My New Garage/Workshop

Well, the title says it...This is actually my "old" music/recording studio that's been sitting (almost) empty for close to 15 yrs. - My, how time flies! Anyway, in addition to getting my 996 in mid October, my son has had a '87 994S sitting in the driveway for the last two years (my, how time flies...I'm starting to see a pattern here). Anyway, this particular building is 24'w x 24' l x 20' h at one (front) end with a loft at the back. It is about 3 or 4 miles from my main home, at my previous residence which I now rent out. Fortunately for me, the building is not part of the rental - enter my "grand plan"! Since I don't have a garage at home, I figured it was high time to clean out the old studio so I could - a) get my son's car out of the driveway and put back in shape to sell or use as a weekend driver and (b) give me a place to keep the 996 during the nasty weather and a comfortable/safe place to do real work on both cars (as well as my wife daughter's cars). So, all this said, a few weeks ago we cleaned out all the junk, ripped up the carpet on the main floor and painted it with a nice epoxy coating. Needless to say I'm really psyched to have a garage, as I haven't had one since I was growing up at least 35 years ago (since I'm posting it here, I must be excited!). It's a great feeling to have a place to work without a deadline imposed by weather, have all my tools set up so I can find them when needed. Without further ado...here it is... http://s1246.photobucket.com/user/dp...4.jpg.html?o=0 for some reason I can't get the photo to insert...link only

Looks very nice. Here you go:

^^^ That's a nice garage. And since it's a few miles away, maybe look for a cheap tv and couch too.

^Ha that's it! ^ Thanks for posting the photo...I have a feeling my computer is blocking photo-bucket for some reason... Anyway, Yeah...no TV yet, but there's a full sectional sofa upstairs in the loft/office area (the "lounge" when it was a studio ). I'll also have a computer set-up up there for research/DIY's I suppose I'll need a refrigerator and coffee machine as well... I'm looking forward to getting some good work done in there over the winter.

20' ceiling just screams for a 4-post lift...

came out great! now you need some porsches on the walls lol

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AND a 2-post lift!

Nice dporto! My two-car garage is so packed now. I really need to build a detached garage just for the Porsches and nothing else.

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Good idea. I am proud to say that after owning my home for 6 years I have successfully managed to keep junk out and use my garage as intended.

Congrats! I'm sure you'll enjoy (and constantly improve upon) it!

Nice! I am always amazed by how you guys keep your garage clean. One of these days... I need to learn some organizing skills.

Looks like a great place to work. What epoxy product did you use for the floor? That process alone can be huge work indeed. No intent to hijack, but I just spend the past few months of nights and weekends fixing up the attached garage in my 1978 vintage home. It needed a lot of work and while I'm not done it is getting closer. As other's noted, decorating can be fun in the garage Full Gallery https://plus.google.com/photos/11751...065?banner=pwa Before: After:

Looks very nice!

Holy crap! I've got some work to do.... Nice job, guys! R

Oh yeah, great job! What I used looks just like yours (except my camera phone sucks so you can't see it in my photo) - I got it from Home Depot ( I think it's epoxy brand)cost is about $100.00 for the "kit" - 2 part 2 Gal./500 sq.ft. coverage + concrete etch solution. It is a big job, and it took my 2 separate tries to get started because I didn't read the instructions the first time and wasn't prepared for the etching/cleaning/rinsing, stage... It's worth it in the long run! r.e. 2/4 post Lift - That's certainly a possibility in the future depending on how much car work I want/need to do

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Yes this was my second floor "old floor" coating so I was prepared for the intense preparation. Cleaning with power washer, then heavy detergent and stiff brush with elbow grease, then lots more power washing, then etching with muriatic acid (nasty), then baking soda solution to neutralize, then more power washing - whew! Of course then crack filling (I used an epoxy to save time). Finally the color coat (I used four 1 gallon two part Valspar epoxy kits from Lowes) and color flakes (about seven cans) and let dry for 48 hours. Then a layer of clear epoxy (also Lowes Valspar, two 1 gallon kits) with clear non-slip additive. Another 48 hours and finally done. Huge PITA but worth it. My floor jacks and scissor lift have left no marks so far. Get some more pics up of your new space, looks like it has a lot of potential for doing big projects

DUDE! Holy Crap! You went "deep"! It sounds like you did a great job though. My floor was basically in "new" condition despite being over 20 yrs. old, as it was covered with carpet shortly after the construction was finished. Once I lifted the carpet it was really just a matter of sweeping, vacuuming, squeegee the (citric) acid solution, rinse with fresh water, vacuum the dusty stuff and then mix the two part and roll it on.

