Garage Makeover!

[90GTVert]

If anyone is looking for Frog Tape; sorry. I’ve used the entire North American supply.




My carpenter friend laughed at me and said cut in or take them down. I can’t cut in reliably. I can do it in small bursts. These shelves have 30 supports and I NAILED a lot of them in. More things I wouldn’t do now, but seemed like a fine idea long ago.

You can also see that I put up the new mount for my left speaker. Attached the bass blocker to the back of it.

[captincvmn]

I’d have made grey shelves and been done with it.

[90GTVert]

Glad that’s over. Now just some black on parts of the stairs and everything will be painted.

[FrankenMech]

Fine job, but you forgot the pink pinstripes

I also nailed some shelf supports in 40 years ago and still curse myself. I have tried to remove the supports but have failed so far. Those common nails seem to be fused into those 60 year old studs. One of these days I may have to use the blue gas hatchet on them which will start a fire inside the wall and burn my house down. I don't know which fastener is worst, nails or striped out Phillips screw heads.

[Lucass2T]

Nice work Brent, looking good! Btw im so jealous of your garage. You have all the space in the world and nobody is bothering you. Life goals.

[90GTVert]

I painted the top of each step and the landing black. That finished the painting! I added black and yellow grip tape to each step for safety. My father has had vision problems from diabetes related issues so this provides a lot of contrast and color to hopefully help him a little.




I cut a piece of 1/8" thick diamond plate style rubber sheet for the landing. That took me some time. I was nervous about getting cuts wrong and ruining $35-40 worth of material so I triple checked all measurements and then left a small amount extra. That meant many fit checks and trims, but it turned out pretty well.




I talked about making some complex method to lock the mat into place but make it easy to remove, like modern car floormats. I was going to make pegs on the lathe and so on. You guys advised me to keep it simple. I think the slap into reality was appropriate. I wound up just using an edge strip on the end of the landing/top step. It fits close to other things and under the door sill/trim a little so it seems to be fine with that. If the mat moves around at some point, I'll probably just put small bolts with fender washers inside the shoe storage area where they'd be hidden to hold the opposite end. So far so good though.

You can also see the second hand rail that I added. That was at my father's request. He tried the stairs out yesterday and said he felt much safer being able to hold on with each hand. Since the deer crash and then nerve issues my balance and knees are not spectacular, especially after hours on the concrete, so I don't mind it either.




I cut another piece of rubber mat for the top of the shoe storage spot. I've been using 2 dog food bags placed there for recycling, but I found bins that fit almost perfectly. Looks neater/cleaner than the dog food bags for sure.




I got another shelf like the one that I put on the other side of the garage. I was pretty amazed at how much stuff can be stored on one of these. It was also on sale for $70 less than I paid a year ago.




Now I need to start working on getting all of the stuff in place. What's going to take some time is that EVERYTHING is covered in sawdust from when I sanded the walls, shelves and stairs prior to painting. I've started putting some cans and such back and cleaning every one. Even once things are back in place, the side of the garage that was already done has to be cleaned.




Kinda off-topic, but the cans reminded me. I mentioned buying kerosene for $8/gal, up from $5 last year. Turns out, kerosene prices are not really competitive around here. 2 miles down the road it's $10/gal. When asked why it's so much, they said no one else sells it within 10 miles so they can charge what they want. I was getting it in a spot 10 miles away, where I go often anyway. Facebook turned out to be useful for a change. My father browses there regularly and he saw someone else complaining about kerosene prices this year and someone mentioned a spot to get it for $6/gal nearby. Went there last time and the info was correct.



Here's one of the first pieces of luan paneling that I ever put up. I'm not sure how I could build speaker boxes and amp racks back then, but I couldn't properly place an outlet hole. Maybe I was just young and dumb and didn't care enough to try that hard? This one is the worst and not able to be covered with just some oversized outlet cover. I took a piece of paneling leftover from the workbench backsplash to make it slightly more presentable.

[FrankenMech]

WOW! Spectacular results on your project and a real change from your earliest efforts with that outlet cutout LOL Maybe the outlet problem was caused by excessive liquid consumption and late hours? I like those muti-outlet units but the ones I have used could use a better retaining screw and a better outer edge for more stability.

I have four of those 'bread rack' type shelving units. Some of them have wheels which make them mobile.

When you get everything clean and back where it belongs it will be gratifying to work out there.

Start saving for that AC unit

[90GTVert]

Mar 14, 2023 7:15:53 GMT -5 FrankenMech said:

Maybe the outlet problem was caused by excessive liquid consumption and late hours?

As much as I'd like an excuse; I drank briefly when I was young around friends and since then I basically never touch it. Even back then, I wouldn't drink and use power tools. It does look like I was intoxicated though. lol

Mar 14, 2023 7:15:53 GMT -5 FrankenMech said:

I like those muti-outlet units but the ones I have used could use a better retaining screw and a better outer edge for more stability.

I've got 6 of these. No real complaints. I will say they aren't exactly rigid, but I haven't had any issues with them coming out or anything.
amzn.to/40agd8p

[aeroxbud]

Nice job on the stairs. Making them not only look good, but be safer. Is really worth doing.

[90GTVert]

I moved my drill press from a stand that I made to a metal cabinet. I don’t need the storage space on top of the cabinet anymore, so it’ll save a little floor space. That turned out to be more of a job than I anticipated.

The cab has an 1/8” steel top, but with the drill press on it the top flexes up and down quite a bit. I wound up using some angle iron welded in on the underside to brace it. Now it works fine.

[FrankenMech]

Looks good!

I used an old gutted electric dryer base for my drill press stand. It had leveling legs and a plywood shelf inside for accessory storage. I used boxcar flooring and plywood for the top. It also supports my ancient Sears Craftsman 1/2HP grinder, my first 'power tool' other than an electric drill motor. Boxcar flooring is about 2" thick tongue and groove oak. I used to keep the dryer door locked with a padlock and store children's birthday and xmas presents inside.

[FrankenMech]

BTW- You are lucky to be able to move your drill press. I gave up even trying to move the heavy damn thing 20 years ago. I can't lift it. I would have to take it apart and I am not sure I could even do that.

[90GTVert]

Just finished cleaning every socket and the top of the box and reorganizing. 😵‍💫 Def need to start keeping the top closed to keep dirt out when not in use.

[aeroxbud]

I see the 10mm sockets are missing. Where do they go?

[FrankenMech]

Mar 16, 2023 11:13:54 GMT -5 aeroxbud said:

I see the 10mm sockets are missing. Where do they go?

The same place the 10mm spanners go.