Round 2

[absintheisfun]

Alright Folks…Ready for round 2?

My wife and I bought a new (to us) house about 5 months ago. We weren’t really in the market, and were perfectly content at our old house…this new one was found almost by chance, and the only reason we bit was because it was beyond fair in price, and it came on 2 acres….oh yea, and parking for five!

Two car attached (my wife has fairly stated that this one is off limits! Fair because for 7 years she parked in the driveway at our old house while I worked on projects.

A separate 2 car and a separate 1.5 car.

Before you look at the current state pics, please understand that I’m only posting the sty because everyone loves pictures, and when we moved it was a “move the garage in one day, and keep it out of the attached one!” So needless to say, the garage was literally thrown in.

Our first priority was to build a fence so we can get some alpacas (another story, another time). Finished the fence last week, so now it is time to turn my attention to my home away from home.

Here is the sky google view with a close up of the garages. The black line is the fence we just finished.
There are plans to extend a private driveway to the road on the left…but that is a legal pain in the a$$!

The big one is a steel building that I’m working on insulating and then building it as the diagrams below, but this is going to be a pain in the *** because everything is in the way, and that includes my Camaro project that doesn’t move much!

And now the chaos:

Yes, that is a bathroom in the back corner, but after inspecting it...I don't think I'll be keeping it. If I need to go to the bathroom, there are plenty of shrubs...if it is a bigger problem, I can go to the house. A bathroom would just take up precious space!

Here is the little one:

Here is the start of the internal framing. Mind you it isn’t being built for load baring…just to hold insulation and sheetrock.

Here are the rough plans:

Here is the humble (but finished) garage that I walked away from:

The framing is just a start for size. They will be anchored to the concrete slab and to the siding in a few places up the vertical beams. I have to do this because in Texas it gets up to 110+ in the summer, and can get to uncomfortable in the winter so this will be heated and air conditioned!

 

[absintheisfun]

Been a while since I updated - -working on it only one or maybe two days a week if I'm lucky. I got almost all of the sheetrock up and in the insulation in. All that is left is a small area around where the the sub will be. My electrician friend is going to be wiring up a 150 Amp sub and rewiring a new primary breaker box at my house (I have awesome friends!)

The most annoying part was moving everything into a big pile and then working around it to get the walls. Here are the piles of **** that I have had to work around:

See, there is a car under all that ****!

I'll get to work on the ceilings next and then start taping and bedding the drywall. Given that it is going to be a true work space, and not a pretty "show" garage, I'm trying to decide on whether or not throw up texture.

And then there is getting colors chosen...but we'll see. I'm hoping to have the bulk of the hard part done within a few weeks.

 

[socapots]

That's a Pretty sweet property layout.
And the new place looks to be taking shape quite nicely.

 

[dubber]

I can't believe you have three separate garages. Wow, no wonder you picked it up so quickly. I'm in to see the progress. I may have missed it but is the attached garage (your wife's) finished? And you will be working on the other two?

 

[RichTJ99]

Looks great! Is that a 68?

 

[NHBandit]

Clearly you would have less clutter if you didn't have 2 hoods and only 1 Camaro. Pssst RichTJ99 it's a 67. The vent windows were only used that year. Send me the Yenko hood and use the cowl hood on yours. Problem solved. I also have a 67. Nice setup. Just need to wait until you have a few nice days in a row and move everything outside so you can organize.

 

[absintheisfun]

Dubber- the wife's garage is finished and has built in cabinets--though they stink of mouse piss...a lovely gift that comes with moving out of the city. There are plans to redo her garage, but they are way out in the distant future. I don't know that I'll finish the interior of the small one as it is going to serve a very limited purpose: lawn and garden storage and my compressor.

Nhbandit-The cowl is the old hood, and is now relegated to garage art duty. The current hood is a stinger fiberglass hood and dayum is it light!! But sorry, they must both stay with me

And in other awesome news...the contractor is cutting the curb for my private driveway tomorrow, and pouring the concrete next week!!

And two weeks after that we get our Alpacas (2 to start) Brothers named The Lone Ranger and Tonto.

