Between 265 & 485 SQ/FT Single Car Garage Project

[NashNative]

Here's my single car garage work in progress. I've always admired some of those gorgeous dream garages out there, and I finally have my own place to transform into my sanctuary. As I said in my introduction post, this garage wasn't used to store a car from at least 2004 to 2019 until my wife and I moved in, so it's been a lot of clean up getting it in shape to store my Z. Here's what the garage looked like during the home remodel last summer:

IMG_9654 by Jay Stephenson, on Flickr

IMG_9653 by Jay Stephenson, on Flickr

IMG_9655 by Jay Stephenson, on Flickr

Getting more organized as the home remodel got closer to wrapping up...

IMG_9662 by Jay Stephenson, on Flickr

IMG_9663 by Jay Stephenson, on Flickr


And finally was able to clear enough space to get the car in its new home!

IMG_9737 by Jay Stephenson, on Flickr

IMG_9779 by Jay Stephenson, on Flickr

The next project was installing better lighting...as most of you know, this is a must-do and one of the biggest difference makers. I bought some of the Barrina T5 LED lights from Amazon. They come with 6 lights for ~$45.

IMG_9880 by Jay Stephenson, on Flickr

IMG_9882 by Jay Stephenson, on Flickr

Again, here's the before LED lights shot:

IMG_9883 by Jay Stephenson, on Flickr


And here's the after:

IMG_9884 by Jay Stephenson, on Flickr

The next thing I did was rip down the junky, old cabinets from the back corner to give me better vertical storage in that area.

IMG_0671 by Jay Stephenson, on Flickr

With the old cabinets down, I had room for another shelf on wheels from Sam's Club to help get even more stuff off the garage floor.

IMG_0673 by Jay Stephenson, on Flickr

My sister left this old flat screen TV behind when they moved, so I bought a rolling TV stand from Amazon for ~$120 and it's fantastic. I wanted something on wheels so I can position it wherever I want in the garage, or even out in the driveway or back deck area to throw the game or movie on when I'm grilling, etc.

IMG_0672 by Jay Stephenson, on Flickr

And one area of the garage that I want to point out is this back corner. We re-routed a staircase in the remodel, so now there's a gap back here where the hot water heater resides. I'll be moving this back up against the wall and probably building some shelves over top of it for additional storage. The old fridge also got left behind when my sister moved, so it's been on garage duty for the last year, but will be selling it via FB marketplace and replacing with a smaller, more efficient mini-fridge for drinks.

IMG_0678 by Jay Stephenson, on Flickr

 

[NashNative]

I also replaced the walk through garage door with one that hinges the opposite way so that you open up right at the steps going into the house...much better.

IMG_1246 (1) by Jay Stephenson, on Flickr

Then I took the door we replaced and swapped it out with the walk through door on the back wall of the garage to get rid of it. The original door had a dog-door and we don't have a dog, so it's gone now too.

IMG_1249 (1) by Jay Stephenson, on Flickr

 

[ricketycricket]

Not seeing any of your pics buddy!

 

[kaymccampbell]

All your links are dead ends.

 

[ricketycricket]

Not seeing any of your pics buddy!

Oddly I can see this pic from the app though.


Sent from my iPhone using Garage Journal

 

[NashNative]

Yeah, weird! I can see everything just fine in my browser. What image hosting site is best for this place? I'll see about getting them hosted somewhere else to fix the links.

EDIT: replaced everything with flikr links. My bad! It's been a while since I used a forum like this...

 

[dubber]

That’s a huge single! I would have killed for those extra few feet in width when I had my single

 

[mitchellc]

That’s a really nice size for a single. Plenty of space to park one car and actually work on it.

 

[NashNative]

Thanks, y'all! Yeah, it's a great space. I've been camped out in here since basically mid-March when I had to start working from home. We have an upstairs room over the garage that is totally unfinished right now where I'll eventually get a home office set up once we build it out...hoping that will be this fall/winter.

A few more updates over this past week. Powerwashed the concrete block at the bottom of the walls, and also my garage floors. The folks who lived in this house in the 90's had a first gen Corvette that must have leaked oil all over the place in here...super disgusting floors, but looks a lot better now. I'm going to scrub with a degreaser and powerwash one more time after all of the walls and ceiling are painted. I'd love to have the floors coated, but trying to decide if I should hire a pro or try tackling it myself since it's only about 400 sq/ft in here. After I got the block all washed and aired out, I painted it all with Kill Z primer paint...already looks way better. The plan is to paint those block walls Nashville Predators navy blue, the metal posts and beam Predators gold and the walls a light gray color.

IMG_1971 by Jay Stephenson, on Flickr

IMG_1974 by Jay Stephenson, on Flickr

IMG_1957 by Jay Stephenson, on Flickr

 

[NashNative]

Today's update...I had ordered another six pack of the Barrina lights and installed them tonight. Finally took care of the dark, dingy corner where the hot water heater is located, and hardwired them into the existing light socket in the ceiling so everything comes on with the flip of a switch...sooo satisfying.

IMG_1995 by Jay Stephenson, on Flickr

IMG_1992 by Jay Stephenson, on Flickr

If you recall, here was the garage lighting that I inherited:

IMG_9883 by Jay Stephenson, on Flickr

And now:

IMG_1996 by Jay Stephenson, on Flickr

The other thing going on is I was able to sell off the 20 year old full size refrigerator and replaced it with this 10 cu/ft unit from Home Depot. Should be perfect for drinks and that small freezer space up top. Best of all, it fits perfectly underneath the new staircase so it doesn't take up any valuable floor space in the main part of the garage.

