I know that virtually all of you will say “Me too!” after hearing me say “I need more garage space!”. It’s the universal need of all hot rodders and racers. I have 6 hot rods/projects at home, plus the $200 Hauler and Daphne’s Honda and Suburban. Good thing I live on a half acre and we have a good sized driveway plus RV parking. I know, I know, I’m lucky compared to a lot of folks. You guys are probably getting pissed thinking you wished you had the space I do. And trust me I know it could be much worse. Last week I did a serious garage cleanup and am going to organize tools and a few more things this week so I can get working on projects.
Our garage is just a two car, although it is about 1.5 cars deep which makes it a lot more liveable. The problem is, any work I do on cars requires moving another car out of the garage, along with a few random things, OR moving the car out into the driveway and working on it there. The good news is our driveway is almost perfectly flat and almost 4 cars wide. But I’m still working on stuff in the driveway.
So why not build a shop, right? Metal buildings are super cost effective, nice, and if you get the right ones are super easy to install with a couple buddies. Well despite having almost 1/4 acre of nice flat ground in the back of our property, we don’t own it. So building a shop on rental property is not exactly the way to go. Even though my landlord rules, I’m not real excited about building HIM a shop. LOL I want to buy our house, but he’s not ready to sell and I am not ready to give him a pile of money, so that is going to have to wait a bit.
I’ve even looked at the temporary “garages” that you can get at Harbor Freight or Costco or wherever. I have room for one of those on the side of my house in the RV parking area, but that space is currently Rusty parking and misc car part (aka wheels, transmissions, etc) storage. And I have some good space behind that in the back yard that is all concrete, but I’m pretty sure Daphne won’t go for having that in her backyard.
All of this made me think about renting some space instead. But that’s not cheap either. Here in our area of SoCal I can get space for approximately 50 cents per square foot per month if you shop. 75 cents is a no brainer, no shopping needed. And then there are folks renting space at local airports, and industrial areas that are getting deals for as little as 30 cents per square foot. That’s getting down there cheap! But, depending on the places, and how big the spaces are that are open and available, you are still talking about $500 plus per month. And that is a tough nut to swallow. I’m sure that I could go in on some space with a few guys that I trust and get something nice for good money each, but it’s still a tough proposition.
So what am I going to do? Well, until I can figure out how to own my house and build my own shop, I’m going to get as organized as possible. In fact, I’m going to look for some cool cheap projects that you guys can do at home as well to help your cause. I have some metal and a rolling cart I’m going to build into a space saving workbench, some modular tool ideas I’ve used in the past, tool storage ideas, and more that I hope to be able to show you guys as we work on our projects and get more organized. I’ll also be dreaming about the shop I want to build.
What are you guys doing for more shop space? What kind of organization projects would you like to see us work on? Anything you think of we would like to hear about.
Step 1. Move from SoCal to Tennessee
Step 2. Buy a nice 3-4 bedroom house with 1-2 acres for a 1/4 of what your house will cost there
Step 3. Build Mega shop
Step 4. Enjoy not living in a communist country any more
I don’t know, I lived in TN for a while, it was a communist country compared to Idaho. Land was super cheep there though
There you go.^^^^^
SoCal high desert. 2.5 acres for less than 75K, no CCR, multi use zoning and some of the best sunsets youll ever see. Surf in the morning, drag race in the afternoon and snowboard in the evening (if you are so inclined). I like it here (except for the LOW VOC reqts.)
I’d join the ‘get the heck out of LA chorus’ but I’ll assume you’ve considered and rejected that. I have a flat driveway too, so I’d like to put up a car port to it butting up against the garage. Enough that it’ll keep the rain and snow off my projects and I can work in the dry. In a pinch I could staple up some plastic sheeting for winter or for painting.
C’mon…. Move to NJ and live like kings.
Do all your work in the PathMark parking lot, more room than you’ll ever need. Everyone else does.
Put stuff on wheels so it is easy to move things around to make space. Build outside storage sheds for parts so there is more room for tools and working inside.
I built shelves under all my workbenches that hold the larger size of the good old milk crate. Even built some more drawers the same size out of plywood. Each box is labeled – rubber hoses, Chevy, Dodge, clamps, lights, kool stuff, Project A, Project B, etc. Then stuff is easy(er) to find and the boxes can be mixed and matched depending on the project of the moment. or in your case, dragged outside, then put away.
I have a 2 car garage also. Here is what I am doing to save space: 1) Everything is on wheels. 2) I bought a 4 post lift (cheaper than building on to the garage). 3) I installed shelving near the ceiling for all the raw materials. 4) Most importantly, I am constantly re-evaluating what I need and don’t need and I am selling/scrapping the stuff I don’t need.
I use about half of my mom’s shop, 30X40 and have my car hoist outside there. Its not really worth all the help I give her around her place. I just bought a house, large one car garage (full of woodworking tools, four wheelers and bicycles) and it has a 36X60 pole building with no floor, no lights and its already full of projects. Sadly my neighborhood has some crapy covanants, most ignore them but I have one jack ass for a neighbor. I’m hoping to pour some concrete in the next two months and start getting organized.
Try living in Chicago, its almost as bad as SoCal, but -20 degrees in the winter. No thanks.