A Stowable Workshop?

[Julie Moriarty]

Julie -

As I read through all this, I realized I am unclear on some basic points -

Are you saying you expect to have a 2-car garage, but need to park 2 cars in it?

Or, are you saying you will have 1 car there, with a 1-car spot open for a shop?

Most of the houses we've looked at so far have either a 2 car or 2-1/2 car garage. One had a 1 car garage. In the 2-1/2 car garages, they seem to like putting the washer and dryer in the extra space, which is usually taken from living space in the house. In situations like that, we discussed putting up a wall to make it a laundry room and air conditioning the space, so we'd be back to a 2 car garage.

Right now we have 2 cars but we may get rid of one. That would solve all but the humidity problem, though it may be tight fitting all my tools and bench in a 1 car space. We got an offer on the house yesterday (we countered) and they want to close in 30 days, so I may be facing this workshop dilemma very soon.

[Pete Staehling]

I never thought it made much sense to store the most valuable assets (after your house) out in the elements.

I can see that for some folks. I guess it depends on how you think of your cars. To me they are consumables and when I am done with them they are pretty much used up. Since I don't worry much about faded paint and such. It is pretty much a non issue for me.

It also depends on when, how, and how frequently you use the shop.

Being retired and running a hobby business out of the shop, I tend to be in the shop every day and to make matters worse tend to want to go out and do some work sometimes for a few minutes at a time any time of the day or night. Shop sessions are likely to occur a dozen or so per day some days and I might pop out for a few minutes in the middle of the night. Given that mode of operation, there is no way I can tolerate much transition time from garage to shop. For me even if it was just pulling the cars out it would be more hassle than I would want.

On the other hand if someone's shop time was concentrated around longer sessions less frequently, the transition may be perfectly acceptable. For example if your garage was a shop on the weekend and a garage during the week it would be only one change per week. Even if used as a shop only once per day in the evening, that one transition per day might be OK. In that case, having stuff arranged down the sides or on wheels might work very well.

I do have the ability to get a car or maybe even two into the shop with some effort, but I could only see my self doing that if I was going to be away for weeks or months and I might not bother even then.

I do get that some folks have both a very different attitude toward their cars than I do as well as very different shop usage patterns.

[Julie Moriarty]

I'll see you and I'll raise you: Julie needs an oversized enclosed pontoon boat.......a floating shop.

When we were considering becoming liveaboards, I was shopping out boats for workshop space. Now that's a serious illness! Can you imagine the sail getting tangled on the deck-mounted bandsaw?

[Pete Staehling]

Whew we were considering becoming liveaboards, I was shopping out boats for workshop space. Now that's a serious illness! Can you imagine the sail getting tangled on the deck-mounted bandsaw?

I have seen a live aboard guy's sailboat that had a very compact shop in it and it wasn't even a very big boat. He said it actually worked well for him. He didn't actually sail much if at all though and wasn't working on large stuff.

BTW, I just saw that someone said that you are building guitars. That would seem to help as you won't be working with 4'x8' sheets of plywood and probably will use a bandsaw a lot more than a tablesaw. I know that for a while I built dulcimers in a tiny corner of a small basement and managed. I do find that having a larger dedicated shop is pretty nice though.

You mentioned 2-1/2 car garages with washer and dryer in them. We bought such a house and I did put up a wall so the the laundry area was dust free. The rest is shop space and the cars have never been in it, but if I had to they would fit with a bit of moving of mostly just the thickness sander and table saw.

[John Donofrio]

Maybe you could steal some ideas from this guy's very space conscience workshop. If nothing else it's an interesting read.

http://www.instructables.com/id/The-...-in-the-World/

[Julie Moriarty]

Maybe you could steal some ideas from this guy's very space conscience workshop.

There's not even enough room in there to change your mind!

