Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with garage

Affordable Overnight Parking in Dublin

billtron — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 03:55:13 -0800

I need to park a car overnight tonight in Dublin, Ireland, near the Samuel Beckett Bridge. I'd rather not spend 50 Euros, which is what the closest parking garage charges. Any recommendations? I'm arriving in the early evening and driving to the airport early tomorrow morning. Looking to leave the car somewhere for the interim.

Can I fix a warped plywood door?

Izzy — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 16:45:32 -0800

How to straigten a warped plywood door? Our contractor fabricated a wooden bypassing sliding door to replace a rotting garage door. It's marine-grade plywood with cedar lap-joint siding glued and screwed to the street-facing side. Looks great, but one side of one of the doors is warping badly, I'd say about two inches. This affects the functionality of the door, making it difficult to slide the door open and shut.

Is it possible to remove the warp in the door permanently? When I see how other barn-type doors are constructed I always see a combination of wood and bolted-through metal braces -- yeah, that's how it should have been engineered to start with, but of course I didn't know that when we started.

If I added braces now, could I slowly remove the warp by gradually tightening the bolt (or would the wood split)? Or, would I be better off removing the door, applying damp cloths to both sides of the bend, lay it on a flat surface, and place sandbags on the bowed side?

Garage door sticking in cold weather

covert7 — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 07:22:00 -0800

So for the past couple of years when the weather starts cooling I've noticed that our garage door can sometimes become "stuck" when trying to open. This only occurs if the outside temperature is cold (below 40F). What happens is I click the button to open the door and it starts to go up but after about 6 inches or so it stops for a few seconds and then goes back down. I might have to attempt to open it 2 or 3 times before it finally makes it all the way up.

Because this only happens during cooler weather I assume it's likely due to the metal tracks contracting. Is that a reasonable assumption or am I way off? Has anyone else experienced this before and if so how did you fix it?

Thanks for any help and input you can offer!

Converting a smaller garage- how much and is it worth it

aussicht — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 09:30:18 -0800

How much would it cost to convert a garage into an efficiency and how much could I do with a small garage? I am buying a house with a small detached garage in the back yard. I'd like to turn it into a small efficiency/inlaw quarters. The garage is about 20' x 14'. I live in Miami. Some tell me that it is pretty easy to do and not to worry about permits. I am curious what the whole permitting would cost, rough estimates of the conversion itself, and if it would raise taxes/insurance on the property? I'm not talking real estimates, just like 10k-20k, 40k, etc. What happens if you have unpermitted remodeling, and then try to get it permitted? Is it possible? What does that do to the value of the house in a sale? I'd honestly like to go the permitted route if possible, I am just weighing it all out.

There's electricity already, it just needs plumbing for the kitchen, appliances, and a bathroom. It's concrete flooring with garage doors that swing outwards (french doors?), no insulation, no a/c.

Would an efficiency realistically fit in the space? I'm bad visually/spatially. Could you put a small kitchen, small bath or 1/2 bath, and open living area in?

Help me hang my canoe

bondcliff — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 06:45:09 -0800

I built a pulley system to hang my canoe from my garage ceiling. It’s awesome, you should see it. Unfortunately, there’s a slight problem. Here’s a simple diagram. Sorry if it’s confusing. It’s not to scale, obviously.

It all works very well, allowing one person to raise and lower our 60 lb, 17 foot boat. Once raised, it hangs nicely from the ceiling, allowing the garage door to open beneath it.

The problem is, when you pull down on the rope to raise it (far right of diagram), the bow of the boat rises before the stern. You constantly have to pull down on the bow to equalize the two sides and level out the boat as you raise it. This works, but it’s kind of a pain in the ass.

Is there any way to rig it up so that both sides rise equally, while still maintaining the mechanical advantage of the pulleys? I’m not an engineer and I’ve forgotten most of my 8th grade physical science class.

Keep the mice out (or I guess in)

cmm — Sat, 09 May 2009 12:02:37 -0800

Mice coming in through the garage because the wall board doesn't come down low enough. What do I fill the gap with? My garage's north wall is shared with the rest of the house. It's kind of shaped like:



     *---------------*-------------------*

     |                                   |

     |                                   |

 ----                                    |

|

|

Where I put *, mice have eaten through wood or there is a gap in the wood and they've eaten through the insulation. The wallboard doesn't quite come down to the concrete so you can see wood in some places. They can now travel to and fro the house easily.

