WunTon's 17x20 all purpose garage

[WunTon]

Well I have been here a while now and figure it is time to share my ever changing space. We closed on our house on Sept 27 (which also happens to be my bday) last year and I finally had my own space to do whatever I wanted to with after not having a garage since I left home 18 years ago and luckily I have a great wife that respects and doesn't question what happens or "appears" in the garage! I'll just start with some pics to bring everyone up to date from the beginning and then update as I go along in the future.

The first day or two just moving random stuff in.

The garage pup helping me build some storage shelves

Then since the builder refused to either insulate or let me insulate the outer garage wall I tore down all the drywall they hung and added some outlets and insulation before sealing it back up my own way. You will see what the horizontal runners are for in a sec.

Not fully finished in this pic but you get the idea

The rest of the garage walls will at some point be finished in this same manner.

 

[WunTon]

After that it was getting cold out and I didn't want to freeze all winter long so I picked up a little heater from the HD clearance section for $40 tossed an oven plug on it and plugged it into the 240v outlet I had added in the garage for my welder. I gotta say all winter long I could go from closing the door to warm enough to work in a tshirt or light sweatshirt depending on how hard I was working within about 15-20 minutes.

I added a few tools along the way and did an initial organization of them that didn't last very long.

And then with the help of the ever growing garage pup I built a workbench out of some old solid core 9 foot church doors that I picked up for free off CL.

Getting the doors home!

And here is a shot of the completed work bench along with a power tool storage rack and some cabinets that I built along with a bunch of other **** that accumulated along the way.

And of course the garage pup is always near.

 

[WunTon]

Not really garage related but we then built a deck. As always the pup isn't far away!

My favorite part of the house and the reason I settled for a townhouse for our first house, the view from the kitchen window

Then my dad and I built a fence around the back yard with two eight foot gates that can swing open 180 and the center post can be removed so we can still enjoy the pond view from the patio that will be added below the deck come spring time.

And this is one of my favorite pics. My dad and son working together to build the fence. Dad lives in WI and we are in VA so we don't get to see him nearly as much as we would like but these are the memories I live for!

 

[WunTon]

At some point in June my wife decided she wanted a ping pong/beer pong table for a 4th of July party we were having so I opted to make one myself. I still need to build a base and don't mind all the **** in the background we were setting up for the party.

I then realized things were getting out of control in the garage space and organization wise so I decided it was time to do something about it.

I pulled everything out into the driveway and yard to start mostly fresh.

Then decided under the stairs was a good storage space so I made a hole.

I was able to fit 19 storage bins in here without even trying!

 

[WunTon]

Then it was time to do something to add more functional storage instead of all the dead space under my workbench so I cut the previous bench in half to keep half and give the other half to the next door neighbor and started building a new miter saw station with built in storage and thats where I am at as of today.

So I bought some wood.

Made some sawdust

And built some carcasses.

Doing some test fitting

And then some paint so I can get them set in place with the tops attached to get them leveled and start building drawers.

I'll have more to add but those are the main steps along the way to get me where I am today. Thanks for looking and please feel free to add your thoughts or ideas I welcome them!

 

[QwikKotaTx]

I too just bought that same ping pong set for use on our dining room table in lieu of the $500 fold up monstrosity my wife was about to purchase.

Nice work on the cabinet frames.

 

[CombatNinja]

That insulation under your stairs is doing jack sh!t being open on the back like that by the way.

Oh, and bonus points to the builder for coming up 6" short on that one section and saying "screw it".

 

[WunTon]

I too just bought that same ping pong set for use on our dining room table in lieu of the $500 fold up monstrosity my wife was about to purchase.

Nice work on the cabinet frames.

Thanks! I decided to make my own table for the exact reason you didn't want one, official size is to damn big. Mine folds in half and can store the paddles and balls in the middle when stored away.

That insulation under your stairs is doing jack sh!t being open on the back like that by the way.

Oh, and bonus points to the builder for coming up 6" short on that one section and saying "screw it".

I didn't mention it but you are exactly right our entry way at the stairs was always really cold last winter due to the huge air cavity and lack of insulating the stairs so I did take the time to insulate the stairs with the left over insulation from doing the garage wall as well as adding a piece the spot that they were short. These are the fun times you have with a planned community builder I guess!

 

[WunTon]

I managed to find a little time in the last few evenings and yesterday to get my drawers finished up and got 8 of the 12 installed last night but then I ran out of screws because apparently simple math eludes me when figuring out needed supplies!

And then on Saturday I made an addition to the garage that should help out with my wood projects!

Its an older Craftsman "zipcode" saw that the guy I bought it form built a custom steel frame around with a 1/4" steel plate extension with a Rockler router lift, 50" Vega fence and small storage drawer underneath. I plan to rewire the saw to run on 240V and make some useful jigs and zero clearance inserts then I should be good to go with this thing. The nice part of it is that its on heavy duty locking casters and is more than large enough to put a top on to be used as a large assembly table as well. For $500 I am happy with it and it was only 15 minutes from my house.

