Costal Workshop & Garage rehab

I'd started a thread over on Garage Journal, but you guys are family and I'd rather document this here. Besides, I know I'll get more/better feedback and ideas here.

We bought a place in Biloxi, MS earlier this year. Fortunately it included a 30' x 22' detached garage and separate 12' x 24' detached workshop. We basically left our place in IL for our kids to live in, at least short-term, since 3 of the 4 weren't interested in moving someplace warmer. The good news is that allows us to move our belongings bit by bit, as we have time and need them. Of course, that also means frequent trips back & forth, but we'd be going up to visit periodically anyway, so that's not such a bad thing.

Here are a couple pics of what I'm starting with at our new place. A 30'x22' garage - long, but somewhat narrow - with a small storage area framed into the back corner. Default Two spaces - 800-miles apart I figure it's time to start chronicling my garage/workshop updates, although it'll be a couple more weeks before I really get started on things. I'll also use this as an opportunity to compare and contrast the new digs to my previous one.

Here's my introductory post: http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/s...d.php?t=320157

My wife and I recently purchased a home on the MS gulf coast, partly in order to help her career, and mostly to get away from IL winters. However, we still have property & kids in IL. I'm fortunate that I'm able to telecommute/work remotely 100% which gives me great flexibility for working from almost anywhere with decent internet. Because of this, rather than renting a truck and making a hasty move of most our belongings, I'm able to haul a trailer-load at a time...this will come in very handy, as there are plenty of upgrades I want to do to the new garage & workshop before I completely settle in.

Here are a couple pics of what I'm starting with at our new place. A 30'x22' garage - long, but somewhat narrow - with a small storage area framed into the back corner. The garage is pretty sparse and dark, but it does have 220v, and is in good condition.

The inside of the storage room.

The inside of the workshop. It's wood floor construction, set up on concrete pilings. It also as 220v...and is similarly dark.

The general plan(at this moment) is to finish out the workshop, and turn it into a nice, clean, tidy place for bicycle repair & storage, musical/electronic projects, and general homeowner projects.

Then, at some point after that I'll look into brightening up the garage - possibly finishing it out too, not sure yet - and make it into a more suitable workspace for the vehicles, welding, and other "dirtier" projects.

One of my biggest problems - which I've posted about in other threads, and am trying desperately to avoid here - is the overwhelming level of clutter and disorganization that I seem to create wherever I go. To that end, I'm attempting to employ the following tactics:

1.) Limit the amount of stuff I have.

2.) Have a place for everything.

3.) Keep as much as possible within cabinets/drawers/etc. as opposed to out on open shelves/the floor... If I can make the place look nice, I'll be more likely to keep it looking nice. As soon as it starts looking like a cluttered mess, that's when I'll be in trouble.

So to start with, I spent last night organizing my drill bits, or at least most of the ones I have down here with me.

Before:

After:

My next project is some repair to the workshop. For whatever reason, the PO decided to use particle-board beadboard paneling to side the workshop. It's held up for ~20-years, somehow, but it's warped and there's daylight showing through in several places.

So I've painted some 1" x 6" that I'm going to screw around the bottom of the workshop to help keep the bottom tight, then I'll run some Great Stuff around the seam inside to seal any air gaps that remain.

Looking forward to following along.

Make inside of the workshop naked. Wipe it down. Paint everything white. Proceed with organization.

mazdeuce wrote: Make inside of the workshop naked. Wipe it down. Paint everything white. Proceed with organization.

It will definitely be light and bright when I finish it out, but I'm not too worried about that yet, as I'll be insulating and drywalling the whole thing as soon as time and money allow. This will also be my 4-season man-cave, so I want it to be comfortable year-round. At this point, I'm using my time and experiences using the space to help determine how I want to lay everything out. I've got a pretty good idea, but I'm attempting to restrain from rushing into it too quickly.

I made a bit of progress this weekend. I attached all the full-length 1" x 6"s along the sides of the bottom, and one across the back, along the outside of the workshop. That really tightened up the gaps I had inside. I need to trim up one to fit the ~4' left across the back & paint the end, then cut up another for the front.

