My attached 1 car garage + workshop project

[asmasm]

Hi Everyone,
I bought my first house last spring and have started the process of turning the tiny 1 car garage into a usable work space. So far I have taken out a wall in order to double the working space, ripped out the original acoustic tile ceiling (it was in bad shape in a few areas), pulled out the carpet from the adjoining room, and added a bunch of T8 lighting. My very long term goal is to have a space to build a locost. The existing floor is 50 year old epoxy that is failing in a few areas. I am planning to tile them next fall. Also, because my house is built on slab, the lower story ceiling is where all the electrical and plumbing is run. My plan is to put up a wainscot panel ceiling that I can easily take down in sections as needed.

Before I moved in:

As it sits now:

I am having the chimney looked at next week, at which point I will be able to have a roaring fire while working on my cars.


Oh also, does anyone have an suggestions for storing a push mower with the least footprint? I am thinking about trying to hang it in order to help get it out of the way.

 

[RCR]

great space!

 

[N0tt0N]

Wow! Jealous! Now that is a real one car garage! I'm stealing house space 16" at a time

 

[AZ Pete]

You are probably the only guy I know that has a fireplace in his garage....too cool!

 

[arizonajack]

Oh also, does anyone have an suggestions for storing a push mower with the least footprint? I am thinking about trying to hang it in order to help get it out of the way.

Here are some ideas:

1 - A couple of ropes and pulleys and you can suspend it from the ceiling beams.

2 - Move your workbench a couple of feet away from the window and roll it behind the workbench. Doesn't look like you'll lose much floor space.

3 - What I did in my shop (if you have the room) was put up steel shelves against the wall with the bottom shelf about 3 or 4 feet up depending on what I wanted to roll under the shelf. Gets things out of the way and still gives me shelf space.

4 - If you have room on the property for a garden shed, might be worth getting one.

 

[asmasm]

I ended up storing it in a shed on my back patio for the winter. I think the pulley idea is good and during the summer when I don't want to drag it up and down the stairs I will try that. My next project is to rewire the garage electrical. The lighting is all on a 2 wire circuit and it is easy enough to replace with no ceiling. I also want to add a 20 amp gfci circuit for receptacles and then a 240v for the bigger tools I plan to acquire.

 

[dubber]

Awesome space, really wish i had that ginormous bump on my single.

 

[xtremek]

Subscribed. Totally jealous of the closets.

 

[coma13]

This is gonna be a cool one!

 

[Mr. 360]

Great features here! I think the recurring favourite for everyone reading this is going to be your GARAGE FIREPLACE! That has got to be prettymuch the coolest thing ever. It looks like a wood-burning setup, which is my favourite type. you can heat the place with scraps and whatnot, and it's nice and toasty.

I like the layout, and 27x25 is actually a rather large shop by most of our standards.

If you end up having to store the lawn mower in there, I would probably build a cabinet the same size as the lawnmowers dimensions (ie: 48"x40"x22" or however big it is) and sorta scoot it in sideways, then build in shelves in the surrounding dead space for oils, blades, garden stuff, etc... kinda like this sketch (I figured that might be better than explaining).

View media item 35230
Really nice space you have here, this one should be wicked!

 

[asmasm]

I had my first day of major work in the garage since I expanded it. It went pretty well but I am definitely going to make some layout changes and I need a bigger selection of wrenches. The fire place ended up being awesome. The garage is heated with the rest of the house but the thermostat is up stairs and it is easy to let the heat out with the garage door. The fireplace brings it back up to temp quickly.

 

[Kevin54]

I think that is a first on GJ to see a fireplace like that in a garage!! I like it!!!

 

[fred26t]

Very nice start. Keep going. Fred26t

 

[andyaus]

Wow pulling out that wall certainly opened things up nice work

 

[asmasm]

I managed to fit two cars in here:

 

[MoparTrucks]

Yup, I have to add that the fire place is an awesome feature of your garage. That garage is plenty big enough to do just about anything in. Keep posting pictures of your progress, lots of guys would be thrilled to have a space that big.

 

[metalhead140]

Nice space! I like it, feels kinda like a living area as much as a garage.

My brother has a miata (mx5 over here) too, they're good cars, not bad for a fake MG at all! They did miss a couple of features though. Like the factory fitted rust protection renewal system on an MG (often mistakenly disregarded as an oil leak!)...

 

[Weizenbier]

Double Miata's = Twice as Awesome!
Nice Shop Too

 

[asmasm]

I am looking to seal off my ceiling from the living space upstairs. Any time I use an aerosol it stinks up the living room and kitchen. I am starting to do some composite work and don't want to expose my family to epoxy resins. Is there an issue with stapling and sealing 3 mil plastic with exposed romex nearby? Alternatively I could run silicone sealant between each subfloor board. The subflooring is all angled 2x6s.

 

[dhubbard422]

I had my first day of major work in the garage since I expanded it. It went pretty well but I am definitely going to make some layout changes and I need a bigger selection of wrenches. The fire place ended up being awesome. The garage is heated with the rest of the house but the thermostat is up stairs and it is easy to let the heat out with the garage door. The fireplace brings it back up to temp quickly.

I see electric baseboard heaters and you stated that they are on a common thermostat. No central heat/air - right? No return air to living space from the garage - right?

I am looking to seal off my ceiling from the living space upstairs. Any time I use an aerosol it stinks up the living room and kitchen. I am starting to do some composite work and don't want to expose my family to epoxy resins. Is there an issue with stapling and sealing 3 mil plastic with exposed romex nearby? Alternatively I could run silicone sealant between each subfloor board. The subflooring is all angled 2x6s.

