Between 705 & 1200 SQ/FT Roboto's Garage

[bcoke]

Great deal on the cement ! I feel much better as I gret so annoyed at being in my opinion "ripped off" by ready mix cemebt people that always try for a HomeRUN [full load] , I can understand a miminimum load and such but my scotch-irish heritage really kicks in......now you have more to spend on toys [$2200 minus what your REAL costs were= TOYS [ good luck bobbycoke

 

[Mr. Roboto]

What a Great Build man !

Thanks, much appreciated!

Great deal on the cement ! I feel much better as I gret so annoyed at being in my opinion "ripped off" by ready mix cemebt people that always try for a HomeRUN [full load] , I can understand a miminimum load and such but my scotch-irish heritage really kicks in......now you have more to spend on toys [$2200 minus what your REAL costs were= TOYS [ good luck bobbycoke

I hear ya....concrete really can be a rip off. I am very happy with the price I'm paying though. And I wish it all equated to an extra 2200 for toys, but this whole concrete debacle wasn't really in the budget from the get go, so it's been more of a DIY job out of necessity haha. I've had fun though, it's backbreaking work, but I really do love learning new skills. I just hope it's one I never have to use again

 

[NedNorton]

Great job getting the slab cut out and prepped for the pads! It is tough work, especially for those of us that don't do it day in and day out. I've found that operating a shovel goes much smoother when Stout or Porter is in large supply.

The lift is going to be terrific and worth all the extra effort. When you are working on your next auto project, it will be all that more gratifying not having to crawl around on the ground. Keep up the good work!

Cheers,
Chris

 

[jbmatth]

Mr. Roboto,
I've read over your thread over the past few days and must say I really enjoyed it, I'm familiar with the DIY out of necessity aspect of your build. You get so much more bang for your buck doing it that way. I'll tag along for the remainder as well as drool over your lift, one day I'll have one of my own.
JB

 

[Mr. Roboto]

Great job getting the slab cut out and prepped for the pads! It is tough work, especially for those of us that don't do it day in and day out. I've found that operating a shovel goes much smoother when Stout or Porter is in large supply.

The lift is going to be terrific and worth all the extra effort. When you are working on your next auto project, it will be all that more gratifying not having to crawl around on the ground. Keep up the good work!

Cheers,
Chris

Thanks Chris! That's what I keep telling myself. It will all be worth it in the end, when I can enjoy working IN the garage instead of ON the garage! It's been a fun journey for the most part, though. I have learned a lot, that's for sure.

Oh, and the concrete pour is scheduled for this Friday at 4PM!

Mr. Roboto,
I've read over your thread over the past few days and must say I really enjoyed it, I'm familiar with the DIY out of necessity aspect of your build. You get so much more bang for your buck doing it that way. I'll tag along for the remainder as well as drool over your lift, one day I'll have one of my own.
JB

Thanks for taking the time to read through it all, JB, I appreciate it and I am glad you enjoyed reading through. There's no way I could have gotten the space to where it is now if I had hired the work out, that's for sure. And you'll get a lift of your own some day as well, I am sure of it! Just make sure you learn from my misfortune and verify the slab thickness in the area you want to install the lift, rather than going by what your plans say

 

[Mr. Roboto]

Poly is down, as are the rebar matts. Epoxied all the pins in place too. Ready to pour this Friday!

 

[tshrey]

What is the poly for under the new concrete?

 

[Mr. Roboto]

It's for moisture control, primarily during the concrete curing process. If the ground is too dry, it will absorb the moisture out of the concrete as it is curing, which prevents it from doing so uniformly. Similarly, it will keep any residual moisture over time from being wicked up into the concrete after it is fully cured. Concrete acts like a sponge, it promotes the flow of moisture.

 

[Mr. Roboto]

The pads have been successfully poured! The short load concrete truck showed up right on time. Pretty neat little rig, it was just right for what I needed.

The chute was about 2 feet shy of being able to reach the holes directly, so we had to get a little creative by practically hanging the wheelbarrow off the end of the chute, but it did the trick. I wish I grabbed more pics, but it was tough to stop to take any once the concrete was flowing.

Here's the pad after the first rough screed:

And here it is after I floated and troweled it.

And here it is after it dried out by Sunday morning:

I am happy with the results so far. 28 more days for a full cure, and the lift will go up!

 

[BBChevro]

Nice progress

 

[Superbec]

nice progress man, I did some concreting myself

I'm close to the finish line, can you give some pointers for pinstriping the walls? I'm just about there.
I took the tape of last night... i'ts not exactly a perfect line, did you used normal tape or some special striping one like frog-tape?

