What to do when your garage is small

[Ken Arms]

Here is my solution to a small garage and body off frame for repair and media blast underneath

[~~Walts37~~]

Great solution I would say. ya done good Ken
~~Walts37~~

[jim1932]

I guess everyones definition of small if different... Looks like at least two bays to me.....but then again I only have a car port. My neighbor has a lift in his so he can put his Porsche 914 over his 911 in a one car garage.

[FL&WVMIKE]

What I do, is buy a couple of lottery tickets and dream.
MIKE

[Kurt in NJ]

My garage is so small I had to make the back wall flexible, to close the doors I back the car in so it moves the back wall 1 inch.

[cmbrucew]

Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)

My first wife made the back wall flexable in my garage.
Cracked the drywall in the kids bedroom.
Hung a tennis ball from the celing, and patched the drywall.

Bruce

Works good
Lasts long time

[rumely]

Sometimes you you just have to hang things up.

[Vic Piano]

For too many years I had just a one car garage and worked on our cars/trucks in the driveway or in the yard, with cardboard creepers and a floor jack... It's a real pleasure to be able to play with cars in a real garage however, the more space you have, the more stuff you fill it with...

[Cecil/WV]

The garage is always too small!!

[Ken Arms]

My son uses 80% I get whats left. Im not complaining, I guess I passed on wrenching to him.

[peewee2you]

Rumely, my hats off to you... that is some serious organization.

[flatjack9]

Originally Posted by Vic Piano

For too many years I had just a one car garage and worked on our cars/trucks in the driveway or in the yard, with cardboard creepers and a floor jack... It's a real pleasure to be able to play with cars in a real garage however, the more space you have, the more stuff you fill it with...

x2 on filling it!

[Jack Olsen]

You've got to be more creative with a small space. The first decision I made with my 20x21 two-car was that I was only going to have one car in it. If a garage becomes just a box to store stuff (whether it's cars, kids' toys, lawn equipment, or whatever), you lose the room's real utility -- which is a place to get stuff done.

My little garage has ten work surfaces in it, which is kind of ridiculous -- but which also illustrates how much you can fit in a small garage if you take the time to organize your stuff, and make some hard decisions about what to keep and what to get rid of -- and what to store in that shed you're going to build.

Let me apologize in advance for there being no blue oval and so many pictures. But I'm proud of the place -- I did all the work myself, including setting the tile and digging the pit for the lift. The total budget, including the floor, cabinets, benches and lift was less than $3,500. Everything in the place is second-hand, re-purposed or home-made.

I also made a website for it: http://www.12-gaugegarage.com















Work benches that fold down from the wall:







Is it always this clean? No. Not by a long shot.



But it does go back to clean very quickly -- that's the real accomplishment of it, I think. I finally took the time to work out a place for everything to go when It's not being used.

In practice, it makes a huge difference not having to spend so much time looking for things you've misplaced. I spent years doing that.

[ole39]

got a 1 1/4 car garage, it looks like 10 lbs of ***t in a baggy.

[40fordpu]

You think that is small... This is when I lived in orange county, ca...what do you think...

[Henry/Kokomo]

Jack Olsen - I am TOTALLY impressed with your garage! Hard to believe you could do all that for just $3500. Quite an accomplishment, of which you can be justifiably proud.

[denverslim]

Very nice, Mr Olsen! I'm impressed.

I've got about 3 times the space, and 30 times the s***t...slim

[FL&WVMIKE]

Originally Posted by Jack Olsen

You've got to be more creative with a small space. The first decision I made with my 20x21 two-car was that I was only going to have one car in it. If a garage becomes just a box to store stuff (whether it's cars, kids' toys, lawn equipment, or whatever), you lose the room's real utility -- which is a place to get stuff done.

My little garage has ten work surfaces in it, which is kind of ridiculous -- but which also illustrates how much you can fit in a small garage if you take the time to organize your stuff, and make some hard decisions about what to keep and what to get rid of -- and what to store in that shed you're going to build.

Let me apologize in advance for there being no blue oval and so many pictures. But I'm proud of the place -- I did all the work myself, including setting the tile and digging the pit for the lift. The total budget, including the floor, cabinets, benches and lift was less than $3,500. Everything in the place is second-hand, re-purposed or home-made.

I also made a website for it: http://www.12-gaugegarage.com















Work benches that fold down from the wall:







Is it always this clean? No. Not by a long shot.



But it does go back to clean very quickly -- that's the real accomplishment of it, I think. I finally took the time to work out a place for everything to go when It's not being used.

In practice, it makes a huge difference not having to spend so much time looking for things you've misplaced. I spent years doing that.

Jack Olsen ....................
That is absolutely beautiful !
BUT, you must have another building for lawn mowers, bicycles, ladders, lawn chairs, etc., that the rest of us have to store in our garages.
MIKE

[Jack Olsen]

Originally Posted by Henry/Kokomo

Jack Olsen - I am TOTALLY impressed with your garage! Hard to believe you could do all that for just $3500. Quite an accomplishment, of which you can be justifiably proud.

Thank you! I think the key to keeping the budget down was to buy a lot of lightly-damaged stuff and chop it up to make it work. The main bench, for example, started out as this cabinet, which someone had tried to pry their way into.



I cut it in half, and added an extra blank drawer for my air hose reel.





And this cabinet, which had taken a hit from a forklift, got cut up and turned into the cabinets and countertop and overhead storage for the sink area.



The back of the cabinet became the counter surface. The top and bottom became the cabinet under the sink, and the middle section of the doors became the second little cabinet to the right.

Originally Posted by denverslim

Very nice, Mr Olsen! I'm impressed.

I've got about 3 times the space, and 30 times the s***t...slim

I'd hate to advocate for less storage space for anyone, but I have to admit that it's the limitations of this place that have forced me to think of more clever ways to organize and store stuff.

Originally Posted by FL&WVMIKE

Jack Olsen ....................
That is absolutely beautiful !
BUT, you must have another building for lawn mowers, bicycles, ladders, lawn chairs, etc., that the rest of us have to store in our garage.
MIKE

I made a shed for all the stuff garages normally store. My guiding principle was that if it isn't used in the garage, it shouldn't be stored in the garage. I've got two young kids, though, and I worry I'm going to have to find more space for more shed in the future.

[31chevy]

Very ingenious Jack, I like the way you recessed the lift. Where do you live ? I assume you live in a warm climate,those of us that live in snow country have an added problem. Love your Porshe my favorite car.
Gary.