Garage shop ideas

[Daniel Morgan]

As the title states I am working on my "shop" which is in reality our two car garage. I have to share it with the wife's car in the winter so everything must be mobile.

I am hoping in a few years to add on to the front of the garage another 10 feet or so but for now I am quite happy with what I have.

So, I am looking for ideas for mobility. I am going to make a router station (sans Uncle Norm), I have a mini lathe, bench top drill press, portable table saw and bench grinder.

Of course the hope is to add more tools such as a planer and scroll saw and bandsaw.

I'm new to the forum so any ideas or links to previously published threads would be welcome.

Cheers

[glenn bradley]

Actually only enough of the shop needs to be mobile to allow the car to be stored. Using this approach can lead you to different decisions. For example, your dust collector and most ducting could be permanent with hose drops to those smaller tools that would need to be mobile. This keeps the large tools close to the DC and hard piped while the smaller mobile tools are at the far end of the duct / hose runs. Your bench and assembly area could be part of the mobile items which needs no DC other than a vac hose run for sanding or whatever hand power tools you might operate there.

I use a couple of 40' 12/3 cord reels to get power to areas of the shop that I felt were awkward or costly to run power (although I have a boat-load of power run. I also use a air hose reel although I have air outlets hither and yon. These things make the area that must be cleared quicker to clean up and will pay dividends each time you need to quickly clear the area. the standard practice of having a place for everything helps in a mobile (or half mobile) shop as well. Wall mounted tool cabinets. A cleat system on the walls and swingout / swingdown work stations can help.

[Don Jarvie]

One thing did when I was planning my shop was to search this and other forums/sites for shop tours, etc. I also got a few of the FWW books on setting up shops. If I saw a good idea I would print off the page or photo.

Another thing I did was I made a draft floor plan and then got my tape measure and went into the shop and marked on the floor where I would like to place the tools.

[Michael W. Clark]

My last shop was a garage shop. I would make most things mobile. There was a FWW article with Matthew Teague's shop in Nashville on it (recent thread hear somewhere with the issue number). His is a dedicated shop, but his countertops are fixed and most of the storage underneath is mobile. The height of the mobile carts are also designed as outfeed support. I soon came to the realization that anytime I did anything other than handtool work, I had to pull the cars out. Too much dust and not enough room with them in there.

I have a air hose reel in my current garage (shop is in the basement). I wish I had mounted it between the two garage doors, instead it is on the back wall. Having it near the doors would make getting air outside easier and also easier to reach the car tires when they are in the garage.

[Clint Olver]

Wow Daniel, I started a thread exactly like this 6 years ago: Starting a new shop, double garage, wife's car inside, some tools with more to come hopefully...

My advice may be a little different, but it's what worked for me.

1. Get you wife's car out of there. It may sound impossible, but it's not. I filled one side to where her car could fit in, but she wasn't confident parking it, and it wasn't easy for her to get out. I had to promise to wake up early to clear snow off her car and start it for her. I told her about rust caused by salty snow melting under her car in the garage. Basically anything I could do to get her car out and keep a happy marriage. It took about a year and a half. She complained periodically for about three years, but time passes and once you build custom closets, and fill your home with high end furniture, the complaining stops.

2. Build a big shed. Store your lumber on wall racks, and move all the bikes, shovels, toys, etc. out of your shop and into the shed.

Once you've accomplished this, you will have the canvas you need to paint your masterpiece.

At least, that's how I did it.

C

[Nathan Callender]

My thoughts are to not get too caught up in the layout. That will work itself out, multiple times. Put everything on wheels because some projects will require different setups.

My other thought is not to divide the garage in half, but rather, park the car in the middle and put your tools around the edges.

How big is the garage?

[Daniel Morgan]

Thanks for the ideas so far.

The possibility of moving the car out of the garage is viable. I already get up early and make sure wife's vehicle is cleaned off.

The idea of a shed hit me like a lightning bolt! Why didn't I think of that myself? I've got the perfect room for a shed to hold all the outdoor stuff and lumber storage to boot.

I think the wisdom of letting this shop "evolve" is sound. I'm still adding tools and as so well put when wifey sees the good stuff for the house she will probably happily surrender the garage to me

[John Huds0n]

You should look at the Ron Paulk workbench. Easy to move around and you can integrate your router and your tablesaw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnNi6Tpp-ac

[Rick Moyer]

Let me second the shed idea. Very happy I got a shed and put all the outdoor stuff in there. As with a shop, go as big a shed as you can afford or think you need (actually go bigger than you think you need).
For the car, get her a remote start installed. she'll be able to warm her car up from the comfort of the house. We have an aftermarket one in our one vehicle (mine) and my wife's came with one from factory. Her's also turns the heated seats on when it's cold out! Very nice thing to have.

[Daniel Morgan]

So the wife and I have been talking about this the last couple of evenings and she's more than willing to let her car stay in the driveway.

I'm limited on shed size but it is in an area where I can maximize it as far as close to the property line and it will be out of sight.

I hadn't thought about the remote start, what a great idea! The winters aren't terrible around here, If she had a remote start she would be golden.

[Mark Patoka]

I'm pretty much in the exact same situation as you. Almost everything I have is mobile and I could fit it all into one side of the garage. Unfortunately I've acquired enough tools that the wife's car now sits outside permanently. Yes, build a shed if possible. I built a 8'x14' shed to store the bikes, kayaks, lawn tools, etc that were filling up the garage and getting full of sawdust. I do have to store my lumber in the garage but built racks on the wall for most of it. In a pinch I can park the car in the garage but the wife has come to realize that it is now an outside car. Fortunately our winters are not too severe.

[Jeff Erbele]

So the wife and I have been talking about this the last couple of evenings and she's more than willing to let her car stay in the driveway.

I'm limited on shed size but it is in an area where I can maximize it as far as close to the property line and it will be out of sight.

I hadn't thought about the remote start, what a great idea! The winters aren't terrible around here, If she had a remote start she would be golden.

Presently I am the same situation, a so called 20 x 20 which measures less on the inside. It is filled to the gills with industrial shelving, tools & machines, yard & garden stuff, and stuff belonging to three different business interests. There is no room to work, much less park her car and my truck is to long to fit even if it were empty. I work from home so my truck rarely moves, but she is off to work at O'Dark Thirty and hates to scrape and brush the car. She's a morning person and I'm a night owl, so she's on her own unless serious shoveling is required. But for the normal run-of-the mill winter night with snow or frost, I found a piece of corrugated plastic about the side of the windshield. When she comes home she will run the wipers and turn the ignition off when the wiper arms are about mid stroke. Then she will flip the wiper blade arms up and place that semi-ridgid plastic board on the windshield. Other than brushing snow off of it, it keeps the windshield ice and frost free, saving scarping.

The corrugated plastic is similar to corrugated card board. Google it.
It saves a lot of work, but recently we noticed the windshield has a lot of fine scratches. We are not sure if this contributed to that, but we are careful to place it on the glass and lift it off, avoid sliding it across the glass. We are building a new house with a 4 bay, 1,000 sq ft garage & shop so this will be the last season we use the plastic. Otherwise I would glue some cloth / old towels to the back side as a protective measure. Cardboard would work, but not stand up to moisture or as long.

I've had several garage shops of various sizes, from very nice (insulated, heated, and finished) to not so nice at all. No matter how large or small, other than one main fixed bench against the wall, I've always had the shop machines on wheels. It just makes life simpler and provides more flexibility. Even in the new garage & shop, space will be at a premium and will require flexibility, mobility and creativity, even after I get rid of excess stuff and move other things in the garage now to the future basement.