It took me a awhile but I finally figured out that a shop isn’t for storing stuff, the guys stopping by with beer for bs and lies. It’s a good place to hide from the rest of the world and get a few bills paid. The rest of the world doesn’t need to know what you are working on until it’s done and gone, no looky lues needed. I believe a shop is for getting stuff done without interruption.
I think I’ve shown this before on another thread but here is my spare garage….. It’s rumored that there is a ‘50 Ford convertible in the thing but I won’t know until I build the addition to my shed in back and empty it out this spring
Its kind of a pain to get a decent pic of the whole shop. Ive been working on cleaning, and making the place functional as possible & still fit all of my ****. I dont have any grand pics so I'll just share some I have of the progress Ive made over the last couple years. Just FYI Before amyone starts with "It must be nice" comments... This was my Pops dream shop he worked for his whole life. He built it, then p***ed away a couple years later of Pancreatic Cancer at 65 years old. It is a great shop, but it came with a huge cost & Id gladly give it all back & be fine w my old 2 car garage for another day w my Pops... So its now filled w 3 of his cars, 3 of my own & 1 of my brothers plus some bikes & all our tools combined. The first order of buissiness was more outdoor storage. 50 foot shipping container & expanded the driveway to store trailers, projects ect... Of course just like our cars this is DIY...
Next move was to paint the walls and start organizing inside. Id move what I could, paint & repeat. I finally finished recently. Not to interesting but I sure wish we'd habe done it first thing. I also plumbed the entire shop with Rapid Air setup.
@Roothawg thanks bud. Ive got a few more pics coming.. Next step I got rid of all the odd size shelves & cabinets. I bought a load of 12tall commercial pallet racks and have been ***embling them (a PIA with one guy) and putting them accross the far back wall of the shop. Goal is to put my workbench, tool boxes, motors, trans & rear ends under, File cabinets, paint cabinets, cherry picker all under the lowest shelf & everything else on the uppers. If it doesnt fit on the racks or in the container its swap meet fodder. Ive got these super stout racks from my neighbor to store my transmissions & rear ends. The blue racks that are hiding behind the Model A Frame. You can also see the smaller pallet racks in that same pic. Those will go outside for extra storage. Ive got some real cool old Hardwood sliding ladders they used on the old phone co. swithboards to help me access the higher racks.
Bought a load of equipment off a bud closing his shop this summer. Wheel balancer, Tire Machine, Brake Lathe & a 2 post lift and some random bikes. Couldnt work a deal on the forklift though...
Plan next is to build a loft on the left side above the metal fab area. Put the sewing machine, instruments & couch ect... up there. Ive saved a load of old galvanized siding for the walls in the metal fab area for fire protection & some heavy commercial fabric kind of curtains to keep the rest of the shop as clean as possible. This is about how it sits today. Gotta finish up the rest of my pallet racks, install the 2 post lift and finally get back to working on cars. If it wasnt such a pain in my **** Id paint the rest of the spray foam. Plan for now is just to hang all my flags & banners up there..
I can give some good advice, even though I didn’t listen to it myself. Finish all the shop construction before you move in cars or tools. Keep the work zone free of parts storage, and the storage free of working. Build stronger shelves than you think you’ll need. Build more shelves than you think you’ll need. Build the shelves high so you can store engines and other heavy stuff on the concrete. Lots of lighting. Lots of air hose outlets on hard line around the work zone. Put some airline drains at low points, with ball valves on the bottom so it’s easier to do. Lots of outlets. Put at least one high amp outlet over by the big door so you can weld something outside if you need to. As part of the foundation, pour a kneewall a foot high so sparks shot into a corner won’t light the framing on fire. I actually went another step and ran wainscoting made of old tin barn roof all along my inside walls. A few feet of that air tool hanger bracket stuff screwed to the tool wall (I’m always buying more die grinders since I hate changing bits). Also a few feet of screwdriver loop hangers too. And loop hangers for pliers too.
I wonder if the neighbor has enough corrugated metal in his stash... Even if it only is enough for one wall...
Built this 25’ x 24” shop 5 years ago. Added lean-to a year later. It’s barely enough room. 2 post lift. No heat or A/C but it has big doors that allow air to move.