My detached workshop is in progress (a build thread will be started later...) But, this means that I currently use the attached 2 car space as my workshop and simply a quick rinse in the solvent tank is enough to irritate my wife's nose if she is at home. This hasn't been as issue in decades as we have nearly always had a detached garage for my hobbies. The interior walls of my current garage are finished, but, a single man-door between the garage and the house can let "too many" noxious fumes into the house. When I need to use the solvent tank, I open up both of the garage doors and vent it with a fan or two, but it really is still noticeable in the house. Based on this experience, I doubt you can really keep all of the solvent (or epoxy) fumes out of an upstairs living space. BUT, maybe others have success stories!

In the early - mid 80's I did quite a bit of carbon fiber and kevlar race car body construction with epoxy resins... Personally, I would not use them in a space attached to a living area. This stuff is, in general, pretty nasty. Some epoxies are carcinogenic even. I would recommend doing this type of fabrication in a detached space and you may want to consider wearing a respirator and a tyvek (or similar) suit while doing so.

If you do find a solution to keep the odors out - please share it!

PS. I like your space, the fireplace is a nice and unique touch. The Miatas are cool (I have an NC as my daily driver) and building a Locost should be quite the adventure. I bought my 7 used as it was cheaper than building a kit... but I sometime wish I had the build my own experience.

 

[asmasm]

So far I have been doing all my work outside but I am starting a small production run on an intake part and when winter comes around my resins won't want to cure outdoors. The way my house is laid out the only airflow that is a concern is through the ceiling. The downstairs is just my garage space, my office, the shop bathroom, and a rarely used guest room. I think I am going to to seal most of the gaps with fireblock silicone and then plastic sheet the areas I can't get to.

 

[dhubbard422]

So far I have been doing all my work outside but I am starting a small production run on an intake part and when winter comes around my resins won't want to cure outdoors. The way my house is laid out the only airflow that is a concern is through the ceiling. The downstairs is just my garage space, my office, the shop bathroom, and a rarely used guest room. I think I am going to to seal most of the gaps with fireblock silicone and then plastic sheet the areas I can't get to.

Yep, I am very familiar with that problem. Too cold and the resins/epoxies won't set, too hot and you have little working time...

If you don't have an acceptable alternative, perhaps you can carve out a smaller separate space for fabrication within your downstairs workshop. Then really work on sealing this smaller space from the house and venting it to the outside. Maybe you can pull conditioned air from the big workspace (to maintain the desired temperature air) into the smaller managed space and then vent the air at a rate such that even the air in the fab area is not too foul.

I have only a little bit of experience with vacuum bagging... but, I would expect a reduction in the odors if you bag the parts. In general, it also gives a better part.

Just curious are you doing a wet layup or pre-preg construction technique on your parts?

 

[kyle@hcb]

Awesome space! How do you like the Kirkey seat without any additional padding?

 

[asmasm]

The kirkey seat is great but I have a poured foam seat pad in there that stops mid back. I can drive my car for hours without discomfort. Poured seat inserts are really easy to make and I do them without a helper. Some day I would like to make some carbon seats similar to tillets and I plan to do expanding foam inserts for those as well.


I just got my vacuum pump and am almost finished rebuilding it. My plan is to do a mix of vacuum bagged wet layup, vacuum infusion, and bladder molding. If I start doing body panels I will definitely do vacuum infusion.

 

[asmasm]

I think I have settled on building a 4x8 work bench and then building a low temp curing oven into the bottom of it where there would normally be a storage shelf. If I put the whole thing on casters I can do my laminating outside, seal the parts into the curing oven, and then wheel it back in for curing overnight.

 

[Yosho]

What a great space to work with and an NA and NB... Best of both worlds!

 

[dhubbard422]

I think I have settled on building a 4x8 work bench and then building a low temp curing oven into the bottom of it where there would normally be a storage shelf. If I put the whole thing on casters I can do my laminating outside, seal the parts into the curing oven, and then wheel it back in for curing overnight.

I look forward to seeing how these plans move forward! Vacuum bagging, VI, bladder moulding, a curing oven... sounds like you plan to make some very nice parts. I hope you will post pics, of the workbench/oven/vacuum bagging and your parts/process!

I had to look up the vacuum infusion technique... it sounds like a pretty neat process. I expect that it might be a bit fussy to get it right for each type of part though - is that true?

 

[asmasm]

I got most of the curing oven finished. The framing is mostly from the wall that I took down in garage.

I just need to install the insulation, build a door, bend up a sheet metal tray, and wire up the controller and heating element

 

[asmasm]

My garage has seen a lot of projects since the last time I posted. I had gotten to the point where I had more tools/parts than storage so I overhauled the layout and built some new storage.

Before:

Storage rack:

Back wall after cleanup:

 

[asmasm]

Also, since I got into steel fab in the last few years, here are a few of the projects I have done:

Racing sim for VR:

A firewood rack for the back yard:

A way too big and heavy firepit (38" square, 140lb). I ended up cutting all of the 3/16 plate with a jigsaw:

 

[asmasm]

My garage is a mess again after building this bed frame:

Also, the harbor freight 1/2x18 bandfile is probably the best $30 I have ever spent there. Square tube notches are so easy now.

 

[xtremek]

Good to see you posting again.

 

[asmasm]

Thanks. This will be the last fab project for a while as I need to get back into house renovation. I built a bed: