Projects Is your shop a constant mess?

It's that time of year when the Tri-City Rod & Custom monthly club meeting is scheduled at my house this coming Thursday evening and I have as usual procrastinated and haven't even started to cleaned up my shop.

The annual meeting is a incentive to get off my lazy butt and pick up all my tools, nut's & bolts,spare parts,junk parts, cardboard boxes and various empty water & coke bottles scattered around and just get every thing back in order.

For years I kept my shop neat and tidy but somewhere along the line I got slack and put off the chore of cleaning and organizing, I guess the once a year meeting is a good thing because it makes me deal with my laziness.

I have friends who shop/garage looks like something that could be in better homes and gardens, they are so well organized and you could probably eat of the floors but they don't work in them, they just park their cars and show of all their toys, mine is in a constant state of use and abuse.

Am I the only one that has to have something spur you into doing what you should be doing all along? HRP

 

Seems mine stays that way, get it cleaned up and a week later doesn't look like I did anything. Gettin old and lazy I guess.

 

Yes, one job to the next. Seem to never have a chance to clean up.

 

Mine stays cluttered, and when I get it cleaned up and organized, it gets cluttered and messy again in no time.

 

YES!!

 

Mines been in a three year clusterf@ck because of family, work and house issues.I just finished my chores for the day and my plan is to go out back and start the reclamation process!

 

Yes

 

While you probably wouldn't want to eat off the floor in my shop. I have a clean up after every job i do, Have lost too many tools, "Left in customers cars"

 

Well I’ve got it opened up, now I have to figure out where to start!

 

No, mines small so I keep it organized, I don't like looking for tools.

 

Every few years, I do some cleaning and rearranging. It looked pretty nice for a week, last year. Not so good today.

 

No.

 

Pffffttt...
If you can see any part of the floor, much less actually walk on any part of it, it's not really a mess. . Anyways, it's all relative. After fixing up my gar, I can finally see the floor & walk on it, but now I have to get stuff back in -although only after a couple of other projects get finished 1st that have top priority which are hogging all the space/time/energy/mental clarity. ;( . Marcus...

 

People with clean garages don't do any work.....all their time is spent doing cleaning.
Thats women's work........yeah, I'm not married.

 

Tell me about it LOL.

You should see me go crazy around here when company's coming LOL.

As far as the garage...

Clean and organize.
Next project.
Big mess.
Clean and organize.
Next project.
Big mess.
Repeat.

It becomes a real problem if I do two or three projects in a row without cleaning up!

I've learned to make like-piles and have staging areas of sorts to make cleaning up a little easier when I get to it. A couple roll around carts and small tables help to keep things consolidated.

Gotta have piles...
Tools to be put back later pile.
Junk parts pile.
Good parts pile.
Consumables pile.
Shit that doesn't belong in here pile.
Always one "I don't know" pile.

I've spent the last 2 1/2 years repairing, cleaning, improving and organizing this whole farm... including the garage.
I'm not done yet.
Luckily we have sheds and outbuildings. I've finally got only in the garage what needs to stay in the garage. Everything else can be stored elsewhere. And that changes, depending on the project.

Only two more major improvements to do in the garage...
Big heavy duty shelves up high on all the walls, in an attempt to keep as much as possible off the floor.
Build a big heavy duty bench.

Then maybe I can start a build thread.
And of course, clean up the garage real nice before I take pictures LOL.


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I prefer to think mine has that lived in look.

 

I found four square feet once..

 

Early retirement helps- I am making headway. Liking antique motorcycles and tractors calls for more specialized tools and such, and in some cases just larger. The 32 dump truck hasn't moved in quite a while, but 3 390s and a 352 fit nicely in the dump bed along with a few automatics. Had to use the big South Bend the other day, so it is kinda clean- the Bridgeport looks more like a hall tree. Just drug home another rollaway, a triple Kennedy set that belonged to a retired Mare Island Shipyard machinist, full of neat quality and handmade schidt as usual- there were a bunch of those old chippers in my neighborhood, and the stuff they made or repaired/ improvised is amazing. I was keeping some of my tooling in an old Plomb rollaway that is just cool- the Kennedy set will take over. Where did all this cra- er, highly valuable automotive memorabelia come from?

 

When I built my new garage, I insulated, hung sheet rock and painted it white to reflect light I installed heat & air to make it comfortable any time of year and installed 15 4 foot lights and they have been upgraded to halogen so it is bright, but over the years the shop walls, ceiling and floors have gotten darker from priming and painting, I us my shop so it will never be a show room, just a work place and that's all I need.

I just have to get better a picking up after myself. HRP

 

I try to keep the tops of my work benches clean after every job. Sometimes it works, most time I am into another project before I pickup from the last. F#%@& it!

 

Not perfect...
But now I know where almost EVERYTHING is, and I don't have to look for a freaking hour to find something. Can't be doing that with all I have to do around here LOL!

Everybody have a good day!
I have to go do some more organizing.

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A regularly clean shop denotes either someone with OCD or they don't have any projects... LOL.

I do try to keep tools put away so I can find them when needed, not always successfully. I really need to thin my 'stuff' collection but every time I do I find I've given/sold/thrown away something I need a week later.

 

Yes, it is a mess and I intend to keep it that way. I tried cleaning it once but then I couldn't find anything.

 

My garage was spotless....when I moved in. (First picture)
5 years later its a war zone. I do a major clean once a year and I try to keep my work area free of major debris, but its nearly impossible to make 5 years of hoarding, oil stains and thrashing on junkers look presentable.

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wait till it's been 25 years...or longer....

 

Wanna help clean mine????...

 

Yes,I do kind of clean up a little now an then,and a lot every few years. I always keep too much. It's the fear of having no cookie's in the jar. My son thought it was always too junky,tell we built his T-bucket hot rod,an nearly 1/4 of the parts he did not need to buy,they were there already. His view did become better of my junk=now was cool stuff !!

 

I'd be happy if my shop looked that good after a major cleaning...

 

I pick up tools and put them back every other day or so, sweep after a big thrash, haul out my trash every few weeks, and clear a bench once there's no flat space left. I built a working shop, so it is supposed to look like I work in there. It does most of the time.

I am blessed with a barn that I can store stuff in so the shop does not have to be a storage shed also. That was a huge help.

 

It’s all a matter of discipline. I have a small shop so it is easy for it to get dirty and cluttered. I clean up shop and put away all tools each day/night when I come to a stopping point for the job. The only exception is if I know I’ll be right back in the morning. I can’t stand having to look for a tool or part in clutter. It probably easier to clean up every time you are in the shop rather then take a day or two to do it when you can no longer walk around or can’t find things. A lot of this is the result of working around my dad doing projects.