My Garage Re-Organization

[MiniDave]

I have just a regular 2 car garage, under the bedrooms of my house although it does have one side extended a bit - that's where I do all my car/motorcycle/lawn mower/household whatevers......and it had gotten a bit out of hand, so I decided to do a major re-organization.....

The story is here on the Garage Journal....since this forum is populated with guys who work on their cars I thought you all might like to see it, plus I wanted to introduce everyone to the garage journal site. It's loaded with great ideas on storage and shop organization as well as just lot of interesting guys who do stuff in the garage/shops.

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=216637

[MtyMous]

That's awesome, man. These types of things are always on my mind, but with renting and moving around so often, all of my stuff has to be modular and able to move to a new house in 3 or 4 years. Some day I'll have my badass garage... someday.

[Jims5543]

Mrs.5543 has put me on notice that the garage is next after the kitchen is done, she "is sick of looking at it".

[MiniDave]

First thing I tell people who want to make their garage a shop again is to build a shed or something to hold the kids toys, lawn equipment and so on, then the only things in the garage will be cars and car stuff - the way it should be. Either that or build a shop separate from the house for the cars/shop stuff, and let the wife's car and kid's stuff take over the garage.

A man needs his own space, and for most of us it's the shop/garage.

[Mudhen]

First thing I tell people who want to make their garage a shop again is to build a shed or something to hold the kids toys, lawn equipment and so on, then he only things in the garage will be cars and car stuff - the way it should be. Either that or build a shop separate from the house for the cars/shop stuff, and let the wife's car and kid's stuff take over the garage.

A man needs his own space, and for most of us it's the shop/garage.

On Friday I got told I had a forced non-paid vacation this week (same day I 'won' that stupid auction for the plasma cutter I 'needed'... :-[ )...so thought I'd put some time in again on the 944.  First thing I did (after signing up for that garage-time-sink-site  ;D was move all the junk outside - WOW - what a great area I could have.  So much more enjoyable to go out there and work when I'm not tripping over everything.  (my garage is 28x32 with an 11' ceiling - but with the '80 Mini on the rotisserie, the 944 on jack stands, the '65, plus bikes, dirtbikes, Vespa, mower, our latest rocket-arduino-android project, welders, bender, etc our MINIs and Rover have to sit outside).  And holy crap, you should see the area above the garage... :-[

I need a shed - thinking about a roof off the end of the garage - when we built the house I had it framed for another door so at some point we could put a roof over there and I could get things inside to outside for sandblasting, etc.  without going out in the snow - might be time.  Hopping over to that garage site now - thanks for sharing that!!!

(love the 'sick of looking at it' comment, Jim - if I had a dollar for every time I heard that!!!!!)

[jedduh01]

Mister Dave== great job with your' re'do!   I like the thought put in- and the change that it made. and the other part= on a somewhat Budget!!!
  Many Garage journal posts are $$$ big money=== or costly things that just LOOK expenive too but provide little good  ( Car polisihing  / waxing / Cleaning racks)

Can you give me your Height of your work bench on top of those HF Us General Boxes?  I read 44 but is that with Wheels?

I can see the same benfieit if i canfit the same under my own benches/  Ive been using 2 drawer filing cabinets for alot of things= but have space for More Drawers Like those.  That US General box pops up on craigslist = Used one now = Kinda ratty for 200$

Im fortunate - house we purchased came with detached 16 x 25 Garage = 25 DEEP is plenty deep for 2 minis front to back- and 16 wide is just right for 2 wide with plenty of room. But with that The REST of my stuff is in there too = House stuff = Bicycles ( yea 4 of em)  and other things. My space is also futurnate 11 ft ceilings!   so i buit Two loft spaces in corders for more  STUFF+  Coolers= camping equipment=- heaters= man oh man STUFF..!!  We dont have basements in Charlotte.

I agree= Next build is a 8 x 12 shed =detached from garage = Yard stuff + house work stuff will move there( table saw too)
add taht -= will be spaced from garage to give a simple covered area just for more general storage ( engine lift)  small trailer= etc!!  oh man the plans.

I just got done this week... Ductless AC Unit installed + just today  = R30 Insulatiion into the Attice!


Oh man sorry = I love my garage...

Working on my wall of fame!



Sorryfor the hijack = !! garages rule  never enough space!

[Mudhen]

Sorry for the hijack...but hoping this is a small enough site to allow a little side track:

Talk about garages, blah, blah blah - DID YOU HAVE THE BABY YET!?!?!?!?!?

Geez man...don't leave us hangin'...

[jedduh01]

What a nice community!
Thanks Mudhen!  = No baby yet!!!

Due date is technically Tomorrow - right now  No baby ! WIfe is ready - lets do this!

Ill pack my Dad bag here in a few... Mom's ready - cars is ready too! Co workers keep asking when i'm away for more than 15 min!! " is he having a baby!??

Lots of love to come = Excited but for sure Scared!  yes its our first + a GIRL!

[MiniDave]

Jedduh, first congrats on the new little one!

The height of the workbench over the two boxes is 38", however I removed the casters and built a frame of 2X4's for the boxes to sit on. The box is not 44" tall, it's actually a 41" wide box, I don't know why they call them a 44? That height includes 1 1/2" of MDF under the stainless steel top (a 4X8 sheet sliced down the middle to make 2 - 2ft X 8 ft long sheets.

You can find the toolboxes on sale, or find a coupon - I paid $359 for mine. For that money it's a lot of storage - the HF boxes are really made well, with ball bearing slides for the drawers and drawer liners included. Would you believe I've completely filled mine up, and I don't have everything in there yet? Sheesh!

I need to lighten my load, time to start selling a few things I think......

[jedduh01]

Looking over your posts. .. I see a Motive Power Bleeder

Whats your take?

I just used one the other weekend on a Volvo Job= 15 min Brake fluid flush on a car we replaced 4 brake hoses and 4 calipers.

= Man that was easy and nearly sold me on getting one. with adapter for other cars.

   do you have the Small Cap British adapter?  Use it for your mini?

Any other tips tricks / Do's Dont Dos'  Thoughts? 

[MiniDave]

Yes, I mostly use it on new MINIs and other Euro cars.....I tried it on Buzz, but it did not work on the rears, there was some sort of obscure bleed procedure I found in an old Haynes manual that I had to use but worked brilliantly. It did fine on the fronts tho...

It also did not work on my old Jag, on it the old pump three times, open the bleed valve, close it off, pump three times procedure was the only thing that worked.