This is good news for the cat. I'd prefer it to stop.

I was thinking of putting a plastic/vinyl wall board (wall base/cove board, whatever) at the base of the wall to cover this up. But logic is stopping me for a couple reasons.

The wall board is not uniform distance from the floor. In some places it is as little as 5", in others it is as much as 8". So I'd guess I'd need to find 10" wall base. But mostly I just see 4" and 6".

The wallboard is also bowing out in a lot of places, making it so that the wall base is going to angle in. This seems odd. I figured it would adhere to the concrete, but I guess I could nail it to the studs behind the wallboard pretty easily. But then I'd want to seal it to the floor I guess or maybe just glue the very bottom to the very base of the wall where it meets the floor.

Does anyone have any experience putting plastic baseboards down in their garage?

I wanna be a mechanical vagrant!

TheNewWazoo — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 09:27:07 -0800

I love renting a house in urban Atlanta! I hate renting a house in urban Atlanta! Can anyone help me find a place to fix my car... myself? So as much as I love living ~150yds from a MARTA station, and as little as I drive my car in town, and as nifty as my urban garden is, my car occasionally needs repair. I'm quite handy and would love to do minor stuff myself, but my steeply-sloped driveway and busy street precludes home repair. Can anyone help me find a public or co-op garage east-side ITP where I can work for a day or two?

Does anyone know anything about the back corridors in malls behind the stores?

Sully — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 19:41:34 -0800

Does anyone know anything about the back corridors in malls behind the stores? This is kinda a tricky question because it makes me sound like I'm going to burglarize a mall, but I don't know how else to ask it.

Okay, I'm writing this short story about a group of friends who all work in a mall. They weren't friends before, but got to be friends after they all started working there.

Trouble is, I've never worked retail, and I've never worked in a mall before. Sometimes though, inside a mall, I'm tempted to go exploring, just to answer some questions, but I've always been deterred by the Authorized Personnel Only signs.

I googled 'Mall Blueprints', to find out the layout of malls, but understandably, for security reasons, anything but the basic layout of a mall, like the kinds they have on these black plinths near the entrance for shoppers, aren't shown.

So I guess what I'm wondering is this - I know that there are these corridors that run behind the stores in some malls. They're pretty basic and ugly and sometimes there are cardboard boxes and stuff in them - in my story, my characters like to go into them and smoke.

But I've also got this huge elaborate scene later on and I just want to know if it's possible for someone to exit a store into the corridor, then go to an elevator just off the corridor and take it down to the loading docks, with stops in between that let out into a parking lot structure. Essentially, these kids begin to hang out in these areas. This is their "club house".

I know that a lot of malls are different, and that it would depend on the mall. But does this make sense? Or to someone who's ever actually worked in a mall - would they cry bullshit on this sort of layout?

That's all. Thank you in advance.

Oli Heater that uses Waste Engine Oil

franklen — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 11:39:38 -0800

What are the pros and cons of trying to switch heating systems from a traditional furnace to a waste oil heater that burns used gasoline engine oil, particularly for an automobile repair garage? I work with small businesses in my city, and recently, two auto shops have raised the question of trying to facilitate the use of burning waste engine oil to heat their spaces. We live in Syracuse NY where the Winters are long and cold, and paying for oil can be quite expensive).

And p.s. if anyone knows of a good manufacturer, distributor, etc of these types of units, I'd love to know.

Cheers ~Frank
www.alchemicalnursery.org

I've killed 15 rats and now need to clean and disinfect my garage. Please help!

phixed — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 08:00:46 -0800

My garage has been a rat motel for the past year. Now that the rats are gone how do I clean it and make it usable again? My wife and I recently purchased a house that was in pre-foreclosure and although the house itself was in decent condition, the garage was an abandoned mess infested with rats. We've been working with an exterminator for the past three weeks and, 15 dead rats later, finally have succeeded in clearing out the current infestation.

Pictures of what we inherited can be seen here, here and here. Overwhelming, to say the least.

Now that the rats are gone and the garage cleared out I'm at a lost of how to move forward. The smell is tremendously bad (in February, in Chicago), there are rat droppings everywhere, about 20% of the concrete is dug up and there are three holes that need to be plugged. Part of me wants to just tear down the entire structure and build a new one but it is a beautiful brick garage from the 1920's and is in really great shape overall.

