My overstuffed 2 car attached garage

[texasranger]

I've been a long time lurker while gathering ideas for my shop build the last few years while renting. Lots of great ideas here! About 18 months ago my wife and I finally moved into our own place which came with a 24x24 two car unfinished garage. Since then I've been doing house renovations, slowly building my tool collection, and planning my detached build while also working on making the attached garage more useful as a workshop. Several ideas I've found here like the Costco LED lights and an air compressor "outhouse". Figured I would share for those in a similar situation.

So far the following is done:
-Added a 100 amp sub panel
-Added two welder/plasma cutter outlets inside and a 50 amp RV plug outside
-Installed 1/2" copper for compressed air
-Installed an 80 gallon 5HP air compressor outside in a small shed I found on Craigslist
-Converted the two old halogen lights to Costco LED fixtures and added a few more lights over the work bench and blast cabinet
-Added a bunch of 110v 20 amp outlets both inside and out

Over the Christmas break I began insulating/sheet rocking/painting the walls since I am beyond out of space but didn't want to build shelves before finishing. So that is where I am at now..about half done.

TODO list:
-Finish walls
-Electric heater
-Ethernet and Coax cabling for computer/TV
-Ceiling insulation
-More lights
-More shelves
-3 phase converter to run my new (to me) milling machine
-Replace the two old 7x7' un-insulated overhead doors with one 8x18' overhead insulated door

In the long run I will transition most of the tools to the detached garage once I build it, but it may be another year or two until that is finished so this will be my shop until then and afterward it will just be a nicer attached garage.

On to the pics:

Shortly after moving in. I'm guessing the ceiling was installed in '91 when the house was built. As you can see the tape is falling off in several places.


Overhead doors that will be changed to a single 8x18


The overstuffing begins...



The air compressor "outhouse"


My truck "repair shop" since the truck doesn't fit in the garage


Starting on insulation

 

[texasranger]

After some mud


Too much **** to do both sides at once



Been searching for a milling machine (reasonably priced) for over a year and of course find one right after tearing the garage completely apart. Sucker is HEAVY. I would recommend the pipe and bar method, was able to get it to the ramp all by myself then my wife helped by holding the pipes onto the ramps as I let gravity do the work while I slowed the progress with ratchet straps. A proper winch or even a come-a-long would make this MUCH easier but I don't have either one yet.


Finally some paint


Welded some 2" angle iron brackets to hold 12' sections of steel and wood. The bottom part will probably become a shelf eventually.

That's it for now. Almost done with insulation on the second wall so drywall and mud is next. Tomorrow adding ceiling outlets for more lights as and will blow in some cellulose insulation hopefully next weekend when my neighbor is off work. Considered fiberglass batts, but I'll be damned if I can find 24" rolls of R30...and the 24" pre-cut ones cost a lot more.

Any recommendations for an electric heater? It will be used primarily on the weekends, but if it doesn't cost too much to run I may keep it on low all winter to keep the garage above freezing. Thinking something like this.

 

[dwysywd]

That heater will be expensive to run. Better to buy a small LP reddy like this one,
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B017WT5N7G/?tag=atomicindus08-20

Or this one, http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0000C6E2Z/?tag=atomicindus08-20

So, I've used both, and I installed a 30,000 btu wall unit and I have to turn it down in the winter, I Live in MI. And I used the trash can style both in MI and NW VA when in Harrisonburg. Both work great and both will run off 100# cylinder that you can plumb into your compressor shed.

Nice digs. I have a 24x24 and my wife parks on one side. I usually do too, but again projects took over my side. So I just built a 24x33 quanset hut man cave!

Good luck!

 

[texasranger]

That heater will be expensive to run. Better to buy a small LP reddy like this one,
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B017WT5N7G/?tag=atomicindus08-20

I'm currently using one of these, but I don't care for the smell that accumulates after several hours. It also goes through a fair bit of propane if you light both burners on high, will drain a 20lb cylinder in about 10 hours which is about $13-14 for a refill. Of course that's 30k BTUs so after insulating I can probably run only one burner on low or medium. Not sure how much less propane that would be...maybe $5-6 for 10 hours.

Our electricity rate is around $0.14/kwh after all the fees, so a 5.6kw heater would cost me about $0.80 per hour to run if it's running 100%. I'm hoping with R13 in the walls and at least R30 in the ceiling plus the insulated garage door it will run 50% or less after everything gets up to temp the first hour. That works out to about the same cost as my propane heater over 10 hours and I don't have to smell it or wrestle a 100lb cylinder into the truck to get refilled!

How much propane does your heater use? Does it smell?

Nice digs. I have a 24x24 and my wife parks on one side. I usually do too, but again projects took over my side. So I just built a 24x33 quanset hut man cave!

I gave up parking inside in the fall but my wife still does when I don't have stuff ripped all apart like it is now. I'll have to check out your build!

 

[texasranger]

Pic 1 - Been a while since my last post. I ended up buying the heater I linked and added a 30 amp plug to run it. Amazon warehouse deals had one for for half price so I took the gamble and bought it. Looks brand new and works great so no complaints thus far. Depending on outside temps, it raises the garage temp to 55 degrees within 30-60 minutes and then cycles a couple times per hour the rest of the day. Somewhat loud but the radio drowns it out and zero fumes so I'm happy!

Pic 2, 7 - In the middle of the project Baltimore/DC got hit with a blizzard so spent most of that weekend plowing snow. Snow is great when you're prepared, wish this happened more often!

Pic 3 - Scored some used 10 hp VFDs and 3 phase breakers on CL for (relatively) cheap to run the mill from single phase AC. Now that the drywall is done, that project is getting near the top of the list.

Pic 4 - Other wall insulation/drywall/mud/paint is all done along with the common wall to the house.

Pic 5 - Resurrected an old ceiling fan that was removed from the house, spray painted black and installed to better circulate the heated air. Works great. Should help in summer too.

Pic 6 - Milling machine is now in it's semi-permanent location...until the detached garage gets built.

 

[texasranger]

Pic 1- Height of the mess...

Pic 2 - Somewhat organized. Added a second work bench and extended the legs so the MIG will roll underneath along with tool box bottom half. Top half will straddle the short bench and tall bench eventually.

Pic 3 - Tractor project is back inside. Diff lock needs fixed and planning to re-paint the black portion then it will be for sale. Parts washer now on wheels...30" harbor freight furniture mover works perfect!

Pic 4 - Shelving is about 110% full. Ripped down some 7/16" OSB and painted black to go over the wire mesh shelves. Now stuff like aerosol cans and quarts of oil will stand without falling over.

Pic 5 - Found some metal cabinets on CL for cheap.

Pic 6,7 - Cabinets painted black and installed. First time using an HVLP spray gun...would have liked to do a second coat but ran out of paint so decided they were good enough for now with one coat.

 

[texasranger]

Pic 1 - Lawn mower engine finally fixed and re-installed.

That's about it for now. Detached 36x48' garage plans are solidifying, planning to start permit process the next few weeks. Stimulating the economy several thousands of $$ at a time