Reclaiming the Garage

[ncaddy87]

My wife and I took a long weekend and made more progress on the garage. I bought all the lumber, cut it, primed it, and have painted all but the last shelf (that will be tonight). The first two shelves are up and the third will go above these. And don't worry, I have plans for some of the empty spaces that you might notice.

These are made out of MDF with a 1x2 mounted on the wall as well as under the front lip of the shelves and then a 1x3 upright support. After I get the third shelf in, I'll add 2 more uprights so these should be plenty stout for what I will be storing.

And I splurged when we picked up the lumber and bought a Hitachi 12V li-ion impact driver, which I've enjoyed using.

I told my wife it's never taken me so long to build shelves before because I always left them as bare wood, but thanks to GJ I was convinced it will be worth it on several levels to seal and paint these.

 

[ncaddy87]

I finished up the shelves last weekend. I started loading them up in order to clear some floor space, but they were filling up faster than I'd like. Fortunately, this is the temporary home for most of these items until I can continue painting and build some cabinets and a work bench on the south wall.


Next steps: drywall work and painting; Stage 2 of the garage floor epoxy

 

[ncaddy87]

Today I got some more painting done. I plan to have the south wall done this week and start prepping phase 2 of the concrete epoxy.

I'm starting to look at work bench ideas and I've got a lot to think about. I won't go into all the different pieces yet, but I do have an opportunity I'd like some input on. I might have the chance to pick up some laminated tables from a local restaurant that recently remodeled. And did I mention they would be free?! They donated all their booths and tables to our church, the church used all they could and have a few left over and don't have room to store them. I don't care for the base and would probably make my own legs and frame but I would think they might be pretty good work surfaces - smooth, easy to clean, etc. There are 2'x4' booth size tables and 2'x2' single table sizes. I'm thinking of using them for my tool stand tops - drill press, sander, scroll saw, and maybe a work surface or even a work bench if I'm able to design a sturdy enough base I'd feel comfortable to beat on.Has anybody ever tried something like this?

 

[ncaddy87]

I got some more painting done this weekend - the south wall is now complete and I've started a couple more sections on the ceiling. I'm breaking the ceiling into a lot of little sections for two reasons.

1. Because it would be extremely difficult and risky (possibility of theft) to empty the garage, put two coats of paint on the ceiling and get everything back in in just one day.
2. Because it helps me take it a step at a time.

I know this is not proper protocol for painting, but this time - I don't care! It's working for me.

I also got the pegboard cabinet hung in it's new location. The first time I hung it up, it was covering the top outlet of the single box on the left, so I had to raise it a few inches. But i'll love having all those outlets right there by my bench and I'm pretty sure I'll be putting a 4' power strip I have up there somewhere as part of the work bench.

Once that was done, I started clearing the next section of garage floor. This weekend is my birthday, so as long as the weather cooperates, I should have part 2 of the garage floor epoxied and then it will be on to building a work bench.

I would like to hang some small cabinets above the pegboard cabinet and the welding table so I'm keeping my eye open. I think it would be fun to build them, but that just adds one more thing to my list, which is already very long, so I'm leaning toward purchasing, at least for the short term solution.

And yes, I know you're thinking it, but I have thought about painting my pegboard cabinet. I'm thinking grey boarder with red peg board. What do you think?

 

[ncaddy87]

Well, this weekend was my birthday, which means I got to do what I wanted.
That means we worked on the garage.

Really, all we got done was moving everything around, cleaning the next section of garage floor, and painting the epoxy on. And yes, my wife helped me. A lot actually!!! She's awesome!

 

[1/2 Cup]

What a great birthday present

Its great too see couples sharing and working together like you are, well done..

Regards

 

[sean Buick 76]

Great progress, and the floor looks great!

 

[ncaddy87]

Thanks guys! I appreciate the support.

And yes, my wife and I do a lot together but fortunately she is into designing and building too, so it works out. I think she is secretly excited for me to finish my garage so we can continue on her list of projects - a new desk for her to match her shelves, making an antique fan into a lamp, etc.

Tomorrow I'm picking up three pieces of old rough cut lumber that are true 2x12 boards about 7' long each. They came off an old flatbed trailer. We are already playing with project ideas for those but haven't finalized any plans. It will be fun to see what those morph into.

Another example of doing things together:
She bought me a bow for my birthday last week and I'm trying to talk her into getting one too so we can shoot together.

Back to the garage:
I've started moving the next section of tools from the bare concrete to the painted concrete to begin prepping the west wall and last section of the floor. Very excited to turn that corner when all the painting is done.

I've started looking for wall cabinets and I also found a 42"x72" piece of bowling lane for $100 about an hour and a half away. I've seen that used as a work bench surface a number of times on here and other sites. I really like the idea but I've got some questions I need to send over to the seller - which part of the lane is it from (front or back), how thick is it, etc.

I've got to work this weekend so I'm not sure when I'll get back to the painting but hopefully soon. And looking at the progress so far, I have to say, I'm very pleased and feel right on track

 

[ncaddy87]

Labor Day weekend brought some time to continue work on the garage. I finished painting the garage floor and I'm thrilled with the results. I also started prepping the last wall for paint and I expect to get the first coat done tonight.

Next steps include paint - wall, ceiling, trim; new blinds for the windows; and then install lumber storage and start moving things back! I'm very excited!

 

[KristianS]

Nice progress.

Did you grind the floor too or only acid wash? I have a similar project coming up

 

[ncaddy87]

No, I did not grind the floor. Honestly, I didn't even think of that as an option, but that would sure do the job! I used the etching chemical that came with the epoxy. I used Valspar Garage Floor Coating... The only reason I chose that brand was because it was on sale when I picked up my first kit. There were not a lot of bad stains on the garage floor so I'm hopeful this process will suffice. If stains start showing up through the epoxy at some point, then I will probably go forward with Race Deck or a similar product.

 

[ncaddy87]

This weekend I got my window sills painted red, bought some new blinds, and started installing a french cleat system on the window wall. The top row of cleats will have shelf brackets for long lumber storage. I'll probably do a partial row of cleats below that for the ladder and other items.

Since my conduit runs along the studs on this wall, I bought a 1x6, cut it, painted it to match my shelves, and mounted it on the wall and then mounted the track system to the 1x6. It seems to be working well so far, but we'll see how it looks once I get some weight on it.

I cleaned the inside of the windows before putting up the blinds and was able to get the 27 year old stickers off, so that was good.

My plan was to put up a red baseboard, but I didn't plan far enough ahead and the baseboard is currently buried somewhere in my stack of lumber, so once I'm able to move that, then I can paint the trim and get it put up.

I've gotta get things moving toward completion since hunting season is beating on the door and all my gear is in the attic, which I cannot access right now because of the mess. Also, the word on the street is that we are in for a lot of snow this winter, so I want to be able to park a car in the garage again.