Need tips for 2 car, apartment garage

[Josh Kinzey]

Hi guys-

Right now I am renting a house with a nice 2 car garage attached to it. The reason I chose to rent the house was because of the garage, it was the largest garage equipped home that was in my price range. I don't have the measurements on me right now, but I'll post back this afternoon with dimensions.

I keep a 1991 Corvette and an 87 Buick Regal in the garage. With both cars, my tool boxes, work bench, other miscellaneous tools, small storage cabinet, and the water heater the garage is pretty stuffed. Stuffed enough to where you can't open the doors all the way on the cars. If I pull one car out, there is plenty of room for maintenance and automobile projects, but I hate leaving one or the other outside for weeks on end while I tackle an engine build or some other large project.

Well, I am getting ready to relocate to an apartment complex. The apartment complex does rent detached 2 car garages, so I scooped up one of those. Since it's smaller than my current garage, I was looking for idea on space conservation and other cool stuff that will help me maximize my usable space.

I'm not looking to make a show garage out of it, functionality is the most important thing for me. I do all my own work, and a nice place to perform maintenance/projects is pretty important. Down the road I might try to rent another 2 car garage from the complex, but for right now I can't really afford to do anything like that.

Any tips or advice would be great!

 

[DR_K13]

pics!!!!!!!!!!!111

 

[Josh Kinzey]

pics!!!!!!!!!!!111

I don't have any pics of the new place, but I can grab some of the old place while I'm home for lunch.

The new place is about 100 miles away. I have already signed the lease and have the keys, but I won't be back there until this weekend.

 

[Josh Kinzey]

Here's some more information:

Old garage measures 23' deep by 19' wide. These are actual inside measurements, I took them a few minutes ago.

I called the office of the new apartment complex and was able to get what they call 'published dimensions' of the 2 car garage I am renting. Basically, I assume that this means that while most of the garages are close to identical, there are some variances from one building to the next. Take these numbers with a grain of salt. 21' 8" deep by 18' 10" wide.

I've attached some pics of the garage I'm leaving. Sorry for the quality, I snapped them with my phone on my lunch break.

I was thinking of some kind of hinged peg board in the corners of the new place to give me more room to hang tools. Any other suggestions are appreciated. Keep in mind that I really can't modify the garage that much because it's a rental.

Thanks!

 

[kbuhagiar]

Old garage measures 23' deep by 19' wide.

I called the office of the new apartment complex and was able to get what they call 'published dimensions' of the 2 car garage I am renting. Basically, I assume that this means that while most of the garages are close to identical, there are some variances from one building to the next. Take these numbers with a grain of salt. 21' 8" deep by 18' 10" wide.

Thanks!

Josh,

I feel your pain - my garage is 18' wide by 20' deep, and, in theory anyway, I can park two vehicles in it. In reality, I have to sacrifice one side of the garage to make room for my rolling toolboxes (3 of 'em) and my other equipment. I'm OK with that; as my wife likes to say, if I had a 6-car garage, I would probably own 7 vehicles!

The best advice I can give you is to put everything on wheels. Doing this has allowed me a certain amount of flexibility - I can reconfigure my garage space for specific project requirements. Also, if absolutely necessary, I can fit two cars in the garage (though I hate doing it). Also, having stuff on wheels makes it easier to keep the garage floor clean (if that is a priority).

Otherwise, if you can come up with another on-site storage space (for instance, a garage loft or perhaps a backyard storage shed), move as much of your non-essential parts and equipment there. I built a 10' by 12' storage shed in my backyard, and that is where I store all of my parts and some of my tools that I do not use that often (metal-cutting band saw, cutoff saw, etc.).

Good luck!

 

[Josh Kinzey]

It's an apartment style set up, so building a shed or using the loft isn't an option, but the wheel idea is pretty good.

Thanks for the advice, and keep it coming!

Anyone have any cool space savings ideas?

 

[gahi]

you need to go up. make shelves that your bigger rolling tools can fit under. A storage locker might be in your future.

 

[1320stang]

You might also check how many outlets you have in the new garage. I'd bet they don't have more than 1. It would be my thought that in an apartment complex, all they're wanting you to do is park your cars or use it as an onsite storage facility. I'll bet it isn't designed to do much work on purpose and if you do do any work in there, you'd best do it with the door shut.

You don't talk about the layout of the new garage, or the interior finish. If the interior is bare studs with no drywall, that makes lots of places to put hooks, hang pegboard, put up shelves that you can take down.

When I worked at a cabinet shop, they used to hang cabinets on a wall by making the sides and top and bottom of the cabinet deeper than the back by 1 1/2" and the back was a decent thickness, not just a 1/4" ply or masonite. They'd take a 2x4 and rip it in half at an angle, then take one half and attach it to the wall with the taller side away from the wall pointing up and attach the other half to the back of the cabinet with it pointing down. You then lift the cabinet onto the wall and let it slide down until it nested in the other half of the 2x4, it's called a cleat. Cool thing about this, if you lined the walls horizontally with 2x4s ripped like this on a modular dimension, say 24" apart and then made a bunch of boxes for shelves, you could hang them anywhere you wanted. You could put doors on them as well, even hasps so that you could lock them, then when you move, just lift them up loaded and put them in the U-haul, keeping in mind to make them small enough to be manageable when loaded.

I'd make a couple of free standing benches across the front that the noses of your cars could fit under, you could put uprights on the back to put pegboard on that would be part of the bench and not on the wall. You could also make a 'hutch' that stood on top of the benches that had cabinets above.

