ORGANIZING 201: AROUND AND IN THE GARAGE AND HOME. Sharing ideas and thoughts for all

[lakeroadster]

I thought this was a slick idea for organizing small long stock

 

[owdlvr]

Slik: nice posts and made me smile.

ALL: anybody else ORGANIZING after CHRISTMAS to start off the new year a little better than the last? i'm hoping to make a few changes and as some of you know i have an addiction to finding and buying old metal cabinets so hoping to get settled on the ones i'm going to keep and start filling them up so i can FIND MY STUFF.

Still building my new shop. The main shop is essentially ready to go, but I need to clean up and organize the single-bay 'storage' side when I get back from the holidays. Apparently I ended up with a shop full of wood and wood scraps that I had never planned on owning!

Lots of good ideas in this thread...

 

[thejunkmanadv]

Here is an overhead storage unit I just installed from Fleximounts.

 

[Thumper68]

I've been working on storage as well, part of that is what to do with hammers.

I added a wall, 2x4 and 3/4 inch ply, adds a division between the main work area and the sink, should keep some of the sparks and dust away at least.

The main reason for the wall though was to give me more accessible wall space not covered by cabinets and shelves.

My solution.

Video of the build.

 

[Wrench Junkie]

I have just gotten started, but i am in the process of tool foaming all of my toolbox with high density tool foam using the router method (didn't personally like how soft the Kaizen foam was). Here are some pictures of my progress so far. I did order the foam pre-cut for the chromoly sockets, since there was no way i was going to cut all 312 pcs by hand lol.

 

[Corndoggeh]

I think some of us are ready for the Organizing 203 class, introduction to part storage designs!

 

[drivesitfar]

ALL: i picked up 3 of these ADDRESSOGRAPHS and i'm just starting to fill up all 400 drawers that are 2 foot deep and about 4 inches wide and 2.5 inches tall. these cabinets weigh i'm guessing about 600 pounds each.

i've seen smaller versions of these, but i really like these big ones with 133 drawers each.

LET'S GET ORGANIZED!!

 

[Thumper68]

Drives those are great, with that much space and a few dividers you will be able to lay your hands on anything at a moments notice.

The way those are set it you can just fill the drawers and then move them around to organize them. No need to take time to decide what goes where as you are filling them.

 

[Thumper68]

Here is my latest addition to make better work flow.

Couple of teaser pics.
View media item 70188
View media item 70189

 

[gabriele82]

ALL: i picked up 3 of these ADDRESSOGRAPHS and i'm just starting to fill up all 400 drawers that are 2 foot deep and about 4 inches wide and 2.5 inches tall. these cabinets weigh i'm guessing about 600 pounds each.

i've seen smaller versions of these, but i really like these big ones with 133 drawers each.

LET'S GET ORGANIZED!!

Very Nice!!!

 

[Perfectstranger]

I am so jealous, those cabinets would be a dream.

 

[1/2 Cup]

ALL: i picked up 3 of these ADDRESSOGRAPHS and i'm just starting to fill up all 400 drawers that are 2 foot deep and about 4 inches wide and 2.5 inches tall. these cabinets weigh i'm guessing about 600 pounds each.

i've seen smaller versions of these, but i really like these big ones with 133 drawers each.

LET'S GET ORGANIZED!!

Endorsed...

 

[thejunkmanadv]

Snagged this screen shot of Frank Ippolito's shop where he talks about paint can storage. Sliding vertical drawers.

It gives me an idea for an under-utilized space in my garage. Should I make a video on the build?

 

[drivesitfar]

Gabrielle: thanks for the support and hope your weather is getting better so you can get out on the roads again in those beautiful hills around you.

1/2: thanks for the support. GETTING ORGANIZED is a goal as is trying to cure my FSD (flat surface disease) and my sweet tooth.

Perfect: yep i didn't know they existed until i found them and really happy to own them even though i'm a bit overwhelmed at the moment. thanks and hope you find some for yourself.

JM: sure you can make a video. here's a link to BJ's thread where he just made a smaller version of that cabinet for his bottles and paint if you'd like to compare.

