I'm sick and tired of tripping over stuff, not being able to find anything, and the clutter. I wanted to epoxy paint the floor but couldn't do it due to all of the above.

A month ago I drew up our garage's floor layout, measured every tool box, bench, shelf, pigeon hole shelf, the lift area, roll around carts, furnace (which can't be moved without a LOT of work). Once I had all of those measurements, I place everthing on the print so that there is a place for everything and everything in it's place.

The main goal of all of this is to have NOTHING in the way of the lift (easy access around the posts and NOTHING near the control panel). AND to have a shop area with all of the machine tools (mill/lathe combinaton tool, belt sander, bench grinder on a pedistal, and drill press, press), 14' of open bench space to work on, rubber mats to stand on, and tons of duples outlets. The long term plan is to build a wall to enclose the shop area and drop heat from the forced hot air funace into there.

Ultimately, the floor will get painted too AND we'll be able to put three vehicles into a four bay garage (which hasn't happend since we built the garage in 1994! LOL!).

I'll post pictures of my progress in a couple of days.

Good for you and when you are done, please come over and straighten my 3-bay up!!

Cheap beer's on me.. He, He!!

pdq67

I'm working on my garage also. Just like you, I got tired of tripping over crap.

tomorrow I'm building some shelves in the back shed.

Sounds like a great idea. I have always wanted to organize my garage too. Every time I start on it another project gets in the way...

The hardest part is to know what to get rid of.

My plan is to separate the shop into four sections. Machine shop in the north west bay. Lift bay in the south west bay. The south east bay is for parking. The north east bay is for parking and has all the welding tools..

Then I'm going to zone the outlets and lighting.

The hardest part is to know what to get rid of..

Pfshhh... anything that's not MINE... it better be outta my way, or I'll get it outta my way for good. They have the WHOLE HOUSE... lol.. stay outta my garage and keep your damned decorations someplace else.

Seriously though... In my garage: If it's car related it stays... if it's not car related, not a tool or piece of hardware.... and it hasn't moved in 9-12 months... it goes to goodwill, in the attic, in the trash, etc. We have that fight about every 5-6 months :) .

wanna do mine next??
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a351/Tonystoys123/yellow%2068/Picture550.jpg

I need to rent a dumpster so I can get my rv carport and garage cleared out

TonyZ: THAT is what our four bay (28'W X 36'L) garage looked like before I started! BARELY room to walk around. Benches FULL of crap (no room to work on a lawnmower carb!). Tool boxes all over the place.

It HAD TO change. When it's done, I hope that there is a place for everything and everything in it's place.

Sadly, it's just the beginning! Next is the lean too, then the cellar, and lastly, the attic.

This has turned out to be a VERY tiring/complicated/labor intensive/re-thinking project.

Building shelving (I priced shelving at Home Depot--$200+ for one wall!--NOT going to happen) out of plywood triangles and 2" X 2" braces. Then gluing them together (waiting 30 minutes), leveling them one to another on the wall, then installing the shelving flats.

I have hardly scratched the surface of sorting stuff out then putting it on the shelves!

One HUGE bonus on all of this is I'll have a 10' wide by 19' shop area with the lathe/mill, drill press, belt sander, bench grinder all in one area! I also have 10' of roller drawer cabinets to store stuff in.

This has turned out to be a VERY tiring/complicated/labor intensive/re-thinking project.

Building shelving (I priced shelving at Home Depot--$200+ for one wall!--NOT going to happen) out of plywood triangles and 2" X 2" braces. Then gluing them together (waiting 30 minutes), leveling them one to another on the wall, then installing the shelving flats.




I built shelves of 2' X 11' along one wall, 3 different shelves. It only cost $90 including buying more screws.

http://www.supermotors.net/getfile/755419/fullsize/img_1285.jpg

If I can lay on the shelves and they don't break, I think it's plenty strong for what I will throw at it! LOL

Building shelving out of plywood triangles and 2" X 2" braces. Then gluing them together (waiting 30 minutes), leveling them one to another on the wall, then installing the shelving flats.

Having a hard time visualizing that setup.


If I can lay on the shelves and they don't break, I think it's plenty strong for what I will throw at it! LOL

Exactly... mine might not be the prettiest set of shelves, etc... but they'll hold just about anything. I actually climbed on mine and jumped around or hung from them / did pull-ups to make sure they were sturdy enough.

I'm actually looking at building a small shed to put all the lawn equipment in... and I may put a small loft in it for all the lumber I've accumulated over the years. That'll fix most of my problems.

Exactly... mine might not be the prettiest set of shelves, etc... but they'll hold just about anything. I actually climbed on mine and jumped around or hung from them / did pull-ups to make sure they were sturdy enough.



