Winter is the perfect time of year to shift my focus to the garage itself. I have always endured drainage challenges that come with snow and ice melting and then freezing just outside the garage door. This ice damning can occur often in the winter, so conceiving a drainage system that prevents water from escaping the garage and wrecking havoc on my driveway has always been a goal of mine.

I finally pulled the trigger and enlisted a concrete firm to install a channel drain/catch basin system. The installation process was labor intensive and required a 48" wide section of the existing floor to be demolished and removed by hand. Once the concrete was removed, four 1-meter sections of trench drain were precisely positioned one inch below the level of the existing floor and pitched towards a large catch basin with a 30-gallon capacity. The concrete was then poured and shaped in such a way that all water will be directed towards the channel sections. No water will now escape the garage and cause me headaches in the winter. 

While that job was in progress, I took it upon myself to paint the ceiling and install all new lighting. A company out of Saskatchewan called LevKom reached out to me and generously offered to supply me with all new LED lighting necessary to turn my space into an even more effective detailing environment. With the help of an electrician friend, we removed all nine existing fluorescent 2-bulb fixtures and installed four 60-watt "trilights" and eleven 30-watt 48" LED linkable tubes. The lighting install took six hours in total and turned out great. 

These three upgrades have breathed a lot of new life into my garage. I am still in the process of cleaning up all the dust from the concrete work and sanding of the ceiling, but it already looks even more amazing than before. In addition to just looking better, I am now able to conduct details year-round. The garage is now a much more comfortable and efficient place to do my thing! I have documented all of these changes in a 3-video series I call "Floor to Ceiling". 

This video demonstrates the demolition stage of the drainage project. The crew worked tirelessly for about six or seven hours removing a 48" wide portion of the existing slab. ​

I wasn't able to record the footage of the actual drain and basin placement, but this video shows how they were placed in the excavated portion of the floor. ​

This video demonstrates the final result after the concrete was poured to fill in the system. It also demonstrates the system in action as I perform a quick floor clean. ​

Performing a comprehensive exterior detail on this gorgeous 2008 Audi RS4 was one of the highlights of my summer. What made the project even more special was the fact that the team from Auto Shield Canada came to help out. I connected with the company a few weeks prior and was impressed to hear about the research and development that has gone into their new Graphene coating. There's a lot of controversy in the detailing world around the topic of graphene, but I have no problem experimenting with the new take on a paint coating. The results on this B7 Avus Silver RS4 say it all. Thanks to Wilson, Josh and Jyles for all their help and support and I look forward to using their coating on my car in the very near future. 

The video

The graphene

I consider myself very fortunate because companies are starting to take notice of what I do and I have had a number of them reach out to me. Recently, the team at Lithium Auto Care sent me a promo package containing their yet-to-be-released interior cleaning spray called "Inner Space". I used it only briefly on the Misano Red RS5 and it was awesome. I look forward to playing with it very soon when I find the time to tackle my own car. I was shocked by how amazing the packaging and presentation was for the launch of this product. The personalized letter was a very class touch! I have to send my thanks to Josh, Bill and the rest of the team over there at Lithium. 

I stopped in for a new wheel brush and left with two boxes of stuff. I can't thank Chris and his team at Carzilla enough for the support over the years. I picked up a few things while I was there a few weeks ago but he wouldn't let me leave without a few more goodies. I now have a comprehensive collection of TAC SYSTEM and Fireball products that I'm really looking forward to trying out once the "busy season" of teaching settles down a bit. I also picked up some polishes and compounds from Rupes and CarPro. I think I'm pretty set for the winter detailing season! 

The Rag Company has this program where they select ten people a quarter to rep the brand. I was very fortunate to be selected for the last quarter of 2020. I received an incredible prize pack of goodies. I put a video together that highlights all the items I received. I am also very pleased to be able to offer viewers a 15% Rag Company discount that can be used on any item for sale on their website. Just enter "RAD15" at checkout. The code is active until the end of the year. What an amazing team of people over there at TRC! A full inventory of my winnings is listed in the description section of the video. 

I have been buddies with Pan the Organizer for a long time. We regularly chat about detailing, YouTube and life in general and we have wanted to collaborate in some way, shape or form a while now. Pan contacted me about an idea he was cooking up in which I would do some work in my garage and he would feature the footage in a video on his channel while narrating the action for his viewers. I enlisted a gorgeous Misano Red Audi RS5 from my friend Dave and proceeded to give it a complete "wheels off" detail. The fabric wheel arch liners on Audis are notorious for absorbing copious amounts of dirt so the footage I shared with Pan demonstrated the process I follow to return the wheel arches and wheels to factory condition. I am so pleased with the way this project turned out and I have to thank Pan for the invitation and honor of being featured on his channel. I hope we can do more collabs in the future!  Here is the final video as featured on Pan's channel: 

The full project video can be viewed here: 

Back in September, my car was backed into by someone on the street by my workplace. I have a strong suspicion of who the culprit is, but no way of proving it. Regardless, I filed a "no fault" claim through my insurance company and my SQ5 is back and even sports a new custom grille. Here's two videos that tell the story along with some "before" and "after" shots.

The damage wasn't as extensive as I first thought. The insurance adjustor actually made a personal visit to check the damage out, and while at my house, he was able to snap a few of the panels back into place. Thankfully, there was no paint damage. All repairs were done at Cosmos Collision in Calgary and they were just awesome. I gave them a full 5-star review on Google. 

Cosmos and my insurance company were extremely accommodating and worked with me on the installation of a custom RS-style grille versus the OEM version. I purchased this Carbnlab grille through Nemesis Autosport in the States. I love how it looks on my SQ5. Huge thanks to staff at all these companies for helping me return my SQ5 to brand new condition. The team at TD Meloche Monnex (Astride & Navi), the team at Cosmos (Jaclyn, Ken & Loc) and Nima at Nemesis. I appreciate you all!