# Garage Organization By a Newbie



## CyBorge (Sep 15, 2009)

*The Beginning - Getting Dirty*

It has only been four short years since I bought my first house. At the time I had no handyman skills to speak of; heck I didn't even know how to use a drill without obliterating the screw heads. What can I say, I've been a bit sheltered, but life is good, and I have been learning more and more since moving in. At any rate, as far as I was concerned a garage was where the cars and outdoor tools lived. No more, no less.

Nearly a year ago, I decided to take up woodworking as a hobby. After spending way too much money on tools I had never even considered before, I found myself with stuff scattered all over the place. Soon after I realized how important and beneficial intelligent storage systems are. Unfortunately, winter was closing in by this time. The garage is insulated but not heated, which isn't good enough for South Dakota winters, so everything got put on hold. When spring finally came I picked up where I left off, and my current focus is on figuring out just what the heck to do with the garage. Only now am I beginning to pursue the endless possibilities.

Task #1 is removing the old work bench a previous owner left. When I bought the house I thought to myself that a workbench would be a nice thing to have, even though I had no idea how to use one. As it turns out, this particular bench wound up being something of a white elephant. It is approximately 3.5 feet tall, with a work surface 2' by 8'. The work surface is sound enough (if a bit nasty looking), though it has no place to attach clamps, no holes for bench dogs, no place for a vice, etc. Below the work surface are two simple drawers (think kitchen silverware drawers only not as nice), and four MDF flat doors that serve no real purpose. That's roughly 56 cubic feet of garage space for one measely work surface and two drawers. What a waste.

So, tonight I spent about three hours ripping this abomination out. It was completely covered in all manner of odds and ends (sprinklers, tools, fertilizer, hub caps, license plates, pegboard clips, deck brightener, empty containers, etc.), so first I needed to find a place to put all that junk. That's a lot of clutter I hope to never see again!!!

Once it was all cleared off, I got to work on the demolition. I'm not sure how many screws I extracted, but it was several dozen to be sure. No doubt my drill, which is "resting" at the moment, absolutely hates me right now. A few of the screw heads actually popped right off (I suspect the screws were already broken), but I only had to pry two pieces apart. Since I plan to reuse the lumber, I went ahead and removed the broken screws by clamping the empty drill chuck over the exposed shanks. They screwed right out, but I'm not sure that's very good for my drill. 

After all that work I ended up recovering the following:

-6 or 7 eight foot 2×4's
-several shorter 2×4 segments
-6 three and a half foot 4×4's
-5 eight foot 2×6's
-16 square feet of nasty-looking OSB
-4 MDF door panels with hinges
-2 drawers with hardware glides
-dozens of screws, which I will probably not reuse

Almost all of the lumber is in perfectly fine shape, though it could use a good cleaning and maybe some paint or stain for aesthetics. To think, that much wood went into such a pitiful work bench! I intend to use most of the 2×4's for an upcoming shelving project, but first things first. I have a lot of prep work and painting to do before I build anything onto the walls.


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

CyBorge said:


> *The Beginning - Getting Dirty*
> 
> It has only been four short years since I bought my first house. At the time I had no handyman skills to speak of; heck I didn't even know how to use a drill without obliterating the screw heads. What can I say, I've been a bit sheltered, but life is good, and I have been learning more and more since moving in. At any rate, as far as I was concerned a garage was where the cars and outdoor tools lived. No more, no less.
> 
> ...


Demo is harder than it looks sometime.


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## live4ever (Feb 27, 2010)

CyBorge said:


> *The Beginning - Getting Dirty*
> 
> It has only been four short years since I bought my first house. At the time I had no handyman skills to speak of; heck I didn't even know how to use a drill without obliterating the screw heads. What can I say, I've been a bit sheltered, but life is good, and I have been learning more and more since moving in. At any rate, as far as I was concerned a garage was where the cars and outdoor tools lived. No more, no less.
> 
> ...


Wow, we've got a really similar history. I also got into woodworking after buying a house, not knowing a damn thing, and eventually getting into woodworking via home remodeling/renovation.

And I too started reorganizing my garage to better accommodate my tools. And it too began with a tearout of an abomination of an ancient workbench that simply took up space. Except that the wood is so old and so dry, I'm not sure I can even use it!


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## Howie (May 25, 2010)

CyBorge said:


> *The Beginning - Getting Dirty*
> 
> It has only been four short years since I bought my first house. At the time I had no handyman skills to speak of; heck I didn't even know how to use a drill without obliterating the screw heads. What can I say, I've been a bit sheltered, but life is good, and I have been learning more and more since moving in. At any rate, as far as I was concerned a garage was where the cars and outdoor tools lived. No more, no less.
> 
> ...


Great that you are reclaiming the wood. 
First do yourself a favor and go over it with a metal detector. Saves on tools that way.
One suggestion if applicable would be to use "French" cleats for cabinets in your garage. They are easy to make and make arranging cabinets on the walls very easy.
I too had to operate out of a garage for a long time so most of my tools were on casters. You can build frames for most tools or you can buy "furniture movers" from places like Harbor Freight. Just make sure not to get top heavy.
Don't be afraid to try new techniques(joints etc) and always strive to make your next project just a little better than the last one. And remember we all have a large scrap pile(g)


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## velo_tom (Feb 21, 2010)

CyBorge said:


> *The Beginning - Getting Dirty*
> 
> It has only been four short years since I bought my first house. At the time I had no handyman skills to speak of; heck I didn't even know how to use a drill without obliterating the screw heads. What can I say, I've been a bit sheltered, but life is good, and I have been learning more and more since moving in. At any rate, as far as I was concerned a garage was where the cars and outdoor tools lived. No more, no less.
> 
> ...


Sounds like a lot of us out there. Start demo-repairs of a house. Then as you figure out you can actually build things you get the desire to not just upgrade parts of the house but the furniture and built-ins too.

I'll be glad when I can concentrate more on furniture and less on house. Unfortunately I've got a pretty big job to do on the house I need to start pretty quick. It starts with Gutting two rooms, which I look forward to about like a root canal. At least it gets followed by the fun part, building.

