What additional uses can be imposed on a garage?

[Lelandwelds]

Wood shop. Machine shop. Computer company incubator. Everybody knows the old faithful standbys. What new offbeat funky use can you dream up? Bonus points if it is something that makes the missus insist "Honey, you must build it now!"

 

[bczygan]

Love Shack!

 

[bczygan]

Woman's Cave

Giant woman's walk in closet

Yoga and workout space

Jewelry display area (Complete with toolboxes for storage).

Home spa

Indoor pool

Jail cell for husband (My wife Julie came up with that one)

Kitty and puppy room

Bunk room for her boyfriends

 

[SuperCat]

One corner of the garage could be dedicated to the spouse's hobby, complete with lighting, toolbox, bench, and storage. Don't forget a "comfy" chair for the bench, one with a back support. Once you have laid this trap, and the spouse starts to use it with regularity, then the house budget will easily open up for "garage improvements," such as insulation, floor improvements, paint, heat, perhaps even air conditioning. Bait the hook well, take your time, and land the big fish. Everyone benefits from a well outfitted garage.

 

[Lelandwelds]

Well, I think the trick is to think of something she will love the idea of but never follow through with. Or, something that is done from outside my shop. Or, something that only happens one weekend of the year.

So far, I have come up with:

Projecting movies on exterior wall for grandkids birthday and slumber parties. Overflow entertaining space for Thanksgiving/July 4/ Halloween/ New Years parties. Secondary food prep or food storage space for Thanksgiving . Outdoor carwash with rug cleaning or special dog washing area. Additional patio or dance floor space. Take up bridge or poker tournaments. Store Halloween and Christmas decorations. (She has an impressive amount)

This doesnt actually need to take place. Just sound like a cool idea.

 

[jetnow1]

I put a 12/12 roof pitch and basically a full second floor for storage, allows all her outdoor furniture to be stored for the winter, and I made it deep enough
that her Miata can be put along the back for winter storage while still having enough room for my project truck. It is now our garage. Happy woman, happy man.

 

[Toolfool]

My shop/garage is about 100' from the house. My wife parks in the carport attached to the house to avoid having to walk the 100' in the rain. She has just dealt with her second repair due to rodents in her engine bay. I told her we could build 'her' a garage next to the house, but it would be expensive. She agreed. Planning the 36' x 36' x 12' build with two 12' x 10' overhead doors w/high lift tracks and jackshaft openers, scissor trusses. Should fit a lift nicely.

 

[Lelandwelds]

I put a 12/12 roof pitch and basically a full second floor for storage, .

My house has a 12/12 or close to it pitch. I could echo the look of the house and provide storage for her huge collection of Chistmas and Halloween decorations. I need a high rise scissor lift or something to make it work.

 

[jives]

Basketball court. . . see my build without the darn photobucket pics.

 

[Lelandwelds]

Basketball court. . . see my build without the darn photobucket pics.

Lol. Did you mean you have another thread with pics? Your build sounds interesting. I like how you only needed a few pages to say it, too.

What does too much wood look like anyway?

 

[FullRaceMerc]

Performance hall for garage band

 

[larry_g]

When I built the first shop we had 5 children at home. The discussion was to add on to the house and have empty bedrooms in a few years or build a shop with a room upstairs for the kids to have their own area, but still sleep in the house. Once the oldest graduated HS they they got to live up there till the next stage of life. I had the 30x36 main floor the upper was 12x30. This new shop (below) is similar with a upper room, 12x36, that is her craft room. I have the lower 36x48.

It sometimes baffles me the sorry SOB's that want to give no access to the wife. I'm married her because I like her around. Been that way for more than 45 years.

One of the neighbors built a canning and butchering kitchen in one end of his. They use it for processing game and vegetables. Keeps the mess out of the house.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[Zeke]

I've seen:

• Model railroad and slot car setuups that take a whole garage
• Silk screening business
• Auto paint shop
• Gym and dance workout facilities
• Full on den with TV, bar, dining table, etc.
• Lampshade factory (small) but full service
• Racing transmission shop
• Ping pong, pool table and video games all permanently installed.
• Skateboard and surfboard manufacturing
• A nice executive office with more than one person working (also telemarketing)
• Formal display area with glass cases and all for collections
• Oh, and the weirdest thing of all, cars parked side by side
• And the most usual — mini storage for junk — can't even walk in or hardly able to

That's all I can think of right now.

 

[Hollywood D]

**********

 

[Lelandwelds]

It sometimes baffles me the sorry SOB's that want to give no access to the wife. I'm married her because I like her around. Been that way for more than 45 years.

One of the neighbors built a canning and butchering kitchen in one end of his. They use it for processing game and vegetables. Keeps the mess out of the house.

lg
no neat sig line

I am not baffled. I understand completely why wifes need to be kept out. She moves things to where she thinks they should be but has no clue what its used for. She loans my stuff to anyone who asks. She has no memory of either case. She used my rose shears to cut barb wire for a wreath. She painted bricks because somebody on tv did and got paint on my toolbox. She used my flushcutting japanese pull saw out in the yard and bent it.


My wife is not one of those handy women who can help hang drywall or read a tape. She will use a paring knife as a screwdriver and a wrench as a hammer. With the correct tools in sight.

