How to make the most out of a small garage??? Options

[CrashTestDummy]

Here's the progress I've made. Next time I'm buying 1x4's instead of trying to rip all those boards from a sheet of plywood using a circular saw...took me forever. Other than that, it's going really well. I decided to take my time and paint everything, including the peg board. It'll make it look much nicer when done. My folding work bench turned out really good. I used two door hinges, which are plenty strong. I just have to try to come up with some folding legs. Anyone have any ideas? I bought replacement folding legs for a banquet table, which would have been really sturdy, but they are too short for the height of the work bench that I chose. I thought 2x4's with hinges would work well, but I don't have a way to keep them from flopping around. Lowes doesn't seem have anything for this application.

Tomorrow, I'm going to finish mounting the shelving brackets, and rip and paint the shelves. The next project after that is to get some serious lighting mounted on the ceiling.

Let me know what ideas you guys have for folding legs.

Steve

Hop on the Garage Journal web site and look in the Garage Gallery forum:

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/forumdi...desc&page=2

One of the big posters there, Jack Olsen, has a little 2-car garage that he's turned into quite the little fab shop. He has many folding tables there, including one welding table that folds up against the wall so he can park his Porsche 930. The thread on his garage is 'the 12-gauge garage', to ease searches. I was just over there looking for Jack's thread, and discovered another thread where a guy is discussing his 20X20 buildout. There's TONS of ideas over there.

[Steve91T]

Here's the progress I've made. Next time I'm buying 1x4's instead of trying to rip all those boards from a sheet of plywood using a circular saw...took me forever. Other than that, it's going really well. I decided to take my time and paint everything, including the peg board. It'll make it look much nicer when done. My folding work bench turned out really good. I used two door hinges, which are plenty strong. I just have to try to come up with some folding legs. Anyone have any ideas? I bought replacement folding legs for a banquet table, which would have been really sturdy, but they are too short for the height of the work bench that I chose. I thought 2x4's with hinges would work well, but I don't have a way to keep them from flopping around. Lowes doesn't seem have anything for this application.

Tomorrow, I'm going to finish mounting the shelving brackets, and rip and paint the shelves. The next project after that is to get some serious lighting mounted on the ceiling.

Let me know what ideas you guys have for folding legs.

Steve

Hop on the Garage Journal web site and look in the Garage Gallery forum:

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/forumdi...desc&page=2

One of the big posters there, Jack Olsen, has a little 2-car garage that he's turned into quite the little fab shop. He has many folding tables there, including one welding table that folds up against the wall so he can park his Porsche 930. The thread on his garage is 'the 12-gauge garage', to ease searches. I was just over there looking for Jack's thread, and discovered another thread where a guy is discussing his 20X20 buildout. There's TONS of ideas over there.

I know what I'm doing for the next few hours....awesome forum! Thank you!

Steve

[Steve91T]

Wow! Off to Lowes...got some ideas!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6Y-iRs4Egc...feature=related

[Crazy Canuck]

2 days ago we moved into our new house in Huntersville, NC. Believe it or not, the 20x20 is actually one of the largest garages we looked at. Who's building these houses?

Anyway, the water heater is gas, 40 gal. It also has a huge water softener with a metal pole in front of the water heater. The water heater runs out of steam real quick and I've been thinking about replacing it with either a tankless, or a hybrid unit that mounts on the wall.

That would free up just about all of that space. We have city water, and it seems to be just fine with the water softener bypassed, so I'm going to just sell it.

Anyone have any experience with tankless or hybrid water heaters? I know they are more expensive, but they will save money. The hybrid's are maintenance free (just about).

I really want to get that mess out of my garage and free up all that space.

(IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v199/Steve91T/Camaro/2012-01-20_09-56-17_833.jpg)

I got rid of my electric water tank heater...
I got a 36kW tankless water heater (electric)... use the space for my compressor now, and my electrical bill did go down by 27-28% for every comparable time from the year before that... throughout the whole year... been saving ~ $50/month on electricity... and electricity here is much cheaper than south of the border.

