simple 2-car garage update

[Smokey]

Not really a car project itself but something that will help me with my next car project for sure. My wife and I bought a home this fall. I was really looking for 3-car garages, but this place had everything we were looking for family-wise so I had to settle for a 2-car and park my DD outside.

 

The good news is that it's slightly larger than the average 2-car at 21'x23' so I'll have enough room up front for a workbench and it has 10.5' ceilings so it feels open/big. I won't be doing anything extravagant with the space, so no lift. I could put in a 4-post if I wanted likely, but don't see the justification right now. No compressor either, I made my choice to use electric tools and I'm happy with it.

 

What I do want is a clean functional space that I can use to work on my vehicles and not have look like crap all of the time. Here's my plan of attack for the simple updates:

1. Floor

2. Paint

3. Lighting

4. Work bench

5. Electrical

6. Insulation (none in the attic above currently)

Ongoing/Forever- organization and cleanup - this will be a constant battle as we can't have a shed due to HOA rules so I'll have to keep yard work shit in the garage. I'll also have to use my basement storage as much as possible to hold car parts and spares so that I can keep the garage to just the needed materials.

[Smokey]

here you can see what I started with. It's already drywalled which is nice, but it's also been well used and abused for the past 16 years since it was built. The floor is beat up and stained and the walls have a million holes in it as well as scrapes/stains/marks.

 

This is after I did some initial cleanup and got all of the crap out from our move.

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z56/kutschca/Garage/57D8E98B-6D15-4DB8-86C0-FD2A6529F30F_zpsj67ztdw9.jpg

 

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z56/kutschca/Garage/7F7DE473-794E-4272-8C17-94A2E2426182_zpssrlk0wnm.jpg

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z56/kutschca/Garage/27BD083B-38A9-482C-8984-FB00C6F945B6_zpsgjkov8oz.jpg

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z56/kutschca/Garage/18AE54C3-E032-4ECD-A63F-67880ABCF61D_zpsmq9wdssa.jpg

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z56/kutschca/Garage/9CBEB837-4040-423E-ABF6-CD4DA20509DB_zpsm2lhyxh5.jpg

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z56/kutschca/Garage/B44B86AC-506D-4B47-BEE8-F7BA231AC432_zpsxcidddvp.jpg

[Smokey]

Part 1: Floor

 

I chose to go with the rust bullet coating on the floor. The motivation for that is that I wanted something that can stand up to regular use/abuse and there have been good support for that so far on garage journal. I like that it's rated for higher heat so it shouldn't hopefully have hot tire lift problems like most big-box-store epoxy systems. It's also priced less than a professional epoxy system....and that's kinda where I see my garage going, better than the cheapest shit, but not completely high-end..hahaha.

 

to prep the floor I sprayed the stains with their metal blast cleaner and then power washed the surface. I had to let the floor sit for 4+ days to completely dry out as it's imperative that it not be wet with the Rust Bullet product. You can't even put it on if it's going to rain while you do it.

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z56/kutschca/Garage/A53B69FC-4BE9-4E26-A0A6-FF45F476DA3B_zpsjqg3dn4c.jpg

 

Then I taped off the door to the house on both sides and made a little "tent" to the driveway. This was to both keep stuff out (leaves seem to swirl into the garage space here), and because i was coating all of the pad right out to the driveway so I couldn't close the door during coating. I'm sure my new neighbors loved this!

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z56/kutschca/Garage/898CDD3F-BD44-47FD-B0B6-FA25B331E17E_zpsrxoogve1.jpg

 

Then make sure you're adequately prepared with a proper professional grade respirator. LET ME WARN THIS: Rust Bullet STINKS. It's a STRONG paint thinner scent that does not quickly fade. Despite me taping the door shut the smell permeated the house and took a long time to dissipate. Thankfully I chose to do it when my wife and kids weren't around, but even after done it still took a few days to fully go away. Also wear gloves and long sleeves as whatever Rust Bullet gets on it stays.

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z56/kutschca/Garage/6650F512-1F6C-4C4E-9F02-E0015CF13713_zpsfoshi0em.jpg

 

 

There are lots of write-ups on line so I won't go into detail of the process, but I used 9" paint rollers to put the product down and it was pretty straight forward. the product goes on thin and is pretty easy to work with. I chose to put on 2 coats, flakes, and 1 coat of clear with anti-skid.