Best of luck with your future projects.


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## mwaldtha (Feb 28, 2010)

CyBorge said:


> *The Beginning - Getting Dirty*
> 
> It has only been four short years since I bought my first house. At the time I had no handyman skills to speak of; heck I didn't even know how to use a drill without obliterating the screw heads. What can I say, I've been a bit sheltered, but life is good, and I have been learning more and more since moving in. At any rate, as far as I was concerned a garage was where the cars and outdoor tools lived. No more, no less.
> 
> ...


I too had to demo. an existing workbench in the house we bought last year. I already had a workbench and just needed the space back. I salvaged as much of the wood as I could too. Good luck with the rest of your project.


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## HokieMojo (Mar 11, 2008)

CyBorge said:


> *The Beginning - Getting Dirty*
> 
> It has only been four short years since I bought my first house. At the time I had no handyman skills to speak of; heck I didn't even know how to use a drill without obliterating the screw heads. What can I say, I've been a bit sheltered, but life is good, and I have been learning more and more since moving in. At any rate, as far as I was concerned a garage was where the cars and outdoor tools lived. No more, no less.
> 
> ...


At least you didn't have to demo a bench you built yourself. I did and still have one to go. It was an embarrassment of a bench, but it did get my by for 5 years. Now it has a new life as a lumber rack and will also be a part of a mobile dust collection cart.


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## CyBorge (Sep 15, 2009)

*More Demolition - and Junk!!*

With the behemoth out of the corner, the bulk of the demolition was done. I still had to take down the cabinets, but I decided to go through the junk in the garage first to clear out some space. I should have done this a week or two ago when I piled it all up in one spot, because now I was effectively undoing all that work. Oh well.

I sorted everything into three piles: my stuff, my wife's stuff, and garbage. The garbage piled turned out to be the biggest of the bunch. We apparently tend to be really bad about throwing away the cardboard boxes and packing material that our wonderful tools and appliances and whatnot all come with. There is a lot of junk here. We can either spend the next three months or so having it slowly taken away in our single garbage dumpster, put it all on the curb on garbage day and get billed for the excess, or haul it to the solid waste facility and pay something like $12 for disposal. I'm still pondering that one.

Hrmph. That chore wasn't very fun, so let's get back to ripping stuff out!!!

My next task was to take down three cabinets left by a previous owner. These cabinets are metal, and were simply screwed right to the wall studs. They are fairly light, so I was hoping to be able to support the cabinet with one hand while removing the screws with the other. Yeah right, huh? It started out just fine, when there were plenty of excess screws. Once I neared the end and there were only two screws left, the cabinet started moving. I quickly realized there was no way in the world I could (safely) do this by myself without rigging up some kind of support system. So, I called for an air strike.

My wife eventually came out to the garage (she had been helping her mom with Facebook over the phone). With two extra hands, the first cabinet came out nice and easy. The second cabinet, not so much. This one was twice as tall as the first, and I still had an old entertainment center against that wall. Between that entertainment center and the ladder, my wife was unable to get underneath the cabinet to support it while the screws came out. Here is where my creativity started kicking in.

Remembering the huge pile of lumber recently reclaimed from dismantling the work bench, I went over and grabbed a couple of full length 2×4's. With the cabinet doors open, I put one end of the 2×4's under the cabinet ceiling and the other on the concrete floor. It was a loose fit at first, but as soon as enough screws were removed and the cabinet started drooping, those 2×4's wedged it up against the wall. My wife kept a hand on the cabinet for lateral stability, but the boards did the heavy lifting-easily surpassing expectations. Once the screws were removed, we each grabbed one end of the cabinet. I pulled out the boards, one at a time, and let them fall to the floor (crash!!) since I could only have one hand free. With the boards out and the cabinet free, we were able to set it aside and move on to the final cabinet.

This was another tall cabinet. There was no entertainment center this time, but there was a wall (this one was in the corner) and an old washer/dryer stacker unit. We really need to get rid of that thing. Anyway, with space even more confined than before, we decided to move the laundry machines. Thankfully, the feet still had non-marring furniture pads on the bottom, so the whole thing slid over with minimal effort. Repeating the trick with the 2×4's made the final cabinet come down nice and easy.

Demolition is done, yay! Now I am faced with the not-so-enviable task of cleaning the walls and ceiling. It is amazing how different the drywall looks behind the old bench. Most of the garage is practically brown, but where it was covered up it is almost white. A good stain-blocking primer is going to be necessary here, I think. As much as I would like to do the entire garage at the same time, that isn't going to be feasible. My first focus will be the "main" wall at the back of the garage. Once that is done I can build some new shelves and start finding homes for stuff. That should make the rest of the garage a lot easier to access without tripping over everything, though of course it's going to feel a bit like starting all over again.

Onward!


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

CyBorge said:


> *More Demolition - and Junk!!*
> 
> With the behemoth out of the corner, the bulk of the demolition was done. I still had to take down the cabinets, but I decided to go through the junk in the garage first to clear out some space. I should have done this a week or two ago when I piled it all up in one spot, because now I was effectively undoing all that work. Oh well.
> 
> ...


How about some photos you know the 1000 words thing


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## HokieMojo (Mar 11, 2008)

CyBorge said:


> *More Demolition - and Junk!!*
> 
> With the behemoth out of the corner, the bulk of the demolition was done. I still had to take down the cabinets, but I decided to go through the junk in the garage first to clear out some space. I should have done this a week or two ago when I piled it all up in one spot, because now I was effectively undoing all that work. Oh well.
> 
> ...


My drywall was pretty fades from exposure too. 2 coats of Kilz2 latex primer pretty much covered everything up. 3 coats, or a final coat of paint, probably would have been better. I'm taking the approach that it is still a garage workshop and most people won't really care about perfection, so I stopped at two. You can kind of see what the two coats look like on my latest blog. There will be better photos in the third installment which should be up by tomorrow, but we'll see how that goes.


