Organize my garage....

[bkg]

Okay...

so I need someone with mad organization skills (I should call Bruce!)...

I have a 24x26' garage with a 3'x8' area for steps into the basement.

I have the following - all of which needs to fit into the garage and still be usable.

4Runner
Lexus IS
John Deere 2305 - with either the bucket of snow blade attached
Compressor
Drill press
Parts washer (on wheels)
Two rolling toolboxes (3' wide?)
Trash and recycling bins (large ones)
Two large latters
work bench
7 5-gallon fuel tanks
6 jack stands
floor jack
spare R150 ******/tcase
mini fridge
etc, etc, etc


Last year I had the tractor, car and 4Runner in just fine; tractor against one wall, 4runner pushed against the other and slid the car between them during the Winter months (mower deck under 4Runner). With the tools, it's going to be tough.

Any ingenius ideas?

 

[krusty the clown]

a lean too to store the tractor and things you don't use often. my shop is 26x30 and i NEVER have enough room. building a high shelf around the perimiter may be a help too, things will still be accesible and you'll still have some room on the floor.

 

[bkg]

a lean too to store the tractor and things you don't use often. my shop is 26x30 and i NEVER have enough room. building a high shelf around the perimiter may be a help too, things will still be accesible and you'll still have some room on the floor.

Unfortunately, that's not possible in this neighborhood. And I'm kind of **** about the tractor - too much invested to ke ep it outside.

 

[krusty the clown]

Unfortunately, that's not possible in this neighborhood. And I'm kind of **** about the tractor - too much invested to ke ep it outside.

i inderstand about the tractor. are you in a subdivision with a lot of rules? can't even get a permit from the city/county? i guess i'm lucky....no planning or zoning and my neighbors don't complain about anything i do.

 

[bkg]

i inderstand about the tractor. are you in a subdivision with a lot of rules? can't even get a permit from the city/county? i guess i'm lucky....no planning or zoning and my neighbors don't complain about anything i do.

technically, I'm not allowed to even have my car trailer outside. Seriously!

I've never had a problem and my neighbors have been great, but I only have a small number of decent sized cedars to try and hide things in. And since I'm on a hill, everyone in the neighborhood can see my place. So I really need to keep everything in the garage - hopefully I'll be able to add on late next year or early the following.

and yes... I wanna park the car in the garage during the Winter... I'm a wuss like that.

What I probably should to do is see if my neighbor will let me store the 4Runner in his shop - he has a 3-car up, 4-car down and 4-car detached shop.... and hasn't moved into the house since he bought it over a year ago. That would really solve my problems.

 

[krusty the clown]

technically, I'm not allowed to even have my car trailer outside. Seriously!

i'll bet if i came over for the weekend you could have the space shuttle in your yard..........as long as you pomised i'll never come back

 

[bkg]

i'll bet if i came over for the weekend you could have the space shuttle in your yard..........as long as you pomised i'll never come back

 

[vlpronj]

Compressor
Drill press
Parts washer (on wheels)
Two rolling toolboxes (3' wide?)
Trash and recycling bins (large ones)
Two large latters
work bench
7 5-gallon fuel tanks
6 jack stands
floor jack
spare R150 ******/tcase
mini fridge

I can't give any helpful advice for the vehicles, so I'll skip them.

[*]Make a stand (18" high or so?) to get the the mini fridge off the floor, for the floor jack or jacks stands to go under?

[*]Ladders - you say large; if they're over 6-8', I've got no advice. Otherwise, I put hooks on the garage side of the door o the house to hold a stepladder - it works OK. That, or try some mounting arrangement on the inside of the garage door, if you're comfortable with ladders hanging over your Lexus and 4Runner.

[*]Jack stands, ladders - can they go over the (closed) garage door(s)?

[*]Fuel tanks - if these are usually empty, try a high shelf or rack mounted on the wall

[*]If usually full, a stand like that for the fridge maybe, but of course you'll want to watch what you put over them

[*]Trash and recycling bins - if they're 4' high or less, make a shelf that just fits over them, or (esp. recycling) leaves you just enough room to drop stuff in without pulling out the bins. If you make this shelf really sturdy, it might be able to hold full fuel cans/tanks.

