Unusual Garage; Feedback Requested

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Hi, getting ready for some long term projects. I have some storage property that will be my garage, shop, and office for the commercial property and personal car stuff. I'm looking for layout suggestions, tools, whatever else comes to mind. All car work will be X specific (mid engine) and can be fine tuned as such. A rotisserie will be used. Hydraulic lift doubtful for at least a few years, if ever. Mechanic's tools, paint, bodywork, welding all required.

Basically a 10x30 garage with a 10x10 office, making an L shape. Approximately 10x20 of the garage can be X specific with the remaining 10x10 for property maintenance; mowers, power tools, rakes, etc. The 10x30 garage has an 8' wide rollup door on each end. There will be an interior pedestrian door from garage to office. Really not a lot of room. Office will be open to the public. 110 wiring only right now and no water except a hose. My house is about 60" away.

Last pic is the diagram.

Pic 1. The two storage units, #54 and 55 are 5x10 each and will become the 10x10 office. Glass commercial door and windows. The 8' door to the left of the down pipe is the 10x20 unit. Interior wall between the two garage units will be removed. Remaining four units to right of office to remain as rentals.

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Pic 2. 10x10.

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Pic 3. 10x20, rear wall and center beam to be removed. Interior door to office will be on right. 10' width, max. Would this necessitate tools on only one side? Maybe some tools in the middle where wall is to be removed?

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Pic 4. 10x10.

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Pic 5.

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Thanks for any feedback!
 
Your planning seems right. I have a 20x20 garage. The x19 is taking 10x20 with only some space in front for some parts and the door to enter the house.
Another 10x10 is my bench, tooling and parts "in transit" (I got more than a 10x10 space in my basement for my collection of car parts). And the other 10x10 is, as you said: non car related stuff (large house Tools and bicycles) and my collection of tires (summer and winter tires for my daily driver and my wife's car, spare fiat tires and race tires). It's pretty tight in there and there is NO 10x10 office. So you will have to think about everything that enter in that space: is this necessary and where it will go. Tires and wheels could go high in storage rack, and dont buy a lawn tractor!
 
Haha, I have a 54" lawn tractor! And an all wheel drive trim mower if you can believe it, had never heard of one before this one. So, you have the exact same footage but in a different shape. I can't apply 10x10 to a bench and tools so was thinking all tools on one side along with ingress/egress and scootch the car more towards the other side.
 
I would be happy to forward you some pics if you like. My space is usually a mess, I'm doing to many things at a time and I basically have no time... But it could lead you to see how much space will be left between the car and the walls, in front of the car, etc. My lawn mower is in a small shed behind the house... with some other Fiat parts!

But I'm sure some other forum members have much better (and bigger) garages and much better organized!
 
I work in a HF garage tent, 10x17'. Seemed like plenty of room for the X, with about 24" of stuff on one side (engine on stand, among other things) and about a foot plus on the other side; seemed roomy enough to work in, could roll it back and forth as space was needed front or back.
Not the same with my Maserati, pretty much storage only, not a lot of extra room around the car, but I haven't cleaned out the sides yet to make it easier.
I have another tent with an '89 spider (parting for my sport coupe) in it right now, along with some storage on the sides; pretty tight. So 10' wide would be OK for an X, but kinda tight for a spider or larger, especially for work vs. just storage.
 
I work out of a 12x30. Plenty of room for the X, my tool box, a couch, a scooter and all of our storage stuff.
If you don't have tools, I suggest making it a priority. There's good deals out there on quality tools. I got a full 1100 piece Craftsman mechanics set with rolling chest for like $1800-2grand IIRCC. Harbor Freight can be good, but alot of their stuff is junk. A floor jack and stands (preferably 2 sets) are indispensable. (Harbor Freight is good for these). Depending on your climate, a good floor fan and/or propane heater are nice to have. You gotta have good lighting too, whether it be light stands, overhead lighting or drop lighting (or any combo there of). A mid sized air compressor us an option.
Electricity is also a must! Obviously.
Depending on the situation, this can be a very precious commodity especially if your renter give you permission to use theirs, when you originally rented the unit, but then locked it and said they don't want you to work on your car, thus forcing you to buy an identical lockable box and lock and forcibly remove their hardware and replace it with your , whown equipment wich gives you unlimited access. ..... I've heard stuff like that can occur. Last suggestion I'd make for setting up a new or first time work space, and probably the most important necessity would be to have friends to help on your projects, and you help them! Even if it's just for moral support and cold beer, the hobby is boring without a few good mates.
 
