Last year my plan was to build a new shop but I can't stomach spending what would probably be close to $40K on a new one. Instead I'm going to fix up my current 32x32. One thing that has always been a problem is keeping stuff organized. Tools, tooling, materials, chemicals, etc feel like they are everywhere. What's something you have built or bought that you feel like you have dialed in? I looked on some of the garage sites and they seem to just want to buy a bunch of Gucci gear for something that could/should be simple.
I gave up trying to be organized years ago. Got more stuff than space. Been seriously looking at putting up a building also, yeah prices are up but I really don’t think there’s anything to be gained by trying to wait a year or two. Nothing ever comes back down to where it was, prices just might level off a bit and not climb as fast but never gonna be as cheap as it was just a couple years ago
Organization is overrated..... just buy more stuff. When we moved 2,500 miles last year, I left my "leftovers" with my brother to sell for 1/2 of the proceeds, he spent 5 months and made approx 150 trips with his 3/4 ton pu and flatbed trailer to get it all moved out, I knew I had quite a bit of stuff, but not that much! I'd been selling stuff every day (for a living) for over a year, and we even had a liquidation auction before the move, but there was still that much left over...... and we had only been in that place for 5 years! It's just plain amazing how much you can pile up in a short time, when you go to 3 or 4 auctions per week.... On a more helpful note, you can put a lot of junk on just plain old simple wooden shelves, assuming you can find lumber that's sorta affordable. We have used some fancy store bought metal shelves (cheap from auctions), but the home made custom kind that you build yourself always work every bit as well if not much better! Another astounding revolutionary organizational device is the humble NAIL, driven into the wall in just the right spot! Good luck with your shop challenge, boss!
I have a 24x24 two story with a 24x 14 lean to on the back and about to add a 24x30 side carport. It never seems enough. The key for me was to group things. And put EVERYTHING on wheels I could. Get everything off the floor also. Go vertical with shelves. French cleat walls gives you some adaptability later on but I haven’t did any yet. The upstairs is the woodworking shop. And shelves to hold all the nuts bolts screws extras we seem to accumulate. Also my old recliner which I highly recommend. The back lean to is the tractor shed and yard equipment. Main downstairs is tools and bench work area with firewood stuff in one corner on shelves that I seem to keep expanding thanks to you guys. It’s full with the old 49 truck taking up one bay and whatever “project” I’m into in the other but putting things back in their areas when I’m done keeps things somewhat organized. It’s a shop, not a designer masterpiece man cave. The carport addition will be for parking cars. My wife thinks her new car should be in the garage. Imagine….silly girl. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I have a couple metal racks like these that keep my cans organized. And I have a bunch of these kits that hold my shovels/rakes/weedeaters/etc. I like em.
I’m in a similar place, and am also researching. Mine is a disaster, and as my memory isn’t what it was in my 30’s, the disorganization is becoming a liability. I haven’t found any one place with great ideas, but I glean tidbits here and there. Everything needs a place. Drawer storage makes cleaning the dust simpler. Label every drawer. For me, a clean shop stays clean, so easily accessible vacuum (one guy mounted a couple up out of the way, with long hoses). He also had dustpans and hand brooms at key locations.
I’ve also realized I have a woodshop and farm shop in the same space, and they are not complementary. I might put a wall down the center. Ladders, extra lumber, spare tire for vehicle I no longer own are moving out to one of the barns. Stud walls are getting insulated and covered (just in my head, so far), and lighting improved. Parts storage and fastener storage is one of my hang ups. Ive got nails I inherited from my grandfather still in coffee cans. I plan to try cheap used kitchen cabinets, with the idea that I won’t be out much if I want to change/upgrade. I hear that benchtops are not for storage. Hmmm. I have a lot of room for improvement.
I’m so organized I’ll run out and buy a new tool because it saves days worth of time looking for the last five I bought.