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## CyBorge (Sep 15, 2009)

CyBorge said:


> *More Demolition - and Junk!!*
> 
> With the behemoth out of the corner, the bulk of the demolition was done. I still had to take down the cabinets, but I decided to go through the junk in the garage first to clear out some space. I should have done this a week or two ago when I piled it all up in one spot, because now I was effectively undoing all that work. Oh well.
> 
> ...


You are absolutely right, Jim-everybody loves pictures! Most people don't have the patience to read monologues like the ones I tend to write. I will see about including some in the next installment.

Hokie, I was expecting to need two coats of primer on the raw drywall, followed by two coats of paint. That's a lot of work, but I seem to have a tendency to paint thin. I have read that more thin coats is better than fewer thick coats, so maybe I'm doing something right.


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## dbhost (Jul 20, 2009)

CyBorge said:


> *More Demolition - and Junk!!*
> 
> With the behemoth out of the corner, the bulk of the demolition was done. I still had to take down the cabinets, but I decided to go through the junk in the garage first to clear out some space. I should have done this a week or two ago when I piled it all up in one spot, because now I was effectively undoing all that work. Oh well.
> 
> ...


Wait, you are doing demolition and not posting pics? Aaaarrrrgggghhhh! Demo is the fun part of a LOT of remodel projects!

Not sure what your remodel budget is, but stain blocking primer isn't terribly expensive… And I know all too well about white garage walls turning nearly brown. (ICK). Home Depot carries Glidden 5 Gallon Interior Speed-Wall PVA Latex Primer/Sealer for $29.95… You SHOULD be able to coat the walls AND the ceiling for that…


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## CyBorge (Sep 15, 2009)

CyBorge said:


> *More Demolition - and Junk!!*
> 
> With the behemoth out of the corner, the bulk of the demolition was done. I still had to take down the cabinets, but I decided to go through the junk in the garage first to clear out some space. I should have done this a week or two ago when I piled it all up in one spot, because now I was effectively undoing all that work. Oh well.
> 
> ...


Heh. I bet the demolition would have been a whole lot more fun if I was literally ripping things apart instead of carefully extracting every screw one by one and saving all the pieces!

This project isn't grand enough to worry about setting a budget, though I intend to get whichever brand is cheapest. We don't have a Home Depot or Lowe's anywhere around here so we make due with whatever the local places can provide. We do have a Wal-Mart, though, and my guess is they will have the cheapest paint. Not sure about primer. I think they sell Kilz.


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## CyBorge (Sep 15, 2009)

*Moving Forward, and Some Pictures*

Progress has slowed a bit. A pulled or overworked back muscle is hindering me a little, but I have also been spending more time taking care of the lawn. I did manage to get a few pictures taken, though. For starters, here is the pile of lumber recovered from the old work bench:



















Here are the cabinets. Note the…um…attractive strawberry decorations that hint at what these cabinets were originally used for. That was a fun little surprise. I guess that's why a previous owner spray painted these things.










This is where the cabinets were installed before I took them down. The paint outline shows exactly where they were located. This picture gives a pretty good look at how the drywall color has changed with exposure. You can also see a light switch on the left wall, which controls the ceiling outlet (barely visible next to the taped joint). After this project is done I will probably tap that outlet for some new light fixtures. I'm not sure whether to remove the existing outlet and hard-wire the lights or simply plug them in, but I will cross that bridge after I've burned it. 










Here are a couple pictures of some of the taped joints. Apart from the almost nonexistent top layer of mud, some of these joints are actually okay. There is lots of dirt and grime to clean up as well.



















I took a broom to the wall shown in the pictures above, as well as part of the floor, ceiling, and adjacent wall. It did a surprisingly good job of cleaning things up. There are a couple of tough spots in the corner that will need a more firm hand, but generally speaking this wall won't need a whole lot of cleaning attention before I can prime. Yay!

I used a utility knife to cut out several pieces of loose or bubbled tape. Two pieces had to be removed from floor to ceiling, but only a few short pieces needed to be removed from the rest of this wall. I got to thinking about the pros and cons of paper versus mesh fiberglass tape. What I decided was to use paper tape on the long joints and corner joints, as well as any with a significant height change between two adjacent pieces of drywall, and mesh tape for the short "patches" with good mating surfaces. I might actually switch to paper across the board, but we will see.

I used a sanding sponge for the first time today to level out the places where tape has been removed. It worked pretty darn well, even if it took a lot of time cleaning and recleaning the sponge. My next task is to clean up those joints, tape, and mud all the seams as well as a few of the sunken nail divots.

Though I still have every intention of doing this one section of the garage at a time, I realized a potential flow in my plans. The garage floor is about four steps higher than the door to the basement. This means there is a "well" in one corner. I can't reach the top walls and ceiling of this corner from my step ladder. My extension ladder might be too long to stand it up inside the garage due to the ceiling. Even if it's not, there is an upright freezer in the same corner, which would need to be moved out of there before I can even try the extension ladder. I don't think the freezer is particularly heavy on its own, but it does have a bunch of food in it, and I'm not too thrilled about the prospect of moving it up the steps.

I am thinking about actually climbing on top of the freezer. That should give me enough height to reach the ceiling. Does anybody know if this is safe (structurally speaking)? It looks/feels strong enough, but I don't think I've heard of anyone standing on top of a freezer before.


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

CyBorge said:


> *Moving Forward, and Some Pictures*
> 
> Progress has slowed a bit. A pulled or overworked back muscle is hindering me a little, but I have also been spending more time taking care of the lawn. I did manage to get a few pictures taken, though. For starters, here is the pile of lumber recovered from the old work bench:
> 
> ...


It looks like your still going ahead with the full bore clean up. I think the fridge will hold you but is that a good idea with you back problem. How about a ladder?


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## Bureaucrat (May 26, 2008)

CyBorge said:


> *Moving Forward, and Some Pictures*
> 
> Progress has slowed a bit. A pulled or overworked back muscle is hindering me a little, but I have also been spending more time taking care of the lawn. I did manage to get a few pictures taken, though. For starters, here is the pile of lumber recovered from the old work bench:
> 
> ...


