Tool/storage room???

[Mossmilo]

Do any of you guys have a dedicated room to store your toolbox, welder, compressor, torches, shop vac ect ect. I've been debating on building a room in my 32x48 garage to accommodate these items vs having them lined up down the walls. I was thinking 6x12. I know I would be losing some space but feel I would also gain a lot due to making a room which will add an extra 2 walls for shelves and what not. Please give me your input thanks.

 

[justanengineer]

Currently no, but once I get the house paid down a bit I am going to do a reno/addition to add one. I currently have a concrete slab housing a screened "porch" on the backside of the garage. Its rather impractical as a porch due to not being on the house itself, so SWMBO is getting a porch on the house and Im getting a toolroom. Realistically, for me it gets the machine tools and my boxes out of the garage, gives more room to work inside, and additional indoor parking. Its also nice bc it will give better security when Im traveling.

 

[Super Sport]

I currently have a screened porch across the back of my garage that is 8' deep. If money allows, I plan on remodeling it into an enclosed room where I will keep all of that stuff. My garage itself isn't big enough to store it all.

I won't be placing my toolbox back there. I don't want to walk that far when I need a tool.

 

[brownbagg]

not to loose space but I need an addition just for warehouse of parts and big tools on wheels.

 

[nosnerd]

i will have a tool room slash compressor room slash electrical....

when i worked ina diesel repair shop inlate 80s..we had one (they had me and another guy put it together)


free up the wall space !!...plus i do not like the cluttered look.................

 

[Schwinn68]

I hadn't thought about it much till now but I think it would be a great addition to any garage. I have that problem with my current garage with "big" tools-welder, air compressor, drill press, band saw. They just kind of hang out in the middle in the way. Would be great to have a separate room off the back to hide it all in.

 

[Tim The Tool Man]

Yes I built two additional back rooms to my shop. These were additions, not partitions.

I have a 12' X 8' for my compressor, dust collector, small parts bins, and gardening tools. Next to that is a 8' x 34' space that was originally going to be storage for my boat. Boat never made it in there and it now stores my large equipment and things the OP mentioned.

I've been keeping my eye on craigslist for either cheap lumber or a used shed so I have a better location for my lawn equipment. Never enough room!

 

[NUTTSGT]

I have tool storage in the back corner off to the side. The compressor is in another back room in another part of the garage.

 

[jsaw]

Somethin gI always thought was nice, was to have a smaller room like you are talking about, but to have a bench and small work space in it. that way you can heat it in the winter to work at small jobs without heating the whole garage.

 

[casetractorfarmer]

Depending on how tall your building is you can build the room so you can stor stuff on top or evern put shelves on top

 

[dladcock]

I didn't start off with one, but I did buy a shipping container to store the tool boxes, bolt bins and misc. parts. when we started the shop finishing project. It has now been designated the "Tool Crib".

It also had another affect, I tend to put the tools back sooner than later. Now when I work on something, I pull the tools required for the task from the crib, then put them together to go out at completion.

I know that's the way it should be, but I sometimes lack the discipline to put every tool at the end of every project. This worked out for me.

When the shop project is completed, I'll have a certain amount of tool storage inside the shop, but the Tool Crib will still have it's place in the tool organization.

dla

 

[rsanter]

I used to have a shop that had a room I used as a work space and tool room. It was great because it kept the work area for cars free of all the shop equipment and stuf
You just need a toolbox with the stuff you need out in the larger area and then the rest of them go in the tool room
I wish I could have a shop with a machine room....

Bob

 

[fred d]

I have 2-2 car garages.
My current plan is to build a 14x20 addition to my detached 20x24 garage. Move all of my tools in to the same building(woodworking tools mainly in the attached garage now). Then build an office for my wife(9x12) inside the attached garage. Then I will park the motorcycle in the remainder of the attached garage

My addition will house mostly my shelves and woodworking tools, this will free up some floor space for working on projects in the "main" area. So the addition will become a tool room of sorts

 

[JMartens]

If you have the space, I'd go for a tool storage room. When I converted my existing garage to a pool changing area/locker room, full bath, and woodworking shop, all tools got placed into built ins.

