# Help with my small shop dilemma



## interpim (Dec 6, 2008)

I moved into this house about 3 years ago, and I honestly haven't had much time to do any woodworking since we've been here. I just switched jobs, and will have more time now.

My problem is my garage workshop. It's a 2 car garage, but I have to share it with the laundry and storage.

I am thinking about building a large out feed table for my table saw and have it have knockout panels for my mitersaw, lathe, planer and eventually a bench top joiner.

If anyone could offer any suggestions I've attached a video of my garage as it sits today.


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## ForestGrl (Jun 5, 2015)

Ahhh, your garage looks somewhat better than my deserted shop did before rehab. My primary suggestion would be to have enclosed storage cabinets, on casters, under as many tools as possible, and not to have the planer and jointer (not joiner, right?) occupy the same space, as it seems they would in a knock-out system. I have a shop-built cube-of-a-cabinet under my 14" bandsaw, instead of using the splay-legged stand. The cube holds a spindle sander. Miter saw is on a cabinet also, lots of stuff lives in there. Each under-tool cabinet saves on wall space and floor space. The portable planer is on a Rigid fold-up stand that is great, takes about the same amount of room as the two vacuums or floor cleaners in your video when folded up, but provides great infeed and outfeed support when unfolded. Can you position the saw such that long outfeeds exit via the garage door?

That's a mini-lathe, right? Might be limited to a mini with a knock-out system due to vibration. The workbench next to the water heater looks like a candidate to hold your lathe. A water heather can be surrounded by pegboard, as long as you can reach necessary valves.

Though I don't share my shop with laundry, I do have to share with a husband. ;-) This necessitates that I keep the shop organized, with designated places for all the things that make up "stuff". If you have kids, that might be tough, but if not it's probably doable. Maximize your wall storage (shelves, cabinets, pegboard), divest stuff that you don't need/use, hang things from the ceiling if you have to. You might start by organizing the household stuff first, as concentrated as possible, and then figure out what configuration of your tools can work. Tools on wheeled cabinets can be lined up elbow-to-elbow and rolled out when needed. Hope there's something in this that helps!


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## Stewbot (Jun 7, 2015)

I work from a garage that shares laundry and storage as well. What i did (and am in the process of doing) is separate my work space from laundry and miscellaneous garage stuff. Storage on one side of the room, and the shop on the other. This helps me focus and makes me feel like im in more of a shop and less of a garage. I am eventually going to frame a couple walls and separate my laundry room from the shop entirely. This will further dedicate my space as well as cut down on the dust where it should not be. I have my general purpose work bench in the rear, then while facing this bench, my bandsaw behind me and drill press to my right. I try to triangulate my machines, this helps with work flow, as well makes the most out of the small space. I keep my table and drop saw toward the front of the garage in order to break down large material without having to bring it to the rear, as well as a way to cut down on dust from the two saws by utilizing the pull up door. I also have an assembly table near the front of the garage in order to take advantage of the ventilation while finishing.


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## interpim (Dec 6, 2008)

I've considered walling in the laundry machines, but we don't I tend on living here forever, and I don't want to deal with having to rip it out when we leave since it wouldn't be permitted.

I would love to get rid of some of the stuff we are storing, but I will have a huge fight with my wife if I try to throw any of her stuff out lol.

I didn't think about replacing the bandsaw legs with a cabinet… that's a huge waste of space that always fills up with cut offs and dust. I'll have to take a look at a few things and see what I can do. I know I want to build a new router table (that's what my miter saw was sitting on) I am almost afraid to use it, but I don't like the router I have. It all boils down to needing to spend more time and money to get it the way I want, but I'm afraid that it will never end lol.

Thanks for the suggestions!


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## rwe2156 (May 7, 2014)

You can research garage shops to get a lot of ideas.

What about a storage shed to get some of the least used items out of there?


