spinal_tap
Member
- Joined
- Sep 3, 2013
- Messages
- 5
Hello everybody. I've been a long-time lurker here, but now I'm a first-time post-er.
A little over 10 years ago, the Missus and I bought our first house on the North Side of Chicago. Her requirements were a Pub within walking distance and a fireplace. My long-list of requirements was: a garage. Luckily we found both!
The garage is a nice little detached brick 2-car garage, which opens to the alley. At the time, it was heaven to have a garage after living without for years.
However, in the 10 years since we moved there the only thing I've really done to the garage, aside from filling it with tools and old bits of European steel, is replaced the single 60 Watt incandescent bulb with 4 double-florescent tubes, and a retractable drop-lamp.
So it's time was due, and Labor Day was the weekend to get it done.
The only grit in the grease was a pretty strict set of requirements:
With that in mind we headed to Menards to buy some selves. While we were there, the wife said something to the effect of "why don't you just buy that workbench while we're here". My original plan was to either build, or buy a 2nd-hand workbench that I could modify, to suit my requirements. By going with a new workbench, I'll miss having the patina of older stuff, but I figure I'm happy to apply my own patina. So after a few moments of hemming and hawing, I saw the wisdom in her plan, and shortly thereafter we were unloading new shelving and a new workbench from her truck!
Enough with the jibber-jabber, everybody just wants to see the pictures anyway, so on with the "build" pics (as it were).
The hot-mess of the "before" picture:
Move the van out of the way for a better view of the mess:
Unload and remove shelf #1:
Do the same with shelf #2:
And get it out of the garage before the scrappers come and start hanging out in my garage...
Everything, except some steel stock and lumber are out or relocated (need to keep the radio going though):
18-zillion nuts and bolts later, the workbench is in:
Bare shelves in (last time they'll likely ever be bare):
Reloading the shelves:
Now to bring the lawn equipment back in (lost a little space here, so it's a bit of a tighter squeeze than before, but oh well):
And 8 hours later, back the van back in and call it a (long and tiring) day:
There is still some tidy-ing up to do. But a friend recently bought a garage with plenty of extra storage space, which came with a house, in SW Michigan. So many unused, or under-used tools, transmissions, engine-blocks, etc., will one day (soon, I hope) find a long-term home there.
Aside from that, the only other thing I'm thinking of doing in the short-term is to add another florescent fixture directly above the workbench, and running power to the workbench. But if the wisdom of the Garage Journal has suggestions as to what else my garage needs, I'm all ears.
Thanks!
David
A little over 10 years ago, the Missus and I bought our first house on the North Side of Chicago. Her requirements were a Pub within walking distance and a fireplace. My long-list of requirements was: a garage. Luckily we found both!
The garage is a nice little detached brick 2-car garage, which opens to the alley. At the time, it was heaven to have a garage after living without for years.
However, in the 10 years since we moved there the only thing I've really done to the garage, aside from filling it with tools and old bits of European steel, is replaced the single 60 Watt incandescent bulb with 4 double-florescent tubes, and a retractable drop-lamp.
So it's time was due, and Labor Day was the weekend to get it done.
The only grit in the grease was a pretty strict set of requirements:
- Rehab had to be done in a day.
- New shelves were a requirement.
- A workbench or work-surface was needed.
- All new stuff had to accommodate opening the van's tailgate, for loading/unloading camping gear.
- New stuff had to make the garage more organized and easier to work in.
With that in mind we headed to Menards to buy some selves. While we were there, the wife said something to the effect of "why don't you just buy that workbench while we're here". My original plan was to either build, or buy a 2nd-hand workbench that I could modify, to suit my requirements. By going with a new workbench, I'll miss having the patina of older stuff, but I figure I'm happy to apply my own patina. So after a few moments of hemming and hawing, I saw the wisdom in her plan, and shortly thereafter we were unloading new shelving and a new workbench from her truck!
Enough with the jibber-jabber, everybody just wants to see the pictures anyway, so on with the "build" pics (as it were).
The hot-mess of the "before" picture:
Move the van out of the way for a better view of the mess:
Unload and remove shelf #1:
Do the same with shelf #2:
And get it out of the garage before the scrappers come and start hanging out in my garage...
Everything, except some steel stock and lumber are out or relocated (need to keep the radio going though):
18-zillion nuts and bolts later, the workbench is in:
Bare shelves in (last time they'll likely ever be bare):
Reloading the shelves:
Now to bring the lawn equipment back in (lost a little space here, so it's a bit of a tighter squeeze than before, but oh well):
And 8 hours later, back the van back in and call it a (long and tiring) day:
There is still some tidy-ing up to do. But a friend recently bought a garage with plenty of extra storage space, which came with a house, in SW Michigan. So many unused, or under-used tools, transmissions, engine-blocks, etc., will one day (soon, I hope) find a long-term home there.
Aside from that, the only other thing I'm thinking of doing in the short-term is to add another florescent fixture directly above the workbench, and running power to the workbench. But if the wisdom of the Garage Journal has suggestions as to what else my garage needs, I'm all ears.
Thanks!
David
