Jim's Interim Shop of Horrors

jimgood · Mar 29, 2015

Ok. It's time. I've been living with no real workshop for almost 17 years now. We bought this property and focused our financial resources to first get the house comfortable, then build a barn and finally an indoor riding arena.

After all that, I'm not in a position to build a garage and workshop. So, in the interim, I'm going to make better use of the space in our walkout basement to get organized. Until now it's been a place to store stuff. When I want to build something, I usually drag the tools out into the back yard and do whatever it takes to turn ideas into useful stuff. When I want to work on a car, I do it out in the gravel driveway (my favorite).

Because set up and tear down of my work space takes time, I started putting things on wheels. I have a metal Craftsman workbench that I put some casters on. My bench grinders, propane forge, welder, table saw and chop saw are on wheels. But now I have accumulated so much stuff I can't even move it easily anymore. I have run out of space on the unfinished side partly because I've just allowed things to get disorganized, partly because I'm storing stuff that I don't really need and partially because there really isn't enough space there for the way I like to work.

The finished side of the basement is separated from the unfinished by a wall on the north side and a long hallway on the south side. Unfortunately, the finished side has a humidity problem. We used to run a dehumidifier down there but that got tedious trying to remember to empty the water pan every day. Everything we've stored down there has gotten mildew on it. We were concerned about mold but, knock wood, I haven't found any yet.

We've done gutters to move water away from the foundation and it helped but there is just no air circulation (no central air). For reasons I won't go into here, I refuse to sink anymore serious money into remodeling this house. The long term plan, if I live that long, is to tear it down and start over. Before that happens, we'll build a separate two story shop, hence the "interim" shop of horrors.

So, here's a picture of the walkout side of my basement workshop (facing north). The door is 108" wide and maybe 7' tall. If I didn't have so much clutter (I'll show this later) I'd be able to pull a car in here. It would be fine for oil changes but working on brakes or suspension is difficult as room on the east side is limited and there's a support pole for the I beam running the length of the house.
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This is the current floor plan (again facing north). The upside down L shaped area on the left is the unfinished area I utilize now. It's crammed full of stuff. Crammed, I tell ya! The green area on the right is the finished side (soon to be unfinished again). I plan to take it down to the bare walls to seal them up.

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jimgood · Mar 29, 2015

I want to do a little of everything with regard to how I'll use this space. What do I mean? I enjoy building things out of wood and metal. I actually haven't done any serious woodworking in a long time but I want to get back into it. Lately, all my projects have been metal; building wheeled stands for various tools like my bench grinders, welder and forge. Nothing fancy. Just basic stuff.

I'm also getting interested in electronics. I've been a software developer for 20 years now and have been wanting to learn more about the hardware side of things. I will be integrating a workspace for that purpose in this plan somewhere.

I also want to be able to work on a car comfortably. I've been building a track car out of a '98 BMW 3 series and it has been difficult. The car is stored under the overhang of the barn. So every time I want to work on it, I have to haul whatever tools and materials I need out there. When I inevitably forget something I trudge back to the house to get it. When I'm done, I have to haul everything back to the house. My time is limited so I need the project near the tools.

Anyway, back to the workshop...I plan to knock out the wall that is partitioning the finished and unfinished sides of the basement so I'll end up with this configuration. Right side will be used mostly to store materials and maybe house a workbench or two. I'm still working on how to organize things because, when it comes to wood working, I'll still be rolling the tools outside to make dust.

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jimgood · Mar 29, 2015

Ok. So now it's time for the horror show. I swear I'm not a hoarder but I have accumulated a lot of stuff and I have just not taken the time, until now, to organize it properly.

Here's the current state of things when I walk into my workshop. I've inset the floor plan with an arrow showing the orientation of the camera because I know it's hard to visualize a space even with pictures. I know...it's frightening. There's a Cub Cadet mower project that I thought I'd enjoy on the right. It's been sitting for a couple of years just like that. :sad:

My grinder stand in the foreground and Craftsman work bench in the background.