 

[Mr. Roboto]

Nice progress

Thanks!

nice progress man, I did some concreting myself

I'm close to the finish line, can you give some pointers for pinstriping the walls? I'm just about there.
I took the tape of last night... i'ts not exactly a perfect line, did you used normal tape or some special striping one like frog-tape?

I used a process I read about on here called sealing the edges. And I did use the frog tape, but I will never use it again. It held an edge just fine. but I struggled to keep the damn stuff on the wall at times. I prefer the scotch with the "edge lock" technology.

The process for sealing the edges is simple. In your case, it looks like you have a white upper wall (or light gray, hard to tell, but I'll just call it white) and a gray lower wall. If you wanted to paint a black stripe to separate them, you would start by masking off your stripe. Then, you would paint along the lower edge of your upper tape like with the same white paint it's sitting on, and then along the upper edge of your lower paint line with the dark gray. This "seals the edges" of the tape, and anything that does bleed through in the process will match the base color and be un-noticeable. Then, you'd follow up by painting your black stripe.

It's rather time consuming, and you'll feel like you're wasting your time when you're doing it (I know I did) but it's extremely effective and preventing bleed-through.

Hopefully I've explained it, but if not, check out this thread, he posted step by step explanations with pictures: http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20790

Good luck!

 

[mopar_man]

Re: Mr. Roboto's Garage Makeover

Good progress. Lift will be in no time now.....well after the 28 days


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[Mr. Roboto]

Re: Mr. Roboto's Garage Makeover

Good progress. Lift will be in no time now.....well after the 28 days


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I've been dreaming of one for the last 4 years.... what's another 4 weeks

 

[shadyluke]

Re: Mr. Roboto's Garage Makeover

Having a lift *****......ha



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[Mr. Roboto]

Re: Mr. Roboto's Garage Makeover

Having a lift *****......ha


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Well I think I'm going to rip those pads right out of the floor and return the lift right now!

Funny of you to post that picture, one of the first projects I want to do is pull the bed off my truck and see how bad the rust is...if it makes it until then

 

[BBSkylark]

Wow great job on the concrete. Its amazing how much it can cost if you pay somebody to do the work. I am debating on jacking my whole slab out and starting fresh myself.

 

[Superbec]

Thanks!



I used a process I read about on here called sealing the edges. And I did use the frog tape, but I will never use it again. It held an edge just fine. but I struggled to keep the damn stuff on the wall at times. I prefer the scotch with the "edge lock" technology.

The process for sealing the edges is simple.
Good luck!

Thanks! !!!

That really helped a lot.

I got ripped off with the frog tape, I did a test piece without "sealing" and it's just as normal tape just 8x more expensive ....



Frog tape is a scam !!!!

 

[Mr. Roboto]

Wow great job on the concrete. Its amazing how much it can cost if you pay somebody to do the work. I am debating on jacking my whole slab out and starting fresh myself.

Thanks! How come, because of the cracking? Doing the 2 pads was enough of a chore, I can't imagine doing the whole slab!

Thanks! !!!

That really helped a lot.

I got ripped off with the frog tape, I did a test piece without "sealing" and it's just as normal tape just 8x more expensive ....



Frog tape is a scam !!!!

No problem im glad I could help.

 

[BBSkylark]

Thanks! How come, because of the cracking? Doing the 2 pads was enough of a chore, I can't imagine doing the whole slab!

My pad as a whole is in very rough shape. It is spalling all around and cracked every which way.... Just very well hidden with my floor tiles

Looking forward to pics of a car up on the lift.

 

[turbowoodworker]

Good idea. A little here and there will go a long way, and they will hopefully be full before I know it.



My only gripe with them so far is that they're missing a 4-40 checker on the SAE set! Just curious, how did you hang them, with the largest checker on the top or the bottom?



Sorry for the late reply. I have the metric and SAE and I just hang them from both ends on a drywall screw as a loop. They are under my bench overhang and out of the way but very close to my hardware storage.

Great build BTW. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Mr. Roboto]

My pad as a whole is in very rough shape. It is spalling all around and cracked every which way.... Just very well hidden with my floor tiles

Looking forward to pics of a car up on the lift.

ah, bummer, the tiles really do a great job of hiding it. Out of site, out of mind

Sorry for the late reply. I have the metric and SAE and I just hang them from both ends on a drywall screw as a loop. They are under my bench overhang and out of the way but very close to my hardware storage.

Great build BTW. Thanks for sharing.

Ah, gotcha, thanks. Those things have already proved handy a few times, I'm glad I bought them.

 

[Mr. Roboto]

Not much to report here lately. Just been watching my concrete cure for the most part haha. 6 more days, and the lift goes in.

