Working on the garage

[jimustanguitar]

I've been turning the garage at my house into a "real" workshop. I've installed about a dozen outlets, run conduit for future wiring, installed lights, roughed in for a utility sink, am hanging a mini split AC and heater, and am working on several other things. I'm having a guy come out to insulate it (hopefully) later this week, and then it's drywall time. 

I'm going to put my air compressor and dust collector in the basement, because it shares a wall with the garage, and I can run lines between the two locations. I bought one of the Maxline 3/4" air plumbing kits, and the parts are absolutely massive! I think the tubing will act like a reservoir and make my tank seem bigger... I should have expected this with a 3/4" ID kit, but I just can't get over how large all of the components seem. It's pretty cool. 

[jimustanguitar]

Well, since I started, I might as well share the rest of the project updates. 


I went from one outlet on each wall, to one about every 3 feet where there won't be a cabinet. I think there are 19 or 20 total outlet locations now. 
(there are two places where I'll have one of the original outlets behind a cabinet, but I'll use a nibbler and cut them out)



I've added 6 new light fixtures. These are 4ft LED fixtures, 4000 lumens each. I did some math on the coverage, and ended up with about one fixture for every 100sqft. I also drew it up in CAD to make sure that I mounted them out far enough from the edges that the wall cabinets wouldn't cast a shadow on the workbench surface. 


Here's one of the wall cabinets that I'm going with. They're the NewAge brand. If you're looking at them, they're about 60-70% of normal retail at Costco. You could buy just these cabinets, and easily save more than your membership cost. I bought the a la carte ones that I'll need in addition to the sets CostCo sells, directly from the manufacturer. It's not as good as the store prices, but NewAge seems to have a perpetual sale, and always starts the new sale the day after the old one has ended. Which series is on sale seems to alternate every other month. 


I've got a few stud cavities that are double deep, so that makes for a nice opening to run conduit and other infrastructure through, without having to goof up the batting. 

And it goes straight through the plate and into the basement... I definitely measured this hole so that it would be tangent with the joist  
This is the big one, 3" for my AC unit's plumbing, drain, and power cables. Splitting the hole half and half across two footers, having the floor decking sandwiched in there, and not going through the floor joist made this the absolute perfect hole. All of the other, smaller ones feel like compromises now. 



The guy came last week while I was in NYC to blow in my insulation, and I'm meeting the drywaller to finish it all this week. As long as I can get one odd stud cavity insulated, and paint behind my air handler and mount it, I should be out of the way enough to get the drywall and paint finished... Then I need to clean it out even more, and get the concrete coated before I do my big cabinet order, and start covering it all up. 

[sbassinvader]

Looking really good so far. This is on my list as well.... but i got to get a shed built first so i can get the lawn stuff out of the way. I might have to check out those cabinets... looks like they are locakable too which is a huge plus.

[BeeAmaker]

Looks great!

[jimustanguitar]

Well, it took some sketchy looking help from a cherry picker, but I've got my AC wall unit installed! Now I need to do a pad for the compressor and get everything outside all situated. 









Nothing was really heavy, but it was more unwieldy than I was hoping. The wall unit came with hard copper lines already attached, which I wasn't planning on... I was hoping I could run the lines first, hang it second, and connect everything last, but it all kind of had to happen at the same time. 

[jimustanguitar]

I got the floor done last week. It looks amazing! It wasn't cheap, but I'm really pleased with it. 
Basically they diamond grind the floor to level it and remove existing sealers, lay down a base coat, and chip it. Then they let it cure for a bit, scrape the chips flat, and then clear coat it.


This stuff is "polyurea" which I understand is basically the same stuff as rhino-liner. Traditional epoxy is brittle so it can chip and crack, and people also have trouble with it sticking to hot car tires and peeling up. At least that's what the sales brochure says  



He even did the step to the house, and the sides where there's foundation. 




I've also got my drywall re-hung (the electrician removed some 2' strips to access wiring, and I used those openings to run conduit, rough in the sink, and plump for compressed air) so that's all ready for the drywaller to come and mud. I think he'll start next week sometime. 



It's all starting to come together! 

