When you run out of room, car or tools?

[muibubbles]

First off i have a 2 car garage, and expanding is not an option at this time (maybe a shed later on)

I have my car (93 rx7) on the left bay and on the right my larger tools. Recently my addiction has been picking up and instead of hand tools, i've been picking up larger tools.

Right bay consists of, 20 ton press, portable table saw w/ wheels, sand blasting cabinet, table top drill press and band saw, 30? gallon air compressor, pancake compresssor, miter saw, 36" metal brake, 37" foot shear, workbench, and etc.

So my garage is pretty much at max capacity with decent, efficient working area... Obviously i would like to expand my tool collection so i can do more and more efficiently. If you were in my shoes, what would you do? Im debating kicking the car out and parking it on the driveway with a car cover..

The garage build originally was geared towards my car, but now as im on my last year of college ive been focusing more on fabrication stuff..

opinions?

oh btw, i want to build a cnc machine and have no clue where to put it.... so that might occupy the place of the rx7 =(

 

[sscustom]

most of my stuff is on wheels so in easy to push to the side or wear ever you have room

 

[bazzateer]

Your next tool purchase should be as big a shed you can build and move as much stuff into it as possible.

 

[TOOL MASTER]

I need a warehouse

 

[NUTTSGT]

I'd quit buying tools till you have a place to put them. If you get too many too tools, where are you going to work on your car during those NJ winters ?

 

[LEVE]

My question is:

• Are you working for your tools, or
• Are your tools working for you?

When you can answer that question, then you'll have the answer to the bigger one.

 

[Mike_C]

What good is a garage full of tools, if you can't pull a car into it and work on it?

 

[Full Size 66]

I would try to decide which direction to go either metal or wood. I realize it is handy to have both but in consideration of space limit what you buy. I have a one car, going into a new 3 car, I already have all the stuff and tools I need to fill it up cramed into the one car....

 

[ambenz]

Renting a garage is a option!
Set up shop in a rented garage and keep the home garage for car stuff.

 

[ADaughen]

You aren't using that spare bedroom, are you?


In all seriousness, stop spending money on stuff you can't use (you have no room) and save that money towards another location.

For example, my uncle bought an old furniture store. Turned 1/2 into his office/climate controlled storage, which he rented out; the other half was a HUGE climate controlled garage. The rentals up front paid for the expenses on the property and he had plenty of room in the back half to rent out spots for his buddies to work on their projects and store all his toys (AMCs, Triumph, boat, motorcycle(s), etc).

 

[larry_g]

You have answered your own question.

The garage build originally was geared towards my car, but now as im on my last year of college ive been focusing more on fabrication stuff..

opinions?

oh btw, i want to build a cnc machine and have no clue where to put it.... so that might occupy the place of the rx7 =(

Like you I had the same choice years back. Sold the hotrod and bought and sold equipment till I had some decent tools in the shop and could do some fab work. Sure I miss the car but I can't have it all. One thing to watch our for if your still a single man in school is that your life is going to change many times over the next 20-30 years. As life changes a shop full of tools is a big job to move and drag along through life if it is not producing for you. When you move its real easy to move the car and drop it in the new garage. Moving a shop full of tools and getting them running at a new place is a lot of work and expense. Been there and doing that at this time. See below.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[Weps]

sounds like you are going to have to choose between a garage or a studio. personally, i have never seen much benefit to parking in a garage. so as long as you can quickly make room to pull your car in if necessary, you should be fine.

you may also find that your fabrication makes it worthwhile financially to focus on that and just pay for service on the car.

