Garage Repairs

What did you do today? I spent the day with my son, Luke, wiring up some new electrical outlets and putting up some plywood for shelving.

We're following the plans from this month's issue of The Family Handyman, which is really quite a cool magazine. The project we're doing is not really very complex, but it will improve the storage and organization situation in the garage dramatically. Essentially, the project involves placing large sheets of plywood onto the walls so that you can attach shelves and bins anywhere on the wall, and not have to space out your storage on 16" stud centers. It makes much better space of the wall. On the old wall, I had one whole 16' wall which was consumed with all my shovels, hoes, pitchforks, etc. Now, all of those will consolidate down to a single 3' section, and the rest of the wall will be bins and shelves for boys' toys, skateboards, rollerblades, etc.

Luke was really a big help--apart from the fact that he would follow me around and pluck things from my toolbelt. He was particularly fixated on my drywall saw, and I just didn't like him grabbing at it each time I turned around.

In fact, he was so intrigued by my toolbelt, that I had to get him an apron full of stuff of his own! He was basically my sous-chef in the handyman sense. I'd let him drive some screws, hammer the chisel a few times, and hand me screws. He lasted all day, about eight hours. I was impressed.

By tonight, we've finished all the electrical, patched and mudded the drywall back up, and finished the first wall of plywood. Tomorrow or Monday, we will finish the second wall and maybe consider getting the shelves and bins up.

I still have to decide if I'm going to paint it or not. The project is painted in the magazine, and looks really nice, but this is a garage after all. Not sure if it needs that much love.