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Mr. 360

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Nov 23, 2012
Messages
662
Location
Bowmanville, Ontario
Nice progress with the insulation and shelving.

Thanks Dubber, gotta get it finished up before it gets too cold around here.

Looking good man! Cool score with the anvil...I like that.

Thanks! I like the anvil too, should be good for some lighter duty forming work. I was going to strip and repaint it but I might leave it green, kinda punchy.
 

vr4joe

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Jul 3, 2012
Messages
106
Location
Medford, MA
Very nice garage. This is a great example of efficient design strategies within a single car garage. This is going to make one hell of a shop. This is great! I read through the entire thread, and I may have missed it, but are you thinking on installing gutters at the eaves? This would also help your water issue greatly. You can even connect your down spouts to the perforated drain pipe you installed earlier.

Great to see the hand drawings as well. Either yourself or someone in the family is an architect :) Conveying an idea in your head and quickly sketching it out is an art.
 
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Mr. 360

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Bowmanville, Ontario
Its coming! Mornings are starting to require jackets. That's always a big step for me once i finally give in to their necessity haha.

Very true, I usually just go through the entire winter in my leather jacket. I love it so much i'd rather wear it and be a bit cold haha.

Very nice garage. This is a great example of efficient design strategies within a single car garage. This is going to make one hell of a shop. This is great! I read through the entire thread, and I may have missed it, but are you thinking on installing gutters at the eaves? This would also help your water issue greatly. You can even connect your down spouts to the perforated drain pipe you installed earlier.

Great to see the hand drawings as well. Either yourself or someone in the family is an architect :) Conveying an idea in your head and quickly sketching it out is an art.

Thanks, that's a nice comment! I'm hoping to be able to make the place super functional and efficient, kind of like my leatherman multitool.

I do actually have some eaves troughs, just haven't installed them yet. I plan to funnel to a rain barrel, and then overflow tapped right into the perforated pipe, like you mentioned.

Not a bad guess, my great grandfather was an engineer (I've been told he served in WWI re-engineering bridges after they had been destroyed, but the stories are hazy). My Grandfather was involved in layouts, planning, etc at a printing press, and my Father was a cartographer, so I suppose it runs right back down the line (all on my fathers side). I'm an Industrial Designer, so I draw all the time too. It's a great way to hash out your ideas before getting too far in. Thanks for stopping by!
 
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Mr. 360

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Bowmanville, Ontario
I really like that welding table. FYI you can drill and tap that thick table top and use this kind of clamp to hold your work pieces in position.

http://www.grizzly.com/products/4-1-4-Hold-Down-Clamp/G9590

You can also use the kind of clamps designed for mills and large drill presses.

Bib, that is nothing short of brilliant! that table now seems even more useful with that idea. This is definitely on the to-do list for that piece. I'll have to make sure my drilling is super, super precise in order to make a nice grid. Thanks for the idea!
 
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Mr. 360

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Bowmanville, Ontario
As an aside, I found this cool old York 60 vise at my parents farm many years back, laying underneath an old workbench in a rotting milk-shed. It's definitely going to get a restoration, seeing as how the mechanism still works well and there's fairly little play (will likely make a new thread on that when I start).

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Unfortunately, I was present when it got damaged, but too late. Without too much detail, an undisclosed individual (not myself) had clamped a large old steering box in it and was pounding the pitman arm to get it off. The vise was not mounted to a table, just bouncing around on the floor. With only one screw holding one of the jaw's in place, it broke clean off and took a hunk of iron with it. I think though, if I make some new jaws out of some solid stock, I should be able to temper them and mount them in with new screws, but I will always be careful not to strain it too much. It's a small vise anyways, not going to be used for pounding anymore.

In an effort to regain some space, I am going to sell a 100Amp Disconnect I had laying around, and am toying with selling my pedestal grinder. It's 3ph so I would either have to find a VFD, or mount a new single phase motor in it. Either way, I end up using a good chunk of floor space (and height) for the sole purpose of grinding... space is a premium in here, and although this is cool, I may have to let it go. I will likely fix up some wiring in it and re-mount the motor (previous owners had it unmounted for some reason), to hopefully get a bit more return on it. It's not complete, but looks pretty heavy duty. I've probably got a bunch of other stuff to unload and maybe make some $$ in the process.