 

[reinhardt]

i have a 14x20 garage attached to the house. in it are my tools and my 02 z28. in the 8x10 shed in the back is the lawn equipment and seldom used tools. in the attic above the garage is storage for seldom used tools and extra parts etc. for easy access to attic storage i rigged this up: (this picture is of the same setup i use for the attic over the house)

my camaro has 34k miles on it, too nice to leave out in the driveway. i think with some creative storage you can have both a nice tool collection and store your prized car in the garage. i put my table saw on a shelf on the wall up high. it clears my head and is space that would otherwise be useless. you can see the winch mounted to the stud. it runs up to the attic and come backs down through the ceiling via a couple pulleys.

depending on your ceiling height you may be able to build a mezanine (loft) above one bay for additional storage. say 6 1/2 feet off the floor, w/ a 10 foot ceiling would give you a 3 1/2 foot overhead on the loft. not ideal, but good for storage.

and lastly, as others have said, how many tools do you really need at this point in your life? i myself am only 25 and know this is not my final home. i have to stop myself all the time from picking up a good deal off cl due to space constraints and not wanting to move it to the next house.

ben

 

[smallbloc]

Right now I'm full, 2 carports,24X40 3 car shop with a 12 x 12 tool/engine room. One car for sale now, but when I sell one, I'll just start looking for another.

 

[muibubbles]

I need a warehouse

+1!!

My question is:

• Are you working for your tools, or
• Are your tools working for you?

When you can answer that question, then you'll have the answer to the bigger one.

yeah you just blew my mind with that statement ahha

What good is a garage full of tools, if you can't pull a car into it and work on it?

well the garage isnt just dedicated to the car. so although i might not be able to work on the car, i could do other projects with ample room (till more tools fill it up haha)

 

[justanengineer]

My recommendations - think vertical and get some friends with room. Many people cannot make use of vertical space due to lack of shelving, so if you can make a place to hang the seldom used tools, even if you need a ladder or stepstool to get them out, you can gain some. Another thing to find is friends that envy your tool collection and might have a bit of room. Our blast cabinet lived at a friend's house for years because of lack of room at ours. He love it because then he didnt have to buy or borrow use of one for his projects. We loved it as it saved space for a seldom used tool, and also ran off of his compressor whenever we did need it. Yet another good way of making room that I have found handy is simply making professional friends to save you on buying specialized tools to begin with. Before I moved I had a brake, rollers, and various beaders that I never used because I had friends in ducting and body shops with bigger/better tools that let me use theirs when needed. I actually preferred it not only because their tools were better, but also because I could come late in the day or after hours with notice, and they were more than happy to show me little tricks of the trade to do jobs better.

Regardless, I wouldnt consider putting a car outside. If you park outside, before you know it you wont be able to pull inside to work without putting tools outside, and tools should never be put out unless you need to work outside.

 

[shooting4life]

You can put a car in the garage?

 

[rsanter]

Put everything you can on wheels
Get a shed or a box trailer and use it to store the stuff you are not using at the time. A box trailer can also act a portable storage for the car if need be

Bob

 

[ilovevocs]

I made this decision long ago, tools. I have built allot of vehicles and when their done, I loose interest. It was never really about the cars, it was more about the build. To continue chasing my passion I had to expand my skills which meant expanding my tools, machine tools, fabrication and sheet metal tools ; press brake, iron worker, horizontal bandsaw, vertical bandsaw, plasma, mig, tig, press, welding table.

Then tools to work on the shop, then tools for building tools, then a Cnc machine, then you start eyeballing plasma tables. Did I mention my wife has to park her car outside? I'm the only guy on the block that has every vehicle I own I'm the driveway. Not even room for lawn equipment or bikes any more.

Hey, the way I look at it when I'm done, i hope to have enough room to build motorcycles. Autos are a pain in but to build alone and as a father of a young child my free time is LIMITED... The bikes and tinkering / expanding my skill set is more suited towards my current lifestyle than building cars. I have two of my old builds sitting at my parents house in the garage that I see twice a year. I have kept them for sentimental value and promised one to my daughter when she turns 16.

If building / modifying / designing is your passion, pick tools.

 

[Vegaman_Dan]

In my area, garages are for workshops and storage. The very notion to put a car in the garage is an alien one. Oh sure, put it in there to work on it, but when you're done, put it in the driveway.

That said, I do wish this house had just a bit more setback on the side next to the garage so I could put in a carport.

 

[MadMechMaster]

One door or two? If you have one wide door, put the car in the middle and work out an arrangement where everything goes around the perimeter. You'll have to pull it out to do serious work.

Oh, and put as much on wheels as you can.

 

[justanengineer]