You've probably tried and shot down half these ideas already, so I'll check back to see what ideas other people have.

 

[MScott]

Don't forget the area above the garage door. You could put the ladders there if they are not too long. Also, a shelf could be built there to put the gas tanks and any other of the lighter misc. items.
A good idea is to lay out a sheet of graph paper in scale (1/4 = 1 foot works well.) Then make scale sized cutouts of all your major storage items and move them around on the graph paper to see what works. Be sure to allow room to walk, open doors etc.

 

[vartz04]

we have a 26x30, and there is NO WAY youll have all those things in there and have a usuable garage.

In ours we have a john deer 585x, with a plow blade, a 4' work bench, cabinets along the walls, and a 16' car hauler, there is no way we could fit a lexus IS in the left over space.

Good luck man

 

[qdvuu]

Put as much as you can on wheels, wheeled carts or wheeled shelving. Then when you're not using things, roll them together in a dense storage mass to allow priority for the cars and tractor.

What can you store above the steps? Make shelving that leaves sufficient headroom but permits max storage space.

 

[bkg]

I can't give any helpful advice for the vehicles, so I'll skip them.

[*]Make a stand (18" high or so?) to get the the mini fridge off the floor, for the floor jack or jacks stands to go under?

[*]Ladders - you say large; if they're over 6-8', I've got no advice. Otherwise, I put hooks on the garage side of the door o the house to hold a stepladder - it works OK. That, or try some mounting arrangement on the inside of the garage door, if you're comfortable with ladders hanging over your Lexus and 4Runner.

[*]Jack stands, ladders - can they go over the (closed) garage door(s)?

[*]Fuel tanks - if these are usually empty, try a high shelf or rack mounted on the wall

[*]If usually full, a stand like that for the fridge maybe, but of course you'll want to watch what you put over them

[*]Trash and recycling bins - if they're 4' high or less, make a shelf that just fits over them, or (esp. recycling) leaves you just enough room to drop stuff in without pulling out the bins. If you make this shelf really sturdy, it might be able to hold full fuel cans/tanks.

You've probably tried and shot down half these ideas already, so I'll check back to see what ideas other people have.

Some good ideas! thanks!

Don't forget the area above the garage door. You could put the ladders there if they are not too long. Also, a shelf could be built there to put the gas tanks and any other of the lighter misc. items.
A good idea is to lay out a sheet of graph paper in scale (1/4 = 1 foot works well.) Then make scale sized cutouts of all your major storage items and move them around on the graph paper to see what works. Be sure to allow room to walk, open doors etc.

Graph paper will get a start ths weekend.

I have no real area above garage door - maybe 6" or so

we have a 26x30, and there is NO WAY youll have all those things in there and have a usuable garage.

In ours we have a john deer 585x, with a plow blade, a 4' work bench, cabinets along the walls, and a 16' car hauler, there is no way we could fit a lexus IS in the left over space.

Good luck man

I don't expect it to be usable with everything in there - good call in pointing that out, though. I expect to be able to negotiate in and out of the car, get the 4Runner in and out w/ only moving the Lexus and the mower deck, get the tractor out w/o having to take stuff off of it, etc. It woudl be very nice to have access to the bench with everything in there - at least to grab a tool or something.

Put as much as you can on wheels, wheeled carts or wheeled shelving. Then when you're not using things, roll them together in a dense storage mass to allow priority for the cars and tractor.

What can you store above the steps? Make shelving that leaves sufficient headroom but permits max storage space.

Above steps might provide an opportunity for a shelf. I'll look into that.

Most things are on wheels now, for this very reason, except the drill press (might change) and the up-right compressor.

I'll try to get some pics taken with everything in there now...

thanks for all of the ideas.

 

[ihredo4]

I use this to layout the shop. It is free to use and has a good variety of items to use as visual representatives. I have a small shop 17' X 13'. I have used this tool to lay out different configurations and now I am ready to start putting my stuff in there. Good Luck

http://www.fbibuildings.com/Pages/FBiPlanner.html

 

[ironroad 9c1]

Tell you fing neighbors to start making your house payment...then they can start telling you what you can and can't do with Your property. or move somewhere else, I got so fing sick of hearing people whine about living in a HOA controlled 'hood . Its not like you didn't know it was a nazi area when you moved there.

