Cool Garages

Well, so much for staying on schedule!!!!

In the photo you'll see a little black pipe sticking down from the ceiling. That's a gas line for the heater. We're required to get an inspection of that (and the one for the cooktop) before closing in. Around here it's the Health Dept. that does that. Being the grossly incompetent jerks they are it took them almost two weeks to get out to look, and technically we were supposed to leave the gas disconnected for the whole time while waiting for them. I guess I'm not supposed to mind not having heat, and taking cold showers! Parr for the course for them, they also took 5 weeks at the initial permitting, even though none of what we've done affects the septic system. Drywalling is moving along but those guys have flaked away two days this week too!! I'm done whining now! Thanks for the shoulder!

Those spots at waist heigth are the air line ends, and you can see the corner of the pull down stairs for the overhead storage (gotta hide excess fenders and wheels somewhere). Plenty of natural light, even on a cloudy day.

Bob, is that gas line for the heater in the garage area or the new added living area? Make sure you ventilate the area well if you are working with combustable materials in that space, if it will not be sealed off. I was so paranoid about that, I moved my gas furnaces to the attic, and went with an electric water heater in a closet that is at garage level. Just a thought from Mr. Safety ;-)

Looking good, won't be long now that the bureaucrats are doing their thing.

Thanks for the concern and encouragement TC. This is a shot of the shop area.

I know what you mean. I'm putting in an electronic start unit (so no pilot light) for just that reason. When I want to spray some paint, or work with other flammables, I'll preheat, then turn off the thermostat. I guess that's why we share our experiences, so others can learn from what we've experienced.

"Well, so much for staying on schedule!!!!"

Bob, looks like its getting closer to being done despite the County jerk around. What ya doing to the floor? Will you be laying tile or just sealing it?

I built a house years ago in Olympia and I can remember running into the same type of problems. It really made scheduling work loads a big headache.

Just make sure you don't deal with the Department of Development and Environmental Services up there. There was a story on the King5 news last night about a guy that had a run-in with them and I they really put it to him. The article is here: http://www.king5.com/localnews/speci....310ac706.html

I cant believe what they charged him for just a 15 minute conversation about getting his bond back. Check the part about the contractor that had them come out to inspect the job site!! It just makes you wonder.................. :HMMM:

Say, where's the sprinkler system?? :3dSMILE:

Hey Larry.

I'll at least seal it to keep down the dust. I've been looking at a variety of coverings, but I don't think vinyl tile holds up very well. Those thicker, snap together tiles (e.g. Racedeck) look enticing, but are a bit spendy for my tastes, and I haven't gotten any feedback on how well they hold up to jack stands, floor jacks, cherry pickers, etc.

Actually, the DDES people were/are the easy ones to deal with for us. Once I finally got the initial permit from Health, the gal at DDES processed the general building permit in one day without charging the expedited fee! Their inspectors have been out within one day of inspection call in and haven't yanked us around at all. DDES's performance really makes the Health people look like clowns, although they do well enough at that on their own!

Regarding sprinklers.................don't give the jerks any ideas!:CRY:

Well Bob, you thought that out well with the electric start--good move!! I investigated the RaceDeck/Tuff Deck stuff and what discouraged me most was their answer to the following question:

Q. By design I assume water could get underneath the tiles, correct?
A. Yes
Q. Did you design in a method then for the water to evaporate from underneath the tiles so as not to cause mildew/mold, etc?
A. No....but...shouldn't be a problem.

Q. What happens when you drive on it with stones embedded om the tread, will it scratch?
A. Yes, it could, but it would be easy to replace the affected tiles.

I went two part epoxy with silica beads for adhesion. Love it.

Thanks TC.

That answers part of my concerns. I sent some questions to them early last week and still haven't heard back. If the stones in the tires could be a problem, then the hardware I'm concerned about can't be too good for it either.

One more word of advice on the floor coverings--it should TRULY be last on your list of "improvements". Take your time on that one. You're probably gonna degrease or acid etch the concrete no matter what you choose, so take your time. Then again, once you decide to move in--get it done. My personal opinion is definitely do a moisture test before final surface regardless of where you live--let that concrete cure.

