New and learning

[Blackbomber]

My Uncle turned me on to this site a couple of months ago. Good timing. I finally got fed up with my lack of organization, and inability to find anything, and am undertaking a total revamp on my 12' x 20' one car detached. I had almost given up being able to work on anything larger than a piece of furniture or a motorcycle in this space. While I can and do park my 1973 Plymouth there, with the tool boxes, shop press, work bench, welder, and boxed parts lining both sides, it seemed impossible to get around the car. I decided to organize my tools first, and things started looking up. Now after seeing this site, I'm getting all kinds of ideas for future organization. Things are looking up.

 

[Omphaloskeptic]

Welcome! Let's see some pics of what you started with, and plans for your man cave. GJ is a great place to kick around some ideas; and perhaps save you some time, money, and head/back aches.

 

[Blackbomber]

I'm actually embarased to show what I have in it's current state, but I suppose I owe that much. I was figuring I'd show a before pic once I had it cleaned out and painted. In my defense, I'm in the "lay everything out and decide what stays and what goes" stage. But there isn't much defense for my storage strategy that let the junk pile up this badly because I can't see what I have (including tools). Of course I'm in the middle of several other home and car / bike projects, and you can see my table refinishing progress in the second pic. That brown thing standing up on the right is a two door two shelf cabinet I found curbside on the night before trash day. That tan six drawer shelf is almost useless. No weight bearing, and things just sort of pile up in the drawers. My tired 27 gallon Husky oilless compressor sits on top of that. My eight drawer 26" Craftsman cabinet with six full width drawer 12" deep chest has been my only stationary tool storage in my life. I bought the chest first, then the cabinet - both about 22 years ago. I didn't even have the chest filled when I bought the cabinet, but thought I should have a set. Let's just say I've outgrown the set in the past three years or so. The Waterloo black roller on the left houses my air tools and angle grinder.

Anyway, after chucking what I don't need, my goal is to have every hand tool in a drawer, every container in a wall mounted cabinet. Everything on floor must be on wheels. NO tools in the loft. And ideally, nothing exposed - meaning no more open shelves and pegboard. I'm sorry, I just don't care for it, although I appreciate it's practicality. The inspiration I've seen from some here is getting me motivated, although I already knew what had to be done. Now I have more creative direction, and hope.

 

[dittle fart around]

Nice start the paneling screams for a disco ball or something 70's. I'd go for the 70's show basement look. Old coffee table and worn out couches with a beer fridge in the back.

 

[Blackbomber]

A "That 70's show" theme would be pretty cool, but I'm painting it all because I need to reflect more light. Plus there are two different shades of paneling in there. Most of it is in a dark finish, and about a third is in a birch finish. It's actual wood, and there is no ventilation in there. So the ceiling is coming delaminated. The guy that had the house before me worked in building supply, and did a lot with scrap. The largest room in my basement is actually all paneled (matching brown), so I do have that. I'm only going to be here another two or three years, so I won't go hogwild. I think just repairing the cieling and a nice paint will do it. Nice thing is that it's all insulated. An 8,000 BTU radiant kerosene heater brought it from below freezing to over 40 with a cold car in there. I do have a larger, vented Kero furnace I'm plumbing in as part of this renovation.

 

[Wingnut65]

Nice starting spot for a cool shop. In a year or two you can come back to these pix and say, I remember back then...

I was going to mention to add lighting to the wish list.

Welcome to GJ, BB!

 

[NUTTSGT]

Welcome to GJ. You have come to the right spot to get organized and make your shop flow. We all have to start somewhere. I'd do nothing more that start by slapping some oil based Kilz on the paneling.

 

[Blackbomber]

Jeff - lighting is on the "to do" list. In fact, the main reason I wanted to paint it initially was to reflect the light better. Then of course I found this site, and realized for a minimally more ammount of work, I could have something to be proud of, in addition to being workable. Right now, there are two 100w CFL coils, and two 4' double tube flourecent fixtures. Additionally, I have a third double tube, and two four tube (kind of overkill for the space) fixtures. I'm still wondering how I'll arrange that. I'm expecting as I get intimate with the space via painting, it will come to me. And of course I'm about half way through Jack Olsen's thread (the big one), and now I want area lighting over the future workbench Actually, the 12ga garage was what my Uncle showed me when I was discussing my space issues, and trying to make excuses for not having a workable garage. True his garage is almost double my area, but I have way less than half the stuff. And I do most of my woodwork on the tailgate of my pickup anyhow. Anyway, I was pondering fold away workbenches when my Uncle showed me the slideshow.