Everything in my house is electrical (heating, appliances)... and given that after 2 baths, there is no more hot water, I'm glad I can have as much hot water as I want... and not spending $ to heat up water that is not in use.

the model I have is the Stiebel Eltron Tempra 36 Plus (36kW)... I got it from here: http://www.e-tankless.com/stiebel-eltron-t...ater-heater.php
If you call, it's cheaper than the price online (that's what happened to me)... I needed 3x 60A fuses and heavy guage wires... but I took the huge one.
After some stress tests, I cannot use more than ~24kW of power from it, because the water pressure cannot cope w/ the demand... ie, if I open more focets, the pressure goes down... limited by what comes from the city... but those tests were during the summer, when the water temperature was a bit higher than it would be in the winter... took the 36 for peace of mind.

Been extremely happy w/ the unit... almost 2 years now that I have it... still say it's among the best mods i did to the house.
my 2 cents.

[Steve91T]

Made some pretty good progress today considering I got a late started due to rain. The goal is to have it done tomorrow and start on the lights. This is addictive, especially after seeing what people do on the garage journal forums.


(IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v199/Steve91T/Camaro/2012-02-29_19-24-57_77-1.jpg)

[CrashTestDummy]

Awesome progress so far.

Yeah, you can burn up a LOT of time on the GJ forum. Not that I know anything about that. (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/cool2.gif)

[CrashTestDummy]

One if the biggest issues is sizing the heater correctly. Too small, and it's very easy to get too small, and you're hating every second you own one. My only experience with one was when we took a dive trip to the bay islands Honduras. The buildings were powered by electricity from a diesel generator, and the water was heated by a single tankless gas heater per 2 cabins. It usually either ran too cold, or too hot, and we knew the _second_ the people in the other cabin turned their water on.

It's nice to hear you're saving electricity there. It's something I might have to look in to, especially since it's just the two of us, and we use hot water maybe 4X a day. The prices there are pretty dang cheap from what I've been seeing in the big box hardware stores.

<SNIP>

I got rid of my electric water tank heater...
I got a 36kW tankless water heater (electric)... use the space for my compressor now, and my electrical bill did go down by 27-28% for every comparable time from the year before that... throughout the whole year... been saving ~ $50/month on electricity... and electricity here is much cheaper than south of the border.

Everything in my house is electrical (heating, appliances)... and given that after 2 baths, there is no more hot water, I'm glad I can have as much hot water as I want... and not spending $ to heat up water that is not in use.

the model I have is the Stiebel Eltron Tempra 36 Plus (36kW)... I got it from here: http://www.e-tankless.com/stiebel-eltron-t...ater-heater.php
If you call, it's cheaper than the price online (that's what happened to me)... I needed 3x 60A fuses and heavy guage wires... but I took the huge one.
After some stress tests, I cannot use more than ~24kW of power from it, because the water pressure cannot cope w/ the demand... ie, if I open more focets, the pressure goes down... limited by what comes from the city... but those tests were during the summer, when the water temperature was a bit higher than it would be in the winter... took the 36 for peace of mind.

Been extremely happy w/ the unit... almost 2 years now that I have it... still say it's among the best mods i did to the house.
my 2 cents.

[Steve91T]

Shelves are done! Got two 4' florescent lights installed today also. More to come!

(IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v199/Steve91T/Camaro/2012-03-01_22-48-36_629.jpg)

[CrashTestDummy]

Of course there's no room to set an engine block, but how much weight will those shelves hold?

[Steve91T]

Of course there's no room to set an engine block, but how much weight will those shelves hold?

I know, I was thinking about that. I'm not even sure where my 12" miter saw is going to go. I'm definitely not done, but that wall of shelves is a good place to start. Once I fill those up, I'll see what else I need. I just need to figure out how to keep the shelves organized.

An engine could probably go on a dolly on the floor in front of the work bench. I could at least move it around a little as needed. Those shelves should hold a ton of weight, but I wouldn't trust an engine block on them.

Today I just need to hard wire the work bench light and start getting organized. My goal is to have the Camaro in the garage along side my wife's Murano on Sunday.

[Steve91T]

These turned out much better than I thought they would. You can't see them from about 20ft away from the garage. I can't wait to paint the frame white and wire them up. I think I can do that tomorrow morning.


(IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v199/Steve91T/Camaro/2012-03-03_18-18-42_512.jpg)

(IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v199/Steve91T/Camaro/2012-03-03_18-18-55_598.jpg)

This post has been edited by Steve91T: Mar 4 2012, 12:04 AM

[Steve91T]

THE CAMARO IS HOME!!!! I drove her from my parents house 40 minutes away this morning to my house and it was a little bitter sweet, that was my last time driving the car on the street. I'm going to miss my weekend car, but racing in CMC will more than make up for it.

So, progress on the garage....not a whole lot. Getting the Camaro this morning and NASCAR this afternoon kind of killed the day. I did build the frame for the 2nd under garage door light, painted them, and moved some stuff around. I've been packing stuff on the shelves that don't need to be there. I need more storage. So, that's my plan for tomorrow, along with hard wiring the under garage lights.

I'm going to build shelves up relatively high on the side walls and hopefully that'll give me enough room to store all the crap that I don't need to get to every week.

(IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v199/Steve91T/Camaro/2012-03-04_19-45-27_773.jpg)
(IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v199/Steve91T/Camaro/2012-03-04_19-46-43_876.jpg)
(IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v199/Steve91T/Camaro/2012-03-04_19-46-01_0.jpg)



Oh, and I cut the pole out. I was surprised how fast this came out. Only one semi used cut off wheel and it was out. That gave me a lot more room.
(IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v199/Steve91T/Camaro/2012-03-03_18-39-46_422.jpg)

[198esp]

THE CAMARO IS HOME!!!! I drove her from my parents house 40 minutes away this morning to my house and it was a little bitter sweet, that was my last time driving the car on the street. I'm going to miss my weekend car, but racing in CMC will more than make up for it.

So, progress on the garage....not a whole lot. Getting the Camaro this morning and NASCAR this afternoon kind of killed the day. I did build the frame for the 2nd under garage door light, painted them, and moved some stuff around. I've been packing stuff on the shelves that don't need to be there. I need more storage. So, that's my plan for tomorrow, along with hard wiring the under garage lights.

I'm going to build shelves up relatively high on the side walls and hopefully that'll give me enough room to store all the crap that I don't need to get to every week.

(IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v199/Steve91T/Camaro/2012-03-04_19-45-27_773.jpg)
(IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v199/Steve91T/Camaro/2012-03-04_19-46-43_876.jpg)
(IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v199/Steve91T/Camaro/2012-03-04_19-46-01_0.jpg)



Oh, and I cut the pole out. I was surprised how fast this came out. Only one semi used cut off wheel and it was out. That gave me a lot more room.
(IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v199/Steve91T/Camaro/2012-03-03_18-39-46_422.jpg)

What was the pole holding up?

[Steve91T]

On page 2 you can see a pic of it. Its just a metal pipe that was there to protect the water heater from people who don't know how to park a car.



I was talking to my wife last night and I told her how dissapointed I am with the way the garage is turning out. The problem wth shelves is they don't hide the clutter, they actually put it on display. I think maybe a bunch of white bins on the shelves will look nicer, and help to keep everything organized.

Overhead storage will be next. Back to garagejournal.com

[CrashTestDummy]

Yeah, if you have stuff in cardboard boxes, plastic tubs will definitely help. Not sure about where you live, but cardboard boxes are one of the three major food groups for cockroaches and silverfish. Cardboard is great for protecting the floor from spills under the car, and scratching parts when sliding them under the car to install/remove, but keep those pieces cycling out of the garage.

The only bad thing about plastic bins is that you have to pull the whole thing down and open it to get anything out. But it's a ton nicer than pulling a box down off the shelf, having the bottom open up as it clears the shelf, or get a surprise with a herd of garage buddies when you open the top.

Do those under-door lights have metal housings? Not that I've spent a lot of time looking for such lights, but the only ones I have seen have plastic housings, and connectors. The plastic gets brittle with age (and heat from the light), and when the bulb burns out, you're having to replace the whole thing because retainer clips and plugs just crumble as you try to remove the bulb. It's just something to remember when the time comes so you don't end up buying a bulb then having the whole light crumble on you when you try to replace it.

