I got some quotes yesterday for having the garage floor cleaned up and re-surfaced. With one exception all of the quotes were for more than we can afford to spend on a garage floor. Everybody wants to sell me a fancy epoxy or polyaspartic finish but I just don't need that level of protection and I don't particularly like the appearance of the floors with the vinyl chips in them.
All I need is for the floor to be smooth and dust free. I have one quote which is affordable. It includes cleaning, etching, a self leveling concrete layer, and paint.
Doing the floor presents another challenge. We have rather crude wooden shelves along two walls that are covered with years of accumulated junk. Some of the stuff is still usable but a lot of it will go either to the curb or to the dump. I want to replace the open shelves with metal cabinets with casters and doors. Sorting through the junk will take a while but I am actually looking forward to cleaning the stuff up.
Cheers!!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
I spent most of the afternoon trying to simplify the wiring system. The double panels add a bit of complexity (and a whole bunch of wire!). I revised the panel wiring diagrams to make them easier to follow.
The AC/Heat pump system was installed to day and it works great! Both the inside unit and the outdoor unit are almost silent. Even with fan on max there is very little noise.
My new tool chest was delivered today. It is quite impressive (I'll post pictures later). Unfortunately it arrived locked and without the keys, but a quick call to the dealer solved that. The store manager is going to deliver them personally!
I also bought a heavy duty shelf system. I didn't realize how heavy duty it was until it arrived. It will hold 4500 lbs.! That's about 100 times the weight that we intend to put on it. It's okay, the price was good. No nuts or bolts needed to assemble it. Bonus!
Here is something I have wanted for 50 years. Now I just have to figure out how to organize it and then fill it.
The tool chest came with a protective plastic film on all the drawer fronts. It took me two hours to peel it all off! It came off in little pieces.
I'm going to mount my bench vise on it but I don't want to drill big holes in the wood top. I'm going to mount the vise on a piece of 2x6 and then screw that to the top. That will allow me to get a bit more overhang for the vise.
I have been playing with the lighting scheme for the garage (I think I'm going to start calling it the 'layout room'). I want two levels of lighting. One will be bright LED 4 ft. tubes that will illuminate the entire garage including the workbench. The other will be dimmable pot lighting that will be positioned over the layout only.
I'm also considering adding some dimmable spotlights that will shine on the walls to add a bit of background illumination when doing night time running. Thanks to my balance problems and neuropathy I have to be able to see the floor to be able to walk properly. I can't function in near total darkness.
I have attached a lighting plan. The garage, sorry, layout room is 500 square feet. There are two beams that cross the layout room about 10" below the ceiling. One is about 1 ft. wide and the other is about 36" wide because it contains a heating duct. I have designed the lighting to minimize the shadows caused by the beams.
Please tell me what you think.
hon30critter Here is something I have wanted for 50 years. Now I just have to figure out how to organize it and then fill it. The tool chest came with a protective plastic film on all the drawer fronts. It took me two hours to peel it all off! It came off in little pieces. I'm going to mount my bench vise on it but I don't want to drill big holes in the wood top. I'm going to mount the vise on a piece of 2x6 and then screw that to the top. That will allow me to get a bit more overhang for the vise. Cheers!! Dave
Well Dave, in your excitement, you got confused. You have to fill it first, THEN you can organize it. Tell ya what, obviously all this garage stuff, ahem, pardon me.... layout room stuff has got you frazzled.
Why dont ya send that nice, shiny, gorgeous looking lunch box on over here and I will fill it.
Whats that Dave? Ya want wha? W$*t wh%t D#%e? I ca^&* he#% &*u. I'm loosi^% you Dave. I c!( .....
(Dialtone)
Love the go fast looking box - worth the wait aye!
Clear Ahead!
Douglas
PS: ya never shoulda peeled the plastic!
PSS: Now stop goofin off and get that layout built!
PM Railfan Love the go fast looking box - worth the wait aye! Clear Ahead! Douglas PS: ya never shoulda peeled the plastic!
Hi Douglas,
Ain't nobody gettin their grubby hands on my new tool box!!!!!
Of course, in the process of peeling said plastic off, I have already managed to get several finger prints on the pristene shiny surfaces. I was going to say something about how easy it is to lose one's virginity but I thought I'd better not just in case the Moderators got offended.
This thing has all the bells and whistles. If one drawer is open, it won't allow you to open a second drawer. When I was running the hardware dept. in the Peterborough Sears store (about 45 years ago) some clown came in screaming about how his tool chest had fallen over after he had opened three fully loaded drawers all at the same time. I had to stop myself from laughing.
PM RailfanNow stop goofin off and get that layout built!
