The Great Little Garage

[Bronson]

Yep...been pretty quiet. So any progress inside Bill since the snow's been flying?

Guess We should mind our own business.

 

[jeffmoss26]

No...Bill has been posting in plenty of other threads like usual!

 

[xtremek]

Hey Bill, I guess you're back to work. I hope you're chipping away at it on the weekends. That's all I seem to get anymore.

 

[bczygan]

If you mean back to work at the job....NO. I quit. Need to finish the work here at the house.

Just finally got over the flu and bronchitis a few days ago. Julie still has bronchitis and went to the doctor yesterday. We both got our flu shots!

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/search.php?searchid=14701565

Been posting like mad and working inside, since the weather has been off and on brutal outside.

Working on the bedroom today. Here's some photos of before:

 

[bczygan]

Starting with the top of the bookcase next to my bed, and working counterclockwise to Julies side. This will follow the photos above.

Here is before and after of the top of the bookcase. BTW, that's a carving from Sierra Leone.:

 

[coma13]

Good start. Those shots of the bedroom almost gave me a panic attack. I'm way too claustrophobic to ever hoard. Haha thank goodness for that.

 

[bczygan]

Good start. Those shots of the bedroom almost gave me a panic attack. I'm way too claustrophobic to ever hoard. Haha thank goodness for that.

And that is WAY better than it used to be. At one point there was only a small place to stand on one side of the bed. Everything else was within 3' of the ceiling. Had to climb over my wife to get to my side of the bed.

This is phase 2. Actually phase 3.

 

[rharman]

You're making progress. Keep going.......

 

[xtremek]

Glad to hear that your feeling better. Hope your wife feels 100% soon. Glad to see you're still moving forward. Hang in there.

 

[Kevin54]

Bill....I thought you had the bedroom cleaned up in the Grunge Garage thread? I also thought you got rid of those squawking birds too?

 

[jeffmoss26]

Uh, no. I just call it like it is.

 

[zip95864]

oh yikes

 

[bczygan]

Hmmm...

Are there some posts missing here?

Have you boys been playing nicely with one another?

I don't subscribe to this thread, so I don't always keep up with what's going on. That's contrary to some peoples vision that I wait here with bated breath, hoping for some drama.

Looks like I may have missed some.......oh well!

Sorry to the moderators, if they had to clean up things a bit.

Yes Kevin, I did clean up the bedroom before.....almost completely. But it is the room we live the most completely in, and needs it again.

Jeff, Kevin and Bronson...my Three Musketeers.

Got sidelined with the flu and then the very bad weather, but did get a big thing accomplished. If you guys remember, I had 2 different cities with inspectors complaining. So Sunday just past, Julie and I went out to the property, in the middle of a snowstorm, 120 mile trip, just missed being in a 35 car pileup, 35MPH, and got it taken care of. Spent all day, until dark.

The last 2 days have been lazy days. Cold! Did run errands in the van with no heat.

Just watched the house next door emptied, first by the court, evicting the people and putting their belongings in a big roll off dumpster. Then the scrappers came and hit first the dumpster, and then the garage. The furnace and water heater had already been taken. I'm keeping my eyes on the garage door.

Well, back to it...

And you guys play nice!

Bill

 

[xtremek]

Stay warm Bill. That you went out last Sunday was big. It was pretty "brisk" on Sunday. Not as brisk as the past few, but still cold enough I didn't want to go out. I did go out, just didn't want to. Again, stay warm and keep plugging away at it. (FYI for those following along, the temps have been highs in the single digits and wind chills of -20 to -40 the last 3-days)

 

[Bronson]

Bill, You and Julie try to stay warm and healthy.

 

[bczygan]

If it gets up to 30, on the weekend, as we're hoping, we're gonna break out the Bermuda shorts!

 

[jsherid1]

I really don't miss Detroit winters!

Keep going with the cleanup--you need to do it for your mental and physical well being. Sell off anything that has value and throw out the rest without remorse. If you have it in a pile, odds are nearly 100 percent you don't need it to have a happy life. You and your wife need to find a replacement for the temporary thrill that comes with buying things. Renovating the house, doing restorations and then selling the finished product, giving something useful to someone who needs it--whatever it takes gets you guys to break the acquisition cycle.

