Pimp my Garage! Or show me yours!

[99BoxsterATL]

Sure, I wax the car, I have a few wrenches to do work and I store all my samples for work throughout the week in the garage. I have done a lot of wood working in the garage cutting molding, cedar etc and also use it as a "lab" for work related purposes. I don't do elaborate work in my garage when it comes to motor work, but painting the garage and making it "look cool" is what sets it apart from the norm. I enjoy taking on projects that keep me busy and give end results that I am proud of. I've thought about what a big difference it would make to pull my car into a nice garage everyday as well as before entering the house and how it would be fun. It's part of the house, and painting it extends the living area in a sense because you enjoy it more. I would assume it would make the whole house seam more inviting, especially since with my town house, going through the garage to enter the house is much eaier than going around the building to the front door. It would also make you realize that you can actually do something with all that space. It's called being creative and having fun doing it. To each his own!

[Grizzly]

Originally Posted by Ronzi

So, lemme ask an impertinent question. Do any of you guys actually DO anything in your garage, besides maybe wax the Porsche?
Do you actually own a toolbox, or maybe just a couple of wrenches?
Those are the male equivalent of Martha Stewart's kitchen. Pretty as hell, but nothing as messy as actual cooking has taken place there.

You can have a nice garage space and still do real work. In my last garage (in the bad scan below), I did four ground up restorations in the five years I lived there. Actually, I found that doing the floor in epoxy and painting the walls in a washable egg shell made cleaning up a lot easier. Nothing ever harmed the epoxy floor and no matter what I spilled on it, it wiped right up. Granted, my garage was nothing that would be of interest to Architectural Digest, but it doesn't have to be a cave to be functional. Isn't it more enjoyable to work in a clean, well lit space than in a grease pit?

The house I'm in now, I'll probably die in, so I want the garage to be spectacular. I'm hoping it'll be a place where, when we have guests, we all end up hanging out at the end of the evening. But, that won't stop me from sandblasting, powder-coating, painting, stripping, rebuilding, etc.

[C5150]

Quote:

"So, lemme ask an impertinent question. Do any of you guys actually DO anything in your garage, besides maybe wax the Porsche?
Do you actually own a toolbox, or maybe just a couple of wrenches?
Those are the male equivalent of Martha Stewart's kitchen. Pretty as hell, but nothing as messy as actual cooking has taken place there."

Originally Posted by Ronzi


Nope, sure don't. I'm a driver - not a mechanic. Working on a car is what money is made for.

- C5150

[wanna986]

Originally Posted by Grizzly

. Nothing ever harmed the epoxy floor and no matter what I spilled on it, it wiped right up.

I've had oil spills, paint (base coat and urethanes) spill on my concrete and have always wondered about the epoxy paint.
It's really that good?

[Grizzly]

Originally Posted by wanna986

I've had oil spills, paint (base coat and urethanes) spill on my concrete and have always wondered about the epoxy paint.
It's really that good?

It's really that good. I wish I had some better pictures of my floor so I could show it to you. Even if you spill automotive paint, get it before it dries and it'll wipe right up. If not, it'll come up with a little thinner. Oil, grease, brake, fluid? No problem whatsoever. You just wipe it up with a paper towel.

[99BoxsterATL]

The epoxy paint is that good. My old camaro would leak oil, power steering, transmission fluid. Iw would stain the concrete. After scrubbing the areas and coating the floor, it still stuck to the stained areas and when the car kept leaking, all I would do is whipe it up and that was it. Even if it was on there for days at a time. It would just sit as a puddle until you cleaned it. I love my floor.

[YellowJacket]

Originally Posted by Ronzi

So, lemme ask an impertinent question. Do any of you guys actually DO anything in your garage, besides maybe wax the Porsche?
Do you actually own a toolbox, or maybe just a couple of wrenches?
Those are the male equivalent of Martha Stewart's kitchen. Pretty as hell, but nothing as messy as actual cooking has taken place there.

