids, quiet, etc...). We installed a spiral staircase and love it.







HVAC was a bit of a concern. Being a garage, you cant tie into the house. Mini split was an option BUT we found what I think is the perfect solution. A "ducted mini split". An air handler for the loft and a larger on for the garage. It works so good! I can't say enough good things about it! Vents and return air install as any normal home... Super quiet and comfortable. Key was the spray foam insulation in my opinion.




This is the Office/Loft air handler


Below is the main garage air handler


Drywall, taping, paint, etc...






The garage portion was quite simple. Installed lights, cabinets and more... Its dirty and still somewhat disorganized but should have it sorted in a few weeks.

Before drywall:


Mostly done...



Next up is a small scissor lift, new compressor. The mover destroyed my old one to the point that it was repairable..., and acid wash floor coating.

The holes in the finished walls in the loft is for my liquor cabinet and humidor. I enjoy cigars... like alot. Those are being built now. I am moved in but have really had time to get pictures. Will post some completed loft pics if ya'll are interested.

 

[NashNative]

Wow, that's going to be a sweet set up once it's all finished. What part of Colorado? I've done a couple 14ers out there in the last few years. Beautiful part of the country.

 

[rok_hunter]

Hey, so not to be too morbid but.....how does one go about getting written into your Will? [emoji23]

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[Scotts Elle]

Wow, that's going to be a sweet set up once it's all finished. What part of Colorado? I've done a couple 14ers out there in the last few years. Beautiful part of the country.

Thanks! We are in Monument just outside Colorado Springs. We did Pikes Peak... in the Porsche. Does that count? LOL... Actual, I tried pike peak and Manitou last year but I though I was in better shape than I actually was.

 

[Scotts Elle]

@rok_hunter Ha! My kids ask me that all the time.

 

[rok_hunter]

Thanks! We are in Monument just outside Colorado Springs. We did Pikes Peak... in the Porsche. Does that count? LOL... Actual, I tried pike peak and Manitou last year but I though I was in better shape than I actually was.

You sound like you're exactly where I want to end up. C Springs was the goal, but the more I've learned about the area I'd love to be in the outskirts with some land!

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[M-technik-3]

Nice space you have there, I'd have done a skylight for some airflow and extra natural lighting but it probably would not have fit in with the styling of the building.

 

[Chevy-SS]

God, I love log cabins! I envy you. That's beautiful........................

Why such low ceilings? 'Typical' garage ceiling is ~10', that looks to be ~8'.

EDIT - very nice work on the photography too. Nice, clear, well-lit pics.

 

[MacTexas]

What year is the Porsche? By the way you have a beautiful house and garage.

 

[Scotts Elle]

God, I love log cabins! I envy you. That's beautiful........................

Why such low ceilings? 'Typical' garage ceiling is ~10', that looks to be ~8'.

EDIT - very nice work on the photography too. Nice, clear, well-lit pics.

Thanks! The house was built in 87 with a few renos from previous owners. The ceiling is just over 8ft so I assume that was a normal height back then. My previous home in Oklahoma had 12.5ft ceilings... miss that. We are on a 1/2 acre of protected forest. This is my dream.

What year is the Porsche? By the way you have a beautiful house and garage.

Thanks! Its an 2008 911 C4S manual. Was a smoking deal from a dealer in Dallas that popped up. There is enough small imperfections that I am not afraid to drive this anywhere. Traded my 2018 C63 AMG. I miss the sound and the insane power of the AMG but there is no feeling like driving an older 997 911.

 

[readhead]

Good looking place. Greetings from the lower left corner of the state.

 

[twistedstang]

Great looking shop! What are the dimensions?

 

[Scotts Elle]

Great looking shop! What are the dimensions?

28 deep. Just under 32 wide.

 

[Chevy-SS]

How's the forest fire risk around there? You look a little vulnerable to that.

 

[Scotts Elle]

How's the forest fire risk around there? You look a little vulnerable to that.

