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Shop or Garage

Shop or Garage

  • Shop

    Votes: 73 68.9%

  • Garage

    Votes: 24 22.6%

  • Other (please specify)

    Votes: 9 8.5%
  • Total voters
    106
Z

zmotorsports

ALLIANCE MEMBER
Joined
Oct 20, 2009
Messages
21,359
Location
Northern Utah
I would like to pose a question to my fellow garage-journalites.

I know this is not life altering or earth shattering and it may be semantics or a Ford vs. Chevy type of discussion and really has no relevance to many but it's more of a curiosity of mine than anything. I was browsing a few "other" sites the other night and I stumbled across a thread on jalopy journal asking "shop or garage" and I realized that although this is "garage" journal, so it may be automatically assumed, but I've not seen that discussed here and when I did a search I didn't come up with any similar threads. So, I'm curious if you refer to your work area as a garage or a shop?

Also interested in what you consider a garage or shop if you don't consider them the same?

Personally, I've always considered a "garage" as the place to park my daily drivers and is attached to the house whereas a "shop" is where the magic happens, or work gets done rather. A shop is where the tools and equipment are housed and things get built and/or repaired whereas the garage is a place of storage for daily drivers, lawn & garden equipment, bikes, stroller, etc. Now most don't have both but it still has me curious as to whether you call it your shop or garage and why? My son has always called ours the "speed shop" which I have found to be kind of cool because for so many years we ran our small performance shop at our last place and we liked to build speed related toys.

Just thought I'd throw up a quick poll and maybe we'd start a discussion prior to the weekend and see where it takes us.

Thanks.
 
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S

StormcrowAz

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 3, 2011
Messages
750
Location
Phoenix, AZ
I feel the same way - garage is attached to the house, shop is separate. In my old house I didn't have a shop and the garage served dual purpose to both park the cars and then had to pull them out to do actual work in there. Still called it a garage. Fortunate to have both now, and the garage only keeps the daily drivers out of the sun, and while I do still park a vehicle or two in the shop...it's still the "shop". When talking to people I don't know well (and maybe not mechanically inclined), sometimes it's easier to call it a garage as "I spent some time in the shop this weekend" can be construed as going to work or at some sort of repair facility away from home. Everyone knows what a garage is, but having a "shop" isn't as common, especially in the inner-city areas with tract housing.
 
4

428PI

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 14, 2018
Messages
1,976
Location
Peabody, KS
I have a small "garage" where I'm able to park my Tbird in and garden tools. It's was originally a black smith shop in the early years because of the anvil pad and wall exhaust. I have a "shop" that originally was a chicken house that is my shop and garage combined (I park my Maverick in it when not working on a project). My "shed" (32x42 plus lean to) may get a make over with new cement and garage doors and may become my new "shop" and "garage". Too many choices.
 
L

LXCam

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Joined
Apr 23, 2013
Messages
19,106
Location
AZ
I suppose its totally dependent on what type of available space is at your disposal. My "shops" where in garages for a lot of years until I built a true shop 20+ yrs ago. Now the collection has grown so much, there ain't a garage big enough to deal with it. So I guess that relegates me to always needing a shop...

Darn the bad luck.

But I guess that didn't answer the question now did it Mike. For me I guess the defining feature would if the garage has a welder in it. IF SO, its a shop :spit:
 
N

niget2002

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 2, 2012
Messages
11,123
Location
Josephine, TX
I have both.

The garage refers to the one attached to the house where the car and motorcycles are parked.
The shop refers to the 30x50 stand alone shop that I do all my real work in.

When all I had was the garage, I referred to it as the 'garage shop'
 
R

racecougar

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 26, 2021
Messages
5,025
Location
Missouri
Most of the daily drivers park in the attached garage.

The rest of the cars park in the shop, where the equipment/tools are, and where work takes place.

All that storage stuff, like yard/garden tools, goes in the shed.

Animals, feed, and tractors go in the barn.
 
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B

burger

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 6, 2005
Messages
981
Location
Erf
I prefer the French “car hole”

(Simpsons reference)

Kidding aside, my garage has a workshop. There’s a 3 car area for parking cars, then a 24x24 workshop. No partition between the two, but they’re separate spaces.. in my head at least.

And obviously the bigger the better.. until you have to pay to heat it!
 
F

finn

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 27, 2005
Messages
16,213
Location
The UP, God's country
When we lived in suburban Chicago, the two car garage had one full depth slot that was home to benches, the welder, air compressor, engine hoist, vice and space to rebui engines, etc, but I still considered it the garage, since it, for a while at least, also was crammed with the kid’s bikes, the lawnmower, roto tiller, etc, at least until we built a shed.

At our current house, we eventually constructed a 32’x54’ structure that I thought was big enough to be a shop. That lasted for a while, but we quickly outgrew it, so I bought another building a mile away that is now officially “ the shop”, while the building near the house has been demoted to “garage“ status, although it still houses three project cars, a 5 hp compressor, vice, drill press, blast cabinet, the tractor, etc.

