Project: Harley Truck Haven! Garage Renovation Progress Thread!

[Harley#356]

Man I have waited YEARS to start a thread like this! Its GARAGE time!

BACKGROUND:
We closed on our 1st house last Friday, a 4 bedroom split-level with a single car attached garage. I would have loved a 2 car, but every half decent place with a 2 car in this area was $300k+...well beyond our budget! And yeah yeah I know, "where I live you could get a 6 car for $100k..." LoL! This is the area we live in and work in and our familys in, we're here, its over, don't waste time going there, lets just focus on the garage buildup LoL! Down the road after a couple of raises then we'll talk about a house with a REAL garage and an 8 car pole barn LoL!

THE SPECS:
It's the largest single car out of all the places we looked at. 23' x 12' and the truck is 19' x 7' (mirror to mirror, around 6' not including mirrors), so I have some room around it. I'm going for more of a "show room" than a wrench pit as most of my big wrenching is done for the most part, and I'm used to working outside anyway. Floors are concrete and actually in really good shape. Walls are bare studs on all but the house side, ceiling is bare trusses. Door is an insulated door which is nice!

THE PLANNED MODS:
-Ripped down to bare studs
-Have electrical panel swapped out to a larger one
-Add several new outlets around walls
-Add enough lights so its the largest tanning booth in NJ lol
-Insulate walls & ceiling
-Sheetrock walls & ceiling
-Finish floor (undecided on epoxy or a rubber sort of tile yet)
-Diamond Plate Storage Cabinets (Purchased from Lowes on sale last weekend)
-Toolchest (Already own)
-Work bench (Need to purchase from Lowes)
-Extra tire racks for my slicks, spare wheels, etc. (need to search online)
-Wall mount shop vac (bought yesterday from Lowes)
-Ceiling hoist for my tonneau cover (need to search online)

THE PROGRESS:
So far I've just cleaned out all the JUNK the previous owners left behind. Ripped down the half wall of sheetrock and crappy bench they left. Still debating on whether or not I should rip down the rock on the full wall between the garage and house and redo that or just try and skim coat it.

Next up is getting Rich's buddy out to do the electrical work, then I can insulate and start rocking the walls! Probably won't have another update for a couple weeks though, as we're also doing the rest of the house all at once to get it done before the lease is up on our current place in 6 more weeks. Top project right now is redoing the main bathroom. Got it 1/2 way gutted last night, should finish tonight! Then need Rich's other buddy to come out to help knock out the plumbing, then I can put it all back together and do a little more on the garage! Hopefully the $8k tax credit doesn't take too long to get back!

THE PICS:

This is after I cleaned out their trash, but before I touched the walls or bench. I'll post a pic of the before with all their junk, I couldn't see the FLOOR at all! lol




Ah, a blank canvas for me to start with! Little dingy, dusty, and dim, but still a blank canvas!




Test fitting Jekyll in Hyde's Harley Haven! I plan on parking the passenger side closer to the wall, so there's like 1.5' on that side, and 4.5' on the drivers side, so I can put the cabinets and work benches and stuff on that side. And backed up 2' from the wall I'll have 2' in front of it, so I can always back up right to the back wall and have 4' in front of it for wrenching on the engine with the door closed. Not too shabby!





THE SUGGESTIONS:

Post 'em up! Idea's, recommendations, links, deals or sales going on right now, lemme know!

Especially any sales or deals! Last weekend Lowes had the diamond plate garage cabinets, buy 1 of the larger ones and get the wall one worth $190 for free!

[huot5]

First of all ..congrats on your new place..:

Are you going to paint the floor or do rubberized tiles? It's quite an added expense, but paint may be alot less if you want to save a few $.

Take proper measurements to calculate the amount of cabinets you think you'll need.
it might take more than one trip to Lowes OR check the cabinet dimensions online.
I installed whatever cabinets were the right dimensions; and amount of doors it had. most of all, install them so that you can walk under them. I don't have any benches under my cabinets for that reason. then I put a few low profile hooks or paintcan holder shelves from HotRod hardware.

I also added some heavy duty shelving for household items and my takeoff stock items that I put in clear Bins, so they don't collect dust.

I try to keep as much stuff off the garage floor, except for a few large bins and my back-up generator and tires for my various vehicles, and the floor jack.
I do have one of the Lowes brand cabinets also which are nice.

I'd recommend getting in on the sale, cuz you'll always need an extra cabinet somewhere in the garage.

[s|ck]

Congrats! Garage looks great.

[Tweek03HD]

And there is still room for the Kegerator,Yay!!!!!

['02 H-D #677]

Congrats! Definitely do the floor (epoxy-chit) before you start getting it all crammed/jambed with "stuff"! Also, make sure you install mega-amounts of 8' flouro-lights wherever you can get them in/secured to the trusses! Do that before you do the floor!

These issues DEFINITELY take all precedence over new bathroom fixtures and paint!!

[Harley#356]

First of all ..congrats on your new place..:

Are you going to paint the floor or do rubberized tiles? It's quite an added expense, but paint may be alot less if you want to save a few $.

Take proper measurements to calculate the amount of cabinets you think you'll need.
it might take more than one trip to Lowes OR check the cabinet dimensions online.
I installed whatever cabinets were the right dimensions; and amount of doors it had. most of all, install them so that you can walk under them. I don't have any benches under my cabinets for that reason. then I put a few low profile hooks or paintcan holder shelves from HotRod hardware.

I also added some heavy duty shelving for household items and my takeoff stock items that I put in clear Bins, so they don't collect dust.

