Help Organizing Farm Garage!

[Junkjunkee]

Hi Everyone
I am looking for ideas for organizing our fairly large shop.. we have a small hobby farm and have a bit of everything from woodworking, lumber, small to large engines to repair, boats, paint supplies, chicken incubator, fishing equipment and all the nuts and bolts and boxes that go along. We have some of my Dad's stuff (homemade drill presses and jigsaws) Father in laws stuff Uncles stuff..I know too much stuff but it seems we need it all at one time or another....
My dad was always kind of disorganized but I just need a starting point of laying out the shop I did start labeling boxes and trying to put "like things" together for instance safety glasses, zip ties, tape, etc..but it seems never ending..
Any pics that I could look at of a regular Joe sop/garage (not specialized ) would be really helpful..thanks everyone!

 

[Sureshot]

I am in the same boat to a point. I have a carpentry corner. Opposite is the welding corner.
Get totes. I have 12v lights and lenses, AC wiring everything, plumbing waste line side, plumbing supply side, assorted cables(computer, phone, TV, stereo, USB, etc). I sorted all my small fittings under 1", I have large drawers for 1"+ thread both sides, 1"+ thread x barb, 1"+ barb x barb, electric fence, barbed fence.

I use my old "small" toolboxes for parts and ??. A drawer for big hose clamps, small hose clamps, 12 bulbs, 12v fuses and switches, tire related stuff, pressure gauges, wipers, spark plug related, key stock, air fittings, manual valves, other "valves"(regulators, pop, temp, back pressure, check)

It takes time and diligence but it is worth it in the end.

 

[mdbeck1]

My approach has always started with three piles:
1. Trash
2. Keep
3. Sell/donate

Get rid of the trash.

Get rid of the Sell/Donate.

Get things that are not shop related out of the shop. Build a shed for the lawnmower and garden tools. Put the Christmas decorations in the attic or some other type of storage area. You need floor space to work on the broken equipment/project. Park vehicles outside or in other sheds.


Start getting the "shop" organized by getting some large totes and shelving. Buy more totes than you think you will need and start categorizing the things in the "Keep" pile. I started off with:
- Auto supplies
- Plumbing
- Electrical
- Shooting/reloading
- Camping
- Woodworking
- Tools

If you are like me you will end up with several tubs of each category. When you get done with the first cut pick a category and go through that and break it down even more (example: Auto supplies becomes 1. Liquids, parts for projects, parts for specific vehicles, maintenance, ...) until you only have one tub for each. Label the tub and stack it with other similar types.

Draw a scale diagram of your shop. Then draw a scale diagram of your large tools. Think about the flow of materials coming into and out of your shop. My woodworking shop has a panel saw right inside the door to reduce it to smaller sizes and crosscut saws to reduce long boards to smaller sizes. The router table is near the end to do the more intricate work and work as an assembly table. Arrange the tools in a logical manner for you.

Decide if you want to use pegboard or toolboxes or what combination. When you have the large tools figured out look at the electrical and decide if you are going to work on this or have it done. Its also a good time to think about a bathroom or any other large changes. Think about lights.

Put lots of storage in your plan. You'll use more than you think.

Others will chime in and there will be several variants off of this plan. If you want specific layout support we will need pictures and an idea of what types of repairs/fabrication that you plan on doing.

 

[Junkjunkee]

Hey Thanks Sureshot and Mdbeck for the tips!
I didn't get get notification for some reason, I'll have to look into it (Got it..wasn't subscribed: ( .)
I'll tell you up front...I'm the wife!!! heh heh..but I use all the woodworking tools and do most of the farm work..I'm fairly handy, but seeing as the shop is supposed to be the guys domain I've always waited for my husband to arrange it as he likes. Unfortunately it looks like a bomb went off and in all fairness he does the big jobs and just doesn't get around or have the time to clean up after. We've always had a disagreement over pegboard he hates it I think it is a good idea. I bought a bunch of totes and one lumber rack for moldings and such. Everything is leaned up and you can't get to anything.
I started in yesterday "he's off hunting" : ) Part of the problem is figuring out whether to hang everything, we have fanbelts for everything from car, trucks, mowers, tractors and probably the backhoe : ).. afraid to take a pic..peeps would be so dissapointed to see such a huge shop so disorganized...but I will use some ideas and let you know. Yea we have old toolboxes and totes so that will help..labeling has really helped me its getting everyone to put stuff back in it's place and throwing stuff out..twelve sets of old brake drums empty oil containers like 16 old tires..aargh! I don't want to throw any of his stuff out either or I am not sure why he's saving it and I sure don't want him tossing mine either..LOL of course all this stuff has too be taken to the right disposal place as well and we haul our own garbage so I think it just gets out of hand if not constantly on top of it.
We must have ten hitches for different trailers as well and trying to figure out how to store everything. I am thinking of building a short roof off the outside wall and hanging heavy things like that and heavy chains as well.. what do you think? As long as they dong get well they should be fine. Thanks!!

