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So, I've been preoccupied with some major changes over the past year and haven't participated nearly enough on here. I am looking to remedy that soon! To start, one of the big changes over the past year was a move, including to a house with a much larger garage than I've ever had in the past.
Looking for inspiration and ideas for must-have features for a garage. This is a blank slate for the most part, except:
1.) Nothing too expensive. Hard to define just what is "too expensive" but I'd rather not go out of pocket for more than $10k all-in, for upgrades
2.) Flooring. It is a nice, flat, epoxy coated floor that seems to have held up well and I'd rather leave as-is for now. Hopefully that helps with budget a bit...
I am familiar with some of the cool garages out there, including Olsen's, but some of those appear a bit too custom,(in other words too expensive an undertaking and I have too little skill).
One thing I already know I will get is a four post lift to increase capacity to 5 cars from 4. Seems like a good one can be had for <$3k? Leaves me with about $7k to work with.
Will post pictures of the garage at some point but it is pretty much a blank slate, other than the slat wall system already in place.
Dimensions are approximately 50' x 38' with 16ft ceiling height.
At this stage it is not heated/cooled (to my knowledge). Ideas around garage heating systems might be very helpful but I fear doing it properly will throw me over budget pretty quickly?
Any suggestions for where to find good quality cabinets, and any other decor (practical or otherwise) would also be great.
1) Lights. I just put 7 4-foot LED fixtures above the bay with the lift. 3 fixtures on the other side of the garage.
2) if you are going 4 post lift, be sure you check your ceiling height against the lift dimensions - twice! (At 16' you shouldn't have any issues) And get one with the ability to also lift from the jack points (with an adapter). You can do oil changes on the 4-post, but without the adapting lifters, you can't do wheels or tires. If you go 2-post lift, you'll have everything covered - just be sure you measure post placement for various cars (twice!).
[edit - if you are going to put your lift close to door, be sure your garage doors lift high enough for your lift! I had to raise my door track and get a jackshaft (side) door opener for my MaxJax lift - the door hung pretty low.]
3) You could do a nice pneumatic line run. Not that expensive. RapidAir has a good setup.
4A) Tool benches. I have one 8' run and a separate 4' run. I got 2 of these from Costco and they are awesome. Put them side by side and they'll house a ton of tools!
4B) Tool boxes/carts. Goes with the garage. Get as many as you like/need. I like to have a little rolling tool cart without drawers for tools and holdings parts and stuff.
5) A sink. Not sure how I ever did car work without one in the garage!
6). A TV with an appleTV connected. YouTubing things in the garage while you're working on them is very nice.
7). Put everything on wheels (if you can). I have all my tools, shelving units, benches, etc etc on wheels. Once a year you can wheel everything across the garage and clean the floors. Then reverse and do the other side. That epoxy flooring will pay big dividends! Oh, get a giant dust mop and squeegee.
2. Flat epoxy floor? ... Put another coat on it while it's that empty. It will be full of junk soon enough.
paint or repaint all the walls and ceiling . Then good lights, work bench, music, tv, Cool hydration station (beer fridge).
I would make sure you go with an ultra white satin finish paint on all walls and ceilings so the light can reflect off it.Also with sating finish you can wash it.
Check out Nigel's lift thread where I had a pretty long post with a lot of info on my setup and pics, mostly relating to the lift, but with some other comments as well.
My Gladiator Garage cabinets have held up very well since I did my garage project back in 2009. There are 2 grades of these - the preassembled heavier gauge ones and the lesser quality versions you have to put together that come in a flat box. Go with the heavier gauge ones. When I was doing mine, Sears put them on-sale from time to time. Open the boxes when you pick them up to look for dented sides and corners.
Thanks all! I move into the house later this month. Will post starting reference pics and maybe even document the process. Will depend on how ambitious I get and how much time I have.
lift
workbench/tools
espresso machine (trust me it is a must)*
wine/beer fridge*
big TV with surround sound*
slouchy couch*
rowing machine (to row off the beer/wine)*
all LED lighting (can lights, not the janky long flourescent tube stuff that our dads' had)
used cabinets on craigslist
outlets every 6 feet*
Items with a * I have in my smaller setup, so speaking from experience that these work, at least for me
Recommend Griots lights. Put one in garage and it is stunning in light quality versus big box fixtures. Call them and get recommendations for what you need for garage size etc. No affiliation just like what I've gotten from them.
I'm going down this path too: epoxy floor, 4-post lift like Petza's with the hydraulic lift to raise the car for swapping wheels etc.
I'm thinking of adding a tire rack or cart for holding off-season tires. Recommendations anyone?
I would love to have power cords that I could pull down from the ceiling rather than creating trip hazards.
Good suggestion on having good lighting for detailing work.
Don't forget to add posters on the walls. I've got movie posters from "Cars", the animated movie, that'll be going up, as well as the Porsche Le Mans win poster.
09-07-2016, 04:28 PM
Garage ideas