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=185236

thanks for posting and it's a great idea.

Thumper: always like your videos and stuff you do in your shop so keep posting as you have time to.

ALL: i found some of these old Army Green Shaw-Walker cabinets that hopefully will hold some of the bigger stuff i have that won't fit in my new (old) AddressOGraphs. also i already had 3/4 inch rubber horse mats on the floor of my garage and picked up these 1.5 inch rubber mats to put on top of them that i had to cut to size. they really help my back if i'm standing in my garage which is usually the case cause i get about 9x15 space out of our 2 car garage at home. i also was able to put in my rolling tool box that i'm going to put on different casters with locks so i can pull it out on to our sloping driveway and use it when it's sunny outside.

 

[Landrover90]

First two drawers of my toolbox finally organised. I stuck plastic spanner rack lengths in plexiglass. Final s he started of my garage tidy up. It's small with a lot crammed in

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Here's a recent bit of organising I just posted up in my thread. Wanted to fill a couple of empty spaces under the workbench & add some storage.

Awesome idea Clint! I'm going to have to see if I can build a heavy duty version that can hold 2 or 4 of my old motorcycle engines that are either waiting to be rebuilt or are parts donors. Might even try to make them semi enclosed to keep the occasional mouse out.

 

[drivesitfar]

LR90: thanks for posting your wrench drawer that looks great. also looks like it was your first post so wanting to welcome you to the group. how are you liking GJ?

ALL: i stopped at a member's home and he has this nice idea to close off his garage when he's not working on his truck. the main reason he made this wall that has a door in it to let his truck inside is because he never was going to park 2 cars in the garage so it gives him about 10 feet more of wall space for his welder and other stuff he puts on shelving so he can keep the middle of the shop open to work. he also gets to look outside and have the sun come inside the garage and still has some privacy since he lives in the city and has neighbors everywhere. this idea would also maybe keep small critters from coming in the garage shop especially for you guys in the country that might have more of an issue with that.

anybody else have something like this set up in their garage/shop?

this one is made out of plywood and 1 inch steel tubing and yes he does like PURPLE.

 

[drivesitfar]

ALL: it's been a while since i added any information to this thread and wondering while i'm ORGANIZING if there is anybody out there that has used UNISTRUT to make a loft for storage hanging from their ceilings?

anybody?

 

[Bunk]

Drives, yep, I sure did. I wouldn't call it a "loft", rather, just shelves.
View media item 69514

 

[drivesitfar]

Bunk: thanks and nice clean garage. very nice use of that space that is usually a DEAD AREA!!

how did you attach the unistrut to the ceiling and to itself to make the shelves if you might have a few close up pictures or some description?

 

[Bunk]

Drives - I do have several others pictures on my iPad, I'll upload them tonight. The unistrut is attached to the ceiling with 1/2" threaded rod and SAMMYS. The rod is attached to the unistrut using a standard 90 deg bracket. I covered the threaded rod with some split covering that is used on sailboat rigging so that I don't cheese-grate my arms accessing the boxes.

 

[Craig Balzer]

I don't have my hobby garage built yet (14 more alimony payments and then the magic begins) but I have been Craig Listing in preparation of that day.

These photos are of my attached 3-bay garage with the 3rd bay serving as storage . . . I have 2 Overview shots of the garage followed by an overview shot that combines epoxy floor / old car / night shot:

I don't have any close up photos of the first stack of drawers in the middle photo. Note the Dorman drawers on the middle shelf of the right-hand work bench.

All storage drawers I bought came filled with hardware: nuts, bolts, washers, grommets, e-clips, c-clips, cotter pins, etc, etc

The cardboard boxes in the right hand corner on the work table have a bunch of aluminum wall storage units . . .


I'll follow with posts of close ups of the good stuff . . .

 

[Craig Balzer]

Close ups of the

Kar Products cabinet stack (each drawer is on roller bearings) ,
Valley Forge cabinets (I have three of them),
and the UZ cabinets (I have four of them).