Some great ideas so far! Wheels- yep. Everything gets out of the way. No shelving units attached to the floor is another gooder idea. In the case of a dedicated workbench against the wall (if totally necessary), a portion of it cut out to receive a wheeled table saw helps maximize floor space when you’re not sawing, but fills the gap if you have a miter saw (pocketed flush) in the same bench. I think the biggest thing to maintaining any shop space (any space really) is to keep to the discipline of putting stuff back where it belongs. And a lot of us guilty too of thinking any flat surface is a good place to set something down, as well. Nope.
My main shop is 20 x 40 and the tractor shop is 20 x 20, 3 roll around tool boxes, one all Metric, the other 2 SAE, 4 welders, one pulsed Mig. one conventional MIG (spray arc) one gas engine SMAW and one Lincoln Inver TIG. 3 toolroom lathes, 2 milling machines, one is CNC, one surface grinder, lots of benches, 1 gas axe on a cart, a Hyper Therm CNC plasma cutter, Lincoln CNC plasma table (use the Hyper Therm on it), various material handling tools as well as a 5 ton air operated overhead hoist on a trolley and 3 air compressors, 2 conventional and one rotary screw plumbed through an IR refrigerated air dryer. It's all heated in the winter and cooled in the summer too and the entire shop is on it's own electric meter and is 3 phase incoming with a diesel powered standby gen set, just in case (it powers the entire farm, all the outbuildings and the house too). I never have enough tools.
WoW you have a full house. Quite the laundry list of equipment. Nice to have all that at your disposal.
I do fabrication as a sideline. My big business is farming but I also rebuild loader buckets so I need the tools to work on tractors and implements and rebuild the buckets. Have 2 in the side yard right now. One is attached to a Hitachi excavator and the other is from a Cat articulated front end loader and both need some serious help. I use the engine drive welder for emergency field repairs, farmers are real good at breaking stuff in the field. Goes in the back of my Ford F350 diesel pickup truck. My philosophy is, you can never have enough tools, however there is a limit to the depth of your wallet.
Ok in short I can’t help, besides house I got a 3 car garage with stairs to bonus room above. 3 work benches in it. Yes I built 2 more benches all are full not to mention a 30x40 horse barn that is full but my wife’s car can always fit in garage because she hates scraping frost of vehicles at 530 am to go to work.. 2x a year I clean and organize garage and clear off at least 1 work bench. I used cheap straight kitchen counter top for last one
Man I'm so jealous of you guys with space. I have literally the smallest garage on the planet....I mean seriously I can BARELY fit a Mini Cooper in there and I actually did it......once........and that was enough of that. First pic was before I got my workbench. The second I got it I had to open up a can o' whoopass and start cleaning. All these pictures are AFTER I removed the following from inside the garage: 24" snowblower 5500W geneator 3" wood chipper 3 adult bicycles 12 wheels and tires 34-ton log splitter I still got a lot of work to do. Got some of those wire shelves (just the actually shelves, no brackets) that I'm going to put on the back wall there. I need to get rid of some stuff. I need to clean out the basement first so I have some room to move stuff into and also organize. The never ending story. When I finally got around to cleaning up, repairing, and refinishing the bench top. Nowhere to store 'em!
I have one shelf at the front of the garage where I store me fluids. I almost had a panic attack a few weeks ago when I was down to my last jug of windshield washer fluid. All those brake clean cans are gone btw. That photo was from Feb-18-2022.
My dad decided to just roll with it...he decided to just leave the tools that you always grab first (screwdrivers, pliers, vise grips, socket set, 5/16"-1" wrench set, drill index, etc) out on the bench kinda all in 1 spot...then all the other stuff still put away...seemed to work out pretty well actually.
Yeah I think everyone who hoards firewood probably has some hoarding tendencies on other things....like windshield washer fluid and brake clean! I try my best to give away things I don't use but sometimes nobody wants it and you just have to bite the bullet and chuck things. I do need to get rid of stuff.