 

[mdbeck1]

There are actually several "wives" on here. I would have to look at a couple of other threads to come up with the names. MarkVIII is one, FlyBeFreesWife, there are several. Also GirlInAGarage is here sometimes.

About the pictures... take a look at this thread: http://garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=51567 There are a lot of shops that started off ugly that came out okay.

About the his and hers stuff. Luckily I don't have that problem. My wife usually just pushes more stuff out there. Start off with the bigger stuff and the stuff that you know is trash. Old cardboard boxes can go unless you need them for something. If the tires don't have any tread or cracks in them put them to ones side and ask the hubby why he is keeping them. For tires that might be useful you can use the top of a rack and stand them up or build a rectangle, bolt one side to the wall, and run chains to the ceiling. Look around on the site and you'll find some ideas.

Another idea that works for some people is to grab the family, drag EVERYTHING into the driveway, and start putting the important stuff back in (begin with the larger, more important stuff). Sometimes it works well and sometimes it doesn't. Put plenty of totes out on the drive and start grouping stuff.

When you finally get the keep vs junk vs sell sorted out then you can start working on the garage more. Cabinets look better than open shelves and you can put names on them and tell them that's all the space they get.

My garage has two single doors. One of them is blocked by the RV outside and my toolbox on the inside. I use one of the garage door rails to hang all of the chains, boomers, cables, .... I end up with a thin wall of stuff toward the center of the garage. It works for me. When I was a kid I took some clothesline wire and strung it across four or five studs in his garage. Add some nails to hold the wire and some S hooks and you can hang everything.

As far as the receiver hitches you might try a 5 gallon bucket. You can put several inside hanging over the side. If you get creative you can get pieces of square steel pipe and bolt them to a workbench. I'm sure that there are other ideas. I keep one on my truck and another in the truck toolbox. Why would I want them in the garage? I need them to pull the trailers with the truck.

 

[Junkjunkee]

Aah thanks Md! Glad I'm not the only lady ...Good ideas, I like the clothes line idea and you gave me a good idea with s hooks or at least bending some rebar and using that for some serious hooks.
Yea we have a lot of receiver hitches and things of that sort because of the tractors and backhoe ...have a beautiful 1957 fordson major that used to be under cover and is sitting out in the weather, not good here on the "wet coast" : ).
Funny thing..a friend dropped by with some bedding hay for my sheep tonight and I was brave enough to show him the shop. good friend but as things go he has good money and just redid his shop with all the bells and whistles checker plate and under counter lighting, mind you he is into steam trains and just bought a metal lathe so he is getting set up in that way. He probably went home in shock..lol!
However I have worked all day at stacking tires and hauling equipment out and then i will rearrange things the next few days...Thanks again eh!

 

[Slickster76]

My two cents:
When organizing, keep in mind how often you use the items. If an item is used once a year, store it up and out of the way. Keep the regularly used items close to the work area. I bought an inexpensive label printer and have started labeling my drawers. I often have my friends over working on projects and it makes it easier for them to find stuff and put it away when they're done with it so I don't have to explain where it goes or clean up after them.

 

[crewchief888]

FWIW
i have a (bad) habit of accumulatiing "stuff" when i'm working on a project, as the work is finished up
all the leftover "stuff" gets tossed in the trashcan, leftover scrap steel gets tossed in the back of my truck.

i clean up and make scrap runs every 6 months or so. my garage is a smallish 19x22

my harley and s-10 blazer (trail truck) are kept inside all the time, add tools, toolboxes, and overgrown work/storage bench, and it gets crowded really quick.


start making piles of stuff, trash, scrap, new & used parts, tools ect.

it takes a while to organize something thats disorganized

 

[mdbeck1]

Still afraid to post pictures???? Just take a look at the opening post of this thread: http://garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=113541

...but before you go there be forewarned... the guy is a hoarder. There were a LOT of people on this forum that tried to support him for quite a while. ...and he made some progress but in the end the moderators locked his thread. It was starting to get ugly. He would tell us that he was going to do something and a month later nothing had been done. People went by to help and he wouldn't let them. Like I said... it got ugly.

