# Improving my garage workshop area...



## jpofsc (Feb 27, 2012)

Hello all,

After lurking for a long time, Ive decided to post finally and share things Ive worked on…

my first quest is to reorganize my garage some.. my wife would love to park in one of the bays (right one) and I would like to not be ashamed when I open my garage doors or have friends over lol… without details just yet, Ill let you know that I have most of the basic home DIY workshop tools… Craftsman table saw, compound miter saw, & drill press… Dewalt 18V drill… B&D sander, circular saw, & jigsaw… Husky nail gun… and a number of duplicate and smaller power tools that I got during Black Friday bundles or some other stupid reason… I admit most of these are the cheaper entry level tools (my bad!!) but they have served their purpose in teaching me the ropes, but Id like to do some projects that require less WOOD FILLER! 

Below are images of my garage from Sketchup… One of my first things I built in there was a loft… I have 15ft ceilings and wanted to maximize storage space… truth be told, I have a large comic book collection that needed a home and 1) I started to worry I was going to be walking downhill if I kept it in my bonus room over the garage and 2) my wife wanted to one day use the room itself… the loft holds a ton of weight (over engineered) and I have about 4.5 ft of headroom when Im up there… and it was designed to easily park 2 full sized vehicles without problems…

The 2nd thing youll see is some over garage door shelving… these were designed to easily store 12 rubbermaid tubs… the location was best to avoid garage door opener and rails… yes, my Werner extension ladder gets moved around a lot…

Anyway, lets ignore anything else I have in there and I would appreciate any comments or advice on how to set up a small, clean, efficient workshop in the garage… location of tools, things to add, etc. Currently, everything (should) reside in the front left bay… The size is roughly 8×10…

Thanks and I look forward to hearing from you…

jp


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## dbhost (Jul 20, 2009)

I have no idea what variety of Craftsman table saw you have, and there have been a dizzying array all the way from disposable bench top models all the way up to industrial cabinet saws… But if I were setting up a new, very cramped space workshop, with the added benefit of the ceiling height luxury you have I would…

#1. Table saw. Seriously consider a model that will fold up, and include a router table extension. The Craftsman #21829 excels in both areas. 
#2. Dust collector can live upstairs on a tall shelf.
#3. I hate to recommend one of these, but if you can manage to get a good one, the Jet 10" bench top jointer / planer combination machine saves a TON of space in a small shop, and provides critical function.
#4. I am assuming you have a folding stand for the miter saw. Create a space for the miter saw and stand to live stashed out of the way when not in use. If you just use it on a bench, all the better, you can…
#5. Build a bench top tool stacker system to house your bench top tools. See my workshop page for more info on that. But basically use wall space to house these tools.
#6. Build at least one, preferrably 2 clam shell cabinets with peg boards. This allows you to store a LOT of tools and materials in a small space. Add a "bridge" panel over the two, say 18" deep and you provide yet more storage. I did this with the bridge / shelf @ 6' off the ground. This allows me to easily…
#7. If your handheld power tools didn't come in cases, get those heavy duty nylon tool bags to store each one in. Keep the accessories for that tool that will fit in the bag with it. This makes it a LOT easier pulling one tool at a time off of a shelf instead of having to untangle a mess of cords, and then hunting down edge guides or blades…
#8. If your table saw isn't a folding model, consider building a workbench that will kick up on casters and stow over the table saw to maximize your use of space.

I must admit 8×10 sounds extremely claustrophobic to me, but I have seen a few shops around here with that little, or less space. You just need to get creative…

Of course the more space you can free up for woodworking the better. You might want to try to figure out a way to sell shop space as a positive to your bride… For one thing, it keeps you at home, out of the bars, so you can't possibly be chasing bimbos while you are out there building things for her right?


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## Dal300 (Aug 4, 2011)

I'm still trying to visualize an 8'X10' garage bay.


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## dbhost (Jul 20, 2009)

I get the impression he only wants to use half of one bay. It's been done, just not comfy… Best bet is to stage everything so it can be wheeled out to the driveway to work, and back in when done…


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## BillWhite (Jul 23, 2007)

What type water heater? Gas or elec.? If gas, I would be kinda sppoky about any finishing.
Grizzly has a workshop planer program avail. on their site. Give ya a chance to do some layout.
Keep your tools mobile so they can be wheeled around.
Bill


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## jpofsc (Feb 27, 2012)

Sorry, let me clarify… dbhost is correct… the 8×10 space is roughly the amount of the left bay I want to use as a workshop area (see shaded area, that triangle on left are the steps going into the house)... the garage itself is roughly 20×20…

wait, aren't I trying to improve my woodworking skills to impress the bimbos???

I live in southeast Virginia so I wouldnt say I have any weather extremes… I try to avoid moving things around which Ive failed miserably but moving things in and out garage is reasonable since it opens up space and everything is right at the garage door… good dust collection is what I lack the most, I probably still have a pound of MDF dust in my lungs from my first bookcase project… I learned quickly after that though…

Bill, the water heater is gas but any finishing Ive done is either outside or just at the right bay door…

My table saw and miter saw are entry level craftsman (137.248100 and 315.212040), I have been looking to upgrade to a Ridgid R4512 and Dewalt DW716… when I can get them at least 20% off…


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