Garage Takeover

[mckenziedrums]

So... after 3+ years in the house the wife has finally caved in to my constant pressure to take over the garage completely. And now I'm in a pickle because I never really thought she'd let me and I've actually got to plan a shop, on a budget. Thanks to my gall bladder deciding it wanted to try and kill me I ended up with some unplanned medical bills that put a damper on my plans. First step will be a major clean up and probably painting the walls and maybe even coating the floors one side at a time and I'm getting about 6 sheets of prefinished birch ply to build up some storage.

Anyone here have a 2 car garage that has been converted to shop space, but not a full time shop? I figure I've got to plan for some area to store the lawnmower and a few other yard odds and ends, some automotive items, and then my woodworking area and probably a station to pack and ship my drums. Whew boy!

Either way it will be a huge step up from living on one side. My tablet saw and jointer are on wheels and have to be rolled out to be used, my router table is only used for edging drums because I can't really put my incra fence on it without knocking a wall out, and I'm likely to trip over the dust collector that I have to move back and forth depending on whether I'm using the drill press or the lathe. Not sure how I managed to collect so many tools on one side of a garage!

 

[rcflyer23]

I'm in a two car garage but tend to stay to one side because of lawn equipment. I keep everything on wheels as well. Good luck planning it out. I still haven't figured out how I want to do mine ultimately.

 

[mckenziedrums]

I was thinking about "walling" off a section towards the front for the lawn equipment. Something like a tall storage unit with the storage side facing in or even a lumber rack of sorts could be a good divider. I'll sketch the whole thing out before I do any work. The one rule I do have from the wife is that you have to have a clear path from the inside to the outside through the shop.

 

[SteveHall]

Check out Bill Endress' Roll-away Workshop.

I used this strategy. We have a two-car garage with a small additional alcove at one end. I can theoretically roll up the entire shop into the alcove and park two cars. (I say theoretically, because I currently have a large stack of lumber awaiting projects that keeps one from getting in until I finish the projects. )

The biggest help in doing something like this is to plan first. Get out the graph paper! (Even better, use CAD, or build it in SketchUp.) I planned the entire shop at at 1/2" = 1'-0" scale. Everything was figured, even minor stuff like scrap bins, lawn mowers, etc. The key for me was to also draw the clearances like the infeed and outfeed areas. This helps to figure real work patterns. Also maintain 24"W minimum "corridors" through the shop, with 36"W at critical areas like in front of the table saw or chop saw. These keep you from lying to yourself about how much space you have, and also make it easy to get from one station to the next, making your shop more efficient.

Also consider less frequent operations, like milling, that might only be needed occasionally that could be done in the driveway or squeezed into usual walk areas. Other items like table saws, router tables, and work benches/tables might be needed for the duration of a project. You might only rarely run 8'+ long pieces through the table saw, so make the extra length of outfeed through an open garage door. Of course, overhead along walls are the best places for storage, don't place anything but the most frequently used tools and work areas at worktop height.

You can find ingenious ways of making more space. I developed two large work tables out of 12" strips lengthwise of solid core doors. The pieces are held together with threaded rod strung through their cores, then placed on saw horses, and covered with a sheet of hardboard. Quite strong and stable, but they quickly come apart and store stacked on the wall as the first level of my lumber rack. That's 35 square feet of worktop that go completely away when the shop is rolled up.

Mine has developed over time, but I'm now at a point where I only adjust a little during milling. Otherwise I have plenty of space to work on *cough* several projects at a time.

 

[mckenziedrums]

Good feedback!

There's no way to be able to roll up the shop and get 2 cars in... I've done a pretty good job of doing a similar idea and allowing her room to get her car in though. It's just a bit of a hassle to have to roll everything back out in order to use it. I'm just ready for a usable space that I don't have to mess with before I can start working on things.