 

[WunTon]

Brought home a new project yesterday. Its a 63 *** SWB Fleetside that I plan drop a 6.0 LS/T56 into and drive the **** out of it. It came with a brand new 350 and 4L60e from GM along with all of the bits an pieces to be able to drop it in and wire it and the rest of the truck up. I also have more boxes of new parts than I know what to do with that I need to go through and inventory before I get started.

Loading was easy

The sprinter makes easy work of moving all the smaller parts. I've got an aluminum ramp that makes rolling things in and out really easy.

Got it home without issue and thats when things went down hill. As you can see it has no suspension to attach wheels and tires to so simply rolling it off of the trailer into the garage was not an option.

The intent was to jack it up high enough to clear the fenders with the 4x4s we had laid under the pallet the truck was on and rest it on jack stands then pull the trailer out and lower the truck down onto some 4 wheel dollies and push it into the garage.

Unfortunately the truck was way heavier than we anticipated even missing the entire drivetrain and the rear 4x4 snapped on us. After that we ended up having to pull it off the trailer with my buddies truck in the street and then with a combination of pushing and pulling it with his truck we were able to get it into the garage. The dollies proved to be useless and are all firewood at this point.

We eventually got it in place and piled all the boxes and parts on top of it and closed the garage door with 2 minutes to spare in time to leave to pick up my son!

 

[WunTon]

The weekend plan is to get it on jackstands and get the pallet and tires removed and then start inventorying all the boxes of parts. I've got receipts in hand for about $10k in parts that the PO had purchased not including the motor and trans so I should be able to work on this thing for a while before having to make any big purchases. Here are a few more random pics I snapped before heading in for the night.

Engine bay sheetmetal looks solid just needs a good cleaning.

Bumper and grill appear straight

The seat was redone last year with fresh springs, foam and leather.

And one of the back side of the motor since i couldn't get to the other side after just tossing everything in the garage to get the door closed last night.

Thats all for now but I'll be sure to update as I go.

 

[WunTon]

No big updates really. I got it up on jack stands in the garage and started doing an inventory of what I have. I'm going to have to put everything in a spreadsheet cause there are just so many parts. While digging through everything I found a stack of parts receipts totaling $18,218.17 and from comparing the receipts against my inventory list that total is still less than what I have in parts and that doesn't even include the cost of the truck!

 

[nicholam77]

That's a hell of a project with the truck. Have you jumped in yet?

I've probably said it before but your miter station really turned out nice!

 

[WunTon]

That's a hell of a project with the truck. Have you jumped in yet?

I've probably said it before but your miter station really turned out nice!

Thanks for the compliments! I forgot I had started this thread so I guess I will give some updates!

Yes the truck is a huge project for sure. Updates on that go as follows I removed the front clip, doors and steering column in preparation to remove the cab. I sold the motor and trans that came with it and bought a mildly built 6.0 LS that will be twin turbo'd and I am still on the hunt for a T56 trans. It came with all new suspension components but I wanted it lower than factory so I decided to go full air ride and bought everything I need to accomplish that task. I am not looking to lay frame but I do want to be able to get a nice low look but still be able to use this as a truck when I want to. Thats about as far as I have made it on that project so far since I have been focused on house projects for the wife while I have nice weather for working outside since there isn't a lot of space in the garage for big projects anymore. The plan now is to spend the winter months working on the truck and hopefully get it to a point that it will be close to if not drivable for next summer.

I needed some summer time fun so I built myself a drift trike to cruise around on for the summer.

As for garage updates I rearranged some things and built some new cabinets above the miter station in my never ending quest to find space to put things.

Started out with this mess

Then took everything down and finally got one wall painted in the garage.

And then I ended that day looking like this.

Then I tossed some doors on. I really need to get some drawer fronts made for the miter station!

For my latest project I picked up some walnut slabs that are still a bit to wet for use so I built a solar kiln over this past weekend.

I used simple furring strips for the framing covered with 1/5" flooring underlayment for the sheathing and 1" foam board insulation to keep it as light as possible. The three sides and back separate from the base with a few screws to make it modular and mobile. After assembly all of the non separating joints were caulked and paint was added. I will throw down some clear silicone to seal the roof when the time comes along with some expanding foam at the top and bottom of the roof to ensure a good seal. I still need to cut some adjustable vents into the back panel and get a solar powered fan ordered and installed into a plenum that I will figure out once the fan is here.

Double insulated the walls to help retain heat.

My son helping and by helping I really mean he's claiming it as his space ship so he can be the first kid to set foot on the moon!

Got it all together

The paint is flat black acrylic exterior paint and primer in one because it's what I found on the clearance shelf at HD that wasn't yet tinted and I was only concerned about it being black and cheap!

I'll try and keep this thread updated from now on as I go.

 

[nicholam77]

Can't see your pics anymore. Maybe time to update with your new tools?

 

[TimTaylor75]

I can see the pictures still. Nice project with the Chevy.