I hate that over-head lumber storage. It's a jumbled mess. I'm thinking of a workbench on that wall and I'll need to move that lumber to get lights overhead. I'm planning on rolling lumber and metal racks that will live on the right side of the basement.

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There's a workbench under there somewhere. My Ranger car lift that I have to step/trip over to get to the workbench, which is really not a work area anymore. Just flat space where I can put stuff that I can't find a place for.

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More to come. Lot's more!

James-W · Mar 29, 2015

You sure have a lot of stuff. What are you planning on doing with all that stuff? Even If you organize everything, unless you get rid of at least some of that stuff you won't have any room in which to work on projects.

JustinS · Mar 29, 2015

This should be a good use of that space but you'll have to de-clutter!

jimgood · Mar 29, 2015

Looking into the back corner you can see I made a half-assed attempt at organization in that corner. Cabinets! Wall mounted and everything! Did that many years ago. I really don't like black but they came in any color you wanted as long as it was black. I have come to appreciate the benefits of surfaces that reflect light. I want light colored floors and walls. Any new cabinets, will have polished steel doors or Lexan.

Also in the background, that door leads into a "root cellar". It's really just an unfinished space underneath our entry about 8' x 8'. I use it for storage. The first year we were here I built some really nice shelving on two walls. The floor in there is sand. It would make a good place for a proper air compressor if I put in some sound proofing and ventilated it.

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Here's the opposite end of that space. I'm standing under the lumber rack. Glorious pegboard wall on the left. My cheapie maple woodworking bench (on wheels) in front of me with too much stuff piled on it to use. That huge wood shelf on the back right is 3' deep. It was built by the previous owner. One of the shelves is a door. Once that shelf is gone, this area will be where I park my track car and work on it. It's the only place that's long enough and wide enough for a car without having a pole in the way. The car will be moved into place on wheel dollies. Not that convenient but better than the barn overhang I'm using now. It will be 3 steps from the tools instead of the 100 steps it is now.

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jimgood · Mar 29, 2015

James-W said:
You sure have a lot of stuff. What are you planning on doing with all that stuff? Even If you organize everything, unless you get rid of at least some of that stuff you won't have any room in which to work on projects.

I am in the process of figuring that out. I have a general idea and I'm pretty sure once I incorporate the east side and build some well organized storage, there will be more room on the west side to actually get **** done.

JustinS said:
This should be a good use of that space but you'll have to de-clutter!

Stay tuned. De-cluttering is in progress. Two pickup loads down and at least two to go.

jimgood · Mar 29, 2015

So, here's the east side of the basement. We tried to organize things but the humidity is playing hell with these compressed wood cabinets. They've gotten full of mildew so they have to go. Most of the stuff stored in them is useless anyway. Books on software development that are outdated. Old desktop computers (one is 20 years old the other 15). Christmas decorations that we never use anymore. At least my side of the shop is filled to the gills with stuff I use, could use or plan to use when I get some damn elbow room.

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As you can see, I've already cleared a lot **** out. Two pick up loads are gone. I was disallowed from getting rid of the Xmas decorations for the moment. But here's 13' x 13' (169 sq feet) reclaimed. The little file cabinet on the left is going to the dump too. I still have to take up the carpet in the near half of the room but I ran out of steam today.

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All of the wall within this pic is coming down plus another couple feet I think. I pulled down some drywall so I could get a look at the wiring I'll need to move. I'm removing all the way up to the I beam in the center of the room (see inset). There's a baseboard heater and one outlets on the other side and one outlet on this side.

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Once I demo the wall, I'll start sorting through the stuff on the other side and deciding what to keep and what to toss. For the time being, what I plan to keep will be moved to this side. I'll use plastic containers and cheap furniture dollies to keep everything mobile. This is temporary until I get time to build or buy proper mobile shelving.

jimgood · Mar 29, 2015

Here's what it will look like with the wall removed. I've included the root cellar in this diagram (far left) but it doesn't really factor into this plan right now.

