Novice basement workshop and single car garage

Hello All, new here to the forums and figured i'd begin my build thread since I should be starting on the basement workshop pretty soon. Now I am no carpenter, not a mechanic (just basic stuff), not a welder or work as any other skilled trade. I work at a stone fabrication company here in Connecticut as part of a project management group. Just bought my first house at the end of 2013 with my soon to be fiance.

A small 1300sf cape fit the bill. Plenty for us as a starter home with our two dogs. Wiring was bad (piggybacked off of two circuits), plumbing needed updating and the house had no insulation in the walls. We gutted the whole first floor. Luckily my fiance is a project manager for a commercial construction company. Her site super is our carpenter, her father a cabinet maker. My best friend is an electrician and his buddy a plumber. We did most of the work ourselves or by helping our family and friends with the trades they do. I can also do some tile work thanks to the company I work for, so I tiled the bathroom floor and the backsplash in the kitchen. The items we did not touch were installing the hardwood floor, taping the sheet rock, painting and stick building the garage, but we did shingle it and trim it out. I'm quite pleased with our work and its a great feeling of accomplishment.

So anyways, my hobbies are playing golf, collecting custom built putters and cars. I've put the whole car hobby on hold for a while so I can concentrate on the house and playing golf. Golf is just an easier budget than building a racecar. The basement "workshop" is to fulfill my needs for golf club storage, club gripping and building. Plus some organized storage and a putting green.

Lets cut to the chase, below are some pictures of what I am starting out with. The bench that is there came with the house. The guy who owned the house before me put that square carpet tile with adhesive back on top and even screwed them down. Needless to say that bench is not going to work for me and it will be coming out. Below you will also see a CAD drawing of the layout I wish to achieve. I will start with the 30x60 bench on the left. This will be my golf club bench for regripping, cleaning and building. I am planning on building the bottom of the bench to house a tool chest and the shop vac as well as the catch can for the grip solvent. I also got a small vintage AMC #4 bench vise that I can clamp the golf clubs with.

I am looking for a rubber top for the bench. Something around 1/4" thick that wont scratch the clubs. If anyone has any ideas, I have not been able to find anything. Now onto the pictures.

Chapman: i started selling gym equipment after not qualifying for the Champions tour in 2005 and sold a lot of rubber mats. gym mats are usually 3/8, but the commercial gyms bought some more expensive rolled mats that i think was only 1/4 inch. i use 3/4 inch rubber horse mats in my aluminum trailer to protect the flooring and i have a few pieces of 3/8 for my bench tops.

i'll stay tuned to see how you organize your shop and how you make a putting green. i had a tour links putting green in my living room for a couple years with my wife's blessing and here's a picture of their 9 foot dogbone version that i owned.

looks like a good plan and i'll take a closer look again when i have time.

cheers

Chap: so is the snow finally gone and are you back out on the golf course? any new pictures or updates to show us??

drivesitfar said:

Chap: so is the snow finally gone and are you back out on the golf course? any new pictures or updates to show us??

Click to expand...

Forgot about this thread, i'll have to update it soon as I built my second bench, though not completely done and I still have to clean stuff up and organize. I bought a craftsman five drawer lower that came with an upper chest for tool/golf storage. I moved the golf bag rack to the wall on the left side of the original bench and it fits pretty good in there. I need to do some shelving for display of some model cars and golf stuff.

Will have pictures of my garage too as we are starting to finish that before winter and my buddy's project car gets stored in it. He moved to Brooklyn for work and has no place safe to store it. I have a bunch of plywood sheets to go up and a shed to build for more storage in the backyard. My buddy is buying us a shed so its not going to be anything fancy. Just a rubbermaid roughneck 7x7 to store the furniture, mower, etc.

drivesitfar said:

Chapman: i started selling gym equipment after not qualifying for the Champions tour in 2005 and sold a lot of rubber mats. gym mats are usually 3/8, but the commercial gyms bought some more expensive rolled mats that i think was only 1/4 inch. i use 3/4 inch rubber horse mats in my aluminum trailer to protect the flooring and i have a few pieces of 3/8 for my bench tops.

i'll stay tuned to see how you organize your shop and how you make a putting green. i had a tour links putting green in my living room for a couple years with my wife's blessing and here's a picture of their 9 foot dogbone version that i owned.

looks like a good plan and i'll take a closer look again when i have time.

cheers

Click to expand...

I plan on putting down some of the interlocking gym flooring and buying a roll of putting turf. I'll cut my own holes and I think its going to be just a rectangular 6'x16' depending on how the fiance will let me move those metal shelving units.(she wants to finish off half the basement for a clean laundry area...)

Chapman: post up some pictures when you get a chance. ask questions is you have any and maybe i or somebody else might be able to help.

cheers