I think where my welders and lift are located more or less defines shop vs garage now, although the Az house has a welder in its small attached garage, so maybe that’s not a strict delineator.
 
N

niget2002

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 2, 2012
Messages
11,123
Location
Josephine, TX
racecougar said:
Most of the daily drivers park in the attached garage.

The rest of the cars park in the shop, where the equipment/tools are, and where work takes place.

All that storage stuff, like yard/garden tools, goes in the shed.

Animals, feed, and tractors go in the barn.
Click to expand...
I still need to add a shed and barn to the property. Then we'll have a legit homestead.
 
R

rsparks64

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 22, 2015
Messages
581
Location
Hill Country Texas
I would love to have a "shop", but only have a "garage". It has my tools, outdoor tools, mowers, 2 cars, tool boxes and benches, storage shelves, and in a pinch it can be squished together to put in a 3rd vehicle. Most guys I know do house their cars in their garage and if they have a separate or dedicated place for working with tools, etc., that is their shop.

Even commercially some car repair places are called shops and some are called garages.
 
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J

jeep63

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 8, 2006
Messages
264
Location
Maryland, USA
At our new house I have one area that serves both purposes. I get the distinction though. I'm fortunate in that I have a 'basement garage' at this place too, so while the 'Jeep garage' parks daily drivers it is slanted towards 'shop'.
 
M

Mike65

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 7, 2007
Messages
3,047
Location
Horse Pasture, Va.
Our house only has a attached carport, so we built a garage/shop next to the carport. I consider it the garage/shop because my wife's DD gets the carport & my DD is in front of the garage/shop. The garage/shop houses my wife's 2016 Kawasaki Vulcan motorcycle & my 69 Mustang project, all our tools, air compressor, welder, soon to be added 4 post lift, & also where any repairs on our vehicles get done.

100_1969.JPG
 
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S

Steve from Socal

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 27, 2009
Messages
3,491
Location
Hutchinson Ks.
The garage by definition is a place where vehicles in particular are stored, repaired, serviced etc. So, a garage could be a 'shop' or a parking area. A garage can be free standing or part of another building. My house has a two car garage that housed both cars and tools. My shop has no garage but there are 10 cars/ small trucks and a semi tractor/trailer inside
 
F

finn

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 27, 2005
Messages
16,213
Location
The UP, God's country
Improved700 said:
3 car detached garage.
25 x 70 shop

Perhaps the terminology is somewhat regional as well?
Here in Northern Wisconsin and Minnesota, people have cottages and cabin's
Click to expand...
And our cabin eventually became our house, but we still call it our cabin.

I never figured out what a cottage was, unless maybe it’s a place without water frontage?

Then, of course, there a camp, which sometimes implies a rustic waterfront place, or a place on remote average one might stay during small game, fishing, or deer season.
 
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6

65ranchero

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 16, 2020
Messages
5,076
Location
Danville, VT left NJ forever
As others have said , garage is for parking and a shop is where the work happens.
I have a 2 car garage attached to the house by a breezeway and another attached 2 car garage/shop attached in back of 1st garage no need to walk out side to the garage/shop.
And a freestanding shed for the rider mower and outdoor tools
I will tell my wife I'll be in the shop.
 
L

larry_g

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 28, 2007
Messages
16,874
Location
oregon
Here on the farm we have a shop, a garage, a chicken coop, a hay shed, an implement shed, a barn and a few other outbuildings. The shop is where things get fixed and the garage is for vehicle parking.

lg
no neat sig line
 
L

Lookin4'67Galaxieconv

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 2, 2008
Messages
16,609
Location
Atlanta, GA
I have both, and kind of use each as both, but the general definitions apply. We have an attached two car garage I park my '65 Comet in, and the shop holds my '59 Ford. Have tools in both and do projects in both, depending on what they are.
 
H

housewolf

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 3, 2021
Messages
1,144
Location
East Texas
I have both but I kind of played the hand I was dealt. Tornado took most of my house a few years ago. We built a new house next door. The original house is now a 36’x26’ garage with a guest house above. I have an 8’x12’ corner enclosed for an “office/gun room”. We keep a car, boat, household tools, & lawn equipment in there.

Behind and to the other side of the garage is my shop. It’s insulated & soon to be heated/cooled, 18’x36’x12’. I have a car, two post lift, automotive tools/eqt, welding machine, plasma cutter, table saw, chopsaw, etc.. in there.

If I was building from scratch I would have built one larger blg for all of it but the tornado left too much there to “throw away” and it was impossible to increase the footprint of what’s now the garage. I’m pretty okay with what I have though. In fact, grateful.
 
B

Barnabas

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 24, 2013
Messages
361
Location
Raleigh, NC
My house has a small shop in the basement and an attached two car garage that is full of theatre equipment. On another piece of property I have a large shop/garage where I do the serious work. Most refer to this place as my warehouse.
 
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