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Hell, I built two cars in a two car garage! One of which was in it while I built the other! Wish I'd had that kinda space... Your layout is spot on.
 
Thanks, all, several things I hadn't considered. Daniel, I'm open to any pics you feel would help.

I decided to re-build a shed roof area attached to my house to store the mowers and other yard tools so that will free up a lot of space and it would still be close by. That would also enable drive through capabilities. Plus I needed another project to leach away more time and money. And, yes, capable of containing a second errant X...

I do have to buy all of the bigger stuff (again, sigh); mig, tool box/worktop, sand blaster!, compressor, air tools, ad infinitum.

Not sure how hard it would be to run 220 but it sure would make a difference - power source is at the other end of building, 140'.

The L shape of the building isn't written in stone. I could do a 20x20 shape for instance. An L shaped garage itself using the next two 5x10 to the right of the office. It just has to be attached to the 10x10 corner office. I figure 400 sq. ft. is the limit since it would take away more rental property.

Ac for the office only. Space heaters.
 
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If you're going to be doing major restoration work, things like an upright 60 gal. compressor, parts washer, drill press, grinder on a stand, blast cabinet, mig welder, shop vac, etc. take up a lot of floor space and you may want to line them all up along the same wall. Removed parts, spare parts and tools also take up a lot of space and some adjustable floor to ceiling shelving would help. You can never have too much space for not only a good size bench and layout tables.

Grinding, sanding and bodywork create an enormous amount of dust that gets everywhere and into everything. If you have a separate office I'd provide space for storing parts, tools and supplies you want to keep as clean (and dry) as possible.

HF has some great tool cabinets at a good price. I put a 44" wide one under the workbench I built by removing the wheels. Takes up less wall space that way. I also built storage cabinets under the bench. A local hardware store was closing down and we bought a bunch of adjustable steel shelving with pegboard. The shelving works great except of course, everything on them is now covered in dust, pffft...

A really good place for questions like this is garagejournal.com
 
My garage storage system is NOT something I'm proud... I should NOT post these photos, but it will at least show you what you SHOULDN'T do...

First in my workspace (10x10), with a bench (well, 2 in fact) and shelves (partly visible). Bench is always full of leftovers projects but my Ikea shelves aren't that bad...
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Then the car side.

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Enough place to work around and some space left if front. The wooden support are temporary in transit...for the last 6 months.
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And I will not show you the other 10x10 place for bicycle, lawn mower and... It's so full you wouldn't seen anything.

Once a year, usually during my summer vacation, I'm doing a cleanup...
 
Very nice workstation, Gil. I can't store the compressor outside as you appear to have done so perhaps a 40 gal. 2 cylinder on wheels? And the tool cart/table would have to be two pieces, a little narrower, and on wheels. It would have almost 60' of walls (2 x 30') so tons of shelving up high. And I wanted to ask here instead of another forum since the whole setup is X/mid engine directed.

Daniel, wow, packed! But it still looks as if you can function in there.

Ok, this changes a few things in a positive manner. I'm embarrassed to show this but it has been slated for demo this spring so haven't messed with it yet. I've only lived here ten months and four acres keeps me busy. And money's tight. There, excuses stated.
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This 10x14 travesty will become about 12 or 14 x 16 or 18 with the roof being 3 1/2' higher (to match addition on other side of house). Doors front and rear, LOTS of glass, even some clear roofing for light for house window. It would also house a lot of plants since I'm a horticulture guy. Rim of addition would be poured to code with floor graveled to eventually be poured once I reconfigure property line to code. Yard machines and equipment could be stored here as could an X. Plenty of room for a lift! I'm a much better builder than mechanic with several certifications so this would be fun and well built.

So that opens up a good 10x10 area in the shop garage. there would be a gravel drive between house and oak, gravel to allow rain to feed roots. The office shop is visible here. That oak is 130' tall as are several in back yard where I'm making a garden /arboretum.
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My garage storage system is NOT something I'm proud... I should NOT post these photos, but it will at least show you what you SHOULDN'T do...

First in my workspace (10x10), with a bench (well, 2 in fact) and shelves (partly visible). Bench is always full of leftovers projects but my Ikea shelves aren't that bad...
View attachment 19808



Then the car side.

View attachment 19810
Enough place to work around and some space left if front. The wooden support are temporary in transit...for the last 6 months.
View attachment 19812

And I will not show you the other 10x10 place for bicycle, lawn mower and... It's so full you wouldn't seen anything.

