What to do with extra space, your advice please :)

[rednas]

Ok, so here's the situation, I don't really have a garage but it's an annex to our house consisting of two rooms. One is approx. 27' by 10' and the other 13' by 10' (I know, not quite sizes you are used to be working with but here in Holland it's pretty ok)

In the larger of the two rooms I have set up my workplace in which I mess around with bikes, mainly building streetfighters or just doing maintenance on my or my friends' bikes.

The smaller room was used for other stuff but will be emptied in a few months and mine to fill The question is, what to do with it?

The wall between the two rooms is load bearing so removing it is not that easy (was my first choice) but still possible. That would create one big room which will make moving bikes and other stuff around a lot easier. I would then also include a 10' by 3' hallway.

I am now thinking of setting up the room for specific duties like for instance a metal shop where I can put my drill, welder, a sink and perhaps a lathe. That why I can do the messy work away from my precious tools and bikes. And I can also move some cabinets from the bigger room to this one to have more space where I do the actual work on the bikes.
Or maybe making it more versatile, but how? The room isn't big enough to split up..

What do you guys think? I want to think this through before tearing down the wall or putting other effort into it. I have added an artists rendering of the situation to make it more clear

Thanks a lot for your comments.

 

[Jeff Ivers]

Put in a french door between the two rooms. That is an easy modification to a load bearing wall and will give you enough width to move anything you need between the rooms. Beyond that, it comes down to a close examination of what you need - small room set up as dirty work area? small room set up as clean storage?

 

[ihatelaramie]

Wow I didn't know it was possible to have enough room to have to wonder what to do with it.. lucky you! But in all seriousness, a small machine/fab shop would be pretty cool, like you said, it'd keep all the metal chips and grinding dust off of your bikes.

 

[Tim The Tool Man]

Well if you lived closer I was going to say let me put some of my extra **** in that extra space!

Actually I would do as mentioned above but maybe two french doors one toward each end of the space. Then remove the hallway.

 

[ArkTinkerer]

I'd use sliding doors, pocket,doors, or even a rollup door. Swinging doors required free space to open/close.

If that doesn't work, please box up your free space and and ship it to me!

ArkTinkerer

 

[Train]

Now I'm no English teacher, but I do believe "extra" and "space", cannot be used in the same sentence.

 

[Kevin54]

When I first read the title, I thought I was in the WTF thread. Extra space? No such thing that I ever heard of.

 

[ZRX61]

I think you are misstating your problem, The actual problem is: you don't have enough tools....


But...
I'd go to the extra effort of knocking down the wall & putting in a steel beam to take the load. The use the *new* room for a work bench, storage shelves/cabinets, space for your toolboxes & the beer fridge etc, freeing up space in the original room.

 

[Al Bundy]

What is this "extra space" you speak of? I have never seen nor heard the like of it.

 

[Big A]

I'd make it either a clean room or a dirty room. Meaning, a clean room where you can keep a clean bench for rebuilding carbs etc. and don't do any welding or grinding; or a dirty room is where you film ****

 

[rednas]

Thanks for all the replies guys

Let me be clear, there is no such thing as enough or too much room
It's more that I want to make the best out of the room I've got I have no trouble at all to fill it (man, I would kill for a two car garage.. )

A clean room does sound good too but I already strive to keep my workplace as clean as possible.
I'm leaning towards just tearing down the wall and creating one "big" space so I can move stuff around more easily. Then I can create a corner for the dirty work.

I'll consult a engineer on the possibillities to remove the wall and take it from there.
The stupid thing is that the wall only supports the roof of the annex, that's it. I guess the previous owners (who built the house) were too cheap to use bigger beams for the roof? So maybe I can just re-inforce the roof so I won't need a pillar supporting a steel beam.

Thanks for now guys, as soon as I have made a decision and start work I'll create a topic of my own

 

[raddksn]

I keep my extra space right next to my extra time, just can't remember where that is.

 

[adpprop]

I keep my extra space right next to my extra time, just can't remember where that is.

Right with your extra money.

These have got to be some of the funniest replies I have ever read on ANY forum. Sorry they had to be at someone else's expense but ...............

 

[nachche]

Right with your extra money.

These have got to be some of the funniest replies I have ever read on ANY forum. Sorry they had to be at someone else's expense but ...............

+1!

 

[raddksn]

Extra money what color is the sky on your planet???

 

[raddksn]

All kidding aside check out jack olson 12 ga. garage and lilscorpion toolorganization,ton's of great ideas for storage to help maximize whatever you do with your "extra space" P.S. lotts more good stuff on here !!!

 

[DekeT]

Space? I would keep it secret from my wife.

 

[Outlawmws]

Space... The final frontier...

Enough levity. Assuming the "hall" wall is not load bearing, lose that and then consider making the single door tot he larger space, into a double door. you will need a header to support the span but should not be too bad.

Once you have that you have much better access for getting from one room to the other, and you other plans for making it into a "tool room" for DP's and the like are much easier to deal with...

I think this gives you maximum return on minimum investment, and now when you go through the door to the shop area if the first double door is left open you can access either in a step, but you can close it for noise dust whatever...

 

[rsanter]

I used to have a similar setup
the toolboxes, workbench, press, drill press, parts washer, etc were all in the small room.
2 cars and the jacks and kackstands were in the big portion

bob

 

[Bib Overalls]

Junk expands to fill the space available. If you just wait this so called problem of yours will solve itself.

 

[Hank McMauser]

depending on the load it's supporting you could probably do a glue-lam beam and put it inside the roof with the ceiling joists attached with side mounted joist hangers so the beam is flush with the existing ceiling or at least partially inside the ceiling so you don't lose any or little headroom

 

[camarotoolman]

Its not that big a deal to remove the wall and put a header (beam)up. 2pcs 4x4s posts 2pcs.2x12 nailed together. Hire a local carpenter for a few hours.

 

[rednas]

Space? I would keep it secret from my wife.

I am planning on filling it as soon as possible with heavy stuff so she can't move it

 

[rednas]

All kidding aside check out jack olson 12 ga. garage and lilscorpion toolorganization,ton's of great ideas for storage to help maximize whatever you do with your "extra space" P.S. lotts more good stuff on here !!!

I will, thanks for the suggestions

 

[rednas]

Space... The final frontier...

Enough levity. Assuming the "hall" wall is not load bearing, lose that and then consider making the single door tot he larger space, into a double door. you will need a header to support the span but should not be too bad.

Once you have that you have much better access for getting from one room to the other, and you other plans for making it into a "tool room" for DP's and the like are much easier to deal with...

I think this gives you maximum return on minimum investment, and now when you go through the door to the shop area if the first double door is left open you can access either in a step, but you can close it for noise dust whatever...

Sounds good, i think that will be the first step, enlarging the smaller room by adding the hallway (that wall isn't loadbearing indeed and just a small effort to get rid off )
Thanks

 

[rednas]

depending on the load it's supporting you could probably do a glue-lam beam and put it inside the roof with the ceiling joists attached with side mounted joist hangers so the beam is flush with the existing ceiling or at least partially inside the ceiling so you don't lose any or little headroom

It is only supporting the roof of the annex, no additional levels so there shouldn't be too much trouble when removing it. Your idea sounds good, especially the part about the support being "inside" the current ceilling

I'll have an engineer take a look at the structural drawings soon to see if this is possible. Thanks.