So please help me! What's my next step(s)? How do I make this garage suitable to be a garage?

How do I find an objective price for auto repairs?

SpringAquifer — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 15:46:08 -0800

I normally take my 1999 Accord to the Honda dealership for oil changes. During my last visit, the mechanic suggested a couple of fairly expensive maintenance procedures. Is there a good resource out there to help me decide whether the prices they quoted me were reasonable? I was told that (1) my left inner CV boot was starting to leak and that (2) my front and side motor mounts were cracked. The mechanic quoted me $220 and $540 for the repairs, respectively.

It seems to me the former is probably worth doing, while the latter isn't. Since that the CV boot itself isn't worth that much, most of the cost is going to go toward labor.

So: Is there an efficient way for me to find a reasonable price for labor, other than simply calling up a bunch of dealers and garages for a quote?

Cheap and cheerful fixes for a sideswiped car

micawber — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 09:28:41 -0800

Car filter: my car got sideswiped on New Year's Eve. Need some direction on what types of places can fix what's broken and/or suggestions on ways to do so. Despite moving the car deliberately out of what we thought was harm's way, some idiot sideswiped my car overnight on New Year's Eve.

Disclaimer: I am a car idiot. We have a good mechanic and a good exhaust person and a good body work person (it's a city car that's 10 years old) but I am never sure who to take the car to for what and taking my car to the garage always involves having to come in late/leave early from work so I'd like to know where to go instead of guessing.

1) The driver's side mirror was smashed. The mirror is gone but the casing holding the mirror is still attached, but the attachment area has broken. It is still in place on the car at the same level that it would be normally but pushed all the way back. Does this make sense? It is NOT a power mirror.

a) do I need to replace the whole thing or is it repairable?
b) what kind of place would I take this to? our mechanic or the body shop?
c) Can we source the mirror ourselves and bring it to someone to install?
d) ballpark on what this would cost? It is a 1999 Pontiac vehicle.

2) They also scraped the panel just above the rear wheel on the driver's side. The scrape is not that bad and the dent is not worth fixing. However, there is a scrape and I was always taught the issue with scrapes is that it removes paint and leaves the body susceptible to rust. I've put a lot of work into keeping my car maintained and want it to last me as long as possible.

a) is the 'susceptible to rust' thing true, and if so, how true
b) is there some way I can make the scraped areas (mostly along the rim above the wheel) less susceptible to rust, without having to pay someone to do it? It doesn't have to be pretty.
c) if not, what can i tell a body shop i want them to do and what should it cost?

I get my house back and gain a new building!

stormygrey — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 10:17:09 -0800

Woodworkers I need you! A dream fulfilled: We are being given a new workshop! I need help ensuring we plan correctly. I asked a similar question almost a year ago, but finances have not allowed us to actually build our workshop. However my bf's grandmother (98) is unfortunately going to pass very soon. His father has volunteered to finance and help construct an outbuilding for us.

I can not express how much this will affect my life. I will have my own office back, I will have my dining room table back, there will not be sawdust on everything and most importantly it will probably save our relationship!

We would like to build the building to be around 20 x 20 or larger, but the plan we are working on right now is16 x 24 and because of tree ordinances we might have to go even more narrow and a little longer. I need advice on how to set up a narrow shop, what innovations or shop built contraptions storage you love, what advice you might have about installing plumbing even though we don't plan to actually connect it, lighting issues, heating issues, access issues, etc. I don't even know what all to plan for, but it would suck to finally get our thing built and then realize later we could have done a much better job of laying out the space. Any good advice on how to deal with the permit department and hand drawing plans would be awesome. I can do measured drawings by hand somewhat, but am not comfortable using the computer to do it yet, but if anyone highly recommends Sketchup I might be conviced to learn it.

Oh, btw it will be wood,shingled, with a concrete slab. It will need to house lots of lumber, table saw, drill press, scroll saw, a couple of lathes, grinders, air compressors, dust collectors, and lots and lots of handtools like planes, chisels, and probably lots of other random tools and finishing things.

So shoppies, what kind of windows do you like? What kind of door makes you smile? Where do you store and dry your lumber that makes your grin? Let us know...man I am so happy I think I am going to sing my Scooba song and get to work!

