My Garage Build (Ongoing)

[zerahemnah]

So I purchased a new house in November that has a separate oversized garage area. My vision for the area is half living space half workshop.

I wanted to keep to a theme and thought about Jabba's Palace. By no means screen accurate but the feeling will permeate the lay person when they see the HIC and Boba and other Movie related prop items.

As I am fairly new to the forum and idea of prop building I wanted to share this project with others and gain useful opinions as to what I could do to improve the atmosphere.

The starting point of the garage was bare concrete floors and framed walls with one electrical socket in the ceiling for the door opener and one socket on the wall. There were also four lights connected to a on/off switch.

Having only a basic knowledge of building construction and the like I read and asked a lot of questions. And after all trial and error prevails.

I decided to start with the floors. (In hindsight If I had extra room for storage I might've done them last).

The previous owner had used the garage for its intended purpose... a garage. I had to clean and strip the floor of paint and oil splatters. I rented a cleaner from Home Depot and got to work. I found that a large flat scraper did the best and when satisfied with the surface I was ready to stain.

We chose a "saddle brown" color of stain with a reddish hue. The stain was applied using a one gallon fertilizer type hand sprayer.

After the staining I applied 3 coats of sealant that essentially gives the floor a wet look and can be cleaned with cleaners like mop and glow or turtle car wax.

 

[zerahemnah]

For the electrical upgrades I called in a friend to help me run wire and connect an electrical socket approximately every five feet on each wall. Cant have enough power! Also put in two four boxes for the TV wall and the workshop wall.

 

[zerahemnah]

Next was installing insulation, plastic vapor barrier and drywall. (Note to others, when purchasing drywall have the Lowes or Home Depot load it for you) I'm sure the employees at Lowes had a good laugh at my expense when I loaded all of it in my trailer myself. I'm the type that has a hard time asking for help... often to my demise.

Installing sheet rock is not difficult, however doing it right where seams match up on the 2x4 studs is another story. After getting all the drywall up I noticed bows in my walls and consulted my Dad who informed me of my mistake. I had to cut several peices out and fix the errors. Using 2x4 peices I was able to shim several of the areas easier then removing entire sheets of drywall.

 

[Fuzzual]

Have you sketched up a plan you can show us, I'm curious how you are going to tie the workshop and prop room together.

 

[Ford W Maverick]

I like the idea! Can't wait to see it take shape!

 

[DaddyfromNaboo]

I´d have recommended putting something onto the bare garage concrete floor instead of painting it. It would have raised the floor a few inches, but you´d not suffer from cold feet in the winter But it looks like you know what you´re doing, so keep on posting!

Michael

 

[zerahemnah]

Fuzz. Yeah I spent hours with my steno pad figuring out where and how I wanted thongs to be. I'll see if I can post one of the better sketches.

Manfromnaboo. I thought about that too. I'll have an area rug in places and the 500 sq ft is just the right size for an electric radiant heater in winter and wall mounted ac unit in summer.

I'll post more progress today. Thanks all for looking.

 

[zerahemnah]

The four lights in the garage already were not enough lights for my taste. I wanted the option on the shop side to light the place up and on the living side to do the same but also have the option to control the mood lighting.

Solution. I purchased 6 can lights. 2 on one switch to be placed over my computer desk. 4 on another swith to be placed over the sectional couch.

I used a drywall saw to cut the holes for the lights and installed dimmer switches on each.

I also installed one directional eye light for the HIC, Fett Display on the right side of the TV wall with a dimmer.

The can lights have a black fluted insert with a rusty bronze lip for the finish.

 

[Lan Jenn]

I am decidedly jealous. I love home improvement projects, and the themed idea is awesome. Looking forward to seeing more progress pictures!

btw, your name is like Zarahemlah, only with an 'n'. Question is, have you given up your weapons and entered into an oath to not fight? I'm going out on a limb by asking this question. You may be reading this and saying, "Huh?"

 

[Kerr Avon]

You may want to put insulation up on the garage doors as well. Heat radiates out through the sheet metal so easily. Home Depot has pink fiberglass insulation kit for garage doors I put on mine. Took only about an hour and it certainly helps with noise getting through the door and I think is helping somewhat with losing heat too. If you do, it's not in the instructions, but I recommend cleaning the inside of the garage door where you'll attach the adhesive pads with alcohol first. You'd be surprised how dirty it is.