 

[Josh Kinzey]

you need to go up. make shelves that your bigger rolling tools can fit under. A storage locker might be in your future.

I hate to rent a seperate storage unit, but I might have no choice. The plan is to eventually rent an additional 2 car garage from the apartment complex, but for now I can't afford it. I don't like the idea of attaching a bunch of shelves to the walls in the garage because I'm a little afraid of not getting my deposit back, but I suppose as long as I did a nice clean job, the complex probably wouldn't mind. I can't go too high because I'm only 5'7" tall, so anything over about 6'5" is tough for me to reach.

You might also check how many outlets you have in the new garage. I'd bet they don't have more than 1.

There's 2.

It would be my thought that in an apartment complex, all they're wanting you to do is park your cars or use it as an onsite storage facility. I'll bet it isn't designed to do much work on purpose and if you do do any work in there, you'd best do it with the door shut.

I agree, but I read the lease from cover to cover and there is no limitations on the activities that can be performed in the garage. There is a specific section in the lease dealing with disposing of fluid properly, but nothing that would preclude me from doing an engine swap or something. The management might not like me doing an intensive project in there, but I don't think there is anything they can really do about it.

To be safe though, I'll keep the doors closed as much as possible, lol.

You don't talk about the layout of the new garage, or the interior finish. If the interior is bare studs with no drywall, that makes lots of places to put hooks, hang pegboard, put up shelves that you can take down.

Doh, I should of mentioned those things. The interior of the new garage is finished with exposed sheet rock. There are no studs showing. The floor is concrete and basically flat. There is a small section at the rear of the garage that is raised 3 inches. The three inch ledge sticks out about 3 feet, so it'll make a good place to put my tool boxes. It does **** that I can't roll something all the way to the back wall, but there's nothing I can do about it.

When I worked at a cabinet shop, they used to hang cabinets on a wall by making the sides and top and bottom of the cabinet deeper than the back by 1 1/2" and the back was a decent thickness, not just a 1/4" ply or masonite. They'd take a 2x4 and rip it in half at an angle, then take one half and attach it to the wall with the taller side away from the wall pointing up and attach the other half to the back of the cabinet with it pointing down. You then lift the cabinet onto the wall and let it slide down until it nested in the other half of the 2x4, it's called a cleat. Cool thing about this, if you lined the walls horizontally with 2x4s ripped like this on a modular dimension, say 24" apart and then made a bunch of boxes for shelves, you could hang them anywhere you wanted. You could put doors on them as well, even hasps so that you could lock them, then when you move, just lift them up loaded and put them in the U-haul, keeping in mind to make them small enough to be manageable when loaded.

I'd make a couple of free standing benches across the front that the noses of your cars could fit under, you could put uprights on the back to put pegboard on that would be part of the bench and not on the wall. You could also make a 'hutch' that stood on top of the benches that had cabinets above.

Those are all really good ideas. The cleat idea sounds pretty slick!

Thanks for the tips guys, I really appreciate it! What a cool place!

 

[RickP330]

Guys,
I saw a 10 x 10 steel storage shed in the Sears catalog for $250 this weekend. Even if you are renting - if you buy one and only use it for a few years (that's probably all its good for anyway) and leave it behind you are ahead of the game if you have to pay for storage. You might want to consider it.
Rick

 

[Josh Kinzey]

Guys,
I saw a 10 x 10 steel storage shed in the Sears catalog for $250 this weekend. Even if you are renting - if you buy one and only use it for a few years (that's probably all its good for anyway) and leave it behind you are ahead of the game if you have to pay for storage. You might want to consider it.
Rick

I don't have anywhere to put it, it's an apartment complex. The pics above are the old garage, at my house. The new place is a 2 bedroom apartment, in a normal apartment complex.

Thanks for the lookout though! Maybe I can find a place to stash something like that at work?

 

[Josh Kinzey]

I ended up renting another single car garage for a total of 3 bays. The double bay houses the Corvette, my tools, and other junk. The third bay doubles as storage for the Regal and a paint booth. I've been in the complex for about 1.5 years now with no problems from the management. The maintenance guys actually think it's pretty cool that I tackle larger projects in the double car garage.

The Corvette is torn apart right now for some engine upgrades, so the garage is a mess, but I'll try to get some pictures in the next few days.

 

[rsanter]

you may want to look at the addition of a 4 post lift to increase parking space (if you have the verticle space) and then you take the lift to the next place

another option is to look for a small warehouse space to rent

bob

 

[hellfish]

It looks like you have plenty of room to me. My wife and I built a 51 Chevy in a garage that size with a 59 Chevy parked next to it. I lived in the ghetto and couldn't just push a car out into the alley when I needed more room. Those were big cars and yours are relatively smaller. You just need to learn to work in tighter spaces and get as much off the floor as possible. Get some cheap/free cabinets off Craigslist and store stuff.

 

[Josh Kinzey]

It looks like you have plenty of room to me. My wife and I built a 51 Chevy in a garage that size with a 59 Chevy parked next to it.

Lol, I don't think there is ever 'enough' room.

I lived in the ghetto and couldn't just push a car out into the alley when I needed more room. Those were big cars and yours are relatively smaller. You just need to learn to work in tighter spaces and get as much off the floor as possible. Get some cheap/free cabinets off Craigslist and store stuff.

Thanks for the tips man, I appreciate the information.