'Not really a garage' Gallery

[hallboyone]

There are a lot of fortunate people on this forum with a beautiful garage and a huge selection of tools to match. I imagine, though, that there is a good number of people in a situation like mine: without a true garage and trying to make do with the little space they have. It's these that I am interested in seeing. It's almost more impressive when someone is able to tightly pack what would normally be an entire workshop into a corner of a basement, etc.
I'll start with my space. It's certainly nothing impressive but it works for me.

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

I lost the picture but I used to have one of an apartment entry closet outfitted as a “shop”. It was only about 3’ wide. Had a laminated cutting board bench top installed at sitting height. A small vice that could come off if needed. A B&D Workmate at same height that worked if he needed to support something longer. Tiny vac under bench, pegboard lined the space above the bench w/hand tools - no room for a tool box. Some
Of those “boxes” that attach to pegboard with fasteners in them. Several boxed power tools on original upper shelf. A power strip across back of bench. I was VERY impressed with it.

 

[el monte slim]

I don't have any pictures to contribute at this time, but my current workshop falls into this category. It consists of a single vehicle carport with an attached 12' x 13' bonus room in a 1600 ft² ranch house. I have an outdoor shed for storage of seasonal items, but no garage or basement. My tiny lot is otherwise landlocked because it's lake property. One saving grace is a dedicated 36" wide exterior door leading directly from the bonus room to the carport.

I've been able to make this work by going narrow and fully vertical along the perimeter of all the interior walls in that 12' x 13' space. Nothing placed there is more than 19" deep, and almost everything serves more than one purpose. This includes storage racks, shelving, cabinets, and tool boxes, etc. My 18" deep adjustable storage racks double as desk and workbench space on the tiers positioned at sitting height. Most everything stored under that tier level is on wheels for quick and convenient access. The upper tiers provide maximum storage to the limit of the 8' ceiling height.

Most of my machine tools, and welding equipment, etc. are on castors or other mobile platforms for quick transfer to the carport through the 36" wide exterior door. For example, I made a portable work station dedicated to all things sanding, buffing, grinding, filing, and light cutting. It contains bench and hand-held grinders, rotary finishing and cut-off tools, a buffer motor, a combination belt and disc sander, plus hand files and other related items. This way I can make quick work of those messy jobs on the carport or in the driveway, then blow the dust off before moving the work station back inside.

My miscellaneous extra work tables and other platforms have folding legs for quick teardown and transport. I've never timed it, but I can move a lot of stuff between the spaces in pretty short order.

Woodworking, metalworking, restoration, repurposing, and building stuff from scratch... I love it all!

 

[kaymccampbell]

I'm no longer in your shoes, but there was a time when I did everything out of a 55 gallon drum.

 

[hallboyone]

I'm no longer in your shoes, but there was a time when I did everything out of a 55 gallon drum.

How on earth did you manage to work out of a 55 gallon drum? Seems like it would be impossible to ever find anything. Where you just working with what you had or did you have some way of organizing everything?

 

[Robert Haas]

It ain't the size that counts. It is what you do with what you have.

I know a kid that built 3 cars in one year in his mom's back yard using an Army surplus tent to keep the rain off the cars he was working on. His entire inventory of tools was kept in a closet next to the back door.


I have 13,000 square feet and hardly get anything done at all

 

[Richie Rich]

I went from a 28x28 shop at my old house to being relegated to an undersize single car garage and an RV pad 50' away with a 20' sea container and a 10x20 car tent on it.

Single car held all my tools, had a roll cart and a few machines in the sea container and turned wrenches in the car tent. Was better then nothing but every project included countless trips up/down the hill to fetch tools. Spent 5 years with that arrangement.

Now have ~1500sqft of shop space that I am truly thankful to have.