Projects It's time for a complete garage overhaul

You know you wouldn't need all that space if you didn't have all that stuff.

 

My son has already told me he has dumpster rentals on speed dial.

 

This is what I bought to get stuff out of my shop/parking area. 12'x24', all treated wood, metal roof. Just gotta get off my *** and get stuff moved now!

 

Hello,

You have quite the project going on at your house. The space provided for most garages are for cars. But those folks that work on cars usually take up a space or two. Then that leaves the valuable daily drivers to sit outside in the calamity of local weather gods. Space inside would be a premium for daily drivers, but add in a hot rod project and now, space and organization as you mentioned above, is the central point.

Having lived in the time era where garage cabinets and tool storage was all exposed, was handy at the time. But, the gathering of parts on the workbench and tools on the wall, plus parts in small boxes on the open shelves were what was the way most garages were at the time. No one thought of cabinet storage and a relatively dust free workspace, what ever was being built in the garage. It was a workspace after all.

Our backyard garage we built for our Willys Coupe project had a long workbench with wall shelving above on the exposed beam walls. If a part got accidently shoved to the back of the shelf, it usually could be found on the floor under the workbench. Not always handy in that respect. But, no one made cabinets for garage work and storage back then.
Our apartment garage had exposed wall beams and a large shelf for household overflow storage. The El Camino could fit under the large wooden platform storage area, just so it would fit in the small garage. The other side was where it was open to the ceiling and the sedan delivery was parked. I had to make a tool storage/workbench area for our El Camino and 327 1940 Ford Sedan Delivery, then create some space for our Harley Sportster. My wife’s 62 Corvair was relegated to staying outside to fight the salt air elements that came rolling into the area every night.

For the next two houses, we ended up with a homemade work bench, a laminated table for my enlarger and developing equipment. The tools got shoved over to a corner area on their own small boxes on shelves, marked with what was inside. Each garage had its own designated workspace.

After closing the door and sealing the cracks around the door, I let the surrounding air calm down until it was absolutely, still. That gave the dust particles time to settle down on the floor. Then, I uncovered the photo equipment carefully and started in my relatively dust free environment.

The photo bench was not for hammering or sawing or even small hot rod works. The top was created with surfboard resin for a smooth shiny surface for the main event, photo developing and printing various sizes of photos. When I needed a custom frame for photos, on another day, I had to go over to a small area in the garage area, below the tool box shelves and pound away. Nothing was going to damage the custom surface top photo developing table.

In one house, we were able to convert an unused laundry room for a small darkroom indoors. But, of course, I had to cut down the custom made apartment garage work table so it would fit the much smaller laundry/dark room. There was enough room for an enlarger work area and three small developing trays. The running water was behind the enlarger area to wash and finish the darkroom processes. All frame making was done outdoors in the garage work area.

For larger poster size photo enlargements, I had this custom tube that the paper could be safely rolled up inside and develop with the chemicals anywhere. I shot the larger poster size photo angled on the wall across the small room. The paper was totally flat against the wall and created a larger viewing of the negatives for the enlargements. 11x14 was usually the standard tray developing and printing. The wall photos were much larger up to 2 ft by 3 ft in dimensions. So, it worked well in the small, light tight room.

Jnaki

As we got to our family house stage, I had a made another wooden workbench tied into a set of wall shelves with small bottles of screws and auto parts. The workbench was right in front of the cars and I had to move the cars for larger work in the area to create more room.

For the long hours in the garage workspace and sports activities, I had a shoe collection on the adjoining wall above the washer and dryer. The tools, workbench, and storage was in front of both cars, wide enough to work on, but narrow enough to walk in front of the cars to get access to the other side of the garage.

Chasing after photo angles and enjoying skateboarding/scooters, I used up a lot of athletic shoes. But, also, chasing after an active little kid was all encomp***ing and I needed some good quality shoes, to use, to get in on the chase…Ha!

A recent find of this photo, I took a long time, ago was how most garages looked from our first hot rod garage in Long Beach to our last family house garage work area. All exposed for dust and falling stuff during the So Cal earthquakes. Even my surfboards had their “hanging from the rafters” location for easy access and restocking after a session at the beach.
A 1963 built home had a larger version of a two car garage, but still not the smooth drywall, insulated walls and built in shelves inside of tall cabinets or low counter area cabinets. Bare bones wall studs and black tar paper for insulation. How quaint.

A two car garage 1963-90s era (recently found photo) The small drill press was at the end of the workbench and the table saw was jammed under the counter until it was needed. I gave away the floor jack due to hitting it in the dark so many times with my sandal worn feet. YRMV

If you have not used any of the old parts or your grandfather did not specifically set them aside for you, that makes things easier. Unless you plan on starting the same business, let them go to anyone willing to come and move them out. It is not the money in this case, but the memories that your grandfather liked what he did. And, that he would be happy knowing the parts and old cars went to someone who would appreciate them and not be a "hoarder."

