Meissen's Garage Thread

[meissen]

Hey guys,

New to the site but especially not new to being a post *****. I'm the owner and administrator of a Michigan-based Camaro and Firebird website and GarageJournal was referenced while talking about floor coatings. Well, being the ***** I am I had to come over here, register, and start posting! I'm a new first time home buyer - just moved in 3 months ago - but I'm excited as hell to try and get the garage "up to snuff." I know it will never compare to the amazing garages in this gallery, though!

It's an oversized (wide) 2 car garage. Plans are to paint the walls, do something with the ceiling (though the rafters are used for storage), more cabinets for organizing/storage, some type of floor coating, and some day a lift to store my 1995 Camaro and my fiance's 2002 Firebird.

Don't have an overall picture of the garage yet, once I paint the walls or do more progress I'll take some better pictures.









Since basically everything on the wall I'm willing to remove/rearrange, I feel like I have a blank slate and I'm just excited to dive in!

 

[RUMBLON]

Hey guys,

New to the site but especially not new to being a post *****. I'm the owner and administrator of a Michigan-based Camaro and Firebird website and GarageJournal was referenced while talking about floor coatings. Well, being the ***** I am I had to come over here, register, and start posting! I'm a new first time home buyer - just moved in 3 months ago - but I'm excited as hell to try and get the garage "up to snuff." I know it will never compare to the amazing garages in this gallery, though!

It's an oversized (wide) 2 car garage. Plans are to paint the walls, do something with the ceiling (though the rafters are used for storage), more cabinets for organizing/storage, some type of floor coating, and some day a lift to store my 1995 Camaro and my fiance's 2002 Firebird.

Don't have an overall picture of the garage yet, once I paint the walls or do more progress I'll take some better pictures.









Since basically everything on the wall I'm willing to remove/rearrange, I feel like I have a blank slate and I'm just excited to dive in!

Looks like a nice garage. I try and not get caught up in the shop size thing. I love mien but there is always a bigger nicer shop. I just like the fact that I can create in my shop, and that makes me happy.

Enjoy the site, its a great one with lots of great people and information. You would be surprised how far a can of paint or two and some free or cheap craigslist stuff can go.

Dave

 

[meissen]

Finally got a couple pics of the garage showing the actual dimensions instead of just tight angle shots. Here they are - not much, but it's the first garage I've ever owned.

I'm on the hunt for some metal 2 door, 5 shelf storage cabinets at cheap prices. Even if they're all different colors, I'll paint them to match. I'm envisioning the wall on the left of the garage (from the pictures' perspective) being lined with the storage cabinets up to where the tool chest currently is. I love having the tools immediately next to the door while doing projects or working on the cars.

 

[meissen]

Made some progress over the past couple of weekends. On Saturday I bought a 2HP 8 gallon oil air compressor and air nailer. Made the following project much easier!

The goal is to have the back wall of the garage look something like this:

And here's how it looks so far - just have to do the cabinet under the window and then on the far right.

 

[m.james]

Is anyone else having trouble viewing the pictures?

 

[larry_g]

Is anyone else having trouble viewing the pictures?

I am able to see them and find them well worth looking at. Well done on the cabinets.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[meissen]

Thanks!

Should be able to see the pictures as long as you're logged in.

 

[Kevin54]

Your in Michigan and no insulation? Even if you store things in the trusses, I would insulate it and put in an attic door. You'd be surprised how enjoyable a garage can be in the deadass of winter if it's insulated and heated.

Nice job on the cabinets. Look at making some overheads. I had a nice set I made and were made using cheap 1x12 pine boards. Frame a box out of 1x12's, then use some 1x3's for facing boards. The doors were bought for $5 a piece.

 

[meissen]

I've only been in the house since April so I haven't experienced winter in this garage yet. The garage door is insulated which was a nice perk when we were looking at buying the house. I have plans for the rafters since the 2x6 collar ties are no where near adequate to be used as a shelf for storage but that's what the previous home owner was doing. I have to keep telling myself that this is only a temporary house - we're just living here until the market picks up and we can make a killer profit on it. We bought the house at less than 50% of what it was valued before the economy tanked so we have no where to go but up - especially with how many improvements we've made inside and out.

Finished building the main structure of the shelves last night. I have to figure out exactly what I'm doing for doors - I can't decide if I want normal doors that open or if I want sliding doors. With the cars parked in the garage, I doubt I'll be able to open the doors if they swing out. Sliding panels would be a lot easier but probably wouldn't be as finished looking.