 

[absintheisfun]

Bad news... the city cancelled my permit and stopped my contractor. So no private drive(for now) but I'm not ready to give up yet!

Good news...our chickens are in and have a Huge coop. Been busy with that this weekend, so no garage updates...but here's a pic or two:

And here is The lone ranger (pic from a livestock show in Ft. Worth last weekend. He'll be here with his brother in two weeks

 

[absintheisfun]

Got a day off today so I spent some time in the garage

Put the final pieces together to cover up the center support beams. I'm scrapping the idea of a shop crane running the distance of the garage. I'm concerned about the weight of whatever I choose to hoist putting too much strain on the main structural support of the roof.

If I want one later on I can build up a gantry crane for the purposes of moving heavy loads

The space above the door is unfinished because I'm trying to find a good exhaust fan to put in there. I do a lot of welding and want a way to evacuate the shielding gasses without opening the garage door. It'll also be nice to cycle fresh air through there once I get the HVAC installed


I went back and forth on what to do about the ceiling. Since I'm by myself on this one (with my wife occasionally helping out) I didn't want to go and buy a sheetrock hoist for this job, and I didn't want to tape and bed a ceiling....so I looked around and came up with corrugated PVC. It seemed lightweight enough to manage on my own - boy oh boy was I wrong. It was a royal pain in the @$$ to get the first sheet going, and I'm not sure how I like it...gonna sit on it for a while and think.

Not a huge update, but it was a chore and a half to do!

 

[Bib Overalls]

What is the sq foot cost for the corrugated PVC?

The city did you a favor. If you had cut the drive to the main road it would have become the neighborhood short cut.

 

[CNGsaves]

Bad news... the city cancelled my permit and stopped my contractor. So no private drive(for now) but I'm not ready to give up yet! Good news...our chickens are in and have a Huge coop.

What's the story on driveway?? Is that just a curb cut on the cul-de-sac (ie for a smoother curb)?? Or were you trying to get another backway entrance to garage on that major road??

Funny that you can have alpaca and chickens, but get hassled for curb cut?

 

[absintheisfun]

The driveway wouldn't have been a neighborhood shortcut...my whole property is gated (alpacas)

And as far as why...who the hell knows. My property is county, and runs to about 3 feet from the city road...so the driveway would be on city property for 3ft. But the city can't say **** about the goings on on my property. I can legally discharge firearms on my property just three feet from the city road and the city police can't do a damn thing about it but ask me to stop.

I love living in county...they are so completely relaxed about everything, while the cityis completely struck in the red tape and up on hill high mighty.

 

[CNGsaves]

Looks like the worn path to the city street is the route you're talking about.

Work-a-round might be to build some ramps that match contour of the curbing. Could make them out of square tubing with skin of diamond plate. Tricky part wll be building a storage shed out near road where the ramps would be hidden and secured.

. . . . or . . . . you could have some other concrete work done on the property, and when done tell the concrete truck guy to clean out his tank right where you want your ramp!! Smooth out the slop concrete and you've got a permanent ramp!!

 

[Bib Overalls]

I love living in county...they are so completely relaxed about everything, while the cityis completely struck in the red tape and up on hill high mighty.

Same here. Virtually no code enforcement in the County. No dog catcher either. The only down side is that we pay more for house insurance because we are served by rural water and a volunteer fire department. We have a very good Sheriff's Department and the county road crew is very responsive. More positives than negatives, at least here, and town is just a couple of minutes away.

 

[absintheisfun]

Before I show the update, let me rant for a bit about photobucket. I am sick of it! it used to be so easy to upload, organize and then post to forums simply by mousing over the pic and it would pop up with the links...but not now!

No sir! You have to sit through advertising while you upload, and then it jumbles up where the pictures go, and then you have to click on the picture, search for the icon at the top and click on that to get a popup then click on the links that finally appear!

Good Lord!!!! I pay for this ****!?!?!???!!!! Soon enough, I will not and encourage anyone here that has not got an account to go elsewhere!