...but the point is... If you post pictures people will help more. ...and as long as you are doing what you say they will work with you.

So tell us a rough size of your shop. How many garage doors? Does it have a normal people door?


More things to help.
You said that you were in the great northwet. If you update your profile with the nearest large city and the state you might find some local help. This really comes in handy when we are talking about building codes and other things that require "legal" stuff.


Additional ideas:
Swing by Harbor Freight (or the farm store) and pick up a dozen or so of those little 4 wheel moving dollies (http://www.harborfreight.com/movers-dolly-93888.html). The kind you stick under a large piece of furniture. Put a tub on top of it and start sorting. When that tub gets full put another on top of it. You'll end up with 4 or 5 tubs on top of a wheeled device. Then you can just roll it where you want it. ...and when you get everything sorted and put away you can steal the casters for projects.

You can use something like this to store the tires and wheels: http://garagejournal.com/forum/showpost.php?p=2153034&postcount=29
Note that you can make the frame out of just about anything. I would say start with wood and run chains to the rafters. It gets the tires out of the way.

...or you can use one of the larger 4 wheel dollies and just stack the tires on top. That would make it easier to move things around.

At this stage a couple of sawhorses and some 2X12's will help a lot. You can sort things on top and stack things underneath (preferably on rollers so you can rearrange easily) and still use it as a makeshift workbench. It's not permanent and it gets stuff off of the ground. ..or instead of sawhorses you can use several of the boxes that are already packed and put the 2X12s on top.

 

[fireguy]

NAPA has cardboard parts boxes for a reasonable price. Those get used in the shop and my garage at home

 

[kbs2244]

I have 2 hints;
I keep my shelves to no more than 18 inches deep and 24 inches high.
That keeps the milk crates and 5 gal pails I use a “totes” to one deep.

Then label everything with big labels and large, magic marker, letters.
4x6 is the industrial standard.
An 8 inch dia roll will have 1000 labels on it.
That’s a good start.
Go online for an industrial label supplier.

It won’t take long for you to start keeping all the plumbing, elect., wood working, stuff in the same area.

“V” belts are a problem.
I just label them well (A,B,C, etc and length) and, if used, what they came from, and hang them on outriggers on the shelving.
Again, big labels and printing makes them easy to ID in the dark and dirty.

 

[Junkjunkee]

Thanks everyone
Yea we are not hoarders just disorganized! We did not start off with a plan and when we originally moved here (17 yrs) we stored all sorts of boxes and "treasures" most of which the mice have gotten into..lol. Then gradually piled that corner up with other stuff, you know the stuff you will need for the odd job, so you keep it. We never really set it up properly is the problem with the layout and i realize that even both our dads never had properly arranged garages unlike some you went in to as a kid. Md I like that converted gas station link and yea the old photos remind me of my Dads.. back in those days they had to make due with what they had, no home depots and hardware stores to pop into. I have a homemade hacksaw and drill press that my Dad made they still work well, husband like the hacksaw cause he can just put a piece of metal in and walk away to do something else but we have a cut-off saw that works fine and a newer drill press so I guess those are things to go to the recycler huh?
Over the years we have been so busy re-roofing and fencing and cement work that we just don't take the time to lay that shop out and damn, the roofs will probably have to done again in the next few years (gah). but I have come to the conclusion that until the shop is done we won't get the house (kitchen) done.
We are "do everything ourselves" type of people as well so that can be time consuming.
Today I moved a cabinet that we store air tools in, it was really in the wrong spot, but I had to empty it and then move a couple hundred pounds of tiles that are waiting to go on the floor in the house when we do the "kitchen" finally..lol. I always think I will work miracles while my husband is away but that is not practical is it? I will do what I can and use some of your advice, everyone and when he gets back i'll put him to work too.
Oh and where i moved the cabinet from I had bought a lumber support system and I'm going to mount that up on the wall right nest to the radial arm saw. I'll take some pics to get some more ideas..Thanks!

 

[Junkjunkee]

Looked at harbor freight and wonder why I am saving half the stuff I am...I'm in Canada though and frankly we just pay a lot more for everything. Really interesting site you have here though, I think it is just what we need.

