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When I built my house the builder told me it would cost $1100 to finish the garage. That means painting it and putting trim around the bottom. I told them that they could shove it because there was no way I was paying that much to have them paint it a color that I would just paint over nor have them put trim around the garage just so I could run a lawnmower into it the first summer. So I opted to do it myself.
My goal for the garage was a neat and organized area for detailing cars and putting all these sweet mods on. I also wanted it to look good so that I would feel at home and comfortable since I spend 10+ hours in there each weekend. But the main thing I wanted is to make sure no one had anything else like it. I'm far from done because I have expensive things to buy, but the painting is finally done and this was a bear to do. I was going to wait till I had everything I want in there, but since Kimi won the F1 world title, I just had to show it off now.
The results:
The garage was painted red with a checkered flag around the top. This took a MONTH of weekends to do. You wanna know why?
Drywall sucks up paint like no tomorrow. First I applied a coat of primer. I probably should have done two becuase of what happened next. I painted the white next, which took 3 coats. Weekend 1 gone.
The next weekend I masked off my line and did the red. This took 5 (FIVE!) coats, and it still wasn't covered right and needed another. I knew it was hard to cover but this was ridiculous. I didn't do another coat because I didn't have enough paint and was so annoyed I didn't want to go get more or continue Weekend 2 gone.
Next I masked off the checks (top row and 3rd from top row). That alone took 8 hours! Painted the black the next day. 2 coats. Weekend 3 gone.
The next I masked off the 2nd from top row and the bottom row of checks. Only took 4 hours, but I was so drained I waiting till the next day to paint the black. Again, two coats. Weekend 4 gone.
I was so frustrated with painting that I waiting until this weekend, 4 months later, to paint the ceiling; 1 coat of primer, 1 of white. It needed two coats of white but I was so annoyed I didn't want to. Next we epoxied the floor TAN and put white and black sprinkles on it. This really brought the garage to life and it looked so much better and really brightened it up.
Corner 1:
My white container has all my MF towels and polishing pads in it. I was going to take a picture but it took 30 minutes to fold them and get them all in there and I didn't feel like taking them out. I want to replace it with a craftsman tool box to hold all of that mess. The black shelf thing will also be replaced by a workbench and hopefully a compressor next to it!
Corner 2:
My detailing cabinet that I got at a employee sale for like $50. I'm going to give it to a friend that owns a body shop and have it painted black. Also my tool box that is full. I hope to get another one to go with it and hopefully hold everything.
Corner 3:
Gladiator corner! Part of my goal was nothing on the floor except big things. These worked out great for that. A little overpriced for what they are, but I don't know of anything else like it, however, they really freed up ALOT of space. I also want to replace the lights with some flourescent ones, but I ran out of money
the wire running up the wall is for comcast. They did a horrible stupid job installing and ran this wire up the wall and across the ceiling. I'll be fixing that next weekend
Corner 4:
Just the lawn mower and ladder. I wanted to keep it clean and open wherever someone had to get out of a car everyday so they wouldn't be tripping over everything and would have plenty of room to walk around. Success.
Detailing Cabinet for those that missed it in the "post your detailingcart thread"
It's getting full
I hope that by the end of winter I can get my extra toolboxes and work bench to finally finish it off. Maybe santa will bring me a compressor! Things left to do: reroute comcast wire, put a piece of rubber trim around the bottom to clean it up and keep water out of the walls, buy a beer fridge and fill it so I can immediatly empty it.
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Wifes 2010 Camden/MCS "WHEECAM"
05 HB/MCS "Lots of FUN-Lots of Smiles" Mr. SMILES
The Wifes "Mrs. Dash" 07 MCSA, PW-Retired
"Now have all MINI stable"
"Also a Hydro junkie"
That really looks great. A lot of work for sure.
For future reference, I always have had really good luck using Kiltz on drywall. First it is a great primer and will help minimize paint usage and second it blocks any stains that may come through the paint (now or in the future).
BTW, I am so jealous of your detailing cabinet and the fact your garage is not full of kid bikes, soccer balls, skates, sleds, footballs, golf clubs, baseball bats, hockey sticks, jump ropes, basketballs, Frisbees, lacrosse sticks, goal nets ....
Thanks for the compliments! It felt really good to finally get this finished. I forgot to mention I told the builder to put a cable outlet in the corner where the detailing cabinet is 6 feet high so I could mount a TV and watch soccer games out there. Once I get the TV and beer fridge in there I'll NEVER HAVE TO LEAVE!
Minimaybee - I used Kiltz for the primer and dutch boy for the paint. As far as I know it's all good stuff, but the primer just wouldn't cover that drywall up! Maybe I put it on too thin, or used the wrong roller, or I'm just a bad painter! I don't know how they make it look so easy on TV. The third coat of white really made the checks stand out and the red... well, my friend warned me that red is really hard to cover right (said they put 7 coats in his bathroom). After 4 coats I could still see roller marks and put a 5th and they were still visible from a few feet away. I tried alot of different methods and made it look the best I could, but in the end was just wasting paint. I hate painting, but the end result was worth it on this project.
edit: oh and as far as kiltz and staining; it's great! When we sprayed the floor down for epoxy, water got all over the bottom of the walls. I was worried it would ruin it and I would have to paint it again, but it was back to normal in a hour or two. Can't even tell there was water on it.
Yeah, not tinting may have been a mistake. I guess I was just going by my experience painting lexan R/C car bodies and that was always back a color with white to make it brighter
Primer showing through wasn't a problem on the red after the second coat. It was just getting rid of the stupid roller marks.
Yeah, not tinting may have been a mistake. I guess I was just going by my experience painting lexan R/C car bodies and that was always back a color with white to make it brighter
Still there's no way you would have been finished with only 1 coat of red. Darks always need multicoats but MBE it would have gotten you down to 3 or so coats. Ah well 20/20 & all
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Tact is for people who aren't witty enough to be sarcastic...
Oh so my Tan epoxy that I was buzzing off of wasn't good enough for you! j/k
I thought about the racedeck tiles, but my garage has a curved lip on the sides that starts about 4 feet from the garage door opening and gets more dramatic as it gets to the door opening ( i guess to help water drainage in the winter time). Unless the tiles are flexible, and my research did not show that, it would have looked pretty bad. Even if they were flexible they would have never lined up right from the front to the back of the garage.
Plus the epoxy was free from my dad who ended up using a different color in his garage.
"Wallace." 03 MCS. MMC#561.
07 MC LB/W Bonnet Stripes, Comfort Access, Fog Lights, Cold Weather, Premium, HiFi, Rear Spoiler, Bel STI Driver RD, Dual Laser Interceptor LIDAR Jammer
me likey them checks 
