I've made some improvements to my garage
 

Over the last six months or so, I've been fixing up my garage. I added styrofoam panels to the aluminum garage door, installed a small A/C unit, and more than doubled my workbench space.

The styrofoam was cheap and only needed a small hand saw to cut. Cost about $30 to fill most of a 2-car door. Ran out of panels and need to buy a few more before I can call the job done. Made a BIG difference in heat intrusion.
Bought a new seal for bottom of door, but haven't installed yet. $15.

The A/C ($140) is very small - only 5k BTU - but I'm hoping will help keep the humidity down (rH in S AR runs around 80-100%).

Extended workbench along wall to corner and then elbowed so I have an L-shaped bench now. Legs are 4x4s that I salvaged from an old clothes line post. Frame is 2x6s and top is 2x10s and 2x12s (same basic construction as the old part). If I can pick it up, the bench will hold it. :) About $135 for lumber, screws, brackets, stain, etc. Waiting for the stain/polyurethane to dry before I install peg board ($20 for about three times what I need) and hooks ($20).

Also added some screw-in hooks to the walls for hanging yard tools, extension cords, etc. $30 or so.

About $400 tied up in parts. Most of the work was done by a buddy for food, conversation, and the left over wood. My main job was to hold the boards while he cut. :)

Plan on adding some more insulation to the ceiling, but not in a big hurry.

Now I need to get rid of a lot of my junk. I have a Ford 9" rearend (including brake backing plates) out of a 1969 Gran Torino (open diff with, IIRC, 3.9-something gears) that I will sell real cheap or trade. An old IBM mainframe computer that is free-to-good-home. Four-drawer filing cabinet that's got a lot of surface rust and you wouldn't want in the house but the slides still work well and the inside is not rusted, f-t-g-h. All items are pickup in S AR only.

Those garage door panels made a big difference. That and a new seal at the bottom will take care of 75% of the problem. I've still got to figure out a good solution to keep cold air from escaping on the sides.

Sounds like a great start! Idk if your garage is already walled or the studs are exposed.. mine were originally exposed so I filled the gaps with batting and then put the pegboard over.

Putting in a drop ceiling with insulation makes a HUGE difference. Mine is unceilinged. My neighbors has the drop w insulation. 24 degree difference in temp on a hot hot day.

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Where are the pics SouthArk? And don't you dare f@$%ing refer me to the FSM. ;)

Garage had been paneled when I moved in. I have no idea if there is any insulation in the walls, but everything on the house appears to be built right. I'm thinking about blowing some cellulose over the ceiling and might try blowing some into walls if I do that. Outside of walls is brick, so that helps modulate temperatures a little. One wall faces East, so it doesn't get much sunlight. South wall has a wide eave, so that helps. One wall is common to house and feels like it is insulated (but not sure). I have a powered fan to vent the attic; that helps quite a bit.

:icon18: :rofl2: :happydance: :tiphat:

I figured someone would have to make a "Pix or it didn't happen" post. :)

Garage is still waaayyyy too messy for pics. But two of my buddies have been helping me clean up so I may be able to post some pics in a couple of weeks.

A BIG difference. Especially when the Sun shines on them late afternoon (luckily, only for a couple of hours and even then it doesn't hit the whole door). Door is dark brown to match rest of house and it soaks up a lot of heat when in the Sun.

Yeah. I've been scratching my head over how to seal the sides, too. I don't see a good way to seal the sides but a baffle of some sort might slow things down - not sure it would do enough good to be worth the trouble/expense of installing. I'm still thinking. Let me know if you come up with something.

They sell weather seals for garage doors, mine has them

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I tried weather seals for the side of my garage door. More of a pain than anything. They didn't look good or function well. Ended up removing them. Still haven't figured out the best route.

These seals, insulated garage door and walls, and plenty of snow on the roof (and 3 oil-filled electric radiators) kept my detached garage above freezing during that week in the Chi when temps were in the -20s. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...6c233fb50a.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...e92e84232f.jpg

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well i'll be dipped in **** and rolled in bread crumbs......is that a zip up screen door for a garage door opening?!

Mmm, bread crumbs. Yes sir it is! I am the biggest of fans. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...ec2e37a3d5.jpg

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You've just changed my life. The mosquitos here are something awful especially during rainy/hurricane season. I'll be adding that to the garage build list for SURE.

Glad to help! Got mine from Fresh Air Screens, Inc. Made in the USA, so it's well put-together and wants to invade my neighbor's garage to "secure for it the blessings of freedom from mosquitoes." :usa::usa::usa:

What’s something like that cost? Also, where do I get the side seal in your other pic?


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I gotta replace my sides. mice and red squirrels a MF here. Thinking of riveting on a small piece of sheetmetal to the backside of the plastic.
https://i.imgur.com/zlBEvUBl.jpg

Screen ran about $100? https://www.freshairscreens.com/

As for the seal, it came with my new garage door so I have no idea. My first guess would be Home Depot?

Much appreciated. I’ll go poke around the weather stripping aisle at Lowe’s.


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Doesn't the seal flex with the door as the door shuts? I could foresee that being a complication.

