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One car garage ideas...open to any input

SUNBURNTsnype

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Nov 25, 2012
Messages
41
Hey guys! New to this forum, first time posting. Must say I'm really impressed by all the info and great ideas you guy have here! Good job, and keep it up!

Ok so heres my deal: I'm moving into military housing with a 1 car garage. I want to set it up to be able to park my wife's grocery-getting SUV inside to keep it out of the elements (first brand new car I've ever owned), an then when I want to work in there, be able to pull it out and have a functional workspace when I work on my car or bikes. I have 2 craftsman top and bottom rolling tool chests, 2 vidmar waist level tool benches with a butcher block workbench on top of both and 3 head height vidmar cabinets. I plan on building a frame to attach to the 2 waist height vidmars to so they are a single unit and put casters on the bottom so I can move it around along with the craftsman boxes. I want to line one side of the garage (or the back wall if there's not enough width to fit the suv in the garage) with the rolling craftsman boxes, the rolling vidmar workbench and the taller vidmars and I want to build some hinged fold up workbenches on the other side of the garage so that I can fold them up against the wall to park the suv inside. I also like the idea of the modular mounts for vices and grinders like in jack's garage so I think I may try and do that as well so I can get rid of my vice stand. I'm thinking I'll try to make the fold out work benches the same height as the vidmar workbench so I can use the together if I need to. I also want to get some of those bicycle winches to hang them from the ceiling.

My main issue is this: since it's military housing, and not my own, what's the best way to add lighting and plug outlets temporarily? There's an electrical sub panel in the garage that I think I can put another couple breakrs in and I figure I can add a few hanging chain fluorescents from the ceiling and run a few temporary 110v plugs across the wall next to the sub panel. You guys have any tips or advice for temporary electrical besides living with what's existing and running drop lights and plug strips?

Also, I'd like to do something with the floor to make it look nicer and maybe have some softer material to walk on. What is a cheap temporary option for flooring? I kinda like the vinyl checker board or rubber matting, but not sure about the cost or source to find it.

I'm also thinking a out running some pipe or round stock with shower curtain rings across the top of all 4 walls so I can drape tarps and slide them to cover all 4 walls as I plan on doing painting in the shop as well as metal and wood work. I figure I can swap out the back door for a sacrificial one cut out a hole for a window and mount a box fan in it with a filter on both sides to use as either positive or negative ventilation and crack the roll up garage door whenever I'm painting. What do u think? Would that work? Maybe use clamps to hold all the tarps tight together in the corners.

Also like the idea of the aerosol can holding cabinets.

Not sure yet about pegboard. I'm not really familiar with how to use or organize with pegboard as I've always had to put stuff in locking drawers on a ship to keep things from flying all over in rough weather. Right now I have almost all my hand tools in the 2 craftsman boxes. Maybe I should put a small pegboard sheet over the workbench for larger items like pipe wrenches and crowbars and stuff. Thoughts? I figure if I'm ever working on something, with everything in the rolling boxes, I can just wheel the box over by whatever I'm working on and don't have to walk back wand forth to get tools all the time.

My other issue is what I'm going to do with storage for stuff like spare auto and bike parts, camping gear, surfboards, and other large items. There's no shed in the back yard unfortunately. I could probably build some cabinets to sit against the outside of the back wall of the garage and store that stuff outside. I'm also considering building a shelf across the top of both walls inside the garage where the roll up garage door tracks are. Maybe I could use canvas or tarps to cover the shelves and keep dust out.

Anyways that's about it for now. We move in a week so I'm trying to get it all mapped out prior to the move so I don't have to re-arrange later. Looking forward to your input guys, thanks in advance.
-caleb
 
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SUNBURNTsnype

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Re: 1 car garage ideas...open to any input

A little update:

I've finally gotten a chance to start building my shelves on the two free walls. I'm making them pretty beefy and using as many supports as possible to help distribute the weight as there will be a lot of heavy stuff to go up there. I'm thinking I may hook up some type of chain fall or block and tackle to the center joist just to make getting things up and down easier.

I was just at a car show and spoke with te racedeck people and I really like the snap together flooring route as I don't want anything permanent since I'm in military housing(basically same as renting), and I can use them at other locations as I move in the future( I've moved about 4 times in the last 3 years). The thing is I have about 305 SQ feet and the best I found the racedeck was at about 2.50$ per SQ Ft. That's a little steep for me as I don't want to sink +900$ into flooring. Is there any other non permanent option I have available that I can do for about 200$ or less? Really, I'm just looking for something that will clean up the look of the garage. I'd really like to be able to have some sort of checker pattern on the floor. I'm kinda even considering painting the floor with that home depot floor paint in checker pattern. IDK what do you guys think?

