Some deals come from unexpected place, like this 8′ x 24′ Gladiator Garageworks floor covering over at Abt Electronic for $471. The Gladiator Garageworks line of floor cover is available in 24′, 30′, and 36′ lengths, all feature diamond-plate-style grip and are made from a non-porous, chemical resistant and fire retardant material that’s UL Classified in accordance with ASTM E-648-03 (”The Standard method for Critical Radiant Flux of floor covering systems using a radiant heat source.”)

And installation of this flooring couldn’t be easier: just unroll it and it’s ready for use – no adhesive necessary.

GAFC0824PN [Gladiator Garageworks]
GAFC0824PN [Abt Electronics]
Street Pricing [Google Products]

At first glance, the cleaner called “Simple Green” just doesn’t inspire confidence; you’re trying to get rid of green crap, not add it. But the fact remains: it’s one of the most effective cleaner/degreasers out there that’s readily available, non-toxic, biodegradable, non-abrasive, non-flammable, and affordable.

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Eastwood’s Tilt-A-Car System offers a simpler, more portable — and cheaper — alternative to installing a lift in your garage.  Sure, it looks like a human-sized drop trap, but it’s also a great way to work on the underside of your car.

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I’ve heard lots of arguments on this topic.  I always thought that the screw types are the most reliable, but I’ve heard lots of people complain about the noise, recommending belt types instead.  I’ve always seen the chain types as “cheapies.”

Truthfully, I’m hoping some of you can share your personal experiences and wisdom to clue us in.  Which one is best?  Let us know in comments.

(Thanks, Ecnerwal, for the great cc-licensed photo.)

Lots of companies make these, and they’re a lifesaver if you have a two or three-car garage with more than one door.  While you might get away with keeping the opener for each door in the car that’s parked there normally, eventually you’ll get caught out wanting to open the other door.  You could carry around two separate openers, but why not just pick up a universal that’ll open ‘em both?

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Pegboard has long been the DIY’s friend; it organizes the shop and puts your favorite tools close at hand.  What could be better than that?  How about the X2 System Diamond plate pegboard? The moment I laid eyes on it a voice in my head screamed, “Holy shop bling, Batman – I want that!”

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The last time we rattlecan’d something in the shop, we tried to minimize the overspray by creating a “tent” around the paint area.  The bottom line: our tent sucked and we not only had to clean up overspray, we also had to clean up the tent. This looks like a quicker and more secure way to put up a plastic wall for a messy project. 

ZipWall’s barrier system consists of telescoping, twist-locking poles available in both twelve and twenty foot lengths.  The system locks the “screening” material (ordinary plastic sheeting, light canvas tarp, or drop cloth) firmly against the ceiling, creating a reasonably tight barrier.  Once in place, just lift and tuck the screening material under the pole to create a tight barrier from top to bottom — ready for you to make whatever mess you’ve got planned inside.

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What’s better than having a bike in the garage?  Having enough room in there for another one. The Wheel Dock holds your motorcycle upright by the front wheel without leaning it over — gaining you that little bit of space that might make the difference between having a bike, and having a couple of bikes.  Sweet.

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Roscoe writes: “This is the only valve that I’ve found which allows you to spray soap concentrate at high pressure through any pressure washer with any wand or tip.  It turns an affordable pressure washer from the home center into a machine that feels like the wand at the car wash.  Every pressure washer manufacturer should include this with their unit.”

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Griot’s Garage carries some pretty cool stuff, and we’ve purchased car cleaning supplies from them before.  But when they sent us notice of their new power tools — specifically the random orbital polisher — we didn’t see anything particularly special about it.  Then we noticed that it has a cool feature: a speed control.

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You’ve gotta love the way Ryobi’s adding everything but the kitchen sink to their 18V One+ line, including this new wet/dry canister vac.  What a great idea!  We’ve got a humongo-big wet/dry, but it’s a PITA to drag out just to clean up the car or pick up a small spill.  This looks great for that kind of thing, and if you’ve already bought into the One+ system via one of Ryobi’s low-price combo kit deals, you’re good to go.

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Sometimes the strap wrench seems like that third fork at a formal dinner setting – you know it needs to be there, but you’re not sure why.  Strap wrenches are pretty darn useful around the shop (and house); We actually feel a bit remiss having not mentioned one earlier.  Heck, almost everyone we know who actually owns a strap wrench can regale you with at least one story of how they were completely and utterly boned before this little wrench saved the project from a trip to the sledge hammer derby. 

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Think you’re not going to drop a bolt on the inside of an engine bay eventually?  That’s about like betting the next pull of a one-armed-bandit will come up all cherries – unlikely.  Why not forego the betting and instead stock up on some tools that’ll help get you out of a bind.  As we’ve mentioned before, a magnet can help. 

The Monster Swivel Magnet can defiantly help save the day when a wayward bolt runs off down a crevice of the engine.  With a 10 lb. lifting capacity, it might also help if you need to pull the Tin Man through a keyhole.

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We’re always lugging our Rubbermaid Brute trash bin around the shop to get it out of the way of a project — or to carry it out to the big bin to empty it.  But since we ran across this at Lowe’s, we lug no more.  Now we roll, baby.

Sure, it’s a little over priced at $30, but if you move your ‘can around often, it’s a total lifesaver.  And why build one when you can have one that fits (a number of different sized Brute ‘cans) perfectly and does the job?  And come on: How often to you really buy trash cans anyway?

Note: Normally we like to avoid linking directly to a single seller, but in this case Froogle turned up a bunch of prices that were dramatically higher than Lowe’s, so this time we’re just going to link to them.  If you’d like to pick it up elsewhere, just drop it into Froogle for dozens of other retailers.

Rubbermaid 18″ Black Round Dolly [Lowe’s]

Here’s an interesting idea: a Dustbuster-style vac with a ten position pivoting nozzle to make it easier to fit into tight spaces and to improve accessibility in high and low places.  Even if you have a shop vacuum, sometimes these little vacs are just the thing to pick up small amounts of sawdust from a quick single cut. 

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With all the battery/charging systems out on the market today the shelf starts to look like a small electrical city of red and green blinking lights.  (And if you think your shop’s bad, you should see our test bench!)  Each tool with its own battery system and respective charger makes placing a new charger on the shelf the beginning of a load vs. structural stability calculation.  Black & Decker is among the first to at least try and address some of these issues with the FSMVC 9.6v - 18v Multi Voltage Fast Charger. 

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If Paul Bunyan had a bread twisty tie, this would be it.  KwikTwist is an industrial size twist tie able to hold (so they claim) up to 100 lbs.  That’s not too bad for something that looks like a big bendy straw.

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