If I was building sleves in the house I would take the time and buy quality wood, get me a router, and take my time. But I took cheap good wood, and ripped it up and built those sleves in an hr or so.

Would have been quicker if the saw at the Lowes store was working and I wouldn't have had to cut the plywood to size.

So far the wood and screws are "in stock inventory" items that I have on hand.

2' X 2' triangles have 1" X 2" boards glued to them on the back and top edges. They are fastened to the back wall plywood 2' from the ceiling 4' on center. I then screw iron angle brackets on 16" on center (wall studs) so that in the end I have 12' of 2' wide shelves that are supported every 16". I put 2' wide 1" thick 4' long laminate covered shelving on it and screw them to all of the brackets. I didn't want posts on the front of them that would take up a free space to put the tool boxes and the drawer cabinets under.

Triangles are the support???

Got a pic you post??? Sounds like a great set-up but i just can't seem to visualize it.

I'll try to post pictures later tonight. I have to burn supper for Evil Hate to lose my job due to dereliction of duty! LOL!

Southwest wall shelves


http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n260/Cardinal_03/Two%20Post%20Lift/DSC01926.jpg


Northwest wall shelves

http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n260/Cardinal_03/Two%20Post%20Lift/DSC01930.jpg

Large triangle shelf bracket (note metal angle brackets between large triangle brackets--they help support the middle of the shelf)

http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n260/Cardinal_03/Two%20Post%20Lift/DSC01929.jpg


Small bottom shelf triangle bracket (to clear tool boxes).

http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n260/Cardinal_03/Two%20Post%20Lift/DSC01928.jpg

Plywood angles are glued to the boards. Then I use 2.5" deck screws to attach them to the wall studs.

Shelves are 99% done. Let the sorting, throwing out, and restocking begin!

Looks like you on it going on now!! Keep the momentum going!

Sweet! I thought that's what you did, but wasn't sure. I like the idea of no support posts in the way. I'll post mine sometime when I get a chance.

Progress is SLOW given my neck and back problems. I wish I had that magic finger line "My Favorite Martian" where stuff would levitate where it's is going (either in the trash, scrap, or on it's shelf).

I want it to be organized so that I don't spend HOURS trying to find suff and convenient so that things that I need right away aren't on the top shelf out of reach.

So far, I've got the hand power tools in one place and the paint cans full of fittings. Next is the car parts boxes (belts, hoses, hard lines) and sorting bolts.

I too dislike the posts in the way but the post type shelving is much stronger. The shelving in the leantoo is post style as it has cylinder heads, intakes, exhaust manifolds, starters, alternators, transmissions, suspension parts, heavy stuff on them.

The things that take up the most room are engines and tires (especially if they're on rims). I NEVER stack tires that aren't mounted one on top of the other = PITA to get them to seat on a rim! Standing them up takes up way more room.

If you really think about it, you loose more space with the shelves with no post in the way.

You just have to put things behind the post before blocking the space to get the items in there. Or you have to plan your placements of things and have certain items be divided by the triangle.

Both got their pros and cons by the way.

Hmm, I thought I gained more room with no posts. Room to put the tool boxes, storage units, engines (complete, blocks, heads, cranks), benches, mill/lathe, drillpress, grinder, etc. underneath instead of taking up floor space in front of them.

I probably won't make much progress today as I'm getting "ditching dirt" from the town plus other chores that HAVE to get done (putting outside stuff that will freeze inside--yes, it's THAT time of year too soon!).

[QUOTE=Cardinal]Hmm, I thought I gained more room with no posts. Room to put the tool boxes, storage units, engines (complete, blocks, heads, cranks), benches, mill/lathe, drillpress, grinder, etc. underneath instead of taking up floor space in front of them.

QUOTE]

If they are high shelves like yours then yea, but if they take the whole walls like mine it not really that much floor space I'm taking. I can easily put a storage tote behind the post and not have to worry about how many totes on either side of the triangle.

Like i said they had pros and cons.

Shelves are 98% done. Still have to put shelf behind lathe/mill to store bits, fixtures, lathe heads, etc.

Wiring has been an adventure. I have the lift bay and shop area lighting done. The north bay where the welding equipment is located, has been a PITA for some reason (I'm taking it back down today as it doesn't light up the areas that need light).

The south wall outlets are done = an outlet every 6' and a GFI outlet for the parts washer. The lathe/mill outlet and welding area outlets aren't even started and will be the last to be installed.

LAST will be to audit all storage units (boxes/cans/containers), sorted, and put in convenient places.

To think that this all started because I wanted to epoxy paint the floor!