This post has been edited by CrashTestDummy: Mar 5 2012, 02:19 PM

[Steve91T]

Yeah, if you have stuff in cardboard boxes, plastic tubs will definitely help. Not sure about where you live, but cardboard boxes are one of the three major food groups for cockroaches and silverfish. Cardboard is great for protecting the floor from spills under the car, and scratching parts when sliding them under the car to install/remove, but keep those pieces cycling out of the garage.

The only bad thing about plastic bins is that you have to pull the whole thing down and open it to get anything out. But it's a ton nicer than pulling a box down off the shelf, having the bottom open up as it clears the shelf, or get a surprise with a herd of garage buddies when you open the top.

Do those under-door lights have metal housings? Not that I've spent a lot of time looking for such lights, but the only ones I have seen have plastic housings, and connectors. The plastic gets brittle with age (and heat from the light), and when the bulb burns out, you're having to replace the whole thing because retainer clips and plugs just crumble as you try to remove the bulb. It's just something to remember when the time comes so you don't end up buying a bulb then having the whole light crumble on you when you try to replace it.

The chrome is metal, but the connectors along with the box inside (ballast?) is plastic. I don't expect them to last forever, but hopefully they last long enough. I've got one hard wired, and what a difference! Today, building more shelves, wiring the other light, and adding two more 4' florescent lights in the front of the garage.

[Steve91T]

Last night I realized I needed more light towards the front of the garage. Fixed it today.

(IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v199/Steve91T/Camaro/2012-03-06_17-05-03_681.jpg)

Then I was getting ready to build a long, 12" wide shelf along that beam when I realized that it's just not the right spot. It's going to make it feel too small, and kill all the light I just installed. Then I was going to do something like Jim did in his garage, except I was going to build a selves between the garage track and the wall, 18" wide by 10'.

(IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v199/Steve91T/Camaro/2012-03-06_18-24-39_126.jpg)

I don't think it will effect the light because I have the small round lights under the door. But it doesn't solve a problem for my bulky stuff. I've got a 4x8 sheet of 3/4" plywood sitting in the garage. I'm now thinking that two, 4x4 drop down storage shelves, above the door, on each side of the chain. That would give me way more storage than any shelf, it would be nearly hidden with the garage door up, and isn't going to make the garage feel any smaller.

(IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v199/Steve91T/Camaro/2012-03-06_18-24-46_451.jpg)

What do you guys think of that idea? The only problem will be how to mount it. Are joists 16" apart like wall studs? If so, then a 4x4 will work. Jim's shelves in his old garage went through the drywall, and were attached directly to the studs. I know this would be ideal, but is there another way to do this? Some sort of brackets that could screw through the drywall and into the studs? Then the vertical 4x4's that hold up the plywood floor (of the shelf) could attach to those brackets.


Two more pictures. I'll be able to start organizing once I get the drop down shelves built.

Let there be light!!! And I still have one of the under door lights to wire up yet.

(IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v199/Steve91T/Camaro/2012-03-06_19-11-56_755.jpg)

(IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v199/Steve91T/Camaro/2012-03-06_19-14-20_245.jpg)

[roostmeyer]

Been meaning to post on this thread for a while. My garage is pretty small, looking at garage journal has given me some good ideas, but I think I've got a decent start as long as I don't over do it like in the latest thrash. I don't really have room for two motors, much less all the other crap associated with it. This was Saturday:

(IMG:http://i405.photobucket.com/albums/pp135/roostmeyer/other/th_photobucket-3736-1331097510361.jpg)

This was tonight, after throwing a bunch of stuff away, condensing storage bins in the basement, and taking a bunch more stuff to the basement. Once I deliver the lt1 to the new owner I should be in good shape.
(IMG:http://i405.photobucket.com/albums/pp135/roostmeyer/other/th_photobucket-3785-1331097476707.jpg)

(IMG:http://i405.photobucket.com/albums/pp135/roostmeyer/other/th_photobucket-1934-1331095225692.jpg)

The workbenches are 2x4's held together with decking screws, very solid, even with 8+ tires and wheels on the top. I can't remember the thicknesses of OSB I used, but I want to say 3/8" on the shelves and 7/16 on the workbench surface. VCT tiles on the surface to make it pretty, black and white checkers. I have some different tile adhesive I need to try on the front tiles.