CyBorge:
Get your self a good tall step Ladder. You will not regret it. When I was making my shop, between lifting 4×8 sheets of dry wall and falling off of some make shift ladders/standing spots, I had to stop work for 6 months for back surgery. That was 2 years ago. I haven't fallen off of my 10' ladder (yet, I'm kind of a klutz). 
On the paper vs fiberglass tape, I've seen that if you use premix drywall mud you should use paper tape exclusively. Fiberglass is fine for mix your own mud. The article (which I can't find) said it had something to do with dry times.
Anyway, the best with the project.


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## CyBorge (Sep 15, 2009)

CyBorge said:


> *Moving Forward, and Some Pictures*
> 
> Progress has slowed a bit. A pulled or overworked back muscle is hindering me a little, but I have also been spending more time taking care of the lawn. I did manage to get a few pictures taken, though. For starters, here is the pile of lumber recovered from the old work bench:
> 
> ...


My back problem is really just a nuisance right now and should be fully healed after a few more days. I may not heal quite as fast as I used to, but I'm still young enough to climb on things if my idiot self says that's the best way to go about doing something! 

I have a 6' step ladder, which is more than adequate most of the time. The reason a step ladder won't work in this particular corner is because there is about a three foot gap between the side wall and the main floor of the garage. I would need stilts on one side! There might be enough room to put the ladder at the bottom of the stairs directly under the corner, but that's where the freezer is and I'm hoping to get around having to move that thing. I'm sure I will figure something out.

Interesting comments on drywall tape. From what I understand, paper tape is stronger and less prone to cracking. It also lays flatter and is easier to get a smooth joint with. And, it is pretty much the only way to get a good corner without resorting to specialty products. However, it is harder to use correctly and will bubble/blister if not done right. I got started with it today, and will more than likely do all the walls with paper. Maybe not the ceiling, though. I'm not a big fan of working above my head.


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## HokieMojo (Mar 11, 2008)

CyBorge said:


> *Moving Forward, and Some Pictures*
> 
> Progress has slowed a bit. A pulled or overworked back muscle is hindering me a little, but I have also been spending more time taking care of the lawn. I did manage to get a few pictures taken, though. For starters, here is the pile of lumber recovered from the old work bench:
> 
> ...


I don't think you will want to get on top of your freezer. Just my opinon. I do things like this all the time and I almost always regret it. I'm starting to learn my lesson though.

Great to see these pictures. I think I'll just use some of yours for me next blog pictures. The drywall is almost identical to mine. Same with some of the grime. I didn't go nuts cleaning. Just got the big stuff off and went with Kilz2 Primer. I think it looks pretty good, but it take a lot of coats.

Great work and good for you saving from the old bench. more than saving $'s, you are keeping useable material from a landfill.

Looking forward to more posts!


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## CyBorge (Sep 15, 2009)

*Progress, or Setback?*

I had one partial gallon-sized bucked of joint compound from some time last year (or was it the year before?), but it certainly wouldn't be enough to complete the entire garage, so I went to the store to get one of those big honkin' buckets. I prefer the pre-mixed stuff because, well, I'm an amateur, and pre-mixed means less work and less chance for screwups! I needed to get paper tape anyway, because apparently Wal-Mart only carries the fiberglass stuff.

After wandering back and forth across the whole store a few times (apparently they rearranged their layout a bit), I had everything else I needed and was faced with the decision of regular pre-mixed joint compound, or lightweight pre-mixed joint compound. There were no prices posted, so my first inclination was to go for the regular stuff. Then I picked up the bucket with my one free hand. Oh man. I think it said 63 pounds. I hastily set the bucket back down ("dropped" is more like it) and went for the lightweight stuff. The weight of this one wasn't listed, but it was substantially lighter than the first so I quickly waddled my way to the register. Okay, I slowly waddled, because for whatever reason they put the bulk buckets at the back of the store, and the small project buckets near the front. That's a looong walk with all that weight dangling from one hand and nothing to counterbalance on the other side.

Anyway, on another day I probably would have stuck with the regular stuff, but quite frankly I didn't want to look like a complete idiot, struggling to manage a 63 pound bucket, a 20×20 furnace filter, and a few miscellaneous odds and ends-all without the help of a cart, basket, or bag. So I settled for looking like a mildly amusing dork instead. After fighting my way through the check out interrogation ("Did you find everything okay?" "Do you have everything you need?" "Joint compound, eh?" "Do you need any drywall with that?" etc.), I headed for home. A little harrowed, perhaps, but ready for work!

With the worst of the old tape already removed and the resultant "tracks" sanded down, I decided to wipe off the excess dust using a wet bath towel. It worked a little too well. The towel acted almost like a sanding sponge itself, as it cut right through even the dried mud in short order. I backed off a bit, but hopefully removed enough of the dust.

I went back in the house to find my drywall knives. Apparently I never got around to filing down the corners when I bought them last year, so before using them I had to hunt down my Dremel and a grinding wheel. After a few minutes (and lots of sparks!), I had nicely rounded corners. I do this with my drywall knives to prevent any chance of gouging the walls with a corner, and to lessen the amount and severity of sharp lines that can occur when smoothing wet mud. With newly-rounded corners, I set to work!

Rather than break into the new bucket of mud, I decided to use the old stuff first. Problem #1: the lid was not on tight. I don't think it has been open too long because it seems like I recently took a peek to make sure it wasn't dried out yet, but I'm not sure how long ago that was. Problem #2: this stuff stinks! I didn't let this stop me, because I remember joint compound always smelling bad. I didn't think it was this bad, but it's been a long time since I've used the stuff, and this particular bucket is a different brand that I only used for one tiny little piece, so I didn't question too much. After all, it wasn't dried out so it must still be good, right? Right?! Hmmmm…..

I went ahead and started mudding/taping the walls. I decided to use paper tape instead of the mesh, so the first thing is to slap a bunch of mud on the joint. After a few moments of this I started seeing problem #3: gray streaks. I thought to myself, "that's odd", but kept going. After doing more, it seemed like the streaks came from my drywall knife. There are a few corroded spots here and there (it's a cheap knife), but I didn't think it could possibly cause this much streaking, so I pushed on. The gray streaks kept coming, and in fact I had the impression that they intensified the longer I went. I really didn't understand what was going on, but the mud applied normally, so I went ahead and finished the taping.

