Un garage à la française

[naiku]

I actually looked at that one, surprisingly you can pick one up cheaper on Amazon (even factoring shipping into the cost). I called a place last week and it's $50 for the weekend, Friday through Monday. Just need to decide whether to get it this weekend or not, might be busy Saturday and don't want to end up spending more than $200 total on the rental, otherwise buying that Harbor Freight one will be easier.

Shit though, if they have that one in town, I could start tomorrow. A few panels up each day would be nice.

Edit: Decided to check Facebook marketplace and Craigslist locally, nothing close by other than people asking almost the new price for used ones (and even most of those are at least an hour away).

[naiku]

Putting up a drywall ceiling on your own, with no experience, is not fun, having said that...



The job took ages, some pieces I wish were better (cut outs around the garage door motor, couple gaps here and there) but overall, it looks good to me. Putting it up was not fun, I ended up buying a drywall lift. $50 a day to rent one unless it was over the weekend, so I bought one for $250 and figure I'll sell it for $150 or so. It's a frustrating thing to use, the top that the drywall sheets lift on, does not lock, so it constantly rotates, which is a real headache. Up and down the ladder, adjust, repeat, put in a screw and the top rotates slightly meaning your gap is either too big, or it overlaps another piece and has to come down.

Still, it is done. The light improvement is massive, not that the lights were not bright before, but the drywall reflects the light down now. Additionally, once I get the insulation blown in I can put a few sheets of OSB down in the roof space and have a huge amount of extra storage.

[naiku]

Not much of an update, sold the drywall lift for $150 a while back. Opened an access door at the rear of the garage a few days ago and started putting in a floor so I can use it as storage. It's a huge amount of space that I can use for storing things that I rarely need to use.



For now I just dumped in 8 bags of insulation beneath the OSB there. Need to pick up likely another 20 bags and rent a machine to blow the insulation in. Still need to also install gutters, soffit vents and facia. But, it's been cold. So, those things can wait.

[naiku]

Let's see, it has been a while, so I managed to get a bunch of insulation added to the attic, should be somewhere around an R-13 value but I may over time add some more. Also installed a QuietCool GA ES-1500 fan for ventilation and some cooling during the summer. It works OK, in terms of bringing in fresh (ideally cooler) outside air and moving the air around, but does not, unsurprisingly, cool it a whole lot. I think long term I will add a Mini-split system, but that's a back burner project for now.

Added a screen to the garage door, although I need to revisit that as the velcro is useless so it falls down continually, so for now, the screen is rolled up in the yard.

Installed fascia board and soffit vents down both sides, still need to finish up the front and back as well as get some gutter installed, too many actual house projects eating up time and budget.

What else, I moved the TV from a static wall mount to a swivel mount, which has made it far more usable, for example if I have a how to type video playing on YouTube, I can turn the TV to face me directly. Not sure if I ever mentioned it, but I bought a pair of JBL tower speakers cheap off Craigslist, a Pyle pre-amp from Amazon with Bluetooth and a friend gave me a 2 channel amp, which made for a really nice garage system.



Added some Versatrack to hold larger tools and keep things a little more organized, I debate installing it all the way across 3 walls in a continual line, and then moving the electric wire to the little channel and having it hidden, but not sure yet whether I will. The biggest issue with doing that would be having to remove all the electrical outlets and wire and move them up about 10" as I don't want to lower the track system.



It's pretty neat though, there are a ton of different hooks you can use and it's relatively cheap as well (the first pieces I bought a kit on sale for something like $50) a 4' section of the track is about $10 and the hooks range from $10-$30 or so. It also helps nicely to break up the cinder block IMO.


On the annoying side of things, the floor already developed a crack which sucks and there are some cracks in the mortar that I need to seal up. Eventually I want to paint the entire outside, but as I mentioned above, house projects are needing to be done first (both front and rear deck are due for replacement, house is going to need painted again either this year or next at the latest, drive needs a new load of stone and so on).

Oh, almost forgot, because I had a moment of insanity and thought I had unlimited time and money, I decided to buy this...



It came with stock wheels, but the tires were dry rotted, so I bought new wheels and tires. Hoping it does not need much, fairly rust free other than the drivers floor board that I could tell. But, yeah, maybe I should have finished the Monte Carlo first. However, the truck does run and drive and will be handy with the 8' bed for a bunch of stuff.

[Notloudenuf]

It came with stock wheels, but the tires were dry rotted, so I bought new wheels and tires. Hoping it does not need much, fairly rust free other than the drivers floor board that I could tell. But, yeah, maybe I should have finished the Monte Carlo first. However, the truck does run and drive and will be handy with the 8' bed for a bunch of stuff.

The least English thing you could have bought.

[naiku]

Accurate. We have had an F150 for about 20 years now though, so I am experienced in driving like a good ol boy!

[Stycker]

I love your Garage. Just needs a toilet to make it a real "Dog House", for those days when your actually in the dog house. The truck is nice too. If I ever get a truck again it won't be the $60-80,000 one. I was always afraid to use it like a truck. Ideally I keep my Subaru and get a junk truck and a used sports car, but then I'd probably be back in the dog house.

[naiku]

When we were built it we did get a cost to run a water supply, but it was something crazy (COVID pricing) so that got knocked off the list. Initially as well, the plan called for about a 10' concrete apron out front, but again, the costs of stuff was stupid and I figure that will be something relatively easy to get added in future if I decide to.

I plan to use the truck as a truck, while it is a cool old truck and I have always wanted an old truck, I specifically did not want a garage queen. Of course, now I am torn on whether to install a low key system in there, but that's a real low priority for now.

[Stycker]

That certainly would be pricey especially with that COVID up-pricing.