Let's see your Man Castle

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/search/?query=AKURUM+Wall+cabinet

Pay close attention to the width. There are a lot to choose from.

Jim

how slippery are those vct tiles when wet? relative to a painted floor?

andwhat blade did you use on the saw?

It depends on if you polish them, or just put on a finishing fluid. Polished they are like any other wet smooth surface. Unpolished they grip pretty well.

I used a simple carpet knife and scored the tile at least 5 times, then snapped it off. Took about 20 seconds to cut each tile. If useing a power saw, you would want the teeth as fine as you could get them to prevent breaking off chunks of tile,

Jim

Here is my plan, I think it is somewhat to scale. 30 feet wide by 50 feet deep.

Where the truck is located a vehicle lift will be installed.

The Bobcat and lawn tractor are at the front right.

I think I am only going to do one garage door and double man door. In front of the truck will be the wood shop area. I would like to keep the welding area at the opposite end of the garage, maybe the motorcycles will have to go in a different area.

I am having a hard time visualizing everything. It almost seems like there is not enough room. I am looking for suggestions. I think I just need to nail down where the lift will be installed, then I can put stuff in from there.

Don't put the vehicle lift next to the work bench area because every time your working on the bench you'll be running into the lift post. Put the lift on the other side of the garage.

Figure out how much offset you'll need between the side of the lift and the centerline, if you put the lift towards the wall that's how far in the midline of that car will be when on the lift, compare that to door location.

I would be tempted to put the lift all the way in, and use it to store some of that stuff, tractor, atv etc. When not in use.

What the other guys have said concerning lift location is good advise .Have you selected a lift yet? Also consider how far you'll need to run an exhaust tube from the tailpipe if you plan on running cars with closed doors and windows during the winter months if you put the lift all the way back with only one garage door. Also consider lighting for lift placement, it's nice to have a lift near the garage door in good weather so you can raise the door and take advantage of sun light. Also consider which side of the garage is the best side for the roll up door if taking advantage of sunlight is something you want to do. Sucks having a garage door open in nice weather then having the sun shining directly in your eyes while under the lift. Might be better to place the lift so that a vehicle can be driven straight thru it to the back of the shop rather than place where it might be a obstacle.The diagram you posted is a start, could you label what the pieces are along the walls...work benches, floor shelving units etc.?

Floor shelving is nice because you can rearrange it if necessary, but it eats up floor space, conversely wall mounted shelving keeps the floor open but can dictate what can go against the walls. Measure out the width of all your shop equipment that you want to place against the walls, bench grinder if it's pedestal mounted, drill press (unless it's a bench top style), tool box width and anything else you don't want in the middle of the floor to get a better idea of how you want it laid out. Take the measurement total of all the equipment you know you want against a wall and compare that measurement with available wall space.

Tech23

I picked up a nice "little" Craig's List find today for $40.


It is on a 4X6 trailer, and took two of us struggling hard to get it there. It is 7'4" tall, 40" wide, 27" deep and I am estimating it weighs 200#!

Note the shelving unit behind the photo above that this is replacing.


At some point it was modified in the past, and I thought I would have to UNmodify it. The open side was too narrow for much, and the shelf not at an ideal height.


But, when I started loading it with the stuff off the shelf, I realized it was actually perfect for storing my extra sheet metal and plastics.

I have a lot more to load, and I will add another shelf after the second one, but I think I am going to like it!



Overall it fits nicely with the IKEA cabinets, though it is 8" deaper, it looks good and fits the space well.

Jim

+1 Regardless of lift type, it'll be in the way by the bench area.

One door? Fine, make it a 16' wide door. otherwise regret will follow.

That nice double-size man door? Put it down at the other end, so you can pull your tractor out without unloading the whole garage (my regret I didn't do that with my end-loading garage).

Woodworking area? Close it off from the mechanical shop area with a wall, or build an additional separate space (or large shed). Wood dust has no place in a garage shop if you're doing mechanical work, body work, welding, painting, etc. We had carpenters in during our kitchen remodel who had to setup a saw in my garage and they put more dust in my garage in 2 days than I did in 30 years. Dust collection system is fine, along with dust segregation.