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jimgood · Apr 2, 2015

Little progress to report. My job has me working some overtime. I only had a little time on my lunch hour Tuesday to move some stuff. Now you can see I have two receptacles and a baseboard heater to move. The stuff on the shelf on the right needs to be sorted into keep or toss piles in the other room. It's bulky stuff like leather hides that I hate to get rid of but they're mildewy so I'm not sure I can sell them. Then I can tear down that gawdawful shelf.

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Here's a before and after.

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jimgood · May 21, 2015

Made my first decent craigslist score. An elderly gentleman in my area had these cabinets for sale. They're made for installation in a van. He was asking $225 and I didn't even haggle. One little gladiator roller cabinet costs at least that much.

These are modular to some extent so some pieces that are currently bolted together could be separated if I want. They're made by Adrian Steel in Michigan and are pretty heavy gauge; very sturdy.

1 - two cabinets each with one adjustable shelf. These are attached to one another.
2 - four drawer cabinets attached to one another. The shallow drawers are about 2" deep and the others are about 4".
3 and 4 - These are open cabinets that are intended to mount over the wheel wells. I intend to close up the backs with some sheet metal.
5 - two more 4" drawer cabinets attached to one another.
6 - cabinet with slant shelves for papers. Not sure what I'll use this for. Maybe owners manuals for all the various tools and equipment I have.
7 - This is an odd piece. He says it was intended to mount between the seats. So the door is the top. Not sure how I'll integrate this yet, if at all.
8 - two shelves for cans and bottles. They're too wide to mount on the side of anything here. But I'll make use of these, maybe on one of my tool boxes.
9 - brand new in box step stool.

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Now that I've had a chance to look it over, I think I'll stack them this way and mount the whole thing on wheels.

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Strouty · May 21, 2015

Jim, looks like a good configuration, I might suggest swapping 1 and 5 or 2 and 6 so the seams don't line up. Not really an issue, just thinking out loud. Adrian steel makes a rugged cabinet. You should be able to sell the remaining pieces and make some of your money back.

I also love what you did with the inset picture so we knew where you were showing us. I don't think it is that bad of a mess, you seem to be organized for the most part. Just let it get away from you a bit. Keep the updates coming.

jimgood · May 23, 2015

After looking at these cabinets again I realized that I neglected to measure them. So the configuration I wanted won't work. Basically I have 7 assemblies that are 12" wide x 24" high. The filing unit (#6) is only about 10" wide so it won't really fit.

I disassembled the units so I could rearrange them. I'm starting with these 4 pieces. These are #1 and #5 which were stacked but are now side-by-side. The drawers were stuck so I had to force them out and do some minor repairs inside to make them slide again. The bottoms if the #5 units have Rivnuts in them, so I drilled holes in the tops of the #1 units and screwed them together. The #1 units are already riveted together. I'll stack the other drawered units on top of these.

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Because I like everything to be on wheels, I used some 1" sq tube I had to make a frame using my Hobart 140 with flux core wire to join the tubes. I can't call it welding because some professionals on this site have said that you "can't get good welds with a 110v welder." I used the same process to join some casters to the frame. My welding...er, joining table ***** so my frame is slightly wracked in the horizontal plane. Only two wheels touch the ground at a time. :willy_nil

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I'll even show my joins. Since one can't get good welds with 110v, these will probably self destruct in short order. :lol:

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I'll get the other cabinets mounted on top of these and get a pic so we can see the whole thing. Now I just have to decide what to do with the other pieces.

sselander · May 23, 2015

In my parents basement, my dad mounted his dehumidifier up high and the hose runs through a wall to the outside.
It has been that way for 30 years. You should be able to do something similar.

jimgood · May 24, 2015

sselander said:
In my parents basement, my dad mounted his dehumidifier up high and the hose runs through a wall to the outside.
It has been that way for 30 years. You should be able to do something similar.