Everything is organized and out of the way and as someone else said, it makes me put the tool away when done with it.

I snapped some pics and in some of the larger closets, you can see I made the doors so that they could be used for storage as well.

This is the view from the old garage door.

<a href="http://s189.beta.photobucket.com/user/Martens813/media/NtoS.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z260/Martens813/NtoS.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"/></a>

Same view with the doors open.

<a href="http://s189.beta.photobucket.com/user/Martens813/media/NtoS2.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z260/Martens813/NtoS2.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"/></a>

<a href="http://s189.beta.photobucket.com/user/Martens813/media/NtoS3.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z260/Martens813/NtoS3.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"/></a>

A close up of the materials storage closet.

<a href="http://s189.beta.photobucket.com/user/Martens813/media/MaterialsCloset.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z260/Martens813/MaterialsCloset.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"/></a>

A view from the other end. The door is framed in where the garage door used to be and will enter into my soon to be constructed new garage.

<a href="http://s189.beta.photobucket.com/user/Martens813/media/StoN.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z260/Martens813/StoN.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"/></a>

 

[mdkingsley]

Here is my tool /compressor/ welder storage room. It is not finished yet, I still have to build one wall and install the rollup door. I did mine for 2 reasons. First for security, if someone ever broke in they would have to go through another rollup door to get to all the valuble stuff. Second to keep things organized. The air compressor is in there to cut down on noise. It is the wall behind the land cruiser with the big orange T on it. It was intentional that it is there, it is closer to the electrical box to save on wireing and I wanted it next to the work bench area. The red tool box on the bench serves for close by wrenches when I am working around the bench and as a decoy. It is full of name brand tools but almost all from pawn shops, ebay and CL. The expensive stuff is in the tool room.

 

[mdkingsley]

Pics I forgot to add.

 

[egnorant]

I have a carport with 2 tool rooms built into the back that worked great for many years.

The tool room has a bench and vice setup with a small compressor underneath.

I know it's messy but I was away working for about 25 years.

The other room usually held cutting torch, welder, floorjacks, jack stands, oil cans and such. Had another worktable at the rear of the carport.

With the shop building up and running this will get only light use.



Bruce

 

[Vegaman_Dan]

32'x48'? You should ample space to partition off an 8x10 area or so for a tool / equipment room. But I would be curious about your ceiling height. If you have a garage that size, then you probably have pretty high ceilings too, and if so, I'd be tempted to bump that tool room out to about 10x10 or so, and make use of the top of the new room as a second level for storage, observation platform, hideout, fort, etc.

Okay, so it'd be better for car fenders, tires, and other bulky long term storage, but I like the idea of hiding up there behind a screen of tires to sit and read comic books in your private hideout.

 

[bullfrog123]

It's great having a tool room. Mine houses the compressor, hand drills, saws, cordless tools/chargers, floor jacks, jack stands, bolt bins, electrical 12v & 120v stuff, etc etc.
Keeps these items which aren't used everyday out of the way and keeps them cleaner as they are behind closed doors away from the general work area.

 

[Falcon67]

24x12 sliced out of my 24x40
North end

South end

 

[McKay]

I am in the process of building my garage right now and am going to intall a tool storage room in the corner that is 24'x30'.

 

[wesalexleft]

I have the 70's ourdoor utility room with a wall that has an adjoining door to the garage. It actually works out great. I borrowed from here and installed a "whole house" vacuum in the little "utility room". The compressor is there also, and there's still room for a small workbench and stool. I have it with AC and heat. That's where I rebuild carbs, and do finish work where patience is important and tends to go away if I'm not comfortable. The great thing is that when I'm vacuuming, or running the compressor, the noise is greatly reduced and it makes things far more enjoyable in the garage.

 

[BoostAddiction]

I have a separate room not shown in the garage link below that houses my compressor, ladders, spare tires, and a wall of cheap plastic storage. I did it to keep noise down (you can actually hear yourself when the compressor is on since it is in another room) and to add more storage for lesser-used or bulky items I didn't want in the garage.

