Howdy,

http://www.maracing.com/garage/

I'm rebuilding our attached garage.

Mark

You're a madman, but you own a jackhammer and I can't compete with that in any way.

Looks like a pretty serious project Mark. How much longer until it's done? And, where did you put all the stuff that was in the garage?

Howdy,

Well, the baby is due in late Jan.

:-)

I'm not really sure if I'll be 'done' by then or not... I'd like to have the floor done, front wall resided, garage door installed, plumbing (gas line for heater and sink installed) done, ceiling insulated / sheet rocked, walls sheet rocked, and floor painted/sealed before the baby gets here. That's probably unrealistic, but its the goal. If that's done, I can move the tools into the middle of the garage until after I get benches/shelves built, heater installed, lighting installed, etc.

The stuff that's supposed to be in the garage is currently in our enclosed trailer, florida room, guest room (which we call the "lathe room"), and living room. Its all been there for over a year though, so we're pretty used to it. Doesn't everyone have 20' sticks of steel material in their living room? :-)

The baby's room can actually have the current exercise equipment moved out and redistributed around the house before the garage is finished, but it'll certainly have the house looking a little weird for while... Nothing like a dining room with a weight bench... :-)

Mark

that was a good read right there, thanks

Most people look shocked when they see all the tools I have, but you beat me hands down with a jack hammer.

oh yeah, as Kevin said, your a madman.

I now have the urge to buy a jack hammer...but a bigger one.

Jackhammer envy?

A little. A man sized one like this could get me in trouble.

Mark, you are F-ing insane and I salute you. Be glad there's no rebar... very, very glad.

Oh, and you should be glad you bought an electric hammer. The pneumatic hammers require large volume of air at about 100psi, usually provided by one of those trailer diesel compressors. Spending an entire day using is not a pleasant experience, especially when it's pounding in 30' of ground rods in a grid... with a 15lb hammer because you don't have a sidewinder to fit the 40lb'er

PS- Wear ear protection, and it's a skid steer unless it's a Bobcat brand skid steer, then you can call it a Bobcat

I'm with marka on this one. BOBCAT! Just like Kleenex, Q-tip, and Yellow Pages.
"Would a bobcat by another name smell different?"
Skid steer is cows on ice.

Wow. Cool project. Yep, we have a spare guest room _full_ of car stuff that is supposed to go into the shop when it gets built. Waiting to get qoutes from the builder now. He's very slow.

I do know, though that if I came home with either the electric jackhammer, OR the Bobcat, I'd be busy with projects for some time to come. No, wait, If I came home with the jackhammer, I'd be busy with projects, if a Bobcat followed me home, Barbara would be busy with never-ending projects. :-)

Howdy,

Finished busting up the floor tonight:

http://www.maracing.com/garage/

Mark

Mark, you putting a drain in the garage floor? Might not be a bad idea if you have the time before you pour. Otherwise you could just use your jackhammer again!

Howdy,

I've thought about it, but won't be doing it. I'll have the floor flat and sloped a little toward the overhead door.

Adding a drain introduces complications in where to take the water, and also makes the floor non-flat, which complicates life when used as a shop. When the Garage Mahal gets built and not having a drain irritates me enough, I can always put one of those long skinny grate style drains just in front of the door.

Mark

Howdy,

Does anyone still want to know about this stuff?

Fresh concrete:
http://www.maracing.com/garage/

Mark

Sure we do. Besides, you still own a jackhammer. It's a good thing these guys didn't lay the first floor, you probably would have been there for weeks getting it up.

Been reading this thread regularly every time there is an update. Pretty interesting seeing how it all goes together.

Hell, it probably wouldn't have taken me even three hours to mess up the floor.

Hell yeah, keep posting. My garage could use a similar treatment so I am definitely watching your progress with more than casual interest.

If nothing else, this thread might inspire me to do some more insulating work in my garage tonight.

Yeah, keep it coming. This has been great lunchtime reading. Now all you need is to let the concrete cure and put the epoxy coating on it.

I finally got the quote on our shop. 5000 sq ft, with 1000 sq ft 'apartment' on 2nd floor, built in an empty field - $166K. Gotta figure out how we're going to finance that.

The Garage Mahal that a friend of mine has uses a channel by the doors so that if water comes in, it runs into the channel which runs into the drain. That way you can keep your floor level for doing alignments.

Howdy,

Phil, the concrete is already poured here...

:-)

The floor is flat, with a slope toward the door. If I'm going to do stuff where I'd like the car level (weights primarily... I'm not as concerned about secondary effects for alignments I don't thin), I'll space up the back pads.

Mark

edit: I won't be painting the floor until spring... I want to be sure it cures completely and the concrete guy (who also does decorative stuff, so he's familier with this kinda thing) seemed to think that would be best for an epoxy covering...

Yes, but you have a jackhammer!

Shop? That sounds like a house to me.



If I only I could convince the better half of that.

Well, mine's the co-driver of our CP car, the shop will be used to store her 3000 mi. Dak R/T, and the 'apartment' will also house her scrapbooking hobby stuff. THAT'S how you get them to buy off on it.

Brilliant!

[/guiness voice]

I'll remember that one.

Howdy,

Updated...

http://www.maracing.com/family/garage/index.htm

Mark

every time I read an update I'm pretty darned amused, but I'll be damned if this isn't as bad as the Sopranos , is the next update going to be soon or are we going have to wait 4 months to a year?

do you have enough height to put a lift on 1 side of the garage or center ?

Shhh, Mark's sleeping. :-)

Howdy,

Gene's not far wrong...

Hopefully the next update won't be quite so long.

The ceiling height is around 9'. Its enough that a lift would help for sure, but its not enough to raise a car high enough to walk under it.

I'd get one mostly to eventually use in the Garage Mahal. I'm not really sure yet if I want to consume the space in this 'temporary' garage with one.

Mark

Howdy,

http://www.maracing.com/family/garage/index.htm#Last_Update

Updated again for the garage door install... Race season is slowing me down!

Mark

Nice work! I hate garage doors. All of my experience with them involves messing around for several hours cursing and not actually getting the thing straightened out followed by calling in a pro and drinking an beer.

Cool! Nice writeup. As for the trim, I will probably try some Hardy Plank when we go to replace the now rotted pressuretreated wood surrounding our garage. It takes some special blades to cut, but hey, any job worth doing is worth getting new tools for, right?

Scrap wood on the front porch = wood for the concrete forms for the shop.

Right?

;-)

My father-in-law owns a garage door business, and I bet that 30 minutes is for 2-3 guys that do nothing but install garage doors all day, and IF everything goes perfectly. Probably more like 1-1.5 hours in the real world for an experienced crew.

Howdy,



Dude, scrap wood doesn't need a reason to exist. Its like scrap metal. If you have enough that you need to build a building for it, consider cutting back but otherwise its all good.

Jeesh.

:-)

Mark

I have a pretty sweet, but a little neanderthal, tire rack in my garage constructed of scrap wood. Good stuff, and the price was right (free). Wood was in the garage when I bought the house.