Garage/Storage Ideas Needed

[69_sportsroof]

Hello all, I have been struggling with coming up with an answer to this problem and think I could benefit from some outside perspective.

I sold my running driving fun car to buy my dream car, a 69 mustang fastback, which is in complete disrepair. I have it parked in my very small "2 car" florida garage. I have a couple shelves along the sides of the garage for misc storage, plus two toolboxes, water heater, and AC unit in the garage. With all of that, there is almost no room left over for the car or all of the pieces of the car once I tear it down. I have half an acre in my side yard, and an existing 20'x40' concrete slab that used to house a carport, but only the slab was there when I bought the house. I had the slab checked, and it does not have footers so it will not support a proper block garage. I checked into steel buildings, but am a little surprised on pricing, I've been quoted around $9k for a 20x40x9 bare bones building. My wife and I plan to move in roughly 5 years so I also have concerns on investing money and not getting a decent return.

My conundrum is if I build a garage to work on the car, that will delay my ability to pay for car parts for quite some time. If I don't build a garage, I have money to work on the car, but have nowhere to work. (City law says not allowed to park non-running cars in the driveway, yard, etc.) Should I buy a shed? Self build a garage? Rent a storage unit? At the end of the project I'd rather have the car than a garage if I have to choose. I've never done any sort of building project, so I have very little experience to lean on.

Thanks,
James

 

[piker28]

Without seeing the garage I would go with the shed option. Main reason is you can also put items besides the parts out there and clear out more garage space.

 

[bczygan]

Prioritize.

And use all available resources.

If your priority is the car, then use your entire house and yard to that end.

A temporary shed will house not car related things AND car parts until you need them. You do NOT need a "proper block" garage. Use the slab and put up the least expensive allowed structure. Will they allow one of those fabric and metal hoop enclosures? Call it a greenhouse and put your car parts in there. Something like this, or even bigger, and cover it with an opaque fabric so nobody can see the contents. Put a couple of bales of peat moss outside for camouflage.

Something like this:

Put things on a registered trailer. If it's enclosed, you're golden. If not, then throw a tarp over the stuff.

Use the rest of your house. Have an under used room? Use it. Re-purpose it. I don't care if it says family room or dining room or bedroom number 3 on the floor plans. Use it for what you want.



Bill

 

[eastbaysubaru]

I'll second the temporary car port type structure. A lot of them have front and rear "doors" as well so a non-running car wouldn't be visible.

-Brian

 

[69_sportsroof]

I haven't seen those fabric enclosures, I'll check into them. I'm not against pushing the car over to the side yard, working under the "tent" for the weekend and pushing it back into the garage and taking the tent down if it's not terrible setup time.

The main problem is hurricanes here make the building code pretty strict. Also I don't know if a stick built structure would be allowed on the slab due to no footers, I just know that metal buildings/carports can be erected without any sort of slab.

The wife would have a pretty strong opinion about storing parts inside, with the exception of maybe seats and small things haha.

 

[69_sportsroof]

I may also shop around for an enclosed car trailer... that would serve double duty in the future, and it's a decent amount of space if I can get a deal.

 

[Al Bundy]

You may also have to shop around for a new wife. I've had car parts in our bedroom for years.

 

[188slo50]

A buddy of mine shopped around and ended up getting an enclosed trailer with a bent axle, works great for a storage unit and he will just sell it when his nova is done. How long is your build going to take?

 

[lakeroadster]

Lets see some photo's of that sports roof 'stang for inspiration. Now, and a photo of your vision for it. My friend in high school had a maroon and black Mach 1. Truly awesome car.

The enclosed trailer concept has a lot of merit. Every place we've ever owned I have either built a shop.. or had one built. I'm on number 4.. it does get tedious.

When it comes to restoring or scratch building cars / hot rods.. I gotta be able to stand back and enjoy the build, and just walk away when it becomes a chore until the juices start flowing again.

 

[chops101]

At the end of the project I'd rather have the car than a garage if I have to choose.

