geekhouse23's "LIFE'S WAITING TO BEGIN" Overland & Home build and all the Adventures in between!

I think this is enough to figure something out...



Had a couple of afternoon showers while at the store but lucky for us, Home Depot employees don't know how to read labels or stack plywood in the proper locations so we were able to wait out the rain while hunting down exactly what I needed.

Got an early errand to run in the morning then, it's another weekend of woodworking and painting. Looking forward to getting this completed and cleaning up the garage this weekend.

 

Methinks that should work out okay, good sir..

 

Pretty happy with the progress from the weekend. Pretty sure I got heat exhaustion yesterday. But ended up not using a sheet of plywood and 5 2x4's so we returned everything right before it downpoured like crazy. Grabbed two more totes, too.

Had a snafu with the front door last weekend when I was weed whacking. Rock was placed perfectly and was grabbed and went right into the front door glass. Mind you, I have been doing the yardwork for almost a year.



Managed to find some new doors for sale about an hour away so we went and grabbed them Saturday morning. Stripped them, sanded, and put 3 coats of paint on the exterior side.

Don't paint your doors shit brown/ox blood. Luckily, whoever painted them used shit ass paint and the paint stripper was a game changer.







With heavy rain comes issues...

Found out that I needed to re-silicone the front 2 prinsu roof rack bolts into the cab. Water was dripping down through the grab handle. No biggie but I should do them all on that side.

Next, got the shelves finished and somewhat organized, but, a lot has to be gone through and purged..

Overall, I'm really glad I decided to do the full width shelves.



Really need to get going on some truck mods and the exterior storage unit (shed) to clear some of these shelves up. The above picture was from Saturday evening after a long day and heat exhaustion as I mentioned.

Was able to clean and organize a bit better today after recovering overnight.

One of the things I did was relocate the cabinet to the side where the truck is. I had to relocate a few hurricane shutters, but luckily, was able to make it all work out. Eventually, once the windows are replaced, all the shutters will go. There's so much wall space if those are gone...

Managed to get rid of a bin for my car wash stuff and get it into the cabinet. I'm really happy with how things are coming together..



Need to reorganize the yard tools once the exterior storage unit is acquired.



My neighbor is taking the other cabinet as a thank you for letting us borrow the trailer.

 

Well, it wasn't easy, but, man, does the brass being gone clean up the front of the home:



Ditched the 10 year old plastic saw horses for something a bit better:



Made some changes to them to make using them easier:

Didn't feel like counting chain links so I color coded every other link..



I didn't like the nuts and bolts system on the legs pivoting open and closed; I swapped them out with wing nuts to remove the slop in the sawhorses.

Last thing I need to do is make some PVC covers for the foam to save them from being chewed up by plywood.

Got some goodies for the 5 drawer service cart; might be getting rid of it soon, though. Need to make room for something, potentially, better..



I also picked up a 12" speed square and some cheap utility razor blades.

 

Are you going to use a pool noodle?

 

I thought about that, too. The foam it comes with is very thin.

 

Pool noodle or perhaps pipe insulation. Noodle would be thicker so it would probably hold up a while, and the price is right.

 

Garage organization project update:

I finally made up my mind about the back wall of the third bay in the garage above my triple bank. Going with my original idea of cabinets instead of French cleating. I might do a small cleat wall eventually, however, I want covered/enclosed storage, mostly and I want to hang the old TV that was left behind to hook up a Chromecast for Youtube.

I have been trying to find old, used, kitchen cabinets that people are trying to get rid of on marketplace. The only problem is that assholes here seem to not be able to provide the necessary information; like measurements. One guy could absolutely not be bothered to use a tape measure to measure the cabinets he was trying to get rid of. I told him the sizing I was looking for and he guessed that what he had was about the size and wanted to "cut me a deal". After a few more posts of items listed but not being available or no responses, my wife said to order what I wanted from Home Depot.