Bob, looks like garage about ready......you are right about the Racedek tiles....I sent for sample one.....left mt car parked on it......and fond some deflection in material....not i,pressed. I painted my floor as you recall.....and it is lifting after only 2 weeks..and I prepared it to the hilt. What type of vinyl will hold up to floor hoist and hot tires???.....let me know..I also have another idea for floor I am kicking around....need to verrify from manufactuter if it will work...Jerry..aka Troglodyte/Vetteman

Hey Jerry,

It would be good to know at what temps your epoxy was applied and cured, and for how long. Also, did you do the moisture test, a potential problem on even cured concrete? I ended up doing the epoxy coat, though I don't have any opinion yet about finish as I completed it 3 days before we left for a few weeks R&R in the desert. It's supposed to cure for a week before vehicle or other "heavy" traffic, so I figured three weeks would be better. As TC indicated, the clean up is the big work part of the project. Even though my concrete is "new" (meaning no grease stains) I did have to deal with some latex overspray from the painting. I did a complete scrub down with Goof-Off which did a pretty good job of taking up most of the overspray. The rest came up with the wash material that came with the "kit". I used the Rustoleum setup that looks to be very similar to the "U Coat It" stuff in the rod rags, without the bucket, glasses, roller, gloves, etc. I already have. I ended up with one wash, and three scrubbing rinses, plus some hand touch up. Very tedious! Compared to the prep, the coating was a snap, basically mix, wait the induction time, and roll (rock & if you want to :D ). I had prewarmed the shop for a couple days to 65f, made sure the floor temp was over 55f (per manufacturer rec.) and then kicked the temp up to 75f for cure for about 24 hrs (manufacturer rec was 8-10). I had called the Rustoelum hot line because they didn't recommend an acid wash specifically. They indicated there was a mild citric acid in the wash mixture they included that was sufficient. It did do a mild etch on my concrete which had cured for about 100 days. I got no indication of trapped or migrating moisture under the three patches I did (two outside corners, one center). So, we'll see. Sorry to hear yours lifted, hope mine doesn't.

As for tile, the supposed best is VCT (Vinyl composite tile). You can go to the Armstrong Tile site www.armstrong.com and look under "commercial" products. It looks to me like the stuff you see in a lot of industrial offices and shops. Kinda cheesy looking colors, at least in the lower cost stuff, but durable I'm sure. Whether it performs any better under jacks, stands, etc. I don't know, haven't read anything where an actual, specific testimonial confirms. Lowe's and HD have basic VCT in grey and beige in stock.

Let us know about the alternative you're exploring, always interested in that kind of stuff.

Well, the inside of the garage expansion is pretty much done. The moving in process has begun!! Floor is painted, cabinets are hung, heater is working, and organizing is a pain!

There are two more cars, and a garage stall full of "junk" to pack in here yet, but it's still going to be great. Soon as better weather sets in, we can finish the outside!

Ohekk, what's up with the old dealership building?

Heck Bob, lets trade, I'll pull my cabinets outta my kitchen and trade them for the oak ones in your garage!! :3dSMILE:

Its sure looking good tho.

Larry

Thanks Larry.

Actually, those ARE the kitchen cabinets from this house. When we bought this place my wife just hated the house, mainly because of it having one of the most poorly designed and laid out kitchens I have ever seen. When we decided to go ahead with our kitchen remodel, the difference between adding more of this kind and reconfiguring, or going all new wasn't that much, so we sprung for the new. :D Darn!!! I had to do SOMETHING with those old cabinets. As it turns out, once they were broken down into their modules, I was able to rearrange them into a pretty functional setup for the shop. I used the left overs and scraps from the VG fir flooring to make the counter top.

Waste not, want not!! I am unemployed you know!

Back when I was building my home in Olympia, my cabinet guy turned me on to another kithcen job he had going and said the homeowner had all the old cabinets out on his patio, all "free" for the first one to haul them off. Boy I was there in a heartbeat. :D

They were all the 'ol painted 60's style plywood but were in good condition other than needing a new color painted on them. I even took them out of that house when I sold it and re-installed them in my new garage here.

I've never been able to come accross another "FREE" set after that. Ya just can't have enough of them organize and to store junk in thats for sure. :3dSMILE:

Larry

Hey Bob, those cabinets look alot like the ones I just tore out of my kitchen and am putting in my shed to store my tools, I just wish we would have been able to save my parents cabinets too when they remodeled. Those were solid oak that were built when the house was built in the 60's, could only save the catch-all the rest had to be tore apart to take down. :CRY: , But I got alot of spare wood now to build more cabinets when my garage is done. :D
By the way nice garage. it looks bigger than my house :D

Look's great Bob. Nice flexible floor pan to stuff in lot's of toys if needed. :)

Congradulations on your garage. That should keep you out of trouble........Don

Bob,

Progress seems slow... but we're getting there!

PHASE I - Complete

- The showroom is renovated and 3 cars parked in there for the
winter.