 

[Junkjunkee]

Yes..that's what i am trying to do, woodworking, welding, plumbing, automotive, painting and storage etc all in an area labelled and organized. We also have boats and tarps and kicker motors that need to be all stored. Yea..I keep throwing safety glasses into one box and find we must have fifteen pairs..ridiculous huh? It's not till you start putting it in one place that you realize it though.
We have bags of fencing staples, seems every time we do fencing we buy more so I am putting those all together we also have boxes of nails that we'll probably never use as we moved onto an air nailer and only need nails for odd jobs. That gives me an idea as I type to use them up for hanging stuff : )

 

[mdbeck1]

Looked at harbor freight and wonder why I am saving half the stuff I am...I'm in Canada though and frankly we just pay a lot more for everything. Really interesting site you have here though, I think it is just what we need.

Some of the Harbor Freight stuff is ok. A lot of it is lower quality and not worth the trouble.

These days I really think about the purchase of every large piece of equipment. I have two separate work areas. One for woodworking and one for automotive/metal. If the purchase will take more space I decide in advance how I will have to re-arrange to get it in. ...and in a lot of cases I have to decide what is leaving.

 

[mdbeck1]

Thanks everyone
Yea we are not hoarders just disorganized! We did not start off with a plan and when we originally moved here (17 yrs) we stored all sorts of boxes and "treasures" most of which the mice have gotten into..lol. Then gradually piled that corner up with other stuff, you know the stuff you will need for the odd job, so you keep it. We never really set it up properly is the problem with the layout and i realize that even both our dads never had properly arranged garages unlike some you went in to as a kid. Md I like that converted gas station link and yea the old photos remind me of my Dads.. back in those days they had to make due with what they had, no home depots and hardware stores to pop into. I have a homemade hacksaw and drill press that my Dad made they still work well, husband like the hacksaw cause he can just put a piece of metal in and walk away to do something else but we have a cut-off saw that works fine and a newer drill press so I guess those are things to go to the recycler huh?
Over the years we have been so busy re-roofing and fencing and cement work that we just don't take the time to lay that shop out and damn, the roofs will probably have to done again in the next few years (gah). but I have come to the conclusion that until the shop is done we won't get the house (kitchen) done.
We are "do everything ourselves" type of people as well so that can be time consuming.
Today I moved a cabinet that we store air tools in, it was really in the wrong spot, but I had to empty it and then move a couple hundred pounds of tiles that are waiting to go on the floor in the house when we do the "kitchen" finally..lol. I always think I will work miracles while my husband is away but that is not practical is it? I will do what I can and use some of your advice, everyone and when he gets back i'll put him to work too.
Oh and where i moved the cabinet from I had bought a lumber support system and I'm going to mount that up on the wall right nest to the radial arm saw. I'll take some pics to get some more ideas..Thanks!

I never meant to say that you were a hoarder. My parents were born during the depression and saved EVERYTHING. My father has been in and out of a nursing home for the last couple of years so my sister and I (with the help of our spouses and kids) went through most of his garage. We spent three days and cleared/organized about 75% of it. He had so many hand tools that we couldn't get them all in his two upright tool boxes.

It sounds like you are making progress. The lumber support system will help a lot. Like I said before I have two separate areas. My woodworking area is a 16X24 portable building. I read an article about workflow in woodworking shops and moved all of the equipment around. I'm working on a panel saw now for just inside the door. As you move around the interior walls you find the other equipment that helps reduce the size of the wood, Radial arm saw, scroll saw, drill press,... The router table and table saw take up the center of the room. There's also a plywood rack for storage on the other side of the door. It's a little bit tight but I'm usually out there by myself so i'm okay with that.


Family tools are hard to get rid of and if they work I would keep them. Now you have to post pictures of the powered hack saw and drill press. Does the hack saw use a band saw blade or a fixed length blade? Those are cool and I wish that I had one but there's only so much room and only so much money.

 

[mdbeck1]

Yes..that's what i am trying to do, woodworking, welding, plumbing, automotive, painting and storage etc all in an area labelled and organized. We also have boats and tarps and kicker motors that need to be all stored. Yea..I keep throwing safety glasses into one box and find we must have fifteen pairs..ridiculous huh? It's not till you start putting it in one place that you realize it though.
We have bags of fencing staples, seems every time we do fencing we buy more so I am putting those all together we also have boxes of nails that we'll probably never use as we moved onto an air nailer and only need nails for odd jobs. That gives me an idea as I type to use them up for hanging stuff : )

Once you get all of the large equipment situated you need to put a couple pair of those safety glasses near each of them. That way you don't have hunt for a pair before you use the equipment. Same thing for hearing protection. I probably have 20-30 pair of safety glasses and 6-8 pairs of ear muffs. ...but I'm a firearms safety instructor so the safety glasses are a requirement for teaching the kids.

