Bicycle Work shop Project

[Duck72]

My basement is one of the old stone wall short ceiling type basements. Not only is it where we do our laundry but it is also my bicycle work shop. I collect,restore, rebuild bikes. I also ride them too but not all at once.

Anyway, since we are selling our home I need to make this space as clutter free and organized as I can so any potential buyers can see the space. But I want to keep it in a manner where I can continue working when I please.


The basement has always been a sore spot. It is either immaculate or a cluttered mess. I think this is partly due to the fact that I have so much stuff AND that nothing I have has any type of permanent home to go back to when I am finished using it.

Key projects:
* Organize tools so they are accessible but also have a permanent location for each of them.
* Organize parts for easy access and permanent storage
* Organize bikes for easy access but stored in a way that takes the least amount of room.
* Paint entry area and stairwell into the basement to brighten it up, finish the walls in stairwell and clean up laundry area to make it more inviting.
* Follow through with the rest of the basement and get the storage areas organized efficiently.

Here are some starter "Before" pics to show you what I am dealing with
My Porter cable air compressor and my 16 gallon shop-vac are both in there somewhere as well as an old grinder or two, HF buffer, drill press and various other tools and accessories.

 

[Duck72]

These "before" pics are already a few days old. More updated pics to come soon. My 8 year old son and I are making good progress.

Here are a few other pics from the original start day.

 

[gasser1961]

Holy Cow that's a lot of bikes

 

[Duck72]

Holy Cow that's a lot of bikes

You should see the 4-5 in the garage and the other 5 frames that are not in these pics. Some are being parted out and sold off while others will remain in my collection.

I will be making a thread about the garage later once this area is cleaned up and organized.

 

[98TJ]

You should make a couple of work stools like mine.

 

[justinmc]

You should make a couple of work stools like mine.

Love those stools!!!



Also loving this thread.. look at all those skyway(?) wheels. I used to be into BMX back in the day and have a couple of my old bikes. I keep trying to figure out what to do with them! haha.

 

[Duck72]

Justinmc you look like you are close to me. My local Bike shop is having a swap meet and vintage bike show with BMX categories on Sunday April 29th in Independence off the Square. PM me for details if you are interested in coming out. I'd love to see your bikes from back in the day.

Yeah those are skyways. Some are old and some are much newer.

Cool stools! I can imagine using forks instead of the crutches! Haha!

 

[TONE]

Hey Duck. It's me TONE from museum and vintage.

 

[ruquik]

Tons of mid school!!!!! LOVE IT.

 

[FITO]

Justinmc you look like you are close to me. My local Bike shop is having a swap meet and vintage bike show with BMX categories on Sunday April 29th in Independence off the Square. PM me for details if you are interested in coming out. I'd love to see your bikes from back in the day.

Yeah those are skyways. Some are old and some are much newer.

Cool stools! I can imagine using forks instead of the crutches! Haha!

Do you have a loner so I can see if I can still do a tail whip? Would like to talk late 80's freestyle with you some time.

 

[Duck72]

I would love to talk freestyle BMX with anyone, but I don't loan my bikes especially for tailwhips, LOL! You are welcome to come to Independence anytime and ride with us on Thursday nights out of Peddlers bike shop. Its about a 5 mile bike ride through the neighborhood. Just guys and gals on bikes cruising, chatting about whatever. We try to get tasty cold beverages afterward as well.

I made some great progress this week. Here are a few gems I dug up in the process.

Old Speedway Grinder. Works but the switch it twitchy. Looks like it can be easily replaced.

Some art deco style cabinet handles from my Grandfather's workshop. He was a carpenter, home renovator, jack of all trades. I tried to buy as many tools as I could when his farm, house and workshop were auctioned. These were in a box that also contained his estwing hammers. I have 2 of them around here somewhere.

S and K tool box my grandfather apparently used for plumbing odds and ends. This will eventually get cleaned up or restored. I just like the look of it and the sturdiness of it. Needs a tray.

My 1969 Craftsman table saw and planer. The motor is not hooked up to it and it needs some minor repair. When we get moved this is on the list of projects to clean up. It is buried at the moment. This was also my grandfather's and my dad purchased it from my grandmother as a birthday gift. I do have all of the pieces too.

 

[Duck72]

Made great progress last night and today. You can now see the floor! I was so excited that I went out and bought some new floor pads from Sears. On sale for $12.45 for 6 2ft sq diamond plate pads. My son was so excited to install them.