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HSpencer

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Nov 28, 2010
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2,854
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South Central US
That's a great vise. Too bad about the busted jaw. Hopefully you can find some replacement inserts. That grinder would make a great addition in a larger shop.

Good work on your place.

Best Regards
Herb Spencer
 

gribbs

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Mar 29, 2009
Messages
5
Place looks great and I am in Durham region too....epic free finds man! Keep that up. I am wondering - are you able to step on the metal roofing as it lays on the rood without damaging it? I just bought a new place in the shwa with a detached garage and will do the roof eventually just as you have. My first garage was a single and I did lots of work in it and it fit my 1966 skylark just fine...
 
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Mr. 360

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Bowmanville, Ontario
That's a great vise. Too bad about the busted jaw. Hopefully you can find some replacement inserts. That grinder would make a great addition in a larger shop.

Good work on your place.

Best Regards
Herb Spencer

Thanks Herb! I'm hoping the damaged casting wont be a huge problem. I'm not too worried about the broken insert, as it was missing one when I found it (so, no real harm done there). I do love the monster grinder, but I just dont think I can fit it. planning probably to fix it up a little and then sell it. I'm sure someone with a bigger, 3ph shop would love it.

Place looks great and I am in Durham region too....epic free finds man! Keep that up. I am wondering - are you able to step on the metal roofing as it lays on the rood without damaging it? I just bought a new place in the shwa with a detached garage and will do the roof eventually just as you have. My first garage was a single and I did lots of work in it and it fit my 1966 skylark just fine...

Thanks, I'll definitely keep picking stuff up for sure. As for the sheet steel, yes, you can step on it once installed. I would however, try to keep my step along the 'screw-line,' as that's where the most support is. if i stepped between the gaps it might buckle, though I never tried. I did kneel on the sheets once installed to reach all the screws, it's pretty tough. I went with the thinner gauge too, they also offer a thicker gauge. A 66 Skylark in a single, wow... And I thought my ambitions to fit a Willys pickup were lofty. good for you!

Awesome job! Really making the best of anything!

Thanks! always helps to keep a positive attitude. Things usually look worse before they get better!
 

taumac

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Aug 30, 2011
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8,104
Location
Brooksville, Fl
Love the shop and its progess. Great finds and doing the best with what you got I can always relate with. Keep up the good work.
 
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Mr. 360

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Bowmanville, Ontario
Well the push is on, I'm re-wiring the garage so that I can actually do some projects to the house (and to the garage) over the winter months.

Using a colleagues code-book, I determined I could use the big spools of wire I got when the hydro company replaced my (and my neighbours) drops in the summer. I got about 280'+- of #4 Wire, which fed the house's with 60 Amps.

I'll get some pics of my layouts later, but I picked up a few supplies at HD and set to work. So far I've re-used all the wire from the existing circuits, as the PO left loads of extra throughout the system. I also had plenty of outlets and plates and boxes from the last 15 years of projects I've done.

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Along the long wall, I have 4 15A outlets, and 2 along the back wall. These are on one 15A circuit.

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I also have a 20A outlet under the window at my welding station, and one directly across the garage. these are at 14" from grade since my welder will be sitting low down.

Along the "man door" wall, I have 4 15A outlets. One is mounted in the switch panel, and one mounted lower where the PC will eventually go. I paired a few of these off a junction box which then sends power to one outlet in the ceiling for a cord-reel. the last thing on this circuit, coming from the outlet in the switch panel (not installed yet) is a wire going down beside the door, and out to the shed for lights and my compressor. I left it out for now, since I likely won't get to that right away.

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The last circuit will be lighting. One switch for the main interior lights, and one will be left for a light over each door.

This totals;
15A - West Bank (6 outlets)
15A - East Bank & shed (5 outlets in garage, + 1 in shed and 1 light)
15A - Lighting
20A - Welding

These are all fed from a small sub-panel (100A max) which is routed back to my main panel on a double pole 60A breaker. I know my circuits total 65 Amps, but they will never all be sucking max capacity at once. If you look at your breaker panel, your breakers probably add to more than your main breaker.
 
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Mr. 360

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Bowmanville, Ontario
Love the shop and its progess. Great finds and doing the best with what you got I can always relate with. Keep up the good work.

