Garage Tips
Designing an All-Purpose Family Garage
by Gary Anderson
Everyone who enjoys the car hobby has a vision of their dream garage, whether it’s a man-cave for R & R with friends, a fully equipped workshop with every conceivable tool, or a pristine display space for that carefully maintained art object. In upcoming issues of The Star we will feature the garages of some MBCA members from which readers can get some ideas of how to make their dream garage into a reality
In this issue, I’ll talk about my own garage, suggesting the basic factors you should consider when planning your own.
How do you use your garage?
Before you even start making lists or sketches, consider how you want to use the garage and who else will be sharing the space and for what purposes. Is this going to be a single-purpose area used for dad’s restoration projects, or does it have to serve several other household purposes as well? I did a full classic restoration in my garage, long before I considered upgrading it – which I’ve regretted ever since – but I don’t expect to be doing anything that elaborate again. Although the garage is now better suited for a major project than its previous incarnations, it’s mainly used for routine automotive maintenance and storing excess household stuff.
Fortunately, our only overflow comes from the office and house, rather than gardening – we store our gardening equipment, fertilizer, and chemicals in a shed next to the garage. I strongly believe gardening tools and automobiles should not be stored in the same space.
Contractor work
Like most typical suburban garages, the walls were not insulated and the studs were exposed, the floor was concrete slab with bare rafters above, two outlets on the house wall were the garage’s only source of electricity, and there was no plumbing.
When we decided to upgrade the garage, we started by hiring a contractor to “finish” the space. His first step was to rewire the garage to provide two additional high-voltage circuits, plus a lighting and outlet circuit separate from the house, with space to expand the electrical supply in the future if needed.
To meet building codes, he reinforced the rafters, which meant we could store seasonal household items and some large car parts in the attic. For access, we planned a large space over one of the car stalls with room to install a lift – should I ever hit the lottery. He then insulated the attic, insulated and sheet-rocked the walls, put in double-pane windows and installed a deep utility sink.
If I were to do it again, the biggest change I would make is to figure out a way to build a separate small bath with a shower, with plumbing for a small washing machine. I would also have installed a strong folding ladder to get up into the attic.
With the finishing done, I had a garage in which I could work comfortably year-round simply by plugging in a small induction heater in the winter or a window-mounted air conditioner for the dog days of summer. Even if our climate were more extreme, it would be an easy job to upgrade the heating and air conditioning.
Electrical systems
For basic electrical needs, the contractor installed ground-fault circuit-interrupter plugs around the garage’s perimeter and above the space reserved for the workbench, as well as in the ceiling above each car stall. When working on cars, being able to plug a power tool or drop light in to a power source right next to the project at hand is a great convenience.
Following the rule that there is no such thing as too much lighting in a working garage, we had the contractor put florescent lights above each work area and above the workbench. If I did it again, I would have doubled the number of tubes that were installed.
Floor covering
The last thing we’ve done in our garage, and a project we wish we had done years ago, was to install a great floor coating. It totally transformed the look of the garage, making it look more like a family room. As shown in the sidebar, we decided on a system called hybrid epoxy polymer coating, which we think is an excellent choice in terms of price and utility, though one of those fancy (and more expensive) tile floors might have looked even better. Regardless, I can’t emphasize enough the benefits of covering a concrete floor with a high-quality coating of some sort.
A place for everything
Any garage needs places to put stuff. After the basic work was done, we installed a modular workbench, drawers and cupboard system across one wall. The cupboards and drawers keep out of sight all the tools, bottles, jars, and cans to be found in every garage.
In addition, with the experience of one restoration behind me, I knew that there are things that can’t be accommodated in cupboards. During that project, I discovered Gorilla Rack shelving. Heavy, solid, and capable of supporting an engine block if necessary, this type of shelving – now made by many brands – is easy to install, practical, and very affordable. Plastic storage containers fit on the shelves to store auto parts and other small stuff in neat visible groupings, and luggage is easy to store and retrieve.
We also put in two large file cabinets. These are great to store old files from the magazine, household financial files, and travel materials in a place that’s easy to reach, but doesn’t clutter up our offices in the main house.
Finishing touches
The final step was to hang up some of our collection of automotive art, posters and award plaques on the walls, cupboard doors and ceiling. Then I rolled out an old oriental rug on the floor, added a few folding chairs, and plugged in a small refrigerator (can you find it in the pictures?) so that the garage is a nice place for friends to hang out when I’m working on a project. We’re even talking about a big get-together in the spring for all our friends. All we have to do is fold up the worktable, roll the cars out, mop the floor – and voila – we’ve got the space for a nice party.
TREATING A CONCRETE FLOOR
Most garages have a bare concrete floor that is cold, hard, and absorbs fluid stains. Over time it makes the garage look less and less attractive. A variety of floor treatments are available, including snap-down and adhesive tiles, but these can be expensive.
For our money, we chose a new method called hybrid polymer epoxy floor coating, that had previously installed a garage floor for friends of ours and we had liked the results. It was applied by Premier Garage (www.premiergarage.com), a franchised garage contractor company in our local area . At $3 per square foot, it was about half the cost of other treatments – a year later, it still looks terrific and cleans up easily.
However, the key to this floor treatment isn’t just in the three-stage coating but in the floor-prep steps before application. This could be a DIY project, but it wouldn’t save you much money, considering the cost of renting equipment and buying a sanding disc. And there are contractors all over the country that can do this work.
These images show the process. 
[1] Before the treatment, the garage was completely cleaned out and the walls and ceiling were repainted.
[2] Then the installer sanded the entire floor with a diamond-surface sanding disc.
[3] After cleaning the floor with muriatic acid, workers filled in all the imperfections in the concrete, as well as using resin filler on the wood-spacing strips between the concrete.
[4] Only after this was completed was the coat of polymer color paint applied – to half of the garage at a time. While the paint was still wet, vinyl paint chips were thrown across the paint by hand, to a depth of a quarter-inch. Once the undercoat was dry – capturing the paint chips – loose chips not caught in the paint were scraped off and vacuumed up. Finally, a clear epoxy coat was spread over the top. It cleans up with ammonia and a mop.