Jim, I was going to ask you if you sealed your tiles or not. They told me at Lowes I should seal them with something. But I dont want something that will show tire marks when I roll a bike across them.

Maybe it's time to move to the sticks. Where I live, you are looking at around $65/sqft for the land alone.

Still, it's always good to have a plan in case I win the lottery...

Once I am done with all the moving crap around I plan to seal them. Mainly to make them easier to clean. A good Armstrong sealer wont be slipery, yet will protect the joints from water that can loosen a tile if it sits and seeps in around the edges. The tile glue is water based.

Jim

I have a neighbor with a 30' X 50'. It's so big, he's just lost with organization. Since he's not cramped, he's got crap just sitting around.

I'd put my lift in the back corner. As others stated, you can use it to store a car above and other stuff below. The post will be out of the way. My brother has two lifts in his shop. And, the post locations make a difference, in ease of use for the shop as a whole.

As someone else mentioned, go bigger with your overhead door. I went with a 12'W X 9'H on my shop. I have a 14' wide on another building. The 14' really opens up the area. You may look at adding another door on that back wall. It'll allow another entry point for the lift area (mower/tractor/kids) and allow crossflow of air and sunlight. I saw a guy's shop where he had his front and back walls in 2 doors each, side-by-side, about 12' apart. That allowed him a "pavillion" effect for get togethers and such. If my lot layout would've supported it, that's what I would've done.

Go with attic trusses. That'll allow you "X" more square footage of storage. There's no sense in wasting that space. The above mentioned guy had a stairwell in the space between his garage doors. It was a brilliant use of space.

Put in floor heat. The tubing is relatively inexpensive. You can add a water heater, as funds become available. My immediate neighbor did that on his 28'X48' shop. He uses a 40gal water heater. He guesstimates about $50/mo to heat it at 68 degrees. I encouraged my GF's employer to build their new building with floor heat. They say their utility bills are about 1/3 of the old building, despite doubling their square and cubic footage and running 4X the lights. They're using a high efficiency, "on-demand" water heater designed for floor heat. My biggest regret is not heating my floor.

I don't think that the space is big enough to store the bikes/cars/equipment with space to work on them AND a wood working area AND a metal shop area. I'd concentrate on making room to work around the cars (because they are hard to move), and then have a work area tied into the space for wood/metal/motorcycle work.

IMO that space would be more useful with 2 roll-up doors on the 30' side with the lift at one of these doors and the double doors towards the back to get the bikes and equipment in and out. This will leave you a work space in the middle for projects, plenty of room around the cars, and easy access to park another car under the lift you need to. My basement is 30x40 with one door on the 30' side in the same location as yours and I am always having to rearrange to get things out.

A little more progress today. I added the leftover floor moulding to the missing area under the man door.



Thanks for the great idea, it looks better in person.

I also cleaned my workbench and organized it a bit. Then used some extra tile for the top of it to cover the well worn and stained wood surface.



I know it isn't a typical work surface, but it is stain resistant and tough enough for basic work. Any hard hammering will be done on an alternate work area, or I will lay a pice of steel over the surface.

Jim

Costco had some really nice heavy duty workbenches for $200 . They're not too deep and work well for a residential garage .

I saw them. Similar to mine, two drawers instead of four, but heavier duty and thicker top. Not bad for the price.

For my style of work this one does fine. I use my MC lift as a suplimental work bench, and get out my beat up plastic folding table if I need more area.

Jim

This photo of ScooterAug's garage reminded me of my situation.

I'm lucky enough to be able to leave my roll up door open while working in the garage most of the time. This effectively blanks out a good portion of my lighting from the ceiling. Does anyone have any ideas on mounting lighting to the garage door? A coiled cord to supply power to them or ??

you guys sure do have clean shops!
don't laugh at mine
http://s1173.photobucket.com/albums/r591/roverchild/?action=view&current=131_4075.jpg

I have that exact piece of exercise equipment temporarily outside my garage.

As for the lighting, I assume you mean at night?

I would install some foot level lights on the wall shining up at that big white garage door. That should give you great direct and indirect light.

Jim