Started to organize some of the parts bins in the rack I built.

Built this at the request of my wife too.

 

[Mr. Roboto]

I have to say, I've been enjoying my time working IN the garage, rather than ON the garage. Detailed my Rav4 this weekend out there. One thing I am really going to miss is being able to pull a vehicle into the open space in the middle of the garage after the lift goes it, but I'm sure I'll get over it fairly quickly the first time I don't have to crawl under my car for a repair.

 

[M-technik-3]

Those are the Feit's correct? Love the checkered flag curtains was the the misses touch?

 

[Mr. Roboto]

Those are the Feit's correct? Love the checkered flag curtains was the the misses touch?

Yes, they are the Feit LED lights. And yes, the curtains were the wife's touch

 

[Mr. Roboto]

The lift is in! The installer came today to finish the installation. he did a great job. He was laughing at me on how overboard I went pouring the footings, but oh well...better to be safe than sorry.

He pretty much did it all by himself. He works with a forklift, which helps for sure.

Posts Upright:

Drilling for the anchors:

Done:

And....my car still fits behind it without having to drive over the baseplate every day. Win-win.

No pics of a car up in the air yet...I need to make the final electrical connection still. He just rain it off the test pigtail to make sure everything was working smoothly for now.

 

[69bigblok]

Dude that is beautiful! Have fun!

 

[mopar_man]

Re: Mr. Roboto's Garage Makeover

Awesome!


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[vonhef]

Re: Mr. Roboto's Garage Makeover

Very nice! You will like having the lift I am sure.


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[shadyluke]

Re: Mr. Roboto's Garage Makeover

Best tool you ever bought, I Promise

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[Mr. Roboto]

Thanks guys! I'm still pretty excited about it. I couldn't end the day without getting a car up on it yesterday, so here's the maiden lift:

 

[M-technik-3]

That's awesome glad it's in finally and the lights are sweet, Watt amount of wattage do you think your using?

 

[Mr. Roboto]

That's awesome glad it's in finally and the lights are sweet, Watt amount of wattage do you think your using?

14 fixtures x 38 watts each = 532 watts/5.32A total consumption for all the lighting in there.

 

[Mr. Roboto]

I was able to get the wiring for the lift squared away. I'm not thrilled with how it looks, but I ran the drop for the 220V in the ceiling long before I knew exactly where the posts would end up. They ended up about 4-5 feet further back than I had originally guessed, so I am stuck with this ugly wire run...oh well.

I finally got started on one of my next large projects. I think I may have mentioned it before, but the previous owners of my house built an extremely crappy deck that I had to rip down at the end of last summer. They did not flash it correctly at all against the house, not to mention the fact that it was extremely underbuilt. Long story short., it started rotting the sheething/rim joist. It had to be separated from the house to properly fix the damage, and I sure as hell wasn't putting that thing back up, so down it came. I spent Saturday + Sunday ripping out all of the old footings, replacing all the rotted wood, got the grace barrier up, and the ledgerboard nailed up. I'm waiting to lay out the joist hangers before lagging it into the house to make sure none of them will interfere. I started to try and dig my new footings, but man, they don't call NH the granite state for nothing....

 

[shadyluke]

Re: Mr. Roboto's Garage Makeover

Congrats. Consider putting the wire in conduit.

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[Mr. Roboto]

Re: Mr. Roboto's Garage Makeover

Congrats. Consider putting the wire in conduit.

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Not a bad idea, thanks. If I don't get used to the way it looks now, I may go that route.

 

[BBSkylark]

Looks great, time for a project car!

 

[Bwana]

Just finished catching up, excellent job!

I'm probably going to have to do this to my garage floor too for my lift. Did you measure/mark where the re-bar is so that you didn't hit it when you drilled the holes for the lift hold down bolts?

 

[Mr. Roboto]

Looks great, time for a project car!

Thanks, and I agree!

Just finished catching up, excellent job!

I'm probably going to have to do this to my garage floor too for my lift. Did you measure/mark where the re-bar is so that you didn't hit it when you drilled the holes for the lift hold down bolts?

I did not. The rebar pins were short enough to not protrude into the lift plate area. The rebar mats at the bottom of the pad were about 9" down. The anchors only needed to be drilled 6" deep. Turns out, the installer prefers to drill straight through the entire way of the pad, though... So he did hit it in a few spots. He just stopped, though, as the hole was plenty deep for the anchor to bite into.

Honestly, the matts are overkill. If I had to do it again, I don't think I'd do them, but better to be safe than sorry.

Good luck if you do end up doing it!