What a dumb question.

Like some of these other guys, I have done a little bit of work to my garage, some functional (like the epoxy floor), and some not (like paint). I spend a lot of time out there, sometimes working on my car and sometimes drinking a beer w/ my neighbors, and I like a space that's comfortable and clean.

Just because my garage isn't a half-finished storage room full of grease, pictures of my mullet-wearing friends, and 1 1/2 1980's IROC Camaros in pieces doesn't mean it isn't used. I happen to keep all my tools (or my "few wrenches") organized neatly in a 6ft tall toolchest. Some people just have cleanliness standards.

[djomlas]

well pretty much no matter what work you do, garage or not garage, its much easier to work in a clean/well lit place than trying to find a tool for 40 mins couse u just have no idea where it could be.
and then if you got the nice epoxy floor, even when youre done making all the mess, its cleans right up and it looks like u did no work, even trough you did.
when we moved to our house garage wasnt finished, actual drywall was never put on, and floor is not coated, me and my dad want to do it but we never get around to it..but it does its purpose

[wanna986]

Originally Posted by Grizzly

It's really that good. I wish I had some better pictures of my floor so I could show it to you. Even if you spill automotive paint, get it before it dries and it'll wipe right up. If not, it'll come up with a little thinner. Oil, grease, brake, fluid? No problem whatsoever. You just wipe it up with a paper towel.

Hi again Grizzly,
How do you think it would fare against overspray (car paint) and what brand did you use? How much, price?

[Grizzly]

Originally Posted by wanna986

Hi again Grizzly,
How do you think it would fare against overspray (car paint) and what brand did you use? How much, price?

I did my last floor in 1995 with a Rustoleum product that I got at Home Depot. There are much better products out there now. I'd recommend either Epo-Armor, or U-Coat-It. They are different products and the prep and application processes are very different. You'll need to carefully evaluate both products to see what will work better for your application.

As far as overspray goes, it's not a big problem. It'll wipe up with a little thinner. Of course, you can't be stupid about it. Don't expect to paint a whole car with no floor protection and wipe off the excess. That's not going to happen. However, if you get a little overspray on the floor by accident, it'll come up.

As far as price goes, I've been back and forth recently with my multiple personalities regarding what I should do with my current floor. If I were to use U-Coat-It, it would run about $1200.00 for 1000 square feet. The Rustoleum I used 11 years ago was 300.00 for roughly 600 square feet.

[wanna986]

Originally Posted by Grizzly

They are different products and the prep and application processes are very different. You'll need to carefully evaluate both products to see what will work better for your application.

Prep.....I'm just hoping my present floor isn't beyond prep. It's like a roadmap of all my activities over the past 20 years!
Hopefully I won't miss the history lesson.

Thanks for the info.

[MNBoxster]

Originally Posted by Ronzi

So, lemme ask an impertinent question. Do any of you guys actually DO anything in your garage, besides maybe wax the Porsche?
Do you actually own a toolbox, or maybe just a couple of wrenches?
Those are the male equivalent of Martha Stewart's kitchen. Pretty as hell, but nothing as messy as actual cooking has taken place there.

Hi,

I hear what you're saying. It is not necessary to have a Showcase Garage, though they are nice.

I have a plain old garage, cinderblock construction, pre-stressed concrete roof, nothing fancy at all. I have an I-Beam in the ceiling w/ hoist which will support 2 tons, sealed the concrete floor w/ clear sealer (cleans as good as Epoxy) and a couple of nice Car posters on the wall, a boombox, my bench, tool chests, floor jack, stands, stool, compressor, Blast cabinet, etc. and I'm good to go. Have done a dozen or so complete engine/tranny rebuilds, 4 frame-off restorations.

A Dream Garage is fine, but the cars and the work's the thing for me. I'd trade all the fancy paint and floors for an extra 250-500 '² any day...

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99