- Two storage rooms have been cleaned and re roofed.

- The main shop area is gutted of all the old elec, plumbing,
steam pipes and ductwork.

Ready to start (This month):

PHASE II

- Remove the arched steel roof

- Remove the roof parapets

- Install elevator

- Install steel & precast concrete floor system for second level

Plans for "residence" are done and approved

PHASE III

- Build "residence" starting April!

Hope to move in by end of year!

Here's the story in the local paper:

http://www.jsonline.com/news/wauk/nov02/93020.asp

OK you guys...

I hear what everybody is saying about the epoxy floor system and from the examples I've seen it's probably the best way to go.

BUT ...I need to do about 5000 sq ft!

The estimates I've gotten are bewteen $6 - $8.00 per sq foot!

My wife says: "uh.. uh! No way! not in your dreams! are you Nuts?"

Is the "U-Coat" system the ONLY alternative for do it yourselfers?

I could probably do vinyl or even quarry tile myself cheaper than epoxy...OK so I might have to replace a tile from time to time but
good grief 30K for a floor?

Suggestions PLEASE!

Hey Tom, great write up in the paper. You'd better get a wholesale deal on candy for next Halloween though!! Kinda funny, we left our "city" neighborhood home to come out to the suburbs. Our halloween count went from 7 in 2001 to about 80 here in the "country". :HMMM:

As for the epoxy floor. Mine's only been down about two months, but so far so good. It had a full 3 weeks to cure before I put anything on it (cabinets, tools, car). I've drug my table saw across it, some of the cabinet units, and rolled some steel wheeled tools over it, and no signs of lifting. Some light surface scratches that rubbed out fine (I'm not that anal, just curious if it would make a difference or not). The U-Coat-It isn't your only choice. I got the Rustoleum kit at Lowe's. Home Depot sells it too. They claim about 250 sq. ft. per kit (one gallon), but I actually got close to 300 coverage, perhaps because my concrete was "fresh" and somewhat smooth. They include a floor washing material that contains citric acid for a mild etch, and don't recommend a muratic acid wash. They don't include, and therefore don't charge for, the bucket, googles, gloves, etc. that U-Coat-It does, but I had that stuff anyway. The cost here was $55.00 per kit, so that works out to less than .20 per foot! Of course I provided my labor, which some say is worth just what I pay for it.:) The clean up prep is the big part of the job. I ended up with essentially four washes of the floor prior to coating. Like the U-Coat-It, the Rustoleum cleans up with water......until it kicks, then it's tough stuff. Pot life, including the 1 hour induction time, is only 3 hours, so, doing it with a roller means you can't delay too much. With as much area as you have, spraying might be better, but you'd need to be mindfull of the pot life so that the material would still be water soluble for clean up. As for the prep, that might be a good place to have a pro with a high pressure washer do that messy part to cut down your labor, plus that would get rid of most, if not all, of the grundge you indicated was there.
Rustoleum's tech # is 888-683-5667 if you want to talk to them.

Great article and a great redevelopment of space!! Love the Rod in the photo as well!

Tom, neat newspaper article. Its always great when a plan starts coming together like yours. Bob's sure turned out great, can't wait to see how yours turns out. Thats such a cooool looking building/house/shop/showroom. :D

Hey, do I see a small candy factory in the back somewhere for Vicky...... It sounds like you'll need it!! :3dSMILE:

Larry

Larry,

She wants to use the "Parts Room" for a wine cellar!

NO! get out of my shop!

Now we're trying to find a used 2500# elevator to take us from the shop up to the residence (13').

New elevators are rather pricey!

anybody got any suggestions?

Tom

Hey Tom, I think thats a great idea. Heck, it sure beats a candy factory anyway!! Just think, after a long day of wrench bending you could set back with a nice glass of grapes.:LOL:

I'm sure someone on Ebay has gotta have a spare 2500# elevator lying around somewhere, doesn't everybody!!:3dSMILE:

Larry

TC, Bob P, Trog.:
I'm not sure who you spoke to about the RaceDeck tiles and where your information came from, but I can assure you that after nearly 14 years in the high-end decorative floor coating and floor covering business, that I would not have become a west coast distributor for the line of RaceDeck products if they did not fulfill every requirement that I had concerning extreme use coverings.

I would encourage any of you that may have a question or concern about this type of modular floor tile to call me personally, toll-free at 866-789-5927 PST so that I may address your concerns. I can even provide a list of very satisfied customers who would love to brag about their garage floors if you would like.