It's a long narrow room, about 24' and 5' long.

 

[Strouty]

I have a separate area, but have not boxed it in yet. That is my next step. Mine is about 15x24 and then I have a little office on the last part about 6x15. Basically the last 15 feet of my shop is storage/office. Once I get things figured out I should be able to double the space with a second floor and I will move the office upstairs and make the old one the lunch room. I am also thinking about a flammable storage room. I have two flammable storage cabinets and don't want to have fumes be an issue in the general storage room.

 

[jeffmoss26]

Nice setups guys!

 

[bacpacker]

24x12 sliced out of my 24x40
North end

South end

That is a nice space. Lot of stuff in it, but still plenty of room to work. I like it.

 

[JMartens]

Dedicated tool storage is the way to go in my opinion. Here's some pics of my shop and some of the storage ideas I have incorporated.

Here's a view from the north:

Here's some of the doors openeded up:

I've found that deciated storage has helped me keep things clean. It's also nice when I ask my wife or son to get a tool and we all know where it is kept. The tall cabinets to the back left when viewed from the north store cut offs. There is a cabinet for 8 foot pieces, 5 foot and 3 foot. If it doesn't fit, it gets tossed. It keeps me from getting cluttered.

Here's a couple of views from the south:

 

[TRWTOW]

closet on right bathroom on left cabinet and bench goin in the 20 ft section between heres a pic

 

[Chart]

Based on my experience, I would not break up the main shop with a tool room. We did that, and now I'd love to have that space back. Over time needs and treasures grow, but available space does not. On the farm we built a huge work shop able to swallow up a combine with the head attached if need be. Put an office in one corner with light storage above. Contains desk, recliner, TV, Fridge, bath, research library, etc. It's got AC and Heat unlike the rest of the shop. Now, over the years we've gotten: Tire changing machine, Industrial metal lathe, motorcycle lift table, 4x8 plate steel work table, parts washer and few hot water pressure washers, 54" table saw, RAS, jointer, 5hp planer, etc etc etc. They are all big and all take up floor space. What used to be huge, now barely accommodates a pickup.

Now, if you build a tool room outside the shop, that could be a great idea!

There are many narrow tool storage solutions that won't eat up your floor space like a tool room will, and as some have said, don't forget to look up for storage solutions.

 

[49tandc]

Yes, I have a 10 X 12 tool crib at the back of my shed (54 X 40) for big, bulky things like engine hoist, sandblaster, compressor, engine blocks, etc. I have some pallet racks - supporting shelves where I store seldom used hand tools. It is really nice to have a dedicated place for this stuff and not taking up the shop floorspace when you do not need thm. They are always where they belong when you need them - rather than hunting all over the shop for a specific tool.


49T&C

 

[Voi]

A couple of years ago I put in about 16' of closets along one wall of my third stall. It's on the same side as our man door so they do not interfere with backing a vehicle in.

The closets are 36" deep on the inside and about 40" deep over all (2x4 construction plus 1/2" drywall on outside) which is about the minimum to be useful, I think. I didn't build them all of the way to the ceiling so I could slide lumber up on top of them.

I used old french doors so it would be easy to get things like our mower in there.

All in all I like having my clutter hidden. Eventually we plan to put in a shed and also expand our deck so I may take about 8' of the closets out so I have room for another workbench. But my wife says she wants to keep the entire length regardless so we'll see. That stall (my shop) is only 17' x 25' so the closets do take up some space.

If I ever get to build my dream shop I will absolutely have storage rooms just like this. But with even taller ceilings I'll have even more storage above.

 

[Daddy454]

JMartin-that's a nice little set-up you got there.

 

[mauls]

i have approx 10x15ft area in the back of my garage where I store all of my tools, jacks, compressor etc.

Just moved in 30 days ago so still unpacking everything, but here's a pic.

 

[Daddy454]

Here's a shot of the paint/powder room.8x8' room,originally built for powder coating,and some painting.Works fine for what it is,but I like the idea one poster had about a smaller easier to heat work area.Got a cabinet/bench in it already,maybe I should drop a ceiling on it,and multi-purpose it?