Seeking first-hand advice on garage mats

terrapin — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 07:20:09 -0800

I am looking for first-hand suggestions on garage floor mats that are made of sturdy rubber with channels to allow snow/water to run toward the garage door. I live in rural Vermont and my wife and I have our very first garage. The other day we parked in it after some snow had fallen and we realized we had overlooked something... protecting the walls around the garage from moisture running off of our vehicles.

We plan to make some water bars out of silicon beads, but we are also interested in laying down some channeled rubber mats to help keep melted snow from reaching the walls as well.

I have done some Google research and found a few products, but I am interested in first-hand experiences. Thanks!

Help me with my garage mat!

brandman — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 18:09:35 -0800

Help me keep the melting snow on my garage mat. I have a garage mat on one side of my two-car garage, similar to the garage floor protector shown here. It's maybe 7' wide by 16' long, and our car fits comfortably on it. During the winter months, my goal is for the snow that accumulates on the car to fall onto the mat, and stay there. Unfortunately, since it's a flat piece of vinyl/rubber, the melting snow will often run off the mat toward things I don't necessarily want to get wet (e.g., a wooden workbench). I'd like to find a way to keep the water from the melting snow from leaking off the mat - in the past, I've tried stapling 1x2 boards around the edges of the mat, but they tend to pull away from the staples and separate. Any ideas?

What is the best resource for pre-sequenced classic rock tracks for use in Garage Band?

crazyray — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 10:04:44 -0800

Is there a website or forum where users compile and trade Garage band files of sequenced classic rock? I have a musician friend who is looking for pre-recorded tracks of just the drum and bass for each song, so he can add vocals and lead.

Garage circuit breaker problems.

starman — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 07:16:19 -0800

Garage circuit breaker keeps tripping... We had some work done in the backyard (new patio). The workers dug around the cable of wires going to the garage, careful not to damage it. As far as I know, they didn't.

Ever since that first dig, the breaker to the garage consistently trips. Sometimes it's two minutes, sometimes it's six hours.

I looked at the box going out of the house, it looked fine to my untrained eye (wire caps in place, etc.).

It's a 15 amp breaker.

My main question: Would slicing that cable cause a breaker to randomly trip?

Any other theories? Lightning maybe? If the wire is fine, should the breaker just be replaced? If it was the wire would stringing a new one around the new patio be the easiest solution? I'm still talking with the landscapers to fix this, too.

What is the cheapest USB mic I could find for a mac?

Melankolia — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 09:28:56 -0800

What is the cheapest USB mic I could find for a mac? I'm learning to use Garage Band to record musical ideas. I have found a USB guitar cable that allows me to plug the guitar directly into a USB port on the computer and start recording. I'm looking for a microphone, under $ 100, that can do the same thing and that is compatible with mac. I'd be recording myself singing, ideally it would be something that didn't pick up the background noise too much. Any recommendations?
Thanks in advance!

Making out doesn't make it notable.

asuprenant — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 18:49:42 -0800

Which Chicagoland parking garages are most notable? Which historical, architecturally-interesting, or culturally relevant parking structures in or around Chicago are missing from this list?

Marina City
(corncob buildings + condos)

The John Hancock Center
(has Guggenheim-style spiral ramp)

Trump Tower
(has a light-from-within sculpture at the base)

Self-Park Garage on East Wacker Place
(by Stanley Tigerman)

Contemporaine
(by Ralph Johnson)

Millennium Park
(is a lid for a parking garage)

Harris Music for Theater and Dance
(looks like a parking garage)

shops at North and Clybourn
(nice view, previously)

111 South Wacker
ramp creates curvilinear pattern in ceiling

Hotel LaSalle (now demolished)
world's first parking garage

The Milwaukee Museum of Art

I am building a building.

stormygrey — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 08:37:21 -0800

Setting up shop filter. We are trying to build ourselves an outbuilding in our yard for our various creative needs. We will be doing some woodworking, painting, papermaking etc. The wood stuff takes up the most room.

We can't decide whether to go very basic right now almost like a shed with no water/power right now (just using drop cords) or do it up fancy like a carriage house. Our zoning allows multi family so we can do that, but cost if of course an issue.

I am looking for examples of really well organized shops as well as personal experience in setting up shop and what you wish you had included and what you never use. How big would you say a perfect workshop should be?Any tips, hints, and advice are greatly appreciated.

