My modest 2-car project

[CLH]

Hi All - new-ish member here in Seattle.

I've been in garage and workshop space withdrawal since moving to the Seattle area from Atlanta eight years ago. Real estate prices and available space are quite crazy compared to Atlanta, and I left a house with almost 1000sqft of garage when we moved out here. We've been lucky enough to have a house with a decent two-car for the past five years, but due to the layout and the limits of outside parking I've not really been able to use it as a workshop (it always has to have room for both commuter vehicles). We've recently resolved that situation by buying a small house in Gig Harbor that will serve double duty as a weekend place for us and automotive workshop for me. The icing on the cake is that the neighborhood has included lawn maintenance, so I don't even have to mow or weed when I'm there!

The garage is a typical size at 19x19, but the only obstruction is the water heater and the ceiling is a full 10' high. As an added bonus it has extra storage on the side under the inside stairwell. The plan is to gradually turn it into a nice work area for my wrenching activities and to hold a project car that will be used for various motorsports activities (autocross, track days, etc.).

First on the list will be taking care of the floor (Epoxy-Coat kit on order), replacing the poorly constructed step leading into the house, and prepping the walls for a coat of paint. Once that's done I'll move on to lighting, storage and workbench. Longer term comes the air compressor and maybe (just maybe) a portable lift. That depends a lot on how thick the slab is.

Without further ado, some "before" pictures:


Simple view, before any cleaning other than a quick sweep-out:



After the first scrub-down to prep for epoxy:



The cubby under the inside stairs. This will get trimmed out to be more storage-friendly:



The crappy step the builder put in:



I'll keep posting as I make progress...I looking forward to sharing!

Cheers!

Chris

 

[aps63]

A great blank canvas, good luck.

 

[zkling]

Looks good so far. Lots of potential. I really like that cubby thing that you have going on. I can really see some potential for that. Like possibly setting tool boxes / drawers / lista syle cabinets in there that way you maximize the ope floor space. The water heater placement kinda *****, but I think the cubby more than overcomes that.

 

[dubber]

A great blank canvas, good luck.

x 2. That cubby has loads of space saving potential to boot.

 

[pepi]

Hi All - new-ish member here in Seattle.

I've been in garage and workshop space withdrawal since moving to the Seattle area from Atlanta eight years ago. Real estate prices and available space are quite crazy compared to Atlanta, and I left a house with almost 1000sqft of garage when we moved out here.
Chris

Oh yeah Atlanta ROCKS in this respect !!! Fast drivers and good roads.

 

[CLH]

Got the first minor update done - replaced that crappy slapped-together garage step with a wider, deeper, and more secure one. Used Trex-like deck boards in a nice gray color to match the upcoming epoxy floor. It was a little tricky to get right as the floor is sloped back to front, meaning that the box is not uniform height right to left (taller on the left). It all worked out though. The new step is much more secure and very roomy

It's temporarily affixed to the ledger board on the wall side for the time being. When I get ready to epoxy I'll slide it out, and then permanently re-install it after the epoxy is fully cured.

What I started with - shallow, ugly and not very well installed:

A view of the new structure and how the treads are going down:

The finished product. After the epoxy is done I'll seal and paint the riser box:

 

[CLH]

Epoxy has arrived...

 

[CLH]

Etching done, floor has been drying since early afternoon. Epoxy on deck for tomorrow!

 

[55cadillacking]

I love seeing what people are able to accomplish with a double garage. Subscribed!

Are you sure you don't want to hold off on the floor until the painting is done? Assuming, of course, a coat of paint is in the cards.

 

[CLH]

Normally I would do it the other way around, but timing constraints don't lend to that approach. On top of that I have a fantastic drywall and paint guy who I can trust to not make a mess of the new epoxy. I'll take some additional precautions anyway and put down some heavy paper before he comes in.

Cheers!

 

[ODIS]

Nice job, Chris. There are many car guys in the Gig Harbor area and some very well attended car shows there. Only guessing that you have found your way to the Tides Tavern.

Looking forward to seeing your floor progress and the transformation of your garage.

Ody.

 

[CLH]

Epoxy is down...looks great. Pics soon.

 

[CLH]

Epoxy went down pretty easily, my only concern was that I didn't get four equal batches out of the Epoxy-Coat. It ended up working out OK, but I'm glad I didn't need four.

It's curing very glossy - much glossier that I've ever had with the regular Lowes/HD kits (e.g. Rustoleum or the like). Looks really good!

 

[dubber]

That went down really well. Looking forward to seeing the walls done. This should be great.

 

[Jagmandave]

Floor looks great!

I'm surprised where they put the water heater, I assume there's no basement?

In California they put the heater in it's own little closet, separated from the rest of the house and on an outside wall so it can be vented easily.

That looks like an awkward way to do it, both from the standpoint of it taking room in the garage and the way they had to run the vent pipe.

 

[CLH]

Thanks for the comments guys!