With literally hundreds of thousands of square feet of epoxy floors installed by my company during the last decade, every single flaw that you may find in epoxy-type floor coatings has been addressed and rectified in the design of the RaceDeck tiles. Can you find a cheaper priced system of floor covering than RaceDeck?...probably. But, in this business, you always get what you pay for. Give me a chance to tell you why.

I offer my customers a 30 day money-back guarantee if they honestly believe that their RaceDeck floor is not what we promised it to be, and I have not had even one person ask me to back up that guarantee. Not one. Please call so I don't feel guilty about this shameless plug! :)

Bob

Good to see ya here brother Evans!

Thanks for the offer. I'm pretty much locked in to my choice but perhaps others can benefit from your offer of assistance. The fact that I got no response to my email on the "factory" site (to this day some near four months later) didn't leave a very good impression with me. You, I know, will be much more responsive. If inaccurate stories about product performance perpetuate unanswered it does no one any good.

Please return here for other of your input. That will help cleanse you of the "guilt" from that shameless plug.:D

Bob,
I'm extremely surprised that you did not receive a response from the manufacturer, because customer service is our number one priority. We pride ourselves in being very diligent in returning requests for information, majority of the time the very same day and have often been praised by our customers on how quickly we return requests for samples and literature. We have to, it's our lively-hood!

I somewhat suspect that there may be a chance that you did not contact the manufacturer directly, but possibly one of the local dealers, in which case we need to hear about these kinds of problems very quickly so we can correct the situation. I am only responsible for the So. Calif. area, so I do not know who the dealer might be in the Washington state area. If a problem like this ever arise, please contact me directly and I will service you personally.

With regards to moisture and weight capabilities, the RaceDeck floors were specifically designed to handle extreme weight loads and is warrantied against such a failure, plus all of our floors have been designed to be a "No-Fail" type of floor covering when moisture is present. If you possibly have moisture present, we have a product that's right for your application. Just try to epoxy to stick when water is present!

I realize that you have already gone a different direction regarding the flooring, but the manufacturer has asked me to post a comment here to try to do a little damage control. I am so confident that other members will also be just as satisfied with a RaceDeck floor that I am willing to offer any potential So. Cal.Club Hotrod members a 35% discount off the retail price of the RaceDeck tile flooring to $2.49 sq. ft for members located in So. Cal. for the next 30 days....that's less than what my contractors discount is! Just be sure and ask for me and mention that you are a Club Hotrod member.

OK, now for the personal stuff. I have been around watching, but not visible. I like it better this way. I still converse with many members on a daily basis and am quite active in our own club here in San Diego. I do miss talking with many of you older aquaintances from the other site, but work and family are my priorities. Hope to talk with you soon.

Bob

(I had to re-register under another user name because I forgot my old password!) :)

Bob,
As to forgeting your log in...........a mind is a terrible thing to lose.:p

When I was in business I always felt it important to get feedback, even if it was about a negative experience. How else could we know what needed improvement? In that spirit, I checked my old email sent file. I sent my inquiry through a link on the Motormat site, which I figured was the same as Racedeck since it had the same SLC address. The email went to "info@motormat.com" on 19 Nov 02, 9:21 am PST. Hope that helps.

Your discount offer is a good one. For anyone wanting to use the product this is a great opportunity. Thanks.

Bob,
Motormat and RaceDeck are not the same...they are competitors. We have a huge variety of different products for specific needs, not just garages. I can guarantee you that if you contact either us or the Corporate RaceDeck office, you will receive a reply within 24 hours. If not, call us immediately and we will work with you directly.

The most important thing that I can tell you is that regardless of whatever product you decide on, whether it's epoxy or VCT, or RaceDeck, you always get what you pay for. RaceDeck is worth every penny. That's why we no longer do epoxy floors!
Bob

Attaboy Bob.

Already a payback for your efforts! Glad you clarified my mis-assumption. But man, their web sites have such similar styles and graphics, and both in the same town. One of them should change their format to eliminate any other such confusion, particularly if one of them makes a negative impression such as Motormat did with me.

I am glad to see response from RaceDeck....I had no problem getting info....it was just too costly....area I need to cover is 25x32.....and I want to use a 4 post lift..and was doubtful the flooring would stand up to the lift weight with car on it

Trog,
The old adage of you get what you pay for also holds true to floor coverings. At $2.49 a sq. ft. to Club Hotrod members, I guarantee you that you will not find anything that will stand up to the rigors of RaceDeck.

