My New Garage Build

My wife and I moved into our new house just after Xmas. It has a 28 x 32.5 ft attached garage with mostly 13ft ceilings. The builder said it was the biggest attached garage in a subdivision they've built. The floor also has a 6 in. section for a future lift. After moving in I, of course, needed more storage. So I decided to build a 4'x 20' loft. (Pics coming).

Before:

I then had to build a beam. I didn't want a center post. I made a triple 2x10 held together with glue and 1/2" carriage bolts. Raising it by myself was a challange.


I used 2x10 rafters at 24" spacing with 1/2" OSB flooring.

After:

Next up was yesterday's project. Moving my air compressor to the loft. To start I built some temporary hinges on the loft. Then I used a couple of leftover 2x10s to make some rails to hold the compressor.

The two rails are spaced out with some 2x4s. So I strapped the compressor to the rails with some ratchet straps.

Then I had to lift it.

This took a couple of stages of lifting, supporting, then lifting again. (No pics of this setup though.)

Finally I had to get it from the rails to the loft. For this, I screwed a chain to the back wall and used ratchet straps as a come-along.

I then had to move the chains to the ceiling to try and lift it. (No pics.) That worked a little but not like I wanted. Eventually I just had to muscle it vertical to its final resting place.

I've got a rapid air kit for plumbing which will be another day.

That's all for now! I want to make better shelving next but we have a new kiddo arriving in about a week, so I may be a little busy in the near future.

(EDIT: Fixed picture links.)

Hmm... pictures seem to be broken. If they work for you, maybe check the privacy settings of that album.

edit: I see you're using Flickr. I use that as well. Those links won't work here for some reason. Copy the link from the "embed" tab, and then just past it directly into the comment field. Usually works ok:

In reply to Ian F:

They aren't working for me either. I'll fix them tonight when I have access to my computer. I'm using Flikr and linking is different on my phone.

In reply to PMRacing:

Ah... Yep. That's my biggest beef with Flickr - I haven't found a way to post pics to the forum using my phone.

Pictures fixed.

Nice!!

What I wouldn't give to ceiling height like that! Well, I guess, I won't give the money it would take to do it. ;-)

Looking good, though. I like the loft - that should help keep some clutter off the garage floor.

Added my TV this week . I have to add another cable plug to the garage, but right now I am using a Google Chromecast and it works fine. Fortunately the wall it is mounted on has easy access to the basement.

The TV was my wife's old TV from her condo. It has some screen burn but still works! Perfect for a garage setup. I want to make a small laptop shelf next so I don't have to use a workbench or shelf to keep it out of the way.

TV...check
Fridge....check
Hyd press....check
Eng crane....check
Bandsaw ....check
Compressor on a loft....check
JD lawn tractor....check
oh to have ceilings to the moon.....

Bumping this up!  Any updates to this killer setup?

Wondering what kind of mats you're using here for floor covering?

Costco used to offer a pretty good deal on diamond plate style rubber mat at about $100 but looks like they stopped carrying it.

Why don't builders ever paint the garage?  They taped and sanded all of the joints, why stop there? I mean, with a spray gun it would take 30 minutes to slap a coat of white on. Even with rollers, a few guys could have event that huge space done in under an hour.

Any why don't homeowners ever paint before they start installing shelves and workbenches and stuff?  Maybe I have OCD, but building over an unfinished job would bother me forever.

Not much to update. Kiddo has been keeping us busy. Saving for a deck on the house then the garage should start back up again. I will update once it starts back up again or as I do small things. I may get some shelves built next. 

In reply to engiekev :

I think I got the mats from Garage floorings.com or similar. I did see the same type at Costco before. 

I have added some runners on each side and in front of the mats for a little extra protection. The floor is staying pretty clean.  I can even wash the cars in the garage and the water stays on the mats. Mine are ribbed not the diamond or coined  pattern so the water drains out and not to the sides as long as I am careful. 

I've been teaching myself SketchUp the last few weeks and playing around with garage layouts, lift placement, and tile floor designs.  Cars and workbenches are just blocks for spacing, nothing detailed.   I don't have shelves drawn in yet. 

I've been doing some more renderings of the garage layout.  I've designed some shelving/cabinets for the front and left side wall.  Those will probably get done next year after the floor gets done.  But the big news is my lift has been ordered!  I went with a Revolution RTP10, a Rotary sub-brand. ALI certified, 10K, Symmetric/Asymmetric setup. Should be installed in a couple of weeks. Thanks to Gearheadotaku (Jeff) for showing me his lift setup and educating me on a lot of things to look for.  I'll make sure to update here with pictures of install and final product.

New renderings below.

Yo brah, do you even lift?

Before:

After:

 I still need to hardwire it but I needed to test it! I can stand under it without ducking (I'm 5'9"). My back is gonna thank me. 

This was planned when we built our house but things kept putting it off. This was my reward to myself for putting up with all the job E36 M3 this summer (still on going but at least stable for now). I needed something to look forward to. My awesome wife said just do it. We've been saving for it for a long time so she made me pull the trigger.  

I have the same lift.  

I love it!  Money well, well, well spent.

My daughter loves it!

Why not spend a day or 2 and paint before moving all that stuff in?.

Note to self:  Paint before moving stuff in.

The original plan for this garage was paint first, floor second, then cabinets. A couple years ago, the cabinets went on sale for 25% off so I bought those. making it way harder on myself  I took an extra week off after New Years to paint.  Never again.  4 solid days of prime then paint with my Dad's help.  The effort was worth it though. I also called myself a sloppy perfectionist on this project. I didn't bother removing switch covers, but the wall paint had to be good with now bare spots. 

Before:

After:

I emptied all of the cabinets so they can be moved off the walls (now everything is in the basement) and moved everything on the loft forward to give myself a couple of feet of work space. I had to prime since it was bare drywall, but I did buy 1 coat paint.  Worth it. I am going to be putting up plywood on the wall under the loft to hang more small cabinets and hang tools off of.

Later this year or next year will be flooring. I think I'm going to go with something like Supratile, the solid flexible PVC interlocking type. I want porcelain, but I'd need to level the floor, its harder to replace a tile should something happen, plus installation is extremely time consuming and tedious. Epoxy installed is $$$$ and would require emptying the garage again and can chip if not done right (note to self...floor first before stuff next time!). I don't like the hard plastic type tiles because of their shiny look, and the drain thru type tiles are easy to loose parts in, plus require annual removal for cleaning, esp. since I live in MI with snow and salt. Grind and polish is a possibility, but then it's still just concrete. The PVC tiles are easy to install and easy to replace if needed. I'm still trying to find cold climate reviews though. The one review I have seen has shown the tiles can shrink and separate, but the guy didn't even remember where he got the tiles from. They are also expensive, same cost as pro installed epoxy.

Anyway, that's the current 7 year update. I hope to spend an hour an evening for the next couple weeks, sorting, purging, and organizing the cabinets. 

Why not just epoxy under where the cars sit? The control line looks like a good line to follow then go to the doors. Clear sealer on the bare cement.

We have just about the same size garages. Only difference is mine is 28' wide by 30' deep. the one big difference is I have nowhere near the height for that kind of lift. 

Paint looks good. I'm in the process of slowly cleaning and sheetrocking mine at this time.