Hi again Douglas,
As you may already know, I have hired Peter Lloyd-Lee to do the trackwork and the wiring for me. After making that decision I initially thought that I could mostly just sit back and wait for his arrival. Ha!! Stupid me!! I'm not sure that I actually have enough time to get ready for him when he comes next spring.
I have a number of tasks to complete before his arrival. The major challenge will be to get the garage/layout room finished. That will include getting rid of a ton of useless, outdated and expired containers of various automotive chemicals, CFL light bulbs, plumbing parts that I will never use, tools that I will never use again like piston ring compressors and bearing pullers...... the list goes on and on. I won't send anything that is still usable to the dump. We will donate it to Good Will.
Then we have to get the garage floor refinished. Currently it is a bare concrete floor that is spalling in several areas. There are no serious cracks and everything has been stable since we moved in 35 years ago, but I want to eliminate as many sources of dust as possible.
Then I will have the whole room re-wired. The current wiring runs helter skelter all over the place and there is only one switch to turn the whole mess on. I want several lighting circuits, namely one set of 4 ft. LED tubes that will light the entire garage very brightly, plus several dimmable LED lights directly over the layout, and some dimmable LED spotlights that will shine softly on the walls so that the floor is not totally dark when the layout is running at night.
The next step will be to get the walls and ceiling cleaned up. This will require a bit more than just a paint job. The walls and ceiling are full of screw holes and dints, and a few areas will require new drywall.
As if all that weren't enough, I am going to replace our current crude open wooden shelves with rolling metal cabinets.
I have probably bitten off more than I can chew between now and the spring, but I refuse to get stranded in my tracks no matter how heavy the snow is.
I got a quote for the garage floor refinishing today. I was quite pleased with the contractor when he first visited the house. Part of that was that he suggested that he could do the job for a very reasonable price. That gave me false hope. The quote came in at more than double what he had suggested so I think he was playing games.
I still have one gentleman who is a very small operator and I'm hoping he can do the job for less. Of course there is a risk in going with a low bid so I am a bit leary.
If I can't get the floor done for a decent price, I may just opt to paint it and put up with the slightly uneven surface.
I have started to sort through the junky shelves. I have incandescent and CFL bulbs coming out of my ears. Most of the bulbs in the house are now LEDs so there won't be a lot of demand for replacements. Maybe Good Will would be interested in them.
I am still recovering from my knee surgery and that is limiting what I can do in the garage. Very annoying. I have also stopped taking pain killers and I'm light headed and feeling rather weak. I'm going to blame that on drug withdrawal.[+o(
Drug addict Dave Layout Builder Dave, this is exciting hearing about all the plans. Let us know what you decide on the garage floor. I am considering something for our garage. In the winter snowy weather, the floor will get wet and it's so slippery you have to hang onto the car to walk. I think a refinished floor can be made to be non-slippery even when wet.
York1 John
I asked my doctor if I gave up delicious food and all alcohol, would I live longer? He said, "No, but it will seem longer."
York1 Let us know what you decide on the garage floor.
Hi John,
Making that decision is turning out to be rather harder than I thought. It's not a question of materials but more an issue of justifying the cost.
I got a quote this morning from a contractor who suggested that his prices were quite reasonable. His quote was for more than double what he had initially said. He also included a list of things that he won't do! He's not getting the job!
I have two options. One is a complete professional refinish where the concrete will be ground smooth, sealed, have a bonding agent applied and then having a self leveling concrete layer applied. That will be followed by a heavy layer of one of a variety of materials like epoxy (cheaper but not the best long term), polyaspartic resin etc., and then a layer of vinyl chips will be applied to the wet floor. The floor is then finished with another coat of resin That option is pushing $8,000.
On the other end of the spectrum, I can just have the floor vaccumed, degreased, power washed and finally a coat of industrial floor paint applied. That doesn't address the slight spalling in the existing floor so the surface will not be perfectly smooth, but it also means that I can paint around obstacles like shelving legs instead of having to remove the entire shelf units. If I go that route, I may forego the fancy industrial rolling cabinets and just figure out how to hide the open shelves. The price will not likely exceed $1000. That's $7,000 in trains!!!! Hummmm....
