The Nibbana Family

One thing about moving into a 37 year old home is never having a shortage of things to fix or upgrade. Our garage certainly fell into this category, as it has become the main entry through which most people enter our home and subsequently is the first thing they see. Having a show worthy garage has never been on our list of essential home improvements but attention definately needed to be given to the large crack running through the garage floor, windows that wouldn’t open with glass falling out, water damage on the walls, paint peeling from the floor and the horrendous peg board.

Garage before: Paint peeling from the floor and peg board wall.

Initially we contacted a local company called Those Garage Guys for an estimate on leveling the floor and recoating it in an industrial grade epoxy. Looking only to receive a quote for the floor, I was shocked when I was given a $20,000 estimate to redo my entire garage with slat wall, cabinetry and epoxy flooring. I pressed for a price on just the floor and was told $5500. After two follow-up appointments and endless haggling I ended up with the bargain price of $11,000 for the whole thing or $4500 for just the floor. In either case I would be required to showcase my garage to other potential clients in the area – something I wasn’t particularly opposed to but not exactly excited about.

Now they had me thinking, “I wonder how much I could save if I do my whole garage myself?”. I had tried using the concrete paints offered by the big box stores in a previous garage and had already ruled that out – no matter what you do it peels in a short period of time. I researched industrial flooring companies and came across Dur-a-Quartz: an epoxy flooring system with colored quartz aggregates. A few phone phone calls led me to Superior Systems, a local company who specialized in epoxy flooring and had done many high profile projects such as the White House kitchen floor, the Naval Academy and Johns Hopkins to name a few. I figured if their work was good enough for the POTUS, it was good enough for me. I had Dan come out and give me a quote and was ecstatic when he told me $2500 to level and coat the entire floor. Let’s do it!

I started researching cabinetry and was dismayed that most manufacturers were still using laminate coated pressed wood. I stumbled upon some metal cabinets by Gladiator Garage Works and was immediately impressed with the look and heavy-guage steel construction. Careful shopping led me to Sears, where these cabinets were already marked well below MSRP and were coupled with an additional 20% off sale price. I purchased two Premier Jumbo Gearboxes, two Modular Gearboxes, a six foot workbench, a 7-Drawer tool chest and 6-Drawer tool chest all for $2500 after savings.

Lastly, we needed something to replace the horrific peg board on the walls while allowing the same flexibility to hang items conveniently. I opted for Gladiator GearWall Panels which provide an elegant finished look and the flexibility to work with the cabinets, hooks, baskets, shelves and bins offered by the Gladiator Garageworks system. With an MSRP of $109.99 per set, Sears had them normally priced at $99.99 with a sale price of $79.99!

Completed garage with new floor, cabintery and wall system.

After the work was complete I am proud to say we have a show worthy garage that cost a fraction of the price quoted by Those Garage Guys. It looks fantastic, is functional, and is a major improvement over the original garage. What do you think?