Cam's Australian 6x6m (20'x20') Detached

[Boostmeister]

A mate sent me a link to some guy with a cool garage and a black Porsche! I think you know which guy I'm talking about. Over the last few months I have been lurking and drawing inspiration from many wonderful garages & workshops. While I am still finding new pages to follow, the few that have really inspired me have been:

12 Gauge Garage http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=55006
44 Bikes Frame Shop http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=112578
First-Time Homebuyers http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=59241

So I'd like to say thanks

Anyway on to me and what I am up to. I am typing this from normally sunny Brisbane, in Australia. My wife and I have just sold our first house and are about to move to a new home with a detached garage !! Our current garage is a single car built under the house with an odd shaped concreted area that has been my workshop for the last 6 years, it's dark, has a very low ceiling and is open to the outside in a couple of areas making it not so pest / rodent proof.

When looking for our new home a stand alone shed was one of my main priorities and fortunately we found a great little house with a detached 6m x 6m (20'x20') steel framed garage out the back. There is also accommodation for 2 cars undercover elsewhere AND a small garden shed suitable for the mower and garden tools SO.....I have myself a workshop Very Happy.

I thought I'd start this little journal to keep track of what goes on in the new shed, but first, where I have been working to date.


This is part of my current area, the wall at the back had all my tools hanging and that bench is all steel for welding, yes it's huge and very heavy


Turn around and this is the view back toward the garage roller door, I had just finished packign up my tools in preparation for our move.


I used this space for model making, working on my RC truck etc


Finally some shelves for storage

 

[HOTFR8]

Impressive. Waiting to see more.

 

[Boostmeister]

So that's the old and this is the new ( so far, we don't get access till the 30th of April ) so I only have the plan of attack



I am trying to set up in half the space so that I can bring a car in to work on etc.

I hope to divide the bench space into 2 areas, one area for general work and maintenance and the other for more hobby related like RC or lego ( never too old ) The A/B cabinets will be metal storage around 1800 high while half sized ones will be under the benches. I also hope to put a set of tool draws under the bench with tools specific for the 2 areas.

A separate bench for the drill press, grinder and eventually a small metal lathe. The central bench will be my welding bench cut down to fit a little better.

 

[andyaus]

Congratulations on your new home and of course the workshop look forward to checking out your progress.

Your right, never to old

 

[Boostmeister]

Ok, so we finally moved house and I am beginning to look at my new shed. It's 20'x20' so not huge but also not too small. Here are a couple of shots just after moving all our stuff over to the new place. Most of this will have to stay in the shed BUT I do have a smaller 6'x6' garden shed for all my yard tools etc.

As you can see there is a lot more space in this shed compared to what I was dealing with in the first photos ( the old house )

First port of call will be some cabinet storage.

 

[Boostmeister]

So time for a little update. I have purchased some cabinets for storage. At my old place everything was on open shelves and got covered in dust and grime, I really wanted cabinets for the new place.

I found a second hand office furniture shop close to our new house and have become a regular The 2 tall cabinets are 2m High with 3 shelves, there was just enough room between to store all my screws etc.

I have also made a start on the new bench ( 1 of 3 benches i'll make ) The old bench was very thin and unstable, it was normal ply and so it absorbed any liquid that spilled on it. The new bench will be 3000 long and about 800 wide, covered with form/exterior ply. I have used this stuff for benches before and it's great.

Time for some pics.

The old bench


The new cabinets


Starting on the new bench

 

[Boostmeister]

Once I had built the frame I added the top and then tested some 'grey' paint I had lying around.





I then added the lower shelf and trimmed off the front edge ( where I know I will rest my feet ) with a hardwood baton I had from a previous project.



All done bar a little more paint

 

[Boostmeister]

I thought it might also be interesting to mention that before I started this project I was part way through working out the costings when I decided to use up some of the 'scrap' timber I had lying around. In the end the only purchase was the bench tops! All the timber and screws/nails/bolts came from supplies I already had.

While I am sure I'm not alone in this, I often buy all the bit for a project without looking at what I already have. Since moving to our new house my wife and I have been trying hard to use what we have and not to waste. It's amazing what meals you can make from items already in the cupboard or fridge!! so much so that we didn't do any grocery shopping this week at all, this of course meant that my bench arrived a week sooner too

 

[jinjaninja]

nice work boost.... and im living the scrounge life myself

 

[80WTI_55_CHEV]

Lookin good boostmeister, that bench turned out great, are you going to put a backboard on it so things don't fall down between the ribs of the shed wall mate. Keep the pics coming bud.

 

[rydeshed]

Great Shed. I too am in a tin shed!

 

[1/2 Cup]

Keep up the good work!

 

[sscustom]

looking good keep us updated , nice bench too!