Projects Shop maintenance, getting organized. It's about time.

Husky cabinet from Home Depot. Nice drawers, good top space, nice casters, holds lots of stuff. I only have two so far….

John

 

My only real option is to go out the back with a continuation of the block work and extend the roof, which is new as of a few days ago. I'm maybe 3' off my property line on one side (permits...) and have a finished patio on the other side, flower beds, etc.

What I can do inside is the demolish the walled off machine shop structure. It was good to have closed in when I was doing machine shop all the time. I can do a total reorganization and toss out a lot of stuff. I'd need to rent a storage container to get much of it cleared out. The big Clausing engine lathe, I'd have to find a new home for it.

 

You must be real proud to have it hang over the edge of your shop stool that far.

Roger

 

One last thing; I once read one of those desk decoration signs that said "A clean desk is the sign of a sick mind". I'll let you draw your own conclusions.

Roger

 

I'm not sure why you feel you must extend the existing roof. Got a picture ? Is it metal or shingle roofing? The reason I say that is because existing roofs often have a steeper angle which makes it harder to get a tall outside wall.

 

Clean up,is good,but some times back fires. The stuff I need this week maybe what I trashed late week.
I'm mostly a big mess,only the projects are neat an clean.

 

I pull the cylinder out and store the frame outside…I hate that thing in my shop

 

Thanks to all for the inspiration - I'm going to do a light cleanup (finding the shop floor and the top of the work bench) before coping with my latest compression test: 166, 167, 77, 130.

Russ

EDIT (From my latest do-list):

7. Pickup the shop - need a place to work.
a. Remove the aluminum truck box and furniture dolly - move to a tin shed
b. Clean up trip hazards on shop floor
c. Roll-up and store the rug on the folding table, prepare a disposable cardboard cover
d. Sort and clean work bench - Some stuff needs to go in the trash
e. Buy an assortment of zip-lock bags for "bag and tag"

 

I keep cleaning and straightening my garage and there's still no '34 ford hotrod in there?

 

2 car garage (If there was absolutely nothing else inside) with the water heater and washer/dryer inside also. Space is tight, have metal cabinets (84-96" tall), welders and equipment. I just did the hoarder thing and bought 2 large wire racks on wheels, they're in front of the cabinets but they can move easy.......at least I can get to the '28 now. I know, I know, too many projects at one time. A large shop hopefully in the future, a little more equipment and just building and driving (then selling). Just enough projects to keep me busy till I'm gone.

 

Wheels are man’s greatest invention, I put everything on wheels

 

Workbench, aka….shelf unit

 

Here is an alternative to a building addition for some.

My build was 40x88 & 3 years ago I added on 16x88, so now because this is an addictive hobby I wanted a little more, but didn't want to spend quite so much. A 40 ft standard height container in great condition was only $3700 delivered. In spring I will put the metal on the outside to match the building as well as a slanted roof so you will not even know it is a container except for the doors!

God Bless
Bill
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...ar-transport-hauling-open-or-enclosed.614419/

 

I have the very same shelves in my shop. Have for a few years but removed some recently to have more floor room.

 

About once a month I ask the wife to come out to the shop to lend me a hand with something, she looks around and starts cleaning up and putting things away works out great for me.

 

Those are 12” deep and mounted about 15” off the floor

 

Hello,

We have lived houses with small two car garages. Our oldest Westside of Long Beach house, nearest the end of the Lion’s Dragstrip at the end or our block, nearby had a 4 car garage. It was the coolest old Craftsman house. Attached to the garage was a bachelor’s apartment. (Our rainy day play area)

But, our dad never used any of the garage spaces other than for boxes of stuff. He tried to get his 1941 Buick Fastback sedan inside one of the spaces, but the narrow alley behind did not allow anything other than a 90 degree entrance. There was no way the long Buick was going to turn in at 90 degrees. So, the Buick Fastback stayed out in front of the house.

Then, within a year, our dad bought a longer 49 Buick Sedan and if the first Buick would not fit, this longer one certainly did not fit. Since it was black, our dad tried his hardest to get into the small opening of the garage stall. If we had stayed in this old Craftsman House, it would have been perfect for our Model A and Willys Coupe builds.

The spaces were small enough to get the smaller Willys Coupe inside of those stalls. But, we had moved in 1953 to another two car garage house. (This time, it had a backyard recreation room that we converted to a garage door, lifting unit with a good workspace inside.)
Rumpus Room with rose garden and backyard garage conversion without, 1959-60

So, the workspaces over the years had a workbench, and small cabinets for storage. The garages in all of the rest of our own homes were small two car garages with a variety of small wooden cabinets. But, the tools still stayed out, in a steel tool box or stashed in a crate for later use. We never had much going for organization, other than small stuff gets stored and the normal stuff lays around or on a shelf.

Finally, in one of our houses, my wife and I had enough and decided to get some garage cabinets to get things organized. Two, two door cabinets on the walls, a long two door plus drawers on both sides for the workbench/cabinet made up most of our next two houses. The big items still stayed rolling around on the other side of the two car garage. It was organized, but still was a mess compared to being fully self contained.