Hoarding is a form of addiction and there may be free or low cost professional help available to help you--if you are feeling overwhelmed seek that help out! Your life will improve immeasurably (more money in your pocket, less worry, better health) if you do but you have to want help at a very basic level for it to work. This community is a great place to get support but in the end it is your choice to change, or not, and we aren't (can't be) a substitute for professional help and there is no shame in admitting to yourself that is what you need.

There are a lot of us, like me, who are pulling for you and I hope this is taken as constructive advice. I'm not a medical professional but I solve business problems for a living and know from experience that unless you get to the root cause of a problem you are just addressing symptoms and that never works in the long run.

 

[RPW]

Keep the spirit up!

 

[Riley]

Hi Bill,

Hope the spring finds you well. Just curious if you've contained progress on this project since the weather has become more reasonable.

Your winter time push was truly remarkable, and I for one, was impressed with your efforts.

So, how goes the "great little garage"?

 

[xtremek]

Bill, I pray you're still hanging in there and plugging away. I'm having to resist the urge to "collect" myself.

 

[bczygan]

Garage:

 

[Moe's garage]

I think it looks great Bill, keep at it.

 

[bczygan]

I think it looks great Bill, keep at it.

You need to get your eyes checked. It has FAR to go. But you can see floor.

This is just a benchmark photo for me to use. At the end of this wekend I expect dramatic progress.
Check back.

Bill

 

[signcrafter]

I see some of the posts got deleted since yesterday. Thanks to the mod that did that.

Bill, congrats on the progress you've made. Personally I don't care how much or how little you get done between posts, progress is progress even if you don't get as much done as you said you would. I do that all the time also. I say I'm going to do x,y, and z and set my goals high and sometimes(most of the time) I don't get everything done I wanted to. Just the way my head works and seems to keep me motivated. So keep up the good work and keep picking away.

I'm probably right on the edge of hoarding also. I keep lots of things and it seems like I have my own little hardware store in the garage! Every so often my basement and garage gets to where I can barely walk threw it, I have a problem starting a million projects at one time and I think I have ADD since I start something and then start working on something else and so on and never really finish one thing! So then I have **** laying all over and I have to push the reset button and stop everything and do a major cleaning. I try to keep things as organized as I can but I don't have a monster garage, just a 2.5 car garage and I do a little of everything. Woodworking(table saw, miter saw, 15" planer, 6" jointer, etc), metal working(band saw, chop saw, welders, etc), home repair(all sorts of power and hand tools to do anything from ceramic tile to carpet to drywall to framing, roofing and anything in between), then the auto repair(jacks, stands, specialty tools to do all sorts of things), and then the shop stuff like compressor and tool boxes and all the other **** a guy needs. If I'm only working on one thing I can keep it clean but usually I have more then one thing going on and then things pop up like a home repair or auto repair out of the blue and that's when things get messy. I'll have a truck torn apart in the garage fixing something and then have a plumbing issue and have to drag out all those tools.

Anyway, keep plugging away and making progress and don't let any posters here drag you down. Good luck.

 

[bczygan]

I see some of the posts got deleted since yesterday. Thanks to the mod that did that.

Bill, congrats on the progress you've made. Personally I don't care how much or how little you get done between posts, progress is progress even if you don't get as much done as you said you would. I do that all the time also. I say I'm going to do x,y, and z and set my goals high and sometimes(most of the time) I don't get everything done I wanted to. Just the way my head works and seems to keep me motivated. So keep up the good work and keep picking away.

I'm probably right on the edge of hoarding also. I keep lots of things and it seems like I have my own little hardware store in the garage! Every so often my basement and garage gets to where I can barely walk threw it, I have a problem starting a million projects at one time and I think I have ADD since I start something and then start working on something else and so on and never really finish one thing! So then I have **** laying all over and I have to push the reset button and stop everything and do a major cleaning. I try to keep things as organized as I can but I don't have a monster garage, just a 2.5 car garage and I do a little of everything. Woodworking(table saw, miter saw, 15" planer, 6" jointer, etc), metal working(band saw, chop saw, welders, etc), home repair(all sorts of power and hand tools to do anything from ceramic tile to carpet to drywall to framing, roofing and anything in between), then the auto repair(jacks, stands, specialty tools to do all sorts of things), and then the shop stuff like compressor and tool boxes and all the other **** a guy needs. If I'm only working on one thing I can keep it clean but usually I have more then one thing going on and then things pop up like a home repair or auto repair out of the blue and that's when things get messy. I'll have a truck torn apart in the garage fixing something and then have a plumbing issue and have to drag out all those tools.