 

[Playwme]

What’s wrong with the standard use? “Honey, it’ll get all my stuff out of the driveway and back yard. “
She didn’t even blink when I made it a meter wider than we’d agreed upon, just wants to know when it’ll be finished so she can plan her music studio behind it.

 

[Lelandwelds]

What’s wrong with the standard use? “Honey, it’ll get all my stuff out of the driveway and back yard. “
She didn’t even blink when I made it a meter wider than we’d agreed upon, just wants to know when it’ll be finished so she can plan her music studio behind it.

I am exaggerating and I have a thick skin anyway. She may work it into every argument for the next twenty years. I can deal with it.

She's already got the "twice as large as we need" house with her library with floor to ceiling bookshelves. Her boxes are already checked off.

What I really want is to make it easy to turn a specialist building into pretty much anything the general public demands. I want no white elephants. I am willing to make it prettier, taller, cooler, or larger if I can squeeze a few extra uses out of the space while making it more desirable to some buyer to be named later.

 

[Playwme]

Oh, they’ll always bring something into the argument. Mine is the tractor. I upgraded from a 1960’s Massey Ferguson to a 90’s 85hp Kubota 4wd with full cab and a chunky front end loader. It was only $20k, and I did more on the property in the first week with the Kubota than I had in 7 years with the Massey. It’s the one she brings up whenever she’s stressed about anything financial though.

As for the garage, It’s a skillion roof with good solar orientation, close to the house with good paths, big windows looking into the back yard, and clad with a commercial aluminum facade product for a clean modern look. Of course, fully insulated too so you could use the space for pretty much whatever you liked.

 

[Lelandwelds]

As for the garage, It’s a skillion roof with good solar orientation, close to the house with good paths, big windows looking into the back yard, and clad with a commercial aluminum facade product for a clean modern look. Of course, fully insulated too so you could use the space for pretty much whatever you liked.

Ok, skillion roof is a shed roof. "Commercial aluminum facade" is that the aluminum tubing and glass we call "storefront". A rainscreen system? Or, corrugated aluminum roofing?

Google only takes me so far.

 

[RVDan]

I park cars in it. Weird huh?

 

[Jawn]

Bonus points if it is something that makes the missus insist "Honey, you must build it now!"

Paint fume, noise, and dust quarantine structure. That one's almost working for me.

 

[Playwme]

Ok, skillion roof is a shed roof. "Commercial aluminum facade" is that the aluminum tubing and glass we call "storefront". A rainscreen system? Or, corrugated aluminum roofing?

Google only takes me so far.

Skillion, flat roof angled one way, lots of interior headroom but doesn’t dominate the landscape as you can’t really see any roofing from any point on our property

The cladding is called Alucobond. It’s a composite, plastic core with thin aluminum veneer both sides. Flat, pre-colored, no paint required and essentially self cleaning.

 

[Jon_E]

Definitely the strangest thing I've ever seen a garage used for is to park cars. Certainly not happening in mine. That's why the wife and kids refer to it as the "barn" or the "shop".

 

[BrendanBehan]

Used to be a 2 car garage, now it's a 1 car, 1 workshop. As long as we can get a car in there in the winter then she's fine.

She also likes the stove and refrigerator I moved out there when we got new ones. Really helps during the holidays. Cold beer a few steps away from the workbench is a bonus too.

BTW. Home refrigerators (actually the freezer ) don't work well if your garage gets below 40.

 

[ScottsGT]

I knew a guy that turned his garage into a wedding photography studio. A very successful one too I might add.

 

[NUTTSGT]

A sanity haven.

A place in the Winter to dispose of former standing dead trees.

Wood shop

welding shop

mechanical space

A place to practice your DIY skills before attempting them in the house. Do it the other way, you'll never hear the end of why ____ looks better in your garage than in the house.

 

[gtae07]

When I built my shop I redid the garage for my wife and set it up as an arts and crafts studio.

The jeweler that resized her rings uses his garage as a studio/work area, complete with laser welder, micro torch, and display cases.

My in-laws use half of theirs as a workout space.

I have a pellet/BB trap in my workshop as an indoor air pistol range.

 

[CN Spots]

In the past few weeks mine has transformed into a housing complex for mice.

There's one in town that's chock full of R/C aircraft.

I've been to a yard sale where the garage was turned into a permanent, every Saturday garage sale/store. Complete with store fixtures and a cash register.

 

[ScottsGT]

There's one in town that's chock full of R/C aircraft.

That use to be mine. It's a hobby worse than a crack habit.

 

[Erampu]

Mother-in-law holding cell.

 

[Lelandwelds]

She also likes the stove and refrigerator I moved out there when we got new ones. Really helps during the holidays. Cold beer a few steps away from the workbench is a bonus too.

Ive been considering an auxiliary kitchen just like yours. I also want to convert brisket into hamburger and chamber vac stuff.

Your kitchen works well?

It seems to me a patio, entertainment, garage, hobby, bbq, outdoor kitchen, and holiday space are all kinda different sides of the same thing. I think there's potential for one of those " the sum is greater" things.

 

[jives]

Lol. Did you mean you have another thread with pics? Your build sounds interesting. I like how you only needed a few pages to say it, too.

What does too much wood look like anyway?

Here are the two main threads:

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=287155&highlight=basketball+jives

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=343795&highlight=basketball+jives

Trying something different with the pics. Don't know if this will work.