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NXCoupe's Shop Build

Once you get shelves, pictures, signs, lights, stuff etc in there, the flaws will get camo'd .
 
I can't believe it. After the paint dried, a lot of the imperfections disappeared! It looks really good now and I've learned a valuable lesson in how to do taping and mudding as I know what not to do now.
The next steps were to paint the cabinets and then put the boards up on the ceiling for the LEDs to snap onto.
First, I painted the cabinets. I picked a shade of gray and my wife quickly interjected that it wasn't the right shade. So I went with what she recommended and it turned out nice.
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I moved onto the boards. I picked them up at Menards, and as usual, they are warped every which way. My eyes must just be shot, I guess. I started with the 4 that are parallel with the joists, so I snapped a line straight down the center but unfortunately that showed me how banana shaped some of the boards were.
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I needed a stud finder to do this, so I dug mine out only to find out the battery was dead, or so I thought. Ran up to tractor supply and bought 2 9V batteries for 12 bucks! Came home, shoved a battery in, it beeped once and then quit working. Sweet. So jumped in the truck and drove to Menards and found a really nice one with 16 sensors in it and it works perfectly. I'm hapoy it uses AA batteries as well.
Armed with my new stud finder, I jumped up and started looking where the studs were and I soon realized this was going to be a pita, as my left shoulder/arm are pretty useless, but I powered through. I measured how far off the back wall it needed to be, and figured out how far iff the end wall it needed to start. Then, I held the board up and figured out placment as well as where the first stud was, then got down, drilled a hole, countersunk the hole and got back up on the platform to mount the board. Then, I used the stud finder and marked where each stud was on the board. Then I unscrewed the board and took it to the sawhorses and drilled and countersunk the holes. I put the retainer brackets for the LED lights to snap into. I got back up and secured the initial screw and made sure it was parallel to the rear wall and screwd the rest of the screws up into the ceiling. I got 2 done and was just beat. So I came in here to update.
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My wife was instrumental on the Feng Shui arrangements of the wall hangings of my garage. I would have been helter/skelter on the pictures and signs. Her idea was to take measurements of the given area and transfer that to large sheets of paper bag material taped together. From that, while the paper was on the floor, she arranged the hanging items for the best layout. Once that was done, we marked around the item and I measured out either mounting screw holes or the hanging cables from the framed pictures. From that I marked where holes/hangers etc would be and made marks where holes would be drilled in the wall for anchors etc. Put the paper templates in place on the wall, taped them down, then drilled the holes. Pull the paper off, add anchors where needed or marked where I had a stud behind. From there, hang stuff up. Looked awesome.

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My wife was instrumental on the Feng Shui arrangements of the wall hangings of my garage. I would have been helter/skelter on the pictures and signs. Her idea was to take measurements of the given area and transfer that to large sheets of paper bag material taped together. From that, while the paper was on the floor, she arranged the hanging items for the best layout. Once that was done, we marked around the item and I measured out either mounting screw holes or the hanging cables from the framed pictures. From that I marked where holes/hangers etc would be and made marks where holes would be drilled in the wall for anchors etc. Put the paper templates in place on the wall, taped them down, then drilled the holes. Pull the paper off, add anchors where needed or marked where I had a stud behind. From there, hang stuff up. Looked awesome.

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I have the same snap on cart. Lol. Your shop looks fantastic. Mine pales in comparison. I do have stuff I'd like to hang on the walls but that's way down the road for me yet.
 
