dorkPunch Garage.

[dorkpunch]

Been workin on sprucing my workspace up a bit and making it a little more user friendly and presentable. I've posted pictures of it in the past, but here's how it looked about a month ago.

North Wall.

East Wall.

South Wall.

and the West side- mostly just garage door.

Why not- a shot er three of the outside.

Back patio of of the garage that doubles as extra workspace in the summer when I'm busy.

 

[dorkpunch]

As you can see- clutter and disarray. Time to change that. I'm a full time teacher and in the summers I fix things... This helps me afford to be a teacher. I was tired of tripping over things and searching for stuff, and I was ESPECIALLY tired of the DINGY PINK WALLS.

Now, this aint going to be no fancy super $$$ makeover. It will take time and as little money as possible, but I do have a few goals for this project.

1. Get rid of all VISIBLE pink. I don't care what's behind the shelves...

2. ORGANIZE. Make workspace more user friendly, not a storage area.

3. HIDE. Mainly talking about shelves here- I want doors for my shelves.

4. Bling. Want it to look nice enough that my wife wouldn't mind hanging out in there every now and then with me.

5. Useability. Need to be able to get customers equipment in and out easily without having to move 5 things, AND be able to work on a project or two comfortably at the same time without tripping over other things.

Sounds like a lot to ask, eh? Well, follow along while I get y'all up to speed. Lets start with this:

 

[JimVonBaden]

Hi DP, welcome over from ADV!

I'll be keeping an eye on your garage, as you do some good stuff!

Jim

 

[NickTheNut]

How many motorcycle gas tanks do you own?

 

[dorkpunch]

Jim- You've seen it all already...

Nick- You can never have enough gas tanks.

First order of business was to get the shelves out from under the workbench and set up, and build a new workbench.

Wood.

May seem like a funky design, it is. I was re-using some pieces I already had so the rest of it was built to match.

 

[marty_p]

Can't wait to see your progression!

What will your workbench countertop be?

 

[dorkpunch]

Same thing that was sitting on top the shelves in the orriginal pictures. Its an 8 1/2 foot long piece of 1/4 inch steel bent up to be a "counter top". Scavenged from a dumpster. Probably one of the nicest pieces of equipment I have.

 

[marty_p]

Same thing that was sitting on top the shelves in the orriginal pictures. Its an 8 1/2 foot long piece of 1/4 inch steel bent up to be a "counter top". Scavenged from a dumpster. Probably one of the nicest pieces of equipment I have.

Now THAT will be fine -- and perfect for pounding!

 

[fergus]

Tell those boys play time is over! BACK TO WORK!




Looks like you've got a plan. Cant wait to see more.

 

[dorkpunch]

Few more pics. Old workbench.

Yanked it out,

Did some painting,

And stuffed the new workbench in.

 

[SiGmA_X]

Nice bench top! Lookin' forward to the clean up, has a ton of potential and apparently a skilled user. Should be good!

 

[dorkpunch]

Few more paint pics. Still the North wall.

South wall, entrance to garage from house.

Workbench sorted, tool box and other bits put back where they go. You can actually see the benchtop! A place to work!

 

[dorkpunch]

Moving on. Part of what is making all of this possible- I got a "toy box". We live on a dead end road. At the end of the road is an old house converted to a duplex. There is an old "barn" off to the side that renters have occasionally used for storage. The owner is always having me fix his equipment and approached me to see if I would be interested in swapping rent for labor. Ummm.... YES?! Worked out the details and while I'm just using it for "storage" I've got a screaming deal. Eventually, if business gets busy in the summers, I may move everything over there. Sorry for the crappy pics, it was dark.

Its large. Easily fit two cars in there with lots of room behind them. Then, behind that, theres another storage area which I was thinking would make a great parts room. On top of that, the front has a roof that hangs over enough to park another car under it. I don't get to use the "parts room" for now, but thats fine, I've got plenty of room. Did I mention its wired for 220?

 

[dorkpunch]

While I was working on my garage, a friend was "retiring" from the small engine repair business after about 20 years. He asked me to come help him clean out his shop- I obliged. Scored this cool engine shelf:

Ought to make things a little more organized. I got one more just like it but a Tecumseh, a few other shelves, and some cool old signs. One of 'em is even NEON!

Believe I hauled 2 Suburban fulls home- parts, tools, manuals, etc. Most of it went over to the Toy Box for storage for now.

Pic of his shop-

Felt really weird to be in there with it that empty. Used to have a showroom with 6 or 7 riders and the back was ALWAYS stuffed to the gills with customers work. Guess when your 78 laying on the concrete floor working on a smelly old lawnmower gets a little wearisome.

 

[cgall]

Congrats to your friend on his retirement, too many skilled workers are quitting and it's getting harder to find quality anymore.

I calculate your benchtop to be 275+ lbs.

 

[dorkpunch]

Yes, its heavy.

Few more pics of the Toy Box, my storage unit.

The carport was added later, and whoever put it on there put a post right in front of the second door. Makes it pretty darn awkward to get a car in that side...

Just a bunch of JUNK.

 

[fergus]

Man, that's awesome that you have a second place to store all the junk. That would make my garage life 10X better. So, as a compromise, I've been pitching out junk this month. Oh well. Carry on!

 

[dorkpunch]

Yeah, it comes in handy but its an added burden- gotta pay "rent" on the storage too.

Few more pics and you'll be up to speed on my progress so far. I've got 3 sets of these shelves:

And yes, I know fertilizer and gas are a bad mix... temporarily moving things around. Anyways, I wanted to hide all the junk on my shelves by putting doors on them, so here's what I came up with on the cheap. Think it'll cost me about $30 per set of shelves to do these doors, paint and hardware included.

Buy some cheap wood:

Attach some cheap hinges:

Install doors with self drilling / tapping screws:

Add a side:

Cool! Works pretty darn good. Now fer some paint.

 

[dorkpunch]

Slather a little paint on there-

No, I'm not worried about overspray... The entire garage is going to be white eventually.

and why not. Racing stripes!

Added a few stickers I salvaged from my brothers mother in laws old service station... Wish I could restore THAT place!

Makes the whole corner brighter and it sure hides all the **** on the shelves!