This morning, I placed an order for the following:

1 - 36"W x 30"H x 12"D cabinet
1 - 24"W x 30"H x 12"D cabinet

Unfortunately, the soonest I would be able to pick them up would be the 17th (according to the website). However, I have time to decide if I want to go with a paint or a stain for the cabinets. It will also allow for time to remove the Amazon wall mounted tool organizer that will be repurposed where it can and get the wall space prepped for the new cabinets. I have some mounts coming for the battery chargers instead of using screws as I will be mounting batteries and the chargers to the side of the 24" cabinet. I decided on 30" tall to allow for more horizontal storage above the cabinets. I will be building out a frame for the center section gap and lay some plywood across the top of the cabinets that will span the whole width. My wife helped in that decision (30"H or 36"H) and I think she knows me well when her suggestion was 30"H in order to allow for more storage.

Once all of that is "done", I plan on going through a lot of the bins and organizing everything to not have any bins on the floor in the third bay. After that, the plan is getting the RTT mounted with a pulley system on the ceiling. Then, get the bicycles hung up vertically where the RTT is against the wall, now. I will probably sell the 5 drawer cart and then I can get the new workbench all worked out once the space is cleared. I have a crude drawing done, now, however, I will also need to purchase some new items to have in hand that will help with getting an idea of what the new layout would look like. I am tossing around the idea of building a 4' by 6' workbench/layout table that would sit in the middle of the third bay as open and an unobstructed work are, however, I want to see if that would be needed once the 5 drawer cart goes, the triple bank shifts locations and a new workbench area agains the wall is made.

We need to get the gate completed on the side of the house that will allow for the exterior unit of expanded garage space to store yard work related items in, however, I am not interested in digging for that until at least the late fall/winter at the very least. The past 2 weekends alone have turned me off to any sort of extended time outdoors longer than cutting the grass.

Very excited to be working on getting the third bay organized, functional and cleared out.


TL;DR - mind made up; cabinets along the back wall above the triple bank ordered.

 

Harbor freight for the win:



Got the recall done with $59.99 a pair back in store credit and a $59.99 super coupon on each pair of Daytona's.

They had one Icon slim light bar left and I grabbed it.

Happy man.

 

Let us know how those 6 tons are. Im thinking about upgrading my 3 tons to those

 

For sure. They're super nice and are definitely beefier than my old Pittsburgh 6 tons that I traded these in for. I wanted something like the little foot pads that these have welded at the bottom. It'll be nice for what I have planned for the garage floor.

First thing I noticed when I went to open them and put them up on the wall is that the old way of mounting my jack stands won't work, now. There's no "windows" in the stands to allow the hooks I have mounted to the wall to hold them from tipping forward.



After some testing in the garage last night of brackets I have purchased for garage organization, I didn't have anything that would really work. I found some available online that I liked, however, the website wouldn't let me purchase them because the order "didn't weigh enough for shipping." They were also $50. But I guess they don't like money. There's others out there that are more expensive, however, they make the jack stands stick out too far from the wall and I don't like that for where the stands mount in the garage.

So, this morning, I grabbed some flat stock from Home Depot and "fabbed" up my own for $30 and 2 hours of my time. Longest part was getting the first one right then replicating that 3 more times.

I threw on some edge trim to protect the jack stands underneath and I'll zip tie them in place when they're ready for action.







It will be the same concept as before where the 2x4's will hold the weight and these hooks are just to prevent the jack stands from falling forward.

Pretty happy with it.

I'll be putting them up tomorrow, once the paint cures overnight.

 

I realized I could probably have modified the old hooks to work with these new jack stands, however, they are so thin walled, that they probably would have just tore and failed. Plus, I have other things to hang and organize where they can be used. I pretty much have a drawer full of wall hooks for anything I could need to hang.