It was a very productive weekend and previous week. I got all the light mounting boards up and the got the paint and a brush out. I started painting the boards and also the corners of the walls and ceiling. That made the room look much better. It took 2 coats to cover the boards.
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Saturday, Neil came over and we got to work. I started snapping the lights into the clips I bought, which, Suprise!, were cheap chinese garbage, but I made them work. Neil was busy connecting the lights to power in the ceiling boxes and I started putting the outlet and switch covers on. He installed the light switch and then we killed the main breaker and hooked the wires up to the breakers in the box.
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After he hooked them up, we turned the pwoer on and turned all the lights on in the shop amd.opened the garage door too for extra light. I walked in and flipped the light switch. The LEDs screamed to life, and I cried out, Neil averted his eyes, it was like a scene from Christmas Vacation when he finally gets the house lights to come on. This picture is from the main shop with lights on and garage door open looking into the engine room aka operating theater.
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After the lights were up, we moved onto outting up the cabinets. We lifted them up and set the on a jackstand with a 2x4 on it and screwed them into the studs. I marked the studs using my handy dandy new stud finder, it truly is the bomb.
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Then it was on to piecing together the puzzle of the workbench. When we moved out of my last shop we just unscrewed everything and tossed it into storage, numbering or organizing them in someway would have been handy, but alas, we just figured it out.
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I went to Menards that evening and picked up some 4x4s to make legs out of for the bench frame. I also looked at countertops but didn't pull the trigger as I wasn't sure what all I needed and they didn't have a match to what I already had from years before.
On Easter, I got to it and laid out a plan on paper to finish the workbench frame. I figured out my board lengths and got started measuring and sawing boards.
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I went inside to have Easter food with my daughter, who had to work at 3, wife and stepson. Wife did an exceptional job, it was really good. She said she'd help me set the frame in place on the wall, so she came out to lend a hand. Turns out the board was cut so tight, the frame basically stayed put on it's own. I hot it level on 2 plains and screwed it into the wall studs. I cut some 4x4s and put in the support legs.
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Next was to dig out the countertops I had and see how they fit together. My wife helped me with that today. After I hot them placed I figured out how much I needed to buy and we went shopping. I got sticker shock at Lowes, so we went back to Menards and just went with what they had. It doesn't match but 440 bucks later I had what I needed to finish.
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I had to trim the piece on the right side of the U, and cut a small piece for the end of the left side, and I know it doesn't match, like, at all, but hell it's flat and I can pile engine stuff on it.
 
Tonight, my buddy Neil came over and we cut the pieces to length and screwed the countertops to the frame. I drilled the holes for the vice to mount to, and he bolted the vice down. I had to notch in front of the vice because the handle hit it, but no big deal. I think it turned out great. It will make me more efficient and allow me a clean, sanitary space to assemble and build engines. I'm pretty excited it is almost finished. I just need doors mounted and it's done. I'm going to move things in before I mount the doors to make it easier.
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Looks like the light glare is dissipating as you get stuff in there. My garage did the same.
 
Worked on moving stuff in. Trying to move slowly and use my head to organize as I go. It's really hard for me for some reason, must be a flaw in my genes somewhere.
 
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I have been busy finishing this up. I've been moving things in and trying to organize as I go, but I am terrible at it. I moved in two shelving units and some blocks on stands. Put all the paint spray cans on top of the cabinets. I am going to put pegboard up in a couple spots and shelves on the walls on either side wall. It is coming together. I'm unpacking totes and moving stuff in, and getting rid of totes stacked up at tge same time. I need to dig my tool box out from behind the stack of totes and get it onto the corner where it's going in the room.
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I have been busy finishing this up. I've been moving things in and trying to organize as I go, but I am terrible at it. I moved in two shelving units and some blocks on stands. Put all the paint spray cans on top of the cabinets. I am going to put pegboard up in a couple spots and shelves on the walls on either side wall. It is coming together. I'm unpacking totes and moving stuff in, and getting rid of totes stacked up at tge same time. I need to dig my tool box out from behind the stack of totes and get it onto the corner where it's going in the room.
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It looks very functional - nice job!

I like that you put the lights directly over the counters. If the lights are behind your head, you get a shadow on your stuff as you work on it - ask me how I know :rolleyes:

If only my garage had half the space you have!
 
It looks very functional - nice job!

I like that you put the lights directly over the counters. If the lights are behind your head, you get a shadow on your stuff as you work on it - ask me how I know :rolleyes:

If only my garage had half the space you have!
Thanks man! Yeah, I did that on purpose for that reason, but was limited by the rafter spacing as the end ones run the length of the rafter. The ones going across multiple rafters were easier to do. Still going through totes and trying to dig my old toolbox out. It's just too cold to be out there today, unfortunately.
 
Looks like the glare is dissipating as you fill the room. Nice.
Lol, looks are deceiving, it is still blinding to the unaccustomed eye. Most go 'Oh Sh$t' when I flip the light switch. I tell them I'm old and need to see. Lol
 
Lol, looks are deceiving, it is still blinding to the unaccustomed eye. Most go 'Oh Sh$t' when I flip the light switch. I tell them I'm old and need to see. Lol

I can't see **** anymore without a bright light...... swapped all mine out about 10 years ago
 
I can't see **** anymore without a bright light...... swapped all mine out about 10 years ago
They were pretty cheap when I bought them, but now they are 3 or 4 bucks more a piece. Still worth it to me.
 
Needing more light to see is one of the reasons I use an Optrel welding helmet. Less light blocked out but still protects the orbs.
 
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