Garage remodel

Posted On November 13, 2007

Some of the people who I work with joked with me that I must be out of home projects to be doing a garage remodel. Well, not really. If you are into cars as much as I am, which I figure you must be if you are reading this site regularly, you know that it is not entirely out of the question to redo your garage when, say, the porch off the back of it is in serious need of a repaint.

I love our house but the one thing I would do differently if we were buying again would be to get a 2+ car garage. My one car garage is good size but was, until recently, the area used to store yard tools and the like. Here’s a shot of it at probably its worst.

Still room for the car but barely. Note the low-tech car ramps which I parked the car on as a normal practice so I didn’t have to store them elsewhere. This resulted in a question from nearly everyone who entered my garage about their purpose as if I knew some secret to car storage that required storing it with its front end elevated. The other thing about these ramps is that when my brother saw them he said he had built a set just like them. I guess great minds think alike.

Well, this was the year of the shed. It was a purchase that I have been thinking about for several years now. That allowed me to get nearly everything that was non-car related out of the garage. I also painted it. I am pleased with the result.

I repositioned the cabinets from the side wall onto the back wall and added a took bench I had in my basement. I did this work during a week off I had in October. I didn’t have the idea for doing the lower wall in red until the Friday before I started the painting.

The black stripe is not just cosmetic. It is functional and serves as a sort of chair rail. I prefer to call it a “door rail”. It provides a layer of protection between the car door and the wall. My walls are textured plaster on one side and a brick chimney on the other. Neither are very forgiving.

The rail is actually not the same thickness all around. In the 7 or so feet on each side of the garage, where I deemed that a door is most likely to open, the rail is made from 5/4″ x 4″ board. It tapers to 1/4″ x 4″ board to cover the rest of the garage. This picture of the “door rail” in progress should give you a better idea. The top and bottom edge are painted black.

I then applied a rubber surface to the board. The rubber is actually just standard black cove base like you would use with a vinyl floor. I cut the bottom part of the base (the cove) off to make a 4″ wide rubber strip. This approach allowed me to have no exposed screws. All screws are countersunk under the rubber molding which, in turn, is glued to the board.

In the above photo you can see the rubber strip on the right side on a board setup I was using to trim the bottom off. Below you can see the finished result. Note how the “high point” on the door edge meets the rail nearly dead center. Yeah, I’m pretty anal. This height was optimal for the Mustang but also works well with the other cars we own.

The Mustang now fits nicely in the garage with plenty of room on either side to pass by.

I am still in the process of decorating it with various Mustang signs that I have. A future phase might involve addressing the floor. I am concerned that epoxy might not last long. I have seriously considered Race Deck flooring as well as the Moto Floor alternative they sell at Costco. Although, both are a little outside of my budget for now.