It is going to take me a while to decide which way to go. We spent $6,500 on a new front door a couple of years ago. Does that justify spending thousands on the garage? I'm not sure. I said in a previous post that we couldn't afford the cost of a high end floor restoration. In truth, money is not the issue. On the other hand, if I don't spend the money it will just sit in some stupid investment and give us no pleasure whatsoever.
hon30critterI have two options. One is a complete professional refinish where the concrete will be ground smooth, sealed, have a bonding agent applied and then having a self leveling concrete layer applied. That will be followed by a heavy layer of one of a variety of materials like epoxy (cheaper but not the best long term), polyaspartic resin etc., and then a layer of vinyl chips will be applied to the wet floor. The floor is then finished with another coat of resin That option is pushing $8,000. On the other end of the spectrum, I can just have the floor vaccumed, degreased, power washed and finally a coat of industrial floor paint applied. That doesn't address the slight spalling in the existing floor so the surface will not be perfectly smooth, but it also means that I can paint around obstacles like shelving legs instead of having to remove the entire shelf units. If I go that route, I may forego the fancy industrial rolling cabinets and just figure out how to hide the open shelves. The price will not likely exceed $1000. That's $7,000 in trains!!!! Hummmm....
I think you're planning the layout so you can operate it from roll-around chair, right? If that's the case, the smooth floor is well worth the cost. Rolling around on even a slightly uneven floor would be much more difficult, and perhaps even hazardous if the concrete has spalled in places.
I would opt for the expensive treatment. Painful initially, but very long lasting satisfaction as a result.
Mark P.
Website: http://www.thecbandqinwyoming.comVideos: https://www.youtube.com/user/mabrunton
PruittI think you're planning the layout so you can operate it from roll-around chair, right?
Right.
PruittIf that's the case, the smooth floor is well worth the cost. Rolling around on even a slightly uneven floor would be much more difficult,
Right again!
Crap Mark, there goes $7000 in trains!!!
Seriously, you have brought me back to the original reason for doing the floor and that is to have a smooth floor that is easy to roll both the chair and the layout around on, and won't trap dust and dirt.
Thanks,
hmmm 7g's in trains. Plus all the other work your doing. Some aspects of this hobby are just mind boggling!
I wanted to mention, instead of goodwill, your tools and what-not.... consider also of donating them to a College, High School, or other similar trade school for the benefit of learning new knuckle-busters the art of plumbing or automotive.
Before I switched to puters, my first collegiate forey was automotive technology. Tons of stuff was available due to donations. Private and corporate. This is actually where i got the V6 bug. I was a V8 guy till Buick went all darth vader.
We had a slew of Buick V6 'target motors' to play with. Plus marine diesels, Cat motors for diesel class. Turbos to transmissions! Unfortunately, nothing as promising as an EMD or the like. I dont guess many folk donate those. Everything else was.
Good luck on the floor thing, spensive, but flatness or smoothness for rolling the layout, youll pat yourself on the back for.
Do it safely!
hon30critterCrap Mark, there goes $7000 in trains!!!
Okay, I'm slowly getting over the theoretical loss of $7000 in train equipment. I will blame Mark and Douglas for that thanks to their sober advice.
I have been thinking about how to get the garage completely cleared out so that the floor can be done. I have two cabinets, a large shelf unit and a freezer that will be difficult, if not impossible, for me to move. It dawned on me that I could do the same thing that I have done with the layout by putting them on dollies! Uline makes dollies that will fit the cabinets and the shelf unit for reasonable prices so I have ordered three of them. I haven't figured out the freezer yet but I'm hoping I can find appliance rollers with swivel casters.
I also solved another challenge and that was what to do with my radial arm saw. I was going to use it to build the yard benchwork but I planned on getting rid of it afterwards because I don't see a future use for it. I have decided to get rid of it now and replace it with a 4 1/2" cordless circular saw. I will only be cutting 1" thick lumber so the mini saw will work fine for my purposes. I'll have to build a stand for my spray booth which currently resides on the RAS but that will be easy.
Dave, I think I know the answer to your problems.
You need to have some new neighbors move into your neighborhood. Make sure they have some teenage sons. Buy some gas station gift cards, and hand them out to the boys after they move all the stuff. It might help if you have some cute teenage granddaughters or nieces who can stay at your house for a day or two.
So John, what you are suggesting is that I should hook my granddaughters up with some local boys just to get cheap labour! I don't have any granddaughters but if I did, I wonder what their parents would have to say about that!?
My grandson will be able to help me. Oh, wait, he's only three months old.
The garage renovation is slowly coming along. I spent a lot of time researching refinishing methods for the floor and I have settled on Polyaspartic resin, and I think I have found a reputable company to do the work for a fair price. I had to filter through a few idiots when getting quotes.
One of the challenges is getting the garage completely cleaned out so the floor can be done. Today I received four industrial quality dollies which will be installed under two cabinets, a shelving unit and the freezer that we already have. When the time comes they can simply be rolled out onto the driveway and covered while they are still loaded. The floor job takes one full day to complete and one day to cure so the stuff doesn't have to stay outside for too long. Crime isn't an issue in our neighbourhood.