[Dale Probst]

Julie,
if you have access to Fine Woodworking ( web or paper) here are some articles I found helpful:
FWW 237 Oct 2013 using space, FWW 216 Oct 2010 our friend from Cypress, FWW 167 Jan 2004 Roll Away shop (stole a lot of this one), FWW 202 Dec 2008 a hand tool approach that would work for guitars, FWW 174 Aug 2004 a layout kit for shops that works.
Hope this helps,
DP

[Jim Dwight]

This should be a link to the minimal sized Ron Paulk workstation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-N7RlWHaFbE

I could easily be placed against the wall of a garage and pulled out when needed to do work.

[Jim Laumann]

Julie

Have you considered the possibility of adding another bay to the garage? I realize that it's another expense on top your about to be purchase, but if the lot is big enough, and you can swing the cost, and codes/covenants allow, it might be a solution....

[Dale Murray]

Hopefully this will give you some inspiration.

I have a two car garage and came up with a mobile solution.

Bench is attached to wall with built in miter saw station.
Table saw stows under bench.
Rolling work surface stows under bench.
Air compressor stows under bench.

I dont have any pics of it all stowed but hopefully this will help with idea.

The top is made from hollow core doors with 3/4" plywood glued to each side then through screwed to each other. The entire assembly is wrapped in dimensional lumber milled to fit. Once it was assembled and hardboard top installed I wrapped the edges with poplar to make it pretty. If you are concerned about strength, I am 235lbbs and crawl on top of the bench to close the window in the picture; its strong.

The miter saw is attached to a sled that can be removed so a planer can be fitted, or a downdraft table - I built in a 4" DC port to service the saw.

The assembly table stows under the miter saw area.
The table saw stows under the main table.
The air compressor stows to the left of the table saw.

I have my drum sander, belt sander, and band saw on DIY rolling cabinets with built in storage. The floor mounted drill press is stationary.

Currently we have one car however I am certain I could get another in there without issue.

The pics with the drawer would usually have the assembly table there but we are still in the remodeling stage of our house thus everything is in flux.



Assembly table.jpgSaw Stowed.jpgWallBench1.jpgWallBench2.jpgDCPort.jpgDrawerOpen2.jpgDrawerClosed.jpgDrumSander.jpg

[Julie Moriarty]

Julie

Have you considered the possibility of adding another bay to the garage? I realize that it's another expense on top your about to be purchase, but if the lot is big enough, and you can swing the cost, and codes/covenants allow, it might be a solution....

If the lot size and deed restrictions allow it, that's a possibility. I know the place we're looking does not allow out buildings but a garage addition may be possible if the lot is wide enough.

Dale, that is some very nice work you did to make that layout happen. It gives me hope.

[Dale Murray]

When I replied I did not pay attention to who was the OP of the thread; I have been watching your instrument builds here and there for a while. Very cool. I'm out in Wheaton, if you ever want to come by and see what I did or how I did it you are welcome.

Overall this was not terribly expensive to build as I recall the bench materials were:
- 2 hollow core doors I already owned.
- 3-4 3/4" sheets of ply
- 2 sheets of hardboard
- 2-3 sheets of 1/2" ply
- Several 2x6's ( ripped and machined to fit)
- A load of deck screws and an obscene amount of titebond.

The above materials does not cover what I put on the lower walls in the garage, which are concrete and covered with 1/2" plywood, 2" foam insulation.

My garage is attached with three bedrooms above it.
I have R30 in the ceiling, R25 in the upper wall, and about R13 in the lower walls. Later this year I will install an insulated garage door, which will be either R13 or R18. I use a couple foam anti-fatigue mats to insulate my feet against the cold floor.

Since I have rooms above the garage and HVAC runs between the joists I tapped two of them with 6" round vents. This past winter the garage was never colder than 48*. I believe it will be in the mid 60's all winter with a new garage door.


I do understand tapping the HVAC lines to feed the garage would not pass code. If I ever intend to sell I can simply remove them, seal the holes, and seal the drywall.