Swamp Thunder Garage

[Crown Imperial]

The house was built in the late 70s and has a small 2 car garage. Not very big and I would have prefered to have at least twice the space but that's what I got. Garage is about 18'x18' with an additional 25" recess for a workbench. Lots of wall storage will be needed. Need to keep a motorcycle in there as well as have enough space to work on cars.

The plan:

Remove popcorn from ceiling, spackle and paint.
Repair and paint walls.
Install lighting. Leaning toward 6x 5THO units.
Install slat wall / pegboard on the recess above the work table.
Install hanging brackets for bycicles and other ****.
Fabricate work bench.
Install compressor in attic and plump lines through ceiling down into work area.
Sometime further down the line once everything is ready I'd also like to install a 12'000 BUT mini split unit.

House Plan



So far:

 

[jnkpile]

Nice bike! I've got a 2002 xr400r that I "street legalized" soooo much fun being able to rip down the highway to the next trail. The knobbies left you a bit numb after along run on the pavement but well worth it (;

 

[Crown Imperial]

The one in the pics is also a 2002 but a XR650L. Don't ride it much since Florida sort of ***** for Enduro riding. Hopefully I can some day take a few weeks off and go riding in Utah.

 

[Crown Imperial]

Made some progress this week.
Slatwall almost done on the wall above the one day to be work bench.
Bike racks and some galvanized steel sheet pegboard also hanging now.







Fluids still being kept in broken refrigerator.

 

[HSpencer]

Lots of work done. The slat wall is looking real good. That painting brought you up a whole lot and your looking pretty bright on that. I like the white paint. Looks good!!

Best Regards
Herb Spencer

 

[Crown Imperial]

It's actually a light pastel green paint my girlfriend chose. It's a lil ghey but a lil gheyness never hurt anyone.

 

[Crown Imperial]

Little more progress.
Workbench and vise is next.

 

[Crown Imperial]

Finished the work bench.
Used 3x IKEA Beech countertops. They are 1 1/2" thick and weigh 73 lbs each. So thats about 220 lbs of wood. Then clad the whole thing in 14 gauge A304 stainless steel sheet. I think it came out ok. Damn thing took me about 40 hours to finish.

Out with the old.



Broke some of the concrete when installing the anchor bolts for the legs. Didnt go deep enough (thats what she said). Had to patch it up.








Cutting the countertops.



Installed



The sheet metal.





And lastly, the bench vise. Needs a resto. Will do soon. The outlets and cables for the outlets are also being done soon.

 

[SweetD]

Awesome job on the bench - love it!

Question - where did you get the legs for the bench, I really like those.

Great project so far -

Dave

 

[Crown Imperial]

Make sure you get the stringer too!

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Edsal-33-in-Adjustable-Height-WorkBench-Legs-ABL30/204417821

 

[Imcrazy]

Since you covered it with metal anyway wouldn't glueing up two thicknesses of 3/4 plywood have been cheaper?

 

[Crown Imperial]

Cheaper yes. Somewhat. The IKEA countertops were $120 each. So that's $360 in wood. That's not a huge difference to about $200 in plywood which is what I think I would have needed.
I just thought the beech would be sturdier, more durable, and less prone to distortion with humidity, of which there is a lot of where I live.
But I could be wrong and may be it was a waste of money.

 

[jwhcars]

Looking a whole lot nicer.

 

[Sunbimmer]

The work bench is superb, love the sheet metal top

 

[BearsFan315]

Nice job on that bench...

 

[Imcrazy]

Cheaper yes. Somewhat. The IKEA countertops were $120 each. So that's $360 in wood. That's not a huge difference to about $200 in plywood which is what I think I would have needed.
I just thought the beech would be sturdier, more durable, and less prone to distortion with humidity, of which there is a lot of where I live.
But I could be wrong and may be it was a waste of money.

Either way, looks good

 

[MonoxieChild]

Im liking the pair of Speeds! Very nice!

 

[Crown Imperial]

That's the Ghey Thunder Duo!
White one is race ready.
Grey one is getting ze werks!

 

[R26B]

Love the bench and the cars! Fellow Mazda fan!

 

[MonoxieChild]

Ive noticed alot of Mazda fans on this site. We just picked up our 4th, a 13 CX9 for the wife last weekend. Owned over 3 dozen of them over the years at this point. Its become more of an addiction then a hobby.

 

[taumac]

Popcorn removal is messy. I sure been there before. Like what you done to your place already. Looking foward to future updates.

5 Stitches Garage
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=211899
Florida GJ Group
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/group.php?groupid=117

 

[hoho98925]

That bench top will defiantly be stout. Garage is coming together nice job.

 

[Crown Imperial]

I am actually not a fan of the whole Mazda line up. The miatas are all time track favorites for their low operating costs but at 6'3" I just can't fit in one. I just kinda got pulled into the MZR DISI engines and now I have so many parts and so much time invested in both the 6 and the 3 the changing platforms would be a major process. I especially like the stealthiness of the MS6. Not many people know what that vehicle is capable of and just by looking at it you'd never know.

The popcorn ceiling was ueber fun, yes. Glad that **** is over with.

Made some more progress. Had some fail installing a support bar on the table for the track tires. Took 2 aluminum square profiles thinking it would hold but no way. That **** sagged in the middle like fat chick was sitting on it. Replaced that with an "L" steel profile and now all is well.

Also installed some IKEA roll front cabinets the local IKEA had in the outlet section. They were already assembled and in good shape. I guess from a previous display. I just couldn't pass it up. I love the garage door-like anodized aluminum roll fronts on these things.

Fail.



That's better



The roll front cabs







Oh and a little side project. I am setting up my home office with some tools too.

 

[Crown Imperial]

Finished up my rapidair set up.
compressor and air tank is in the attic.
Also got a good deal on an Hannay hose reel. Using 50' of 1/2" hose in it. This reel is massively well built. Should last forever. Parts for the reels are also available from Hanny. Well worth spending the extra money compared to a new china reel.





Solid paw design. A little loud in engagement but should prove durable.









Coiled air hose on one of the rapidair manifolds. To blow away the shitz you don't want.

 

[APEowner]

Nicely done. The bench looks great.

You might have a hard time getting consensus from the rest of the decision making team in the family but if you closed of that dining room and took out a wall you could gain quite a bit of shop space.

 

[Crown Imperial]

I probably could. But not sure the GF would like seeing my tool wall moved into the kitchen lol.

 

[sean Buick 76]

Nice work, that workbench is SOLID!

What kind of work are you doing in your inside "office"?

 

[ilalocal1922]

Great build..... Your floor plan is almost the same as mine. Must have been the go to floor plan is south FL. A lot of that style in Plantation FL.

 

[Crown Imperial]

Nice work, that workbench is SOLID!

What kind of work are you doing in your inside "office"?

Mostly anything that isn't dirty like soldering and tinkering with small appliances etc.

Great build..... Your floor plan is almost the same as mine. Must have been the go to floor plan is south FL. A lot of that style in Plantation FL.

Yup. I am in Davie.
Wish I had a bigger garage of course although the horse shoe / u-shape of the house is something I like. Pool is gonna go in the middle some day!

 

[ilalocal1922]

Good luck with the garage will be watching for some ideas.

 

[taumac]

Glad to see your back posting again

 

[Crown Imperial]

I finally got to install a mini split for the garage.
Had some fail with the hoses of the manifold. Didn't notice that the connections for the valve on the outside unit weren't really opening depressing the stem on the shrader type valve. So when I pulled a vaccum on the gas side I wasn't really pulling a vacuum at all. Is there something wrong with the connections on the pic below? Am I missing something?