I try to keep as much stuff off the garage floor, except for a few large bins and my back-up generator and tires for my various vehicles, and the floor jack.
I do have one of the Lowes brand cabinets also which are nice.

I'd recommend getting in on the sale, cuz you'll always need an extra cabinet somewhere in the garage.

I'm not sure yet on the floor. The paint stuff never seems to hold up unless its professionally done, and at that point, I may as well just spend the $1k on race deck flooring and be able to take the floor with me when we move onto the next house. So really it'll probably end up what I get a deal on. If the U-Coat-It stuff goes on sale I'll probably get that, and if rubber roll out garage flooring goes on sale, I'll probably get that. Really don't know yet, but its still a ways out. By the end of this month a good chunk of the interior stuff will be done so then I can get back to the garage, but I still need to insulate, rock, and paint that before I mess with the flooring, so the floor will probably get done early august. I was half tempted to do ceramic since its so cheap and really make it a showroom lol, but I will do some stuff in there and don't want my floorjack cracking tiles lol

As for cabinets, the back wall and the passenger side wall are staying empty. That'll be more of the "showroom" sides. I have a bunch of movie poster sized HD F-150 posters from various years I'd like to hang up, so clean empty walls will be nice for that, and I plan on parking the truck close to those walls anyway. The drivers side wall I have planned out pretty good where I'll fit my cabinets, toolbox, and work bench.

As for household items, well they can go in the house! The garage is for garagehold items...is that a word? LoL! And I'm putting an access panel in and some plywood in the attic so I can do storage up there for stock parts.

Here's the basic look I'm going for, with a few twists....not the exact color combo or layout, but that uber clean look, with nothing laying out, no open shelves, just OCD organization lol

And there is still room for the Kegerator,Yay!!!!!

I do have a nice mini fridge for a beer fridge in the garage. Its black and silver too so it'd match my Lowes cabinets perfect. I just gotta get it back from my sister who just stole it 2 weeks ago to take back to college with her lol

Congrats! Definitely do the floor (epoxy-chit) before you start getting it all crammed/jambed with "stuff"! Also, make sure you install mega-amounts of 8' flouro-lights wherever you can get them in/secured to the trusses! Do that before you do the floor!

These issues DEFINITELY take all precedence over new bathroom fixtures and paint!!

oh there will be copious amounts of lighting! Hopefully in the next 2 weeks a sale pops up between the depot or lowes on 4 bank flourescents so I can stock up before the electrician comes! Getting the lights and outlets all ran before I do anything else in the garage.

[TX Harley Guy]

Another option on the floor that will hold up the best ....... spray on bedliner! these guys do have portable units and works very well on a shop floor!

BTW, we bid on a new home yesterday, now is a great time to buy! I was wondering what to do in the garage also.

[tagman2]

Looks awesome!! and hang photo frames all over the wall.

[huot5]

+1 on Refrigerator and alot of lighting..and multiple switches to control the amount of lighting.

It does make sense to buy the rubber floor tiles, then take them with you to the next place.

Have you also considered Attic stairs provided you have enough square footage to get large items stored up in the attic?

Also , ceiling fan, Airconditioning and /or Heat provision?

[Hoffmann]

I didn't read the whole thread...but I guess if you had bought this house in another State, you could have bought a 8 car garage for the same price...




























j/k Josh

Congratulations on the new house!!!

[tpr103]

josh already said he is going to use my garage as the dirty garage :bummed:

[Harley#356]

Another option on the floor that will hold up the best ....... spray on bedliner! these guys do have portable units and works very well on a shop floor!

Really? I never heard of that, but it would make a pretty durable floor! I'll have to check into that.

Looks awesome!! and hang photo frames all over the wall.

I've got about 6 or 8 movie poster size HD F-150 posters from various year trucks that'll be going up. When Ford had press releases on each new year and did the nice big posters. Already framed, just gotta hang 'em!

Have you also considered Attic stairs provided you have enough square footage to get large items stored up in the attic?

Also , ceiling fan, Airconditioning and /or Heat provision?

The attic is trusses so there's not a whole lot of room for maneuvering up there. Also they're 2 foot centers and 2x4's so can't take a whole lot of weight up there either. I probably have a 12' x 8' area I can lay plywood down to store stuff up there, so I'll just do an access panel. Won't be up there often, just a storage place for the stock parts. They ain't going back on anytime soon!

I am planning on hopefully 2 ceiling fans. No A/C for now. And for heat I'm just going to get something similar to what tpr103 has. Those wall mount radiant heat lamps he's got really throw out some heat, and with insulating the entire garage, it should get real toasty in there real fast.

I didn't read the whole thread...but I guess if you had bought this house in another State, you could have bought a 8 car garage for the same price...
j/k Josh

Congratulations on the new house!!!

lol thanks Hoff! We'll have to have a JHO BBQ at my place come August/September when everything is finished up (most importantly the garage! lol).

josh already said he is going to use my garage as the dirty garage :bummed:

hey rich, you actually have to WRENCH to get DIRTY! Lets get that HD running already!!!! lol

['02HD#3982]

Garage coolin'?Remember,,,,its NOT patented.


http://www.nhtoc.com/vbforum/lounge/...ir-please.html

[Krix330cic(NJ)]

Congrats on the new digs to both of you.

Lay down a nice smokey burn out in the garage for good luck!

[Adam]

I think I've posted these before in some other thread but here's my set up again.

Enough room to work around the truck



Place to hang the race wheels



Big Stereo



Decent sized work bench



Beer fridge at the back



The stores





Emergency numbers for hookers



Dodgy Lesbian Stuff



Does me ok