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## Dark_Lightning (Nov 20, 2009)

I like that cube below the band saw idea! Time for another sheet of BB. Off tot he shop.


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## canadianchips (Mar 12, 2010)

Sharing woodworking area with laundry and storage is always going to be a nightmare !
Sawdust floating around the entire shed .
I once shared woodworking with WELDING area. I always had soot and grease on all my wood projects.
I then tried in a walk in basement….once again the dust managed to float upstairs…..my wife wasn't happy.
The best you can do would be making all your tools on wheels, rolling them outside to work, rolling them back inside when finished.
Forestgirl has good suggestions as well.


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## DGunn (Feb 14, 2008)

> You can research garage shops to get a lot of ideas.
> 
> What about a storage shed to get some of the least used items out of there?
> 
> - rwe2156


Here is the answer to you problem. You need to get a small (10×12) storage shed. I work in a one car garage. I used to have items stored out there and never had enough room. I built a 10' by 12' storage shed and moved out everything not woodworking related.

You could then easily with around the washer and dryer. If you are worried about dust on the washer/dryer, just get a moving blanket to throw over them when not in use. Let the blanket drop to the floor when doing laundry then throw it back over them when done with the clothes.


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## ForestGrl (Jun 5, 2015)

> I ve considered walling in the laundry machines, but we don t I tend on living here forever, and I don t want to deal with having to rip it out when we leave since it wouldn t be permitted.
> 
> I would love to get rid of some of the stuff we are storing, but I will have a huge fight with my wife if I try to throw any of her stuff out lol.
> [snip]
> - interpim


I waited until my husband went on a 5-week road trip, went crazy cleaning up piles of stuff.  Just lucky I guess. But really, channeling somebody you know who's OCD about "a place for everything, and everything in its place" really helps. This is NOT my natural personality, but I can do if it means being able to function in a given space. I just had a thought about "walling off" the laundry area…what about a plastic divider of sorts? Back in the day, I made a painting booth by putting up plastic walls around the table I was using when painting some cupboards. Heavy plastic. They even make zippers you can put in.


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## ForestGrl (Jun 5, 2015)

> I like that cube below the band saw idea! Time for another sheet of BB. Off tot he shop.
> 
> - Dark_Lightning


Yep, I love it. Not only the storage, but the ability to move it out from the wall to have clearance over nearby tools if I'm sawing longer stock. Home Depot now carries really nice orange casters at a much more affordable price than the woodworking stores. They're going under everything in the next few months!


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## MT_Stringer (Jul 21, 2009)

A 2 car garage, huh? That's a lot of room, but I see you have a bunch of junk getting in your way. I have all of those tools, washer/dryer. hot water heater, upright freezer, storage rack and still manage to get my projects built.

All tools are on mobile bases. I can move them around as needed. Although the miter saw station is on casters, it is just so I can get in behind the cabinets to clean. Otherwise, it stays put.

My workbench is 30×48. It serves as outfeed table for the TS, assembly table, gluing station, and anything else that comes along. It is the centerpiece of the work area.

I noticed your table saw is position is opposite of mine. My saw sits to one side in the opening of the single overhead door. I can rip material up to about 45 inches in length without having to open the door. The stock then feeds out onto the table. A light is directly above the table and surface mounted to the ceiling. All of my projects have been built on that table in the last couple of years, including kitchen cabinets, wet bar and toy boxes.

If you have time, read through my "Garage Makeover" blog. Maybe you will see something that gives you some inspiration.
http://lumberjocks.com/MT_Stringer/blog/series/6453

New work bench
http://lumberjocks.com/projects/68635

Updated pic of the tablesaw/work bench.









New planer cart
http://lumberjocks.com/projects/105267

Good luck.


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## interpim (Dec 6, 2008)

My table saw is one of the few tools that actually has wheels and I move around to use… I think my idea is to do something similar to what you have, but feeding toward the garage door… the out feed table will serve dual purpose as an assembly area and area for my bench top tools.


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