James with that said, you can build your car in your present garage.
I finished a 69 Camaro a few years ago, and I built it in a FL garage like yours, it was prob 24 x 22. HOA covenants and all, I would only bring the car out of the garage to blow it off and things like that. On the noisy days, like hammering on new door skins, I had the overhead door shut to try to be nice to the neighbors. It takes longer due to the fact you have to put things away somewhat at the end of the day. I would back my wife's car out to work on my car. The garage was packed, but strategically packed, organized and neat.
You can do it.

 

[raddksn]

You may also have to shop around for a new wife. I've had car parts in our bedroom for years.

when I started dating my wife, first time she come to my house asked why I was repairing a snowmobile hood on the kitchen table. I told her it was too cold in the garage, six years later we married!

 

[kylefitz]

Just an idea but what about pouring footers and using the existing slab as your floor? Then you can stick build on that. Not sure if that would work or not.

 

[gregtwojeeps]

Just have to want your project done bad enough when space is small. I did my grunt work outside on my project truck using a tarp then, took my truck inside when it got to the finishing stages. I had a one car garage 11'6" wide inside x 27 ' long. I had to put my old truck on dollies I built just to work on it.....

When I was painting it, I shoved it to one side of the garage and then I shoved it back over to paint the other side. I had a cable gear drive boat winch mounted on my workbench so that I could roll the truck out of the garage to clean it up, and then winch the truck back in. We have to do, what we have to do.... to meet the occasion. Good Luck. jmo

 

[pmiranda]

I like the trailer idea. plenty of covered storage and the pad is already there to park it. When you're ready to move, either sell it or refresh the axles and brakes and use it to move! Might come in real handy if you need to take the frame or other large parts somewhere to get them blasted or coated.
You probably have room to both park the trailer and put a shed on that pad.

 

[Crazyjake8493]

The trailer idea sounds good. If you're going to go with a temporary structure for cover (carport), the cheapest way is to look around for an old trampoline frame (or two) that someone doesn't want. The use the legs for the base and the half circles for the top, and throw a big contractor-grade roofing tarp over the top. You could get a small 8x10 tarp for the front that you could roll up and then let down to conceal stuff. Cheap and easy.

 

[78Bird]

i agree, get storage for the yard/parts/etc so you can get anything you don't use or need every day out of the garage proper. The car trailer is a good idea, as is the 'temporary' shelter... don't forget security though, a knife gets you into those.

Maybe an inexpensive temporary stick built shed on the concrete, leave the rest of the slab as a work area (sandblasting, power washing, any real dirty work...)

Get cabinets to keep supplies off the floor and up in the 'dead' area high on the wall.

Is there a decent gap above the garage door when it's open? fab up brackets/shelves to allow you to stack and store stuff up there.
https://www.google.com/search?q=she...0ahUKEwj88aXy5K_NAhUD1CYKHTigCwIQsAQISQ&dpr=1

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Ryan started a thread on sea-can buildings. Two 20 foot lockable sea-cans on either side of the pad and a tarp roof to work under.

Sent from my XT1032 using Tapatalk

 

[TX63CONV]

Depends on whether your wife wants a trailer sitting in the side yard for a couple of years. I recently did the same and stored as many parts as I could in our storage room and bought a 10x10 metal shed from Lowes for $300. It has held up great. You will want as much room as possible to work on the car and you are not going to want to move it back and forth for long.

Good luck and check out the forum on 69stang.com

 

[VocaTexas]

Being that you live in central Florida, the sea container option should be very cost effective. A good used one would probably cost you a bit over two grand, a really nice one-tripper would be around three. You can always sell it later and get most, if not all, of your money back.

 

[Budman01]

You could rent-to-buy a storage building, set up on the slab, tie downs could go through the existing concrete, monthly payments to your budget, I know of one very good dealer in the Cocoa area, surely one in your area.

 

[AMCguy]

Just an idea but what about pouring footers and using the existing slab as your floor? Then you can stick build on that. Not sure if that would work or not.

I second this.

You'd have a 21'6'' x 41'6'' building. Pretty sweet.