Anyway, back to the garage:
The roof is coming together nicely, but believe me it was a royal pain in the @$$

1. Stand on ladder with a 12 foot piece of corrugated pvc.
2. Do your damndest to hold it center so you can get just one screw through it...just one screw God pleeeeaaaaase!
3. Drop everything at least 3 times.
4. Curse the world for the horrible idea of this roof.
5. Drink a beer, throw a few things and try it again
(rinse and repeat for at least 30 minutes until you thankfully get one screw to set.

And then...you sit back for a day and think...how can one person do this safely and quickly?

"Necessity is the mother of all inventions"

They hang from two of the rafters and supports the center of the pvc while I tack in a few screws and align it.

It took me about an hour and a half to hang the first two pieces of the roof (and they look like **** next to the rest)
With the tool, it takes about 10 minutes a piece.

 

[absintheisfun]

My lack of updates is not because I haven't been working on it! It has everything to do with the lost camera....

I've gotten a lot done in the past couple of months, and found my camera...so let the updates begin.

Finally built a workbench-better pics to come, once it is cleaned off!

The ceiling is pretty much done, have one more panel to put up...there was a reason why it isn't up, but I can't remember why now.


Finally got some paint up, and it is starting to feel like home again, now that I have my hood on the wall.




Got the center ceiling finished and even got some garage art up on there!


I have just one more section to paint, but I ran out of steam....it'll be done this week and then it is time to start on my other two benches and shelves.


Fingers crossed it'll be done in two weeks time! My buddy electrician should be here on Thursday to put in a new main breaker at the house, and hopefully a 100Amp sub in the garage....could have my compressor up and running on saturday!


Here is the ceiling...pretty much done

and as an added sidenote...I still FU&%()* HATE photobucket!

 

[absintheisfun]

I have a meager update for tonight-

I was working on the shelves in the corner. I intentionally made them quick and dirty to get some form of storage going while I worked on other areas. While I was at the Depot, I ran across Rustoleum Restore and my brain started working...

Here are the results of the first coat (supposed to do 2). Because of the claims of the product, I decided to keep my quick-n-dirty shelf and see if the Restore could do all that it claimed.

Sadly, no...but I am happy with the results...

Here is the beginning:


Immediately after the first coat:


And a close up of the texture:


The pros:
I like the texture, and it turned out exactly as I wanted
Durability tests to come, but going off of just how insanely thick this stuff is, I can't imagine its bad

The Cons:
Expensive! 40.00 for the starter kit (2 gallons and a roller)
Coverage-this single small shelf (16"x 6') took 1/2 a gallon to do....I can't imagine how much it would cost to do an entire deck!
Single use only rollers because there is NO WAY it is going to clean off! and they aren't cheap!
Dry time...4 hours later and it is still dripping wet. We'll see how long it takes to do a second coat.
1/4" fill coverage is complete ****! It couldn't even handle filling 1/8" This was the biggest let down of the product. Had I known it in advance, I would have built the shelf differently (better)


As far as cost/sq. foot I really think that it would be cheaper just to redo a deck. The starter kit is 40.00 (2 gallons and a roller) single gallons were 25.00, and the rollers are like 8.00 each. There are bigger 4 gallons available for 70-80, but 1/2 gallon only got about 9sqft.

In short, $1.11 sq ft for 1 coat, $2.22 sq ft used as described is insanely expensive! It would ultimately be cheaper (IMO) to get lumber and redo a deck with new wood, and probably faster. You gotta be PATIENT with this stuff.

 

[absintheisfun]

Okay, got a bit of an update tonight. Been working every night to get my first of two mirror benches together. Got the first one about done, but first....

Remember that old nasty yellow cabinet that was in some of the earlier pictures?

This one:

I originally was going to toss it because it didn't work with my original bench layout, but after taking a closer look it was discovered to be extremely well built and too good of a piece to scrap. My wife took the task of cleaning, sanding and painting it and it now looks like this:




After sanding, she thought it would look cool to have the handles "natural" and after seeing it, I'd have to agree!


It still needs another coat of paint, but I think it looks pretty good, given its starting point.

And now the bench:








There is going to be a mirror bench on the other side of the cabinet. The tapered side (by the sink) will have two shelves, but I haven't gotten them completed yet. When all is done, I will paint the metal frame gloss black to match the cabinet and toolbox.

