Single Car Multipurpose Space

[great white]

I'm military and get bounced around quite a bit. I've gone from a separate workshop building that could hold 4 cars, to a 3 car space, to a 2 car space and now to a single car (25x15) garage space.

Its about the smallest space I've ever had to deal with. Not all bad though, its good motivation for the "downsizing" we've been wanting to do in prep for retirement.

I have to sell off a few things. Mostly cars. 83 mustang and my favorite driving car, my 2004 300m special. I'm keeping the 1962 TBird, but its a rust bucket project and has to fit in the garage with everything else. I have to keep one project car! Whats a fella to do with his retirement but build a cool cruiser?



I also have basic wood working tools and need to be able to use them. Primarily, its the table saw that takes up the most space. Its built into an 8 foot bench that also stores other wood working tools. Its not the ideal tool to keep in the same space at a metal lathe, but I have to keep it. The table saw is the metal lathe of the wood working world. It can do nearly everything.

The rest will be storage in overhead cabinets.

Here's a pic of when the movers were just dropping stuff in the space:



Believe it or not, I had been cleaning the space up before that pic! The !movers had it floor to ceiling with boxes and misc chaff!

Getting a little cleaner:



Finally good enough to walk around without screaming at the mess!



That's pretty much where it sits today. I've got the electrician coming in to wire it up for more 110 plugs, a fan force heater (garage is insulated but not heated) and a 220 plug for my welder.

You can see the Atlas in this pic in the final spot for it:



That wall will be all work bench. The table saw will slip in under the bench. There will also be my compressor and cutoff saw on and under the bench. The red tool boxes are where the welding table I'm going to build will reside. The Atlas will get its own stand and a cabinet around it that will house its controllers, attachments, lights, exhaust fan and assorted other things.

The opposite wall will get some high mount cabinets and creative wall storage for things like jacks stands, shop vac, etc to get stuff up and off the floor.

Along the back wall (not in pics) will be my roll around tools boxes and I'm thinking of mounting a 32" TV up on the wall with a sound system (already have all that stuff).

Still toying with epoxy coating the floor. Also trying to decide on a paint scheme for the whole space.

Stay tuned for more as it develops. Hoping to get the overhead cabinets (the boxes at least) built this weekend.

 

[great white]

So I had the space cleaned up, but destroyed it again in the process of making it better.

I had a couple hundred feet of baseboard, crown molding, casement and Boston header trim delivered for the house and the only place to put 16 foot lengths was in the garage. Had to move that before anything could be done. I just stored it temporarily on some brackets I secured to the walls.

Then I swung the old table saw unit away from the wall and started ripping plywood and 2x4 into something I could use. Finally got at least the cabinet boxesbuilt and up on the wall:



Starting to look like a workspace now (inalso mounted the 32" TV on the back wall!). That took all day so I called it a night and will hit it again next weekend.

 

[great white]

Slowly starting to look like something:



(IPhone covered in dust = fuzzy pics)

Heat is in, 220 plug for welder is in, 20a circuits are run, the table saw bench has been reduced from 8 feet to a more manageable length (slid under bench top in pic which will be its storage position), I've got the pegboard backing up and have the benches started.

I'm getting pretty tired of shuffling 5 things around so I can work on one. But, I'm startimg to see light at the end of the tunnel. Once spring hits and our 6 feet of snow melts I'll build the shed in the back yard and the garage will be all tools and Thunderbird.

 

[great white]

a bit of work done this weekend. Started trimming out the cabinets in prep for installing the doors:



I only got that far because I ran out of 2x4 to rip to dimension and make the supporting structure behind the facings. All the lumber yards are closed on Sunday, so it has to wait for next weekend. The stuff under the bench is just there temporarily until I sort the rest of the space out. Shoving it under there made it easier to move around and getting it a bit more organized quieted the screaming voice in my head every time I looked a the gawd awful mess I was calling my workspace.

Built the chop saw station, incorporated the compressor under the out-feed table:



The compressor will get it's own cabinet to keep it clean and the doors/sides will get some sound proofing to make it more bearable to be in the garage when it fires up.

Also, started on the "mancave" part:



That's the start of the wall unit that holds the TV, the sound system and it will also hold some brik-a-brak like signs/die cast cars/etc. I'll install some cabinet lighting as well. basically, it's just stuff to make it a more pleasant place to work/spend time.

Still coming together slowly, but it is beginning to look like something....

 

[Lornie McCullough]

Very nice. I like the concept of workshop as man cave.

 

[thomas s]

That is going to be a great shop when it is done. thomas s

 

[great white]

Finished facing the cabinets:



Little bit of work done around the mitre saw station:



Finally, repurposed a cabinet that was in the garage when we bought the house:



I originally just ripped it out and chucked it in a snowbank out back. It was very poorly built so I was just going to haul it away. The shelves were all different lengths, nothing was square and it was just a mess all around, looking like a 10 year old built it.

I took it apart, ripped it all to dimension and rebuilt it. I'll face it off like the cabinets and put some doors on it to clean it up. Color doesn't matter, its all going to get a fresh coat of yet to be determined color.

I can't wait to get all the house construction done and I can get all the extra materials out of the garage.

Once that happens, the 62 Tbird comes home and work will start on that....



(Please pardon the finger in the pics, had to block out the overhead lights for the camera to work half decently)

 

[4GSR]

Coming along real nice!!

I see two lawn mowers in the front, what's with that?

Oops, I forgot that's a snow blower!!! Use that in the winter and lawn mower in the summer months.

Down here where I'm at, you use the lawn mower all year round! It might get a break in Jan & Feb if your lucky.

 

[great white]

Yep, snowblower.

That and the lawn mower will live in the shed out back once I get it built.

But that won't happen until the 4 feet of snow that's still on the ground melts......

 

[intjonmiller]

You and I are in similar situations as far as small spaces and mixed uses. But my single car garage is the 1950s version, like 12x20 or something like that. And I have a table saw in a 6 foot rolling bench, a 6" freestanding jointer, a 12" planer, an 8' miter saw station with 8' of clearance on both sides of the blade, two drill presses (one benchtop Delta in excellent condition, far more precise than the inherited Harbor Freight Special of a floor model), welder, benchtop bandsaw (looks silly but variable speed goes slow enough for steel plate), shop vac with dust collection cyclone on a 35 gallon trash can, and now I'm adding a radial arm saw and a surface grinder. I'll have to take some pictures. Your space will start to feel spacious.

I'm actually still planning room for a HF 4x6 bandsaw and one of my father's Logan lathes, because why should they both be sitting in the same garage, and neither getting any use?

I sell things that I make in my garage. A local store just ordered 25 of a shelf/rack design for instance so I need to keep it clear enough to bring in 50 board feet at a time while still having room to joint, plane, rip, crosscut, route, assemble, and finish them. I'm rather impressed with myself for finding a way to organize all of it to make that work.

Anyway, I like what you're doing with your space and I look forward to more updates.