shop build!

[BigDaveZJ]

Primer is completed. Hoping to finish off the painting tomorrow. Just ordered the concrete sealer, Legacy Industrial HD6525-MMA with the "fine" grit anti-skid additive. Plan is to grind the floor down next Saturday, and if all goes well put the sealer down that Sunday.

[BigDaveZJ]

Floor looks like hell right now but we'll be grinding it down before the sealer.

[Ken L]

Dave, you need diamond plate electical outlet covers. With all those outlets diamond plate would really look cool!

Looks good, you're going to like how easy it is to work with the bright walls and ceiling.

[BigDaveZJ]

It's going to get even brighter in there once I get some more lights in there. All the light I had in there when I took those pics came from the CFL on the ceiling and a cheap ass Home Depot halogen work light. I'm leaning towards 4x 8' fixtures on the ceiling, with 2x more 8' over the work benches on the back wall.

[BigDaveZJ]

Did the grinding to prep for the sealer this weekend. I can't even begin to describe how incredibly that sucked. I started yesterday morning around 11, stopped about 9:30 last night, started about 9 this morning, and just got cleaned up at 4. Home Depot has several units available for this type of stuff. If it's a new slab or relatively clean, my advice would be to get one of the Clarke floor maintainers and one of the diamabrush discs. They have an Edco unit too that's supposed to be all bad ass, but it set me back a good 6 hours on this as it took foooorrreeeeeevvvvver to get done what I need to do. The diamabrush is a more flexible apparatus and I was able to finish it up today. The sealer shows up Tuesday, so I'm HOPING that I can get that done after work this week and start moving shit in there next weekend.

[BigDaveZJ]

First coat of sealer done.

[Pearce]

very nice. I am still on the fence about having done epoxy. You kinda have to be careful with it. Heavy metal parts dropped on it will cut it. But it has been nice. Sealer, very very good alternative and probably more forgiving.

[BigDaveZJ]

Thanks, those were my thoughts exactly. If it was more of a storage area and less a work area I would have done epoxy. Supposed to be easier to touch up if it does get damaged too.

[BigDaveZJ]

Just put the 2nd coat with anti slip additive down. Some spots REALLY soaked up the first coat, so I may go over those with a quick 3rd coat later tonight or tomorrow.

[BigDaveZJ]

2nd coat went down nicely and covered up the spots that the 1st coat soaked right in to.

[Ken L]

Looks great! Are you planning to move in this weekend?

[BigDaveZJ]

That's the plan. If I get ambitious I might try to hang some lights in there tonight or tomorrow night before I start moving stuff in. A lot of my other projects for the shop will be put on hold for the time being since I need to focus on getting the ZJ and F250 ready for GSW now. Even with just the one CFL in there right now it's brighter than the attached garage with one CFL and a 4x 4' fluorescent fixtures. My goal is to have the shop at least functional to do minor work on the vehicles and then park the DD's in the attached garage by the end of the weekend.

[BigDaveZJ]

We'll see how much I can actually get in there today. It's pouring rain and not supposed to stop until Monday or so. I've got the lights though, so I think I'll start with getting those up, hopefully that won't take too long.

[BigDaveZJ]

[Ken L]

Lookin' good! Seems like a lot of room to work.

Are you planning on building the new ZJ for Moab or making sure the blue one makes one more Moab run?

[BigDaveZJ]

I'll be lucky to get the blue one ready for Moab at this point, lol. The green one is going to undergo a substantial amount of work before it's ready to go. I plan on getting started with the work on it late summer or early fall once the shop is fully up and running and we get the blue one through the summer.

[ELLLLLIOTTTTT]

When can I move in?

[BigDaveZJ]

Got the lights finished up today. 6x 8ft fixtures with tandem 4ft T8 bulbs 6500k color temp. Seems to work quite well. Also put the truck and a ZJ in there to see how much space there is. A little cramped on the side of the truck but not too bad, still plenty of room to move around and work. Also picked up 2 Harbor Freight 44" tool boxes that will eventually be part of a custom work bench along the back wall. If I have time tomorrow I might go get the new compressor.

[Pearce]

Tons of space! Nice!

[BigDaveZJ]

Got the compressor last night.

[Ken L]

Dave, are you going to plumb air lines thru out the shop? I'd suggest a hose reel in the center of the ceiling, and drops on both sides of the overhead door and both ends of the work bench. I'd also put a master air lockout and air regulator and filter right next to the compressor on the wall. Just like electrical outlets, can never have too many!

[BigDaveZJ]

I've got a couple of the RapidAir kits I'm going to run with outlets strategically placed as well as a drop reel or two.

[BigDaveZJ]

The shop is usable at this point, but nowhere near "complete." I swapped steering boxes in the tow rig over a couple nights after work this week and the shop is working great. Was able to work with the garage door closed, all sorts of room. Spilled ATF (Ford uses ATF in their Hydroboost systems) all over the floor and it the sealer did its job perfectly. I need to cut through the ATF a bit to get some of the slickness off the floor, but it hasn't soaked or stained the floor at all. You can feel the grit in the floor too, but it's not so much that it hurts when laying on it.

I have a couple other small projects to get done on the truck and ZJ before GSW, and then I can get back to working on the shop. Have some cabinets to hang, tool boxes to build, air lines to run, and beer to drink.

[BigDaveZJ]

Nothing much has changed in the shop. Moved one shelving unit out for one of the bigger gladiator units. Got that little 32" TV back in the camper and put a 43" in its place. Much better size for the shop.

[Ken L]

Love the South Park screen shot!