Also, I have 2 of the 3 walls that are just exposed studs and I would like to do something to clean up or cover up the look of the walls without doing anything too permanent or breaking the bank as once again I don't own the place and I can't really drywall it. I was thinking maybe some sort of canvas I screw or nail over the studs, in sections, so I could roll them up towards the ceiling to gain access to the wall if I ever do need to screw or mount something to the studs. Or I was also thinking pegboard, but I don't really want to pegboard the entire wall cause I loose access to the studs if I ever want to mount something in the future. IDK, what do you guys think? Have any ideas?

Also, I'm thinking about buying a new man door that I can use to swap with the existing one so I can cut a hole in it for a fan/window AC unit. Should I go with metal or wood door? The current one is metal.

Thanks for any input you guys may have. Sorry don't have any pictures yet, haven't quite gotten a chance to figure out how to do it.
 

fringeofinsanity

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Nov 24, 2010
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Elgin, IL
Re: 1 car garage ideas...open to any input

Some people have gotten similar flooring at Costco a little cheaper I think. I can't speak to the quality, but try and do a search.

I'd still go with pegboard, you can still access the studs if need be and if you watch you can often find it cheap. Like you, I used to always store in my box, but now I hang all my bulkier tools on the pegboard.
 
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SUNBURNTsnype

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Nov 25, 2012
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Re: 1 car garage ideas...open to any input

So, just finished my shelves and got everyhting organized/arranged a bit better. can finally park the wife's SUV in there and still have room to walk around it.

Took alot longer than expected...little one running around(and another on the way...), but now i can finally work in there again, as i had stuff occupying every square inch to give me enough room to work on the shelf. I tried to overbuild it as much as possible, as I probably have close to 500+ lbs up there.

Here are some pics of the current state:
 
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SUNBURNTsnype

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Re: 1 car garage ideas...open to any input

So, I'm thinking of building another type of shelf on the other wall to put all the milk crates in and do away with the black free standing shelf on the back wall. Then I can move the other vidmar cabinet where it is sitting. I would like to put casters on all the cabints so i can wheel them out to the middle for a specific type of work and then wheel them back when done. I want to keep automotive specific tools and special tools in one craftsman box, mechanics tools in the other craftsman box, larger and other misc. hand tools in the 2 cabinets with the butcher block on them, and power tools in the tall cabinets. I would like to make the cabinet with the table saw/chop saw be my "woodworking" cabinet, with all my saws, woodworking tools and accessories in it, and the other black vidmar will be my 'metal fab" cabinet, which will get a drillpress/milling machine and all its accessories. I would like to build a folding welding table on to the side or back of it as well.

My logic for casters on everything is twofold: for moving things around the shop, and also make s it easier to move when i get orders somewhere else and have to pack up everything again. i can just wheel each cabinet right into the moving truck and be done with it.
 
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24X26

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Re: 1 car garage ideas...open to any input

What kinda bike frame and motor is that?
 

Colin Len

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Jan 30, 2013
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Long Beach CA
Re: 1 car garage ideas...open to any input

I hate seeing these "single car" garage threads because once I see pics I realize how small mine is - it's barely enough room for one car and get out on one side, about 9' wide :(

I'm in a similar situation though, had planned on buying a house but the market changed and now thats out of the cards so instead I'm fixing up my rental garage a little. I need it to be functional but I also don't want to put money into something I don't own...

I just did a little electrical this past weekend actually. I had put up some fluorescents a year or so ago but had to plug them into a wall outlet every time I wanted to turn them on. So, I tapped into a ceiling junction box which supplied power for the garage door opener then ran romex to a quadraplex on a ceiling beam and then routed my light wiring to that box and down to a switch. Simple, effective, and relatively cheap (~$50 for romex, boxes, switch, outlet...). Totally something you could do in your garage, and even easier since you have exposed studs.

Here are a couple pics:





It's "ghetto" compared to what I'd do if I owned the place, but until then my only two objectives are that everything be functional and as cheap as possible. Whereas normally I'd also want them to be aesthetically pleasing and have a long lifespan.

You can also see the lame wood paneling someone put up on the walls of my garage. Maybe something you could consider for yours? I'm not sure how much that stuff costs, but I'm sure Home Depot has some kinda 1/8" composite sheet that would do the trick.
 

mike_81

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Mar 13, 2013
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Brampton, Ontario
thats a VERY generous single car garage. looks like 14-16' wide!

colour me jealous!

you've got the right approach though, get things up off the floor.
 

oldldh

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May 22, 2012
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Location
Fairhope, AL
As a retired USAF MSgt...make sure you can restore the space to "pre-occupancy" condition...Base Housing Offices/Officers have NO SENSE OF HUMOR!!!

Other than that proviso, you're doing well with what you have...
 

lt1driver

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Dec 1, 2010
Messages
141
wow, nice tool boxes etc. been there done that on military housing...retired AF maintenance officer.
 
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