Its a risk for sure and a few years ago (before my time here), a fire got close enough were everyone around here was on evac alert. The fire department here is incredible. The come out for free and do a property assessment with full reports and suggestions and stuff like that. If there is a danger, and you had an assessment, they will pre-emtively come out and do counter measures. Our insurance company (Statefarm) also pays for fire retardant to be sprayed if there is a threat. We don't loose any sleep over it.

 

[Scotts Elle]

During the build out we had a few projects. One important on was a car we purchased for my mother. She has always loved the Mini Coopers so we surprised her with a 2012 I got pretty cheap at a repo auction. Un fortunately, the motor was shot and the car was not taken care of. My son and I rebuilt the motor, fixed the convertible top, rebuilt the suspension, brakes, new tires, and replaced most of the interior. Once this COVID **** calms down, she is coming to get it from Canada. For now my 14 year old son may just claim it. Its a pretty fun little cars. Enjoy the timelapse.

 

[Scotts Elle]

We had lost the power brakes the other day. Also had a nasty crunching noise... not good. Turns out the vacuum pump grenaded. Mini wants close to $500 for a new pump and the only thing wrong was the plastic "blade" had dissolved.

To solve this, we made a new blade. I have an industrial 3D printing business that caters to aero space and oil and gas industries, so we whipped up a drawing and using high temp carbon infused plastic with reinforced fiberglass strands, we made this replacement.

Been working great for a few hundred miles so far. ***knocks on wood***

 

[M-technik-3]

Great job have to love spirit of diy!

 

[The J]

Awesome fix!

Looking forward to more updates and 3D printed solutions!

I really like the use of a spiral staircase to connect the two spaces, functionally and visually.

 

[Scotts Elle]

Thanks!

Here is the completed office/loft. Still working on decor... I have lots of racing memorabilia I am sorting through. Still waiting on the dang humidors. Those are taking forever.

 

[Arps]

The office came out great!

 

[twistedstang]

Wow. This is quickly becoming my favorite thread.

 

[Scotts Elle]

So I mentioned the issues with the Mini when we got it. It was owned by someone who didn't care... at all. There was some "creative hacks" that were used to keep it running. This one took the grand prize. I mean... I have seen some sketchy stuff in my life, but this makes the top 5 for sure. Had a hell of a vibration. LOL





The new control arm is $16 from RockAuto... $25 from Autozone. Took all of 5 minutes to replace.

 

[The J]

Wow! That would have me checking every bolt! It’s certainly creative. What else is missing from the car’s flat repair / tool kit?!?

 

[Chevy-SS]

ROFLMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What a repair!

 

[Scotts Elle]

Small project that has been on the books for a while... Replace the center section of the seats in the Porsche with a vintage houndstooth. Like any well intentioned, but completely uneducated DIYer, I tried it myself and quickly realized it was a better to have a pro fix my errors and make it look the way it should.

Removed the seats a few weeks ago.

Fabric:

Seats ready for pick up.

Will post them installed with before/after soon.

 

[txvwnut]

A customer of mine just did the seats in his beetle with hounds tooth inserts.

 

[Scotts Elle]

Love the classic look. Waiting for back seats to be finished up.

 

[qwerty18]

We had lost the power brakes the other day. Also had a nasty crunching noise... not good. Turns out the vacuum pump grenaded. Mini wants close to $500 for a new pump and the only thing wrong was the plastic "blade" had dissolved.

To solve this, we made a new blade. I have an industrial 3D printing business that caters to aero space and oil and gas industries, so we whipped up a drawing and using high temp carbon infused plastic with reinforced fiberglass strands, we made this replacement.

Been working great for a few hundred miles so far. ***knocks on wood***

Awesome.
I assume you were able to find a drawing or a stock part to use for the model?

 

[Scotts Elle]

We measured the interior of the pump cavity, then printed quite a few test peices, making small adjustments. We ran the pump on a drill until we got the factory spec of 25"W/C. We based the design mainly off pictures of the factory part. We have some pretty wild software that can create some pretty accurate measurements just from a picture.