They're hung up:



A press would have been nice for this, but, real estate. The vise made it a breeze to get the bracket bent just right. After the right angled bend is in the bracket, a few hits with a 2lb sledge and you can wedge the bracket in the vise and clamp it down to get the right shape:



Thinking about a bench top drill press and the swag off-road band saw bench mount in the future to make making brackets easier.

 

Stepping in.

I know you said that you ordered the cabinets already, but check and see if you have a Habitat restore or a Habitat for Humanity Restore, near you. You will be surprised at what they will have in them. and sometimes cheap as all get out too.

I'll step out now.

 

I appreciate the information. I'll keep that in mind next time. I'm pretty sure I saw a few listings for these kinds of places. The ads felt more like they were to get people in the door whether they had those items or not.

These just needed to be a specific size and I needed to ensure I got exactly what I needed to make it work out the way I need it to.

 

Agreed on the.. get you in part. My Wifey made my go to one years ago because she wanted to check it out. While we didn't get anything, I was very surprised at what they had. New and used stuff donated to the store then resold. Think of it as a Goodwill store, but for building supplies.

 

The wife has been feeling under the weather the last few days. I got back from a workout this morning and managed to get a few things done.

I was gearing up to cut the grass and took a little time getting acclimated to the heat. I stickered up the metal cabinet a good bit. This isn't even half the stickers I have laying around..



Tool cart:

I swapped out the lock mechanism from a key to a cam lock similar to what came with the cart. The original one broke the day I was finishing loading it up to travel 1200 miles.

One of the tumblers was broken and unusable, so i plan on giving the buyer 2 pairs of keys. Fine with me as I still have 3 tumblers left; two for the triple bank and one for the tool carts replacement. Still need to clean it out of my items but photos have been taken and I cleaned it up to be posted on marketplace.



New label maker for garage organization. Naturally, had to test it..



Prepped the wall for new cabinets; removed the old wall organizer and took care of the holes in the drywall. Need some paint, next..and the cabinets.

Blank slate:

 

Well, 5 drawer cart is officially listed on marketplace. Not happy about dealing with the idiots that territory brings, but I think the payoff will outweigh that nightmare.

Touched up paint on the wall after spackling the holes yesterday. I also moved the triple bank closer to the door to the house and there is a good bit of space next to the water heater. That's going to come in handy later on in this garage build.

I'm pretty set on just polyurethaning the cabinets once they arrive.

Drew up a quick idea of what it's going to look like when the cabinets are up with the TV and top shelf:

Left to right - 24", TV, 36"



Two questions:

1) I'm considering using french cleating to hang the cabinets. Yes or no? Two cleat rails spanning the entire width of the wall..which leads into my next question..

2) I'm considering, possibly, doing a french cleat between the cabinets for the TV mounting. I'm attempting to "future proof" this setup and might not want a TV in the future. I'm simply "using what I have". Can I use just a circular saw to do this? I don't have a table saw.

Thinking about getting some 2'x4' precut sheets to accomplish the potential french cleating and shelving above the cabinets; just for ease of transportation and minimal scrap/storage afterwards.

 

I have been putting off finishing up the new saw horses because I have been dreading cutting the PVC pipes. The angle grinder is too much for the project and the Dremel tool would probably take too long. I have a 1.25" pipe and need to take out .75" of the pipe. So, 2 cuts, 3 feet long each times 4 pipes. I need a way to prop the PVC pipe (vise) but hang on to the piece with my hand for added support and cut the pipe with one hand.

I have been wanting this tool for a while and found an offer that includes a free M12 battery.

So, new tool en route:

https://www.milwaukeetool.com/2522-20



Excited for stuff to show up. Anxious to get these projects started.

 

Do you any c-clamps like this?


Measure the pipe, open the top slide out draws on the tool box,
lay pipe in the front and clamp said pvc to the the drawer front to hold the pvc to both drawers..
cut pipe between the spaces in the drawers...

Yes, I've done dumb shit before like this. Works in a pinch.

 

Also wait for the new M12 impacts that have 550 torque