That's definitely an option.

jimgood · May 25, 2015

I don't love painting but, I decided that these things need to be white. Four down...

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...four to go. I've sanded these but I don't have the energy to paint them this weekend. The white paint I had on hand requires 24 hours between coats.

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When I did the first cabinets, I just masked off the latches. That was a pain because I couldn't get good coverage around the small latches in the top cabinets. The big latches in the lower cabinets are riveted on but they're flat where they meet the panels so they were easy to mask off. As I was prepping the second set of cabinets, I figured out how to remove the little latches. So that will make painting them a little easier.

jimgood · Jun 7, 2015

It came out pretty good I think. White isn't very **** but I prefer it. I still have some work to do on it like reinstalling the locks and lubing the slides. Oh, and filling it with stuff!

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SBogaCH · Jun 7, 2015

This cabinet is awesome! Good job!

jimgood · Jun 9, 2015

Made some progress. I took the day off today because I thought the dump would take only certain items on weekdays. Turns out, I could have done everything on Saturday. Oh, well. I need a break from work anyway.

I had already knocked out a portion of the wall but I forgot to post pics of that. Today, I demolished the oversized shelf on the right and took one more truckload of stuff to the dump. It included probably over a grand worth of leather hides that I was keeping but had no real plans for. I inherited them when my father died and left me his leather shop. That was almost 20 years ago. They were moldy and I just decided I can't hang on to everything!

Here's what it looked like before. This pic doesn't do justice as to just how huge that shelf is on the right. I think it was 48" deep. There was a small box all the way at the back on that second shelf down and I couldn't even reach it.

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And here's what it looks like now. This weekend, if I have time, I'll demo that wall. The shelves were covered with mouse turds and now they're all over the floor. So I'm heading down there to clean up some more. If I have the energy, I'll rearrange things and maybe it will look a little more impressive. :lol:

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It felt pretty good to purge all this junk:

8 wheels and tires that were sitting outside the shop.
Probably 80 - 100 lbs of leather in rolls of varying sizes.
2 computers; both over 15 years old
1 36" tube TV
1 printer
2 hollow core and 1 louvered door that were serving as shelves
1 old sleeping bag and a couple of couch pillows
6 file cabinet drawers full of papers

ABSTIFFGS · Jun 9, 2015

I'm liking your progress. Looking forward to updates.

jimgood · Jun 14, 2015

You're probably getting sick of looking at this cabinet but I made a small change. I added labels! I got a Dymo label printer. I used 1/2" black-on-clear labels and put this cabinet to use storing some stuff that was cluttering up other spaces. I like the look of the labels but they are a PITA. The printer is easy enough to use. You can whip out a label in 30 seconds. But they are a ***** to apply. The backing is split horizontally, which is fine, so when you print off the label, you fold it lengthwise to start the process of peeling the backing off. With these clear ones, you don't want to touch the adhesive unless you have pristine hands so you need to leave one piece of the backing on to hold while you apply the label so the dirt from your fingers doesn't show through. But then you have to get the remainder of the backing off. The only way I could do it was to use my pocket knife to pick away at the corner until I could get enough of the backing sticking up to grab with my fingers and pull off. This can a take a couple of minutes. It was either that or wash my hands every time I handled something. I cannot imagine having to apply hundreds or thousands of these. No way!

Still have a few more empty drawers to fill but I'm making progress.

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jimgood · Jun 15, 2015

Last evening I took a pictorial inventory of all the stuff in the basement. I did this so I could just sit at my computer and go through each picture to get a better sense of what's there. It just does not get any less overwhelming. I think I took something like 75 pictures. Then I went through each picture and itemized the main things I could see into an Excel spreadsheet. It came to 368 items, which doesn't include the individual items already stuffed into Rubbermaid tubs (the tubs themselves were counted as one item). And I know I glossed over some stuff too.