I still have lots of fine tuning to do but things are shaping up. You can now see my shop vac and my bostitch air compressor.

 

[Jagmandave]

Where did all the stuff go?

it doesn't really do any good if you just moved it to another part of the basment or the garage, does it?

 

[Duck72]

Well a lot of it was organized into tubs then stacked on another shelf that was cleaned up or tossed out. The The only keeper items that went anywhere were the two bikes on the floor and a 5 gallon bucket full of bike forks and 2 sets of wheels that are going to be sold. The two bikes were moved to the other side of the basement and the sale parts went to the garage.

Oh yeah, the trampoline was moved to a better location for easier access

I tossed out 6 bags of trash and cardboard. I also moved two bike frames (not pictured) to the garage that are going to the swap meet in April. Sale stuff goes to the garage and keeper stuff stays in the basement. My goal is to continue adding stuff to the sale bins in the garage. I do actively sell parts on BMXMUSEUM.com and CL. I recently bought myself a Nikon D5100 from the latest proceeds.

Somehow, I accumulated several boxes of "junky" parts from bike rebuilds and tear downs. After sorting through them they just got pitched. Such a freeing feeling that was!

Its amazing what can happen when you take things and put them into order rather than throw them into a chaotic pile. They just take up less space. I was able to put all of my extra wheels and tires onto the ladder racks after sorting them by size. I also stacked 12", 20" 24" and 26" tires all onto one rack.

I still have a ton of fine tuning to do but it is much manageable now. I plan to continue moving left through the basement and then that bike rack/shelf is going to be disassembled and put into the garage as scrap wood for other projects. Glad I used screws! That should allow a lot more light to reach the floor and make it appear brighter and bigger.

 

[Jagmandave]

You did a great job!

I recently spent about 2 months cleaning **** out of our basement, most of it got thrown out and you're right - I felt great about getting it cleaned out!

 

[Duck72]

Thanks, it is a lot like playing freecell. Empty space gets stuff to sort and organize which frees up more space etc etc etc. Kind of like a freecell snowball. Eventually you have more space overall.

More progress to come this week.

 

[Zeke]

If you are serious about selling the house, you will listen to your agent. My agent would tell you to move out some if not half of your furniture. The basement should be totally clear except for the washer. dryer, a cabinet and a table.

You want the buyers to instantly picture living there and what they would do with the space. Not what it will probably become for them as it did for you.

 

[Duck72]

Thanks for the input. It really does help to get outside opinions and viewpoints especially advice from other agents. Sometimes, you get so used to seeing it yourself that you don't realize what needs to change. I'll see what else I can get moved out.

We have done that with the rest of the house. It is magazine cover ready as some would say. The basement and the garage are the last places we have left to clean out/up and organize. The shop area as you see it will be even more organized and packed up. I'm not anywhere near done yet. Since I still have to live there and work on the house etc the tools must stay and at least be available.

Unfortunately, offsite storage units are not in the budget at the moment so packing it all away is not an option. So cleaning it out as much as I can and organizing it to the extreme will have to suffice for now. The main area that anyone will see when they walk into the basement as well as the laundry area is going to be very tidy, clean and bright.

I do plan to move some items (parts/bikes) to the (detached/shed) garage when I get it cleaned out. It suffers from the same issue of not being organized, and having 2 generations of stuff (building materials, scrap wood, lawn stuff) stored etc. We also have to find a balance of "show room ready" and still being able to live in the house. Hell, if it were really possible I would buy the house we want, move, then stage this one.

 

[jeffmoss26]

Looking good!!

 

[Duck72]

Thanks, I still have a long ways to go. Still sorting stuff into trash/sale/organize piles. I cleaned out a big corner this weekend and that put me on the road to tearing down the bike rack which should happen tonight or tomorrow. I should have a lot more floor space before the weekend arrives. And it doesn't stop there I have the rest of the basement to deal with. It is not nearly as organized and packed up as it should be. I see a garage sale and bike swap in my immediate future as well as some full dumpsters. We have thrift store pickup coming this week as well.

I did spend time in the garage this weekend. At least enough to get it organized so I can sell off my excess stuff and get rid of some things. I have my bike swap meet stuff all ready to go in tubs. It really helps to be able to access the lawn equipment too. Lots of CL ads put up and few things sold. I'm just going to keep trucking along until it is done. if I could take off 2 weeks I could really get some things done and cleared out. Perhaps a few long weekends are in order soon.