2 garages - how do you separate function / tools?

[dtbingle]

Current attached garage is 20x20. Using it for even maintenance auto work is a pain. Width wise, it's good as a 1-bay setup. Length wise, you aren't able to have any cabinets/toolboxes/shelves on the front wall or else the car won't fit with the garage door closed and have walking room. Add in table saw, miter saw, toolboxes, workbench leaves little room and proves to be an aggravating work environment.

Based on city code, I'm able to build a 16x22 garage out back.

My thought is to save the 20x20 with short ceiling for woodworking area and tool storage. Then 16x22 out back will be a dedicated 1-bay auto work space or park space only.

The question. How do you decide what tools to keep where? Heat/AC both spaces 24/7? Only heat/AC 20x20 with stored tools continuously and the other only as-needed?

 

[ddurrett896]

The question. How do you decide what tools to keep where? Heat/AC both spaces 24/7? Only heat/AC 20x20 with stored tools continuously and the other only as-needed?

I'm in the same boat but in the planning stages.

I've settled on....

attached: the main stuff I frequently use (tools,lift,cars)
detached: the lawn stuff and other big things I rarely use (generator, pressure washer, paint cans, scaffolding)

 

[Ray-CA]

Same thing here. I have a 28x22 auto shop and a 9x18 dirty/wood shop. All the mechanics tools are in the large shop. The rest are in the small one. The only tools I need to transfer are my Makita 18v drill/impact. Other than that, each shop is equipped as is.

Ray

 

[matt_i]

Can you attach those two garages so they can share HVAC? If not, its not the end of the world, a 12k minisplit running on 120vac will do a lot of cooling in a small space.

The attached garage will probably stay above freezing if you keep the overhead door mostly closed via heat leakage from the house.

I don't know how small they make a natural gas forced air heater, I've heated my house-garage at times in the dead of winter with a 5kW electric (roughly 16kBTU equivalent) for emergency winter repair jobs, and while it wasn't very fast it did take off the chill. If the garages are insulated, have good 2" thick overhead doors on them it wont take much to keep them at 35F thru the winter. Then you just ramp it up as needed. The mini split could provide some heating via reverse flow heat pump but I don't think its as efficient that way.

In other news is the original garage size fixed from when it was originally new? How does a brand new house deal with a full sized utility vehicle?

 

[dtbingle]

Attached garage is heated only right now with vented NG unit to keep above freezing during winter. The only location for the new proposed 16x22 is on the other side of the house about 100' away, so sharing HVAC is a no-go.

The attached garage is almost a misnomer in my case. It's connected by a few feet to the house at a corner with no doorway between the house and garage. You have to go outside to go between them. In other words, the radiant heat from the house is very little, which was the main reason for running a NG unit haha.

Yes, original size. House was built mid 1950s.

Latest thoughts are

attached: keep it heated and cooled, store all tools, compressor, table saw, miter saw, toolbox
detached: 1 bay dedicated parking spot, with enough space to do maintenance vehicle work when needed. Only heat when working out there. Will be somewhat of a pain, but use a tool bag or cart to move needed tools over. Maybe leave floor jack, stands, things of that nature out there.

 

[vavet]

I have a 24x32 detached workshop. It has a surface-mounted scissor lift. It is not used to house our daily drivers. This is my workshop for building airplanes, wood-working projects of any type (even for the house), and actual wrench turning on our daily drivers. I have no project vehicles at the moment. All of my metric tools are in this garage in a Matco 2-bay rollaway box.
I have a 24x30 attached garage. It holds our daily drivers, a stand-alone freezer, and all the equipment and supplies needed for general household upkeep - lawn mowers, leaf blower, string trimmer, bicycles, plumbing tools and supplies, painting tools and supplies, etc. I have an older Craftsman rollaway (the gray and red type from the 70s) with top box that holds a lot of the tools. Nearly all of my SAE tools are in this box.
It's an imperfect system as there will inevitably be something in the other garage that I need whenever I start a job. This is the best I've been able to come up with so far.

 

[Falcon67]

Buy more tools. Done.