 

[MileHighRover]

A customer of mine just did the seats in his beetle with hounds tooth inserts.

Porsche, Beetle, basically the same thing.

 

[DeeDubz]

Nice looking shop op. The stair case is bad ***. Im shocked at the control arm hack. WTF are ppl thinking?

 

[Scotts Elle]

Been a while... The mid rise lifts at Twin Busch were backordered since August. Finally got it a couple weeks ago.

 

[drivesitfar]

love the log homes and with all the cool cars and stuff going on I hope you don't mind me following along for the ride.

also I played golf in Colorado Springs (Air Force courses for a college tournament) and remember hitting close to 500 yard drives cause the ball would fly forever.

so if not asked already how many years of work until fully retired?

 

[Scotts Elle]

No problem at all @drivesitfar. With my current life style and kids still in high school, I still have 20+ years. I don't think I would retire well anyways so I am A.O.K with working.

FINALLY received the humidor and liquor cabinet a few months ago. Got them install about a month ago.

 

[kyle@hcb]

Such a unique setup. How much were the seat inserts, if you don't mind relaying the cost? This thread has me rethinking where to locate my office in our next house.

 

[Scotts Elle]

The fabric was around $150 for 3 yards. The upholstery guy charged about $750. I over paid. He promised a quick turnaround and did not deliver. I found a few shops that would have done it under $500.

I love the setup. The office is quiet and separate from the living area of the house so my wife and kids know to leave me alone while I am working and the never ending ZOOM calls are tolerable when I can have a stick

 

[Scotts Elle]

Its been over a year so kind of a dump on updates... First, the 911:

Lowered and installed center lock hubs. I took video of the install... just haven't uploaded it yet. (The Carrera decal is gone...)




I bought a commercial sewing machine and some upholstery tools/supplies last year with the intention of learning upholstery work. Its been a great experience! Still lots to learn but between some very helpful upholstery experts and YouTube, I am running out of things to upholster.






Center console got wrapped. A note about learning... first time is always going to ****. I wrapped this 4 times before it was passable. There are a few areas that I am not happy with and am going to re-wrap it this month. The leather I ordered was thick... I have been advised my errors are because I did not skive the leather edges and seams. A skiver is $1500 sooo... I ended up ordering leather that is pre-skived and meant for panel wrapping. Pics below are of the thicker leather (and second attempt).



Apologies for the edited black and white... I couldn't find the original. Just the instagram pic. I upgraded the steering wheel and head unit as well. I love my apple car play and unfortunately 2008, the best you could hope for was an iPod connection.


Added some extra power to the garage as well... Go tired of the extension cords. Also, learned how to bend conduit... There is an embarrassing amount of screwed up conduit outside.

 

[drivesitfar]

I was going to ask if you might have a good amount of conduit stored up cause i'm guessing you have a few dollars invested in it. looks great and love the comment about the pile of bent ones that weren't quite right laying outside maybe in your scrap pile.

also I can only recall one other member that shows how to re upholster the insides of a car and only a couple members have showed their sewing skills. WELL DONE and it looks amazing.

nice looking home and garage too!!

 

[Scotts Elle]

Thanks @drivesitfar!

I re-did the center console AGAIN... getting better at templating the parts but I underestimate how much leather will stretch (or not stretch) depending on what part of the hide I am cutting.



Added door accents...


And I love Alcantara... expensive but the authentic stuff is sooo nice to work with and stitching lays right into the fibers.


And added to the overly bloated insurance bill... My daughter loves motorcycles. She is not driving yet but really wants to ride ASAP. This bike was a major steal... Neighbor was cleaning out garage and asked if I was interested in it. I said jokingly yes and toss a stupid low number out... and he took it! Long story but he had some frustrations with it (not mechanical... more sentimental) and said he would have just given it me. Now my daughter has claimed it.