My man cave build

[rfuerst911sc]

Originally Posted by URY914

Pictures are required tomorrow.

Ask and you shall receive Today was a great day at the man cave even though it is not finished yet started earning its keep Drove the wifes RAV4 into the lift bay and 5 minutes later the car was in the air ! The lift is solid as a rock there were no surprises which is good . I was able to lift the car to full height but did have to lower the garage door . Had 5 ' in front to my workbench and 4 ' behind to the garage door . I am VERY happy with the lift placement .

Did an oil/filter change , rotated the tires and inspected the brakes as we are going on vacation next week . Man it is soooooo nice working upright like a human ! I used my impact gun for the 1st time in this garage , plenty of air power to remove the lug nuts . What a great day ! I know the RAV4 is not a super heavy vehicle but the lift raised it like nothing was on the lift . Here are two pics you can kind of see the 2 x 12 framing I scabbed onto the rafters for the " raised ceiling " over the lift posts . A common theme to my posts ................. lifting a few cold adult cocktails to celebrate !!!

[URY914]

[rfuerst911sc]

I just noticed how well the Toyota paint color matches the lift , guess I know where I'll get touch up paint for the lift .

[rfuerst911sc]

Hey guys still here but on vacation in Upstate NY will be back home on 8/6 . But while on vacation I am still thinking man cave . About 5 minutes ago I won an Ebay auction for a dual head parking meter ! One meter for each bay I sniped with 5 seconds left and got it for less than 100.00 including shipping so one decoration down . I plan on having the parking meter on the outside of the building between to two garage doors .

Hanging above/over the parking meter will be a working traffic light ( not yet purchased ) . I plan on adding a sequencer and motion sensor to the traffic light so when you drive near or walk by the light goes green/yellow/red . I think this will look pretty cool and not break the bank so a win/win . Good bye for now

[rfuerst911sc]

OK I am back from vacation After spending most of yesterday cutting my lawn that turned into a hay field today I was back on the garage . I measured for the ceiling metal and went to the metal shop . Placed my order I should be able to pick up next week . After I get the metal I'll go to HD and rent a ceiling jack and go to town . I am hoping I can install all the metal in 2 - 3 days and be done . At the same time I will install some R19 insulation on top of the metal as my first layer of insulation . More insulation will be added later but for now this will be it .

After the ceiling is done I can terminate the balance of the electrical for ceiling mounted drop lights and for my main lighting . I have twenty four 4 ' LED shop lights that will be controlled by two wall switches . After that it will be time to install the mini split AC/heat . After that it will be all the wall cabinets , rolling cabinets and various wall art . I am slowly seeing the end of the build in sight In a few hours I am going to purchase a traffic signal , this will be mounted on the exterior under the front overhang between the two garage doors . Will wire it up with a motion detector and a sequencer so when you drive up or walk by the light it will go green then yellow then red . On the ground under the traffic light will be a dual head parking meter that arrived in the mail yesterday . These two decorations scream man cave in my book

That's it for now will post some progress pics when I start installing the ceiling .

[rfuerst911sc]

Finally an update with some Porsche content . Today I used my John Deere garden tractor with a front end loader to make a angled transition of gravel onto the concrete ramp in front of the garage . I had to do this to get the fairly low Boxster up the ramp without the GT3 spoiler lip dragging . All went perfect and here she is on the lift . Going to do an oil/filter change and I will also finally install the new wheels I bought almost 2 years ago While I still have a ways to go to complete the garage it is now useful for doing garage stuff

The Boxster fit with the hardtop on and fully raised with the garage door open . I have 4 ' + of room to the front to the workbench and 5 ' + to the garage door when closed . Once again I am very happy with the lift placement it looks like I have it positioned darn near perfect A few pics for your viewing pleasure

[rfuerst911sc]

Still plugging along guys When I originally painted the interior walls I didn't paint the laminated beams on both sides , my thoughts were do it later after the cap boards on top of the laminated beams was installed . Well that has been done for over 2 months now but I despise painting so much I have been putting it off . Well today I grabbed the paint , a brush and a mini roller .

I put down two coats of semi-gloss white and I'm happy to say it is done ! I come from a long line of paint haters I just can't stand to paint ! But it is done I'm just waiting on the metal shop to call and let me know my ceiling metal is ready for pick up . When I start installing the ceiling we'll be picture ready That's it for now .