First, though, I need to paint both the walls behind the cabinets and the cabinets themselves.











PS - You can also see my mammoth 167lb pumpkin in the pictures.

 

[Motown 454]

The shelves are coming out nice.

 

[93formulalt1]

Great work on the garage so far! I was looking for some info on epoxies and floor tiles for my garage, and I happened upon this thread. Great to see I'm not the only one here with Garage Envy!

I think some cabinets, insulation, some posters, and heat would really make your garage a nice place to spend extra time over the winter. What does the ceiling look like? Is it insulated at all out there?

 

[meissen]

Unfortunately it's just the wooden rafters from the roof. With Epoxy-Coat being so cheap at Lowes now I might buy some epoxy and bite the bullet next spring.

 

[93formulalt1]

Unfortunately it's just the wooden rafters from the roof. With Epoxy-Coat being so cheap at Lowes now I might buy some epoxy and bite the bullet next spring.

You're making good use of what you have. There's not much else you can do.

I just wish my garage floor was in good enough shape to epoxy, I'm going to be tackling some concrete work in the spring in my garage.

 

[woody2136]

That shelving looks awesome, but I'm already out of room in my place to do it! haha

 

[meissen]

Thanks guys! I had to get the shelves together quickly in time for the wife's car to arrive home from her parent's...

Crappy iPhone pictures.

 

[stellar91]

Looking good meissen! , I actually just bought a house in your home town, also got a good deal not quite 50% off but good. You said that Lowes had the epoxy cheap ? I only have a 20 x20 to work with ,but it's a blank slate and everything already drywalled, even the ceiling. I'll be keeping an eye on the thread good luck.

 

[aqr81]

It's really coming out nice meissen. I can tell there is a lot of thought going into it all and it show. Nice job.

 

[meissen]

Thank you!

 

[meissen]

Been a long time since I updated this thread! A few weeks ago my dad gave me a 3' wide metal cabinet to use that he didn't need anymore, and I also needed to build a tire rack for my set of winter tires. This spiraled into a two-day project from 10am to 5pm both days.

I moved the home-built cabinets to the adjacent wall which I felt was better for accessing the shelving while the cars are parked in the garage. Before it was like we were really squeezing between the cabinet and the front of the cars to get to the shelves.

I also built two workbenches - one on either side of the fridge, with the second one being a full 7 feet long. I then moved all the wall kitchen cabinets to be by the 7' long workbench for tool and misc. storage and was finally able to mount my vice to the workbench which was a huge relief.

Anyway - here's some pics!

How the garage looked before the reorganization:

After day 1 - the cabinets moved to the adjacent wall and the individual shelves taken down. Lots of rearranging of junk.

The tire rack built -- I originally was going to put it high and out of the way but my dad was the voice of reason that I wouldn't want to be lugging the tires up over my head - and where it is actually worked as a nice base for the workbench.

Here's a crappy picture of the workbench -- you can see the "Cultural Goofy" dart cabinet that was left in the garage when we moved in. We've gotten a kick out of it and I joke that it was the whole reason why we bought the house:

The metal cabinets used to store chemicals, paint, etc. Far away from the house.

Organize! Stuff hanging up on the walls. The chairs we don't use that much so they went on the outside wall. On the flip side, my wife is short and regularly needs the step ladder so I hung that right next to the door to the kitchen so she can easily access it.

My other workbench I built -- only 3 legs made out of plywood, but super sturdy! I made it about level with the Harbor Freight workbench and angled the edge of the workbench so it's the same depth as the harbor freight and then comes out deeper by the refrigerator (but we're only talking a couple inches).

And the "finished" project!

 

[NUTTSGT]

I'd say you put your shelves to some very good use.

 

[meissen]

Thanks!

Bummer to see this website still hasn't joined the 2000's and doesn't have automatic image resizer set up.

 

[astroracer]

Hey Meissen!
Hey! I know you! Glad you updated your thread. I spend a little time on the F Body board. Haven't been doing any work to my two F bodies since I started building the Astro but it's good to see you here and nice job on the garage redeux!
Mark

 

[meissen]

Hey man - long time no talk!

 

[A_Pmech]

Looks like you're getting better organized.

MOAR Fbody **** please!

 

[thesilverone]

love the f-bodys!