Being a grandfather, we know what is going to happen to our garage stuff. Our son or granddaughter will not sit around and ponder what is valuable or not. It is clean out the garage cabinets and drawers. If they cannot use them in their lives, not 5 years down the line, but now, then they will probably go to the salvage companies that come to your house to move stuff out to the s****yards or the local dump.

Note:

Too many times, people see a horde of stuff and think $$$ But, it more than likely will not be a gold mine. So, look for your grandfather's friends/customers list and give them a call to come and get the stuff, now. If you personally have room to store the old stuff and you think it is a thing your grandfather would have wanted for you, then go for it and store it away.

We would be happy knowing our son and granddaughter would take the time to come over and do that for their lives. We have stuff we think is valuable, but to whom? One of them will eventually live here or sell the property. But, whatever is the outcome, we would not want them to ponder over whether or not it is valuable to them.

For us, cars belong in a simple clearly organized garage environment. A simple place to park the cars out of the weather and outdoors. Afterall, they are valuable as family usages go and especially if they are daily drivers. Why buy a house with a two car/three car garage and fill them up with cardboard boxes, while one or more of the most valuable commodities sits outside of the closed garage door?

Written history, old photos, timeline of our family are things that matter and are definitely worth saving. A porcelain ash tray with a dog attached to it may look unusual in an antique store, but to store it away in a box makes no sense. Material things that will not make a difference in their lives should be given away. No worries, just come and take them away. Organization and cleanliness are the keys to finding what anyone needs at any moment as far as tools or parts...YRMV

 

Call this my "deadhead" shelf. Looked at all the unused space above the MGB. MGB or coupster fit under it. Built mostly from leftovers. On wheels so it can be moved. As I was building it, it occurred to me it might be time to start thinning the herd. Have sold quite a bit the last couple of years at a local swap meet. As I age, I need to take a realistic look at what is left in me vs. the dreams that help keep me alive.

 

I can appreciate saving space by not stocking bolts, nuts, and other hardware but I have a lot. They're mostly organized in a small chest of drawers setting on a work bench. This is part of my problem- no work bench space because I throw everything on the benches.
As I go around the walls of the garage I see more and more that'll be going into the dumpster creating more space.

 

i had to start all over when i moved out of my RV when i came back to Tennessee. built a 30x50 shop

 

My daughter (a.k.a. my executor) plan involves a BIC lighter...

 

Wonderful!

 

Here is a little better pair of pictures showing how a leanto can help a lot.
Standing in the middle and looking west........

You can see some of the larger tools mounted on wheels. Easy to pull them out into the shop when I need to use them..........out of the way when I don't.

Looking East has a lot of cabinets mostly for specialty tools for working on engines. The cabinets don't match, but they do what I need.


Grinder and wire brush wheel I use a lot. A "narrow" table along the left wall. This works really good for small electric tools. I got it at an auction and it was set up for blacksmith tools. I kept a couple of them and sold the rest for about double what I paid for the whole thing. Thats what I mean about getting tools for free or gaining money to pay for other tools. It doesn't have to be all "out of pocket" expense.

Here is a better view of the "narrow" workbench and a few "specialty" tool cabinets.


On the opposite wall is an old wooden workbench I built 40+ years ago because I didn't have money to buy one. I got an old stainless steel top from a restaurant table and put it on it many years ago. Great for working on oily and dirty stuff. Cleans up easily. Last year I added a small cleaning tank to it. Cut a hole in the stainless and dropped the small cleaning tank into it. Cabinets on the walls behind the bench to hold more engine building and specialty tools.

Now this lean-to is about 12-13' wide and you can see how much space it gives me when organized. Thatssss why I try to get people to look into adding a lean-to to whatever shop they have.


Having space allows you to organize..........Then its up to you.

 

Steady progress. Definitely wasn't going to show you the model car collection and metal shelving that got ruined by the leaking roof, too embarr***ing!

 

This is what's next. . . . .
2 flatheads
1 500inch Cadillac
1.Olds 455
3 transmissions
Open drive banjo and the list goes on
Wish me luck

 

Where did you got those white metal cabinets with the vertical drawers? They are exactly what I need. Starting to organize my mess of a garage for an engine build, will steal some ideas from several pictures in this thread.

 

I'm going to show this to my wife who "may need that one day" and my daughter who has her first chewing gum wrapper . In all likelihood, I will become a resident of the garage shortly thereafter . I'm sure the cardboard boxes will crush to fit my form sort of like a memory foam mattress .

 

These cabinets came from a company that stored microfilm and was changing how they went about it. They sold me these cabinets for $50-$60 each. They had more with the vertical drawers but I didn't buy them. The drawers are on rollers and open and close easily. They had dividers in the drawers, so I removed those as needed to fit what I wanted to store in them. The vertical ones have several shelves inside them. I think they are welded together with the bottom cabinet because I couldn't get it off without damaging the cabinet.


