[ZZZZZZZ]

Only if there's a link in your signature. LOL

I have some big upgrades planned

Some functional lighting that is maybe a little closer to meeting code and a wall plate on the light switches would be a nice start lol. Am I going to need to start a thread for my garage?

 

[TG850T5R]

I have some big upgrades planned

Some functional lighting that is maybe a little closer to meeting code and a wall plate on the light switches would be a nice start lol. Am I going to need to start a thread for my garage?

Standing by if any help is needed, Jared

 

[raivis_rsn]

Am I going to need to start a thread for my garage?

Absolutely! SS community appreciates content you create.

 

[JaredR]

Standing by if any help is needed, Jared

I am sure I will have more questions as I go along
The lighting ended up having a lot of constraints—I abandoned the recessed/can lighting idea because any penetrations to the drywall are supposed to somehow maintain the fire rating of the garage envelope because the garage roof structure connects to that of the main house (or if there is living space above the garage) which meant I would have been spending probably $2k just in parts. The existing fluorescent fixtures come down like 4" and, if I get a lift, that loss in headroom might be the difference between me being able to stand up under the car vs. not, so that strategy wasn't acceptable.

After going surfing a bunch of forums looking for ideas I ordered 30 surface mount 4', 5000K, T8 LED tubes with the connectors that let you butt them right up against the next fixture. I didn't realize they had ones you could butt up against each other like that until I saw the picture below. I think I am going to try out this guys rectangular strategy since I can use surface mount fixtures without losing any headroom in the area of concern AND I can avoid having wires strung across the ceiling (which is aesthetically unacceptable to me) without having to get into the ceiling to run more wiring. Not that I wouldn't get into the ceiling and wire up whatever if I had to but going that route would exponentially increase the duration of the project.

The guy below used 8' tubes, making a 8' x 16' rectangle. I got 4' because I don't think 8'x16' is the right size rectangle for me. Our cars are all about 15½' long so I decided to try 8'x20' to keep the ends of the cars out of the shadows, which was always a huge problem in my old legally temporary building. It was 22ft long and I had no lights (and no way to mount lights) within about 4' of the ends. If I find shortcomings in the setup, I will probably optimize one bay for detailing and the other for mechanical work. The setup in the old LTB did have 5 transverse lights over the middle of the car which was awesome for working on the hood and roof which is obviously missing here. I am also concerned that I may not get as much light as I want into engine bays for mechanical work. Current ideas to resolve this include a removable hanging fixture to bring light down a few feet from the ceiling or track lighting since vertical space over the hood is not at a particular premium with a lift and it would be much easier to install and more configurable than cans. We'll see how it develops.

 

[bensoda]

Can never have too much light in a garage!

 

[ZZZZZZZ]

Tomorrow I'm freecycling several things to people in the area and getting the garage opened up some more. Not to derail @JaredR thread here - maybe we should start a garage thread overall for us to share ideas. I'll be painting the walls in the Spring to get more light and looking for wall cabinets to get more floor space. I already have some things up in the rafters on a plywood 'floor', like the bike racks and the roof box, misc. lumber pieces. I'm also going to paint the floor, but need to come up with something that will keep the leaves out when bad wind comes. We have the neighbor's oak that drops 60 million leaves, wind goes east and they end up in my driveway and sneak through the sides. I have tried a flexible weatherstrip on the sides but with a tilt up, they drag and eventually rip off. This image is OLD, when the door was installed and was Barranca Red (the actual name of the color we'd picked AND coincidence - oddly the name of the last owner), and before I had added the final coat of paint and the rest of the hardware like a handle. The door is now black.
It's a pulley system on the right inside, and has a catch at the top, with a small pull coming through the center to release it. Hand made from good timber stock by a mill shop that is now defunct. It cost me less than the cheap metal and fiberglass ones that HD sold at the time.

 

[Wayne T5]

Looking forward to seeing what you guys do with your garages!

I've always taken them for granted unfortunately - my biggest improvements have been a recoiling extension cord mounted on the ceiling and those neat screw-in LED light arrays that everybody sells now, lol.

 

[Chicago_UnCommon_Bricks]

those neat screw-in LED light arrays that everybody sells now, lol.

I put one of these in my roughly 8’x12’x7.5’ storage unit. ☀

 

[parsnip]

I did a garage thread many years ago during my build. A load of pictures are now missing thanks to photobucket changing the rules but the thread might still give you some ideas Garage build thread here

 

[ZZZZZZZ]

Fantastic! I spy the identical car to my parents' XJ8 color and all that they've decided to sell this week. They're so opulent but a pita. Nobody wants to work on them, so with gobs of them on the market all needing work, they're worthless.