 

[Craig Balzer]

The larger storage items include

Library card files (two with one base)
Accel Display Case (as seen in 60's - 70's speed shops) with plexiglass doors

 

[Craig Balzer]

A recent addition is a NAPA NASCAR Edition Wall Unit

and

the Sun Machine (which is off topic but neat and fits with the other stuff). It is complete, totally functional and came with the original operations manual. I bought it (for $150) from the guy who bought it from the original owner.

 

[Craig Balzer]

Nothing special here about my Snap On tool box -- but the OP asked for tool storage photos:

 

[Craig Balzer]

Not really at all related to organizing but over the years I have picked up wall art for my future hobby garage. I found these cut-a-way diagrams of cars on eBay years ago (sorry for the reflection of the flash in each photo). Each model has a meaning to me:

Jaguar C Type
Bugatti Royale
Bugatti Type 57S
Jaguar E Type
AC Cobra
Jaguar XJ-13

continued on next post

 

[Craig Balzer]

continued:

BWM 850 CI
Aston Martin DB2/4
Lamborghini Countache
'Ford GT40
'Morgan Plus 8

The cluster of three photos includes an advertising brochure for the Alfa Romero Spyder called "Last of the Red Hot Sports Cars". In the upper left hand corner are three extinct sports cars -- one of which is a Jaguar E-Type. That red Jag in the ad is mine . . .

The Bugatti Royale poster commemorated a gathering in 1990 of 6 of the 7 Bugatti Royales ever made. All have the elephant radiator cap. One of the 7 is at the National Automobile Museum in Mulhouse, France - which I visited in 199X.

 

[drivesitfar]

CB: i hope your Alimony payments are going to a good kid. that said i bet you can't wait to start building your new shop/garage/man cave and maybe your kid will come over to learn or help out or just hang with dad.

Bunk: i thought you might be using all thread and thanks for the tip on the covering to keep our body parts from getting shreaded on the ALL THREAD. just curious how you attached the ALL THREAD to the joists?

thanks for any information or pictures cause i need to build something soon above my huge rotobin so i can GET ORGANIZED.

cheers

 

[Bunk]

Bunk:
how did you attach the unistrut to the ceiling and to itself to make the shelves if you might have a few close up pictures or some description?

Drives - Here are the detailed photos I promised:

The attachment of the threaded rod to the ceiling using the "Sammys" anchors.
View media item 76054
The attachment of the threaded rod to the main rail using the standard short 90 deg unistrut elbow.
View media item 76058
The underside showing the rod bracket.
View media item 76057
Cross member detail, one every 4ft over the entire 20ft length.
View media item 76056
This is the split plastic cover on the threaded rods. Sourced it from a sail boat rigging supply place.
View media item 76055

 

[drivesitfar]

Bunk: thanks for the great pics and great information. i'll have to GOOGLE SAMMY's to see how they look and how they are attached, but i'm guessing it's a good system or you wouldn't have used it cause the rest of it is built like tank.

one last question is on the Unistrut against the wall did you use carriage bolts with washers into studs or ??

would you build them any different if you had to build them again?

 

[Denwood]

Bunk, I'd not seen the Sammy's anchors before..cool part. Most would just run a channel up top and attach to that, however the Sammy fastener eliminates all of that and makes for a cleaner install too. Very nice.

My upper storage area is uni strut supported as well. I've added sliding doors to keep dust off the items up stop. There's a ton of storage gained this way, freeing up precious floor space.

Finished. Everything you see above 7 feet is storage. Having the top sliding doors tilted forward frees up more space for larger storage containers to compensate for ceiling slope. There are also eight wall cabinets which are just Home Depot's cheapest white with plain doors.

 

[Bunk]

Drives - I had placed a covert link to the Sammys in my first post, I'll be more obvious this time:
http://fastening-solutions.itwbuildex.com/item/sammys-threaded-rod-anchors-1-2-/sammys-1-2-vertical-threaded-rod-anchor/8015925

The unistrut is fastened to the wall with 1/4"x3" Spax hex head lag screws I got from Home Depot. They are pretty awesome as they require no pre-drilling and drive in nicely with my M12 impact. Fender washers as well.

