Tony's Small Garage Shop Build: Fixing It Before It's Too Late

A few of other notes, mostly regarding the electrical:

-The garage did NOT actually have 240v service. It had a weird 30a circuit for some sort of appliance, but it was both wired incorrectly and not 240v. That was fixed when they went through the wiring and replaced with a conventional outlet on a 20A circuit. Not having 240v is not a deal-breaker for me honestly. 

-The right side of the garage had a 20a plug, but after examining the wiring, much like the rest of the wiring in the house and garage, it was wired dangerously wrong. The outlets on the right side are now on the 15a circuit, and the two outlets on the 20a circuit are toward the back. There's also now a 20a outdoor GFCI plug on the driveway side of the house, which is convenient for when I need to use the welder on something in the driveway. 

-With the 20a outlets being toward the back, I am going to relocate the air compressor back there, run an air hose to the front of the garage, and hook up my existing wall-mounted hose reel up there. This gets the compressor out of the way but retains the air hose for driveway work. 

It may look like a mess already, but last night, I started to move a few things back to where they should be in the garage. I also started bringing some of the items that had been outside back in. Unfortunately, some of my tools got wet when they were out there, like the sockets and wrenches in that black Husky tool kit in front of my tool box, so those were left out and open to dry off overnight. That Husky kit is one of a few tool kits I have kicking around like that; this one has never been used before!

That brings me to another thing: I need to perform a tool purge. 

I have a lot of tools that are either mismatched or just plain junk that I've been given as hand-me-downs or acquired over the years. I also have a lot of power tools that are older that are either broken or have been upgraded with something else. I'm going to go through them all and put together a "junkyard kit" and then ditch what I don't need. 

I'm going to be doing the same with car parts soon as well. 

Also, I'm looking into how much plywood I'll need to cover the walls. I think I'd like to get this done before a car lives in here. 

Following. Snug workspaces seem to be a theme in my life. My garage is 35' deep but only 13'-7" wide inside, and also houses inconvenient stuff like laundry machines and a chimney, so it's always helpful to see how others make it work.

In reply to DarkMonohue :

It's going to be a challenge keeping this a working shop and not an oversized storage shed. That's always the issue I've had in the past, since there was very little storage in the house. We now more basement space (changed layout, ditched chimney, and switched from oil heat to gas heat) and a 2nd dirt floor basement that we didn't have before, so some of the things that took up space in there that I'm actually keeping will have a place to go. 

There is never going to be a better time than now (or last week really) to put up the wall coverings or some sort of finish surface on the floor if you want one.   I regret not doing this when I moved into my house.  

In reply to Sonic :

Yup. 100% correct. I don't plan on fully setting everything up just yet, so I will have some time to hopefully get something on the walls. Even if I put things inside, I can always pull them back out for a day.

On the floor: There are a number of small craters here and there that would require me to fill/patch them, and then I'm not entirely sure if I should use an epoxy or concrete paint on it. I'm leaning toward just leaving it the way it is for the time being. Biggest problem (even bigger than the holes) is emptying and moving that large steel cabinet in the back. It's full of car parts and other stuff. That's an entire day's work in itself! 

I went with plywood walls for the same reason you mention, plus my studs we anything on center.

I spent a lot of time in the garage over the weekend, and came to an immediate realization: I needed both a work bench and more tool storage ASAP. As I was going through all my tools, it became apparent that I have WAY too much in my main box and having additional storage would keep things off of my service cart, off the floor, etc. A clean garage requires places to put things. 

With that said, in my remaining budget, I had to choose between plywood and finding a rolling work bench/tool box combo. While at Home Depot returning some stuff over the weekend, I decided to stroll by the tool boxes, and they had pretty much exactly what I was looking for on clearance, so that made my decision for me. 





52" long, 10 drawers, and it has power built-in. Also, it's modular, in case I decide to expand it (but I likely won't). They replaced it with another one that's got one less drawer and double the price. I've wanted to get one of these for years, and it fits the space perfectly, and most importantly, the budget. 

So far, this is where I'm at:


Ignoring the mess on the right, this is a huge improvement. I also hooked up the compressor at the rear of the garage and ran air to the front: 



This is where the reel was before, except the compressor was up here, too. I like that it's out of the way in the back of the garage. 



The most time consuming thing I did all weekend was go through what's in my tool box. I only made it about halfway through, but I decided to ditch a bunch of tools and go with complete sets rather than the hodgepodge of random pieces that were strewn about in the box before. Less is more here and will help keep things organized. 



I started hanging some signs and decorations here and there, mainly to get them out of the pile of stuff on the floor and out of the way. This is all subject to change, obviously. And yes, that is a Nintendo Power Pad; I found it strangely on the side of the highway a few years ago. 

I still have a LONG way to go, but this is meaningful progress. Going to keep my eyes peeled for some free plywood, and I have a few sheets left over from the house build I can hang for now as well. 

Looking good Tony! I agree that plywood on the walls would be nice, it will protect your insulation an make mounting things on the walls easier as you don't have to be concerned about where the studs are located.

In reply to David_H :

Agreed. I'll get some up in there eventually, but I'm just happy I have a leak-free shop with electrical wiring that's not constantly trying to self-immolate at this point. 

Been a few months since updating this. Not much has changed, except things keep creeping their way into the garage, and it's starting to get packed again. Solution for that is I picked up another shed-in-a-box for the backyard, and any bulky items/car parts/etc are going to end up out there. That thing is 6ft wide x 12ft deep x 8ft tall at the peak, so it should hold my tractor, snowblower, and some car parts just fine. I also have another smaller existing pop-up shed behind that, and it will be able to hold a few things as well. Hoping to get that all situated in the next few weeks. 

Earlier this week, my wife's coworker asked her if she and I would be interested in some tools. That's like asking if a fish is interested in water. OF COURSE WE ARE!!! So, the guy comes into work yesterday with some stuff, and my wife took the Power Wagon in to get them. And this is the haul: 









A homemade router table, an AMT 4592 drill press from 1992 with an optional mortising kit, a mobile stand for the press, and a small vise. Score!

I did have a small bench-top Craftsman drill press, but I never ended up using the thing, so I'll give it away at some point when I can dig it out. This is a much beefier unit than that one. These actually won't end up living in the garage; I plan on keeping them in the basement. What I'm really excited about is using these for guitar builds. I have a few project guitars that I need a drill press to drill out some holes to finish, and the routing table will come in handy if I need to hog out any pickup cavities. Might even be able to use the mortising kit for that, too. 

The vise is a Littlestown No. 25 with 3.5" jaws. From what I've read, they made these post-WWII and they are quality units that can be had for dirt cheap. It's not going to replace my large bench vise, but it's nice to have.