The "Normal Person" Garage

[motorbreath53]

So, we bought a "new to us" house. Its quite the project. Just about every room of the place needs something.

BUT! Its on an acre, has RV hookups for the toys, and TWO separate three-car garages!

The larger of the two will serve as my shop...but there is another thread for that one.

I thought it'd be fun to share the garage that my wife labled as the "Normal Person" garage. She was making fun of my desire to build a full scale fabricaton mecca, saying something like "..normal people have lawn mowers, bikes and daily driver cars in their garage..."

This will essentially be that garage. Lawn tool storage. Small engine maintenance, and basic home repair supplies.... but, it also needs to have some clear parking space for the toys.

Exterior: The previous owners had closed off the single car door to create a bedroom. Good news was the framing and slab door were left in place. I cut away the stucco exposing the tired old slab door.





I had the same organization hurdles that all garages have. Ladders, lawn tools, saws, weed whips, bikes etc...


I had a bunch of thin square steel tubing that I had collected for the last garage... and welding is more fun that sawdust anyway... so I stuck this shelf/tool hanger together.


This side is very temporary. The shelving with all the cleaning products and paint were existing, and are very helpful for the time being, but eventually i'm hoping to have all those products inside cabinets... The beer fridge will be moved into our bar, as the goal is to fit our DD cars in here.


I've since collected up a hand me down craftsman bench, and some other tool storage.


...and a pretty slick bike hanger (ikea believe it or not)


Goals will be a more tidy appearance. Fresh roll up doors. Finished drywall with texture. Stained floors, and some can lighting.

 

[ajohno]

Looks great so far. Everybody has to start somewhere.

 

[motorbreath53]

Some cool stuff happening in this garage the last month...but the house has been kickin' my ***.

Long story short, Slab leak led to a replumb of the entire house. During that process I made the mistake of saying, "while the walls are open, we should..."
6 months of audio wiring, hdmi, cat5, adding lights, adding outlets, removing walls, later... we had our house re-sheetrocked and textured.

"Ahhh shoot babe... I ordered too much sheetrock and mud... I guess we'll just have to do the garage now too..."

The garage was mostly sheetrocked, but before we finished and textured it, I wanted to add some stuff.

Can Lights- There was almost no lighting in here. I didn't want anything hanging down, and the access above made these a no brainer. I also brought in two 20amp outlet circuits dedicated to the garage and added some much needed outlets.


When my wallet catches up from all the stuff inside the house, I plan on adding some roll up doors with jackshaft openers, so I wired for those:


Wall Mount TV stuff... because... well because. I also cleaned up the switch box situation and ran all the door opener wiring nice and tidy behind the wall. (little stuff, but even a little victory is a victory)


Insulation! Our south/east facing walls were previously not insulated. This will be a huge step.


The drywall is up and textured. I'm working on painting everything right now. Next up will be some clean up of the dryer venting and some type of door to hide the HVAC and water heater.

 

[motorbreath53]

I am making some changes to allow the "single car" side of the garage to act as the work/storage space. I'd like to leave the other side open for two cars. These at least show the nice finished/painted walls etc. Still working on baseboard and a "barn door" to cover the HVAC/Water heater closet






I'm dreaming of the beautiful display type vehicle areas that some of you are parking vette's, vipers and 911 turbos in... only mine will store a trans-am and my turd of a fox mustang autocross car.

I'd love to acid etch and clear the floor, but that will have to wait for later.

 

[1969]

May I say "thank you" for not calling it a man cave!!!

 

[deckmonkey]

Normal was your first pictures. It's nicer than my living room. I don't even have a tv. And I would love some pot lights, too.

A few suggestions/ideas. For the hvac door, you will probably need a grill to allow combustion air in. Before you pretty that up, have you thought about a sink? It looks like you might be able to tie into the drain for the condensate.

These are the types of shops I like to see. Thanks.

 

[Elginz]

Id call it a man cave, but that sounds so sissy. Good call on not calling it a " " also.

I have a garage that is now a shop, mostly a wood shop that is. I can get a vehicle in to work on it if I have to. I have a motorcycle garage converted to the metal working shop (AC welder, HF 20 ton press, grinders and such). None of it is as nice as yours. It seems I am constantly changing things, part of the fun I guess. Enjoy your space and the satisfaction the comes with it.

 

[motorbreath53]

May I say "thank you" for not calling it a man cave!!!

Sir, I wouldn't dare. I try to avoid any label that a lotion-y handed host on HGTV might use when it comes to my garage.

Normal was your first pictures. It's nicer than my living room. I don't even have a tv. And I would love some pot lights, too.
A few suggestions/ideas. For the hvac door, you will probably need a grill to allow combustion air in. Before you pretty that up, have you thought about a sink? ...

