my single car garage/shop. here are my ideas for it. any input and ideas you guys may have would be awesome. current: here is the back. there is a little storage area. and i just got the wood and siding to kick it out even with the wall on the house. and out even with the side wall of the garage. I am going to put my air compressor and build a work bench. in this area, so i can open up the garage a little. and put a door way on this wall so i can travel between the areas. and the guard dog
One thing I have done in my last to houses is to pain the walls white. Gives more light to work by. Perhaps an 8' two tube florescent in the ceiling and you've got a well lit work area. And some biscuits for the guard dog.
I plan getting the walls painted soon. Just got mud the joints and some small holes first. I'm gonna have to put the lights you said in to. I've been using a stand light and drop lights. And Maybe some diet biscuits for flash(dog) he's 4 months old and is getting a belly already. lol
I think expanding the room in the rear is a great idea. If it were me I think I would close in the man door back there and open the rear wall of the garage. You will be surprised how much storage you can squeeze in that small space with some well placed cabintes and shelving.
building this onto the garage will give me 72 sq. feet. ive been looking at these two cabinets. i like the craftsman. but the huskys cheaper what do you thank? http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00959175000P?vName=Sears+Pro&cName=Professional&keyword=cabinet http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=100607962&N=10000003+90167+529336
The Husky is cheaper but it is resin (plastic) and the Craftsman is all steel. I would go with that. I bought a couple of cheap ones that are made of MDF and they are sagging already from the weight in them.
I was going to say the same thing about painting the walls white, I think that will help a lot. If your adding on to the backside, maybe look at putting the air compressor outside in a smaller shed, it would open up that much more room?
GOOD vertical storage (shelving) up high so that there is plenty of room beside the vehicle to work. Do you have room for a shed? If so, a 12' X 12' X 8'(high) one will move a lot of things outside of the work area. Build a cart for the welder(s). It gets them out of the way and off your bench. Get a good solid bench 4'L X 3'W X 32"H with a solid work top (I prefer hardwood but steel works too) with a good quality 6" or bigger Wilton vice.
sadly I don't have room for a shed. My back yard is small. I was going to build a wall around it in the corner and hang my air tools on the wall boxing in the compresor. Its only a 26 gallon tank.
O.K. Get this for true craftsman ship of the previous owner of my house. The storage area that I'm tearing down isn't anchored to the slap. All it has is 5 anchor bolts holding it to the house and 2 of them ain't even in studs. Just bolted to the siding. On top of that the slap was poured at ground level so all the wood is roted. And only the outside corner is holding it up.