Monday, October 6, 2008

Mr. Handyman

So I have the goal of fitting my car into the garage for the winter. However, that has not been possible. There are lots of shelves and other stuff in the garage. And we also want to keep our bikes (at least the commuters) in the garage. (that is actually a whole 'nother post: I got a new commuter bike! Check back soon...) The garage is not too big, either. It is a total of 10.5 feet by 18 feet.
So one step I had to take was to re-arrange the (road) bicycles. I moved them from the wooden rack/stand that had held them in the apartment to newly installed hooks parallel to the wall. I would say the far wall, but it is actually quite close. There is also a ladder hanging along the wall.
On the wall opposite the bicycles was a workbench protruding two feet from the wall. Not a ton of space, but enough to work on small projects. Above that are some long, narrow shelves. So I decided that I would like to clear up the space. I bought a reciprocating saw from the Home Depot, and cut the bench about four inches from the wall, then put on some hinges, and attached legs with another set of hinges. I then added a safety straps so that. Just in case. It latches with a sliding bolt into a hole in the shelf above.
I'm the first to admit that it is not pretty, but it actually looks better than it did before. And it enabled me for the first time to pull the car all the way into the garage!!! (But the camera batteries died before I got a picture.) I will need to take out another set of shelves in the back of the garage (about 28 inches deep) and find a new home for the lawnmower in order to make it work to keep the commuters and the car inside, but each weekend I'm getting closer.
I'll be posting more blogs now that I'm doing more around the house. Be sure to check back for pics of the new commuter bike, pics of the Volvo in the garage and updates on the T5: oil changes, brake fluid changes, new brake pads, new plugs and wires and the exterior treatment.
Finally, check out the link on the right for the Three Dollar Connoisseur. We know the posters (Poseurs?)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Cool idea with the folding workbench. We should do something like that to get rid of the messy workbench in front of my car.

I'm looking forward to seeing pics of the 855 in the garage...