The good thing about this exercise is that I was able to categorize things that can be tossed or need closer inspection. I was on the fence about building/buying a garden shed but now that I've been through the list, it gave me a better idea of all the stuff that could be moved to a shed so I think that would be a good investment. Problem is, as always, where to put the shed.

jimgood · Jun 29, 2015

Well, it doesn't look like much progress but I haven't seen this much floor space here in years. I reorganized that shelf against the back wall, trashed some useless **** that was on it and that made room for stuff that was on the floor in front of it. There is still some stuff on there that will need to go on different shelves.

I cleared off most of the loose stuff on the top of the workbench at left too.

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Determined to get this tripping hazard off the floor, I welded up this contraption. It's basically 1" square tube 6' high which will get mounted to a wall. I'll hang the QuickJack on the two short tubes welded at the top.

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jimgood · Jun 30, 2015

FINALLY!!! Something I can use!

This QuickJack has been on the floor of my shop for over a year. I was looking at it Friday and realized that it could be hung by one end. Each side weighs about 50 lbs so 100 lbs total would need to be supported. I accidentally made the "hooks" long enough to also hang the grabber bars that are used to slide the QuickJacks from the centerline of the car to under the rockers. So that was a bonus.

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I made the thing from 1" x 14 ga. square tubing and a couple of pieces of 1/8" flat bar. I used a 1/8" x 1" x 3" piece of flat bar across the back to provide more support for welding the "hooks". So, they are welded to the flat bar on three sides and welded to the vertical tube on three sides.

I welded a piece of 1/8" x 1.5" x 3" across the front to act as a lip to prevent anything from accidentally sliding off the hooks. I ground down the lip about 1/4".

The vertical piece is 6' and is supported by the floor. I didn't want the wall to support all the weight. I mounted two pieces of 1 x 4 to the wall by using 3" deck screws into the studs (which were spaced at an oh so convenient 25" :dunno:

). The vertical piece is bolted to the 1 x 4 using 9/16" x 2" lag screws.

Here are some detail shots:

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I know my welds are ugly. It got kind of windy while I was welding so some of the welds got porous. I should have used the flux core but I didn't want all the clean up.

jimgood · Jul 4, 2015

Made some more interim progress. I have thrown out a few truck loads of stuff but in the meantime I bought a new welder and a desktop computer with two monitors that I can use for designing projects. Ten steps forward, two steps back.

So, here's the east wing before:
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And here it is today. I reorganized the stuff in here, which now includes stuff moved over from the west wing. I have boxed up lots and lots of loose stuff that was cluttering up work surfaces into the plastic bins. They are labeled with itemized lists of their contents. None of this stuff is in permanent locations yet but at least it's out of the way temporarily while I work on getting the west wing organized.

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Progress is slow as I am trying to build shelving myself rather than buy because I can get the dimensions I want, like for storing those plastic containers.

Fueler · Jul 4, 2015

Dehumidifiers. You can get these with an automatic drain....as long as you have a drain or sump pump available to dump it in. That's what we do with my basement.

IF a drain is not available I see a window. An air conditioner will take the humidity out of there. A win/win perhaps?

colt zantop · Jul 4, 2015

Nice progress! That cabinet score deserves a "you ****!"

jimgood · Jul 4, 2015

Fueler said:
Dehumidifiers. You can get these with an automatic drain....as long as you have a drain or sump pump available to dump it in. That's what we do with my basement.

IF a drain is not available I see a window. An air conditioner will take the humidity out of there. A win/win perhaps?

Thanks. I'm still considering options. I'll probably do that for another year before I make a decision. :headscrat

colt zantop said:
Nice progress! That cabinet score deserves a "you ****!"

As a basic place to put stuff, it's a good score. The drawers aren't the best but it sure beats having **** laying all over the place in cardboard boxes.

Thanks, guys!

Radio Ron w4ron · Jul 5, 2015

Interesting project.

LLAP

.

SunnyBeach · Jul 5, 2015

I also have a basement workshop that is in need of some attention. Keep up the good work getting everything in order!

jimgood · Jul 6, 2015

Thanks for the kind words.