Once a year, usually during my summer vacation, I'm doing a cleanup...

Daniel, your garage looks like something that i SHOULD do...
This is how bad it can be.
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Very nice workstation, Gil. I can't store the compressor outside as you appear to have done so perhaps a 40 gal. 2 cylinder on wheels? And the tool cart/table would have to be two pieces, a little narrower, and on wheels. It would have almost 60' of walls (2 x 30') so tons of shelving up high. And I wanted to ask here instead of another forum since the whole setup is X/mid engine directed.
My 60 gal. 5 HP compressor and other freestanding pieces of equipment are lined up along a wall on the left side of my workbench in this photo. I used to have a bench top size media blast cabinet but found it was too small and found a larger freestanding one on CL at a price I couldn't refuse. Now I can get wheels and other larger pieces inside which is really nice. The garage is about 900 sq. ft so I have a bit more space to play around with.

If you'll be using air tools and a media blast cabinet and maybe also be doing some paint spraying, you'll be needing a compressor capable of providing at least 16-17 cfm continuous. I don't think you can do this under a 5 HP compressor. I don't know if an upright 40 gallon is available in 5 HP. A bigger tank will mean in won't cycle on & off as much. You'll want to dry the air for tools and for spray painting you'll want a dessicant dryer. The most common way to dry the air enough for tools and blast cabinet is to run a long length of pipe between the compressor and regulator/quick connect fittings. I have about 40' of 3/4" copper and I'm always amazed at how much water comes out of the compressor, even in the winter when humidity is around 20%. I have a HF auto-drain on the bottom of my tank which blows out a puff of water every time the compressor cycles on/off. If you have a run a length of pipe to cool the compressed air to remove moisture in it, that kinda makes having a compressor on wheels impractical. I have seen some photos where a radiator has been attached to the top of a compressor instead of piping on a wall.

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Some tidy looking workspaces there (except Gene :D)

I's say definitely line one entire side with shelving & cabinets/counters/toolboxes, etc. & try to leave the opposite wall as empty as possible. If you're gonna paint, you need a lot of capacity. With the one I bought, it was only just OK. Enough to do a couple panels at a time before having to wait for pressure to come back up.

How can you use that back area unless you move the HVAC?

I forgot to measure my garage - took these pics earlier this evening. It's small. I'd love to enlarge it, but it's on the property line, so no way to get a variance to push it back or up. Garage has old barn door style doors, not enough height to convert to rollup. I can only put the X1/9 in diagonally, or no way to get in or out. With that, I could work on the engine in terms of basic maint., but I wouldn't consider it a safe working space for jacking the car or anything more involved. I packed as much in as I could, but still have many items in the basement (I had to make the basement, house is 1890's, and only had a small crawlspace at the front for furnace & water heater).

I have rearranged it several times, this layout feels the best. I still have to move a bunch of stuff everytime I work on anything (not as bad as Genes though) - I just moved most of the K24 swap parts to the basement, to make room for all the AWD swap parts :D

from back
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to front
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Some tidy looking workspaces there (except Gene :D)

I's say definitely line one entire side with shelving & cabinets/counters/toolboxes, etc. & try to leave the opposite wall as empty as possible. If you're gonna paint, you need a lot of capacity. With the one I bought, it was only just OK. Enough to do a couple panels at a time before having to wait for pressure to come back up.

How can you use that back area unless you move the HVAC?

I forgot to measure my garage - took these pics earlier this evening. It's small. I'd love to enlarge it, but it's on the property line, so no way to get a variance to push it back or up. Garage has old barn door style doors, not enough height to convert to rollup. I can only put the X1/9 in diagonally, or no way to get in or out. With that, I could work on the engine in terms of basic maint., but I wouldn't consider it a safe working space for jacking the car or anything more involved. I packed as much in as I could, but still have many items in the basement (I had to make the basement, house is 1890's, and only had a small crawlspace at the front for furnace & water heater).

I have rearranged it several times, this layout feels the best. I still have to move a bunch of stuff everytime I work on anything (not as bad as Genes though) - I just moved most of the K24 swap parts to the basement, to make room for all the AWD swap parts :D

from back
IMG-7936.jpg


IMG-7937.jpg


IMG-7938.jpg

IMG-7939.jpg

to front
IMG-7940.jpg

Back behind the vice I see that you have one of the small blue metal storage cabinets with the clear plastic parts drawers. I used to have one of those too. Come to think of it I might still have one, I really just don't know...
 
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