Would I do it any differently now if I built another set? I really don't think so. It is built like a tank and I'm sure way over built, but that is exactly how I like things.

Denwood - I loved the cleaner look of the installation with the Sammys. Fewer parts, easier for me working by myself to drive in a Sammy and washer than try and hold a 10ft length of unistrut over my head one handed and then balance a lag bolt and washer in my impact with the other all while standing on the ladder.
BTW, I really love your space and what you've done with it. It's definitely one of my favorites here.

 

[drivesitfar]

BUNK: i'm liking those SAMMY screws and sorry i didn't click on your abbreviated link cause i forget you YOUNG GUYS know how to shorten the links. i'm guessing i can pick up SAMMY SCREWS at Home depot or are they a knock off at HD?

i probably have more hardware here at my home than some small hardware stores so before i go shopping i might see what i have that might work cause i think i have 100 feet of Unistrut laying behind on of my benches.

thanks for all the pictures and help

Woody: always love seeing pictures of your garage and how you transformed it over the years!! other than maybe having a bigger garage is there anything you'd change on your ORGANIZATION? do the wall hangers work well to keep your stuff off the floor or would more toolboxes lined up on the edges give you more storage?

 

[Bunk]

BUNK: i'm liking those SAMMY screws and sorry i didn't click on your abbreviated link cause i forget you YOUNG GUYS know how to shorten the links. i'm guessing i can pick up SAMMY SCREWS at Home depot or are they a knock off at HD?

I found them at Fastenal.

 

[gabriele82]

Bunk, I'd not seen the Sammy's anchors before..cool part. Most would just run a channel up top and attach to that, however the Sammy fastener eliminates all of that and makes for a cleaner install too. Very nice.

My upper storage area is uni strut supported as well. I've added sliding doors to keep dust off the items up stop. There's a ton of storage gained this way, freeing up precious floor space.

Finished. Everything you see above 7 feet is storage. Having the top sliding doors tilted forward frees up more space for larger storage containers to compensate for ceiling slope. There are also eight wall cabinets which are just Home Depot's cheapest white with plain doors.

Great work!

 

[gazza]

I just started reading this thread, thanks for all of the great ideas

 

[Denwood]

Gabriel, Bunk, thanks for the kind words

Drives, expanding by a factor of two would be nice. Another tool box or two for the larger tools, and another 8 ft of slat wall would be perfect. Even in a larger shop, I'd replicate more or less what I've done...doing everything possible to preserve floor space.

 

[rzims]

wow...tons of good ideas here....
One of the issues I dealt with in trying to get my garage under control was the coffee cans of nuts and bolts and asst fasteners.
Pretty sure I stole this idea from GJ somewhere, but I bought a bunch of the stanley plastic storage bins and built a small rack which you can see on the right side of my workbench and the other side is plastic bins for larger stuff organized by category...electric, plumbing, irrigation, etc
The red Craftsman unit in the middle "organizes" my cold beverages

 

[drivesitfar]

Bunk: since i own more bolts than most hardware stores and plenty of unistrut i think i'm just going to bolt unistrut to the ceiling joists and to each other to make my loft storage for my garage. i'll post pictures when i'm done and thanks for showing how you did yours especially to those that need to know where good storage can exist i'm sure was helpful.

about 30 years ago when i moved in i built some loft storage in my same garage that was just out of plywood and 2x4's that lasted 20+ years until i took them down so i could work out in the garage.

ALL: anybody have more ideas to post of there storage either inside or outside the garage please do. i'm still GETTING ORGANIZED and one day i won't have to go buy something at the store that i already own 3 or 4 of already.

there are a lot of members here who want to turn a portion of their garages into a gym for either them or for their young families so if you have one you'd like to post please do and i'll post up a few cause i bet i had more gym equipment in my 9x15 portion of our 2 car garage than some commercial gyms did a few years ago.

cheers