Get some old milk jugs, cut a hole opposite the handle and fill them with fence staples. They stack good on shelves, it's easy to grab a gallon and run, and you can kinda see through them and tell what you are grabbing.

There's a guy here that does a lot of stuff with french cleats. http://garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=174553
the cleats will let you hang cabinets and other stuff but later you can move the cabinets around without having to unbolt them from the wall. He also uses smaller ones for tool organization.

 

[Junkjunkee]

Hey no insult taken..but after reading some of that thread you shared I thought man..we have GOT to get it together..LOL!
My Dad would be 98 this year (1915) he passed away at 80. It took us another 15 years to go through his stuff, not that he was a hoarder he just had a lot of interests rock and bottle hunting and lapidary and woodworking, built his retirement home with a hammer at 65 he was a pipefitter and millwright and some of those tools are massive and goes without saying he had quite a collection of metal my brother must have made twenty trips to the recylers which was two and a half hours from their place : ) and every once in a while here on the farm we end up using one of hid large wrenches.
I checked your pics MD.. your Dad has a slick collection I am sure he is/was proud of that!
I am embarrassed to tell you that our shop is "huge" . I will measure it but i think it is about 25 by 50 with beam supports so all open. That is the reason I think we never laid it out properly just a huge open space. In fact that was the selling point for my husband and he said well we can always renovate the house...: 0 !
Panel saw would be awesome, otherwise we have all the big machines we need besides maybe a planer and aaah...: ) I'll take a pic of the old tools see what you think.
Did I mention my daughter and husband are up moose hunting. She shot her first buck last year at 21, she is an amazing shot actually. I took her up to the gun club a few years back and the instructors were so excited with her aim they started pulling out there "special" guns for her to try and wanted her to join the summer games team, but she had other interests at the time. Anyway i am glad she loves the outdoors, here in Canada for the most part you have to enter a draw to get a moose anymore.
I'll try the milk jug idea. The drill press we have is doing double duty for wood and metal but I like the idea to separate the two and have the metal and welding stuff separate, of course all the welding rods are stored in the house because this shop is not heated or insulated unfortunately, we can't install wood burners anymore but i am thinking maybe a pellet stove or something is still accepted....Oh man so much work. Now I am having nightmares, I have a bunch of stuff hauled out right now but i have to go deliver egg and see my mom..but a good excuse to drop by Princess Auto (our Harbor Freight) !
Have a good day!

 

[Southernbuild]

I'd suggest getting some pallet racks for the bins of stuff, the more floor space you free up, the easier it will be to work. Especially in a farm environment, floor space gets devoured by random bulky objects. Once you are able to stack stuff on shelving, you can really free up space quickly. Of course, if you don't need it, don't put it on the shelf, or it will never want to leave lol

 

[mdbeck1]

I'd suggest getting some pallet racks for the bins of stuff, the more floor space you free up, the easier it will be to work. Especially in a farm environment, floor space gets devoured by random bulky objects. Once you are able to stack stuff on shelving, you can really free up space quickly. Of course, if you don't need it, don't put it on the shelf, or it will never want to leave lol

Since she finally told us how much space she has to work with I totally agree with you. Of course the next question is how tall is the ceiling and is there room for a forklift????

 

[plow]

My approach has always started with three piles:
1. Trash
2. Keep
3. Sell/donate

Get rid of the trash.

Get rid of the Sell/Donate.

Get things that are not shop related out of the shop. Build a shed for the lawnmower and garden tools. Put the Christmas decorations in the attic or some other type of storage area. You need floor space to work on the broken equipment/project. Park vehicles outside or in other sheds.


Start getting the "shop" organized by getting some large totes and shelving. Buy more totes than you think you will need and start categorizing the things in the "Keep" pile. I started off with:
- Auto supplies
- Plumbing
- Electrical
- Shooting/reloading
- Camping
- Woodworking
- Tools

If you are like me you will end up with several tubs of each category. When you get done with the first cut pick a category and go through that and break it down even more (example: Auto supplies becomes 1. Liquids, parts for projects, parts for specific vehicles, maintenance, ...) until you only have one tub for each. Label the tub and stack it with other similar types.