I retired in 2017 so I started building my shop in 2015. Wanted it ready as soon as i found my retirement project. It was to be a 24' x 30' shop with large parking area out front. I wanted the parking area to join to both my driveway and the back alley. I figured it would easily hold 2 cars with working room and I wanted to make sure i had sufficent lighting so I installed shop light all around with wiring for expansion if I needed. I also installed an air system to get air to every area within the shop. I built two work benches, one small and one large but the main goal was to have everything in the shop on wheels so that when ever I wanted I could pull everything outside and wash the shop floor. I also want the walls to be well insulated so that I could use the shop winter or summer. I installed a small window unit for AC and a small electric heater. I wired the shop for internet and installed a small flat screen TV to watch Motor Trend or Youtube videos. The I installed pegboard over 100% of the walls. The Idea her is I could change or move tools or shelves as I need. The air system works great. I bought a Kobalt air compressor and in a few years when it failed I bought a second compre***or and kept the first for storage. In addition to standard outlets I install a central Pull cord to reach anywhere in the shop along with the same for air. I also installed four drop lights and two ceiling fans. My son was a professional tile layer so he wanted to contribute the floor. He installed ceramic tile with epoxy grout. It works great! and doesn't look to bad eihter. I have since added a frig to keep my refreshments cold... View attachment 5935883 And now i finally found my retirement project......... If you're interested you can seen the progress of my upgrading the 57 at my website. www.diagensis.com This has made retirement everything I hoped it would be.
Jay and Gene, your shops are waaaay to organized! Jay, was your garage a kit or from scratch? Looks like steel framing. Both so nice
GREAT thread, please post up the sizes of shops with pics. I'm looking to build one in the future and I'm totally unsure of what size I want/need. I don't want it too big but also don't want to run out of room. It's either going to have a small (1,000 sq ft) living area attached to live in or be real close to a small house. I was also thinking having a separate building (skinny, long and short) for just vehicle parking and the shop for working. All the equipment, paint booth (make shift room) and lift in the work area. The biggest place I've had to work out of is now, in a supposed 2 car garage.
Steel frame building ***embled by 3 hard working men in one day. I hung the interior plywood walls, hung the electrical conduit and ran the wires but had an electrician do the breaker box. Here’s a time lapse video of the day it was built. Fun to watch.
My shop is 24' deep by 30' wide. I can get 3 vehicles in with my two work benches and storage cabinets. with the pegboard over 100% of the walls allows for easy tool access and can be changed easy to meet my needs. The main thing i wanted was everything in the shop is on wheels so its easy to pull everything out and clean up when needed. With two vehicles there is max room for working and make sure you install plenty of outlets and air across the shop. I just sat down and drew up what i wanted and spent the next year adding and modifying untill i was rady to build. I wanted it well insulated so i caan work winter or ssummer and be comfortable with a small window AC and small electric heater. The final addition was last year. in Texas we kept losing power in the winter and in the heat of summer so i had a full house generaalor installed and yes it powers the shop also. so no down time. I have internet so i can stream Youtube videos and search for parts or how to videos. Anyway, you just need to take your time planning what you want before building. Know what your overall objective will be and think details. Good luck!
I agree with Gene. I decided what 2 post lift I wanted. Then made sure the shop walls and roof would allow the lift. I planned, planned, and planned some more. Made drawings etc until I was sure I could get what I needed. Here’s the full story for anyone interested. https://lugnutz65chevystepside.weebly.com/shop-project.html
Agree on air outlets. I have 1” up and down pipes with drains for water traps, followed by water filter and regulator. This goes to an 18” x 2” upright pipe for water. Next, necked down to 1/2”, with another filter and outlet. Tee-d off this is 1/2” Rapid-Air piping over ceiling to south wall with two outlets. I get very little drainage from first filter, even when bead blasting during summer. No moisture from second filter feeding blast cabinet. Very happy!
The new home to the new "Big Daddy's Trim & Custom" I don't have a picture of the outside. Paint booth isn't complete yet.
I'd be interested in how you finish out your paint booth. How big is your mixing room? What is the size of the shop? I like it. Looks awesome.
Shop is 40x50. There is a door out of the paint booth into a common room down the back of the shop that's 8x30. That's where the mixing room is, and all of my tools, and the compressor. The paint booth is sheetrock, with 12, 8' led's, and a 6600 cfm exhaust system with 6 intake filters that are 20x20.
There are 2 doors to the back room. You can see one by the 39 Chevy, and the other is inside the paint booth.
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