For all you guys that are in that state where you look at your shop space and get completely overwhelmed, YOU CAN DO IT!!! It's hard but I can offer this advice:

Set your intention. Just say to yourself "I value a clean, organized workspace!" Say it every day; multiple times a day.
Do something whenever you have some spare time. Anything. Find one thing to throw away. Clear off one work surface. Put away some tools that aren't in use. Dig deep about the stuff you're keeping "just in case" and really decide if you can part with them for now. If you find yourself channel surfing and not finding anything you really want to watch, just say, "F*** it! Time to work in the shop!" And go DO something; anything that moves the process forward or even sideways.
Organize stuff into sections:
- Stuff you absolutely need to have access to
- Stuff that you don't regularly use but are absolutely sure you need to keep
- Stuff that can be thrown out
- Stuff that can be sold
- Stuff that needs some soul searching before you can decide
Label stuff that you move so you can find it easily. There's nothing worse than moving something and, six weeks later, needing it and not being able to find it! That's one of my worst fears and one of the many reasons I put off moving things around.
If you find yourself stuck about wanting that high end cabinetry but can't afford it so you do nothing, go get some Rubbermaid containers and some furniture dollies. For a couple hundred bucks, you can get a bunch of containers and a some dollies and now you have mobile storage that didn't cost you and arm and a leg. It's not pretty but it gets stuff out of the way and mobile so you can keep moving, so to speak.
For the time being, try to refrain from buying anything you don't absolutely need. If it's not going to move forward the process of decluttering your workshop, put it out of your mind.
I found that, as I started making progress, I felt more and more energized. A few months ago, I couldn't stand to walk into this shop. Now, I can't wait to get down there and do more!

I threw away a lot of stuff that I probably could have sold or used for some future project (I don't have the patience to deal with selling my junk). It was hard to let it go. But I'll tell you this...I feel SOOO much better now that I can walk from one end of my shop to the other without dodging, moving or stepping over something. I can see light at the end of the tunnel and it's really exciting.

Namdam · Jul 6, 2015

jimgood said:
I've inset the floor plan with an arrow showing the orientation of the camera because I know it's hard to visualize a space even with pictures. I know...it's frightening

That is a nice touch! I like it. I might have to use it when I start my own garage thread build even though mine is just a 3 car rectangle.

jimgood · Jul 6, 2015

Namdam said:
That is a nice touch! I like it. I might have to use it when I start my own garage thread build even though mine is just a 3 car rectangle.

Nah! Using my inset might not make sense with your layout. :lol_hitti

Welcome!

jimgood · Jul 8, 2015

Side project

Among all the **** I've accumulated, I have had one of these articulating desk lamps since '97 that I have never used because I couldn't find its clamp. The other day, I was considering tossing it in the scrap pile but decided maybe I could make a new clamp with stuff I had on hand. This is one of those times when you get to break out seldom used tools, materials and techniques and make something useful.

Materials I had on hand:

desk lamp with missing clamp
5/16" metal rod
1" tube 18" long to use for bending leverage
5/16" nuts to protect the threads during bending and mount the lamp
big flat washer with 1/4" hole

Tools I had on hand for the job:

5/16" drill bit to drill out the mount in the desk lamp, drill a hole in my work bench for the new clamp and enlarge the hole in the flat washer
HF tap and die set to thread part of the rod
DeWalt variable speed reversing drill (corded!) with keyless chuck to hog out the hole in the mount and drill the bench top for the clamp
Small O/A welding outfit to heat the rod for bending
Floor mounted drill press (just cuz I like it better than my bench mounted drill press) to enlarge the hole in the flat washer
Bench mounted vice to hold the rod whilst executing threading operations
Thread cutting oil
Bench grinder to round off the end of the rod (clamp)

Knowledge/skills:

