bczygan
Well-known member
OK,
So this is an existing single car attached garage here in Detroit. House is a 2 story brick colonial on a corner lot.
Here's the interesting part.......me and the wife are hoarders!
I'm making this admission here because I know there are more of us lurking out there. I want this to encourage them (And myself) that change is possible.
Existing conditions:
The house and garage are packed to the rafters.
I've built 7 sheds to hold the overflow.
All this on a 40x100 lot!
This is going to be about a lifestyle change for us both.
I'm counting on the OC among you to help us find ways to be more like you.
First step is going to be a clean out and reorganizing of the existing approx. 9x18 garage. I've begun today. For the last few years I couldn't even get into the garage from the inside or outside doors. I slid over a pile of stuff at the inside door today and began moving items from in front of me to behind me, working my way to the outside door. Kind of like those little puzzles where you have to move every other piece to make room for the piece you want to move. I got to the outside door and unlocked and partially opened it. The Airstream trailer in the driveway prevents full opening for now. I started by pulling out a lot of pieces of lumber that were stored in the garage. This included Womanized pine boards and fence boards that can be stored outside. There have been leaks and some pieces of plaster impregnated metal lath ceiling had fallen down. I pulled those out too. Filled 2 small black trash dumpsters with the debris. Stacked boxes up along the walls to make a path through the garage. Now I can almost get from one door to the other! Photos of what remains and the dumpsters and stacks of removed wood leaning on a tree follow:
Hard to get your bearings in this shot. You are looking in throught the outside garage door toward the back wall of the garage. Ceiling panels have fallen down and view is blocked by lots of stuff:
A little to the right of the previous shot showing the boards, lumber and MDF panels that were leaning against the door. Had to move to get the door open. The garage door is one of those single piece counterbalanced types that swing up and overhead.
This shows some of the wall to the right and lumber overhead. Somewhere under that is a bench with drill press.
More:
Insulation falling out of the ceiling:
Inside of the garage door. I insulated with batts and covered with hardboard, a temporary solution a few years back.
Next 4 photos are taken from the inside door looking out:
2 full dumpsters for Wed. pickup. Lots more to come!
2 shots of wood I've pulled out:
2 shots of wood that needs dealing with. And there's lots more where that came from!
OK, got enough out, and stacked up on the sides,to walk around the bandsaw in the middle and almost get to the inside door!
There IS a Delta wood lathe in there somewhere...I remember using it once.
So THAT'S where the drill press is! And look.....multimedia!
Sub-panel for when I get that far.
Plenty of paint! Lots more in the basement....
Maple boards for a future workbench:
The inside door to the rear vestibule and rear door are visible on the left. On the right of that along the rear wall is a built in rack full of paints. To the right of that is a built in bench with a flimsy wood storage rack above:
Looking out through the outside door with more boards and tools stacked up on the right:
Basically it's a big mess as you can see. Goal is to make it a usable space for tools for working on the 2 vans (Astro and E350).
Bill (Almost overwhelmed in Detroit)
PS: As I am editing this and adding photo captions it occurs to me that the 16th is my birthday and this project is a present to me and many days of future happiness puttering about on the garage!
So this is an existing single car attached garage here in Detroit. House is a 2 story brick colonial on a corner lot.
Here's the interesting part.......me and the wife are hoarders!
I'm making this admission here because I know there are more of us lurking out there. I want this to encourage them (And myself) that change is possible.
Existing conditions:
The house and garage are packed to the rafters.
I've built 7 sheds to hold the overflow.
All this on a 40x100 lot!
This is going to be about a lifestyle change for us both.
I'm counting on the OC among you to help us find ways to be more like you.
First step is going to be a clean out and reorganizing of the existing approx. 9x18 garage. I've begun today. For the last few years I couldn't even get into the garage from the inside or outside doors. I slid over a pile of stuff at the inside door today and began moving items from in front of me to behind me, working my way to the outside door. Kind of like those little puzzles where you have to move every other piece to make room for the piece you want to move. I got to the outside door and unlocked and partially opened it. The Airstream trailer in the driveway prevents full opening for now. I started by pulling out a lot of pieces of lumber that were stored in the garage. This included Womanized pine boards and fence boards that can be stored outside. There have been leaks and some pieces of plaster impregnated metal lath ceiling had fallen down. I pulled those out too. Filled 2 small black trash dumpsters with the debris. Stacked boxes up along the walls to make a path through the garage. Now I can almost get from one door to the other! Photos of what remains and the dumpsters and stacks of removed wood leaning on a tree follow:
Hard to get your bearings in this shot. You are looking in throught the outside garage door toward the back wall of the garage. Ceiling panels have fallen down and view is blocked by lots of stuff:
A little to the right of the previous shot showing the boards, lumber and MDF panels that were leaning against the door. Had to move to get the door open. The garage door is one of those single piece counterbalanced types that swing up and overhead.
This shows some of the wall to the right and lumber overhead. Somewhere under that is a bench with drill press.
More:
Insulation falling out of the ceiling:
Inside of the garage door. I insulated with batts and covered with hardboard, a temporary solution a few years back.
Next 4 photos are taken from the inside door looking out:
2 full dumpsters for Wed. pickup. Lots more to come!
2 shots of wood I've pulled out:
2 shots of wood that needs dealing with. And there's lots more where that came from!
OK, got enough out, and stacked up on the sides,to walk around the bandsaw in the middle and almost get to the inside door!
There IS a Delta wood lathe in there somewhere...I remember using it once.
So THAT'S where the drill press is! And look.....multimedia!
Sub-panel for when I get that far.
Plenty of paint! Lots more in the basement....
Maple boards for a future workbench:
The inside door to the rear vestibule and rear door are visible on the left. On the right of that along the rear wall is a built in rack full of paints. To the right of that is a built in bench with a flimsy wood storage rack above:
Looking out through the outside door with more boards and tools stacked up on the right:
Basically it's a big mess as you can see. Goal is to make it a usable space for tools for working on the 2 vans (Astro and E350).
Bill (Almost overwhelmed in Detroit)
PS: As I am editing this and adding photo captions it occurs to me that the 16th is my birthday and this project is a present to me and many days of future happiness puttering about on the garage!
Last edited:

........keep it up...your doing great...