Thanks Sir! Kind words. I've always wanted a "finished" looking garage, i'm pretty damn excited to be close to the vision. Good call on the vented door for the HVAC. That is in my plans, and that specifically is why I think i'm going to build a cool sliding barn style door. I can't find an off the shelf option I like the look of. Sink? Not for this one. I'm hoping to keep this garage as more of an indoor parking space, and if I get the big caddy that i'm dreaming of, i'll need every inch of it.

I have a garage that is now a shop, mostly a wood shop that is. I can get a vehicle in to work on it if I have to. I have a motorcycle garage converted to the metal working shop (AC welder, HF 20 ton press, grinders and such). None of it is as nice as yours. It seems I am constantly changing things, part of the fun I guess. Enjoy your space and the satisfaction the comes with it.

I love those kinda spaces. I was fortunate enough to get ahold of two seperate three car garages with this property. This "normal person" garage is attached to the house and i'm hoping to use it for nothing more than parking and detailing paint. The other one is to be the shop for my 1001 unfinished projects.
This is a shot inside shop:

 

[ZRX61]

what part of socal?

 

[motorbreath53]

what part of socal?

We're in East County San Diego.

Some progress today. I got the last of the lights in and started to affix the wall plates... but I found some hasty finish work left by my drywall guy. So, out came the mud. Now I just have a bit more touch up paint...

I did get my pictures hung up though...

The far left one is our Trans-Am shot at speed. The rest are just generic shots that I liked in that "1920's Race Cars" thread on the HAMB. I hope to phase out the generic ones over the next few years with shots of our own stuff.

I also got the bikes hung and out of the way BUT, I'm still looking for a tidy way to organize my lawn tools. I also need a spot for the pressure washer and my "when the zombies come" generator.

 

[motorbreath53]

More small victories. I crimped my first RJ45 connection and have working internet on the TV. Pretty slick having Pandora in the garage.

And, I got the toys parked inside. Now, if I could only trade these out for a Z06 and a Caymen 4s....

 

[MagicMarker]

Wow... looking great.

 

[Richard Cranium]

looking good, keep posting pictures

 

[jwhcars]

Hang the lawn tools on the wall. Put generator under tools or in the golf cart.

 

[jesse72]

what a score, congrats on the home and garage(s)!

 

[bczygan]

Just had to see what "normal" was.

Started out that way, but sure isn't now.

Bill

 

[motorbreath53]

Thanks for the atta boys and ideas. It's funny that putting the generator in the golf cart was suggested, as that's where it's lived the last few days.

Unfortunately it's a fairly large generator, and can't live there long. It makes the cart all but useless

I'm considered finding a spot for the generator in the shop. (Spoiled ******* I know!)

I think I will make a rack/shelf system for my lawn tools and saw. I just need to gather up some more square tube.

 

[wasfast]

Have been following along. So much potential to the property overall. I'm not too far away in Rancho Bernardo.

 

[Kevkx125]

If possible build separate shed for lawn stuff.

 

[Shiftless]

If possible build separate shed for lawn stuff.

Garden stuff uses up more space than many realize. The California drought motivated me to give away my lawn mower 2 years ago. Anybody want to buy my electric weed whip?

MB53:
Keep up the good work! I wish I had a quarter of your square footage.

 

[LXCam]

Looks pretty damn good for a normal garage. Congrats on the new pad!

 

[motorbreath53]

Have been following along. So much potential to the property overall. I'm not too far away in Rancho Bernardo.

I lived in RB and Poway most my life. We'd still be in Poway if I could have afforded the upgrade in space.

If possible build separate shed for lawn stuff.

This was my initial directon as well.... it just started to seem silly to give up on this so quick. I think i'm going to give a shot at some wall storage/cabinets. I'm dreaming of ditching the Craftsman bench and doing a large wall unit that will incorporate a bench and cabinets. I just need to get my roll up doors done first so I only have to build it once.

....
Keep up the good work! I wish I had a quarter of your square footage.

Looks pretty damn good for a normal garage. Congrats on the new pad!

Thanks for the attaboys gentlemen. I'm pretty happy with the progress...even if it did distract me from the 1001 other things I should have been working on inside the house.

 

[motorbreath53]

Haven't checked into this thread in a bit...

Sadly, not much to report on this project as far as progress goes... but I felt that this was a worthy post for the "Normal Person Garage."

We are just now working on finishing our Nursery. (Our first baby is due in JUNE!) Of course the nursery project somehow included moved walls, added electrical, drywall texture change, paint floors, trim and windows in the master bedroom..??? You confused? Good. I am too. I'm sure my wife is not the only one with an impressive power of persuasion.

I got behind schedule, and this is what my beautiful garage looked like this morning as we prepared for the babyshower.

shameful, but its only fair:


What seems like miles of trim/ door casing/ baseboard, crown molding, painting supplies, random tools, dog beds, pool chemical, packaging supplies and "put away for summer" desert toys. Just as fast as it became pretty, it is a disaster again.

Goals are set, plans in action. Cross your fingers for me Gents'! The project list is only getting longer, and the freetime goes away late June!