Jagmandave - yeah, the WH placement isn't exactly ideal, but I can work with it. No basement for this house. It's pretty typical around here and even with houses that I've seen and owned in the Atlanta area as well (when there is no basement).

I plan to build in a utility sink on the far side of that WH, between it and the back wall. Perfect spot for it size-wise, assuming all of the plumbing can be made to work.

Cheers!

 

[Bricen18]

Nice garage and loving the epoxy!!!

 

[kyle@hcb]

The floor turned out great!

 

[Dez]

Nice floor! Can you post more info on the epoxy (how much, where you got it, etc)? Thanks!

 

[55cadillacking]

One of the nicest epoxy applications ever. If your level of execution stays this high, your garage will be one to envy. Anything unique planned?

 

[HSpencer]

You have done a great job. Everything is looking really good!

Best Regards
Herb Spencer

 

[CLH]

Thanks for the kind words...with epoxy it really comes down to the prep, and I try not to shortchange that step if I can avoid it.

Dez - I used standard Epoxy-Coat light gray, in the 500sqft kit you can order from Lowe's.

55cadillacking - nothing super unique, but lots left to do: utility sink, baseboards, wall paint, lighting, trim out the storage cubby, workbench, cabinets, compressor. And on top of that move the important stuff from the other house to here...tools, tool chests, press, tire trailer (for auto-x/track tires), and more. I'm just getting started!

Cheers!

 

[marty_p]

Chris, you are on fire! Your place is looking awesome, and I can't wait to see your progression.

We have great friends and a godchild that live on 107th St Ct NW in Gig Harbor. It's so nice to visit an area w/o much humidity. Next time we go, I'll trade you some beer for a tour!

 

[snowboarda42]

Hey Chris, welcome to the area. I'm up in Mill Creek, just did the same exact kit on the floor of my new house. Turned out really glossy like yours and has help up well to a brake job so far.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

[CLH]

Hey Chris, welcome to the area. I'm up in Mill Creek, just did the same exact kit on the floor of my new house. Turned out really glossy like yours and has help up well to a brake job so far.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 4 Beta

That looks great...you skipped the flakes I see. We planned to skip the flakes but decided to use them at the last minute. I think with mine it helps blend the garage floor into the driveway, which has an exposed pebble finish.

Cheers!

 

[FarmerPete]

If you need the space, you could always replace your water heater with one of the tankless heaters that are the big rage. You can justify the expense to the wife by telling her that you'll never run out of hot water again! Plus, Uncle Sam will cover a chunk of the cost with tax rebates. Since you'd have to redo some of the plumbing/venting anyways, you could possibly move the new unit to the corner to free up wall space. Just a thought.

 

[CLH]

If you need the space, you could always replace your water heater with one of the tankless heaters that are the big rage. You can justify the expense to the wife by telling her that you'll never run out of hot water again! Plus, Uncle Sam will cover a chunk of the cost with tax rebates. Since you'd have to redo some of the plumbing/venting anyways, you could possibly move the new unit to the corner to free up wall space. Just a thought.

Agreed, that would be a great approach and would free up a big chunk of space. For now I have other more exciting things to spend money on though

 

[CLH]

After two weeks of letting the epoxy cure and not having much time to spend on making more improvements, I finally got a few things accomplished today. Specifically, putting down some composite baseboard on the perimeter. It's not caulked or painted yet, but that's coming. Just putting down the plain white composite trim gives it a more finished look. Slow but steady...

Before, right side:


Before, left side by main door:


After, right side with boxed in bump-out for the breaker box. I put in access panels above and below the box but still need to decide on the final wiring plan:


The trim looking much better by the main door:


Next step, gray caulk and gray paint to make the trim match the floor (the walls will be a very light off-white shade for best light reflectivity).

I've been thinking about the water heater area and the wife had a good idea - a closet! I'm now considering boxing this all in with a full-height closet. That would provide some inside storage space as well, and may turn out to be a good location to put a stand-up compressor. That would put the compressor out of the way and cut down on the noise of it a bit.

This would all get boxed in starting just to the right of the light switch. Any reason to not do it?

 

[CLH]

A little more progress today, trimming out the cubby on the house side of the garage so that I can have everything ready for the drywall and paint guy. I decided to use bargain basement laminate from my friendly neighborhood home improvement store as the "floor". I plan to use this area for general storage and it may end up with stuff like autocross/track tires, track toolbox, etc., so it needed to be durable. On top of that, the access to the crawl space is in this cubby, so I had to make a "hatch" in the floor of it. That's not fully finished yet, but all it needs is to have the laminate permanently affixed to the OSB panel that was covering it up.

Before:



After:



Looking forward to caulk and paint

Tomorrow I'll hang up the first additional lighting - a four-bulb T8 fixture that will come off of the existing ceiling box to get a little more light over where the engine bay area will be.

Cheers!

 

[CLH]

Garage is finally painted. I've very pleased at how the walls, floor and gray trim look together. Turned out really well!



Now on to lighting, workbench and storage!

Cheers!