Big changes have been happening at the garage. This year, my goal was to transform the garage from top to bottom. While the recessed lights made a huge impact in the look and feel, there was (and still is) plenty to do.
Even replacing the exposed shelving with cabinets and adding the workbench didn’t do much to hide the worst part of the garage…the floor.
I hadn’t touched this floor since moving into the house back in 2014. The condition was awful. Lots of cracks, delamination, chipping and 20+ years of oil stains were really apparent.
I have to admit, my cars have added to the mess. A lot of those dots of oil are from the gray 6.
How the floor looked even when swept and hosed down.
So, this summer I finally pulled the trigger and hired a local contractor to finish this last component of the showroom garage.
I hired Custom Concrete Coatings, LLC of Las Cruces to complete a 3-part metallic epoxy called, “Dolphin” with “titanium” mixed in. Then, everything was top coated with polyaspartic for added protection. The entire process took just over a week which included curing and drying times. Here’s the base/primer coat applied after a thorough grinding on the floor.
Here’s the second part with the metallic color.
And finally the top clear coat with polyaspartic.
When the floor was completed, cure times were 24-48hrs for the polyaspartic before I could drive on it. I chose to wait 48hrs to ensure the top coat hardened properly. Poor cars had to brave the sizzling summer sun for the week.
Before lugging the washer and dryer back in, I finished off the back wall with new baseboards.
All the junk back in. Note I also added a TV for those late night car detail jobs.
First car on the new floor!
A week later, I continued the baseboards throughout and added a little bling with some LED lights.
Baseboards installed.
Lights installed and tested! Amazon provided the LED rope lights and I covered them with a frosted lens to diffuse the light.
The space is starting to look a little more presentable now. I would do this flooring again, but I have a few notes to mention for those considering going this route:
- The floor gets VERY slippery when wet. The glossy surface may look great dry, but when wet, there’s nothing to provide traction for those sneakers.
- It readily shows dirt and shoe prints. I quickly learned that I had to care and clean for this flooring like the laminate inside the house.
- It’s not ding and scratch proof. If you drop a hammer, most likely it will leave a small chip or scuff.
Despite the few drawbacks, I have zero regrets.
To complete the moment, I cleaned up the existing displays and flags I have on the walls. I saved some space for future additions, though I’m not entirely sure what those will be yet.
That wraps up the garage transformation for now. Long term additions will be some sort of sound system and HVAC control.
Side Fence
I’ve had a few people ask me, “Where’s the gray 6 staying now?” Sadly, since the addition of the Contour, I had to move this to the side of the house that’s just barely wide enough to park a few cars in tandem. This is where it sits for now.
I’ve been meaning to add shade and privacy here. Though the sun’s intensity isn’t that bad on this north side of the house, I still would like some shelter. I’m almost finished with the first phase of this project…addressing the privacy issue by building a 6-ft horizontal cedar fence.
The next phase will be attaching a sun sail from the soffit of the house to this fence. Once that’s installed, I won’t be on pins and needles when we get those 1/4inch hail storm warnings.
That brings us to a conclusion for now. Thank you all for stopping by!
Pawela's Garage 