Biggest frustration/Lessons learned?

[mball]

Hi Everybody,

My name is Mike and I have been a member for quite a while although not a frequent poster as I don't have a lot to offer at this point. It has been awesome reading about the many successes you have all had and seeing the many great garage transformations. I love the gallery!

Anyway, I was fortunate enough to buy a home that has an attatched 35' x 22' garage albeit with a fairly low ceiling.

Here is my question. I am in the planning stages right now of laying it out and hope to find out from all of you that have been there and done that, what your biggest frustrations have been during your garage transformation and any lessons learned. Hopefully, through all of your acquired knowledge, I can avoid at least some mistakes.

I like to putz in the garage, work on projects, and detail my vehicles. Eventually, it will be home to a Porsche, a long time dream soon to be reailized!

Mike

 

[SPDMETL]

Do as much as you can, and do it all at once, so you don't wind up doing it again.

 

[dirttracker18]

Plan, plan, plan and when you have your plans finalized, plan it out again. Utilize info gathered on this site. Start writing down the things you like and don't like and fit that into your space.
Finally, I say take your time and expect to change things. It is always a work in progress.

 

[mball]

Thanks for the input guys. I have been taking tons of notes. I think the most difficult part is the planning.

 

[Shadowdog500]

I agree with the "plan and plan again" advice.

Dont move anything into the shop until you have your plan, otherwise things tend to wind up wherever you put them.

Even after my planning, I didn't make anything permanent/irreversible until I saw how the flow in the shop worked. After you work in the shop a while you will figure out what needs to be tweaked with your plan and what works right off. After that, I started bolting things to walls, floors etc.

Have a place just inside the door to put things down. When you are coming in with car parts, transferring stuff from car, etc, it is really nice to have a place right next to the door to temporarily put it. I keep a desk there.

Avoid clutter like the plague. Most people I know, Including myself, have a problem with this. I don't know what it is but after you get a shop, equipment, tools, boxes, etc. starts piling up almost out of nowhere and eventually it gets so tight that you cant even move. I had his happen to my last big shop, and I have a friend who has his 50'X100' shop so full that you cant even move.

Chris

 

[crewchief888]

best suggestion is to get everything off the floor that you can using cabinets, shelves, hooks
whatever suits your "fancy"
nearly everything i have in my garage was saved from previous projects/ideas.
i use thrift stores, dumpster diving, and others "trash" for storage, and organization, so my plan changes constatly, depending on what i find.
my garage is small (19x22), and could use some work, it's drafty, uninsulated, dont have much for outlets, and not well lit at all.
but i make it work for what it's needed for.

but then i'm a cheap bastid

 

[mball]

I agree with keeping everything off the floor. I am going to do my best to make that happen.

 

[6530]

Put everything on wheels.

 

[srmofo]

Im the opposite. I find its easier for me to organize and lay things out by trial and error. With everything in the space. Sure something might fit in a space, but it may be awkward to use or just not look right.

I end up agonizing for weeks if I plan too much. I just like to take it one step at a time.

The exception to that is workbenches. Find your work area. place your benches. then place everything around them in the most logical order FOR YOU.



Obviously if you plan to insulate, drywall, and epoxy those should all be done at the same time. Thats also a great time to add extra outlets, you'll be glad you did

 

[dirttracker18]

Obviously if you plan to insulate, drywall, and epoxy those should all be done at the same time. Thats also a great time to add extra outlets, you'll be glad you did

Big agreement there. finish the interior (walls up, finished, painted floor done if that's the plan) before anything goes in. Otherwise it may never get done. I just can't see moving everything out now to do the floor. That will likely never happen

 

[mball]

Thanks for the advice. That makes a lot of sense to figure out the workbench location and plan everything around. I know I also will be probably overly analyzing where everything is laid out.

I do like the idea of everything that isn't off the floor should be mounted on wheels. Every Saturday at the firehouse we flush the whole floor and squeegee it. I see myself doing that on a regular basis in my own garage. If everything is on wheels or off the floor it makes it much easier.

 

[dirttracker18]

I do like the idea of everything that isn't off the floor should be mounted on wheels. Every Saturday at the firehouse we flush the whole floor and squeegee it. I see myself doing that on a regular basis in my own garage. If everything is on wheels or off the floor it makes it much easier.

If that is the case, you amuy want to either build in a curb or do a row of blocks before you stand the walls up. I put in one row of blocks and can now flush the floor without worry of getting any of the wood for the walls wet or worse yet water accumulating under them. it would take eight inches of water to get there now.
Some others might say this is unneccessary but I have seen to many garges with rotted sill plates or at least mouldy. (including my very first garage, which I attempted to lift only to discover the rot and put it back down)

 

[GarageEnvy]

Totally agree with the planning. I've spent far more time planning than actually building and a lot of it has been well spent. However, know that despite your best efforts of planning something unforeseen will pop up that forces you to change your plan a bit. I use a silly trick that I learned from my father. Take rolls of toilet paper and "block" out where things will go. I actually did this and even used some plywood, saw horses and cardboard boxes to simulate work benches, a table saw and other equipment in the shop. I found a couple of interference issues that I hadn't caught on paper.

 

[mball]

Both great ideas! Thanks! I was going to put something on the bottom several inches of the drywall like a diamond plate or something impervious to water but I like the idea of blocks better.

Regarding the mock up, I have done a layout on paper but am one of those people who has a hard time picturing it. I like the idea of going with the mock up.

 

[milkovich]

"Dont move anything into the shop until you have your plan, otherwise things tend to wind up wherever you put them."

This happened to me. My layout planned itself when I had to move everything in before the snow flew and I've been struggling with it for years.

Find a place for everything and keep everything in it's place. I wish I could follow my own advice!

 

[rickycobra]

Hanging a door never happens on the first try. It's one of my biggest pains.

 

[JC23]

Two half-assed jobs don't equal one - you need three!

With the point being, don't shortchange your work. Do it right the first time and you won't need to come back.

As far as layout goes, when I did my home office, I made scale drawings of everything and I could move stuff around at will. When I found a layout I liked, I also had a different perspective of it.

When I laid out the shape of my garage (had to work within a set SF) I did the layout in 1/25 scale and then used die cast cars to see how everything related. I'll repeat that process on my next one, along with all the great ideas I've stolen here.

I know it sounds kinda Martha Stewart-ish, but take your most used pieces and try to keeep them close to one another. They don't lay out kitchens by chance. Secondary machines and storage doesn't need to be in your way of working.

 

[lupinsea]

Take into account any important clearances you'll need / want for special circumstances or tools.

For instance, if you place a work bench at the end of a garage bay do you have enough room to park the car and still use the work bench or will the nose of the car be right up against the work bench.

For the above example you'd be looking at about 2 ft of counter depth plus at least 3 ft of open floor space in front of it (min.) before reaching the nose of the car. So, you'd need to figure out if you have 5 ft+ or more extra space in a given garage bay. Again, this is just an example.

Other issues. . . clearances to doors, clearances to garage door tracks, clearances to open cabinet doors, clearances to outlets, and so forth.


Good bright lighting is also helpful to clearly see what you're working on.