Here is what some of the joints look like. Of the areas shown below, I replaced the tape from floor to ceiling next to the door, almost all the way to the ceiling in the corner, and a small segment at the far top above the dark gray spray paint.



















After cleaning up and coming back in the house, I got to thinking about those gray streaks in the mud. A little Googling tells me that it might be mold. I had no idea this stuff could even get moldy! Nothing looked like mold to me, but I'm no expert, so I went out and took some pictures of the bucket. What do you think?



















First and foremost I am obviously hoping this isn't actually mold. I know joint compound can be a few different shades, so maybe this is just some pigment that gives the stuff a darker gray color. If in fact it is mold, I am hopeful that it will be trapped as soon as the mud dries out. As far as I know, mold can't survive in an active state without a fairly continuous source of water, so maybe it will be okay. I really don't want to have to tear anything back out and start over. :-(

In the meantime, I have to decide whether to continue using this old bucket of mud, or throw it away and crack into the new one.


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

CyBorge said:


> *Progress, or Setback?*
> 
> I had one partial gallon-sized bucked of joint compound from some time last year (or was it the year before?), but it certainly wouldn't be enough to complete the entire garage, so I went to the store to get one of those big honkin' buckets. I prefer the pre-mixed stuff because, well, I'm an amateur, and pre-mixed means less work and less chance for screwups! I needed to get paper tape anyway, because apparently Wal-Mart only carries the fiberglass stuff.
> 
> ...


Sorry looks like mold to me,


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## woodnewbee (Nov 23, 2009)

CyBorge said:


> *Progress, or Setback?*
> 
> I had one partial gallon-sized bucked of joint compound from some time last year (or was it the year before?), but it certainly wouldn't be enough to complete the entire garage, so I went to the store to get one of those big honkin' buckets. I prefer the pre-mixed stuff because, well, I'm an amateur, and pre-mixed means less work and less chance for screwups! I needed to get paper tape anyway, because apparently Wal-Mart only carries the fiberglass stuff.
> 
> ...


have one son who is builder and one worked for lumber yard. one at lumber yard had to open bunch of buckets and check for mold, sent bad ones back. I opened old bucket of mud and other son said we had to throw it out because of mold.
Not sure what it looks like you have but know mold is bad no matter where it is.


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## Petewood (May 14, 2010)

CyBorge said:


> *Progress, or Setback?*
> 
> I had one partial gallon-sized bucked of joint compound from some time last year (or was it the year before?), but it certainly wouldn't be enough to complete the entire garage, so I went to the store to get one of those big honkin' buckets. I prefer the pre-mixed stuff because, well, I'm an amateur, and pre-mixed means less work and less chance for screwups! I needed to get paper tape anyway, because apparently Wal-Mart only carries the fiberglass stuff.
> 
> ...


Yeah; with Jim and Woodnewbie here, return it; I've done what Photoshop will let me with your pics; and can't get away from mold. I'd return it. Looks like mold.


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## jerryz (Jun 4, 2009)

CyBorge said:


> *Progress, or Setback?*
> 
> I had one partial gallon-sized bucked of joint compound from some time last year (or was it the year before?), but it certainly wouldn't be enough to complete the entire garage, so I went to the store to get one of those big honkin' buckets. I prefer the pre-mixed stuff because, well, I'm an amateur, and pre-mixed means less work and less chance for screwups! I needed to get paper tape anyway, because apparently Wal-Mart only carries the fiberglass stuff.
> 
> ...


well, Cy I am soo sorry to hear that you did all that work and have to tear it down again.

The foul smell should have raised the red flag, I have had the same, ahem, problem.

The problem with mold is that it can be downright dangerous to your and your's health, especially it can cause respiratory diseases and some rather nasty complications.

So I would recommend that you judiciously remove all that newly applied joint compound and clean the wall with a diluted bleach and water mixture. (for each gallon of water add a spoon of bleach)

This will kill any residual mold that you inadverdently trasfered to your dry wall.

Let it dry thoroughly before starting your patching/jointing operation.

And for the love of God wear a mask when you're doing this, you don't want to inhale any dust coming out of that wall for the reason stated above….

Have fun and be safe….


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## Bureaucrat (May 26, 2008)

CyBorge said:


> *Progress, or Setback?*
> 
> I had one partial gallon-sized bucked of joint compound from some time last year (or was it the year before?), but it certainly wouldn't be enough to complete the entire garage, so I went to the store to get one of those big honkin' buckets. I prefer the pre-mixed stuff because, well, I'm an amateur, and pre-mixed means less work and less chance for screwups! I needed to get paper tape anyway, because apparently Wal-Mart only carries the fiberglass stuff.
> 
> ...


Oh, Crap. I had mold in my basement, walk out style so it had a lot of wafer board. You don't want to know what I went through for mold remediation. Take Jerryz advice. You probably want to think about long sleeves and full length trouser that get washed with bleach at the end of the day.


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## doordude (Mar 26, 2010)

CyBorge said:


> *Progress, or Setback?*
> 
> I had one partial gallon-sized bucked of joint compound from some time last year (or was it the year before?), but it certainly wouldn't be enough to complete the entire garage, so I went to the store to get one of those big honkin' buckets. I prefer the pre-mixed stuff because, well, I'm an amateur, and pre-mixed means less work and less chance for screwups! I needed to get paper tape anyway, because apparently Wal-Mart only carries the fiberglass stuff.
> 
> ...


hey,cyborg every one's posting is right it's mold. you got to get it off the wall. i would use a spray water bottle wtih a little bleach and wet the mud liberly and scrape it off with your 6" knife. buy American mud and not products made in china. look to see if it is made in china? i've been a taper for over 30 years and never heard of anybody grinding there corners off. you need them in the right angle corners.
your next purchase should be "all purpose" joint compound. either bucket or the 50#mud in a box is good,but either 
one you've got to add water to thin it down. like peanut butter.once you tape all joints and around any light boxes
and any pipes comming thru the walls; with your 6" knife, let dry,Lightly sand #220 screened paper cloth any lap marks. apply 2/nd coat with an 8" knife. you really should use "topping mud" for the second coat but money or how detailed of a job you want to do, you can use the all purpose, it just shrinks more do to the glue inside. any questions email me back.


