nicholam77
Well-known member
Hey all,
I'm a new first-time homeowner, car lover, VW enthusiast, and aspiring DIY guy. I have an Mk7 GTI which is my baby and I've lightly modified, but lately I've been spending more time "modding" my house and garage than I have my car. Once I found this forum and all the cool builds on here and I wanted to document my own journey!
If you care to check out my car thread, you can read that < HERE >
A little bit about me. I'm 28, live in Minnesota, just bought my first house ~4 months ago. I've been constantly working on home improvement projects ever since. I've found that I really like doing it -- working with tools, making something with my hands, making something better, and feeling proud of the work. But I still have a lot to learn, and often enlist my dad's help, and tools.
I wanted to join this forum because firstly, I have some work I want to do to my new garage, and second, to gain knowledge from a community that seems very "handy" and DIY oriented.
About the garage. I moved to a neighborhood where it is very hard to find a 2-car garage, as most of the homes are older and have smaller lots. Mine was built in 1942. But it has a 2-car detached garage, that was added in the 90's by the previous homeowners. It is small (roughly 18 x 20), but is able to fit my GTI and my wife's CX-5.
Upon moving in, the garage was not in great shape. The previous homeowners didn't seem to park their cars in it, or at least not both of them. They had rigged up some dilapidated shelving and were mostly using it as overflow storage. The slab is sinking in multiple places and has major cracks. The sill plates of the framing sit right on the slab, so I can't get it re-poured, and moisture can touch the wood. There was no exterior lighting. The service door would not lock and the frame is chipped. The lower boards of the siding have some rot on all three sides. Basically, you could park cars in it, but it wasn't pretty.
It's okay though, because the house itself is great, and I like a project / challenge.
There is also a separate adjacent storage shed.
My goal for this garage "build", is to make a very clean, streamlined place to be that is attractive to me to work on my car and other home improvement projects, store my tools, etc, all without spending a fortune. I've always wanted a "man-cave" garage, in a tasteful way, and believe a garage can be much more than just a place to store excess junk you never use.
This isn't a new build from the ground up, or a fancy masterpiece, but I aim to do the best with what I have and make it my own.
So... without further ado... here is a pic of the exterior, shortly after moving in and cleaning it up a bit:
View media item 66204
Thanks for reading. More to come, later.
I'm a new first-time homeowner, car lover, VW enthusiast, and aspiring DIY guy. I have an Mk7 GTI which is my baby and I've lightly modified, but lately I've been spending more time "modding" my house and garage than I have my car. Once I found this forum and all the cool builds on here and I wanted to document my own journey!
If you care to check out my car thread, you can read that < HERE >
A little bit about me. I'm 28, live in Minnesota, just bought my first house ~4 months ago. I've been constantly working on home improvement projects ever since. I've found that I really like doing it -- working with tools, making something with my hands, making something better, and feeling proud of the work. But I still have a lot to learn, and often enlist my dad's help, and tools.
I wanted to join this forum because firstly, I have some work I want to do to my new garage, and second, to gain knowledge from a community that seems very "handy" and DIY oriented.
About the garage. I moved to a neighborhood where it is very hard to find a 2-car garage, as most of the homes are older and have smaller lots. Mine was built in 1942. But it has a 2-car detached garage, that was added in the 90's by the previous homeowners. It is small (roughly 18 x 20), but is able to fit my GTI and my wife's CX-5.
Upon moving in, the garage was not in great shape. The previous homeowners didn't seem to park their cars in it, or at least not both of them. They had rigged up some dilapidated shelving and were mostly using it as overflow storage. The slab is sinking in multiple places and has major cracks. The sill plates of the framing sit right on the slab, so I can't get it re-poured, and moisture can touch the wood. There was no exterior lighting. The service door would not lock and the frame is chipped. The lower boards of the siding have some rot on all three sides. Basically, you could park cars in it, but it wasn't pretty.
It's okay though, because the house itself is great, and I like a project / challenge.
There is also a separate adjacent storage shed.
My goal for this garage "build", is to make a very clean, streamlined place to be that is attractive to me to work on my car and other home improvement projects, store my tools, etc, all without spending a fortune. I've always wanted a "man-cave" garage, in a tasteful way, and believe a garage can be much more than just a place to store excess junk you never use.
This isn't a new build from the ground up, or a fancy masterpiece, but I aim to do the best with what I have and make it my own.
So... without further ado... here is a pic of the exterior, shortly after moving in and cleaning it up a bit:
View media item 66204
Thanks for reading. More to come, later.
Last edited by a moderator:
Have been hesitant to tune mine but may have to pull the trigger after a few more miles and saving up for replacement clutch. Although I promised my wife I wouldn't make any more big car purchases for a bit as I just picked up a set of new BBS CO's for summer. 
