For 2019.... The first order of business int to get my garage in order. I have never really had a good garage. We moved to a new place two years ago so now I have some garage space. Unfortunately I promptly filled it with junk. I've got to haul off junk. Throw away stuff. Scrap stuff and mainly get the place where I work. A lot of this stuff was just junk moved to the new place. The Good. Untitled by Travis Brown, on Flickr A 4 vehicle garage with power and a concrete floor. Untitled by Travis Brown, on Flickr A little one bay on the hill. Untitled by Travis Brown, on Flickr My 1946 Westinghouse Railroad Air Brake compressor....works but is slow. They still make overhaul kits for it. The Bad... Untitled by Travis Brown, on Flickr Old sheds....dirt floor....most of the space is occupied by an old well...the to shed is good for garden tool stuff.... I'm on a mountain so flat spots are limited. The Ugly.... This is most embarrassing... Untitled by Travis Brown, on Flickr Kayaks...camping stuff....old mattress...(the garage winds up being staging for the dump) Untitled by Travis Brown, on Flickr Bins full of the kid's old toys...... Untitled by Travis Brown, on Flickr It's a mess I know. How does it get this way?.....Trying to work around junk. Why is the weed cutter in there? Who knows...It was good place for the 18 year old to land it. Sometimes I would rather I have my teeth pulled than to clean it up. I've got to get my garage in order. I can't accomplish anything under these conditions. I have actually had it looking pretty good by "stacking junk neatly". 2 weeks later after a Honey Do project....It's right back like this. It's time for a major purge. This is the before photos.... Hopefully the next installment will be a nice clean...somewhat organized shop or at least making it so.... I think this aspect is ignored . You got to have a good place to work. It can even be in the yard...but you have to have stuff in order.
I agree with you, when I had my house built I built the garage to build cars in. Whatever is cluttering your space, be merciless in discarding non-beneficial items. What's left should enable your car hobby in some way!
I have a non hot rod rule. If it ain't for a hot Rod it ain't going in my garage! Be diligent Sent from my XP8800 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Here is my opinion because I had the same garage experience; Pick one wall at a time, put insulation in between the studs and cover the walls with perforated peg board before you start hanging stuff on the wall. This makes it look less cluttered and you can get pegs to hang stuff on. Get a cheap metal garden shed to house non car stuff. I still ended up having to build a small barn to put stuff in that I seem to keep accumulating but starting out with just one side of the garage at a time getting it cleaned out helped me see a light at the end of the tunnel. By the way, I like your truck's tag...
First, you need to put your foot down, garages are for cars, shops are for building cars, period. I been through this with my bunch and no unrelated car shit goes in my garages or my shop, get some outside sheds, store the yard stuff in them, kayaks outside, where they're meant to be anyway. Your woman has the whole house to herself, your shop should be yours. Thats how it is here, been that way forty years now, yes, it was a fight in the beginning, her more important stuff encroached on my space often, more than one battle ensued till the ground rules were finally established. If you're gonna enjoy a hobby by not sitting in the bar, you need space for tools, space to work and space to grow for more tools, seriously.
I made that very same pact with myself when I built my shop in the mid 80's, no lawnmowers, tillers, wheelbarrows, building materials, etc. You can plug a garden shed in most anywhere for that kind of stuff. See my avatar photo. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
You have more space than most of us! Get it sorted and organized. Have a family meeting and law down some ground rules. Write them down and post it in the garage in case somebody 'forgets' the rules. Put your foot down. 4 car garage w concrete floors = YOUR build shop. Tools, equipment, a project car, maybe one covered finished car. Rafters for dry storage of car parts; body panels, trim, new or refinished parts. You should have enough room to set up a bench/tooling, assembly area as well as a "dirty work" corner for welding, grinding, etc. Look to pick up a welding curtain to help seal it off. NO NON AUTOMOTIVE ITEMS! 1 bay garage = Dry storage for one finished car or solid project car. Engines, etc. along the walls. Wall hang grilles, etc. Out building = non automotive storage, yard tools, riding mower, etc. Shelves, rubbermaid bins. I'd eventually consider having a "pour party" in the Spring; backing in a short load cement truck and pour concrete floors to keep the dampness down and dust/mud at bay. Gravel the outside "driveway" entry. BBQ and beer after the work is done. My 2 car is shop, automotive, cars and related parts, tools only. Christmas and household stuff in walk in crawl space under the house. I built 3, 10' x 12' sheds in the yard. (They're easy/cheap to build). One each for the Wife and kids (!!!) that are full of their old toys, bikes, and "stuff". Each person is in control of their own destiny and order of clutter and organization. Out of space = get rid of something! We do a yard sale purge about every Summer. I have one small shed for car parts, camping gear, coolers, etc.
hang in there, and just do it - we did the opposite and downsized to a much smaller place earlier this year - sell, give away, dump anything that does not benefit your life right now, even "might need some day stuff" that has been sitting around for years - looking forward to after pics - makes going out to shop to work on your ride much more desirable - adding a fresh coat of paint on walls and concrete floor & LED shop lights helps too -
That often happens during the move to a new place, you were just trying to keep all of it under a roof during the stress of moving. That happened to me 11 years ago moving to a place mid-winter with TONS of space, but I never found/made the time to sort because I had so much more free space in 3 buildings...then it just got worse. I actually went 2-3 years with never putting anything at all in the 2nd biggest building that is 67 feet long. It was 100% empty all that that time....but not any more. (men are by nature, "Hunter ~ Gatherers"...)