Anyway, keep plugging away and making progress and don't let any posters here drag you down. Good luck.

Boy, you got the program right. Everyone I know, who is dealing with this has good days and bad, but those who are on the second part of the arc, are steadily improvement. but it's slow.

Here's a for instance. I pulled a bunch of stuff out of the garage before I took that last photo. This is the fifth or sixth time doing that. Each time, I get access to a bunch of things to sort and move and toss. Some things go in sheds, some in the kitchen (Yes, I find kitchen stuff in the boxes of misc. in the garage) and some in the trash.

As of last night I had cleared about a 4x6 area. I know that because before, all the floor was covered. Last night, when I put everything back in, there was still a vacant space that big.

Today we went grocery shopping for the week. Our fridge went out last week so we are using a counter height fridge. Stopped by Lowes and picked up the grinder feet and some machine screws and bolts to hang a TV mount and TV as well as a new 3 way switch for the garage.

You know how things take 5 times as long as you think they will?

Well, I thought I would post that last photo, and then before dark that very day, I would be able to post the garage completely cleared.

HA!

It will take days to get to that point, if that!

So I'm going back down there right now to push it forward.

Good luck with your project.

If you hit it hard, as often as you can, progress will happen.

Bill

 

[bczygan]

This ought to be a nice late time of night to post.

I've been hitting the garage hard, mostly because I want to "SHOW YOU GUYS" I can do it. Negative comments have got me PISSED!

So after a couple of days of pulling out boxes of junk and sorting them and generally clearing out the garage, I have it to the following state:

I can walk through it.

To get it that way I removed 3 file cabinets, 2 rollers with top chests, innumerable boxes of "stuff", about 6 milk cartons of paints, and a bunch of other stuff I can't even remember.

And looking at the photos, it is STILL one of the messiest, if not THE messiest garage on GJ. Photos don't lie.

It's incredible all the stuff still in there. And daunting the work it will take to finish. But I can see that it will be finished.

At least now I can get at everything without first pulling half the stuff out, and then putting it all back in afterward.

Next is removing the rest of the paint and demolishing the shelving at the end wall.

Then emptying the 2 dressers in the right hand corner and removing them.

Then I think I will demo the bench on the right wall and the shelf up high above it.

There is a bench top leaned up on the left side that will go on top of the Stronghold cabinet along the end wall. The SO wall cabinet will go above it.

You can see the 2 bar stools with the blue seats that Tedsters sold me.

There are still a lot more things to remove.

The wood lathe will have to go. This space is for metal.

There is only room for one of the oil company barrel trash cans.

The compressor will go on the back porch.

Tool bags will be distributed.

The other 2 SO wall cabinets will go above the bench on the left wall.

The 6 Craftsman block grinders up on the shelf will get relocated. I will use the Baldor on the stand, a 1HP block I have in the bedroom, and maybe one more.

Hose reel will get hung.

Lights installed.

Ceiling fixed

Black and white checkered tile floor installed.

Vises installed on benches

Welder on cart.

Arbor press put up on stand.

Etc.

But for right now, I just want to clear all the things out, that don't belong.

Bill

Three photos of it as of tonight.

 

[xtremek]

The crowd chants "go.......go......go.....go....go...go.." Keep pushing. Are you selling anything?

 

[bczygan]

Not selling, but not buying much. A recent grinder purchase is the biggest thing. Oh, and 2 metal shelving units and (2) 3 drawer lateral files. Got those for $12.50 each. Those will go in sheds to organize supplies and tools.

As I purge, there is a growing pile of stuff that will have to be given away, donated or sold.

