20'x20' Garages: How does everyone lay them out?

[BerBer5985]

I'm about to buy my parents house and there is a 20x20 garage which I'm very excited about having because right now I live in a condo that has a a very small 1 car garage/storage space. I'm just curious how everyone lays them out to have enough room to work on one car and still have space to work on other things. 20x20x8.5' Tall garages are like on the borderline of being very small. I know there are plenty of posts with 20x20 garage but half of them are so old, the pictures have expired. Also, is there a program that can lay out a garage space? This thing barely fits my 68 olds cutlass.

 

[mobetta]

graph paper and colored construction paper work well for laying out a floorplan. an architects scale helps to make everything to scale. dont forget that the car doors open.

or you could go with something from this century and use sketchup.

 

[crewchief888]

I'm about to buy my parents house and there is a 20x20 garage which I'm very excited about having because right now I live in a condo that has a a very small 1 car garage/storage space. I'm just curious how everyone lays them out to have enough room to work on one car and still have space to work on other things. 20x20x8.5' Tall garages are like on the borderline of being very small. I know there are plenty of posts with 20x20 garage but half of them are so old, the pictures have expired. Also, is there a program that can lay out a garage space? This thing barely fits my 68 olds cutlass.

i have a 19x22, i managed to cram tools,boxes, welders, air comp, my harley, my s-10 off road rig and her saturn vue in it. only way to work on anything is with her car outside, and it's a PITA.
get everything off the floor that you can, wall mounted cabinets12-16" deep shelves, shelves, and more shelves. dont buy huge, deep toolboxes, you're going to need every inch you can get.
my compressor is on a shelf 4 feet or so off the floor in the corner.
store wheels, parts, lawn chairs and anything else you can up in the rafters

leave room for a small fridge

 

[VolksDragon]

I agree with CrewChief, storage solutions will be key in freeing up as much space as possible to store and work on other vehicles and projects. Rafters, shelves, overhead bins, etc are all great ideas, and get the stuff off the floor for sure, it just makes the space feel bigger.

20x20 will fill up quick for sure, so you might consider building a small shed for storing the lawnmower, garden tools, air compressor, etc to maximize the space in the garage.

 

[reyna14]

I'm just about in the same situation as you. have a roommate moving out and might take over the entire thing. 20'X20'. I'm playing with Google Sketchup to see how things will fit/look. Check it out!!! There are so many things that you can download to throw into your model, toolboxes, power tools, cabinets, shelves, even a water heater. Oh, and there's a WRX wagon, Honda CBR600, and Yamaha R6 models that I threw in for the test fit. This rocks for laying out a garage and it's all free. I'll post a pic or two when I get it done a bit more.

 

[TheBanker]

I am in the process of totally organizing my 20' x 24' garage. It is amazing how much stuff you can fit on overhead shelves and cabinets. I agree, get everything you can off the floor. I do not have a shed so I even have my lawnmower on a shelf that raises and lowers with a hand crank. A peg board with many hooks holding everything from my weed eater to a 6' table.

 

[VolksDragon]

I'm playing with Google Sketchup to see how things will fit/look. Check it out!!!

I'm gonna have to try that out...I have a 21x28 space at my new house, and I need to play with a few different setups with my motorcycles and truck to see how I'm going to execute it.

Thanks for the recommendation!

 

[reyna14]

Ahh, to hell with it, this is what I have so far for my 20'X20' garage.

 

[VolksDragon]

Nice! I'm mocking my 21x28 up right now. Cool!

 

[Gary S]

I used to have an 18x24 garage. It was too small to put in a workbench and still have room to work around a large vehicle, so I didn't put in a workbench. I built cabinets and stored my tools up on the wall out of the way. This way, the garage worked as a daily parking space for two vehicles, and if one vehicle was pulled out, it had enough room to work comfortably around a single vehicle parked in the center of the garage.
I don't live there anymore, so this time I built a 24x48 garage. Now I can put 4 vehicles in my garage and work on any one of them. I have room for a workbench and all my tools. The problem with this is that now I have 5 vehicles so one is still parked out in the dirt and weather.
No matter how much room you have, it will never be enough.

 

[BioHazard]

With a small work space like that you need to remember a few basic rules:

- Lawn equipment lives outside.
- Use every cubic foot you can find - even if it's high up in the ceiling on some weird shelf you have to custom make.
- The garage is NOT a storage room.
- Women are not allowed unless they're in naked pictures.
- Get your beer fridge first, and arrange everything around that.

 

[VolksDragon]

- Women are not allowed unless they're naked.
- Get your motorcycles in first, and arrange everything around that.

Fixed that for ya.

 

[reyna14]

Fixed that for ya.

You said it, dude! I was thinking of just leaving the car in the driveway and getting another trackbike.

 

[flyingvette]

- Women are not allowed unless they're in naked pictures.

What's wrong with the real thing? The hood of a car is useful for more than just covering the engine y'know.

Personally - I just throw everything I have in there and then move it all around until it fits. Think of it as good exercise. Besides - why sketch when you can just do it

 

[BioHazard]

What's wrong with the real thing? The hood of a car is useful for more than just covering the engine y'know.

Well if you can get them to pose naked on the hood of your car...

I generally find all they do in the shop is ***** and whine, tell me I spent too much, and notice that I have extra shelf space so they should store some **** there.

 

[VolksDragon]

You said it, dude! I was thinking of just leaving the car in the driveway and getting another trackbike.

Do this immediately. You'll need a nice motorcycle lift and room for spares, too...and space to store helmets, leathers and rashed plastics as trophies!

I need room for the R1, the KLR and the girlfriend's SV, as well as the HF folding trailer and all the associated goodies!

