Rockies 21' x 23'

[boy1_]

After spending far too much time lurking here I figured I should at least have the decency to say "Hi" and show some progress I have been making on my own place. So, HI!

First things first, this is my first garage. Our previous house had a 12'x16' shed out back, which once you put a sled, a toolbox, a lawnmower and some rakes in you are left with.....a very full shed. We made the conscious decision on that house to go for a nicer house with no garage. This time around a garage was non-negotiable (according to my wife.) So, here is what we moved in to about 4 months ago.



Here is the garage as it appeared in the real estate ad and exactly (and I mean exactly) what it looked like when we did our tours of the house. (This was a barely used vacation home from its build date until we bought it.)



As I get time I will continue to update with what I've gotten up to so far.

 

[53PontiacSD]

That's one long garage if that extended cab fits. Nice! Keep the photos coming. Billy

 

[sawduststeve]

A blank canvas of a garage and a lovely looking house, good work fella.

 

[boy1_]

The Start

I was always taught to never apologize prior to a presentation about the quality of said presentation. Or to give excuses for anything you are about to present. So I am not going to tell you that these pictures are mostly from my phone and will perhaps not be of the greatest quality.....and I am not sorry! (Although according to all things stereotypical, as a Canadian I am supposed to be....)

We took possession at the end of November. So for a couple of weeks the garage became the temporary home for some household items while we did the furniture dance to determine exactly what was going to live where.

I have to say, I'm proud of my wife and I for moving our entire life between 4pm on possession day and noon the next day. This included cleaning our rental for landlord inspection. (I did get a helping hand getting my safe out of the basement.)

Fast forward to getting the garage back to garage-y uses (garage-esque?). Here is how it looked.











As you can see the previous owner decided that a gigantic, custom built, flimsy as all hell shelving system was required. The bottom rails are actually 16' 2x4's (because that was necessary for a unit that is attached to the walls and ceiling........). This will be coming down. (In fact, at the time of writing this it is half gone.)

Some other things to note: Plywood walls. 9' 8" Ceilings. Flimsy work bench. 4 sad little lights. Wood chute.

Yes, I did say wood chute. Those with a keen eye might have noticed the wood chute to the basement. The original builder was an intelligent man. He built the house very well, and he installed a wood burning furnace, AND he has the foresight to install a wood chute when the pad/basement wall was poured. Never again will I pack wood through a nice clean house!

On positive note I have resisted the urge to slide down the chute! On a sad note I have resisted the urge to slide down the chute.

 

[boy1_]

That's one long garage if that extended cab fits. Nice! Keep the photos coming. Billy

Thanks. The real test is going to be when I try and squeeze my 1 ton in there to work on it. Definitely will not be able to have any ground level storage on the back wall for the width of the truck.

 

[boy1_]

First project to help organize things in the garage was a quick and dirty cupboard. I wanted something to put some of the sporting type goods in (in this case the sledding and snowshoeing gear). I also wanted to have no bottom or bottom lip so I could easily wheel my genset in.

Results:



It's 2x4 construction with 1/2" ply. One thing I really wanted was to be able to hang jackets/bags on the inside of the doors, so the top shelf is 12" deep and the bottom shelf is the full 24". Worked for its purpose. I was not happy with the doors, so they are now framed with 2x4. I am much happier with that arrangement. Doors close properly, and there is an extra bit of room for hanging items on the door. I also added some handles and had some extra magnets kicking around, so I rigged it up to hold closed.



Once I start getting everything set up the way I want it I'll paint. I'm waiting for a pale of mis-tint paint in a colour I like to show up at the hardware store and then I'll try and have a consistent colour scheme through the whole garage. Until then I can live with raw wood.

 

[WeekendWarrior83]

Is that some sort of carved wooden face thing on the side of your house? It looks kind of neat.

 

[boy1_]

Is that some sort of carved wooden face thing on the side of your house? It looks kind of neat.

That item came with the house, I believe it is a version of the "Wood Spirit". It's about 7' tall. I'm flip flopping about keeping it. So far he's still here though.

I don't have any better pictures, but can get one if there is any interest.

 

[boy1_]

My next quick project was to start getting rid of the full wall storage center that was left by the previous owner. In theory it's a good idea. Lots of storage. However the execution was......I'll go with "interesting". On top of which, it is not exactly what I am going for. I'm more interested in a functional workspace with any storage out of the way of working. I think soffit storage will be a project down the road for the container ship worth of rubbermaid totes we have.

I don't have any pictures of the unit coming down, but it took longer than I had hoped. Whoever built it was not consistent with where and how they screwed it together. I think (hope) it was built out of scraps from the house building as the shelves (some 6' long) were made of 3/8" plywood only supported by 1x4's around the perimeter. However, the main frame of the unit was over-built with 2x4's.

Anyhow, before:



And............after (I only took half down to start):



We were in need of a recycling center to make sorting our bottle returns easier, so I threw one together that holds four identical containers. Beer cans, beer bottles, pop cans and glass. I used the space beside the house door (newly freed from the wall unit). So far it is working quite well.

 

[boy1_]

This past weekend I snagged two items. The first being a big red box.



We cleaned out a storage room that has been sitting for decades at work. This big red box was no longer required, and I figured at the very least it contains some good 1" plywood. So it came home with me.

It originally sat with what is now the door as a lid in a trunk configuration. But like a horizontal deep freeze, I figured everything at the bottom would be buried and forgotten about. So I picked up some casters and tossed them on the bottom. Now I have a rolling cabinet. My best plan for it's use right now is to put all the paint and painting supplies in it.



The other item I got was a 52" Husky Bench. I was in the city for unrelated reasons on the weekend so I stopped by a few stores to see what I could get and what it would cost me. Bang for your buck (keeping in mind this is for a weekend warrior) I found the Husky box to be the right thing for me. So, a few hours of hassle later, and this was on the sled deck:



After getting it home and assembled (handle, bottle opener and wheels) I played around with putting some tools in it. Still figuring out how to organize my tools among my existing 26" Craftsman/Mastercraft setup and this. So far I am happy with it. Definitely not a pro level box, but I'm not a pro level guy, so I don't see it being an issue.

I also acquired some cool tools as hand-me-downs from my wife's family. A baldor bench grinder, some Ridgid Lithium-Ion tools, some neat old planes, a Record No.5 vise, Makita saw as well as some other random odds and ends. All of these items are things I have been planning on getting in the coming months, so that makes it all the sweeter.



The internet informs me that this is a Stanley 113 Compass Plane.