Joel's garage build / organization

[Cobranut]

Yep, Garages are never big enough.

I started with a detached 28'x28' with heat and A/C, then added a 30'x48' steel arch building after I bought my motorcoach and race trailer, then added a 32'x48' shop with 12'6" ceilings, heat, A/C, and a lift, then built a new house with a 24'x28' attached garage, and finally moved a 21x26 steel building from my Dad's house, after he sold his boat, and it's packed with my boat, tractor, mower, ATV and motorcycle.
(How the hell did I end up with all this stuff???) 

It occurred to me after I'd built most of my "compound", that I could've bought the old private school (25,000 sq. ft. about a mile up the road, turned one end into living space, added a few roll-up doors for garage bays, made the rest of the classrooms into storage and machine shop space, and made the gymnasium my shop.
It'd probably have been cheaper in the long run, and having everything under one roof would've been kinda cool.   

I picked up my used 2 post lift from our local Nissan dealer. They merged with Saturn. Cost was $1000 and I had to go take it down. When i bought my house I thought the garage was plenty big enough being 26x32. Now however I've realized I need more space so I'm building an even bigger one out back. I think I'm just going to buy another lift though because they are a pain to move/level/setup. I'd recommend getting an asymmetrical one. It allows you to open the doors and get out of the car easier. Also keep in mine that if a lift says it's 12', find out if the post will raise up higher as you raise it. I modified my front trusses of my front garage to be 12'2" so the lift would fit. Then i realized that as the lift raises up the cylinders on each post also raise. Fortunately they didn't line up with any of the trusses so I cut 2 holes in the ceiling to let them poke up through.

[frijolee]

You guys and the cheap real estate just kill me.

Ah well, I guess when I'm working outside in January and it's still T-shirt weather I have no right to complain.

[freeskier7791]

You guys and the cheap real estate just kill me.

Ah well, I guess when I'm working outside in January and it's still T-shirt weather I have no right to complain.

I can almost do that in NC, only about 2 months of real bad weather here

[wtfx100]

Thats exactly what I wound up doing with my lift too but living in one of the priciest zip codes in NA i'm going to building a getaway a couple hours out with MUCH more space.
Trying to decide if it's even worthwhile keeping the lift in a 2 car garage after I poured a 6 inch slab and all for it... Side benefit is a slab that thick certainly gives some much needed insulation. Always cool in the summer and warm in the winter.

in mine that if a lift says it's 12', find out if the post will raise up higher as you raise it. I modified my front trusses of my front garage to be 12'2" so the lift would fit. Then i realized that as the lift raises up the cylinders on each post also raise. Fortunately they didn't line up with any of the trusses so I cut 2 holes in the ceiling to let them poke up through.

[frijolee]

Minor point on the "if I had to do it over again front":

If you're daisy chaining a few standard outlets from a single GFI outlet for protection (allowed by code).  Get the square form factor outlets to match the GFI.

Finding the correct wall plate ended up being a bit of a headache.




1) Had seen the blended style at Home Depot so I assumed they were readily available in different finishes (nope only white plastic).
2) Didn't know these things were called "wall plates" but once I found that out I still had 982,591 options to dig between on amazon (not joking, that's a real number).
3) Finally tracked down the proper names so I could order what I wanted (standard dual smiley is a "duplex", square form factor is "decora").

So with that in hand I could search for a "2 gang, 1 duplex, 1 decora, brushed stainless wall plate" and find what I needed.   Then overpay for it since it's a oddball (ok, wasn't that bad but $9 for a two pack was still more than normal) and THEN wait 1.5 weeks to arrive .

OR if I known what I was doing up front I could have just bought all my regular sockets in the decora form factor and been done with it.  So there you go.

[frijolee]

Did a small upgrade on the power front for my workbench.

Back when I'd installed one of the HF 4' strips on my toolbox.




I'd always planned to do something similar with my workbench and had planned out the spacing of the uprights the hold the shelf in order to compensate (and that was what?  more than year ago?)  Anyways, cord for the strip kinda came out the wrong end but I had some plastic "P" clips that worked pretty well for a re-route.






Mounting is countersunk. 



I also swapped over all hardware on the back splash from zinc plated to powdercoat.  Galvanic corrosion hadn't been an issue thus far but there is a washer/dryer in there so I figured better safe than sorry since I'd picked up some stainless for another project recently.

Spent a bunch of time over the weekend getting organized.  Need to do a quick alignment on the wife's car, but I'm getting ready to pull in my FJ40.  Almost there...  You can see the new power strip peaking out in the back.

[AKINA FC]

Holy smokes that is a lot of stuff in one work area, nice Job! 

[freeskier7791]

Do you ever feel like the welding table gets in the way?  I like how efficiently you used your space

[frijolee]

Holy smokes that is a lot of stuff in one work area, nice Job! 

