ssjones
Well-known member
It's been a while since I posted here. In the interim, we sold the home we built in Maryland and lived in for 26 years and bought a retirement home in Louisiana (Covington) to be near my daughters/grandchildren. Back in Maryland, I had an oversized two car garage, with a small work area (was supposed to be a room in the house) and we had a laundry tub sink. It was insulated, so stayed relatively warm, although I'd run a propane heater occasionally. I work on cars, including our MGB. it fit our Silverado with the standard bed.
Our home sold in three days and we weren't even close to finding one in Louisiana. Finally, a week before we were moving, we bought a home that seemed suitable. It had been empty for about a year and a half, so somewhat neglected, but that was reflected in the price. We looked at 22 other homes, but none had a decent sized two-car garage. This one was only slightly smaller than our MD home and also had a small work area with sink (amazing!). This one is 21' x 22" with a 6'x7' additional work area (just over 500 sq feet). Our MD home garage was 2' larger on all dimensions. There is a full length concrete had on the other side of the garage, which could a covered area if ever needed (we considered putting up a cover for the big Chevy).
We moved in the first week of August, it was over 100 degrees every day. I had a garage full of tubs and outdoor lawn equipment that would eventually go in a shed. we had a pool in Maryland, so my wife immediately sought out a builder down here and that project started in October.
The previous owner had put twelve shelving units along each side of the garage. They served a purpose early on but it was cluttered. He also had wire rack storage on either side, I hate things near my vehicles. I also needed wall space for our three bicycles. The big Silverado would just not fit with out compromising egress while it was in the garage. My wife loved that truck (a '22 High Country). But we sold it for a great price and picked up a new Ridgeline, which has been perfect so far and fits. I gave away the shelving units to my kids. My son-in-law decked out the overhead attic storage, which is stand-up height and as large as the garage. Its just a pain getting up that attic (the wife had 51 tubs of Christmas stuff that came down a few weeks ago). The attic had sprayed on foam insulation and the temps in summer stayed moderate(it had an AC service to the attic and garage, but I removed it for better service to the house).
I had a shed built in November and was able to move all the lawn/hardware stuff there, including my old garage workbench/vise. I have one stainless work table that mounts two buffers, for my other hobby, restoring old briar tobacco pipes (I was in the restaurant business for 40 years and had access to discarded tables). I started picking up cabinets to put beside my tool box and in the work area. I found a smaller stainless prep table down here, that allowed a good pathway between the truck and bench.
I picked up five, four tube LED light fixtures and installed them, so it's BRIGHT. One downside - they occasionally interfere with our remote garage openers (apparently a known issue). I installed another switched LED fixture upstairs.
The concrete floor was a mess, it was a rough surface as I've never seen in a garage. I power washed it and could blow dust out every day. I got quotes from the two floor companies here (Ninja and Omega). Both use a Polyaspartic Polyurea product, reportedly stronger than epoxy. The price was a little sobering but I bit the bullet and went with Ninja (they had great commercial references). That was done the first week of December and after a few days, I was able to get the cars in and my toolbox (neighbor helped me roll that up with a piece of heavy sheetmetal for a ramp).
Other than loosing screws/fasteners easily on the multi-color surface, I'm very pleased. We still need to put in a 2nd refrigerator in the work area and I'll move my pipe table down into the main area. I also have room to setup my winter Zwift cycling equipment. I though I don't think we'll get much winter, and I'm still riding outside. Previously my Zwift was in our basement, no basements here!
I'm goint to munt my hose reel adjacent to the tool box, on the ceiling and keept the compressor upstairs. The PO has two switched outlets up there, so that's convenient. (and a rope on a ceiling beam, to pull up heavy items). The PO had a five gallon bucket of grey paint in the attic, so I repainted all the walls.
Before (my 3 yr old grandson loves the MGB)
Finished
Our home sold in three days and we weren't even close to finding one in Louisiana. Finally, a week before we were moving, we bought a home that seemed suitable. It had been empty for about a year and a half, so somewhat neglected, but that was reflected in the price. We looked at 22 other homes, but none had a decent sized two-car garage. This one was only slightly smaller than our MD home and also had a small work area with sink (amazing!). This one is 21' x 22" with a 6'x7' additional work area (just over 500 sq feet). Our MD home garage was 2' larger on all dimensions. There is a full length concrete had on the other side of the garage, which could a covered area if ever needed (we considered putting up a cover for the big Chevy).
We moved in the first week of August, it was over 100 degrees every day. I had a garage full of tubs and outdoor lawn equipment that would eventually go in a shed. we had a pool in Maryland, so my wife immediately sought out a builder down here and that project started in October.
The previous owner had put twelve shelving units along each side of the garage. They served a purpose early on but it was cluttered. He also had wire rack storage on either side, I hate things near my vehicles. I also needed wall space for our three bicycles. The big Silverado would just not fit with out compromising egress while it was in the garage. My wife loved that truck (a '22 High Country). But we sold it for a great price and picked up a new Ridgeline, which has been perfect so far and fits. I gave away the shelving units to my kids. My son-in-law decked out the overhead attic storage, which is stand-up height and as large as the garage. Its just a pain getting up that attic (the wife had 51 tubs of Christmas stuff that came down a few weeks ago). The attic had sprayed on foam insulation and the temps in summer stayed moderate(it had an AC service to the attic and garage, but I removed it for better service to the house).
I had a shed built in November and was able to move all the lawn/hardware stuff there, including my old garage workbench/vise. I have one stainless work table that mounts two buffers, for my other hobby, restoring old briar tobacco pipes (I was in the restaurant business for 40 years and had access to discarded tables). I started picking up cabinets to put beside my tool box and in the work area. I found a smaller stainless prep table down here, that allowed a good pathway between the truck and bench.
I picked up five, four tube LED light fixtures and installed them, so it's BRIGHT. One downside - they occasionally interfere with our remote garage openers (apparently a known issue). I installed another switched LED fixture upstairs.
The concrete floor was a mess, it was a rough surface as I've never seen in a garage. I power washed it and could blow dust out every day. I got quotes from the two floor companies here (Ninja and Omega). Both use a Polyaspartic Polyurea product, reportedly stronger than epoxy. The price was a little sobering but I bit the bullet and went with Ninja (they had great commercial references). That was done the first week of December and after a few days, I was able to get the cars in and my toolbox (neighbor helped me roll that up with a piece of heavy sheetmetal for a ramp).
Other than loosing screws/fasteners easily on the multi-color surface, I'm very pleased. We still need to put in a 2nd refrigerator in the work area and I'll move my pipe table down into the main area. I also have room to setup my winter Zwift cycling equipment. I though I don't think we'll get much winter, and I'm still riding outside. Previously my Zwift was in our basement, no basements here!
I'm goint to munt my hose reel adjacent to the tool box, on the ceiling and keept the compressor upstairs. The PO has two switched outlets up there, so that's convenient. (and a rope on a ceiling beam, to pull up heavy items). The PO had a five gallon bucket of grey paint in the attic, so I repainted all the walls.
Before (my 3 yr old grandson loves the MGB)
Finished
