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.