IMG_2001 by Jay Stephenson, on Flickr

Tomorrow's agenda is to clean, patch and start painting these walls!

IMG_1997 by Jay Stephenson, on Flickr

 

[NashNative]

Full day of painting completed today...got a single coat on pretty much everything. Will put a second coat on hopefully next weekend. Also added a little bit more lighting today...this dark dingy back corner is dark no more!

IMG_2014 by Jay Stephenson, on Flickr

IMG_2015 by Jay Stephenson, on Flickr

IMG_2016 by Jay Stephenson, on Flickr

IMG_2019 by Jay Stephenson, on Flickr

Added a little more lighting too...super bright in here now.

IMG_2022 by Jay Stephenson, on Flickr

 

[NashNative]

Added in two more electrical outlets and cleaned up a bit more...such a transformation! I'm still planning to paint the metal posts and beam overhead a Predators yellow/gold color to give it a splash of color in here. Does anyone have recommendations on side-mount garage door openers? I can't run an overhead chain because of that beam, but I'd love to be able to push a button and raise the door, especially when pulling the car back in.

IMG_2038 by Jay Stephenson, on Flickr

IMG_2037 by Jay Stephenson, on Flickr

IMG_2032 by Jay Stephenson, on Flickr

IMG_2031 by Jay Stephenson, on Flickr

IMG_2039 by Jay Stephenson, on Flickr

 

[runwhatyabrung]

Nice job the more stuff you can get off the floor makes a big difference in a small garage. That space makes a nice single for the Z

 

[CombatNinja]

That's a great sized single. Most of them are not even wide enough to park and open a car door the whole way. It is really coming along. What are your plans for the floor?

A couple of points that I think you should consider from my vast experience of dealing with cramped garage quarters:

--Consider consolidating everything along those two walls to one side or the other. When space-challenged it is very helpful to keep one wall 'slick' to maximize the useable space. If you have a shelf that sticks out 24" off the wall, you are going to naturally park a foot away from it, consuming 3' total. I would figure out a way to get that right wall bare except for perhaps a tire rack or some high shelves. I would prioritize the right side since that is the passenger side of the Z and you have that service door in the back that is kind of partially obstructed the way it is now.

--Consider wall mounting that TV somewhere. I know you probably like to wheel it around but I would figure out where it is most likely to be viewed and put it on an articulating mount. That thing is eating up a lot of precious floor space.

 

[NashNative]

That's a great sized single. Most of them are not even wide enough to park and open a car door the whole way. It is really coming along. What are your plans for the floor?

Thanks! Great question...I got some quotes on having the floors professionally treated, but not really looking to drop that kind of cash right now. Any suggestions? Are the DIY epoxy kits really that tough to pull off?

Finally got the car back in last night...

IMG_2042 by Jay Stephenson, on Flickr

 

[CombatNinja]

With that much oil put down on the slab over all those years, I doubt I would even try epoxy. Grinding down 1/4" to get that virgin surface is too much work. I would RaceDeck that bad boy and be done with it. You could even work in your Predators colors pretty easily.

 

[UN4GTBL]

That is a great sized single car! Good start on this.

 

[NashNative]

With that much oil put down on the slab over all those years, I doubt I would even try epoxy. Grinding down 1/4" to get that virgin surface is too much work. I would RaceDeck that bad boy and be done with it. You could even work in your Predators colors pretty easily.

That's what I'm thinking too...as much as I would prefer the clean look of a coated floor, I'm just not ready to spend that kind of cash right now. Maybe on my forever home, but we don't plan to be here more than 10 years hopefully.

Are there any cheaper alternatives than Race Deck that are just as good, or is it a get what you pay for situation?

 

[mitchellc]

Am I weird for just liking the look of swept/vacuumed concrete? I wonder how difficult it would be to see fasteners or liquids on the floor when the coating is shiny or has flake or another filler.

 

[CombatNinja]

mitchellc, you aren't weird. It its a perfectly good look. Heck, mine stayed that way for the first 22 years it was down. Often the driver for wanting to do something to the concrete on older slabs is driven by the fact that bare concrete has a high coefficient of friction, making it hard to sweep up dirt, dust, grit, etc. also, older slabs almost inevitably get to a point where they begin 'dusting' so some extent which causes its own issues with trying to keep your space clean.
To bring it back to relevance for this thread, if that were my garage, I would probably not bother with any grinding or get wrapped up in any crack repair. I would probably give it a couple of good scrubbings, maybe a quick acid etch and then hit it with a simple flood coat densifier/sealer and be done with it. If that didn't give me the 'finished' look I was after, then I would consider putting something like RaceDeck on top.

 

[NashNative]

Finally got around to painting the support posts and beam...took inspiration from Bridgestone Arena where the Predators play...gives it a nice shot of brightness and color in here. Now I'm just debating if I paint the concrete block low wall a dark navy or leave it as is...wife says paint it, so it's probably getting painted

IMG_2192 by Jay Stephenson, on Flickr

IMG_2198 by Jay Stephenson, on Flickr

IMG_2199 by Jay Stephenson, on Flickr

 

[NashNative]

Not any massive changes to the garage since the last update, but I did score this used 6' rolling tool chest on Nextdoor for $400...it was a 5 minute drive to go pick it up. Looked online and new these are $600...seems like a good deal. Next thing will be to pick up a small vice I can affix to the top of it. Hope everyone is having a great 4th today!

IMG_4945 by Jay Stephenson, on Flickr