I still need three or four more cabinets to hold all our stuff including a lot of train items. Decent quality steel cabinets are expensive so I'm still searching for alternatives. I may opt for open shelf units and just foregoe the nice appearance of closed cabinets. It really is just an issue of cosmetics.
I haven't decided what to do with the walls and ceiling. They are drywalled but they still look awful. I may just hire someone to clean up all the dints and screw holes and have them painted. I can't justify the cost of slat walls and, quite frankly, I don't think they would be useful.
I have designed a lighting plan that will have three components. One will be general lighting which is already in place. The second will be dedicated layout lighting over the layout only, and the third will wall lighting which will be fairly dim. I want to be able to illuminate the floor a bit when doing night time operations. My balance issues cause real problems when I can't see the floor.
Hi gang!
I'm going to let this post go mostly dorment because the garage project is waiting for an inheritance to arrive and who knows how long that will take. I'll post again when something major has been accomplished.
hon30critter York1 Let us know what you decide on the garage floor. Hi John, Making that decision is turning out to be rather harder than I thought. It's not a question of materials but more an issue of justifying the cost. I got a quote this morning from a contractor who suggested that his prices were quite reasonable. His quote was for more than double what he had initially said. He also included a list of things that he won't do! He's not getting the job! I have two options. One is a complete professional refinish where the concrete will be ground smooth, sealed, have a bonding agent applied and then having a self leveling concrete layer applied. That will be followed by a heavy layer of one of a variety of materials like epoxy (cheaper but not the best long term), polyaspartic resin etc., and then a layer of vinyl chips will be applied to the wet floor. The floor is then finished with another coat of resin That option is pushing $8,000. On the other end of the spectrum, I can just have the floor vaccumed, degreased, power washed and finally a coat of industrial floor paint applied. That doesn't address the slight spalling in the existing floor so the surface will not be perfectly smooth, but it also means that I can paint around obstacles like shelving legs instead of having to remove the entire shelf units. If I go that route, I may forego the fancy industrial rolling cabinets and just figure out how to hide the open shelves. The price will not likely exceed $1000. That's $7,000 in trains!!!! Hummmm.... It is going to take me a while to decide which way to go. We spent $6,500 on a new front door a couple of years ago. Does that justify spending thousands on the garage? I'm not sure. I said in a previous post that we couldn't afford the cost of a high end floor restoration. In truth, money is not the issue. On the other hand, if I don't spend the money it will just sit in some stupid investment and give us no pleasure whatsoever. Cheers!! Dave
I got a nice slap in the face today from Immigration Canada. Those are the folks who decide who can come here from outside Canada to work. I discovered that Peter Lloyd-Lee needs a Work Permit Exemption so he can come into the country to work on my layout. He's only going to be working for about eight days but paperwork is still required.
What we are actually requesting at this point is an opinion from the government about whether he needs a work permit or not. The complexity of the process is mind boggling! I ended up hiring an immigration lawyer to handle the process. The lawyer is NOT working for free!!!!
If the government does say that he requires a full work permit, that puts an end to Peter working on my layout. Legal fees start at $4000 and I would have to prove that nobody in Canada does the same work. Bullocks!!
I must say that Peter has been very cooperative. He supplied the lawyers with all the information that they requested the same day.
I'll keep you posted.
I believe the word you are looking for is "bollox". A bullocks is a male member of the ocks family.
maxmanI believe the word you are looking for is "bollox". A bullocks is a male member of the ocks family.
Hi maxman,
Actually the word I was looking for was 'bollocks' which in common British (vulgar) English means either 'testicles' or 'nonsense'. In order to avoid offending the moderators, I was using it in the later sense.
I seem to be offending Spell Check more and more often in my old age! I'm not going to worry about it!
Hey, Dave -
Too bad Peter couldn't just come and "visit" you for eight days. After all, you're surely buddies by now, eh? Yeah, I know, the cat's already out of the bag. And you're likely not the type to risk running afoul of Ottawa!
John
Attuvian1Too bad Peter couldn't just come and "visit" you for eight days.
Yes, wouldn't that be wonderful. However, as you said, I'm not willing risk either Peter's integrity or mine. No model railroad is worth taking that chance. Canada's immigration laws have been established for a reason and that is part of the reason that we have a largely civil society. Peter is obviously not a threat, but the government doesn't know that until we prove it to them.
That's incredible Dave. I wish you luck on this.
Mike
The rules in Canada are getting weird and expencive. As a younger person I would visit almost once a year, no passport needed, they just asked why I was there which was to visit family.