Recommend a garage opener compatible with my BMW.

monkeybutt — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 18:16:30 -0800

Recommend a garage opener compatible with my BMW. I have a 2007 BMW 328i with a trio of garage door opener controls on the reaview mirror. They would be a lot more useful if they were compatible with my garage doors and gate! Apparently I have exactly the type of units that the car's sender/transceiver systems cannot connect to.

Can anybody recommend a 3rd party or aftermarker receiver unit i can hook into the contact closures of my garage door openers to make it talk to my car so i don't have to keep the openers in my car?

Thanks

The mystery of the open garage door

wexford_arts — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 06:37:06 -0800

Why did I find my garage door open this morning? I haven't opened it with the garage door opener entry pad for several days, and I know it was closed completely the last time I used it. I have a detached garage off my back yard. (Lined up: house, back yard, garage). There is a standard door leading from the yard into the garage, but the main garage door can't be seen from the house because it is on the other side. So I can't easily see if the garage door is open or closed unless I walk around there and look.

I had a Chamberlain Whisper Drive installed last year that uses a rolling code transmitter. I generally open the door by either pressing the large button on the wall after entering the garage by the door leading into my backyard, or by entering my code into the keypad by the garage door itself.

But this morning I found the door wide open (Luckily, my bike and a few other valuable items were still there.) I don't have a car, so I don't go out to the garage daily, so the door may have been open for minutes or even days, as the last time I opened the garage door was Monday night.

So far, my theories are:

1) The small remotes stored in my back room may have been nudged so that the open buttons were pressed.
2) Someone guessed the correct code, opened my garage -- and took nothing.
3) One of my neighbours' remotes somehow opened my door, but given the rolling code, isn't this astronomically unlikely?

Any other theories? And what steps should I take to prevent this from happening again?

It would be fast and easy to change the code on the keypad, if this was somehow compromised, but I may have to actually clear all codes to make sure the small remotes are cleared, too, and only reprogram the keyless pad. (Remember, I don't drive and don't need the remotes, although I want to keep them if I sell the house so the new owner can use them).

Can I Pad my Parking Garage Pillar to Save My Paint Job?

bonheur — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 15:36:24 -0800

Where can I buy a padded jacket for the concrete pillar in my parking garage that I keep accidentally scraping my car against? So, for the second time this year my mom has scraped the side of her car against a concrete pillar in our parking garage. The repairs are very expensive. I'm sure I saw a padded pillar jacket in another garage, something thick and squishy wrapped around the pillar to help reduce damage if someone were to accidentally touch the pillar with the side of their car. I know I could do this myself with carpet padding or something similar, but I'd really like to buy something pre-made that attaches with velcro or buckles. Can anyone help me find something like this online?

How can I open my garage door?

Richat — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 13:11:04 -0800

Old garage door opener, and the last remote has gone missing. Can I go to radio shack, and make something work? I suspect this might sound nuts. Okay, I have a rather old garage door opener. My wife drove away with the last working remote on her hood. Now, I have a garage door that I need to get out of my car, unlock a man-door, walk inside, and push a button to open.

While this isn't the WORST thing in the world, I'd really rather have the option to open the door from my car. Canadian Winter is almost here!

The door button has a series of dip switches...it's pretty old school I think. The manual also seems to have a pretty extensive schematic. I'm I crazy to think that it *shouldn't* be that hard to "make" another one? Maybe leveraging some old remote control?

Old school electronics folks...can you help? Suggested websites? Anything?

How Do I Grow a Fancy Indoor Lawn?

thegreatfleecircus — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 07:26:37 -0800

I would like to grow an indoor lawn that will thrive, using organic methods if possible. I can't seem to find helpful information on the topic, although I bought 'Gardening on Pavement, Tables, and Hard Surfaces' (thanks Cabinet of Wonders...) for some inspiration. Any ideas or experienced indoor lawn growers out there? The setting is an old converted garage that I move into next week. There are 2 big skylights in the middle of the space which I can open and close, and 2 windows with a fair amount of light, plus 2 glass doors that get light when I am home (otherwise they are covered up by steel grating). Also, the floors are cement. The ventilation will not be fantastic, especially during the winter. The heat source is a big gas blower. All of this is taking place on a semi-industial block in Brooklyn.

I should mention that I am not particularly knowledgable about gardening and I kill most of my house plants, but whenever I have worked on a farm with plants actually rooted in the ground, things have gone well.

Any suggestions, things to keep in mind, good places to get supplies in NY, etc. would all be appreciated!