Between 485 & 705 SQ/FT Trey's desert garage

[vwtrey]

In anticipation of closing on this house tomorrow, I'm going to start a thread for my new garage. This is a 32x21 shop that is located in our new back yard. The house has an attached 3 car as well, but that's for the wife to park in and do crafts. I'm pretty excited to have my own area to work in. I've been into cars for a long time, and I am happily passing this on to my son. I have a 74 Bug and he has a 67. Once we get the garage sorted, we'll start work on his car.

As the shop currently is, the interior walls are not finished. The plan for that is insulation and OSB or plywood. 220 outlets are already there, but located by the rollup door. I'd like to have those moved, but I don't know where to yet. I'm not sure how the electrical is laid out, but I'm driving there Friday and will check it out. I'm not electrically smart, so expect dumb questions.

Here's a few pictures. The garage picture is from the real estate listing and seems distorted.



The red bug is the same as the gray one. My dad bought me that car when I was 16. I drove it for a few years and sold it. While stationed in Wyoming for the Air Force, I found a picture of it online in South Carolina. I contacted the owner and was able to purchase it back. It is done now, and will be a great car for goofing off in the Nevada/California Desert.



And here's my son's $200 67.

 

[vwtrey]

Placeholder for a list of things I need to do

Clean out left behind stuff.

Figure out placement of tools/equipment.

Insulation/walls

Consider painting/epoxy/stain floor

LED lights. I've seen these recommended and I need to educate myself on how many can be on a circuit. LEDs

Storage options for parts. Racks

 

[Chrisb62]

From your link.....

• Extendable Design - Could connect up to 8 lights in series by 48 inches connecting cords or connectors. (48 INCHES connecting cords can meet your different installation needs)

Congratulations on the new home and waiting for more pictures and story.

 

[vwtrey]

From your link.....

• Extendable Design - Could connect up to 8 lights in series by 48 inches connecting cords or connectors. (48 INCHES connecting cords can meet your different installation needs)

Congratulations on the new home and waiting for more pictures and story.

Thanks! I'll take some pictures this weekend.

I need to figure out how many amps they'd pull and what the breaker is. I haven't had a chance to look at either quite yet.

 

[xtremek]

I'll drop in for the ride along.

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

Congrats on the new house and TWO garages! Sheesh, I'd be thrilled just to have a three car alone.

$200 for a '67 is nearly free here. I just saw two bugs for sale on the street; both with bad paint and interiors. A '68 in primer for $7500 and a '67 more or less the same for $9500!

We like PICTURES here! Need inside and out of both your garages. You need Before and Afters. Very satisfying to review those later.

 

[vwtrey]

Congrats on the new house and TWO garages! Sheesh, I'd be thrilled just to have a three car alone.

$200 for a '67 is nearly free here. I just saw two bugs for sale on the street; both with bad paint and interiors. A '68 in primer for $7500 and a '67 more or less the same for $9500!

We like PICTURES here! Need inside and out of both your garages. You need Before and Afters. Very satisfying to review those later.

The prices are insane. Luckily I have enough projects that I don’t have to buy any cars for a while.

I took picture this weekend. Not many, but was able to look at things and give me something to think about.

I have two 220 outlets. They might be 208 or whatever, I don’t know the difference. One is on a 30 amp breaker, the other is 40 amp. I don’t know which is which.

There are six 110 outlets, all on a 30 amp breaker.

The lights are on a 20amp breaker so now I can figure out how many led lights I can run on that.

That’s about it. The ceiling is 9’, I thought it was 8’.

I wish I would have taken a picture of the door casing. It looks like the door has been kicked in at some point. The catch for the latch is a metal plate that is barely hanging in there. I need to figure out how to fix that. I’m not sure if the stucco would cause issues with a full casing replacement or what. I’ll look again when I go back out.

 

[vwtrey]

I found what looks to be a decent video on replacing the door jamb. Not sure why I called it casing earlier. It looks straight forward. When I get out there, I'll give this a look and see what I can do.

Other than how he cuts the weatherstrip channel. Wow

 

[xtremek]

20 amp and LEDs, pretty much more than you need.

 

[vwtrey]

20 amp and LEDs, pretty much more than you need.

That's what I thought, but like I said, I'm electrically dumb.

Amps=watts/volts so 20w led on 110 is .18amps each, correct?

It's going to look like the surface of the sun in there.

Not really, but the Amazon LEDs recommend 20 lights for a 20x30 shop. I think I might go with 4 rows of 4 and see how that is.

 

[xtremek]

Yes, you're using the right formula.

There are folks on this forum who are literally pros at figuring this exact thing out. I think there's a thread on it. They'll tell you how many and where, to get the maximum coverage for the minimum fixtures.

