home improvements, part 3

Back in the day (well, way way back to be accurate) I worked in a home improvement store like Home Depot/Lowes (or Bunnings in Oz) where I gained much of my knowledge of electrical and plumbing work. I also like to believe that my grandfather and dad both gave me the love of fixing things. When Terry bought this house, one of the things I knew I'd be working on was the single car garage. Almost everything in it was jury rigged and home made, and not in a good way. Live wiring that was left open, an old brick chimney for a wood heater long gone, four fluorescent light fixtures hanging haphazardly (the previous owners worked on cars all the time), broken electrical outlets held up by one screw, a large shelf made out of left over wood that created a attic space over half the garage (that was filled up with broken storm windows, fiberglass insulation and mouse droppings), and a new garage door opener plugged in by extension cord. There was one outside light that was strangely controlled by two light switches with an old porcelain light socket between the switches, which I never could figure out. There were a dozen or so small shelves (most covered with grease) built between the wall studs, and literally hundreds of nails everywhere. It was a real mess.

The guys who bought the house from the bank to flip it put nothing but the cheapest light fixtures in, so over time we've replaced them with nicer ones, and I added one to the other side of the garage door as well.


This photo shows where I left off last fall (I ran out of warm weather to finish the garage last year). I had already cleaned up some of the mess, and then tucked the rest of the old wiring (and that old light socket) behind the plywood panel.

Here's the after shots, all the yellow wiring is the new stuff I did, and I used a bit of the existing stuff that was in good condition for the electrical outlet too.

I put the cheap bathroom light fixtures to good use in the garage as well.
Everyone that comes to the house asks about the freeway sign. I bought it back in the early 90's from a co-worker who had purchased it at an auction. I gave it to my dad as a father's day gift because he had spent thirty years working for the state of California Dept of Transportation building freeways. I thought it was one of my more inspired gifts to him, and after my mom passed away, I brought it back home with me. I smile every time I look at it.

Most of the work in this photo I did last fall, I also ran a new outlet to the wall off to the right of this photo for our freezer. Terry wishes I had taken a photo of the garage before I started renovating it, because she says how major the difference is. I'm really pleased with how well it turned out.