kwb210
Well-known member
New member. Inspired by the great variety in garages/shops. Trying to grab a piece of everyones best to add it to my own.
I have a basic house, 2 car garage, to small for what I want in a shop. Sooo, roughly 10 years ago i purchased a Storage Condominium. The main focus was storage for my company records, and I don't mean music, lots and lots of paper! The first one was just shy of 14 wide, 50 in length and 18 high. It is ideal for a large motorhome. It had one large commercial roll up garage door, which also meant that everytime I opened the door in winter a gust of cold air came in and reduced the inside temps. I stored my truck and camper and then built a small, 14x12 loft, that was the storage area for corp records. The problem with 14 wide, adding a work bench or two, is I was constantly squeezing around my car project. I had sold the truck and camper, which looked as new considering it spent it's life inside, heated and dry. really proved to me the value of the unit. I had a chance to purchase a new unit less than a mile away and still the same 2 miles from my home. Sold the first one very quickly and purchased the new one, okay, actually I purchased the 2nd one and then was lucky to quickly sell the first, whew! Funny thing about my wife, she simply did not see it that way. New unit is in same kind of project, about 40 units in a couple of bldgs, gated access, well lighted at night etc. A number of other guys that turned the unit inot their private garages and small offices. So it is a great social place, and always someone around to borrow a tool or shoot the breeze. This unit is 45 in length but 20 feet wide and has a man door as well as the large garage door. It is wired in 3 phase, has a killer heating system and is plumbed for water and sewer. I'll attach a few pics showing the empty unit and then the start of the built out, after I reduce the pic size. I hired a friend to help me do the carpenter work, I'm handy mechancial but a novice in wood. The plan was to built a loft above what would be the work bay. We spent a few days getting the main frame work in place and then I'd go after work, drop the tie and white shirt for a tee shirt and do the finish work. I had a concrete cutter outfit come in and slice away the concrete, then I would stop every morning before work and dig for a bit until I found the water supply. A plumber capped it off for now, I'm in process of craiglisting to find a few plumbing items, toliet (will will go upstairs in the loft) and a stainless steel sink for a wash station. I started the project last August and now am ready to connect the wiring in the ceiling for the lights. I'll post later my light plan. The loft area is approx 20x 28 feet, I use it to store the corp records and lots of shelves for car parts on a car i am looking forward to working on when I get close to finishing the shop. It will have a small office, 10x12, and a wall to hang pictures of old magazine ads I have collected of Mercedes over the years as well as a place to read a repair manual while relaxing with a beverage. Well, it will NEVER be finished, but I want the lighting system up and running anyway. I'm close on that. Hopefully in March I'll drywall the ceiling over the work bay and then install the flush mount lights. I have planned 5 rows of lights, all on separate switches so that I do not have to turn them all on at once. I have 3 lights that will be a base light if I am simply stopping to get something and not working, then the other rows can be turned on as needed.
Lots of subjects still being decided on: nothing that is terribly important, I'm building a shop not a fancy garage. I'm still deciding on paint color for ceiling, walls, floor paint, some work benches and cabinets. Got a few cabinets from Grizzly Products. www.grizzlyproducts.com on page 252 of their catolog I got the white modular storage cabinets, man are they ever heavy! the workbench weighs 210 pounds! VERY well made, i am impressed. I got the idea from a local auto repair shop, he got the bench and then had a stainless steel sheet put down for the work area, bullet proof.
I'll add more later.
THanks!
Kurt
I have a basic house, 2 car garage, to small for what I want in a shop. Sooo, roughly 10 years ago i purchased a Storage Condominium. The main focus was storage for my company records, and I don't mean music, lots and lots of paper! The first one was just shy of 14 wide, 50 in length and 18 high. It is ideal for a large motorhome. It had one large commercial roll up garage door, which also meant that everytime I opened the door in winter a gust of cold air came in and reduced the inside temps. I stored my truck and camper and then built a small, 14x12 loft, that was the storage area for corp records. The problem with 14 wide, adding a work bench or two, is I was constantly squeezing around my car project. I had sold the truck and camper, which looked as new considering it spent it's life inside, heated and dry. really proved to me the value of the unit. I had a chance to purchase a new unit less than a mile away and still the same 2 miles from my home. Sold the first one very quickly and purchased the new one, okay, actually I purchased the 2nd one and then was lucky to quickly sell the first, whew! Funny thing about my wife, she simply did not see it that way. New unit is in same kind of project, about 40 units in a couple of bldgs, gated access, well lighted at night etc. A number of other guys that turned the unit inot their private garages and small offices. So it is a great social place, and always someone around to borrow a tool or shoot the breeze. This unit is 45 in length but 20 feet wide and has a man door as well as the large garage door. It is wired in 3 phase, has a killer heating system and is plumbed for water and sewer. I'll attach a few pics showing the empty unit and then the start of the built out, after I reduce the pic size. I hired a friend to help me do the carpenter work, I'm handy mechancial but a novice in wood. The plan was to built a loft above what would be the work bay. We spent a few days getting the main frame work in place and then I'd go after work, drop the tie and white shirt for a tee shirt and do the finish work. I had a concrete cutter outfit come in and slice away the concrete, then I would stop every morning before work and dig for a bit until I found the water supply. A plumber capped it off for now, I'm in process of craiglisting to find a few plumbing items, toliet (will will go upstairs in the loft) and a stainless steel sink for a wash station. I started the project last August and now am ready to connect the wiring in the ceiling for the lights. I'll post later my light plan. The loft area is approx 20x 28 feet, I use it to store the corp records and lots of shelves for car parts on a car i am looking forward to working on when I get close to finishing the shop. It will have a small office, 10x12, and a wall to hang pictures of old magazine ads I have collected of Mercedes over the years as well as a place to read a repair manual while relaxing with a beverage. Well, it will NEVER be finished, but I want the lighting system up and running anyway. I'm close on that. Hopefully in March I'll drywall the ceiling over the work bay and then install the flush mount lights. I have planned 5 rows of lights, all on separate switches so that I do not have to turn them all on at once. I have 3 lights that will be a base light if I am simply stopping to get something and not working, then the other rows can be turned on as needed.
Lots of subjects still being decided on: nothing that is terribly important, I'm building a shop not a fancy garage. I'm still deciding on paint color for ceiling, walls, floor paint, some work benches and cabinets. Got a few cabinets from Grizzly Products. www.grizzlyproducts.com on page 252 of their catolog I got the white modular storage cabinets, man are they ever heavy! the workbench weighs 210 pounds! VERY well made, i am impressed. I got the idea from a local auto repair shop, he got the bench and then had a stainless steel sheet put down for the work area, bullet proof.
I'll add more later.
THanks!
Kurt
) I also happen to be the builder of another similar project in Southern California, Ecualyptus at Beaumont