Weekend Warrior: Two Projects, One Weekend

My wife and I have been wanting to set up a home gym for a while. We have some equipment that's been taking up space in the house, and we decided it would work best to move it into the garage. The problem, however, is that our garage was a dumping ground for everything. Every time the garage door opened, you would see garden tools, kids toys, and plenty of random stuff we couldn't find a place for. Before we could turn it into a workout space, we needed somewhere for all that gear to live.

The garage wasn't in great shape. Being our dumping ground, it wasn't getting cleaned often. The concrete was covered in dirt and oil and the walls had never been painted. I wasn't thrilled with the idea of working out in there even if we were able to move everything out.

So we ended up with two projects on our hands. 1. Build a shed for extra storage. 2. Paint the garage and epoxy the floors.

Thursday: The Shed and Pad

Elias helped me dig out the area along the side of the house. He had his little shovel and those PAW Patrol gloves, taking it very seriously. We dug down about 4 inches, leveled it out, then laid down a layer of pea gravel as a base. On top of that went the pavers in a simple grid pattern.

The whole pad took less than one day. Including a trip to Lowes. I did break one paver and Elias thought it was hilarious. He wanted us to crack all of them but I convinced him otherwise. The pavers aren't perfectly level if you look closely, but it's solid and the shed sits on it just fine.

The shed itself went up pretty quick after that. Now all the yard tools, the lawnmower, and the outdoor stuff has a proper home.

Friday: Garage Clean Out and Floor Prep

With the shed done, we started on the garage the next day. First order of business: getting everything out. It's amazing how much stuff accumulates in a garage when you're not paying attention. Tools, boxes and bins, materials for other future projects could all be found. We brought lots of it inside, while other items went on the side of the house for the sunny weekend.

Once that was done, I cleaned the floors. We had a couple of stubborn oil stains and degreasing the floor took WAY longer than I expected. Everything you watch or read makes it look easy. It took me a good 3-4 hours to get the floor degreased, rinse it thoroughly and then apply the acidic etch that comes with the epoxy kit.

The instructions say to rinse and squeegee the floor until it runs clear. It took at least 5 rinses for that to happen. It was well past dark when I was done, but the floor had never been cleaner.

Saturday: Painting

Since the floor needed to sit at least 24 hours until the epoxy was applied, Saturday was the day to paint. We couldn't wear shoes on the floor but a drop cloth and socks did the trick.

The garage walls and ceiling were bare drywall with just the tape and plaster visible. I started painting the ceiling above the garage door so that we could keep the garage door open for most of the work. I quickly remembered how much I dislike painting. I felt like I was using so much paint and not getting very far. Plus rolling the ceiling is so much more work than the walls.

Then I remembered I'm married to someone who loves painting. Penny to the rescue! She quickly got a coat of paint on all walls. But we realized I had grossly underestimated how much paint we needed. So after a quick afternoon run to Lowes (and some coffee from Summer Moon) we were back in business with more paint and a longer arm for our roller.

Penny got the second coat on all the walls before we switched again. I did final coats on the ceiling, a third coat on the walls and the cutting in. I finally found my groove and was moving quickly. At least I felt like I was. I was done at 10:30 that night.

Sunday: Epoxy Floors

While laying in bed Saturday night I suddenly remembered a crack that I had seen on the concrete floor earlier that evening. The epoxy instructions clearly state to be sure to seal any cracks in the concrete before applying the epoxy. So what do ya know, but I get to do another Lowes run! (That's four trips in four days in case you're wondering) I found some quick dry concrete crack filler. It completely sets in 90 minutes so it wouldn't delay me too much.

Back home I sealed the cracks, scraped some paint drops off the floor and once the crack fill was dry, got to work on the epoxy.

I went with the Gorilla 2-part epoxy kit from Home Depot. Once you mix the two parts together you have about an hour of working time before it starts to set.

Here's what I learned: when they say mix a smaller amount first to do your edges and cut-ins, they mean it.

I mixed the whole batch thinking I'd work fast, but by the time I'd cut in around the edges and started rolling the main floor, the epoxy was thickening up. The last quarter of the garage was a workout trying to get it to roll out evenly. It still looks good, but I was working hard at the end.

The flakes go on while it's still wet. I probably could have been more generous with them, but I was happy with how it turned out.

The Result

The four day weekend was a marathon! I was easily hitting all of my goals on my Apple Watch by early afternoon each day. Sunday afternoon I was so exhausted, I found myself falling asleep while watching football. But it was worth it! We now have a clean, painted garage with a proper epoxy floor, and the outdoor stuff is tucked away in the shed where it belongs.

Once the floor was dry, we installed some interlocking exercise mats. The bike, weights, and bench are in place and it's already been great using them. We plan to put a mirror on the wall and organize my tools next. But we'll save that for another weekend.