Draw a scale diagram of your shop. Then draw a scale diagram of your large tools. Think about the flow of materials coming into and out of your shop. My woodworking shop has a panel saw right inside the door to reduce it to smaller sizes and crosscut saws to reduce long boards to smaller sizes. The router table is near the end to do the more intricate work and work as an assembly table. Arrange the tools in a logical manner for you.

Decide if you want to use pegboard or toolboxes or what combination. When you have the large tools figured out look at the electrical and decide if you are going to work on this or have it done. Its also a good time to think about a bathroom or any other large changes. Think about lights.

Put lots of storage in your plan. You'll use more than you think.

Others will chime in and there will be several variants off of this plan. If you want specific layout support we will need pictures and an idea of what types of repairs/fabrication that you plan on doing.

This should be a sticky

 

[mdbeck1]

Hey no insult taken..but after reading some of that thread you shared I thought man..we have GOT to get it together..LOL!
My Dad would be 98 this year (1915) he passed away at 80. It took us another 15 years to go through his stuff, not that he was a hoarder he just had a lot of interests rock and bottle hunting and lapidary and woodworking, built his retirement home with a hammer at 65 he was a pipefitter and millwright and some of those tools are massive and goes without saying he had quite a collection of metal my brother must have made twenty trips to the recylers which was two and a half hours from their place : ) and every once in a while here on the farm we end up using one of hid large wrenches.
I checked your pics MD.. your Dad has a slick collection I am sure he is/was proud of that!
I am embarrassed to tell you that our shop is "huge" . I will measure it but i think it is about 25 by 50 with beam supports so all open. That is the reason I think we never laid it out properly just a huge open space. In fact that was the selling point for my husband and he said well we can always renovate the house...: 0 !
Panel saw would be awesome, otherwise we have all the big machines we need besides maybe a planer and aaah...: ) I'll take a pic of the old tools see what you think.
Did I mention my daughter and husband are up moose hunting. She shot her first buck last year at 21, she is an amazing shot actually. I took her up to the gun club a few years back and the instructors were so excited with her aim they started pulling out there "special" guns for her to try and wanted her to join the summer games team, but she had other interests at the time. Anyway i am glad she loves the outdoors, here in Canada for the most part you have to enter a draw to get a moose anymore.
I'll try the milk jug idea. The drill press we have is doing double duty for wood and metal but I like the idea to separate the two and have the metal and welding stuff separate, of course all the welding rods are stored in the house because this shop is not heated or insulated unfortunately, we can't install wood burners anymore but i am thinking maybe a pellet stove or something is still accepted....Oh man so much work. Now I am having nightmares, I have a bunch of stuff hauled out right now but i have to go deliver egg and see my mom..but a good excuse to drop by Princess Auto (our Harbor Freight) !
Have a good day!

The panel saw is from a set of plans I bought on the internet. It has been stalled now for over a year but I'll get back to it.

I would seriously suggest putting the woodworking stuff together and VERY FAR away from the welding stuff. Something about sawdust and fire...

You can do a lot of stuff without the panel saw and planer. However I'm pretty much a one man show on the woodworking so the panel saw will just makes my life easier.


On the welding and welding rods. I would do a little bit of research about welding rod storage. My uncle was a welder and kept his rod on his truck so I know that they can be kept in an unsealed environment. However.... I would suggest looking on the manufacturer's web site and seeing what they suggest. It might be as simple a setting up a dead refrigerator with a heat lamp or maybe even a light bulb inside. If you got the temperature right you might be able to store partial cans of paint in the same container. I'm equally sure that if you search the threads here you will find some ideas on the storage as well. Lots of talented folks here.


With your Dad working on pipefitting and millwright stuff you're liable to have a LOT of large tools around. In the long run it will help if you make a list of all of the large stationary tools that you have and what you are planning on acquiring in the future. That way when you start working on the different areas you can leave space for them. Like if you are planning on getting a planer you should leave space for one in your woodworking area.


I would start suggesting that you think about setting up areas for the major different things that you are doing. Some ideas would be:
- Welding
- woodworking
- home maintenance (plumbing, electrical, remodel,...
- engine repair/mechanical
- metalworking (lathe, milling machine, ...)
- metal forming (english wheel, flamish hammer, ....)
- others.
Some of these areas could be shared and some SHOULD be shared.

On the shop heating you will find a LOT of people here that have done their own insulating and heating installations so look around a bit and I'm sure you will find ideas on the forum.