Small Axe HQ: Garage Thread

Me: Yes ma'am may I have another?

Ma'am: No, you absolutely may not. You couldn't handle another light. 

In all seriousness this is now the brightest workspace I've ever had, likely including the driveway in direct sunlight. 

(Illegal) shed finally got delivered yesterday evening. 

Today I spent a lot of time organizing. Peg board was first. 

I know it doesn't line up on top. I think the peg board isn't square. It's not noticeable now with things hanging on it. 

The shop is just about ready for the first test fit of the Healey. 

Things are coming along. 

OK, so it fits. 

In some ways it's better than I thought, in others it's worse. Really the only issue is that to work on whichever corner of the E21 is in the middle of the garage (front right in this pic) I'll either need to pull the Healey out or put the back on rollers to make that angle better. Although I measured it, the Healey sticks into the garage more than expected.

I need sorting/storage bins for smaller, misc things and the shelf behind the truck is a pain when I need to get, say, the pop tent out. In non-COVID times that's like 3 times a year but we've been having distanced family dinners fairly often in the back yard which has very little shade until about 7:30-8. 

Some of the peg board has been mounted above the work bench and has a few wrenches on it. I need more hooks. 

Progress.

Here is the biggest issue so far with the garage. 

My wife almost literally never uses her bike but wants it to be in a spot where she can access it. The blue car and red trike are what my daughter most often plays with. We initially had the trike stashed behind the truck but it became too much of a pain. I need this pinch point to go away and it's just silly to have the trike stored between the garage door and my wife's car. Not only do I need to squeeze to get in and out of the garage but I need to move all this crap to take the garbage out. Ok, it's only once a week, but still. 

I'm going to be buying two Harbor Freight bike lifts for my two bikes in the shed and will likely do the same for my wife. Any suggestions for the car and trike? They can't be like way on top of a shelf or anywhere that lifting over the head is required. My wife isn't very tall nor is she terribly strong...

Likely not a permanent solution but at least the trike is out of the way.

It would seem the kiddie vehicles are multiplying. Time for more storage. ~41"x96". 

I'm not 100% happy with how the 2x4 support is attached to the ceiling beam but it held all 155lbs of me without flinching. I don't think what I intend to put up there will total that much. Just need a piece of plywood and then I'll have to put a light under the shelf for the workbench. What isn't clear in the picture are two other 2x4s that run from the wall to the cross piece. 

Chuckin the plywood up there wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. 

Only sort of related to the garage but this is just a PSA to everyone that chicken wire is a pain in the ass to deal with. Almost as much of a pain in the ass as the stupid dog that squeezes through the fence. 

It's clear that whoever put in the garage addition was not a car person and never intended a car, let alone 2, to occupy the space as the hole from the main garage to the addition is too small for any car but Queso. Since the Miata is expected back from the roll cage guy this week and our backyard is so wet that there's no way I could push it into the garage, I figured now is the time to open it up.

I'm nowhere near a contractor but I know the last person didn't really know what they were doing...

I made a new header using two 2x10s with 1/2" thick strips in between, all screwed together. 

After I had all of the old drywall and sheathing cut out, I put up a temporary support.

I then pulled out the old header, cut the studs and wrestled the new header into place onto the new jacks. 

I'd be lying if I said I got all of the cuts of the studs dead on but, hey, it's hard, I'm no professional and it's much stronger than it was. You can see in the bottom left that I still need to cut that sill plate back and remove the remaining foundation to be able to drive through. Unfortunately on the right-hand side the jack stud is right next to one of the sill anchors so I'm not going to be able to cut it back on that side. All told, I'm pretty happy with the result. 

cut it anyway, there's another anchor 4 feet in and it's not an exterior wall with wind pounding or lifting at it anymore.  

In reply to Patrick :

Seconded. Cut it.

Looking good man! Nice job

birdmayne said:

In reply to Patrick :

Seconded. Cut it.

Looking good man! Nice job

Yes sirs!

Your framing looks fine, btw. 

I've seen much worse by "career professionals"

In reply to birdmayne :

I appreciate that. The cuts I wasn't totally happy with are the studs above the header. I didn't get them all cut totally square and a couple had an air gap so I sistered a piece of 2x on both to make sure there was good contact with the header. Still better than what was there as I think one, maybe two had any contact at all!

Edit: Annoyingly, I actually cut more-or-less on the lines I gave myself but the floor must have some unevenness to it as that's where I was measuring from for these cuts. Looking back I probably should have used a chalk line or something but even that would have been tough as only a couple of the studs had a full face on the front/back side of them. 

Foundation sections removed. 

Reduce, reuse, recycle. Really just reuse but I decided rather than going out and buying new stuff to fit perfect, I'd just use the cut off old sheathing to close the wall in for now. I'll probably at least paint the main garage side white to match a bit better. Maybe not. 

Looks good to me. I wouldn't paint it unless I already had paint on hand, but that's me. My shop is and will be full of scrap wood shelves and mismatched finishes, so it would be a losing battle on my end.