Eric - I redid the main stairway paneling in my house by first rolling on the Kilz oil base. It was a bear to work with compared to latex, but I know it will never lift. I'm on the fence with the garage. I'm not so particular about the finish (although my time on GJ is changing that). But by the same token, I'm not going to prep the area as well as I would the home, so oil base could save my **** there. Plus I already have a little Kilz, and a gallon of another brand Alkyld primer left over from other projects. I'd like to spray the area, but I've had nothing but failure trying to thin and spray oil base. So I guess I'll probably wind up rolling out the paneling with the oil base, then spraying the beams and ceiling with latex. One thing to remember is that I sincerely hope I won't be here in two years, and time is precious. So while I'd like to do it right, I'd rather get it done half-assed, then not at all. I know that sounds bad, but as I get into it, I'll probably up my standards. Part of this project will be to build a decent shed attached, so that I can have easy access to things that won't fit in my toolboxes or overhead cabinets, such as the 12 gallon shop vac...

This all began because with my smaller automotive projects, I've been spending at least as much time hunting for tools than actually performing the work. I did a 5 to 6 speed swap in my Cooper this spring, and am lining up to pull the subframe and drivetrain from my '73 Duster for a freshen up. It took me 21 years of hobby wrenching (started my first car restoration at 15) to realize the time I spend organizing will SAVE time in the long run. Not to mention frustration, and purchasing something I already have.

 

[wolflrv]

Hey Blackbomber! Welcome to GJ!! You'll love it here! Great folks and tons of ideas and help on projects!

Your garage is no worse than mine when I started, although it's a bit older. At least yours is already insulated. I'd suggest working on one wall and the ceiling area at a time. Clear it, patch/repair, paint and then build in shelving as you go. Sorting through the boxes and designating shelf space for each group of items. Do your workbench/toolbox wall first so that you'll have immediate organized access to finish the rest of the garage. I've just finished this process and am now ready to start sifting through my pile of chaos which is twice the size of yours(see my sig line for my restoration)...LOL!

Also depending on how you build your workbench and other shelving you can store things like compressor and shopvacs underneath. There is a lot more space in that garage than you realize if you go vertical with everything. It looks messy now, but you don't have that much in there really. It can get sorted quickly with the right shelving.

Good luck and you'll have lots of help and motivation here!

 

[Blackbomber]

wolfrv - I actually just read your reorganization thread yesterday. I'll be watching it. Love that Scottsdale, too. The one area at a time approach makes sense when I don't have anywhere else to go with the "stuff," and the garage is too small to pile everything in the center. I also appreciate the advice to do the toolbox / wall area first. I was thinking of working from the back forward, and top down. But this suggestion is much more sensible, since I'll be spreading out the work over many sessions. Part of my issue is finding a good place for the box. I previously had it at the far corner, next to that sorry excuse for a workbench. That was fine if the car I was working on was in the garage, but a lot of the time I'm working outside. I'll get whatever I'm working on jacked up in front of the overhead door, and then need to squeeze around the Plymouth to get to my box because now I can't back it out with the other car in the way. In organizing my tools, I realized I pretty much have duplicates of all the 3/8" and 1/2" drive sockets. So I'm putting the Craftsman rollaway by the door, and setting up another tool cabinet where my bench is now, and put a worktop on that. For well over a year, I've been trying to justify getting that 41" HF cabinet. After organizing my current setup and realizing I could use it, I struggled with justifying if loosing that floorspace would be worth it. Then I figured I could cover the top with wood, mount my vice, and place it where the bench currently is. Only thing under there is boxes of old books and junk from my last move, and some oil and antifreeze jugs. Nothing that can't be thrown, consolidated, or moved. So I won't miss that space, but my Mig and shopvac won't be residing under there either. I've been keeping the shopvac in the basement, or in my pickup, so it's never been handy for after job cleanups - an obvious reason the place is always messy. Before making those piles, I had one wall covered about 3' high with boxed stuff. I realized I could honestly just chuck EVERYTHING in those boxes. I have this fear about needing something down the road, but in reality, I might only regret about $200.00 of stuff at the MOST. I have left over tiles from a bathroom remodel. I'm thinking my next place will be a fixer upper, so I'm saving maybe $20.00 of tile that I won't even use because I'll obviously have a different idea for the next bathroom. But that's how my mind works. I guess I'm a borderline hoarder. I don't go out of my way looking for stuff, but I can't let go of anything once I have it. Well that is changing, thankfully. I just finished the utility room in my basement, and all of my carpentry / home tools are orgainized and available for the first time. This was another motivating factor in the decision to do the garage.

Thanks to all of you for the suggestions and welcomes. I'm beginning to see light at the end of the proverbial tunnel.