 

[reyna14]

Do this immediately. You'll need a nice motorcycle lift and room for spares, too...and space to store helmets, leathers and rashed plastics as trophies!

I need room for the R1, the KLR and the girlfriend's SV, as well as the HF folding trailer and all the associated goodies!

I have a folding trailer, too, and might make room for it in the garage. Funny thing is that there's a model for the HF folding trailer in the Google model database. If I can't make it fit well, I have a nice space in the backyard I can wheel it into. Things is, I want to garage workable, not pretty, just neat and tidy with room to stretch out. Oh, yeah, trackday on the 14th!!!!

 

[BerBer5985]

I agree with CrewChief, storage solutions will be key in freeing up as much space as possible to store and work on other vehicles and projects. Rafters, shelves, overhead bins, etc are all great ideas, and get the stuff off the floor for sure, it just makes the space feel bigger.

20x20 will fill up quick for sure, so you might consider building a small shed for storing the lawnmower, garden tools, air compressor, etc to maximize the space in the garage.

I do have a shed out back that's decent size which is good, so that will hold the bikes and tires and other "outside" tools and things. See, right now, my rents have so many shelves, 2 full sized fridges, cabinets, little wine fridge, and metal shelving and it's extremely tight as it is now. I might end up getting rif od a little of the shelving and going with shelves that have doors to keep everything out of view. I'm going to attempt to move the fridges into the laundry room to make room for my cutlass because it literally fits bumper-up against the fridge door and front bumper against the garage door. I mean it fits like a glove and that's enough room to walk around the car with the garage door closed. I'm also going to put in 1 large garage door instead of 2 garage doors and a divider so I can pull the car more into the middle of the garage to work on it.

 

[BerBer5985]

Ok...got this google sketch program, now how the hell do you work this thing?? haha

 

[dragginbalz]

Ok...got this google sketch program, now how the hell do you work this thing?? haha

It takes some practice, but you will get the hang of it. By far the best thing you can use!

Here's a layout for my 18 x 24.

 

[BerBer5985]

How the hell did you do that?? haha That' awesome. Did you have to create each one of those welders and cabinet freehand or are there like images you can insert? Also, how do you know the size you're making everything. I'll have to play with that program a little

 

[BerBer5985]

I was thinking, I have a enough mirrored slatwall that I pulled out of an old shoe store that I was thinking of having on one wall to hang the tools and then putting the workbench on the other with the cabinets above that . My wife thought that slatwall would make it look too 80's or something, but for function and lighting, I think it'd be awesome to have that whole complete wall made of slat board.

 

[dragginbalz]

That is one tip, make each item separately. That way you can move them around, rotate them, etc. If you say, make a box on the wall and pull it out and that is your tool box. If you try moving it, to the other side of the garage it will pull the wall along with it!

I think there are good tutorials online. The more you play with it, the more fun it is! I use it now for almost all of my projects. fence design, grinder stand, table saw work station, welding table, etc.. It keeps me focused having a definite game plan to follow and I think I get better execution. Planning a garage is the way I got comfortable with it. Just spent a few hours on a cold winter day and finally got the hang of it. I know there are others that are a lot better with it than I am, but I love it, especially for plans.

 

[BerBer5985]

I have plenty of this:



I'm going to take it out of my store because I personally think it doesn't look that great where it's at and put that into my garage.

 

[Keep]

No matter how many times you lay it out on paper, it will change 50 times before you are happy with it. Every new tool, bench, cart and you will be looking at "new ways to make things fit".

I used graph paper and cut outs. Makes moving things around quick and easy.

 

[crewchief888]

With a small work space like that you need to remember a few basic rules:

- Lawn equipment lives outside.
- Use every cubic foot you can find - even if it's high up in the ceiling on some weird shelf you have to custom make.
- The garage is NOT a storage room.
- Women are not allowed unless they're in naked pictures.
- Get your beer fridge first, and arrange everything around that.

The garage is NOT a storage room.

when we started looking at houses i told her i wont even look at a house without a full basement. she didnt understand why, but soon figured it out after i moved all the stuff that i had stored at my moms house here.

x-mas stuff fits under the basement stairs, in storage totes
halloween decorations and props in totes in our laundry/ boiler room.
paint, woodworking/ misc tools, guns ect in the reloading /hobby room
one kid's bedroom is downstairs
TV video consoles, couch, loveseat extra bed
kids bicycles
full bath single stall shower
enough room for me to drop my dirty work clothes winter wear, boots
i let her park her car in MY garage in the winter. (hope she dont see this)

 

[BerBer5985]

I like the graph paper and cutout idea, but that google sketchup is pretty cool when you do designs like you guys can. It kind of makes you look like one of the artist designers from like west coast customs or something. It gives you a visual of what the room will look like completed in 3D. Does anyone have any actual photos of their 20x20 garage for ideas

 

[crewchief888]

I like the graph paper and cutout idea, but that google sketchup is pretty cool when you do designs like you guys can. It kind of makes you look like one of the artist designers from like west coast customs or something. It gives you a visual of what the room will look like completed in 3D. Does anyone have any actual photos of their 20x20 garage for ideas

i'm hoping to get out i the 19x23 garage tomorrow and get some work done, i'll try to snap a couple of pics.
i built all the shelving out of stuff i had laying around, and crammed everything that would fit up in the rafters. what i didnt have room for (lawn stuff) ended up behind the garage for now, till i can scrape up enough cash for a shed
still need to find a place for my mini fridge...

 

[crewchief888]

it's a mess,
but at least everything is somewhat put away.
tools i can find
parts is another story