Thanks Taumac, glad you like the place! I think a lot of guys around here do some great work with stuff they have on hand/pick up for free. Really inspiring to see what can be done when you put some thought and sweat into it.
 
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Mr. 360

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First off, I'm not an electrician, so when I sketched out my drawings for where I wanted my circuits, there's nothing of any real "schematic" quality about them. I just used detail lines as references when i went to another sheet, and tried to colour code things a bit for easier tracking.

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Also, there are a few incongruencies now from what I have in the drawings. I've deleted a few redundant loops and added another J-box, but otherwise things are pretty similar.

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The outlets are all set above my work-surface height, to be mounted in a 6" 'band' around the perimeter; which should be removable if I need to do any work. I didn't draw the 'service entrance' wires but they come in below the panel.

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Mr. 360

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Bowmanville, Ontario
I thought for one glorious naive moment that I could simply pull the old wires through the underground conduit, with the new wires connected to them to be pulled through. HA! Not!

Long story short, I stuffed a shovel into the ground and started following the old conduit toward the garage. This is actually when things took a turn in my favour, which is always nice.

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I was able to crack apart the old pieces of conduit without damaging them, so I can re-use a lot of it for my branch to the shed, saves $$$. someone long ago decided they would save some money and use what looked like carpenters glue on all the joints, just a gunky yellow mess now. The wires inside were clean and dry though, and as I pulled it all through I realised they had used lengths of 12/2 wire on the 15A circuits (perhaps to counter voltage drop?). Anyways, I can use that for my 20A welding circuit, so off I went to Home Depot, returning my 100' roll of Romex since I didn't need it now. I also returned the jug of wire lube I bought, and 500' Pull line (since I fished the new wire section by section and then glued it and dropped the whole thing in the trench). If you look at the old run, the house end passed through 3 turns, making for a hard pull. I took a page from my house service wiring and angled the line, eliminating 2 redundant turns.

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Stupidly, as I was patting myself on the back for getting the new run all in place (tucking under the o-pipe was a treat), I realized I never marked the Hot lines, or the Neutral. What I did to test it was bare a little of 2 lines, and one at a time, ground them back to the copper ground cable. then at the other end i used a battery and a multimeter to see when I closed the loop, thus indicating the line at each end.

As it sits now, I'm ready to fill the trench back in, and fish the cables into the buildings. Hopefully this week I will have power.

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As a side note, I temporarily ran an extension cord from the outside receptacle to the garage, where I wired a plug onto the end of the old lighting circuit. not the best, I, know, but nights are arriving earlier now and I need the light. It'll be unhooked in a couple days anyways.
 
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Mr. 360

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Bowmanville, Ontario
Quick update, I decided after dark last night (which is now at about 7:15), that it would be a great idea to tackle filling in the trench. After all the rain though, the long pile was heavy and sticky. Couple that with it being dark out, and my accuracy probably wasn't the best. I then one upped myself by tackling fishing the exposed wires into the buildings. It was a little tough right at the end, and I made sure not to kink the cable and weaken it. The outside portion of the work is pretty well done now though.

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Mr. 360

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Messages
662
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Bowmanville, Ontario
Had another rough layout that I drew up. The black lines that seem to run through everything are the 'frame' of the building, so I could get a good idea of placement of things. This is more or less what I'm going for, though I think that now I can only have 1 fold-down work-table, probably for wood work. We'll see if it ever ends up looking like this...

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i'll probably do a few overlays and tighten it up, but for now it lets me lay stuff out and see if i forget anything.
 
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gipraw

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Apr 25, 2013
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Cypress, TX
Nice to see the additional progress. This continues to be one of my favorite builds on this forum. Thanks for continuing to update your progress.
 
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Mr. 360

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Bowmanville, Ontario
Nice to see the additional progress. This continues to be one of my favorite builds on this forum. Thanks for continuing to update your progress.

Thanks Gipraw, nice to know it's appreciated. I'll try to keep this thread updated as I work on the place. Thanks for stopping by!
 