If there is interest, I'll document the other mirror bench as I build it.

 

[absintheisfun]

Well, I've just about finished the first bench...got the feet on it and painted it.


I meant to put this in the last update, but couldn't find it in all the mess that is currently my garage. Here is proof of the age of the cabinet.


My wife found it while pressure washing it. Anyone else remember these? I'm 36, and I remember "adjusting" to the new pop tops that are on cans today. I remember being very unhappy about it when the change came!

 

[Omphaloskeptic]

Anytime you get frustrated with fixing up the garages, think back to the smallish space you left behind... and smile!

The old garage was good practice for you, and it shows great results; your new place will be even better!

I sure hope you treat your lady extra special; any woman willing to pressure wash, sand and paint a cabinet FOR YOUR SHOP (!!!) is one hell of a life partner.

 

[Jwestercamp]

Nice build will be following love pic of the crapper our front is that a flower planter lol. Just kiddn cool spread

 

[Thumper68]

I can't understand why you would remove a working toilet, That is the one thing that I wish I had put in my shop.

Every time I have to go into the house it ends up being a 30 min to an hour break in my day, and usually a new addition to the honey do list.

Your new shop is turning out great!!

Keep up the great work and post up your bench build.

 

[absintheisfun]

I sure hope you treat your lady extra special; any woman willing to pressure wash, sand and paint a cabinet FOR YOUR SHOP (!!!) is one hell of a life partner.

Trust me when I say I agree! We are celebrating our 8th anniversary this month, and have been living together for almost 12 years...and have been friends for almost 30!

Nice build will be following love pic of the crapper our front is that a flower planter lol. Just kiddn cool spread

I can't understand why you would remove a working toilet, That is the one thing that I wish I had put in my shop.

Every time I have to go into the house it ends up being a 30 min to an hour break in my day, and usually a new addition to the honey do list.

Your new shop is turning out great!!

Keep up the great work and post up your bench build.

I honestly wasn't sure if it was a "working" toilet or not. I'm on septic, and the tank is about 200ft away, so I don't know that it was hooked up...I think it was just a gray water dump.

And then there is the thought that I have two acres of bushes and shrubs so there are toilets everywhere....if I need to do anything more serious, I can run to the house.

Besides, the toilet just took up valuable work space! All that stuff is going to the dump, just haven't had the time. I should have taken a pic of my burn pile-about 12ft wide by 25ft long and 5ft high!! When we finally got an authorized burn day, it took about 6 hours to burn it all. All that is left is the non-burnables.

 

[absintheisfun]

I didn't realize it had been 2 months since an update on this. There have been some productive days, and not so productive days...My bad for not keeping this updated, but the days I did work on the garage I was exhausted when I was done.

First Priority was getting a 70 Amp sub hooked up and that was a bit unnerving as I've never really messed with electirical. Good thing I've got some great friends that helped out with that and put in a new main at the house and walked me through running the electrical. Once I had that, I could run my 220 to my small garage and hook up my compressor

Hearing my compressor fire up for the first time in 7 months was absolutely phenomenal!

I have 5 drops around the garage:
1 on either side of my wood bench, 1 at each of my new work benches and my main drop from the center of the ceiling:
3/4" from the compressor to the main, and then 1/2" drops coming down to the work areas.
The line runs behind the hood and has an upside down "T" running to each side.


The line runs behind the cabinet and has the same type of upside down "T" running to each bench


It comes in from the wall and drops down, has a master shut-off just in case, a water seperator and then its on upward to the cieling. The downward slope is pretty significant and all my drops are raised up off the main like a "?" before dropping so most of the moisture in the lines is trapped before hitting the tools.


And on to the mirror bench build:

Starting point with the melamine:


All the legs:


The 1" angle surround cut to size and screwed to the underside before welding


here is how I tacked each leg into place before making sure it was square:



And then "just to make sure" before adding a few more tacks


All the outside legs are in so now its time for the toolbox placement




I got a little hasty on this one and decided it'd be okay to fully weld the surround and legs while still on the melamine


doing my final abuse and durability check


welded on feet and a 1/4" nut (with a 5/8" hole under the nut)


These are not the final feet, but it was what I had at the time:


This way the bench can go anywhere, anytime (should I move, I'm not building any more...I'm taking these!) and it can be completely level and strong so long as there is not a variation of more than 1" over the six feet of its width.