I did a garage thread many years ago during my build. A load of pictures are now missing thanks to photobucket changing the rules but the thread might still give you some ideas Garage build thread here

 

[HATTRICK2199]

I am sure I will have more questions as I go along
The lighting ended up having a lot of constraints—I abandoned the recessed/can lighting idea because any penetrations to the drywall are supposed to somehow maintain the fire rating of the garage envelope because the garage roof structure connects to that of the main house (or if there is living space above the garage) which meant I would have been spending probably $2k just in parts. The existing fluorescent fixtures come down like 4" and, if I get a lift, that loss in headroom might be the difference between me being able to stand up under the car vs. not, so that strategy wasn't acceptable.

After going surfing a bunch of forums looking for ideas I ordered 30 surface mount 4', 5000K, T8 LED tubes with the connectors that let you butt them right up against the next fixture. I didn't realize they had ones you could butt up against each other like that until I saw the picture below. I think I am going to try out this guys rectangular strategy since I can use surface mount fixtures without losing any headroom in the area of concern AND I can avoid having wires strung across the ceiling (which is aesthetically unacceptable to me) without having to get into the ceiling to run more wiring. Not that I wouldn't get into the ceiling and wire up whatever if I had to but going that route would exponentially increase the duration of the project.

The guy below used 8' tubes, making a 8' x 16' rectangle. I got 4' because I don't think 8'x16' is the right size rectangle for me. Our cars are all about 15½' long so I decided to try 8'x20' to keep the ends of the cars out of the shadows, which was always a huge problem in my old legally temporary building. It was 22ft long and I had no lights (and no way to mount lights) within about 4' of the ends. If I find shortcomings in the setup, I will probably optimize one bay for detailing and the other for mechanical work. The setup in the old LTB did have 5 transverse lights over the middle of the car which was awesome for working on the hood and roof which is obviously missing here. I am also concerned that I may not get as much light as I want into engine bays for mechanical work. Current ideas to resolve this include a removable hanging fixture to bring light down a few feet from the ceiling or track lighting since vertical space over the hood is not at a particular premium with a lift and it would be much easier to install and more configurable than cans. We'll see how it develops.

View attachment 178421

You ordered 30 4 footers? I have 12 on the ceiling plus a separate 4 foot shop light hanging above the engine bay on the left side of the garage. As you can see, they are arranged in 4 12 foot
strips. I could have done a better job tidying up the wiring.

I’m sure your garage is larger (and less cluttered), but with 17 more strips, you might need sunglasses when working on your cars lol.

 

[paradoxicallymodified]

You ordered 30 4 footers? I have 12 on the ceiling plus a separate 4 foot shop light hanging above the engine bay on the left side of the garage. As you can see, they are arranged in 4 12 foot
strips. I could have done a better job tidying up the wiring. View attachment 178542
View attachment 178541
I’m sure your garage is larger (and less cluttered), but with 17 more strips, you might need sunglasses when working on your cars lol.

That organization is pretty impressive...

 

[JaredR]

Tomorrow I'm freecycling several things to people in the area and getting the garage opened up some more. Not to derail @JaredR thread here - maybe we should start a garage thread overall for us to share ideas. I'll be painting the walls in the Spring to get more light and looking for wall cabinets to get more floor space. I already have some things up in the rafters on a plywood 'floor', like the bike racks and the roof box, misc. lumber pieces. I'm also going to paint the floor, but need to come up with something that will keep the leaves out when bad wind comes. We have the neighbor's oak that drops 60 million leaves, wind goes east and they end up in my driveway and sneak through the sides. I have tried a flexible weatherstrip on the sides but with a tilt up, they drag and eventually rip off. This image is OLD, when the door was installed and was Barranca Red (the actual name of the color we'd picked AND coincidence - oddly the name of the last owner), and before I had added the final coat of paint and the rest of the hardware like a handle. The door is now black.
It's a pulley system on the right inside, and has a catch at the top, with a small pull coming through the center to release it. Hand made from good timber stock by a mill shop that is now defunct. It cost me less than the cheap metal and fiberglass ones that HD sold at the time.
View attachment 178462

So should we all start threads for our garages in the car lounge (or whichever appropriate) subforum on SS or should we all go join Garage Journal so we can get even more ideas lol

I like that door but I see the fitment issues you are talking about. Even here where everything is only 17 years-old, there are fitment issues with the doors, although thankfully with the vertical seals so there don't seem to be mice or anything getting in. If I end up spending enough time working on the cars in the winter that thermal performance becomes more relevant than having remote openers, I might switch to carriage house style doors so I can put some real seals on them. Openers do exist for such doors but cost about what I paid for my 850R lol. If I add a lift in the future, I will have to make some changes to the door setup, anyway.

You ordered 30 4 footers? I have 12 on the ceiling plus a separate 4 foot shop light hanging above the engine bay on the left side of the garage. As you can see, they are arranged in 4 12 foot
strips. I could have done a better job tidying up the wiring. View attachment 178542
View attachment 178541
I’m sure your garage is larger (and less cluttered), but with 17 more strips, you might need sunglasses when working on your cars lol.