[rfuerst911sc]

Got the call late today my ceiling metal is ready . So picking it up tomorrow and will probably go get a sheet rock jack from HD rented for the weekend . I know what I will be doing this weekend

[rfuerst911sc]

Hey guys today I started the day caulking the joint between the walls and the top cap board , I decided to do this as it is easier to do without the ceiling metal in place . I did complete the metal ceiling over the raised portion of the ceiling over the lift . I also started to terminate my ceiling wiring . Two outlets in place for corded drop lights and two 4 ' LED's in place over the lift . Tomorrow I am hoping to complete the LED install around the perimeter of the garage . Not sure how well LED's will show up in pics but I'll take a few tomorrow . The actual install of ceiling metal may have to wait a bit , I've picked up a part time job and next weekend is grandchildren weekend so we'll have to see . But I am getting closer

[rfuerst911sc]

Finally some pics It is hot as hell with humidity to match but yesterday and today I completed one run of ceiling wiring . I installed two 4 ' LED lights over the lift in the " raised portion " of the ceiling and have three so far on the wall . I will add two more to the string of 3 to bring it to 5 on the circuit . Per the half Chinese instructions five lights is the max to string together . The lights have female 3 pin connectors on both ends , you use a power cord on one end and then a small " patch " cord to string them along .

I bought 24 of these lights dirt cheap not sure how many I'm going to install . I decided to mount them on the walls vs. the ceiling so far I like that decision , of course I don't have a ceiling yet . I figured by mounting on the wall I don't have to drill a crap load of holes in the metal ceiling and I can easily change out the lights once I have the ceiling in place if they don't last . You can see the grey metal ceiling over the lift , I was hoping my white metal panels would be white on both sides but that's not the case . But I have grey trim on the outside of the building so I may leave the grey as an accent . I hope by the end of tomorrow to have the majority of the lights up and then will turn to installing the metal ceiling panels . Here are two pics of the lights so far , I also installed two outlets in the raised ceiling area for corded drop lights . You can see one of them in the pic .

[Seahawk]

That looks really good. Nice, nice build.

You do have a/c, right? I am too lazy to look.

If not, shoot yourself

[rfuerst911sc]

Originally Posted by Seahawk

That looks really good. Nice, nice build.

You do have a/c, right? I am too lazy to look.

If not, shoot yourself

I don't have AC yet but it is purchased and in the basement of the house waiting to be installed , an 24K Mitsubishi mini split AC/heat unit . I need my ceiling and ceiling insulation in place then I'll install the mini split . Had the same unit in my last man cave it worked great and was a life saver . Appreciate the kind words .

[rfuerst911sc]

Today I finished the install of the LED's , in total there are 17 four footers . Five on each side wall , five at the rear over the work bench and two over the lift . In addition I have two garage door lights one on each side near the garage doors and two corded drop lights hanging from the ceiling in front of the lift . For what I plan to do that should be enough Here's some pics now onto installing the ceiling !

[rfuerst911sc]

OK now there are no more excuses it's time to install the ceiling ! This morning I am heading to big box store to rent a panel lift and will keep it for however long it takes me to put up the ceiling but I am hoping to be done in 3 days . I have finished the attic cat walk complete with hand rails of 2x4's to help make sure I don't fall through the ceiling

I also finished framing the attic opening and the landing pad so I have a place to set items and sit/turn around as needed . I finished yesterday air nailing plywood strips onto the bottom of the perlons for extra support ( not needed ) for the radiant barrier . So today the metal starts going up with pics to follow .

[ben parrish]

looking good!!! How much clearance do you have with the Boxter on the lift? How high is the garage door?

[rfuerst911sc]

Originally Posted by ben parrish

looking good!!! How much clearance do you have with the Boxter on the lift? How high is the garage door?

I haven't measured the clearance between Boxster and garage door but they clear each other with the hardtop on . My ceilings are just under 12' tall and my garage doors are 10 ' . So far with the Porsche and my wifes RAV4 no clearance issues on the lift .

[rfuerst911sc]

Made some good progress today this morning I went and rented a sheetrock jack . By the time I got home and had it unloaded/assembled and ready to go it was about 11:00 . So after 5 hours here is where I'm at on the ceiling install . I am aprox. 1/3rd done not bad for a one man army Installing that first piece of metal is a bit of a guessing game in regards to how tight to make it to the end walls and the sides , it sets the tone for the rest of the install . By dumb luck or shear genius it appears I got it right

Tomorrow I will cut to length the R19 insulation and install on top of the ceiling I installed today . Will cut it long enough to cover the next piece of metal ceiling which gets me halfway . I am hoping two more days and the ceiling metal and insulation will be 100 % done . That will get me to a point where I can install the mini split AC/heat unit which is a huge step forward ! I am REALLY happy with the progress ! Here are two pics of the ceiling install , that sheetrock jack makes it so easy for one person to install the 13 ' + panels !!!

[ben parrish]

That is going to look awesome. I really like the way it looks.

[Captain Ahab Jr]

good work, that looks great, having the right tools makes a huge difference when tackling the big jobs

[rfuerst911sc]

Thanks guys I am very happy with how it looks so far . The real test will be when I get near the other side wall , that will tell how square the building is . I think I'm pretty good/close on being parallel but we will see I know from when I measured for the metal I'm going to be short of actually hitting the other side wall , it's just a matter of by how much ? I think I'll be about 5 - 6 inches shy but will fill that gap with just a flat piece of ceiling metal I already have . I also purchased one 13 ' 9 " piece of " extra " metal which can be cut and used for filler . I will know soon enough