I ended up adding an extra circuit for the overhead lights(8x 4" strips) and fans, a circuit for the periphery walls, one for the main workbench, one for the lathe (overkill), and a 220 for the TIG. The ceiling fans are nice in the summer, but really I put them in to help spread the heat out from the 30k btu blue flame heater by the door into the house.

This summer I'm planning on building a shed under my deck. It should be about 10;x11'. That way I can get all the lawn care stuff out as well as give me a place to keep my four wheeler so it won't be 2 hours away. Hopefully its water tight enough I'll be able to use it for car parts as well. Once I'm done with that my wife's car should actually fit with a little room to spare.

[CrashTestDummy]

Last night I realized I needed more light towards the front of the garage. Fixed it today.

<SNIP>

Then I was getting ready to build a long, 12" wide shelf along that beam when I realized that it's just not the right spot. It's going to make it feel too small, and kill all the light I just installed. Then I was going to do something like Jim did in his garage, except I was going to build a selves between the garage track and the wall, 18" wide by 10'.

<SNIP>
I don't think it will effect the light because I have the small round lights under the door. But it doesn't solve a problem for my bulky stuff. I've got a 4x8 sheet of 3/4" plywood sitting in the garage. I'm now thinking that two, 4x4 drop down storage shelves, above the door, on each side of the chain. That would give me way more storage than any shelf, it would be nearly hidden with the garage door up, and isn't going to make the garage feel any smaller.

<SNIP>

What do you guys think of that idea? The only problem will be how to mount it. Are joists 16" apart like wall studs? If so, then a 4x4 will work. Jim's shelves in his old garage went through the drywall, and were attached directly to the studs. I know this would be ideal, but is there another way to do this? Some sort of brackets that could screw through the drywall and into the studs? Then the vertical 4x4's that hold up the plywood floor (of the shelf) could attach to those brackets.


Two more pictures. I'll be able to start organizing once I get the drop down shelves built.

Let there be light!!! And I still have one of the under door lights to wire up yet.

<SNIP>

Looking good. I see one glaring omission; Where's the floor coating?

You'll be surprised how much light can be reflected off a nice floor coating. It's TONS easier to clean up, too.

[Steve91T]

Last night I realized I needed more light towards the front of the garage. Fixed it today.

<SNIP>

Then I was getting ready to build a long, 12" wide shelf along that beam when I realized that it's just not the right spot. It's going to make it feel too small, and kill all the light I just installed. Then I was going to do something like Jim did in his garage, except I was going to build a selves between the garage track and the wall, 18" wide by 10'.

<SNIP>
I don't think it will effect the light because I have the small round lights under the door. But it doesn't solve a problem for my bulky stuff. I've got a 4x8 sheet of 3/4" plywood sitting in the garage. I'm now thinking that two, 4x4 drop down storage shelves, above the door, on each side of the chain. That would give me way more storage than any shelf, it would be nearly hidden with the garage door up, and isn't going to make the garage feel any smaller.

<SNIP>

What do you guys think of that idea? The only problem will be how to mount it. Are joists 16" apart like wall studs? If so, then a 4x4 will work. Jim's shelves in his old garage went through the drywall, and were attached directly to the studs. I know this would be ideal, but is there another way to do this? Some sort of brackets that could screw through the drywall and into the studs? Then the vertical 4x4's that hold up the plywood floor (of the shelf) could attach to those brackets.


Two more pictures. I'll be able to start organizing once I get the drop down shelves built.

Let there be light!!! And I still have one of the under door lights to wire up yet.

<SNIP>

Looking good. I see one glaring omission; Where's the floor coating?

You'll be surprised how much light can be reflected off a nice floor coating. It's TONS easier to clean up, too.

I know, I've been thinking about that. I've spent enough time and money on this garage as it is. I really just want to get it finished and start working on the car. One thing that I've been very careful about is keeping things off the floor. The only two things that are touching the floor are the two cabinets. So, I could easily do the floor at any time. I think I would go with something like racedeck. Probably just white, or a light grey solid color.