As far as your 4 post lift?...go look at www.tuffdeck.com and you will see photos of lifts placed on our floors. We have several floors installed in Fire Stations where 55,000lb. fire-trucks are driven on them daily, so floor jacks, jack-stands and engine hoists are no problem. The service manager of a large Ford dealer here in San Diego purchased a floor for his own personal use and liked it so well that they are no looking into using it in the service bays of that dealership.

Want to put your epoxy floors to the test?...try putting a large puddle of laquer thinner, brake fluid or paint stripper on your painted floors and leave it there for at least 24 hours or more and see what happens. When your painted floor holds up to there types of products without bubbling up, then it will be almost as tough as RaceDeck is. Many modern fuel tanks and brake fluid tanks in newer cars are made of the same material as RaceDeck is. Just remember that RaceDeck will move when you move, too.

First off I would like to say hello. I ran across this site while doing a search for different articles on unique garages. This site appears to have a lot to offer and I am looking forward to checking it all out. It's always nice to run across different sites as this and there always seems to be a vast amount of knowledge. I usually hang at this site www.hotrodders.com and my username is Kevin45 so if you want to check it out everyone is more than welcome. I'm looking forward to checking out the gallery and seeing what kind of rides everyone has. What drew me to this was my son sent me a site about one heck of a garage someone built and we were talking on the other site about garages so I thought I would do a search and it brought me to this thread. So since I'm here I signed up and guess I'll add my $.02 to this thread. http://www.ultimategarage.com/UltGar2.htm. As I stated before I'm looking forward to checking this site out and hope to see some of you visit at hotrodders also. Thanks and have a great day.

Kevin

The demolition is complete!

The whole roof structure is off...They planned 3 weeks...it took 3 days!

I can't say enough about the professionalism of the demolition crew...They disected the roof structure like a team of surgeons.

All the scrap was hauled away and cleaned up ready for the masons.

The mason contractor is hard at it prepping the foundation for the precast concrete planks for the second (living quarters) level.

Tommorow the hole gets drilled for the elevator then the elevator shaft gets built.

Precast concrete is being made tommorow and should be installed by next week.

Mid to late April we should start construction on the residence.

Oh...and the church steeple reamins!:D

whew!

It is good to hear that you are making some progress...

Dave Brisco

Well we're in the home stretch!

Over the course of the summer, we got all the necessary foundation work done, erected the steel and installed the precast concrete planks for the upper level floor. The elevator shaft is in and the mechanicals start getting installed next week.

The upper level "residence" is all roughed in. We have windows, doors and they finished the roof today. The rough plumbing is done and the rough heating and electric should be done in a couple of weeks. For the most part the front of the building is done: ie doors, masonry, electric etc.

We're presently working on the lower level garage for the daily drivers, a home office and a rec room. We salvaged a really kool 100 year old bar from a tavern across the street to be incorporated in the rec room attached to the showroom.

Insulation, drywall then finish electric, heating, plumbing, heating and carpentry are next.

We had hoped to be in by year end however Feb looks more realistic.

All in all the project has gone rather nicely. It's been a pleasure working with contractors who share our vision and are willing to be flexible as changes are required ( as in most renoavtion projects).

Our project was submitted and tentatively accepted by HGTV for one of their programs. Stay tuned!

PS. Of course ALL car related activities have been put on hold...hopefully next summer we will have time to play!

By the way, did anybody attend the the Goodguys Great Lakes Nationals hosted right here in beautiful Waukesha, WI?

Thanks for the update Tom, be sure to keep us posted about the HGTV program... I would love to check out the show!..

Dave Brisco

Sounds great Tom!! George probably appreciates you keeping the economy going too!!;)

So when does the weather get good enough for the house warming barbeque?

Great news Tom, I bet ya can't wait to finally be done. Look forward to some new pics of the progress too, you did get rid of that ol' film camera and get a new digital one right?;)

I don't get HGTV but maybe I can get my daughter to tape it when it comes on.

Almost forgot, did Vicky ever get that wine cellar in there someplace? :3dSMILE:

Larry

New Member Bluesman hear and a Big Hello to all passionate Hot Rod folks.

I am also looking for Garage info and old gas station pictures as I am looking to build a 50' x 60' x 16' steel insulated building to be used as my shop. I have chosen Olympia Building Systems as the MFG of the building and this was after much research and pricing comparisons of all the top steel building companies. I would like to put add a nostalgic look to it of an old 40 to 50's filling station complete with at least one working gas pump and out side air. I have been dreaming of doing this for some time and now will start hopefully around the end of November God willing. Need to find a good deal on restorable gas pump and air machine, decided on a four post lift and looking for old gas station stuff.

Make it a Great Day!

Bluesman