Ok, you twisted my arm! A couple more photo's... A little background first...When the space was a studio I had a "Control Rm" area with a slightly raised floor (the width of a 2x4) which consisted of two 4'x8' sheets of 3/4" OSB that sat on a 2"x4' frame with a space between the two panels that created a conduit for wires, mic cables, speaker cables etc. So when I tore up the control rm floor I saved the materials for when I built a workbench. Todayt I built a workbench. Without further ado...Here it is. This is my buddy Russ who help with construction, standing in front of 1 OSB panel - this one will get cut in half to form the top of the workbench. Here it is cut in half. Ahhh, you get to see the cool speckled epoxy floor coating! I glued and screwed these two halves together to form the top of the bench - it's heavy! To support the rear of the bench I screwed 1 8' 2x4 in to the wall - the top sits on top of this plate. The front of the bench is supported by 4"x 4" cedar posts (it's what I had laying around) at the corners. Ok had to include one of my baby... That's pretty much it for now...long day! I thought had a few more photo's but my phone battery was low, so even though I thought I took them, I guess I didn't

Well done on the 8' x 2' bench. Nice lower shelf and those 4x4 posts will make it really strong for the big projects Floor looks great, it makes such a difference. I did the same size in my renovation but one goal I had was everything either has to have wheels or be off the floor. So I used a floating design and I'll be adding shelves under that soon between the supports for a little extra storage. This is the same size as yours, 8x2.

That looks Sweet! I like the off the floor idea - you can literally hose the place out when you want - good call. Since my bench-top is OSB (rough and super porous) I'm definitely going to have to coat it with something - I'm thinking a "self leveling" resin of some sort (epoxy or some other). I want it to be chemical resistant and easy to clean. ** In case you missed some of the funky "painting" in my space, that's from one of my early tenants when the place was still a music studio...he was supposed to re-paint the place when he left...The moron would get stoned and have fits of "inspiration" - none of which ever amounted to anything (clearly! )... Anyway, come springtime, I've got to roll everything outside and do a real paint-job. I like the "race yellow" you used. I'm thinking something along those lines - some sort of race motif/Race Car Color(s)

Just finished mine, too.. Took 7 months to build, this is 1/3 of the 5,300 sq ft, two story Man Cave that doubles for my Training Facility. Just started moving cars in this weekend, have another dozen to add.

Beautiful Jake. I'd love to hear more about the 356.

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It was a race car from 1964 to 2007, was never even titled or tagged until I brought it back to life as my version of an Outlaw. 220HP, Raby 914 engine @ 2.6Liters, fed by 51.5mm Weber (Bologna) IDAs, with direct ignition. The engine has the very first product ever built by LN Engineering, the very first set of "Nickies" cylinders, in 102mm. These and one other set were prototypes. The whole car is a little out of the ordinary. Its never even been to an event :-) That old beetle has the most history, it was my first test vehicle way back in the day, and has been through hell... Thats the car that started all the craziness, I have had it for over 30 years now.

Jake, That's truly an "off the hook" full professional facility! I'm luvin' the color scheme and the galvanized corrugated steel around the bottoms of the walls! And the lighting...do you have to wear sunglasses in there? Wow, really nice... more like a "lab" than a garage - your students are very lucky. Hopefully they'll follow your lead and create similar types of facilities! Best of luck with your future endeavors

Jake that is too pretty to work in Love it! The car collection looks fantastic in there. In the world of mere mortals - I built my last rolling workbench this weekend, using countertop left over from a kitchen renovation.

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I'm using off the shelf Minwax poly for my bench tops - it is reasonably durable and easy to reapply when it wears. Four coats initially works pretty well. If you don't need the transparent "look" then there are a lot of other surface coatings out there including epoxy. For me, the ability to "refresh" the coating after wear is important. The paint color in the shop is "Porsche Crest Gold" It gets great reviews from everyone but my wife. I've also tied in my standard racecar color scheme when I repainted a cabinet.

Yeah ^that's great^ I'm mulling over some Lightblue/Orange (like the old Porsche 907/904 racecars) maybe upstairs in the loft/office area. That's funny about the "Porsche Crest Gold"...I guess that's why they call them "man-caves". BTW, you need a meat cleaver to go with that CART!!!

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now heres a guy who picked the best of the litter - 356a, 911sc, 993 wish i kept my silver/black 83 sc - really remorseful about that one

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Thats actually an '88 Carrera, not an SC� My SC isn't in that photo, neither is the 964C4 that I just bought.. And my 912E isn't there either, or a dozen more. :-) The training facility was a perfect place to add on "my garage". I'll show you the rest in a few days. :-)