Having recently assisted DD with some Ikea assembly (not this particular item), I would add that their pieces are extremely well engineered to fit and assemble and be supporting without the need for drilling. Screws or dowels are integral to the engineering and must be used for structure and support of the piece. If you are cutting away some of the structure, you will need to find out if the piece will be able to be drilled by you on-site and still maintain the structural design integrity and support of the piece. As purchased, holes were all pre-drilled. And most panels were made of engineered MDF type of materials. So if the point of connection of the piece is different in strength or material than the entire span of that piece, and you cut off the strong part, then you may need to find an way to reinforce the piece. Watching the videos on youtube should give you some insight. Looking at the piece in person may help, but you might have to come home with it and then see how it all fits together to be sure.

All laminate countertops are partical board. Or should be. It's what the manf. requires. It provides a smooth and easily workable substrate that does not telegraph grain and knothole patterns like plywood. Post formed lamininate is from a slightly thinner grade, and is heat and vacuum formed by the manufacturer into the rounded edges you may be familiar with. A small fabricator will not have access to this type of expensive equipment. A small fabricator should be able to work with post formed laminate to give you the counter that you want with the edge that you want. He orders the slabs from the distributor and then cuts them to size. You will have to use the postformed blanks in order to have the rounded edge on the lengthwise edge of your countertops. No laminate countertop can have a rounded lengthwise edge and a rounded crosswise edge. The crosswise edge will be capped straight.

Auto antifreeze will work perfectly fine. Here in the Cleveland area we get the extremes of weather. 90's with very high humidity in the summer, and cold (can go below zero) and a lot of snow in the winter. Last 2 winters were very bad. We had below zero days and record breaking amounts of snow. We're all holding our breaths for this winter hoping that Elsa will not be singing "let it snow, let it snow" again.

Hi old_house_owner, I faced a somewhat similar situation a couple of years ago when I moved to Africa for a year and put all my stuff in storage. The first thing I noticed in looking at your pictures is that your garage is most definitely not rodent proof, nor cockroach proof, and the gaps may be wide enough that other critters could get in with a little effort--raccoons, for example. Rodents and roaches in particular love nothing more than paper and fabric. I would suggest that you both eliminate any way for rodents to get in AND make sure every box is air-tight, waterproof, and impossible to chew through, which, of course, eliminates cardboard as an option. Additionally, I would suggest that anything important to you that is in boxes, of whatever material, be wrapped really well in air-tight and waterproof bags or other containers. This should also help keep that SF fog and other moisture away from your valuables. And if, heaven forbid, a pipe bursts, or heavy rains bring flash flooding, your things are protected. No boxes directly on the floor. Invest in some shelving. It doesn't have to be expensive, it just has to hold your boxes. Wrap everything. Your garage will get dusty while you're gone. Dust on/in electronics, including TVs, can ruin them. Use heavy plastic and try to make everything as air-tight and waterproof as possible. Wrap any furniture in heavy, thick plastic, like people did back in the day when they didn't want their furniture to get dirty. I would also suggest that you scan all important paperwork into your computer and store it in the cloud or somewhere on the www, so if everything got ruined by fire or water while you're gone, you will still have access to all the documents. Make sure your homeowner's insurance will cover everything while it's in storage on your property. When you do the actual moving of your things, take a photo or video of the contents of every box and of everything else, so if something goes wrong and you have to file an insurance claim, you will have proof of what was in there. Obviously, store the pictures or video off-site, preferably in the cloud. If, for some reason, your homeowner's insurance won't cover your things while they're in storage, consider an inexpensive renter's insurance policy to cover it. I've found Geico to be particularly good in these types of situations. I'll leave the suggestions for the renovation of the garage itself to others with more expertise. Due to your location and condition of your garage, I see potential threats to your property in this order: 1. Moisture (Depending where you are in the Bay Area, you could add flood to this list.) 2. Pest infestation 3. Dust/dirt 4. Theft 5. Fire (I suggest installing a fire alarm/smoke detector that is connected to the fire department or a private security company, and having a security system/burglar alarm also connected to a private security company.) 6. Earthquake (Arrange boxes, etc., with this in mind to help mitigate any earthquake damage.) One final suggestion. When you get home, you will be eager and so happy to see your stuff! LABEL EVERYTHING!! No matter what you think now, you will NOT remember what's where. :-) I hope Europe is wonderful! With a little care now, you can rest easy in Europe, knowing your possessions are safe back home. :-) Sincerely, Debbie