Sgt Beavis Garage

[Sgt Beavis]

Now that we've gotten settled into the new house, I've decided to finally start tackling the garage. This is my first 3car garage but really it's kinda small for a 2car. You can just barely fit a full sized pickup in the 3rd bay. My old two car would take on a crew cab RAM with the 6and1/2 foot bed.

Anyways, here are a couple of panoramic pics of the garage and a 3D model I made. I've thrown in some Elfa shelving but I'm not decided on what I'm going to do in the storage department. However I do have a few objectives.

1. Free up as much floor space as possible
2. Maintain, and grow, my storage capacity
3. Finish and paint the walls
4. Finish the floors
5. Maintain my woodworking hobby while leaving room for three cars (one of which will be a small sports car)
6. Make it a fun space to work in (insulate, heat, AC, TV, beer, seating, more beer, etc., etc., even more beer)

Ideas ARE appreciated. I'll be posting this to Garage Journal as well. While I've got elfa shelves in here, I'll consider cabinets too but I want to keep floor cabinets at a minimum. I'm going to relocate the black metal shelving down to the basement. I think they'll be more useful there.

So here's what I've got to work with.


Larger Image Here


Larger Image Here

[Strychnine]

Ideas ARE appreciated.

Lights.

Gotta have awesome lighting. If nothing else, hang some some T8 fixtures. Or get with DJ about the LED strip setup he's using in his space - pictures look bright as hell.

[whitetrash]

Yes lights. And more lights.

I personally prefer cabinets over open shelving. Makes for a cleaner look in my opinion. I dunno how many electrical plugs are there but you need more. Then a few more than that.

[whitetrash]

Also it looks like your 2 car section is about 3’ narrower than the standard. That could be part of making it feel tight.

[Strychnine]

Yes lights. And more lights.

I personally prefer cabinets over open shelving. Makes for a cleaner look in my opinion. I dunno how many electrical plugs are there but you need more. Then a few more than that.

Yes, outlets. Like one on every other stud.

[Ruffdaddy]

More workbenches especially if you're a woodworker. Im not sure how you plan to make it functional for 3 cars unless you only plan on putting all 3 in during inclement weather and moving everything to accommodate.

I would also look into ceiling storage to save floor and wall space. I keep my bikes on a pulley system so the floor and wall space is still useable.

[orphan Shelby]

Give it a couple years,you'll need a 4 car garage

[Sgt Beavis]

Lights.

Gotta have awesome lighting. If nothing else, hang some some T8 fixtures. Or get with DJ about the LED strip setup he's using in his space - pictures look bright as hell.

I bought a couple of LED units from Costco last week. I haven't figured out how I want to install them yet. I'll probably end up buying at least two more.

I personally prefer cabinets over open shelving. Makes for a cleaner look in my opinion. I dunno how many electrical plugs are there but you need more. Then a few more than that.

I've been looking into that but haven't quite found anything I like yet. The shelving I'm looking at should be at least 16" deep to allow for the storage tubs I currently have. Cabinets are very appealing in that I can get rid of the tubs. However, most wall mounted ones appear to be half height and not very deep. But it's under consideration. I need to do some more shopping around.

Also it looks like your 2 car section is about 3’ narrower than the standard. That could be part of making it feel tight.

I'd say you're right. It's too damn small.

More workbenches especially if you're a woodworker. Im not sure how you plan to make it functional for 3 cars unless you only plan on putting all 3 in during inclement weather and moving everything to accommodate.

I would also look into ceiling storage to save floor and wall space. I keep my bikes on a pulley system so the floor and wall space is still useable.

I was looking at ceiling mounted but I have a concern. The ceiling joists are wooden I-beams. I've been looking for information on how well those can handle those kinds of storage solutions. I'm concerned that the lag bolts will damage the core of the beam.

As for a workbench, I'm looking to do a folding unit like I had in my old house in Lake Dallas. I'm drawing up some new plans to take advantage of my use of hand tools in woodworking (hand planes and such).

Give it a couple years,you'll need a 4 car garage

You're probably right..

[Sgt Beavis]

So I ordered a pair of SafeRacks from Costco. I got one up today. I'll get the other one up tomorrow and get the shelves emptied out. I also bought an LED lighting strip from Costco. I'm going to try it out before buying more.

The bicycle mounting is temporary. I want to put my workbench under that spot. I'm going to put the bikes over to the far right side of the garage and use a pulley mount to secure them to the ceiling.


<img id="hzDownscaled" style="position: absolute; top: -10000px;"><img id="hzDownscaled" style="position: absolute; top: -10000px;"><img id="hzDownscaled" style="position: absolute; top: -10000px;"><img id="hzDownscaled" style="position: absolute; top: -10000px;"><img id="hzDownscaled" style="position: absolute; top: -10000px;">

[ceyko]

I'd like to suggest going cheapish on whatever you do the initial time around. Use boards for shelves (kreg jig for deeper shelves), peg board...etc... Use it all for awhile than slowly but surely get it the way you want it as a final thing.

You're new to the workspace, if you go all high end/expensive/final products you may figure out real quick like it's no bueno and may be stuck with things you can't/don't want to use.

[Sgt Beavis]

So far, I think the overhead storage is going to meet most of my needs. I freed up on of the shelving units and I'm going to relocate that to the basement tomorrow. I'm going to build a folding work bench in it's place.

I'm certainly holding off on any other storage. I'm getting a new SawStop table saw, maybe next month. That will go in the 3rd bay. I'm also going to take the extension bed off my lathe and put it into storage. I don't usually turn long items, so it's overkill. Eventually I think I'll build the lathe into a multi-tool station that I can easily move around.

I got the 2nd overhead storage unit up today. As you can see, the garage door kinda limited the space available for it. I also temporarily installed one of the LED strips to see how well it works.


<img id="hzDownscaled" style="position: absolute; top: -10000px;">