New Post-Modern Garage/Workshop

[oilfieldtrash8506]

Good looking garage. Great use of your CAD availability and awesome layout. Good luck with all the legalities that you're running in to. One great part of building mine where there are no such things as building permits. Keep up the good work.

 

[works4me]

Quick update. The outside is pretty much sealed up. The windows & patio doors went on today. Yesterday they dug the trench and laid the power line between the garage and house. The GC has been doing a fantastic job putting it all together; I highly recommend him if you need work done in Houston.

Next week will be fun: brick goes up, garage door installed, and back fence installed!!

FYI the patio doors were originally from the house. We took them off when we installed a sliding glass door...

 

[works4me]

Not as much got done this week as I'd hoped..neither the brick nor the fence material arrived yet. Both are supposed to arrive next week...But the interior column was fabricated & is being installed:

And the garage door was installed:

It came with insulation on the inside...not too keen on the shiny surface. I'm looking at whether I can paint it a different color.

They mounted it to an steel L-beam so that the brick can be brought right up to the door:

I think this will work out well....

 

[crawler07]

It looks great and your design work and exicution is awesome! I am the guy all the family comes to when they want to have a drawing done for a reno project. I just do it on paper with pen,your work on the computer is so clean looking...thanks for sharing..

 

[works4me]

Some weekend mayhem

Well, the view out my back window is dramatically different today. They've torn down the old fence & are preparing to put up the new one. I have a great view of the construction going on behind us and an unnerving view of oncoming traffic:

This gave me a chance to take a picture of the back from a very different perspective:

A little progress on the garage itself. They put in the ceiling during the week. It's starting to feel like a real space! And the brick was delivered yesterday. So that should be going up next week:

I'll post up some pics tonights with the headlights shining in to the house...

 

[zman]

Very cool, I really dig the design. Can't wait to see some more progress...

 

[works4me]

Fence is almost done. Pretty cool as it is.

 

[works4me]

Making progress even through sporadic rain the last couple of days...brick is supposed to be done by Friday & just waiting on a bit more wood to finish the fence:

 

[RedAggie03]

Nice work. Should be a great space! What part of Houston are you in?

 

[ARbuilder223]

Looking good!..

 

[works4me]

Brick done!

They finished up the brick today! Looks awesome!

Final fence work on Tuesday. Final trimwork sometime during the week. Final electrical work on Thursday. Switchover the following Tuesday. Getting close!!!

 

[zman]

Looks awesome....

 

[works4me]

Electrical & Floor Updates

Electrical service was finished & switched over a week ago and we passed the electrical final! Here's our new main with bypass box for a future generator and what I'm calling the "mad scientist" power cutoff switch:

And last weekend I bit the bullet & acid-stained the floor. It was fairly easy, although I underestimated the effort in cleaning up the residue. I ended up having to mop the floor a couple of times to get everything off before applying the Epoxy. It turned out darker than I had planned, but I think I like it!

I'll take a better picture once the lights are installed (supposedly monday).

The only thing left on the exterior is the upper siding & trim.

BTW our yard has become quite a bird sanctuary. I made the "mistake" of starting to fill the bird feeder on a regular basis. Sometimes there's 20-30 birds in the yard at one time:

 

[Bib Overalls]

Acid staining. Now that is a mess. We did a bit of that earlier this week. Unlike yours, ours was disappointingly light in color. Have been told that even experienced "artisans" have trouble matching the color on the bottle.

 

[Coyote Red]

I wouldn't be in a big hurry to paint the inside of overhead. I'd wait to see how it works after your done with the inside.

 

[colt zantop]

the brick and floors look great!

 

[JasonW]

Love the brick. Don't see much of it where I live. I may just have to change that. I guess at 12', brick was out of the question for the fence. The wood has a really nice look I just wonder how much of a difference it makes with the noise.

Looking forward to seeing the inside finished.

 

[works4me]

More pics of floor

Progress on the outside was delayed by the rains we had every day last week. But they're supposed to be here 1st thing on Monday to finish it up.

In the mean time here are some more pictures of the floor. You can clearly see where they switched from one truck of concrete to another in the middle of the pour; one side is distinctly smoother than the other.

Note: I used a flash to bring out the colors. This tends to over-exaggerate the variegations somewhat.

My feeling now is that this "natural" style finish works best with darker colors. I think it would be a bit too blotchy on a lighter stain...

 

[pipsters]

Re: More pics of floor

That floor looks badass I like it the way it is. I had determined I was going to do something similar with mine in lieu of epoxying it.

 

[JasonW]

I am amazed at the variation in color. I would have thought it would be more consistent in 'fresh' concrete.

 

[427cobra]

Looks Awesome. Must be nice to start fresh!

 

[Sawbladz]

I absolutely love the style to this garage. The roll up door looks great. I can't wait to see what you do with the yard to make it all work together. I have always liked a good courtyard.

 

[Falcon67]

Very nice build! Looks almost "inside the loop" from here.

 

[Omphaloskeptic]

I think the floor came out looking very unique; what do you think caused the dramatic variation? I'm considering doing a stain on one or more sections of my shop in the future and I'd like to achieve the same result as you have.

I looked back at your renderings to see what type of light fixtures you are going to use; looks like its going to be all recessed fluorescent fixtures. I'm wondering if the addition of some halogen spots or something would highlight the interesting designs of the acid treatment? Maybe even some 'post-modern' wall-wash sconces in keeping with great design of the building? Your garage/workshop is going to be a jewel, so why not add some accent lighting to show it off. Needless to say, I'm very impressed (and slightly green with envy) with your efforts!