Clearances will be priority to be sure... I'm thinking of doing some ceiling mounted storage for lumber and probably some of our camping gear since I don't mind that getting a lil dusty. Right now I have 0 cabinetry on the walls so I've got to get some casework going (thus the plywood)

 

[ehpoole]

Clearances will be priority to be sure... I'm thinking of doing some ceiling mounted storage for lumber and probably some of our camping gear since I don't mind that getting a lil dusty. Right now I have 0 cabinetry on the walls so I've got to get some casework going (thus the plywood)

If you are tight on space consider going vertical for your wood storage. My garage has a cove where, presumably, the builder anticipated a workbench. It is about 30" deep and 6-7ft wide and 10.5ft tall (10ft 1" in final dimensions). In that roughly 17sq ft I can store between 600-1000 bd ft of lumber (depending upon average board length) and up to 24 sheets of 3/4" 4'x8' plywood or MDF. If kept at about half to two-thirds that capacity it is much easier to sort through than a comparable horizontal layout... and you would be hard pressed to get that much wood storage out of such a small space horizontally (and your walls would likely need additional reinforcement with 600-1000 bd.ft. of wood hanging off them)!

You don't get a real good sense of depth in this photo, but there is 400+ bd.ft of lumber in this photo with most boards 6-10ft in length. The actual storage is less than half utilized with alot of other junk occupying the empty space for the time being (still working to improve storage elsewhere in my shop as it transitions from a garage into a workshop). Without knowing how well the original builders built the back wall, I built a false wall in front of it to support the weight and distribute some of the load to the neighboring side walls. All the 2x4 joinery was done with a Kreg Pocket hole K3 kit (2-4 2-1/2" screws per board end) for strength and neatness of appearance (pocket holes look nicer than toenailing IMHO). The base is securely bolted to the walls and floors to prevent movement and some exterior grade carpet runner is stapled to the floor to prevent vertical boards from slipping on a smooth plywood floor. Spare flexible duct/hose and extra filters for my ambient air cleaner are stored over the plywood section. Overhead is a pair of F32T8 full-spectrum fluorescent bulbs in an impact resistant polycarbonate shielded fixture (so whacking it with a board does not damage the light).

​

HTH​

 

[Sully]

I'm working in a two car garage. There's barely enough room for me let alone vehicles. Everything is on wheels and gets put in the driveway if I need room to handle extra long stock and also for my thrice annual completely shop clean out.

Even though I'm kind of packed in, I have workstations and work areas laid out so that most of the time I can go right to work without moving stuff around. My recommendation is make sure there is some flexibility in your layout. You may find after working in it for a few weeks that you need to tweak the placement of tools, etc. I've rearranged my shop completely at least a dozen times in the past 3 years.

 

[eyekode]

I have a two car garage that my wife pulls her car into every night. Although "everything on wheels" can work I find I need to have my tools ready to use without movIng them all around. Otherwise I spend all my shop time moving and cleaning up tools.

I have a tendency to buy more tools and wood then can fit in my space. But on a good day I can use the following without any setup:
Tablesaw
Bandsaw
Jointer
Lathe
SCMS
Belt sander
Grinder
~7x2 workbench
Drill press
Router table
Scroll saw

I do have to pull out my 15" planer to get infeed/outfeed room. And I do need to move my jointer, SCMS, and router table to process long stock (> 6 feet).

The key for me was realizing I could use where my wife parks as infeed for my TS. This also serves as a buffer to keep my wife's car at bay . It also helps to use sketchup to work out the placement. Also be very aware of infeed/outfeed space requirements!

Good luck!
Salem

 

[zapdafish]

The one rule I do have from the wife is that you have to have a clear path from the inside to the outside through the shop.

this a straight path or a windy path :gar-La;. Ive got a clear path through my garage but I have to go around a few things.

 

[KenOfCary]

I gave up trying to use the 2 car garage for anything but the workshop. I walled in the 2 garage doors with 2x4 framing and insulation. There's a 36" door in one and a window in the other. I also put 2x4 walls in front of the concrete block on the side and back wall so I could insulate that as well.

I started with a modified version of the one-wall workshop from ShopNotes magazine on 2 of the walls. This gives me most of my storage cabinets and such and a lot of bench space to clutter up. I still need most equipment on wheels so I can move it out of the way while not in use.

The lawn mower and tractor live in another detached garage along with the horse tack and such. (The wife raises Arabian Horses.) The cars get parked in the driveway. Never have had room for them in the garage, regardless of the use made of it.

The space sort of evolved as new equipment was purchased, so I could have probably done a better job if things were more planned.

The thing I need most is room for more wood storage.

- Ken.

 

[Weber]

The best thing about a garage shop is that yu can just open the door and blow it out with your leaf blower!