[jimustanguitar]

Got my doors insulated this weekend. I shopped the different kits and options, and decided to go with plain old styrofoam. There are some fiberglass batting kits that require glue and tape and clips. Other people use radiant barriers, but I think that'd do more good keeping out heat than it would act like a warm insulating blanket in the winter, plus it needs an air gap to be effective, so it's less feasible to do in a narrow space like a garage door... 

A lot of the foam kits are 1-1/4" board faced with melamine or something similar, and they're kerfed on the back side so that you can bow them to fit in the cavities... Those kits are $70-$90 for a single door (two kits for a two car door), and I couldn't find any that were in stock at a local store. So, it turns out that Menards has a simpler set for $30 that's just a plain 1-1/4" board (no kerfing) with foil on one side, and clear plastic (like packaging tape) on the other. Not as durable, and not as easy to install, but less expensive, and arguably better R value because it doesn't have kerfing making it thinner every couple inches. 

The cavities in my doors were a hair under 2", so even though I've read conflicting accounts of how effective it is, I decided to use the mylar space blanket style bubble wrap insulation to help fill the space. I'll also add a layer of it on the exposed side of the foam to completely fill the gap and to give the inside of the door a more durable surface. 

I started by rigging up a pull knife and a saw guide clamp to work kind of like a tablesaw fence, and I unrolled my Reflectix and pulled it through the knife to make all 100' of it the right width for my door cavities. This actually worked really well, and I'd highly recommend this technique for anyone else that needs to cut something from a roll to a specific width. 






Then I used the same saw guide clamp the other direction to cut each piece to length. This also worked pretty well, and made for quick work. I had 8 pieces each of 3 different lengths to make. 



Popping those sheets into the door cavities was quick and easy, and it really made things start to look nice. 



Next I worked with the foam boards. Luckily, these were the exact right width, and I only needed to cut them to length. 



The same technique with the saw guide clamp worked here. It was at the upper limit of this clamp's jaw depth, but it just grabbed, and was enough to get the job done. 



Those panels fit into place just right. If I pushed them all the way up into the cavity, the bottom edge could walk past the lip on the bottom of the door, and they all fit into place without having to bend them or do anything tricky. 
This step involved disassembling the door a little bit. The stiffening braces that go across the top and bottom of the big door had to come off, the plates where the opener attaches, the manual locks and handles, and unfortunately the bottom rollers where the spring loaded cables attach... That part was a treat, but none of it was hard, just tedious. And now that it's done, it looks really nice! 



Now I'll add one more layer of the radiant bubble wrap, to fill the last 1/4" inch of space, and to protect the foam from knicks and tearout... Lather rinse repeat from the first step. 

[jimustanguitar]

And, drywall begins... 

[BeeAmaker]

wow you got a lot done.

[jimustanguitar]

Paint is done! 
Now I can move things around and prep for cabinets. 





I also stood up the sink... Now to shut off the water to the house while I cut off the copper stub-outs.

[jimustanguitar]

Let there be wallplates! Not much other progress to report. 
I guess I also ordered the cabinets, but don't have a shipping ETA yet. Installing those will be a chore, but it'll probably end up being the most transformative part of the build. 

[jimustanguitar]

My cabinets arrived!
Now I've gotta hang those darn things. 

[jimustanguitar]

Making progress! 
I have some of the cabinets hung, but I need to get them leveled up and bolted together, so it's not pretty enough for a picture yet. 

[jimustanguitar]

It's starting to look like my CAD drawings!!!

[jimustanguitar]

Haven't posted an update in a while, because it's been cold and I've been swamped with other to-do's. 

I got the remainder of the cabinets in, and assembled the free-standing workbench that fits my window perfectly. 









I built out the cabinets in that last picture to fit the bike under. Instead of parallel parking it, I decided to get one of those rolling dollies from Harbor Freight, and it actually works quite nicely! It was an easy way to gain some more space back, especially during the winter. 







The next project is hanging some shelves above the garage doors. I picked up some of the 2'x4' steel shelves, and if I hang my own 2x4's horizontally across the wall, I can place them where I want instead of where the studs are, and I'll be able to fit 4 of them above the double door, and two more above the single. 
**(stock photo)**