Don't remember ever seeing vertical cabinets other than these but I'm sure some pop up on Facebook every now and then. If someone practices looking at cabinets every now and then, good prices come along for them. If they look really nice people ask more. You can get good working cabinets usually for $100 -$50. You can always paint them if you are pickey. Some people ask a whole lot more for them, just wait and others will show up cheaply.
Here is one of my favorite types of cabinets. The number of drawers vary but you want the ones with drawers about 5" appx deep.

These are a little deeper and work great too.


These come up all the time. Lots of drawers for nuts and bolts. Not roller drawers. People ask some high prices but I also see them for $100 and less. I gave about $75.


In this picture you see two large cabinets mounted to a wall. I see these cabinets for sale all the time for $50-$75 . Just below them are multidrawer cabinets that usually go for $75-$100..........but I sometimes see them for $300 You really can create some great storage in a shop if you take advantage of wall space above the ground. Pictures look nice but cabinets look better.
Virtually all of the cabinets in my shop are $50-$75 range and the roller drawer ones are old but really work well.

 

I have a great wife but I have gotten "the look" many times over the years when buying some things. What I have found is that it helps to "mention" that the reason you were able to repair something or make something for her .....was because you had these tools on hand. I made a little wrought iron railing next to the steps in the garage coming into the kitchen. It looks really nice and as she has gotten older......she really appreciates it. She has told me so many times. Not anything really special, but suits her really well.
Lots of times when I buy something better than something (a tool) I already have, when I sell the old tool to someone off Facebook........I just hand her the money or she will insist that I keep it or just split it. Then she sees that its not always money going out.....
I still get "the look" sometimes but its usually not a problem.

 

@wheeldog57, here is what I see when I look at your shop. Take it as a positive ***essment of how I would address it if it were mine.


You have a very narrow workbench and the things you have stored under it stick out in the way. The space just above head level is unused and wasted. If you would remove that workbench and buy some pallet racking and make a rack/workbench like I have posted in some of my previous posts, the additional depth of the rack would allow you to stand at the workbench with those engines stored under it. You would have to cut the racks uprights to fit under the low roof you have, but there should be enough room for an upper shelf. You can put some smaller wall cabinets like these


I gave about $20-$30 for each of these. Sprayed them with a rattle can. These are not the chincy old kitchen cabinets but are actually well made ones. You can find even bigger ones. It would be nice if you could also find some of the cabintes that have the 12 drawers to set just below them. Put 2x6s on one rack to make the workbench and a piece of steel for a work surface. The additional depth of the racks workbench will allow some smaller stuff at the back. The grinder and bead roller can be mounted. You could actually make a bracket on one of the uprights so the bead roller could be slipped in place when needed and stored when not needed. That bracket could also be made to accomodate other tools as well. Thats what I would do if it were me..........

Edit: I just saw the other pictures of your shop........missed the first time. Honestly, I think the biggest problem is narrow shelving. I think if you start purging all those narrow wooden racks and get stronger wider racking in place, your shop has room for everything. Its hard to accept that a rack that takes up more space actually gives you more space, but its about using the space thats higher up as well as just above the ground.

Whats the 500 going into?

 

@ekimneirbo thanks for the input, all good ideas. The bench in question is to be knocked down and rebuilt like you said- deeper and stronger. Cabinets and/or shelving going between windows. Refrigerator, grinder, and bead roller will be attached to new bench.
Roller just unscrews from the bottom
The 500/turbo 400 I'm up in the air at the moment

 

Organized Over Kill...

 

[QUOTE="X-cpe, post: 15012864, member: 315983" As I age, I need to take a realistic look at what is left in me vs. the dreams that help keep me alive.[/QUOTE]

You and me both, brother. Doing my best to reduce the pile .

 

Holy moly, that wears my eyes out!

 

Needs fish net on the windows and some RC planes hanging from the ceiling. Maybe a fake palm tree .

 

Is this MidJourney?

 

Here is a picture of something I mentioned earlier. Its a small cabinet where you can keep those extra specialty things when you buyt a pack of them and only need 1. Gets lost in the big picture and you forget you have them or can't find them. By putting them on the drawer, it reminds you while you are looking for other things and makes it easy to find. Much easier than trying to read a label describing exactly whats in the drawer.



Still got some empty drawers waiting for the next specialty item.............

 

This image is messing me up. Am I losing it or does nothing on the walls have real words printed on it?

 

You're correct. It was apparently created by AI (saw a post of it on here the other day). Also the back two toolboxes are the same length as the black car. Proportions are way off.

 

I was wondering what all those round or somewhat round things on the walls were, and thought it was just "blurry" from being enlarged.........but clicking on the picture to enlarge it just brings even more questions in my mind. Kinda looks "unreal"..........? Look at the treads on the tires, not concentric.