 

[bkg]

I use this to layout the shop. It is free to use and has a good variety of items to use as visual representatives. I have a small shop 17' X 13'. I have used this tool to lay out different configurations and now I am ready to start putting my stuff in there. Good Luck

http://www.fbibuildings.com/Pages/FBiPlanner.html

Thanks - I'll check it out.

Tell you fing neighbors to start making your house payment...then they can start telling you what you can and can't do with Your property. or move somewhere else, I got so fing sick of hearing people whine about living in a HOA controlled 'hood . Its not like you didn't know it was a nazi area when you moved there.

I don't have an HOA, and I'm not whining about it. I do have (unenforced) covenants and I respect that my neighbors a) have a lot of investments in their houses and b) that I really have no place on my property that a neighbor can't see due to lack of trees. So I do my best to keep the place tidey, neat and my stuff in the garage (which I prefer anyway). :shrug: Would I prefer to not worry about it? Sure, but even if I have 40 acres surrounded by trees, I'd still want to keep these items in doors.

 

[bkg]

I use this to layout the shop.

This is a coooooooool tool! Thanks! Played around with it a bit last night - had to do a 24x24 since it wouldn't handle a 26' length. Was hoping to get going today, but my buddy's daughter turned 7 and there's a problem with the 4runner, so I couldn't get it moved.... so tomorrow..

MiniVan represents the dimensions of the 4Runner. Tractor is stretched to include dimensions of the blade and 3-point... It's going to be tight, but this might just work!

 

[daw53]

These may not help with the space issue, if you are storing the deck under the 4 Runner, but I though that I would post it just in case.

http://www.moweraxle.com/tractorstands/johndeerestands.html

They allow you stand the deck upright and move it around easily, the large mower decks can be heavy and awkward to move.

- David

 

[bkg]

These may not help with the space issue, if you are storing the deck under the 4 Runner, but I though that I would post it just in case.

http://www.moweraxle.com/tractorstands/johndeerestands.html

They allow you stand the deck upright and move it around easily, the large mower decks can be heavy and awkward to move.

- David

THAT is pretty damned cool! The deck is incredibly heavy, so I admit I'd have to use the bucket to get it into that position! Fits very well under the 4Runner, so I think i'll save my back.

 

[bkg]

Spent a lot of time working on the garage today, trying to get everything to fit... and I did pretty well. Have to get rid of a couple of things that I don't need anymore, but overall, I think it looks good. Might even be able to go get some more of my tools out of storage.

Threw the 4Runner on the wheels and shoved it against th ewall, this time engine forward so I could work on a few things.

Tractor in it's semi-permanent position. Once the deck is removed and behind the 4runner, the tractor will slide another 6" to the wall. Parts washer and compressor also semi-permanent. Once I get rid of the cabinet, they will slide towards the right.

Where the ladders ended up. Powertank waiting to get refilled before re-installed. Lopi insert that I'm refurbishing for the house. The blue cart will be recycled.

The new bench. Function over form on this one. Sorry for the mess - haven't had time to clean up yet and needed some dinner! There are a few rubbermaids in the pic that need to be emptied. Bench is all recycled wood - 2x4's from basement firring (long story) and top is 1x12 finished pine from a bunch of old shelves that I bought a while ago - I've gotten a lot of use out of those shelves!. This is the first time in over 5 years that I've had my tool boxes in my possession!!!

Threw together a rolling stand for the press. This is its (and the jack's) permanent location. Easy to pull out for use. White cabinet needs to be emptied and given away. Another shot of the ladder locations.

Another shot of the tractor and stuff

Plenty of room for the Lexus!!!!

And an amazing amount of bird ****. That's a size 11 in the pic - the other spots are water from washing the tractor. I think it's from a very large crane that has been frequenting the house. All of this in two days!

Still have some clean up to do, arranging, getting rid of the cabinets (free to anyone who comes get them) and it should be good to go! Just need heat, more outlets, 220 and a lazy chair!