 

[vwtrey]

One thing I'm going to be doing is insulating and finishing the ceiling. The garage has gable vents on both ends. Is there anything I need to consider for gable vents and finishing the ceiling?

 

[MacTexas]

I'll go along for the ride. I like old bugs.

 

[vwtrey]

I want to make sure the new shop has only the finest things, so only gold plated tools from here out.

I thought a gold plated ratchet from HF was pretty ironic, and it was cheap on eBay. I wanted to try their ratchets anyway.

 

[xtremek]

One thing I'm going to be doing is insulating and finishing the ceiling. The garage has gable vents on both ends. Is there anything I need to consider for gable vents and finishing the ceiling?

I know with a ridge vent, you need unobstructed soffit vents to get good circulation. Not sure about gable vents though. The insulation is going on the bottom of the trusses, not the roof, right?

 

[vwtrey]

I know with a ridge vent, you need unobstructed soffit vents to get good circulation. Not sure about gable vents though. The insulation is going on the bottom of the trusses, not the roof, right?

Correct.

The house I currently live in has gable only and it seems fine.

 

[vwtrey]

Here's a little bit of planning. I'm going to insulate with R-13 and cover with OSB. I'm not going to heat or cool, so R-13 is going to be mostly sound deadening. Unless someone can talk me out of that or change my mind. The cost of insulation is already close to making me poop myself.

OSB. 4x9

Long walls: 16

Short walls: 10

Ceiling: 24

Total osb: 50x17.95

OSB Total: 897.50



Furring strip to cover joints of walls. 1x4x14

I haven’t done the math for this yet. I’ll also run a chair rail 4’ up just to break things up a little. I think it might look nice.



Insulation. R-13. 32’x15”

Long walls: 20x27.47 549

Short Wall: 6x27.47 165

Ceiling. R-13 Unfaced Fiberglass Insulation Batt 23 in. x 93 in.

4x98.32 393.28

Insulation total: 1107



100 ft. 10/2 Orange Solid Romex Simpull CU NM-B W/G Wire 239.00

The shop currently has 6 outlets on a 30amp breaker. I thought upgrading to 10/2 and running up to 16 outlets total would be ok.



Hellfire concrete coating: 139 a gallon, two gallons. 278



LED lights: Barrina T5 from Amazon. 8 are $57. I’ll order three sets for 171.

 

[xtremek]

Since you're going with unfaced insulation, what are you going to do about vapor barrier?

 

[vwtrey]

Since you're going with unfaced insulation, what are you going to do about vapor barrier?

I hadn't planned on using a vapor barrier. Being in the desert and not heating/cooling, I didn't think it was an issue.

Am I incorrect?

 

[xtremek]

Not sure. Couldn't hurt. 3mil plastic stapled to the studs and trusses. That's what I did for the ceiling in my shop. Used cereal boxes cut into 1" squares so the plastic wouldn't pull through the staples

 

[bugnut]

Nice looking garage and love the beetles!

 

[vwtrey]

Nice looking garage and love the beetles!

Thanks! Once we finish the 67, I have to start on my wife's 71. I don't know what to build after that. I've never owned a convertible...

 

[vwtrey]

One thing I'd like to do is replace the outside light with what I think is referred to as a "gooseneck" light. Since the currently location of the beautiful gold lamp is not where a gooseneck would go, I need to relocate things.

My thought is to put a motion sensor on a plate where the current light is and install two goosneck above the garage door and one above the entry door.

I currently have a security camera facing the garage but there is zero light at night for it, even in night mode.

Any thoughts on this idea?

 

[vwtrey]

Well, loaded up for trip 2. I’m a little more nervous about this one. I’ve spent a lot of time on this car. It’ll be fine once I get in the groove.

Looks like we are moving in three weeks. Just in time for the desert hot to settle in real nice.

 

[xtremek]

How did the drive go? Everything nice and easy? THe more I think about it, the more I think you should get an experts opinion on the vapor barrier for your insulation. There are guys and gals on here that can give you expert advice. If you've already gotten that advice, then tell me to shut up and I'll enjoy your trip.

 

[vwtrey]

How did the drive go? Everything nice and easy? THe more I think about it, the more I think you should get an experts opinion on the vapor barrier for your insulation. There are guys and gals on here that can give you expert advice. If you've already gotten that advice, then tell me to shut up and I'll enjoy your trip.

It’s a valid point. I’m trying to find a local contractor to see what they think about it. I don’t know either way and opinions online are contradictory.

The drive went good. We had rain for the first two hours. That’s not bad, but I believe the rain let the tire straps stretch and one came off, the other was on the way. I saw one flapping and pulled off, so no issues.

