Posts Tagged ‘garage’

This weekend I took advantage of the beautiful weather and finished the last two steps in the garage project of 2009. I got up into the attic and installed the gable vent on the backside of the garage (see photo) and I finished installing weatherstripping around the garage service door. Now we’re officially ready for winter.

I really liked this vent from Builder’s Edge. I special ordered it at Lowes in the brown finish to closely match the exterior of the building and it looks great. Aside from being off-centered (didn’t feel like cutting structural wood) it could almost pass for being original – which is important given that there are a few members of our condo association who disapprove of any changes to the external of the buildings.

I learned how to cut and install trim this weekend – spending a good chunk of Saturday with a miter saw, hammer and nails. Here is the finished result.

I’m enclosing the word finished in quotation simply because I still would like to put some trim up around the garage and I still need to install a gable vent and create an attic hole covering. Aside from that though, the Gladiator gear arrived a day or two before we left for Puerto Vallarta and I had most of it up before we left. I finished up some last steps Sunday after we returned and snapped these pictures. (Yes, I drilled into the new cabinets to install the under cabinet lighting courtesy of Steelcase.. well Details actually. It was horrifying to drill into brand new cabinets but my measurements were precise..)

The Firebolt.

The Workshop.

Open house.

Drawer 1 of 5 – tool organization.

Drawer 3 of 5 – more organization.

I took Friday off from work and did the prep work in the garage. This involved triple-sweeping out the whole floor and getting rid of every last bit of dust and debris. Next was washing, degreasing, and etching the floor. I donned some rubber boots, gloves, and safety glasses and got to scrubbing the entire floor and hosing it down afterward until “the water flowed clean.” Dry out took overnight.

Saturday morning finally arrived and it was time to paint. It went on pretty easy other than the fact that the paint/epoxy doesn’t have a lot of life.. it thickens and is impossible to apply after about two hours. Work quickly is what I learned.. I just barely finished the garage. I even broke a paint roller halfway through trying to apply the last bit of the first can of paint (it was like mud). All in all though, it turned out beautifully! Here are pictures from this morning.

The floor will take a few more days to dry and then we can park the cars in the garage again. The remaining gladiator pieces are coming on Thursday (bench, gear locker, two cabinets, and a tool drawer). The garage could be back together as soon as next weekend!

Found some time last week to install the Gladiator GearTrack on the walls. I’m really happy with how it turned out. In addition to a wide assortment of hooks, I ordered a ball caddy, clean up caddy, and a storage tub holder (used for recyclables).

This past weekend I mustered up the courage to attack the floor. I rented a walk behind cutter for making grooves and a hammer drill with 3/4″ drill bit for the holes. The channels guide the water to the holes, where the water drains down into the ground. This should make this coming winter much more bearable. Thanks Derek for your help!

Next weekend I hope to apply the epoxy floor coating, order the remaining Gladiator items, and finally check the garage project off as done.

I took the afternoon off and finished putting up the last two Hyloft 3ft x 3ft hanging storage units. This brings the total up to 4 in the garage: 3 on the north side and 1 on the south side. I’m quite pleased with how they turned out and I still have plenty of space left for future use. In these pictures, I have everything up there that I had planned to store on them.

I also snapped a picture of the two bike lifts I installed a little while back. They are the pulley-type that allow you to raise and lower heavier bikes (which the cruisers definitely are..).

The garage is really starting to come together now. I’ve given in to Kellie’s wish that we not take on priming and painting the garage this year. I fear that we won’t ever get back to doing it but alas, it is only a garage and while paint would add that extra splash of style and finish, it is definitely not necessary.

I spec’ed out the two remaining tools I need to rent to groove and drain the garage floor and now that I have a hitch on the TT, I just need a free day to head over to Home Depot and pick them up. Then I’ll epoxy the garage floor and it’ll pretty much be done!

Just a quick update before bed: on Saturday I rented an Attic Cat insulation blower from Lowes and picked up a few more bags of insulation. I ended up blowing two bags into the garage attic and the remaining three bags into the condo attic. It was actually pretty fun and I’m satisfied knowing that will pay dividends not only for the garage but for the condo as well.

On Sunday I found a leak in the basement. The piping behind the shower sprung a small leak sometime recently and the laundry room floor and under the shower were covered in water. I was able to find the leak without too much difficulty after ruling out the dehumidifier and the shower drain. I cut open the drywall and hired out a plumber to weld/solder in a new section of pipe. Here’s the new pipe.

Here’s the piece that was removed… notice the water deposits.. making me think this has been a slow leak for a while that widened after the shower was used on Saturday.

That’s all patched up now and I had the contractor who is mudding our garage today and tomorrow patch up a few spots in the house too. After the mudding is done in the garage, I’ll:
-mount up all the accessories that need studs (to create the holes)
-remove accessories and prime and paint
-cut floor, install drains?, apply floor covering
-reinstall accessories

It’s hard to believe the garage project is getting close to completion!