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Mr. 360

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Bowmanville, Ontario
Small Update, getting some more outlets in. I haven't finished the insulation yet, so I will have to work behind the boxes. The boxes are mounted further forward though, to account for the pegboard and 'wainscoting' that I'd like to put in. I hope to get the other half dozen outlets strung in tonight, and the sub-panel mounted. I will top out at 13 outlets in the garage (10 15A, 3 20A). While that may seem excessive to some people for a 240sqft shop... I think all of you know that it really isn't. In fact, the ceiling outlet will likely get a cord reel at some point.

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As a side note, I really need some more cupboards soon to sort all the **** on my benches. Also, I'm feeling a purge of some unneeded stuff coming on.
 
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Mr. 360

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Worked into the night last night, slaying all sorts of tasks. I think it was the pre-halloween candy that I got into that kept me going. The long and short of it for now is, the garage side of things are to a 'functional' state. I have yet to hook up the lines in the house, but my outlets are in.

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I deliberately left a few things undone though, deciding that since I wouldn't have enough daylight now to re-route the shop lights, I would hold off on that until the power is in, then I can run lights off one of the outlets (thus the missing breaker).

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I also left the outlet that will go on the main bench out for now, since i don't have conclusive plans there yet. The nice thing is I can easily just shut down the branch later, while still having half of the garage powered. I left the wire for it spooled up on the outlet before it (not wired in).

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I'm not sure how critical it is, but I did the best I could to balance the load over both phases. I have lights and 1 15A circuit on one side, and the welder and a 15A circuit on the other. This way, when I'm welding and the lights are on, I'm not pulling power from the same line. The 2 middle breakers are 1 phase, the outer 2 are the other.

I know I just said I was done in here, but I'm thinking now that I should probably protect the 4' of service line with a flexible conduit, keep it from getting damaged.
 

SleepyDave

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Oct 11, 2013
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Burlington, Ontario
You must have picked up the anvil at Harvest Antiques on Taunton a few weeks ago. I had it in my hand to buy, but decided I didn't want to paint it. I noticed somebody else eyeing it and it was probably you. Small world.

I like the progress on your garage so far.

Dave
 
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Mr. 360

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You must have picked up the anvil at Harvest Antiques on Taunton a few weeks ago. I had it in my hand to buy, but decided I didn't want to paint it. I noticed somebody else eyeing it and it was probably you. Small world.

I like the progress on your garage so far.

Dave

Definitely small world. I bought it about 3 weeks back (Sept 22nd, to be exact). The guy there seems to have pretty good prices on tools. it's a huge place, fun to poke through. He was asking 24 for it but let it go for $15. not sure who painted it green, you can see the Record blue underneath. I'll probably leave it as is though.
 

SleepyDave

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I used to go there quite a bit when I lived in Whitby, but now I'm in Burlington and won't make it out there much. I bought an old workbench from him that same day.
 

k p

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Feb 6, 2013
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Ontario, Canada
Very cool thread, I enjoyed reading your progress so far. I have an almost identical setup except my garage is cinder block construction...same worn out shingles.

I will be venturing down this path shortly as my garage also needs wiring, I'll be using a siemens 60A panel with similar underground conduit. My only hurdle so far is cutting through a cast concrete sidewalk in the backyard that leads to my patio (also cast concrete).

My only criticism/tip for you is to ditch all of those plastic outlet covers and replace them with the stamped galvanized type. I plan on using the metal ones for a variety of reasons... the plastic ones break very easily, the metal ones will literally last forever, they will look great (kind of industrial), and they don't show dirt nearly as much as the plastic type (if that's even a concern). Plus they're not much more $$$ compared to plastic.

Keep on keepin' on! I'll keep my eye on this for sure.
 
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Mr. 360

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Very cool thread, I enjoyed reading your progress so far. I have an almost identical setup except my garage is cinder block construction...same worn out shingles.

I will be venturing down this path shortly as my garage also needs wiring, I'll be using a siemens 60A panel with similar underground conduit. My only hurdle so far is cutting through a cast concrete sidewalk in the backyard that leads to my patio (also cast concrete).

My only criticism/tip for you is to ditch all of those plastic outlet covers and replace them with the stamped galvanized type. I plan on using the metal ones for a variety of reasons... the plastic ones break very easily, the metal ones will literally last forever, they will look great (kind of industrial), and they don't show dirt nearly as much as the plastic type (if that's even a concern). Plus they're not much more $$$ compared to plastic.

