My Grand Design 01

Somewhere over the last month or so the crazy idea of FINALLY sorting out my garage workspace entered into my brain, tumbled around, and stuck. Whatever the final design was going to be it had to

1. Fit two motorcycles
2. Contain basic workshop facilities (bench, hydro press, compressor etc.)
3. Contain entertainment facilities (32" TV, PS3, fridge)
4. Fit my wife's Santa Fe (which is a big boy)

After some days with Google Sketchup, I came up with the following design:

This is the target design

Snug fit ain't it?

The fancy paint and tiles aside, the design is quite simple.

The hydraulic motorcycle lift from the last post is actually a crucial part of the design. My old bench (which was essentially a wooden table) was a pain to use because it required two people to push a bike on top, so most of the time there was no bike on it. The result is floor space being taken up by a bike AND a bench. The hydraulic lift on the other hand acts like a permanent parking pad because its easy for me to push my bike on there alone. The result is a reduced footprint and its and handy lift to boot!

So having ticked the hydraulic lift off my checklist, the next thing I tackled was insulating the short wall of my garage (the one which will have the longer bench against it).

Bare studs makes for a cold garage

Now, I'm fairly handy around bikes and cars but when it comes to houses I'm really quite incompetent, so I called in favors from my dad and my cousin Ray.

Putting the fire-rated bats in

Covering up the vapor barrier with fire code drywall (REALLY heavy shit)

All done

Although it's hard to tell from the pictures, there ARE actually vapor barriers everywhere. If there's one thing I've learned from watch HGTV with my wife is that you need a vapor barrier. Watching Mike Holmes, you get the impression that they are significantly more important than ... say your organs.

Next on my list was dealing with the 12 ton hydraulic press I picked up form Harbor Freight along with my hydraulic lift. It came in three boxes and was taking up floor space so I put it together and pushed it into place along with the compressor.

When assembled, these scraps of metal are capable of pressing 12 tons!

A slightly obstructed view of the new hydraulic press. Note the newly taped and mudded drywall too

As of this writing I'm still missing a drill press to go next to the hydraulic press. George is headed to the US again soon and will pick one up for me so for now that corner is a bit lonely :p

While waiting for my drill press to come, I started to build my main 8' bench which is made entirely from framing lumber, glue, and wood screws... which in hind sight probably should have been decking screws... oh well live and learn.

Running out of space to build but carrying on anyways

Just about finished

The main 8' bench is just about done with only a top and some shelving required to finish it off.

While it's nice to have a warm garage to work in, I do find that I get more insects and mice. They don't last long thou because the only things to eat/drink in my garage are usually toxic enough to melt an medium sized elephant. This poor little fella found out the hard way:

Miky here probably drank too much brake cleaner or the mystery mix of engine oil, coolant and solvents in my waste tank