Thanks!  I spend a while working out the layout.

Do you ever feel like the welding table gets in the way?  I like how efficiently you used your space

Been working out so far.  We'll have to see if I can say the same with the Land Cruiser in there...  I like using the welding table like an island.  One side has a benchtop lathe and table saw/other power tools tucked under.  The other is storage bins and a gigantic box of bubble wrap and packing materials for Ronin.  On top the end closer to the house is my welding 'ish, while everything that makes a mess is bunched together closer to the main door (drill press, chop saw, h/v band saw, and sander).  The big crate blocking my band saw in the above pic is about to ship to Australia.

Having an isle between the welding table and my main tool box is pretty convenient.  I've tweaked a few things along the way but the overall concept is still pretty much where I started!



Only things I haven't found home for are the two chairs.  If I could clear out the work bench that'd be one.  The other was intended for the welding table but again, it's kind full under there.

[freeskier7791]

cool I noticed the left side had the chairs and booster seats and power washer.  We're under contract on a house with 2 car garage and an attic already above and drywall, I'm super excited to start building stuff for it

[frijolee]

Had things mostly cleaned up so I took an overview shot.




Before rolling in the new inhabitant.




I'd thought I was about ready to start structure additions on the FJ.

Nope.


Unfortunately I managed to snap my track bar bracket on the XJ when the front locker stayed engaged flipping a U turn on the street (had the wife driving in 4L).  It didn't disengage even though I'd shifted out when I jumped in to flip the U.  I heard the tires chirp once but I figured it'd just drive through it.  Then BANG!!  Thought I'd blown an axle shaft at first.




Criss crossed straps got it back in the driveway as above.




One more thing to fix, but sooooo thankful this didn't happen at speed.  Looks like the good Lord must not be through with me yet. 

-Joel

[cool]

You have a lot of crap packed into that space!  That's quite the feat, but not being able to see any open countertop/benchtop work space hurts my OCD brain.  I get the same feeling every time I open my garage door...

[frijolee]

Figured it was time to update all my build threads...

Garage stuff:  Well my work closed so I dragged home a metric ton of randomness they were giving away and the garage went full cluster f--- mode.

Don't you need a dozen or so rolls of edge trim?  Of course you do.




Yeah, nightmare...  Good stuff, but nightmare to stumble around.






This was me sorting just the bins of electrical goodies and hoses...




There's a shed in work, but I'll have to get back to that...

[frijolee]

I actually wanted to take a sidebar and post a bit about the backyard.  When you have a garage as small as mine sometimes overflow spaces become pretty handy.  When there was a distinct possibility I'd move with my former company to Georgia (later decided no) I decided I needed to finish my backyard area.  We'd poured some concrete slabs a while back for RV access, not that I have an RV,  but I wanted to build a deck and planter to handle the elevation changes to the fence and make the area a bit nicer.

Rough layout when there was nothing there:




It was a long run so I kind of had a stair stepping design in my head.

Bought a bunch of pressure treated 4x4s for the uprights and cut to length. 




Didn't get picture of the rental auger for dig post holes but that was fun.  Top and bottom cuts were coated with Henry's Roofing Tar for extra moisture/bug resistance.




Gardener friend came and worked like a dog for a few days digging and pouring concrete.  He's bad ass but I don't know how he makes a living at the rates he charges.  I try to at least buy lunch and tip him well.  I also want to work along side rather than just pay him to go do.




We did buff the fog out of his Tacoma headlights one evening as an extra thank you.

Home depot delivers late...




Random treasure found while digging in the back yard.  Note the spark plug and brake shoes.  Is that a part of a carburetor?  Someone was truly a backyard mechanical at some point.




Gravel delivery on the RV slab and making use of my removable fence section.




Digging down to prep for the deck.  I'm putting this at ground level which is a little unconventional but I think will be cool when I'm done.




"Natural" stain in a clear is actually mustard yellow.  That won't look right on redwood so back it goes.



Redwood with redwood stain.  Much better.




Lumber going back because it was warped.  Learned my lesson.  Always order extra and just plan to return some.




Fresh extra long pieces getting delivered.  Serious, why does Home Depot always deliver after dark?  RX7 getting driven though and that makes me happy.




Girls love the Home Depot carts.  How many times can you visit the store in a week?



A bunch of the new stuff is warped too.  Dammit.  Looks like I'm heading for Ganahl and paying top dollar to pick out my own.  Note to self.  Stick to Home Depot standard size heart redwood where you can.




Didn't get any pictures of the work party but one of my best friends from growing up came down and the two of us slaved for a weekend to get the back structure of the deck laid in.  You can see it peaking out at left. 




More to come.

-Joel

[freeskier7791]

Nice job,  I want to see how this deck turns out, our house is on a slab but I would love to still have a deck of some sort.  Also I am probably gonna put my fence in myself and can't wait to play with the auger.