New guy in Jersey with a big garage project

[dankicksass]

I'm Dan, a more or less independent mechanic in my mid-20s. I spend most of my time in a two door six bay (3Wx2D) solid block garage with nine foot lower joists built in the late 50s, so there's no place for a lift and that frustrates me. It needs a gut and a major structural and electrical overhaul before I can start making real money in there, and I came here via toolguyd. All I've done in there so far is a little cleanup and replacing lightbulbs in existing porcelain two-gang fixtures.

I've got dozens of drawers, buckets and boxes of vintage tools I need to go through, identify and catalog. It's jammed full of stuff. Of the six bays, only one and a half are accessible and one of those has a Monte Carlo wedged in it. There's a lot of good stuff in the garage, like a through-wall installed 15in radial arm saw of undetermined vintage, a roof-hung oil heater with outdoor above-ground tank and enough stereo equipment to feed a small village bowls of vacuum tubes for a year.

Oh, and the garage has an attic over the back three bays too. At least the roof doesn't leak and the place doesn't flood. It hasn't been maintained inside for decades, and it shows, but it got a new roof, doors and openers a couple of years ago. It's zoned mixed and approved for business use, and I've got free reign over it. I look forward to lurking in here and showing off my conquests as they come.

 

[dankicksass]

The good thing about those nine foot joists is they're not structural, but they're still in the damn way. The electrical situation is a nightmare in BX which was redone in the early 70s due to a fire, used to be tied into the house - hooray for 50 yards of buried cable - but now the only thing tied in is a walkway lamp under the soffit. Next to nothing is properly grounded, none of the fixtures in the rear of the garage are usable, the heat I mentioned earlier hasn't been fired in at least 25 years and there isn't a foot of uncracked floor. I'm thinking of raising the roof in the front of the garage, but first things first the place needs to be gutted.

 

[930dreamer]

Welcome to the GJ, post some pics please.

 

[Elkiebob]

Welcome. I grew up in New Jersey, by the refineries. left for atlanta in 1975. sorry to hear about the bugs. good luck with the garage.

 

[dankicksass]

Thanks buddays. The garage looks very, very residential. The faux brick was done on the front a few years ago after the roof was redone. Inside is an absolute wreck, it's not typical of how I keep a garage but things got moved in haste over the weekend and I haven't had time to get back in there to organize in a couple days. I looked on google maps for an overhead shot but the sat angle has it completely obscured by tall trees. There's a burn furnace on the west side and pool equipment there too. It's not the ideal location to get a business going, but it's what I've got.

 

[Lawson4450]

where in nj are you im in somerset near rutgers university.