Jnaki

Finally after moving into a home with a three car garage, we thought about completely hiding all tools, big machines and saws inside of tall cabinets, ready to roll out when needed. The garage had insulated, finished drywalls and a complete up to date fire suppression sprinklers all over the house/garage. It was the new house that my wife had always wanted. A three car garage had plenty of room for the daily drivers and a stall for projects.

The working cabinets lined the two walls and the long workbench table top was of quality build from a well known cabinet company. Now that was organization, but, as we found out within two years the shelves started to sag with the weight of simple small paint cans and accessories.

Finally when we downsized to the last house we were ever going to buy or live in for many years, it was a welcome relief. Immediately, we bought some white garage cabinets from the local supply warehouse and now we knew what to look for. No more ½ inch or less Melamine surfaced shelves inside of the same thickness cabinets. It looked good, but the shelves started to sag in the middle from with weight of “stuff.” The supply store had cabinets and shelves made from ¾ inch MDF and was a lot stronger. So, they lined the walls and workbench.

But, that was not the final touch. Over the years of living in our current house, those ¾ inch shelves started to sag, even with underlying support bars I made. So, the last and final installation was a thorough make over of our garage with the absolute 1 inch thick modern MDF with Melamine surfaces for support and easy maintenance . The walls and doors were made of the same stuff. We can even put a gallon can of paint in the middle of the shelf and no sag for months. But, we also moved those heavy items to the sides for insurance

Since this is our last house and garage, the garage ended up with 2 walls of tall cabinets/doors, and a long workbench that can be used at any time. A multiple drawer system is below the long workbench. There is also one set of double door wall cabinets and one tall door cabinet to finish that side of the garage. If we had this unit from the beginning, there would be no reason to get anything else. Technology had improved over time.

Final note: Now that the garage looks like another room of our house, the drawers are beginning to fill up with stuff, purchased tools and supplies. So, a constant clean out is necessary, even with the finished garage installation. Rust never sleeps and stuff just keeps getting put into drawers and the deeper drawers get more larger tools to sleep at night. It is a never ending battle for justice and a peace of mind to be ready for any project. Ha!

It is/was about time...YRMV

 

I've made SOME progress in the clean up dept. Selling off crap you will never use helps. Just unloaded 8 Olds rally wheels that have been hanging around for 10+ years. If I would get the project list down to 1 or 2 like intelligent people, it would be easier. The thing that is pissing me off lately, is I have lost a cast iron SBC bell housing that I am using for my truck build. Looked everywhere. How can something that big & heavy disappear?

 

I am the king of hoarders! I have four barns full of junk, on the ranch! I have collected since I was a kid! Here at my house I have an unattached garage that is full of junk as is the attached garage! But I am working on these! One thing, a few years ago I bought five old military file cabinets! I moved some stuff and put them in my unattached garage! One of the best things I ever did ! I labeled most drawers and started filling them up. File cabinets are cheap now, with everything going digital! I still a junker…..just a little more organized! Lol






Bones

 

I did the same except moved mine 20 foot from the shop in plans of eventually running a lean to from shop to the container. I just looked and mine is a 50 foot and taller than standard 9.6" I think. It was about 2500 delivered to my place. I can't speak highly enough of the "bang for your buck" with these containers.

 

WOW, I don't know how long ago you purchased yours or if it is maybe a regional thing, but that is an unbelievable price especially for the taller & longer one! The prices of containers are going up a whole bunch lately. I asked for quotes from probably 10 companies & went with the lowest one. A container purchase is not like paying for quality transport for your classic car, so I wasn't concerned about buying the cheapest one!


God Bless
Bill
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...ar-transport-hauling-open-or-enclosed.614419/

 

Yeah. I just priced a standard height 40 footer. $4600 + 7% sales tax dropped on my site. Then I found out that the zoning board will only let you keep it for 6 months.

 

@Bill's Auto Works bought it in April of 2020, did the same deal. Called around and found the best price they had several of these "on sale". 1,700 plus delivery & tax. The extra height is nice, container is aluminum doors are steel. Was used for train freight I was told.

 

I bought these lateral files from a local oil company. You can find them on CL and FB marketplace, just about every week. They have them up to 5’ tall , but mine are about 29” tall. They are awesome for bigger tools that won’t go in a regular tool box. I think I bought 8 of them for about $250.

 

You guys have some great ideas as shown here. And I would just like to add that if you really want to go deep into this Garage subject, (and that you don't already know of it) check out www.garagejournal.com. Ryan works that gig as well so…

 

Organization takes a lot of effort and is mentally very taxing. That why we procrastinate doing it. You don't really enjoy it during the process.. The enjoyment only comes at the end. Not the case when working on an old car....where its much fun during the process and after.

 

Yeah, those guys are pros.....I like to discuss with the amateurs.

 

I finally got around to labeling my toolbox, it really helped with getting things organized around here

 

I'm going to use this idea. Thanks. Never thought to do that. And then I just have to snowblow around it all winter.

Hey wait, I'm retired! That can wait...