There is a bit of flex but I have not a watched it carefully if it is going to be an issue or not. I havce some sheetmetal laying around I can try it out.

I'll have to see if I can find some of that stuff. Thanks for the tip.

Installed the pegboard today. Still have to cut some holes for the receptacles and install extenders on the boxes.
Thinking about taking the pegboard down, rewiring receptacles so they are under cabinets above bench, and reinstalling pegboard. But the carpenter doesn't like the idea of taking the pegboard down. :)

Made a LOT of progress on cleaning up. Found some tools that I hadn't seen in a while.

Got up in the attic and there is zero insulation up there. :( Going to look into renting a cellulose blower.

My carpenter took the day off to prepare for a camping trip, so another buddy helped me unscrew one of the pegboard panels, plug a power cord into the socket, run the cord up to the top of the pegboard, and screw the pegboard back on. The carpenter didn't like the idea but 'tis easier to get forgiveness than permission. :)

Wired the cord into two weather-proof boxes I had laying around - one with a duplex switch and the other with a GFCI receptacle. One switch for the under-cabinet lights and the other for the GFCI.

Found out that the cabinets stick out a little bit too far - I have some bumps on my forehead. :)

The A/C unit keeps the humidity down enough that one can sit in the garage and admire one's handiwork in relative comfort but I have to open the door into the house if any work is being done. Insulating the ceiling should help but it's going to be a while before I feel like doing it.

This old man is tired. I'm glad the carpenter will be taking a few days off. :)

Great progress! Keep it up.
I have to go pick up my insulation batts from Menards this weekend.

I need a good way to keep my sockets arranged and handy on the workbench. I have several of these* (w/o the tray) but don't like them - can be difficult to get the sockets on/off, bigger sockets tend to fall off, etc.

What has worked best for you?

Edit: Looking for something that can be hung on pegboard, if possible. Doesn't have to be designed for pegboard as long as it will hang straight.


* Not a recommendation, just the first pic I found

It comes in a big roll. I have it on the outside of my door on three sides. Got it at Lowe's.

I use Ernst Manufacturing socket holders.. the holding part is a twist-lock so they go on and off easy but wont fall. Got em on Amazon. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...abd4a99078.jpg

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Nice. Thanks for the tip.

I like the way the socket size is clearly printed on the holder - my eyes aren't what they used to be.

Damnit... I'm only 38 and I was thinking the same thing :ugh:

How is it you have all 3 of your 10mm's sockets accounted for :rofl2:

3 of 4... the deepwell is missing ;)

I missed that one :icon17:

They come with a big ole pack of stickers with all the #s you'd ever need printed on them. I used a set of tweezers to place the stickers bc I have big, non-brain surgeon hands lol.

Man.. I always lose one, order another, and find the original the week after the replacement comes.. so I have 2 or 3 spares for each 10 you see there lol.

For the sake of throwing out ideas I ordered a bunch of this stuff from WallControl for my basement. I wanted something a bit more "professional looking" to display some stuff. Very happy with it https://www.wallcontrol.com/

I've been heavily working to clean out my garage as well as run some new electrical as the Z got a big brother a couple months ago.

I needed a new garage door seal I found on Amazon for like $30 I'll be trying to put that on tomorrow.

Great idea about the screen! Will definitely be looking to order one of those myself

Found some hangable/mountable socket holders at Home Depot while I was getting styrofoam and some other odds and ends. Husky brand. Don't have the size marked on them but they were only $7 each and they hang well on the pegboard. The part that holds the socket is just like most ratchet heads - a spring-loaded ball. A few one-handed trials indicates they will fit my purposes well. :)

:rofl2: that's just the start. Soon, everything will be hanging from the pegboard. When I changed my oil gallery gaskets I had every piece of the car forward of the timing cover hanging off my walls lol.

For hooks, I've found these "Wall Peg Hook Kit, 100-Pack, Black" from Amazon to be sturdy and effective.

LOL I've got most of the pegboard covered and still have more tools to be hung - I've been collecting for over 40 years. I have a LOT of pliers of different sorts. For some reason, most of my slotted screwdrivers have disappeared - picked up a pack of cheap ones while shopping to use while I look for my lost sheep.

Got some hook assortment packs whilst at Home Depot. They even had a gizmo to hang drills that fits my drill.

Also got some spade bits to drill holes in the cabinets for the stereo wires. Got one hole drilled, so far.

Still throwing crap away. I've been in this house for about 25 years and it's amazing how much stuff has accumulated.

"I didn't burn down the house for the insurance money, I burned it down to get rid of all this ****."

:icon18: :inoutroflpuke: :tup:

Well, crap! Got to looking at seams in ceiling drywall where it has started to droop and found out that the drywall panels and rafters don't match-up very well and some of the drywall screws don't hit wood. Not that big of a deal since some 3-4" wide trim board along the seams will solve the problem (it's a garage, it doesn't have to be pretty). While measuring for trim board, discovered that rafters are on 24" centers, not 16" as in the rest of the house. My styrofoam panels for 16" centers aren't wide enough. :(