Making a garage worktop

[Jay]

I had our garage refurbished recently. It was falling apart and didn’t make good use of space. We’ve decorated it ourselves it and as part of that now I’m using the time off work over Christmas and New Years to build a nice worktop

I’m no carpenter but do have a can-do approach to most things in life so this has been a learning experience

I’m building the frames and buying in some pre-cut oak worktops. I’ll plumb in a sink as well.

First batons going up. Worktops will be mounted to these.

Dowling. Nope, not doing that, too fiddly and old-fashioned, back-track.

Early attempts at clamping before joining.

First frame nearly there!

The laser level has been invaluable for keeping everything inline and straight.

Batons and first frame made, yay.

It was cold?

Frame #1

Bugger, broke a few long screws by not drilling pilot holes first. Have corrected this.

Got fed up of bad cuts with jigsaws and circular saws, took the plunge on a nice chop-saw after recommendations from friends.

Oh yeah, now we’re cooking with gas! This thing makes mince-meat of the job.

[HBG]

Nice. In my old garage/ workshop I used Ikea kitchen worktops, inexpensive and super hard wearing.

Just a bed and a fridge and it’ll be ready for you to move in!

[Jay]

Beer fridge goes in the gap between the frames on the right Building a plinth for it ATM.

But yes, this could be my dog-house

[T_cat]

I find mitre joints are a lot easier with my chop saw.

[HBG]

Do be very careful with the chopsaw. Everytime I use mine, and I use it a lot, I think of my poor Dad who cut his entire index finger off with one…

Cheery thought. Want to see the pics?

[Jay]

Umm, no thanks! Though thank you, I have received multiple such comments already. I’m being careful.

[Serrisan]

I see you found some use in this project for the MX stand!

Lovely bit of work but rather you than me. With a tool like that I’d end up sawing my tongue off (that’s how bad I am with tools)

I’ll be honest, the garage looks like it needed it. At the moment it’s a cross between a dentist’s waiting room and a killing room from Dexter

[T_cat]

Mine has little stickers to remind you where not to put your hands.

I thought you ‘adapted’ the bike stand then got rid of it. What’s the red thing in front of the beer fridge slot?

[Jay]

Hah, the stand is currently on seat duty for when in working on the frames it’s not good for much else now.

Tool has warnings on it. Yes. I’m fine, have a good track record with dangerous objects

[The_Sleeper]

It’s funny how you pick up little tricks etc as you go like your above guide hole for the screws. I pain in the arse some times but a necessity.

I was lucky, did all my training in my old rented house, so now have most of the experience to take it on here

Let us know when the beer fridge is filled up and we’ll all come round and admire your work…

[Jay]

New tool time: a planer to correct the two frames I made yesterday that are 1mm and 2mm too tall. Doh.

[Jay]

Framework done. Waiting on worktops to arrive before I final fit/mount some frames. Beer fridge in need to add in some under-top extension cables for the fridge etc and then when worktops arrive, secure them and then plumb in a small sink I’ve bought.

[Vaughny]

Oh, that’s a sizeable workspace! Looking good though.

[Jay]

Lot’s of progress…

Worktops arrived!

Cutting gaps out for electrical piping

Leveling. The ground is not perfectly level and the walls are not perfectly straight, so despite best efforts, some leveling required.

Happy with the fit!

Shortened the four gang extension cable and fitted in place.

Installing the peg-boards. Very happy with these ones. Thank god the plug sockets were there to help

This is when laser-levels deserve their price.

Joining some Ikea cabinets for installation above the peg boards

Holy cow, it’s starting to look like a workshop! Cabinet up and peg accessories installed.

Ahhhh, this makes me feel good. Getting tools out of nasty old tool boxes.

I made a mistake when specifying the size of the sink cut-out in the work-top, it was too big. I ended up buying a new, slightly larger sink (thank god one existed) and then had to make up some custom mounts to enable drilling for the sink bolts.

This took a few attempts. Earlier attempts kept splitting. Clamps and glue solved it.

Reducing the length on more electrical extension wiring.

Time to oil the worktops and up-stands. I really should have done this before installing the worktops but didn’t appreciate how important this was. Wish the vendor had been clearer on this.

Oiling!

Up-stands cut to length and put in place but not secured yet.

Sink installed. That’s not going anywhere

Slight bowing on one worktop end causes a 1mm gap. Frustrating! Looking at either sealing with oak-coloured sealant (probably a good idea for liquid protection) or oak coloured wood filler. Ordered both.

Oiling the newly exposed cut ends of the up-stands.

[Serrisan]

That is mightily impressive… looks really good!

Also loving the fact the MX stand keeps finding things to be useful for

[Panagiotis]

lovely!! well done!!

[Jay]

Thanks It’s proven remarkably useful still, even after being butchered

[The_Sleeper]

@Jay

I made a mistake when specifying the size of the sink cut-out in the work-top, it was too big. I ended up buying a new, slightly larger sink (thank god one existed) and then had to make up some custom mounts to enable drilling for the sink bolts.

This pic, I thought was a hole for the toilet

[Bigty]

Credit where credits due that’s some really good handy work there. Looks the business

[TimR]

Hopefully the wiring in the plug doesn’t look like that after you finished .

Earth lead always the longest
Live & Neutral wire kept to the shortest possible
And the stress clamp onto the outer insulation .

So if cable is pulled/tripped over the live/neutraldetaches first and cuts power to the item and it remains earthed at all times