Once it was in my wife and I put up some pegboard, framed it and painted it. I have all of my clamps on the left side and will put all of my air tools on the right. For now though, it is a clusterf*** mess of tools without homes!

Next on the list is clean and organize, and then install my exhaust fans.

 

[Bib Overalls]

Enjoying this one.

 

[absintheisfun]

Not a "Grand Change" Update, but getting organized is what this update is all about!

I do like having as many sockets as possible to meet every single possible need, so I used two drawers...everything else is pretty much in a specific drawer:

Here is the drawer layout:


And here is a peek in the drawers -sockets:
Metric


SAE


Wrenches (I'm still unpacking a few boxes so there are several holes


Body Hammers and tools:


Screwdrivers - Now, during the move and projects on the new house I must have lost every single screwdriver I had. Rather than get upset and kick things I went and bought a massive screwdriver set at Northern for like 20 bucks with a coupon.


Plyers, Adjustable wrenches, ect (missing many of these...but I'm hopeful that they will appear as the cleanup effort moves on)


Full view from the other side of the garage, showing both peg boards:


Close up of the left


Close up of the right


Here is the woodworking bench:


I love the fact that I thought ahead and went through the effort of putting in my air drops at each white bench and one on either end of the woodbench, but I may modify the wood bench's drops so the whips can hang to the side. As they are now they kind of get in the way...

The wood bench is pergo flooring. When I was putting it together I wanted a butcherblock style, but something a little more indestructible. My old house had pergo in the bedrooms and our three huge dogs never put a single scratch in them! It was cheap and looked the part!

And the ********* metal cabinet, which I'm so glad I kept, is housing all of my plug in power tools. Out of sight and organized!

And, I know that I'm going to find more stuff...just look at the line of measuring tapes in the upper left of the Left white bench! I honestly didn't know that I had that many(there are a few tucked in the junk drawers too!

 

[absintheisfun]

It might just be completed...(for now )

I spent the weekend putting in my exhaust fans and testing them. With the fans exhausting, the garage gets super cool, really fast. I didn't have a thermometer, but my calibrated self felt as if w/o A/C it was probably pushing 90 in the garage. (mind you its been 102-106 for the past week here)

With A/C it was probably 75 in the Corner by the A/C unit, but about 85 on the far side of the unit. The fans running on exhaust pulled all of the hot air out from the ceiling and pulled the air across the garage. I was out there all day with the fans running on Saturday and outside of my laboring, I didn't even sweat!

In the pictures it looks bulky, but I wanted something insulating against the hot air coming in if the fans weren't on so I rigged up a sliding mechanism so it was shielded when not in use, but easily accessible if needed.


The start


The Supplies:
I shopped for a real exhaust fan, but anything that could pump out over 1000CFM and had shutters was 220(and I didn't want to use my only 220) and it was upwards of 200-300 dollars!
I found this fan that pumps 1250CFM, and it was a whopping 27.99 at Lowes.


An additional $20.00 in steel and metal netting and I think I got a hell of a deal!

No metal brake, so I did the best I could


riveted and sealed so it doesn't leak


netting in so the wasps don't move in!


The scary moment...cutting a big hole into the building I've worked for the past 3 months to insulate and seal!


Test fit:


View from outside (flashing installed and sealed)


When not in use:


When needed:


And lastly, the final corner cleaned and organized


And I consolidated my small part/screw storage from 5 to 2! Anyone in the Dallas area want the old blue ones? They are in great shape, just didn't match the colors. PM me if interested. FREE!

The last two steps are the floor and the baseboards.

I plan on finishing and painting the door and fan surrounds when I do the baseboards, and I won't do the baseboards until after I finish the floor.

I may not get to the floor until next year, so, for now...it may be complete!

Tuesday night when my wife is at Roller Derby practice, I might actually be able to work on the Camaro! woohoo!