Finally - a garage

[Tennessee Jed]

After many years, I finally bit the bullet and had a proper garage built. I got the Land Cruiser I always wanted and I can't stand the thought of it spending another winter out covered with sleet and pelted with rain. So I spent several weeks planning and fussing with the online designer and had a standard steel building made that should take care of multiple uses but mainly it's a spacious well lit place to work on the LC and also store my bicycles.

 

[Tennessee Jed]

I built interior plywood walls to have useable wall surface for shelving, etc. and built two 8' long work benches, one with a wood top and one with a stainless steel top. I'll mount vices later.

 

[Tennessee Jed]

Gravel floor is a compromise but I bought a big roll out plastic garage floor vinyl mat that is amazingly tough and turns the gravel substrate into a super solid floor. I can't compress the gravel under the mat and the tire treads don't leave an impression. Cell phone photos are very distorting leading to all sorts of weird perceptions of space but the main garage is 16x24 with an 8x24 shed for a tractor.

 

[knuckle47]

Having this great space to do stuff in actually motivates you do stuff…looking good. Congratulations

 

[Tennessee Jed]

I went with a completely solar setup due to the cost of running power to that section of the property, plus I have another shop with power if I need to use a welder when I get to that point. I have 2x 100w LiFePO4 batteries with 400 watts of solar, and so far it seems like it's more than enough for any use I might have. Most of my tooling is battery powered, which was part of the plan all along. Lights are 12v and the whole set up has been very satisfactory.

The lighting is actually far brighter and more even than the photo suggests, I was floored by how nice it was. I was afraid it would be like working under a flashlight but no.

 

[Tennessee Jed]

Ignore the crappy wiring, it got cleaned up later.

I've been in it a couple of weeks now and it's just great. I wish I'd done it years ago. I'd heard horror stories about steel buildings like this but it couldn't be more solid. Being able to roll the door down and know everything is dry is the height of luxury.

 

[Tennessee Jed]

Having this great space to do stuff in actually motivates you do stuff…looking good. Congratulations

You're not kidding. I used to dread oil changes etc. because I knew it meant being in the dirt all day, but there's nothing like having a rolling creeper and a floor jack and good lights and being able to work rain or shine.

 

[bhsdriller]

What's something like that run out in your area