I also started messing around with the "Altar of Hardware" a bit, just trying to get an idea for how/where I want to place everything. The interlocking red bins work pretty well in the drawers, with about 1.5" along the side and 1" to spare in front. The black bins I picked up at a rummage sale a few years ago for $8 packed full of hardware and drill bits, so those will need emptied and organized. The red box on top random automotive hardware, mostly VW. While the blue box is mostly hex-head set screws...and I certainly don't have much use for this many of them.

Although now that I've set the cabinet there, I'm thinking of turning it 90* to the left. It would give more room near the door on the left side, and allow me to put something - no idea if/what it might be - along the right side eventually.

One slight issue though: I'd originally planned to put these long bins on the top shelf inside, probably on sliders to make them easier to access. Unfortunately they're about 1/4" too long to close the door. I may just trim off the back to allow them to fit. Of course that would mean they could no longer hook onto the wall mounts...but I don't really see the point of hanging a bin this long off the wall?

We maybe the only two in ms on here, in a few months it will be just you. Im interested to see your garage build, better get going before the heat kicks in, oh i HIGHLY reccomend a window unit ac for your garage if you dont already have one. Ac is one thing really useful down here, the heat combined with the humidity is some kind of bad. Dont forget to take a few trips over to New Orleans as well, good eating over there.

In reply to chiodos:

Both building will end up with A/C, and I have an electric heater I can use in either come winter. The workshop will get far more use than the garage, so that's #1 priority for now...plus it'll be a bit cheaper being much smaller to finish out.

I've also reached a point where the heat doesn't bother me nearly as much as cold. I don't plan to be outside roofing in July/August though.

My boss works from our office in Metarie, so we've been to NO a half-dozen times or so. It's a cool place - and I hate cities. The ironic thing is I don't eat seafood, don't fish/swim/do any watersports, don't gamble or drink...pretty much all the things that draw people to the coast. I just like the weather. We're close enough to the shore that we have a pretty decent breeze most of the time, and our temps don't reach quite the extreme cold or hot that they do further inland. The wind can be relentless though but at least we have a half-dozen ancient oaks to shelter us a bit.

chiodos wrote: We maybe the only two in ms on here, in a few months it will be just you.

I'm from MS, I moved to AL in 2004 and IN in 2006. I don't know why that matters, but at least I get the local references.

And this is how I'll be spending my free time over the next several months...

I've started going through all the black bins, which were still full of random hardware & junk from when I bought them several years ago. At this point I'm sorting the nuts/bolts/screws/washers and putting them right back into it - they may not stay there, but I need to keep them somewhere while I sort through everything else.

I also spent an hour last night sorting cotter keys. I didn't put these back in the black bins, as they slide under the dividers.

Do you have concerns about the new trim you put on the bottom of the wall and accelerating the rot? Consider rain hitting the wall and getting down to the trim. Now the trim will hold the water there and it will rot faster. I think if you took your circular saw to cut the damaged panels and install an aluminum 'z' shaped trim then tuck the trim under it.

Just a thought. It looks good though.

In reply to RossD:

I'm going across the top with clear silicone as soon as I finish it up...after this week of rain ends. I figure if this crap somehow managed to last ~20-years down here, sealing the top gap should help it last a few more years. There's also evidence that the rotted area was in contact with vegetation for at least a period, so I'll keep that at bay as well.

Three drawers of standard-size nuts/bolts/washers/machine screws sorted - that's just what was already in these bins. I'm out of dividers though, so I'll be fabbing some up...possibly just a few cardboard 1/2-height ones for now. The single-space bins w/just a few pieces are really hard to see into & grab stuff out of.

Some vinyl siding over that old siding would allow you to set it and forget it, with very little money spent.

In reply to OHSCrifle:

Good call on the siding, that thought has crossed my mind too. The 1x6 is primarily to hold the existing siding flush to the studs & seal it up, then I can work out a long-term plan for the exterior.

It’s been a long time since I updated this, but the situation finally hit critical-mass & I’ve spent the past couple weeks getting the garage sorted out. I probably should have taken before pics, but that wasn’t something anyone else needed to see...

I finally have all my tools & boxes hauled down from IL, and actually have since thanksgiving, but between working on the Vette all last winter/spring/summer, and the Suburban last fall & this spring, I could no longer see the tops of either of my 2 workbenches.

Also, I’d originally thought I’d split my workspace between the garage & shed/workshop, but that turned into a real PITA having to carry stuff back & forth over the ~40’ distance between them.