Lots of good info. I have only a 3 car garage. Have built maybe 15 cars here over the years. It is somewhat tight at times but it works for me. In the garage are two cars as well plus whatever I'm working on. No clutter or other junk. Have a shed for yard tools etc.and other stuff goes up in the attic above the garage. I would like a shop but to move at 75 doesn't make sense. It also would cost a lot more-similar house with a shop would be north of $750K . Where I live there can be no old cars etc in the driveway. Gonna take in a 39 woody project soon as I finish the black 40 std. My wife goes along with this as well. Sometimes there are fenders stashed on blankets in living room-currently a 40 hood is in the master bedroom.
Even when you just have car stuff in the garage clutter is a problem. I get a bigger workbench and soon can't use it because any horizontal surface attract stuff.
My problem was the weather change! The 'fair weather' during summer (89*-105*, last season we had a 32 day period over 100* every day.) Horrible. Then Indian summer, ahhhhh. Mild days, great daylight. Many cars I'm working on, too many. Rain came...had to move stuff into the garage up front and the shop out back. Now...Finish up the bead blasting machine; locate the 20 ton press; plant my metal desk somewhere near where the main toolbox is, and put the nice big (36" X 72") steel work bench in the best place. Frame jig and two '27s occupy some suitable 'real estate' in there, plus another wood work bench that's 30" X 84". Wheels and tires, some F-1 doors, much running gear stuff. Hard to sort it, harder to move it. HATE young beautiful wife lifting and sashaying heavy junk around...Try to move it before she gets home from work! It moves, albeit slowly...
I see bare studs without shelves. Build some shelves to put all your stuff on, that way it won't be on the floor to trip over.
I built a small shed for the junk non car related stuff. I put mowing equipment, scrap wood, and house stuff in it. My shop is for me and some of my five year old boys stuff to keep him entertained if his in shop with me. About every 5 or 6 months I go through my shop and shed and start throwing away junk and giving away stuff I'll never use.
I don't have a "garage", it's a "car room". If it doesn't have anything to do with the name, it doesn't go inside.
I made it simple, my shop has car stuff, her barn has her stuff, there is a building for misc shit! Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
I have an oversized 2.5 car garage, cinder block walls.. PITA to hang stuff easily on the walls. I have a 10' x 16' room in it, all machine shop stuff. I could tear down the outside partition wall now I'm not making parts for a living. VERY cramped to work in. I have a 10' x 14' shed out back with lawn and pool stuff. The machine shop stuff could be better arranged once the wall is down. I'd like to go out the back around 12', this is by 24' wide so it would open up a full 2nd bay and give me room to swing a cat by the tail. All the machine shop stuff would go there, my loft (crap collector..) would come down and maybe I could get a lift in place. If I have to go permits and all, I can see this running me $30k. Lot of risk trying to pull it off illegally.
"HATE young beautiful wife lifting and sashaying heavy junk around..." Yeah, that's a common problem for many of us here. Oh, and do I see a '64 Fairlane in the garage full of junk?
No matter how much space you have you'll always want/need more. So organize the hell out of what you have, make a plan and be diligent about adhering to it. If i followed the picture trail correctly it looks like you have a four car garage, a small one bay barn, and another barn/ shed. That should be enough space to do what you need to do. Train yourself and the family to put thing in the proper place in the proper building. GOOD LUCK and post more pics.
Well I feel better after seeing your pictures. I started out here almost 30 years ago and was reasonably neat and organized but as stated earlier we are hunter, gatherers, and I have been successful at that requiring adding more cabinets and shelves until I have lots of parts and projects and only one bay to work on them. Last year I cleared a wall for shelves to house my Hot Rod magazine collection. Last weekend cleared a table and chair to sit and read.
Attic? Shelves. Buy a bunch of smaller totes and put on the shelves. Make work benches and store the car parts underneath. You can do it!
My first house had a small single car garage, moved to the second house with a 28x30 garage and wondered where I managed to put everything in the old place. Then bought my current place with a 44x65 shop and a barn and a single car garage and wonder where I had all the stuff at the second house! About once a year I purge stuff, sold a few ot vehicles last year, still have no room. Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
I built an attached carport at my 1st and 2nd houses, that's all I could afford at the time. With my 3rd house I built a separate 20x20 with shelves across the back wall and half way down each side and use each bit of usable and available space. Lots of room for storage boxes with all loose items hanging of hooks on the walls. All the fenders, door caps etc now hang off the wall. It's all about efficiently using what space you have. It's tight and sometimes a PITA however I make the most of what space I have. Other car parts are in boxes in the closets inside the house or under the stairs. In the apex I hung 2 x single steel bed frames, one for the hood and other for all the seats (F&R). Still not enough room for more metal working tools that I want for retirement; hoist, pan brake, folder, bead roller, English wheel etc
The Jalopy Journal
