So as you can imagine, my garage looks like a hurricane hit it after the hell thats taken place in there over the past few weeks. I am warning you, view this picture with caution - its hard on the eyes. I am actually embarrassed to post this picture, but I thought I'd give you guys an idea of what I am starting with.



So now the race is over and the next one isnt until march, I got some time to do something about this mess.

A little about the garage....

Its 1,115 square feet (33' wide x 35' deep) It has 2 garage doors. One is a single car door (8' wide x 7' tall) and the main one is a double wide @ RV height. (16' wide x 10' tall)

It has a beer fridge (mandatory), bathroom in the back far corner, a big shop tub sink (left of the washing machine).

Obviously the first thing on the agenda is to clean this place up.

One of the man things I want to try to tackle is finishing the floor with something. Should I tile it out like Tony did? or should I coat it with a garage floor epoxy paint? What is more economical with a shop this size?

Also, I plan on picking up a larger air compressor and plumb air outlets in convenient areas around the garage.

I also obviously need to pick up some more gorilla rack storage shelves. One of the biggest problems I am fighting is I have too much space. I never thought I'd say it, but having a garage this size can cause a big problem. Mainly it allows you to collect too much junk. I'd be screwed if I ever had to move and try to cram this stuff into a average sized garage.

I need to re-work the work bench area (right far corner) Its almost useless in the state that its in. I might extend it around and a little down the right wall

Lastly, and most important, I need better lighting. What I have now is 4 florescent dual bulb shop lights. it is better then what I started with (2 inconsistent bulbs lol)

One last possible option is getting a swamp cooler mounted up on the roof. It's winter time now and not a high priority, but when the summer comes, this garage temperature easily exceeds 120 degrees when the doors are closed.

If anyone has any constructive input, suggestions or ideas, they are welcome.

Time to go get started.  

I gotta agree with Ralph on the floor deal. Unless the owner is willing to pay for it I say bail. I am sure there are lots of other things you could spend the money on. If not....send it to me. I like all of my shit hidden in cabinets but if you really dont care then go to Costco and get a few of those heavy duty shelving racks and go to town. Good luck with the clean up.

get ahold of nodie the ironwoker have set you up with a loft at the one end of the shop. go the width of the shop then about 8 or 10 ft out and put a I beam .now you have storeage above and can pull motors/pick up what you kneed to pick . can always take down if you leave just a idea.






                                                   rusty

I'm hard pressed to feel sorry for you son, I went from a big 2 car garage and RV parking to a 10X10 storage container. I'd kill to have your dilemna. On another note, if you need some help building shelves and shit, let me know, I'm in LV more and more these days...

I'm hard pressed to feel sorry for you son, I went from a big 2 car garage and RV parking to a 10X10 storage container. I'd kill to have your dilemna. On another note, if you need some help building shelves and shit, let me know, I'm in LV more and more these days...

Right there with you Skip.

I had a 3500 square foot shop and a barn that had over 4000 square feet of just storage, moved to my first house and only had a carport and a tin shed with a dirt floor....

Needless to say, I threw out some real "treasure"...Now that I have my side yard and tool shed along with the garage, I find I have too many projects for my facilities to, well, facilitate...

Nice to have a garage, but it may as well just be a laundry room or a huge closet.

I will whole heartedly recommend Gorilla Racks though...

And if you happen to win the lottery, check out Port A Cool  http://www.portablecoolers.com/prices/ They are nice, but not sure they are worth the coin. My Grandad had on at the house in Quartzite on the Colorado River, they work awesome...

GT

Whatever you do, DON'T run your air lines in PVC.

I did mine in pvc. Worked great for years. When I sold they were still working.

b rad ive been looking for some sort of an epoxy for your floor. The best price I can find is right about a buck per square foot thats with my good guy discount 

How I "roll" lmao..

They aren't cheap, but you can take them with you when you move...

http://www.uline.com/BL_1783/Garage-Floor-Mats?pricode=WS749&utm_source=Bing&utm_medium=CPC&utm_term=garage%2Bfloor%20mats&utm_campaign=Facilities%2BMaintenance

GT

the problem i have with those type of deals is that its impossible to roll a fully loaded motor on a stand or cherry picker across them. i can just see the small steel wheels just sinking into it.

I have never had an issue...My hoist has 6" hard steel and Iron wheels and rolls OK, not great, but OK. I normally use 3/4" plywood under the hoist anyway, keeps things from getting F-ed up...

GT

ya i tiled my shop and they are already showing signs of wear and tear i would epoxy it if you are going to be doing hard core work in their. if you were just going to park things on it the tiles work pretty well. also if you screw up a tile you can just replace it  just make sure  you buy some extras.

either choice will work but i am favoring my epoxy floor over my tile one.

SCJB's resident Architect suggests you consider the following points.
Tile or Epoxy floors: Tile floors are nice for car showrooms but they have problems in garages.
1) the grout joints are harder to clean than a bare concrete floor.
2) the type of tile needs to be very strong like a HD porclean or glazed paver which adds cost. Also Pavers are thicker and you will have a threashold problem at the doors. (in new construction we would depress the floor but I think ripping out your concrete floor might be out of the budget)
3) the floor you put it on has to be in great shape.  You say you have cracks and gaps in it, that tells me something is moving and that will pop the tiles.
4) another reason tile pop is expansion / contraction due to extreme temp changes and it sounds like your garage is the poster child for that.

Stick to the epoxy if you do anything, prep the concrete to the extreme, keep it very clean when applying and don't paint yourself into a corner.

thats nuts! thats over a grand!!

www.ucoatit.com quoted me just under $500 to do my square footage

isnt there some kind of cheap vinyl tiles I can use? something like a cafeteria floor?

The stuff I quoted you is comm. use a lot diffrent than what a home owner can buy. Tile most likely isnt in the budget but it can be done. Tile will never expand and contract it isnt wood. It will only pop if the slab moves or isnt bonded with the correct product. The cafertetia stuff youre thinking about is called VCT (vinyl composite tile) you can get that stuff for .30-.40 per ft. and do it your self

3) the floor you put it on has to be in great shape.  You say you have cracks and gaps in it, that tells me something is moving and that will pop the tiles.

Sorry, I used gaps/cracks for a lack of a better word. I was referring to the seams in the slab. I dont know the technical term for them. There are no cracks/gaps from sinking/shifting. the floor is pretty flawless as far as its structure. These seams are a pain when trying to move heavy things on wheels around the garage. (ie engine stands and engine hoists)

The stuff I quoted you is comm. use a lot diffrent than what a home owner can buy. Tile most likely isnt in the budget but it can be done. Tile will never expand and contract it isnt wood. It will only pop if the slab moves or isnt bonded with the correct product. The cafertetia stuff youre thinking about is called VCT (vinyl composite tile) you can get that stuff for .30-.40 per ft. and do it your self

at 40 cents a foot, that will run me about the same as the ucoatit deal. so i might as well go the ucoatit route. ($350 to $450 bucks)

give me your footage. i might be able to pick up enough this weekend to do your garage and you will just owe me a huge favor.

its 1,115sqft (33' wide x 35' deep) ...looking to do it back/white checkered.