Garage to Shop

Episode #781

January 20, 2024

My garage was so full of stuff that cars would not fit.
I parked the cars in the driveway.

Worse than no cars, the garage had no room for woodworking.
I own the essential power tools for a wood shop, but I needed room to stand and to layout the materials.

On one wall of the garage was a shelving unit made from 2x10s and 2x4s. On it was Christmas, camping, game, beverage, donation, holiday wrap, auto, bicycle and recycling boxes. You know, all that stuff that you use occasionally, often only once a year.

I have considered building a barn on my property. A barn would provide car parking, storage and a proper wood shop. The cost of a barn was more than I wanted to spend.

I looked at sheds and found one that was reasonably priced. Once installed the shed sat mostly empty until I began to convert my garage.

The conversion began with all the boxes from the garage shelves and some other long term storage items going into the shed. The storage shelving was easy to disassemble. I ended up with a pocket full of wood screws and $200 of nearly pristine lumber. More importantly, I gained a 20 foot wall and 60 square feet of floor space in the garage.

I placed my desk, air compressor and edge sander in the corner of the free wall. Those things used to live on a dresser that contains various materials. With the dresser top cleared my work bench is extended an additional 4 feet to 13’!

Project parts and other miscellaneous items which used to live on the work bench went into shelving that was also freed up by the shed.

Along the newly cleared wall I positioned my compound miter saw which now allows me to cut material up to 20 feet long. Also, folded against the wall is my portable contractor’s table saw.

The Shopsmith stands across the room. It serves as a scroll saw, drill press and lathe.

The Shopsmith is on wheels (as are all my power tools) so it can be moved about easily. My bandsaw (also on wheels) is next to the Shopsmith.

In the center of the room is a work table with two drawers for my top shelf hand tools. Some of those tools are my Estwing hammer, scissors, pencils, notepad, dikes, utility knife, box cutter, architectural scale ruler, compass, speed square, gloves, T bevel, T square, flash light and clear straight edge ruler. The rest of my tools live in my tool box.

Other hand tools, jigs and supplies hang above the work bench on a bulletin board. Clamps hang in a shelving unit next to the tool box and saw horses.

You will not find my garage on YouTube. It is not as pretty as those shops. But there is now very little that I cannot make in my reorganized garage-shop.

The cars, however, are still parked in the driveway. Maybe I will build a car port. I now have the shop and tools to do it.

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