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## tyskkvinna (Mar 23, 2010)

CyBorge said:


> *Progress, or Setback?*
> 
> I had one partial gallon-sized bucked of joint compound from some time last year (or was it the year before?), but it certainly wouldn't be enough to complete the entire garage, so I went to the store to get one of those big honkin' buckets. I prefer the pre-mixed stuff because, well, I'm an amateur, and pre-mixed means less work and less chance for screwups! I needed to get paper tape anyway, because apparently Wal-Mart only carries the fiberglass stuff.
> 
> ...


Absolutely mould.

1) Get rid of that old bucket, right now.
2) Get rid of the mud you used from that bucket this time. Doordude described perfectly how to do it!
3) Never buy more mud than you really need, or at least, don't expect to be able to keep it forever.
4) In the store, whenever you buy a new container, open it up and make sure it isn't mouldy. I've had horrible luck with batches, occasionally - all of the buckets in the store will be mouldy. You cannot, absolutely cannot, just cut it out and continue using it or stir it in or anything. More work, but go to another store and check their batches.

Also - open that new bucket and take a whiff. Remember the odour. If any bucket in the future, especially any you've been storing for any amount of time, smells distinctly different from that - throw it out. This goes for paint too. If it smells funny, it's bad.


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## GaryD (Mar 5, 2009)

CyBorge said:


> *Progress, or Setback?*
> 
> I had one partial gallon-sized bucked of joint compound from some time last year (or was it the year before?), but it certainly wouldn't be enough to complete the entire garage, so I went to the store to get one of those big honkin' buckets. I prefer the pre-mixed stuff because, well, I'm an amateur, and pre-mixed means less work and less chance for screwups! I needed to get paper tape anyway, because apparently Wal-Mart only carries the fiberglass stuff.
> 
> ...


Looks like mold also to me, need to get rid of the rest.Will be better in the long run. Good Luck!!!


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## CyBorge (Sep 15, 2009)

*Back On Track!*

It's hard to believe how little progress I have made in the last month, but other areas of my life tend to take priority sometimes. The last time I posted, the overwhelming consensus was that I had unwittingly applied moldy drywall compound to my walls. Go me! It sure is a good thing this is a blog, where mistakes are okay, rather than a how-to tutorial! 

I was lucky in that a lot of the mud was still wet enough that I could pry it off in large sections with a small drywall knife. This made removal far easier, and a whole lot less messy. I still had to wet-sand a bunch of areas, and ended up taking off some of the paper in a few spots, but it was a lot easier than it could have been!

With all, or nearly all, of the tainted mud and tape removed, I gave it several days to dry out before re-doing all the work. After re-taping, top-coating and sanding, I cleaned the walls and primed with Kilz 2 stain-blocking latex primer. The bare drywall soaked that stuff up like crazy, so I ended up doing two coats of primer. Wow is that stuff bright compared to old drywall!! I still don't like pure white, though, so I followed up with two coats of Color Place (Wal-Mart) interior latex paint with a satin sheen. The color? "White oak".  It's basically an off-white, but someone got paid a lot of money to come up with a hundred different names for a hundred different shades of off-white, so I might as well use it.

One of my next projects is to build some corner shelves, which will probably be of more interest to all of you than what I've written about so far. At some point it occurred to me that once those shelves are constructed I probably won't be able to reach the corner when I'm painting the ceiling. So, planning ahead a bit, I went ahead and primed the ceiling in the corner and followed up with some ceiling paint. It looks a little strange now, but will be better when the rest of the ceiling is done.

With the main wall ready to go, I started to put the outlet covers back on and move some things back to the wall. That's when I realized most, if not all, of my garage outlets are not grounded. :-( Looking in the boxes (they are all plastic) proved a little disheartening. Bare copper wires do exist in all the boxes, and the feed is definitely grounded at the panel, but half of them are simply not attached to the bright green screws clearly intended for a grounding wire-or anything else for that matter. I found one box with three lines in/out. Two of the ground wires are wrapped around each other and shoved into the back of the box. The third ground wire is wrapped around the screw on the receptacle, but not in contact with either of the other two ground wires. Several of the wires (including hot and neutrals) that are connected are not wrapped around the screws; they're simply stuck under one side and clamped down. It's going to take some effort to fix all this, especially with some of the worst offenders being on the ceiling, but I think it needs to be done. Oh yeah, many of the outlet boxes are aligned to the studs instead of the drywall, so the receptacles are either shimmed with nuts and/or washers, or simply "floating" semi-loosely. It's great.

The good news is, there's some actual construction in the near future. I mentioned some corner shelves, which are going to be 24×48. This is approximately what I'm looking to build:










The walls will be carrying almost all of the load, but I need a support for the front left corner, so I figure a basic 2×4 should work. I'm not sure what, if anything, if I should do to the bottom of that support to protect it from moisture since it will rest directly on top of concrete. The second vertical 2×4, the one next to the wall, is there because I might use some plywood or OSB to "cap" the end. If I follow up with that I will probably do something similar (but with hinges) on the front. That should keep most of the dust out, look nicer, and I could probably add a lock if anything valuable or dangerous goes on those shelves.

One concern I have is that the shorter of the two wall supports doesn't have a stud near the outer end. I can screw it to a stud real close to the corner, and approximately where the dotted line is near the middle, but that leaves probably ten inches of shelf on the end with no local support. Hopefully it will be okay. I'm looking at using #10 screws for this; should I go bigger?