Simplify and eliminate. Keep paring away until it is at it's minimal best. I have a vision in my head of a really simple space.

Just finished a little more clearing, consolidating and organizing. Every time I have a minute, I go down there and do a little more.

In fact, that time is RIGHT NOW!

Bye

 

[bczygan]

Demo has begun.

First photo shows shelving on the end wall being emptied.

Second photo shows shelving being disassembled.

You might ask why I am removing shelving. "But Bill, you have so much stuff, you need every inch of shelving you can get!"

I'm thinking the opposite. Shelves, like bench tops, invite clutter. And I don't want to work in a warehouse. This is a workshop, not a storage shed. I already have storage sheds. That's where paint and supplies go.

This shop is going from a stuffed to the gills storage box, to a minimalist workshop.

Watch and see.

Another clutter attractor is a dresser. I have already removed one that was full of stuff from a couple of decades ago. It had been that long since we opened it. The Stronghold cabinet under these shelves is taking it's place.

But there are 2 more dressers, full of stuff, in the far right hand corner of this garage. As soon as I get this shelving removed, the dressers will be gone through and removed as well.

That leaves the high shelf with the 6 grinders and a very high bench along the right hand wall. Once the dressers are gone, I will look at what to do there.

Still have to remove the wood lathe and vertical compressor....and lots of little boxes of stuff and the rest of the paint.

Good day to work there as it's rainy.

Back at it...

Bill

 

[N-10Z]

Personally, I really thinking that you are missing the whole point as to what Brent is saying. It's not about smoking, it's about not looking at things in the long term sense, because at the moment, things are still fine, although in your case things have to be stepped up at a little faster pace. Long term would be to ultimately doing something about it Bill, but you are living in a short term World, and only doing what is necessary to keep the dogs off your tail.

You have pipe dreams that you will never accomplish. Sidewalk work, putting pavers here, putting flagstone there, build this, have a workshop, make that, and the list goes on with the pipe dreams. But you really need to look at reality. You have stuff stashed that you don't even know what you have. How full is your hangar that you are paying on? What about the place where you have the 13 or 18 or how ever many campers that you own? A couple of years ago, when you could have had the water fixed, IIRC, you picked up another camper or two.

So in the present, and doing what you are doing, is just enough to keep the hounds away, and to satisfy the city. When the snow starts blowing, are you going to be out there sorting things? If I was a betting man, I'd bet NO!!!

There has been so many excuses over the last couple of years. Yet what is outside under tarps, was the same stuff that was out there two years ago and maybe had more added to it. I guess I don't understand why you find things so hard to throw away, yet are so afraid to start over fresh with a clean slate. You have bought and ruined so many things, plain and simple. There is no way that I could cart bucket after bucket of water, because your water is not hooked up, but then go out and buy other things just to lay them down or lose them in the midst of other piles of stuff. It's not like you liver out in the middle of nowhere and there is no water at all. You take it upon yourself to shift priorities around, and just not fix it.

Like I said, you are only doing the minimum to keep the hounds away. Next year at this time, it will be the same old thing and just be another repeat of what you are doing now. You've already stated before that you had to clean out rooms again, that I am assuming were the same rooms that were cleaned out two years ago that you were so proud of doing.

And one other thing is the making up of excuses.



Without going back through, but you said the same thing a couple of days back, that you cleared a 10x10 area. That is the same size of my bathroom. It should not take anyone all day to clear out a 10x10 area. Items stored outside for years is worthless trash. Most people could have something the size of your yard cleaned out in one day.

Maybe it was piled really high.

 

[bczygan]

Maybe it was piled really high.

Don't quite get your point, but yes, the garage was piled up to the ceiling when this project began. Imagine a space 9x9x19, full to within a foot or two of the ceiling.

Much different now.

Just finished disassembling the shelving on the end wall, and removing it.

Next is taking the paint out and then working on the dressers.

Back to it.

Bill

 

[bczygan]

Shelving is removed.

Paint removal is next and then the dressers.

 

[Bronson]

Wow, Bill, the Garage is 9x19, according to Your first post.That is 171 square feet.
You are 15 months into cleaning up and organizing a 171 square foot space? Outstanding.