How to use taps and dies
How to safely use a drill press (you know, with out leaving the chuck key in the chuck or getting my long hair or shirt tail tangled in it)
How heating metal cherry red makes for easy bending
How to light an O/A torch and the kind of flame that would be best for heating the rod (notice I said nothing about safety here)
How to use a tube to bend the rod very precisely and that heating only the area where I needed the bend would contribute to a tight radius
Knowing to use a nut on the threads to protect them while bending (probably not strictly necessary but...)
Knowing how the clamp from the desk lamp used to be designed and understanding how the materials I had on hand might work in a similar way

I'm not saying all this to brag. I just marvel at the accumulated tools and knowledge and the human capacity to weave it all together into something useful. That's what I live for! It's also interesting to look at all the above and then look at the simple end result. Things are not always as simple as they look.

What I'm also happy about is that I was able to find everything pretty easily since my shop is more organized. :rocker:

Here's the rod after it was threaded then bent:

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Here are all the pieces that make up the clamp (threaded rod, nut, washer) and the lamp's mount:

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And, the final product...a useful desk lamp on my work bench. I know. Big whoop. But it's the little things in life.

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xtremek · Jul 8, 2015

Nicely done.

jimgood · Jul 9, 2015

What I refer to as "sideways" progress...

Last night I spent about 15 minutes moving stuff on the west side so I can rip up the remainder of the carpet. I hate doing this because it means I'm stacking stuff even higher and deeper, blocking access to other stuff. But it's necessary.

Here's the area I mostly cleared out. The carpet, bi-fold door and the stuff in the middle of the room are going to the dump. The stuff to the right and left I'll move when I'm ready to pull up the carpet.

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Here's the unfortunate result...piling higher and deeper. :sad:

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jbmatth · Jul 9, 2015

It is great you are taking control of your space! All too often I see garages that are so stacked full they'll never be any use in that condition. I have the same tendencies to just hang onto stuff for this or that reason and have had to work at trying to keep my place clean. Now I'm trying to organize a huge amount of stuff in an even bigger space that hasn't been cleaned in many many years prior to my ownership. Keep moving forward, just like eating an elephant one bite at a time and you'll get it knocked out.
JB

jimgood · Jul 9, 2015

jbmatth said:
Keep moving forward, just like eating an elephant one bite at a time and you'll get it knocked out.
JB

That's the crux of it!

I see you're a fellow Cobra fan. Got one?

Edit: never mind. I answered my own question by visiting your Hidey Hole thread! Nice car! What brand is it?

jimgood · Aug 3, 2015

Made a tiny bit of progress this weekend. I still feel like I'm just moving things from one place to another and not really consolidating. But it really is getting better. I built a rack to house 10 Rubbermaid storage bins. Somehow I mismeasured and ended up making it about 8" too deep. No matter though. It was just deep enough to get one extra bin on top. :lol_hitti

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Where you see the metal shelf of paint supplies in the middle/right of the pic below, I had two other metal shelves to its left. One had parts from my Cub Cadet project mower and the other had various hardware for house wiring. I threw away a few things and moved the shelves into the East Wing (pic above). I still need to go through this remaining shelf to consolidate. That will go into the other room. The wood shelf with all the oil and stuff needs to get moved somewhere. Haven't decided yet. And on the floor in front of that shelf is a pile of 12' metal tubing plus some pre-bent roll cage components for my project car. The plan is to use the metal to build a rolling cart on which to store metal and another to store lumber and have those in the East Wing. But I'm running out of space so I'm going to have to get a little more aggressive about tossing some stuff if I can.

I'd really like to eliminate this support post but I need to get some engineering input. There's nothing above it but my open living room. If I could move it to the left so it's 3' feet from the wall, it would be better.

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I haven't really gained that much floor space yet but if I can get to the point where all the storage items are on the other side, I'll be able to move the big tools against the walls. The idea being that I can roll the tools out as needed for use.

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xtremek · Aug 3, 2015

Looking back at the first pics, you've done a ton. Keep up the good work.

Jim's Interim Shop of Horrors

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