[Buteo]

Looks like a fun project. We just finished insulatin/dry wall and did an epoxy floor coating. Definitely worth it!

[Smokey]

the only downside to Rust Bullet (other than the smell) is that it doesn't really do any filling or covering up of flaws. That's why I was using the flakes for pure aesthetic reasons.

 

Here you can see the floor after the first coat and the color of the base Rust Bullet.

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z56/kutschca/Garage/8545FF69-176D-47E0-94B5-19657CDC3929_zpsr90mbfrn.jpg

 

But here's a closeup of a portion of the floor with flaws which you can still see. After 1 coat:

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z56/kutschca/Garage/6EBAF762-FCB1-4BA6-B79E-FCC9A9B218C6_zpsk7iwkv2g.jpg

 

After 2 coats:

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z56/kutschca/Garage/8BA65240-E8B8-485C-9EC6-3C82A592736B_zpspbsikjch.jpg

 

Then I laid the flakes. Their recommendation was 1lb of flake for every 100 sq ft of floor...which turns out to be A LOT OF FLAKES. I started laying them and realized how much it'd be and just went with it. The good news is that it looks nice and covers up those flaws.

 

Here's that same spot after the flakes - can't see the line can you Russ?

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z56/kutschca/Garage/AB49E6F7-83E0-4755-A721-1AF4DAE4113A_zpssvomgtdb.jpg

 

And here's the whole floor after flakes

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z56/kutschca/Garage/F7A306AB-1E59-4887-8993-D950E70EBEAE_zpsatcuympr.jpg

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z56/kutschca/Garage/F7A306AB-1E59-4887-8993-D950E70EBEAE_zpsatcuympr.jpg

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z56/kutschca/Garage/F7A306AB-1E59-4887-8993-D950E70EBEAE_zpsatcuympr.jpg

[Smokey]

Lessons learned. I like Rust Bullet and would recommend it if you can deal with the smell and intricies of how to lay it down. I will say this though, if you have a perfect slab and/or don't care how it looks and just want clean and functional, then do just multiple coats of the base coat and be done. If you do flakes, do 2 coats of clear with the anti-skid as the clear is really thin and didn't smooth out the surface over the flakes like I hoped.

 

In the end I'm very happy with the floor as it's been easy to clean up any spills and messes, so we'll see how it holds up over time and I'll report back. The upside to the flakes/anti-skid are that nobody should slip on the floor even when wet. The downside is that I'm likely going to have to use a creeper to get under cars as you just stick to the damn floor..haha. Also finding dropped bolts/nuts is much harder as expected.

[Smokey]

Paint is pretty boring, so I won't have a ton to share..haha. I had to use more than I thought I would and despite using Bher paint/primer in one that I've had good success with before, I had to do 2 heavy coats to get the coverage I wanted.

 

Here you can see me patching the major holes. This wasn't perfect work, nor was I pole sanding the walls or anything so up close you can still see some flaws. This also gave me an opportunity to clean out the spider infestation that was in the garage. The blinds on the windows stayed, but i had to completely remove them and clean out the dead spiders and layers of spider poop...gross.

 

Also, the crappy closet maid shelves will stay for now until I find a better solution for that space.

 

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z56/kutschca/Garage/C75CBFBA-0C74-49E8-8D00-003ECA9932A9_zpss1byjyqv.jpg

 

This update will also include my lighting up to this point. I was very graciously given a couple of Costco LED shop lights as a house-warming gift so that pushed me to use them for the whole garage setup. Initially I will be running 6 (3 lit now as I'll explain), but have set it up to add 3 more if I really want to.

 

I spaced the lights to the forward and rear of the garage and then also put them toward the ouside walls and between the 2 car spots. I did this to try to get as much light down the sides of the cars as possible for functional light when working on cars.

 

Unfortunately until I complete the additional electric work I can only run 3 of the lights going off of the existing sockets in the garage. I'll eventually run outlets to the ceiling to plug them in properly and put a couple of more outlets on the back wall of the garage.

 

Here you can see the finished walls and the front lights powered on.