 

[works4me]

I'd have to say it was mostly luck it turned out this way. I did absolutely no surface preparation at all; I was afraid grinding would ruin the "natural" patterns (which I think it would have). I did try to "pool" it and I over-sprayed a section I thought was too thin; that contributed to some of the cool stippling look in one area.

As I said previously I think this approach works best with a darker stain. And obviously this approach won't work on an older surface. In that case I'd guess you'd have to grind it & would end up with a more even "granular" look....

 

[works4me]

Finally have lights!!!

The main lights were installed today. I was worried that the lights wouldn't work well since they're designed for high ceilings, but I'm very happy with the result. They produce a nice, bright, even light, and they're not too harsh. And they look good!

I will be adding additional task lights. I'm also considering adding a couple wall sconces under the windows mainly for looks. I'm tempted to add something more "industrial" like these:

Or even better:

 

[ODIS]

Everything is turning out to be beautiful! Really like the second light pictured. Looking forward to seeing what you do next.

Ody.

 

[Omphaloskeptic]

I like both of your choices. The second one reminds me of the style called 'Steam Punk'.

I jumped to Google (images) and Ebay to search for "Industrial sconce" and it came up with a bunch. I can't believe the cost of light fixtures; very spendy!

I did like this one for its style and versatility.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/INDUSTRIAL-...=Antiques_Decorative_Arts&hash=item3f1a02f79d

 

[works4me]

Yeah, I like the idea of a scissor lamp like that. If I can't find something I might be able to combine a couple of pieces together myself....hmmm....

This one looks cool too:

I like both of your choices. The second one reminds me of the style called 'Steam Punk'.

I jumped to Google (images) and Ebay to search for "Industrial sconce" and it came up with a bunch. I can't believe the cost of light fixtures; very spendy!

I did like this one for its style and versatility.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/INDUSTRIAL-...=Antiques_Decorative_Arts&hash=item3f1a02f79d

 

[alberto]

Where did you find these? They are very cool.

 

[works4me]

Progress!

The outside trim is on, the fence has been stained, and we passed our final inspection! The stain didn't turn out exactly as I expected, but I really like it. I discovered we've accidentally recreated the exact color palette of one of the rugs in the house.

More importantly, the primary occupant of the garage has come over from his old home...still have some work before I can move him inside though.

Here's a pseudo-panorama of the back yard from our back door:

 

[cfaas416]

Very very nice. What part of H-Town are you in?

And for the record I too utilize Revit for my designs/layouts so I appreciate someone else utlizing this same, amazing program for our "garagemahals."

DEF SUBSCRIBED!!!

 

[427cobra]

Turned out Really Nice. I really like the reclaimed doulbe glass doors and the upper windows.

 

[works4me]

Update: Test Fit & Storage

Hopefully next week they'll install the Mini-Split A/C system. After that the insulation & drywall will go up.

In the mean time I purchased an Edsal 8' tall rack system for the center storage island. I have 10' of 24" deep racks back-to-back with 10' of 30" racks - thus a total of 4'6" deep. I'm going to bolt them together & then bolt them to the wall. I'm planning on welding 6 steel sliding doors to cover it - 3 for each side. And on the end I'm going to cover it with small parts racks of some kind.

And I've started test-fitting items to see where everything goes & how to arrange everything. I'll probably take it in and out a couple of times before getting it all just right...I'm picky that way...

Here's what it looks like thus far:

 

[BarnFab]

Looks sweet, wouldn't it have been better to do the drywall etc before moving in ?

 

[works4me]

Yes, but the timing didn't work out.

I actually prefer this test-fitment process in case I need to rewire anything before putting in the drywall. I considered putting the air lines into the wall, but I've finally decided to mount them on the surface.

It is easy enough to pull things out temporarily and set them in the yard if necessary...

 

[richtersrodz]

I just bought one of those racks from Lowes. I was bumed when I got home, and found them to only be 6 feet tall. At the store, up on the shelf, they looked soo much taller. I'll have to look into now trying to get some taller ones now, like yours. I love the shelf, and very sturdy. Just wished that Lowes carried the taller ones, because I have a 10 ft garage ceiling, and they look too small. I like how yours look, back to back. Great looking place!!

 

[works4me]

FYI Lowes does carry the 8' tall ones (that's where I bought these). But the all-in-one packages are only 6' tall. You have to buy the individual 8' tall braces & pieces to put these together. The individual pieces are generally at the end of the isle or around the corner from the prepackaged kits.

 

[works4me]

FYI Lowes does carry the 8' tall ones (that's where I bought these). But the all-in-one packages are only 6' tall. You have to buy the individual 8' tall braces & pieces to put these together. The individual pieces are generally at the end of the isle or around the corner from the prepackaged kits.

BTW one thing to be careful of on these is that they appear to have cheapened the design recently. I first bought the 24" deep ones & they have a horizontal brace in the middle and at both ends. When I went back for the 30" deep ones the first couple I grabbed were missing this middle brace & thus were considerably more flimsy. Luckily they had some of the older style left behind the newer ones....

 

[richtersrodz]

Crud!! Okay.. I never even saw those taller pieces. I will be going back and getting the taller ends, when I buy my other shelves. I never even walked down that far on the isle.. Thanks for the tip.