Garage improvement musings

Thanks in part to your help with the home buying process, we've had an accepted offer on our first house! Inspection went well, the process continues and closing is May 29. I'm scheming some garage improvements and looking for your input since at garage journal they'll tell me to knock down the house and build a giant pole barn with 4 lifts.

Garage looks like this:

I believe it is 24x36 with high rafters. 8 years old, 2 doors to alley and one to yard. 150 amp service. It's all exposed plywood and 2x4.

My tentative plans are to insulate and drywall it. Add some light fixtures, and a few 240V outlets for a welder and compressor. Build a work bench. Porcelain tile floor. Natural gas heater. Eventually, 2 post lift.

General thoughts? I has an excite.

Industrial pallet racks for storage along one wall. Floor to ceiling.

general thought - skip the tile floor and either seal the concrete or epoxy it.

Used Bridgeport milling machine, a lathe, surface grinder, TIG welder ...

Okay, now that you're under contract... What part of town are you in?

You can never have enough shelves and storage. I would build shelves floor to ceiling out of wood. To save space select a box or bin that will be semi-uniform for your storage and build the shelves to those dimensions. I used the small size moving boxes from Lowes. They are cheap. Mark what is stored in each box with permanent marker.

In any shop organization is key... I learned this the hard way.

Look up some storage ideas for small work shops. Especially wood working shops. They have some ingenious solutions. Don't be tempted to just start filling it without having at least an initial plan on where things go. A couple hours of planning with some clever storage ideas can be huge in the long run. You might be able to triple your storage while doubling your useful space.

I'd be careful about drywall and insulation unless you know the exterior sheathing is well sealed. Plywood generally isn't a good moisture barrier and it's possible the drywall and insulation will make a moisture farm in your wall cavity if there is leakage at panel joints.

ScreaminE: St Francis, currently renting in Riverwest. Where are you? What kind of car things do you do? I've been to some Milwaukee Mile afternoon DEs since moving, hoping to get out a lot more this year.

pattgizz: Why's that? I have a few friends with tile who are pleased.

I'll look into the moisture situation, and see what the seller says since he built it and does this pro.

I shall definitely come up with a decent storage solution. We do have an unfinished basement to keep a lot of decorations, etc out of the garage. We've been in apartments for years which has kept us pretty pared down.

My garage is paneled in plywood inside instead of drywall. It means I can mount, nail, or sink a screw anywhere. It makes things much easier. We bought the place that way so I don't know how much more it cost to do, butit sure is handy. I DO wish I'd painted it white before I fille the shop up, but it's okay unpainted.

Oh, if you can add some 220 circuits or even more 110 outlets before you panel it, do so. I'd also make sure you have plenty of outlets overhead. All my overhead fluorescent lights plug into outlets instead of being hardwired. It's handy because I can plug stuff in all over, even if I have tot temporarily unplug a light.

Nice place BTW! What's the purpose of the not-quite-a-pergola thing?

be sure to go LED lighting for the fixtures and it looks like your roof sloop might be close to optimal for adding some solar.

Seriously, lighting should be a priority. Then insulation and a heater.

Swank Force One wrote: Industrial pallet racks for storage along one wall. Floor to ceiling.

This so much. Do it now before you junk it up. My garage has a slightly larger version of this:

It is awesome. I've got tires stored up top, and all kinds of floor hogging crap everywhere else. One of my tool carts slides right under too. I also have a 8' x 8' suspended loft that is 4' from the rafters. It is just big enough to hold our rotating holiday decoration boxes. Lightweight but bulky stuff. I also have a narrow shelf built all the way across the top of my rollup garage door similar to this:

That is where we store just the Christmas decorations. Again, lightweight but bulky.

I've got porcelain tile in my garage. Was actually cheaper to buy and have installed than paying someone else to do epoxy. I got a close-out deal on the tile at less than $1 sq. foot and the store had some installers that did it cheap. It has been great. I've dropped bench vises on it and tipped an engine block over on it and nary a chip. The weak point is the grout, though. Go with the smallest grout lines you can and with a dark grout.

I've had epoxy floors in the past and wouldn't go back to them if I could have a tile floor done economically.

Storage and lighting are two issues I'm working on in my garage. Though in this case, the "garage" is actually my basement. I have a walkout basement, with a concrete path that leads from the front of the house around to the walkout. The room in my basement that's going to be the garage is 17' wide by 20' deep and it has 12' ceilings. The outer wall is poured concrete, with the inside walls being wood framing (they're not actually walls, just framing if we ever decide to finish the basement). Right now I have no shelving and basically no lighting.

My challenge is I have zero woodworking skills. Nor do I have time or desire to learn. So I need a fairly simple to install/build/whatever solution. And I need it everywhere. Not only do I intend to make that room a garage, complete with a two post lift, another room of my basement is my Christmas display storage. And I have enough stuff to line the walls floor to ceiling in a large room.

Ideas that won't break the budget for those who are home improvement challenged?

Im in the process of a garage rennovation myself. Major reccomendationa for your stage is add lots of light, insulation, and paint all the surfaces white. Walls, ceiling, floor, upper cabinet, etc. Add outlets every other stud. At about mid wall height.

I use bankers boxes for my storage containers.

Home Depot/Lowes/Menard's. Whichever has the cheapest "Muscle Rack" brand stuff that day. All three of them have legit industrial pallet racks as well. Home Depot will often sell their industrial racks at $100/section, which is pretty damn good. Gives you effectively three "layers" to stack stuff, they'll hold a ton or so per shelf, and are usually 6-8 feet long.

When i stop renting, i'm going directly to that style, and i'll get 5-6 long, and double stack them if i have ceiling space. Do it once and be done. And i'll be putting pallets on them from time to time.

This one goes on sale for $100 in store from time to time. http://www.homedepot.com/p/Husky-77-in-W-x-78-in-H-x-24-in-D-Steel-Commercial-Shelving-Unit-ERZ782478W-4/202251082?N=5yc1vZc89e

pinchvalve wrote: Seriously, lighting should be a priority. Then insulation and a heater.

Regarding lights-- check with your local utility before you buy. Ours provides rebates depending on the kinds of fixtures you purchase, whether residential or commercial.

In reply to turtl631:

I'm glad to see a heater on your list. My shop has HVAC, and I have used the shop a lot more because of that. I work in the shop in the evenings a lot of the time, and when the weather is nice enough to have the overhead door open, the bugs can be overwhelming.

Don't skimp on lights, and mount a specific fixture above your workbench. I also really like having fixed air lines for the compressor.

I'll go against the grain and caution against too much storage space. If you are not careful, you'll end up with a large storage shed. I built a small storage building for the bikes, camping gear, extra car parts, etc. just to keep the shop from getting too cluttered.

Another vote against drywall. Besides moisture and not being able to hang stuff from it, it seems to get banged up easily and generally looks like crap after a few years. Plywood also doesn't need to be mudded/taped/sanded/etc

Air conditioning.

I thought it would be dark with bare wood walls. Maybe I've been reading garage journal too much?

In reply to turtl631:

Paint is pretty cheap.

Bare wood doesn't reflect light very well. However, osb and plywood are cheaper and more durable than drywall. What is being suggested is to use wood instead of drywall and paint it white.

turtl631 wrote: I'm scheming some garage improvements and looking for your input since at garage journal they'll tell me to knock down the house and build a giant pole barn with 4 lifts.

And this is different from GRM because?