By My calculations, You will be clean and organized about the time OJ finds the Real Killer.

 

[bczygan]

Wow, Bill, the Garage is 9x19, according to Your first post.That is 171 square feet.
You are 15 months into cleaning up and organizing a 171 square foot space? Outstanding.

By My calculations, You will be clean and organized about the time OJ finds the Real Killer.

OK, I'm a lot like Sheldon.........was that sarcasm?

I'm a few days into doing the latest phase of cleaning it up, while doing all the other things that daily life requires, including replacing the third fridge that went out on us, ruining all the food. And dealing with delivery of a third replacement, after one damaged in shipping and one that didn't work at all.

You've been keeping a close watch, so you do know that each time I worked on the garage, it wasn't a long term project. I did some things, and then went on to do things elsewhere. And of course, you've noticed that each time it got better.

The big deal this time is that enough things have been removed, that I can work in there easily, any time I want. Before, I had to drag a bunch of stuff out, just to get in there. And then when I was through working, it all had to go back in.

This time, it is going just like all the other garage projects here on GJ. Steady progress, with photos to document it.

So I'm going back down there to get the next step finished.

Photos will follow.

Bill

 

[Nighttrain]

Running water in the house yet?

 

[bczygan]

Running water in the house yet?

Thank you for your concern, but this is a garage thread, not a house thread.

Let's all stay on point.

All comments and suggestions relating to this garage project are welcome.

What color scheme do you guys recommend? I have something in mind.

The red SO cabinets, the black Stronghold cabinets and the wood counter tops are going to be part of the installation. The black barstools made of rims will be a part as well. The seat covers for them could change color.

I'm thinking tile for the floor, and was considering black and white checkerboard pattern.

A lot of garages on GJ have a horizontal accent stripe. The ceiling here is higher than 8', so a stripe would make it seem shorter, but the space is so small, I wonder if it would be too much complexity. The same goes for the floor. Should it just be one color?

BTW, Paint is all OTD. Now for the dressers.

Bill

 

[bczygan]

First dresser and contents broken up and disposed of.

 

[Nighttrain]

Only because we care about you brother. Get some help!

 

[bczygan]

Only because we care about you brother. Get some help!

I truly appreciate that...more than you can know.

But I am going to keep this as a garage improvement thread.

Other cleanup and improvements are happening in parallel and I may post major milestones separately.

This phase of the garage work is just clearing and cleaning. I only expect a couple more days of work on it. Then it will sit for a while as I have more pressing work elsewhere (As you know).

When some of those things are completed, I will pick this thread back up and do actual garage improvements.

Bill

 

[signcrafter]

I wish you could post more without all the ridicule, it actually motivates me a little to get some organizing done. I know how it is to have stuff accumulate(although not on the level you do) and then how long it takes to clean a little area. I focus on getting projects done and don't take the time to clean and put things away in between projects and next thing you know I have a foot of stuff piled up on the work bench. Then it takes forever to clean it right. To go thru everything and sort out the junk, the savable stuff, the tools, the materials, etc. So while a 10x10 area doesn't seem like much to some I can appreciate the accomplishment of sorting thru that area of stuff and cleaning it right.

And it never fails that while cleaning and organizing another 10 projects pop up! I'll be cleaning an area and find a "project" and start working on that to finish it up. Or find something that needs to be taken apart or fixed or needs some sort of attention. So for me it's never a matter of just cleaning a 10x10 area!

I don't know if I would agree with getting rid of the shelves. I know they can attract extra stuff but not if you use them for stuff you plan on keeping. But I'm sure you know what works best for you.

I have to go clean the garage now. Had to drop the axle and oil pan out of an F150 to get to the oil pump to fix the pressure relief valve the engine builder put in backwards causing the oil filters to grenade from the high pressure. Got that fixed but need to put the axle back in now and clean up the tools and mess. Then at the same time I decided to rip out 400 sq feet of hardwood flooring and put down new subfloor and laminate. So have all the tools and **** from that in the one open stall in the garage. Also have been spring cleaning other parts of the house so some of that stuff ended up in the garage and needs to be put away. Also have about a million other projects to do, never seems to end!

Keep on chugging along