However, the final straw was bringing home the two partially disassembled Miatas last weekend. Knowing I’d need room to store all those parts where I could find them, while still having Vette parts scattered about, was the final straw. 

First up was the storeroom. This had basically turned into a dump-n-run space, and a lot of the things stored here weren’t garage/auto-related at all, nor anything I was likely to need anytime soon. Now it’s setup with hoses/lines, then Miata parts on the top shelf from the left around to the back, and Vette parts on the top right. There’s more Miata parts on the left bottom shelf, with all my auto fluids/cleaners/lubes/etc. around the center & right side. Underneath are both Miata engines & trans, and the original Vette wheels. 

Then I cleaned off both workbenches, putting away tools & finding new places to store tools that didn’t already have a home. I also - gasp - actually threw away some broken cheap combination wrenches & screwdrivers! Most of the space in front of the left workbench was stacked with empty boxes from the move, so those have been relocated to the shed.

The last step(for now) was taking this E36 M3ty rummage sale box & converting it to a rolling stand for my drill press & grinder. The drill press had been mounted to the workbench in the shed, and I’d not yet found any place for the grinder, so now they’re more accessible in the garage.

Next on on the list: I’m installing two new garage door openers this weekend. Then I need to find a place in the garage to move my “altar of hardware” from the shed - I’m thinking to the far left of the pano pic above, next to the walk-in door.

I also need to soak my blacksmith’s vice in front of the cabinet in evapo-rust & see if I can free it up, then find a home for it in the garage.

Lastly, for now anyway, I have this crap along the south wall that I need to find a home for at least some of it.

Unfortunately, the big ladder needs to stay here, since I use it for cleaning off the roof frequently, but most of my yard tools can go into the shed since I very rarely do yard work  :-p

I got my new Chamberlain garage door openers installed last night & this morning. 

As I’d hoped they were just newer versions of the 25-year old Craftsman openers that we had, so I was able to reuse the existing track mechanisms & sensors. Oddly, what I was not able to reuse was the wall switches. I’m sure it has something to do with the “smart” technology of the new units.  

I put a new Chamberlain opener in a while ago. The one we went with had belt drive and wifi. Works great, quiet but quick with the dc motor. 

I didn’t know what to think of the wifi part of it, but the app on my phone was easy, works well, and makes your phone into a remote. I’ve grown to like it and may look at some home automation down the road a bit, this will work in well if I do. 

In reply to Greywynd :

Glad to hear the positive review. I’d seen the WiFi enabled model, but it seemed like more than we need. 

Well I think I’m pretty much done for now. I finally got the rest of my Rural King led lights from last year installed, moved my Craftsman vice from the workbench in the shed to the one in the garage, and relocated my altar of hardware into the garage too - I even took time to go through the 2+ years of loose hardware I’d accumulated, plus all the random parts I’ve hauled down from IL over the last 2-years, and get them(somewhat) sorted & into drawers. 

Finally my garage no longer looks like a E36 M3 pile. 

 Very Nice

In reply to GTXVette :

Thanks!

Nice!  

How often do you need the engine hoist?  I use mine maybe once or twice a year. So it lives in the shed with the yard tools along with other bulky tools that get sporadic use (trans jack).

In reply to Ian F :

I would have moved it, but I just used it to put the Miata engine onto the stand yesterday & will need to drop it into the car hopefully in a few weeks. 

It was finally time to confront my vices...well it’s actually just one vice, but it’s a big one, and it was completely seized. 

I’ve had it soaking in Evapo-rust since Wednesday, but that didn’t free it up. 

I put put it in the bag, poured in a gallon of Evapo-rust, then taped up the bag to help keep more of it wet. Then I turned it several times of the last few days. 

After working on it with a pry bar & wedge, I finally got the jaws to open a little bit, but I still couldn’t get the handle to turn at all. 

Finally with my MAP torch and BFH I was able to slowly get it freed. 

I need to free up the pivot more, it only opens 1/2” on its own, or 1-1/4” if I drive the wedge in, then I can reassemble it and figure out where/how to mount it. 

I have two thoughts on mounting it:

1.) Make a stand, probably out of an old wheel & tire, so I can drag the vice out whenever/wherever needed. 

2.) Find something very, very solid to mount it to, so I can beat the ever living berkeley out of it whenever I need to. 

Which would you guys do?