Well I'm only planning on using 28 strips

My garage is 24x24 and 10½' ceilings so the extra ceiling height probably changes the lighting equation more than the floor area. But also all of the additional light will be towards the ends of the garage bays. Having the ends of the car in the shadows, as it is in your picture and I had in my previous space was a huge frustration for detailing that should be greatly reduced. However seeing that the placement of your lights relative to the sides of the car is similar to what I am planning and that you are getting great reflections on the horizontal surfaces is really encouraging that this layout will be ok for detailing.

We will see how long my garage stays more organized. I have high hopes....lol.

 

[Chicago_UnCommon_Bricks]

So should we all start threads for our garages in the car lounge (or whichever appropriate) subforum on SS or should we all go join Garage Journal so we can get even more ideas lol

We will see how long my garage stays more organized. I have high hopes....lol.

We could probably all share a single thread.

As a recent owner of (what was it?) a Legal Temporary Structure those of us with “not technically garages” hope you won’t big-time us now that you’ve moved up in the world.

 

[ZZZZZZZ]

It’ll be obvious with that much light what’s out of place. Lol
Dropped a small bolt/screw? No problem. Painting the floor?

So should we all start threads for our garages in the car lounge (or whichever appropriate) subforum on SS or should we all go join Garage Journal so we can get even more ideas lol

I like that door but I see the fitment issues you are talking about. Even here where everything is only 17 years-old, there are fitment issues with the doors, although thankfully with the vertical seals so there don't seem to be mice or anything getting in. If I end up spending enough time working on the cars in the winter that thermal performance becomes more relevant than having remote openers, I might switch to carriage house style doors so I can put some real seals on them. Openers do exist for such doors but cost about what I paid for my 850R lol. If I add a lift in the future, I will have to make some changes to the door setup, anyway.





Well I'm only planning on using 28 strips

My garage is 24x24 and 10½' ceilings so the extra ceiling height probably changes the lighting equation more than the floor area. But also all of the additional light will be towards the ends of the garage bays. Having the ends of the car in the shadows, as it is in your picture and I had in my previous space was a huge frustration for detailing that should be greatly reduced. However seeing that the placement of your lights relative to the sides of the car is similar to what I am planning and that you are getting great reflections on the horizontal surfaces is really encouraging that this layout will be ok for detailing.

We will see how long my garage stays more organized. I have high hopes....lol.

 

[ZZZZZZZ]

Isn’t that how he rolls? LOL

We could probably all share a single thread.

As a recent owner of (what was it?) a Legal Temporary Structure those of us with “not technically garages” hope you won’t big-time us now that you’ve moved up in the world.

 

[JaredR]

We could probably all share a single thread.

As a recent owner of (what was it?) a Legal Temporary Structure those of us with “not technically garages” hope you won’t big-time us now that you’ve moved up in the world.

I think it would be easier to keep track of what people are doing if we all had our own threads. The big group threads have so much unorganized content that no useful reference material is created.

I referred to it as a "legally temporary building." I always predicted it would be up until we moved and I was right lol. That said the state would have defined it as a greenhouse, being it was covered by "thin plastic film." Greenhouses don,t require a building permit if used for expected use and not used for large gatherings of people. I am not sure where growing cars in it falls in expectations. Technically this means it may have been less illegal than I thought. Definitely learned some new things about greenhouse laws now that I'm zoned agricultural though.

It’ll be obvious with that much light what’s out of place. Lol
Dropped a small bolt/screw? No problem. Painting the floor?

We painted the basement floor (overall good idea) but it isn't even holding up to my dad's desk chair rolling across it so I won't be doing that lol. I'm thinking white porcelain tile will be the way to go here.

 

[ZZZZZZZ]

Yeah, I keep thinking the epoxy paint would be a pain to do and wouldn’t be durable. I kinda want those tiles but they are so expensive.

I think it would be easier to keep track of what people are doing if we all had our own threads. The big group threads have so much unorganized content that no useful reference material is created.

I referred to it as a "legally temporary building." I always predicted it would be up until we moved and I was right lol. That said the state would have defined it as a greenhouse, being it was covered by "thin plastic film." Greenhouses don,t require a building permit if used for expected use and not used for large gatherings of people. I am not sure where growing cars in it falls in expectations. Technically this means it may have been less illegal than I thought. Definitely learned some new things about greenhouse laws now that I'm zoned agricultural though.




We painted the basement floor (overall good idea) but it isn't even holding up to my dad's desk chair rolling across it so I won't be doing that lol. I'm thinking white porcelain tile will be the way to go here.

 

[Andre3MC]

I am in the process of completing a survey and site plan for a 2 car garage and in-law apartment at my house in Dover, would love all the ideas I can get!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Wayne T5]

Yeah, I keep thinking the epoxy paint would be a pain to do and wouldn’t be durable. I kinda want those tiles but they are so expensive.

This is the stuff I would use -

VS Competition - Nature Stone - Flooring For Garages Basement and Commercial Floors

Not cheap (my garage is 24x33) but I've been at houses that have had it done and it's very nice. I'd just hate to spill oil on it!