Keep on keepin' on! I'll keep my eye on this for sure.

Oh don't worry, those nasty brittle plates are only on there until i get said stamped galv ones. I had them on hand and they will cover up the guts til i spring for some cool steel ones. You're absolutely right though, the metal ones will add a definite industrial look. Good luck on your build, that sounds like a lot of concrete!
 

dreamingmuscle

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Dec 4, 2005
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Tryon Oklahoma
Great use of space. I have a 16 x 20 shed that is way over crowded. You and Jack have giving me some motivation to reclaim some more floor space.

I know it's way too late now. But why didn't you throw a tarp over or put down that tyvak down on the roof before the rains flooded you three times? $40 in tarps would have saved you a ton of headaches.
 

drooartz

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Jan 26, 2010
Messages
228
Location
Utah, USA
Nice work on the garage. Great to see a small, well thought out space taking shape. Going to enjoy watching this one come together.

I'm dealing with similar space (12'x20') -- there's plenty of room if you think things through, and you seem to be doing a great job visualizing what you can do with your space. Great sketches.
 

rmckee

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Jan 2, 2012
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457
Location
Wake Forest, NC
Great thread. Can't wait to see how it turns out in relation to your (brilliant) sketches. It's always nice to see the 1-car size garages get built into quality shops. Isn't always about the sq. footage, and you're certainly proving that.
 
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Mr. 360

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Great use of space. I have a 16 x 20 shed that is way over crowded. You and Jack have giving me some motivation to reclaim some more floor space.

I know it's way too late now. But why didn't you throw a tarp over or put down that tyvak down on the roof before the rains flooded you three times? $40 in tarps would have saved you a ton of headaches.

Floor space is all about cupboards, and nifty ways to tuck stuff into places you wouldn't think of. A tarp would have been a great idea for saving stuff from getting dripped on. However, about 95% of the water came in through the sill where the grading was off, no choice there but to dig it out.

Really neat build of a small shop with a lot of stuff, and potential. Are you going to put some vapor barrier over the insulation and line the inside?

Ric

Thanks! I have toyed with VB, I certainly have enough leftover. However the entire outside is wrapped in it, and then another layer of plywood on top. So I'm pretty sealed for drafts there.

Nice work on the garage. Great to see a small, well thought out space taking shape. Going to enjoy watching this one come together.

I'm dealing with similar space (12'x20') -- there's plenty of room if you think things through, and you seem to be doing a great job visualizing what you can do with your space. Great sketches.

Thanks, I've seen your place too, a nice clean build and I totally agree, a small space can be just about as functional as a larger one, it's all what we make of it.

Great thread. Can't wait to see how it turns out in relation to your (brilliant) sketches. It's always nice to see the 1-car size garages get built into quality shops. Isn't always about the sq. footage, and you're certainly proving that.

Thanks a bunch, glad people like the sketches. I certainly have way more than I've posted on here. Lots are super rought though. Maybe someday I'll crack open the sketchbook and post some layouts and garage inspired doodles ;)

Nice...subscribed.

Thanks, glad you like it.


I was wondering the same. Great build, subscribed.

Thanks! And, see above ;)
 

clarkebd

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Mar 21, 2012
Messages
183
I don't know if it's been said, but I would take some of those more 'final' sketches you did, and frame them and hang them up when your place is all complete. I really like the sketches.
 
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Mr. 360

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Bowmanville, Ontario
I don't know if it's been said, but I would take some of those more 'final' sketches you did, and frame them and hang them up when your place is all complete. I really like the sketches.

Wow, thanks! I do actually have some sketches of garage art that I'm working on, maybe I'll post em up at some point. Thanks for the compliment!
 

Responder

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Nov 1, 2009
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368
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Saskatoon, SK
Looking great so far as it is always nice to see small spaces come together as a great functional shop.

Thanks for starting the thread and definately keep us all posted as the progress continues.

Good luck!
 

Thruxton

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Dec 30, 2010
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767
Location
Virginia
I really like your approach, your results, your sketches, and your progress reports! All that is lacking is a good photo of that Myford! Is it a Super 7? Sort of looks so from the little teeny bit I can see in your 2nd post- love mine, great piece of machinery.
 
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