The other project slated for the near future is moving my extension ladder from the wall to the ceiling. I touched on my intentions in one of HokieMojo's blog entries. Basically, it's going to look something like this:










The ladder slides in between the 2×4's and rolls over the PVC pipe. The pipe itself is simply covering a threaded rod that actually bears the weight of the ladder, transferring it to the 2×4's hanging from the ceiling. It works in theory; let's see how it works in practice!


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## HokieMojo (Mar 11, 2008)

CyBorge said:


> *Back On Track!*
> 
> It's hard to believe how little progress I have made in the last month, but other areas of my life tend to take priority sometimes. The last time I posted, the overwhelming consensus was that I had unwittingly applied moldy drywall compound to my walls. Go me! It sure is a good thing this is a blog, where mistakes are okay, rather than a how-to tutorial!
> 
> ...


A few comments.

1) Good to hear you were able to get the mudding squared away
2) I like the name of the paint. I stuck with "Kilz white" lol. I figure there won't be much exposed wall by the time I'm done hanging stuff
3) that does suck about the electrical, but I think it is too common to find problems when you open things up. when we opened our main breaker box, there were tons of loose connections. I don't think that was the electricians fault. just the passage of time caused screws to loosen. I wonder if that could have happened in your case but to an extreme?
4) you are pretty good at sketchup. I just can't get it going, mostly due to motivation. I'd reconsider the shelves though. While I have put some permanent fixtures (like the lumber rack) in my renovation, I'd avoid it unless absolutely necessary. I understand wanting to get the sides as close to the wall and save on material at the same time, but you could just inset the legs a bit and let the overhanging butt up against the wall. You never know when you might need to move the shelf, and I'd much rather move it than rebuild it. Just my opinion.
5) i'm still debating the ladder rack idea myself. One of the biggest drawbacks for me is I'd probably need to pull the car out of the garage and close the garage door to get it down (a minor inconvenience) but more importantly, I worry that when I install my planned T8 light fixtures, it will probably cast some strange shadows. just something to consider with whatever lighting plan you have. I don't have a better idea though. I very well may end up doing this myself.

Goo luck. Hope it isn't too hot there!


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## Bureaucrat (May 26, 2008)

CyBorge said:


> *Back On Track!*
> 
> It's hard to believe how little progress I have made in the last month, but other areas of my life tend to take priority sometimes. The last time I posted, the overwhelming consensus was that I had unwittingly applied moldy drywall compound to my walls. Go me! It sure is a good thing this is a blog, where mistakes are okay, rather than a how-to tutorial!
> 
> ...


CyBorge:
Good to see you back! I was worried that the moldy setback had gotten the better of you.
My shop is pretty close to Kilz white. I did that so that my aging eyes get more light; and as Hokie said hanging stuff all over does temper it.
One of the approaches I have used for extension ladder storage… I sunk 2 of the yellow plasticoted bike hooks into the rafters above the garage door return area and hung a pulley from the ceiling the length of the ladder away from the bike hooks and away from the door opening. That way I was able to hook the ladder to the ceiling, even with the door open, and pull the other end up with a rope and pulley and tie the rope off to a cleat on the wall. Another advantage for me was that I didn't have to get out the step ladder to get the extension ladder down, of course your ceiling height may vary.
Good luck and keep posting.


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## JamesVavra (Apr 27, 2009)

CyBorge said:


> *Back On Track!*
> 
> It's hard to believe how little progress I have made in the last month, but other areas of my life tend to take priority sometimes. The last time I posted, the overwhelming consensus was that I had unwittingly applied moldy drywall compound to my walls. Go me! It sure is a good thing this is a blog, where mistakes are okay, rather than a how-to tutorial!
> 
> ...


Two suggestions:

1) Dip the end of your 2×4 that will rest on the concrete floor in a thinned out finish (deck sealer, tung oil, etc.). Doesn't really matter what you use, but that end grain will soak it up and, once it cures, it will prevent moisture from traveling up the same path.

2) Provided those side short side supports are attached to the center stud, and somewhere closer to the corner you probably don't need to also attach them at the outboard end where there is no stud. Just make sure it's not only supported in the middle - otherwise, it will want to teeter-totter when the weight is not distributed well.

James


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## CyBorge (Sep 15, 2009)

CyBorge said:


> *Back On Track!*
> 
> It's hard to believe how little progress I have made in the last month, but other areas of my life tend to take priority sometimes. The last time I posted, the overwhelming consensus was that I had unwittingly applied moldy drywall compound to my walls. Go me! It sure is a good thing this is a blog, where mistakes are okay, rather than a how-to tutorial!
> 
> ...


Hi guys. It takes more than a little moldy mud to make me give up. Now, moldy cheese on the other hand, forget about it! 

While it's a lot slower and more work to do this piecemeal, one benefit is that I will reach a point where one large wall is painted with white oak and another large wall is only primed. That should give me a visual comparison between the two. I only bought one gallon of the paint to start with, so I wouldn't be out hardly anything (other than time/cleanup) if I decide white is preferable after all.

There is no way these electrical issues were caused by something as simple as loose connections. 12 gauge copper wiring is too stiff to work itself out of place to this magnitude. It is clear by the way it's folded and twisted that all of it, with one possible exception, was either intentional or a mistake. The more "behind the scenes" stuff I encounter in this house, the less benefit of the doubt I'm willing to give. Case in point: a few months ago I actually found two circuits that were tied together. As long as either breaker was turned on, all affected outlets and light fixtures were live. The only way to cut power was to turn off both breakers. What's more, one of the breakers is smaller (15 amp versus 20), and at least part of that circuit is running 14 gauge wiring. How these circuits were crossed I will never know, but it must have happened when a previous owner built an addition off the kitchen/dining room.

Hokie, those are some good suggestions about the shelves. I debated that internally for quite a while. Still do, in fact. I'm not too concerned about moving the shelves later because the design of the garage greatly limits my options. However, one significant change I've been thinking about is pulling the entire thing away from the side wall to create a small "pocket" on the end of the shelves. That would be a great place to store something like a step ladder. It would also completely eliminate the concerns about stud placement.

James, would a deck sealer be a long-term solution if it's inside where the sun won't get at it? I thought about wrapping the bottom in non-permeable plastic, but I also question how important it is to do anything at all in this environment.