Today saw a great deal of work done on one of my summer projects: the garage renovation. I and three others tackled drywall and finished the 24′ x 24′ x 8′ area in seven to eight hours. A drywall lift rented from Home Depot for $30 made a huge difference and allowed us to break up the work so that we could be attaching one piece of drywall while also measuring for the next piece. We broke for lunch and had yesterdog delivered (by the wives) and went out for ice cream when finished. All in all, a very successful day and I’m very grateful for the help from Mike, Eric, and Phil. Jason also deserves a thanks for spending a few hours with me on Wednesday picking up the drywall. Here are some pictures from the day.

I’m finishing up a great weekend as I type this. Friday night we held a cookout at our condo and had about 16 people show up for hamburgers and snacks. We had great weather for it and the only thing that could have made the evening better would have been a win in game 7 by the Wings. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be.

Saturday morning was the Brian Diemer 5k race in Cutlerville. Having went sub 20 on this course last year, I didn’t have any specific goal in mind. Instead, I decided to see if a friend of mine would be interested in a pacer on her way to going sub 25. She agreed and we came in at 24:51! Congrats again Jen! Phil also had a great run and came in a few minutes after us.

Saturday evening was the Local First Street party downtown. Featuring Founder’s beer and food from several local Grand Rapids eateries, the street party was hopping with the addition of live music on a stage set up at one end. Ran into a lot of people from work and had a great time chatting with some friends.

Sunday morning Kellie and I had breakfast with my parents at a new (for us) restaurant in East Town called Brandywine. The food was good and there’s something neat about trying out new places – and enjoying good company and conversation at the same time.

I spent the afternoon on condo projects and made some headway on the garage. I’ve got 8 batts in the ceiling, half the garage door covered, and some of the top edges of the garage done too.

I’m hoping to do the other half of the garage door myself but will need Kellie’s help to finish the ceiling… so it’ll have to be a time we both have available.

I also finished the electrical today with the installation of a switched outlet on the front of the garage. I bought a jigsaw from Lowes and love it! It made easy work of cutting the whole for the box. I hung a wreath and plugged it in for testing purposes tonight (I know – a wreath out in June is crazy!).

Lastly, I dug out the dirt and mulch covering the siding on the side of the garage and am planning to put in a walkway with the ground level below the siding. I have no idea why dirt was ever allowed to cover the siding but it’s now fixed. There’s a lot of damage done to the siding from this (as is evidenced in the picture) – but it shouldn’t get any worse.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

I’ve been meaning to share my spring/summer project on this blog for a while now but hadn’t downloaded the progress photos from the camera until now. I’m renovating our 24′ x 24′ (oversized) two stall garage… adding electrical, insulation, drywall, and storage. I’m doing this because the garage isn’t as usable as it could be.. and I like to improve things. Storage space has consisted of “throwing it up into the rafters” and winters are not kind to the garage. From time to time, condensation drips off of the nails in the ceiling and during cold spells, water and ice build on on our vehicles and on the garage floor. Drainage problems abound and I find myself each spring wishing I didn’t have so much clean up after four or five months of winter. Here are the steps I am taking/have taken:

1. Chalk baseboards and drafty building seams

2. Add another exterior light to enhance visibility in front of the garage and on street corner (on a light sensor circuit)

3. Insulate walls with R-13

4. Add electrical outlets above future workbench

5. Add thermostat-controlled heater

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6. Add electrical outlet for Christmas wreath (on a light sensor circuit)

7. Insulate ceiling with R-19

8. Groove cement floor to manage water drainage

9. Epoxy/coat garage floor (hired service?)

10. Drywall walls, ceiling (hired service/lots of friends)

11. Add organization components (Gladiator 6′ workbench, modular tool drawer, gear locker, 2x 30″ cabinets.. also looking for some soft of metal handing shelf for sides of garage.. any ideas?)

When all is said and done, I’m going to be maintaining 40 degrees or so in the garage during the winter.. allowing all ice to melt and all liquids and tools to stay in the garage during the winter (instead of being moved to the basement of the condo).

Trip to Lowes for new exterior light

After first or second day of chalking/insulation work

Exterior light, installed on a light sensing switched power line

More work done today.  Last night Kellie and I tore off all the drywall on the back wall so I could insulate and chalk it.  Workbench is also gone…

My electrical work.  Wired in an in-wall heater I picked up at Lowes and added two additional outlets.

All nice and insulated (except for the corners – see far right).  Wiring came next.

Now all the wall insulation AND wiring are done.  Tested everything and it all works.  Check out how dirty the cars and bikes are from all this work (really just from the drywall teardown).

I’ve taken two Fridays off now to do all this work and will probably need another two or three to finish everything. Then I’ll have to figure out what my next project is!