 

[zerahemnah]

For the shop side I purchased 3 black flourescent hanging lights that I hung thru the ceiling into the attic on the attic joints. I used wire and a staple gun to suck up the extra hanging wire to make the hanging length the one foot that I wanted.

To cover up the wire I used PVC pipe that I primed and spray painted a textured granite black.

For the switch I bought a 20amp toggle switch and installed it on to a flat plastic plate that I drilled out and painted a color similar to the wall paint.

 

[zerahemnah]

Kerr - Funny that you mention it because I started that part of the project today. I'll post the plans, pictures and execution in the future.

Lan - I'm stubborn and wouldn't give an oath. Angry and got scalped. Does Ring a Bell. So many bodies washed down the river to the sea.

 

[zerahemnah]

I didn't take pictures of the taping, mudding and finishing of the drywall but it got done. I completed an entire wall with my dads help and decided that it was enough for me. No interest in finishing the rest myself.

As it was the construction off season I consorted with Craigslist and found two people that completed the rest of the work with my supplies in 2 days for a fair price of $200.

Was happy to get that out of the way.

 

[Kerr Avon]

Yeah, the mudding part sucks. I did that for my garage a few weeks ago. You actually need to do it two or three times due to the way the stuff shrinks.

 

[zerahemnah]

Paint: I started with a five gallon bucket of Killz Primer that I had tinted with the Color Man Cave. The color was a light to medium gray. Painted the three walls and ceiling with a thick coat.

The ceiling was painted with two coats of Valspar Signature - Urban Pulse a darker urban gray that reminded me of the death star walls. It covered the primer nicely and the eggshell left a good matte with little to no gloss.

For the shop side wall I used Valspar Granite - Iron Mountain (2 Gallons). And for the Living area Walls Granite - Valley Ore (4 Gallons).

The granite paint was a little tricky to get the hang of. Using a thick 1 1/2 napp roller the first coat goes on splotchy. Was difficult to roll the paint on and not get roller lines. After it dried I was a little worried. The second coat was brushed on by hand filling in all the gaps that the first coat left in X strokes. After this dried the texture evened out and looked like the wall was sand blasted with wet paint and sand.

The paint negated any blemeshes in my drywall work and now the places that were obviously uneven can't be seen.

Rubbing up against the dry wall feels like a coarse sandpaper and looks the part too. I got the Jabbas Palace feeling right as Tattooine was full of sand and grit.

I felt like the rooms personality didn't start to take shape until the paint was on the walls. It took a long time for the project to get this far and took off from here as my ideas were already brewed for the finish and trim work.

 

[zerahemnah]

After the paint was up I noticed that I didn't like the 4 original flood lights that were hanging out in the open. Fixing the problem was two fold. Keep the lights functional and Hide the "out of place-ness" with something fitting.

I chose some flexible circular duct pipe and used a pair of shop scissors to cut wings so that I could attach the pipe to the ceiling. After stapling the pipe to the ceiling I used aluminum tape to square off the pipe and finish the look.

I call them "Exhaust Port Lights" As you can see from the photo just appears to cover up the light with an outside can. It also worked to direct the light downwards.

 

[zerahemnah]

From the beginning of inception I knew that I wanted to use white and red rope lighting to accent the trim on the ceiling and the floor. White for the top and red for the bottom. Over Christmas break I hit several lowes stores and purchased 7 boxes of red and white rope lighting. I only used 4 boxes each and thus have plenty left over.

I began with designing the lighting so that I could start and finish with one long string of lights. I started at the top and worked my way around and back on the bottom covering the two living area walls and floor.

Hanging the lights was fairly easy. I started with the included hardware switching out the weak screws for coarse drywall 1 and 5/8 to secure the rope clips to the wall. Then I strung the lights making sure each set I connected continued to work. After all the rope was strung I doubly secured the rope with insulated wire staples that I hammered in as the rope light was to be semi-permanently covered with ******Spoiler******. The product was what I had hoped for.

 

[Bloop]

Does modifying your garage like this, basically adding another room to your house, increase your property taxes? I remember my dad saying he wanted to modify his garage by adding walls, but he didn't want to be subject to increased taxes, and I think he would have to get work permits and have it inspected. Just wondering.