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z56/kutschca/Garage/BEA82813-22B0-4F3D-BAEE-228B09DBA74A_zpsjyhvnsqg.jpg

 

Here you can see the FD in the garage which is a small car, but also shows good forward/rear room to be able to work around:

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z56/kutschca/Garage/0DC56322-310B-44CE-ABE6-01FAB31F1D83_zpsnvxbdfak.jpg

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z56/kutschca/Garage/0BD9101F-300C-43AA-A857-5416060C07F6_zpsh4jnmsj1.jpg

 

I also installed my tire rack. I would have loved to put 2 of them in this space above the garage door on this side, but with the spacing of the studs I couldn't fit 2 of them and still have it wide enough to fit the 4 10" wide CCW wheels for the FD.

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z56/kutschca/Garage/BF5F3CA4-03A6-40E6-9D2A-59AEE8DA7ADB_zpsg93avm0m.jpg

 

I'll probably eventually remove or cut down this closet maid shelf on the other side and put the other tire rack there. I really don't want to be dragging wheels/tires into the basement and back if I don't have to.

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z56/kutschca/Garage/064E59ED-E0C6-4A1C-91A3-08CDE3F352E4_zpsxitydy4l.jpg

Edited December 26, 2015 by Smokey
my wife's laptop makes me want to choke someone out

[Smokey]

for a workbench I looked at plenty of store-bought options, but had a friend help me out. The previous owners left this in the basement.

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z56/kutschca/Garage/268E5DF5-4F30-4CBC-BE9D-FC889C51BA9E_zpsluzl7i2z.jpg

 

My friend helped me by building a wood base for the top and keeping the cabinets for storage. He also built it to a 40" height like I wanted which is perfect to stand at and work. I also like that it's not too deep as then it just ends up holding crap (as I write this it's covered mid-project..haha). It also has a nice shelf below and space to store stuff to keep out of the rest of the car space.

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z56/kutschca/Garage/F129057E-8254-4333-B7A9-9D52DCC72B5B_zpscjx1a3na.jpg

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z56/kutschca/Garage/4EF3ACFA-0826-4E91-8A42-67CD7B0D868F_zpsmfmms5o4.jpg

 

I then bought a bench grinder and vise for it. Here's the vise mounted up with lag bolts.

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z56/kutschca/Garage/27669127-FD37-4C58-A294-8B35419ED6B1_zpslly1fg2q.jpg

 

I haven't hard-mounted the grinder yet. It's got nice rubber feet that keep it from vibrating much and the couple of times I've used it I haven't felt a need for it to be mounted. That being said most of the times I'll use it is for wire-wheel work with dirty bolts and not heavy grinding.

 

I also added this organizer to the back corner for yard stuff. Ultimately I'm still considering a wall track system, but haven't pulled the trigger yet, so this will do for now.

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z56/kutschca/Garage/3D76A7D1-5A4B-4C7E-B3DA-3539FF151791_zpslo6seadu.jpg

 

I also put in my plastic shelves in the front corner, and you can see the current state of the garage in this picture:

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z56/kutschca/Garage/71DACD1C-94B3-45E9-A276-470C8F8B11AB_zpsgqmqjua0.jpg

 

I'll still have ongoing projects to try to clean up the clutter and find space for the TONS of crap still to go in the garage. The biggest battle will be dealing with bikes (me, wife, kids) and that nice aluminum ladder which I use way more often than I thought I would.

 

I would also love to get the electric done and the rest of the lights wired up, but I also need to make some progress on the FD project before doing too much more on the garage for now.

[Got-Boost?]

Looks great, nice job!

[SRTurbo04]

Shes a beaut clark.

[Flybye]

That came out really good. Nice job!

[Robochan]

Very nice! I enjoy projects like these. I need to find some storage solutions. Is that a store bought tire rack? I have 4 sets I would love to get off the ground.

[POS VETT]

Good job on the floor coating but the garage is missing a lift

[Brandon]

Your space is like a clone of mine. I did the tan floor and flake and liked it. I had two more courses of block showing so I went ahead and sealed all the block as well, made it look pretty nice. I did the same thing as you as well and dry walled and sanded the walls in my garage. I went with the high gloss white and used a respirator and paint sprayer (pre flooring so to not have any accidents)

 

The high gloss white is awesome for light reflection and really turned out great, and I can clean any thing off the walls really easily as well. I hard wired two 12 foot LEDs and installed four can lights, plenty of light.

