Five years with this 3 car garage and finally going to try to make it the garage I want to spend more (even more) time in. I just hate not having room to work and walking sideways through a garage. I'm stuck with a 3-car and keep one hobby car in it. I want room to move - that's my driving theme. Getting rid of stuff that doesn't get used at least once a year; like the slip roll and shear i just sold that took up a great deal of floor space. Turned those dollars into 15 Gladiator wall cabinets - good trade. Attaching a layout drawing and welcoming comments. Glad to join the group. My kind of folks...
garage redo - Space to work theme
- Thread starter jrhaas60
- Start date
matt_i
Well-known member
Nice layout. Webb (Hwacheon? right) is a lathe I always wanted to try.
bczygan
Well-known member
Nice layout, but I would have gone the other way. More machines and less cabinets.
You can always rig up a cabinet, even if it's an old wood dresser off a junk pile, but machines are irreplaceable.
Got photos of the inside?
Bill
You can always rig up a cabinet, even if it's an old wood dresser off a junk pile, but machines are irreplaceable.
Got photos of the inside?
Bill
I feel silly about how long it took me to come up with this layout. I really want to be able to bring in a project and have a place to plop it to work on. One of the surprises of my garage is the car lift that turns out to be the best fab/welding table I can imagine. Heavy and adjustable height with removable 'slats' that are handy. And I can still use it as a car lift although it leaves some under car access to be desired.
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trust me, the trade was one I struggled with but I'll enjoy the space and cabinets daily. I can still access the slip roll and shear if I need them. I'll get some pictures uploaded, lots of in progress broken eggs here.
Here are the cabinets. Funky to put up without covering wall first but I'll sheet rock or panel around them and it gives me a place to put everything getting moved off of other walls in the meantime. What I really like about these besides the $99 sale price is that they are only 12" deep. They don't intrude on the garage space so much and I don't have to dig through stuff to get to the other stuff in the back. They will make a nice 'benchtop' to set things on too.
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Pre-destruct photos. First order of business is pulling off all of the dang brown pegboard and insulating and doing some wiring. I'll be glad to have white walls again some day. I'm still struggling with the wall covering - which is what brought me to this forum. Lots of opinions out there!
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JunkYardDawg
Well-known member
You should have dry walled before putting up the cabinets.
14 months later I'm still plugging away. Slow going but worth it. Thought I'd post some interim pictures. One benefit of going slow is that I've been able to improve on plans as I go. Preserving the space between joists has been time consuming but is going to pay dividends in the long run. It's going much quicker now. I did wind up pulling the cabinets off and putting up 1/2" plywood everywhere versus sheetrock - very happy with that choice (it is a detached garage). Loving Garage Journal - inspiration!
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It's actually a Mori Seki design. We have a Hwacheon HL18X40G lathe in the shop. The best, most rigid engine lathe made. They still make them too.
I hung the plywood, sanded on one side, with 1/32-1/16" gap and ran a thin bead of silicone to fill it. That gives it a little room for expansion. I was warned to leave the gap but haven't seen any movement even in Houston's humid environment. Yep, been working around all of that. I bought car dollies for the car since it's not running.
ScottsGT
Well-known member
First problem is the Pantera. I'll PM you my address so you can have it shipped for my care!
I'm kind of in the same situation, but a little worse. I too have a three car wide garage with two doors. But I have steel poles between the parking spots to hold the bedroom floor above.
Left bay has my '66 Mustang GT parked in it. Middle bay is kind of a work area where I set up a folding table for projects and temporary storage of items. Right bay without door is where I have my work bench, HF 44" cabinet with side boxes, riding mower, shelves for **** I need to throw out, water heater, etc.
right now the middle bay is full of wood working tools I pulled out of under stairs storage for a few projects.
Around spring I try to keep the center clean so I can pull in my '15 Mustang GT due to pop up hail storms.
I'm kind of in the same situation, but a little worse. I too have a three car wide garage with two doors. But I have steel poles between the parking spots to hold the bedroom floor above.
Left bay has my '66 Mustang GT parked in it. Middle bay is kind of a work area where I set up a folding table for projects and temporary storage of items. Right bay without door is where I have my work bench, HF 44" cabinet with side boxes, riding mower, shelves for **** I need to throw out, water heater, etc.
right now the middle bay is full of wood working tools I pulled out of under stairs storage for a few projects.
Around spring I try to keep the center clean so I can pull in my '15 Mustang GT due to pop up hail storms.
Ouch on the steel poles. I can't bring myself to consider a two post car lift because I don't want to work around it the 90% of the time I'm not using it. More than anything I still want OPEN SPACE to move and work. Throwing stuff out is a constant battle but so rewarding when I empty a trash can full of stuff or find someone who can use it.
moneypit_k5
Well-known member
THIS!
I too am redoing my shop to get more open space. After three years of using it with all my cabinetry and 22' of benchspace galore, I am switching to an open floor and a 50" rolling becnh top.
Ive discovered too much bench just leads to **** getting stacked. hard to work in such an environment. also hard to open car doors.
I agree but I'm cheating a bit with the wall of wall cabinets that get me 18' of 12" deep surface. I'm dedicating a couple of cabinets for projects that are in work so I can keep work surfaces clear. I love the shallow depth of the "Wall Cabinets". Good access to everything in them and they don't protrude past the garage door opening.
moneypit_k5
Well-known member
I used to arbitrarily make shop shelves and benches 22-24" deep/ one day I realized that the first 6" of the shelf were never used. since then 12-18" is what I use. sometimes 6" is what it takes for that project to squeeze thru. I know I know, thats what she said 
dla
Well-known member
jrhaas60, I like what you're doing with the space! The 12" deep cabinets are a great idea to keep everything accessible. The Pantera, well, that's only my dream car.
What is your intention with the garage? Are you setting it up to do machining/fabrication for clients or is it solely for personal projects?
What is your intention with the garage? Are you setting it up to do machining/fabrication for clients or is it solely for personal projects?
rarevair
Well-known member
Looks like you have a great space for working on the Pantera or doing machine work and fabrication . . . but not sure if you will ever have enough room for both. The large machine tools and band saw are able to take on some mighty projects, but can't think of very many projects to get the car running that would require them. You seem to access to similar machine tools at work. Right now they are getting in the way of getting the car going if that is your first priority.
One the car is running then it can be easily moved out of the way while you work on major metal projects. Yes the large machines are wonderful, solid and stable but my guess is that they are overkill for what you need to do. If you are in love with the large machines than hang on to them, just realize the severely limit what you can do in the remaining space.
Like everything you are doing . . . just think you are working hard at put 10 lbs. in a 5 lb. bag. That may be cause for frustration on down the line.
One the car is running then it can be easily moved out of the way while you work on major metal projects. Yes the large machines are wonderful, solid and stable but my guess is that they are overkill for what you need to do. If you are in love with the large machines than hang on to them, just realize the severely limit what you can do in the remaining space.
Like everything you are doing . . . just think you are working hard at put 10 lbs. in a 5 lb. bag. That may be cause for frustration on down the line.
The machine footprints are pretty reasonable now. They aren't there for the car and I don't think of them as large at all, more like a good balance. It's finishing the interior of the garage and organizing my stuff that's keeping me from the car - not a big deal after 29 years of ownership. I've settled on not having lots of fab tools that I'd like to have if I had more space - that's my trade for the space.