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## HokieMojo (Mar 11, 2008)

CyBorge said:


> *Back On Track!*
> 
> It's hard to believe how little progress I have made in the last month, but other areas of my life tend to take priority sometimes. The last time I posted, the overwhelming consensus was that I had unwittingly applied moldy drywall compound to my walls. Go me! It sure is a good thing this is a blog, where mistakes are okay, rather than a how-to tutorial!
> 
> ...


All good points. I've really enjoyed watching your progress. I'm hoping to make a little more progress of my own this weekend, but I think the 4th will mostly be spent with the family after some long hours at work. I'm also stuck waiting to get a new HVAC system put in, so I don't want to do much work on that side of the garage because I want to leave the space clear for them to work safely and comfortably.

I'm continually amazed by my lack of space, despite having a full side of a 2 car garage. I've gotta find ways to get more stuff up on the walls.


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## CyBorge (Sep 15, 2009)

*Something's Finally Built!*

The shelving unit is in service! I ended up using 1/2" plywood all around instead of vertical 2×4's. I also decided not to depend on the garage walls for primary support, so it can be moved if desired, though I did screw it to a plywood strip that was pre-mounted on the wall. Even though the unit is strong enough on its own, that simple action added a ton of rigidity. Here's what it looks like, all full of hastily loaded junk, but keep in mind the paint is actually gray (bad lighting for photos!):










I had to build around the concrete ledge along the bottom of the garage wall in order to maximize storage space. The unit is just a hair over eight feet tall, placing the top about 10 inches below the ceiling. I also intentionally set the unit away from the side wall, leaving just enough room to hide my stepladder in the "pocket" on the end:










The doors/face aren't done yet, but these shots give a little better look at the overall structure:



















I moved the bottom shelf up enough to clear the aforementioned concrete ledge (maximizing the size of the shelf), which left enough room to "coax" my furniture movers underneath. I don't mind leaving those on the concrete floor, though I'm sure I will regret that decision when the spiders find them. Speaking of concrete, I didn't want to leave exposed plywood edges directly on the floor, so I mounted 2×4 rails on the bottom. I did this by shimming the unit off the ground, making sure the front was slightly higher than the back (to account for the garage floor slope), placing the rails directly on the floor, and screwing the pieces together.

All four shelves are fully supported by 2×4's all the way around. Overkill, perhaps, but this helps with overall strength/stability as well. These shelf supports are attached to the plywood frame with simple screws. The screw heads are fully countersunk and filled in with wood putty, so they aren't visible unless you really look for them. The plywood sides are connected by biscuit-reinforced butt joints-my first time using a biscuit jointer. Attaching the second side panel was a royal pain due to some curvature in the plywood, made worse by a relative lack of long clamps, but it's done and holding. For the moment. 

My next task is reclaiming some oh-so-precious wall space by getting the extension ladder off the wall and onto the ceiling. I got started on that but ran into a couple of snags, so I will post about it at a later time.


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## docholladay (Jan 9, 2010)

CyBorge said:


> *Something's Finally Built!*
> 
> The shelving unit is in service! I ended up using 1/2" plywood all around instead of vertical 2×4's. I also decided not to depend on the garage walls for primary support, so it can be moved if desired, though I did screw it to a plywood strip that was pre-mounted on the wall. Even though the unit is strong enough on its own, that simple action added a ton of rigidity. Here's what it looks like, all full of hastily loaded junk, but keep in mind the paint is actually gray (bad lighting for photos!):
> 
> ...


Nice shelf unit. IIt is good that you built this so that it can be moved if needed. It seems like shop organization is a constant battle. For me, I will just get things kind of sorted out and then I get some more lumber or aquire a new tool/s and I have to figure out how to store them. I don't even want to think about what happens when I am in the middle of a project and end up with tools, lumber and pieces of scrap laying all over the place. It is a constant battle. I think I spend as much time cleaning up and organizing in my little shop as I spend working on projects.


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## HokieMojo (Mar 11, 2008)

CyBorge said:


> *Something's Finally Built!*
> 
> The shelving unit is in service! I ended up using 1/2" plywood all around instead of vertical 2×4's. I also decided not to depend on the garage walls for primary support, so it can be moved if desired, though I did screw it to a plywood strip that was pre-mounted on the wall. Even though the unit is strong enough on its own, that simple action added a ton of rigidity. Here's what it looks like, all full of hastily loaded junk, but keep in mind the paint is actually gray (bad lighting for photos!):
> 
> ...


That looks like a great shelf. It looks like I'm falling behind. Never enough hours in the day. Glad your project is progressing so nicely.


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## cwdance1 (Jun 23, 2009)

CyBorge said:


> *Something's Finally Built!*
> 
> The shelving unit is in service! I ended up using 1/2" plywood all around instead of vertical 2×4's. I also decided not to depend on the garage walls for primary support, so it can be moved if desired, though I did screw it to a plywood strip that was pre-mounted on the wall. Even though the unit is strong enough on its own, that simple action added a ton of rigidity. Here's what it looks like, all full of hastily loaded junk, but keep in mind the paint is actually gray (bad lighting for photos!):
> 
> ...


I too work in a very small shop. Its a constant battle to make room for new things. I spend allot of time cleaning and rearranging so its good to hear that i'm not the only one. Keep building shelves as you can never have enough storage.


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## Bureaucrat (May 26, 2008)

CyBorge said:


> *Something's Finally Built!*
> 
> The shelving unit is in service! I ended up using 1/2" plywood all around instead of vertical 2×4's. I also decided not to depend on the garage walls for primary support, so it can be moved if desired, though I did screw it to a plywood strip that was pre-mounted on the wall. Even though the unit is strong enough on its own, that simple action added a ton of rigidity. Here's what it looks like, all full of hastily loaded junk, but keep in mind the paint is actually gray (bad lighting for photos!):
> 
> ...


cyborge:
great build. Improved over initial plans, I think you will be happy with your decisions. You should be able to load a ton of stuff on the shelves.


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