 

As for storage on the wall we went the gladiator wall system, and cabinets. I really like it but it can be expensive for all the options and baskets and shelves ect. I bought a whole Sears out that was closing and got it cheap. I'll snap some pictures, but it's a nice customizable wall system, we have everything hung and it works out great.

 

Looks cool, fun to nice good results

[Smokey]

Thanks guys. Brandon I'm still up in the air on cabinets. I almost bought Gladiator stuff on BF special but couldn't pull the trigger. I was also going to buy their workbench if I couldn't make mine work. They have nice stuff.

 

I've looked at Menards cabinets and while it's cheaper in both quality and price I don't need anything crazy. I would like a couple cabinets to hold fluids and cans. I haven't posted it but I actually have a laminate cabinet up front by my teeny toolbox that has all if my spray cans currently.

 

I'm also always looking for reasonably priced ways to save space or increase functionality so feel free to post them up here and I'll do the same. For instance I bought this cart on sale at HF for $40 to hold most of my car care supplies. It's nice that I can wheel it out to the driveway to have by the work area too when cleaning something. This isn't everything, but it also cleared up a lot of shelf space for me.

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z56/kutschca/Garage/CFB58CC1-7FFA-444C-B41F-B24B12226D7F_zpsvk84uaiq.jpg

[Smokey]

Very nice! I enjoy projects like these. I need to find some storage solutions. Is that a store bought tire rack? I have 4 sets I would love to get off the ground.

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0058BMNVU?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage

 

It's nothing extravagant, but has worked great for me for a few years now. You need to make sure you can lag it into studs but I can hang on the outside bar and it doesn't flex from the wall. I'll be buying another as you can see mine currently has my wife's winter wheels/tires and I need my space back for FD track wheels.

[bmwohio]

http://i.imgur.com/RUoZixL.gif

 

Well done!

 

Doesn't the garage just feel so much better and cleaner now....Ahhhhhhhh....

 

Funny our garages have just a few things in common:

 

Detail cart:

 

 

Floor color:

 

 

...and tire storage

 

 

Garage looks awesome, nice work....Andy is never going to want to work is his shoebox garage again after getting some wrench time in here

 

 

I have some other ideas I can show you for space saving, just need to snap some pics.

[ImUrOBGYN]

Looks very nice, man.

[AudiOn19s]

http://i.imgur.com/RUoZixL.gif

 

Well done!

 

Doesn't the garage just feel so much better and cleaner now....Ahhhhhhhh....

 

Funny our garages have just a few things in common:

 

Detail cart:

 

 

Floor color:

 

 

...and tire storage

 

 

Garage looks awesome, nice work....Andy is never going to want to work is his shoebox garage again after getting some wrench time in here

 

 

I have some other ideas I can show you for space saving, just need to snap some pics.

 

I gave him the tire storage location after seeing yours and being really impressed with placement

[Versluis]

Awesome! I can't wait to have my own house where I can do projects like this. Great work.

[Smokey]

Thanks Kale, I'm always open to new ideas I'm going to have to continually be creative with the space to make sure I keep the space around the cars open.

[OJdidit1738]

Damn, that garage looks great. Awesome work!!

[Mallard]

Looks good! I have ever some of the Gladiator stuff, as we find good deals, but still working on getting everything organized. The past few weeks I added their workbench and two 30" upper cabinets. I think they may have had the wrong price online because the day after I bought it the price went up a bunch. Nice stuff but can be pricey.

[Buck531]

Looks great. I think I'm going to do some type of abs/plastic tile squares (12x12) on my detached garage soon. I have WAY too many cracks and junk on the floor and I really don't feel like sealing everything (that and I have a lot of junk in the garage that would take forever to clean out. I think the cost I was looking at was a tad under $300.

[cruizin01]

I found the gladiator 24x24 cabinets on woot earlier this year for like $69/ or so. $5 total for shipping. I bought 3. They look awesome. Mounted easy, even to block wall. Have reversible doors. I want more... Garage looks great.