I think the shop has enough room for six cars. I’m not going to do that. The gray car will go in the carport while projects are ongoing. I’ll try to do one project at a time. Haha.

 

[xtremek]

Glad the trip went ok.

When I first moved into this shop (30'x40') we could park 4 cars in it (the only door wouldn't allow any more than that and still be able to everyone out). Now that it's a real shop, there's room for the tools, one project, and one repair.

 

[vwtrey]

Well, not much going on really until we move. Two more weeks until the moving company shows up. Even then, I have to wait until the buyer of my current house takes over before I start going bonkers on garage stuff. It's going to be a few months. I decided to to try help someone out and told them that my loan is assumable, and I regret that a little. Patience isn't my thing.

I talked to a few different contractors, and with what I will be doing as far as heat/cooling/lack there of, vapor barrier isn't needed. I'm going to be screwing OSB to the walls, so if anything seems fishy, even though it would be a lot of work, it's all removable.

Some good news, while going through stuff around here to throw away, I found a 50' roll of 6/2 romex. This is helpful because the 220 outlets are located on either side of the rollup door, which seems like an inconvenient spot. This gives me enough to move one outlet and I'll buy more for the other. My welders both run on Nema 6-50r outlets, as does my compressor.

I'm looking for cabinets for storage as well, and a pair came up on Facebook. I like older cabinets and would love to buy these. Hopefully there are still available in a couple weeks when we get there. Not that I need a project, but cleaning these up would be fun and pretty straight forward. And in the time it took me to type that and snip the listing, they are sold. Dang.

 

[vwtrey]

We are living in the house now. We’ve been here one week and we’re pretty happy with it.

I have most everything around the house finished, so I started taking out shelves in the shop, removing nails, hooks, whatever else I find and getting ready for insulation. It was 96 today. I’ll get used to it.

The dang roof joists are covered in staples. I’ll need to remove those or hammer them all flat.

The next thing I want to do is kill power and remove paneling around the breaker box. That area will need cleaned up anyway, and I want to get an idea of how things are run so I can plan for moving outlets and lights.

I need to fix the door when my table saw gets here. Looks like it’s been broken into or locked out of.

The dog is enjoying the new yard. She never lays down outside. Or it’s hot enough that she has to lay down

 

[vwtrey]

I went ahead and pulled the breaker cover and paneling off. Power was/is off at the main panel and I was checking that now power was running to the shop, hence the breakers being on.

I’ll have to have an electrician hookup my welder and compressor 220 lines. The 40 amp is outside of my knowledge. My old house had 6/2 to the compressor, this wiring is 6/3. So I don’t know what to do there.

 

[xtremek]

It looks huge empty, but we all know how long that will last.

 

[vwtrey]

Not really much going on still. Patiently waiting for our old house to close. If you have a VA loan, don’t be a nice person and let someone assume your loan. 90-120 days for closing. It helps the buyer, does nothing for the seller.

It’s good though. This has given me a little time to work in this space and figure out where I want things. I have the tool box on the back wall right now and that feels too far. It needs to be more central. Or a tool cart would be good.

It’s also amazing how quickly a person gets used to the heat. It was 112 yesterday, so 110 today isn’t bad.

 

[Max Power]

I hear you on the heat. I'm heading to a little place called Palo Verde California ( family weekend home) in less than two weeks and I can't wait.

 

[metalhead140]

Cool space and projects! Look forward to seeing you get setup.

 

[vwtrey]

Still “patiently” waiting for the old house to close, so not much happening. I did get some racks and cabinets from Home Depot for storage. I’m happy with the quality. I also ran the electric for the welders. That’s really about it.

We adopted a new pup too. Raven.

 

[vwtrey]

I finally did some things. Insulated the walls. Put OSB up. Rehung lights. Added an attic door. Added an air filtration system. Painted. Added trim. A whole bunch of things. I need to blow in insulation for the ceiling, but that’s about it. It’s not the greatest shop, but to me it is. I’m very happy with it.

 

[Dividing Creek]

Don't know if you removed the 220 by your roll up, but I like them because it gives you the freedom to weld outside.
Weld prep and grinding make one hell of a mess indoors, not to mention fumes and smoke.

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

Coming back to this thread after a long time and I just noticed something I missed before. How did the red Super Beetle have a rag top? And the same car now (you said) has no sunroof at all?

 

[vwtrey]

Coming back to this thread after a long time and I just noticed something I missed before. How did the red Super Beetle have a rag top? And the same car now (you said) has no sunroof at all?

The red bug is a 74 standard that I put an aftermarket sunroof in when I was younger. A few years ago, I reskinned the roof to get rid of it. The red bug is now the gray Baja type.

 

[xtremek]

The interior looks really nice now. Almost too nice to use.