Let's face it, there's only so much you can do with a two car garage.
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| Yes, I do suffer from garage envy. |
Like many of you I am in awe of Jack Olson's 12 gauge garage, it is amazing, but there is still only room for one car. That one car happens to be a Porsche 911, so maybe that is enough!
Jack said that he first built a really big shed first, to store all the household items that used to go in the garage. That stuff has to go somewhere, and Public Storage should only be seen as a temporary option.
I shouldn't complain. Back in the day many houses only had a one car attached or detached garage. I'd seen articles in '50's hot rod mags where they described building collapsible work benches. The bench folded against the wall so that the car could still be stored inside. Back then, it seems that most people thought that it was important to keep their cars in a garage. Where did they put their Christmas ornaments and decorations?
I've written before how my Dad built a cantilevered work bench that allowed the hood of the '59 Impala to nestle underneath.
My house is not especially large, it would have been nice if the builder could have accommodated a laundry room into the design. Instead, the heating /ac, water heater and washer /drier are located alongside the back wall of the garage. I've also placed an additional Pandemic refrigerator freezer along that wall.
My garage can actually hold two cars, it even my held my '71 Riviera and '56 Cadillac for a time. But it wasn't at the same time!
Because my house was one of the developments model homes it's garage was used as the sales office. This means that's it's fully finished with plaster board walls and a finished ceiling. It also had an enclosure built to hide the heater/ ac, water heater, and washer connections. One of the best things is the number of electrical outlets. Besides the washing machine outlet, there are two outlets near the side door, one in the middle of the opposite wall, and the overhead one for the garage door opener. I use that to connect my overhead reel type extension cord. I plan on eventually hooking up my overhead reel type air compressor hose.
My first house had only a single car attached garage. the outlet for the washer, a 220V for the drier and a single light bulb and one outlet!
My earliest project after buying this house was to open up some access to the "attic space" above the garage.
I cut an access hole then I covered the ceiling joists with sheets of particle board. I thought of putting in some attic stairs but it didn't look like the weight rating was going to cut it! The attic is kind of like Las Vegas, whatever goes up into the attic, stays up in the attic! Then it is never mentioned again.
However, while the garage can hold two cars, it can't accommodate much else taking up floor space. So I've pushed everything that I can back against the walls. I had a lot of metal shelves left over from my old shop. I've placed these against the wall in the 12 in. space along the wall that accommodates the garage door's hinges.
I've done a lot to maximize the utility of my garage. My first project after I retired was to build two 4'x8' shelves above the main door. These are completely out of the way.
Then I built a series of two foot deep shelves around the upper perimeter of the garage. This is the home of most of our family's Christmas decorations. Perhaps there will be a day when they take up residence in one of the sheds.
My garage can be quite useful provided that at least one of the cars stored inside is still driveable. That car can be moved out when the need for work space is anticipated. Wheel dollies were quite expensive until recently when Harbor Freight started selling them. I could put the in op car on those, and would be able to move it sideways to center it in the garage
I've been using a little roll around table that I bought from the same CraigsList estate sale as my bandsaw. The bandsaw is an early Sixties unit sold by Black and Decker. It's powered by a regular hand held electric drill. Back then budgets were much tighter and tools were more expensive. The drill motor was used as the power source for bench grinders, sanders, as well as being strapped to a frame to be used as a drill press. This would keep the cost of home craftsmen equipment down, so that it would be accessible to a larger market. The table is clearly an artifact from the late '50s or early Sixties. The frame is angle iron with a particle board bottom shelf, The top is covered with a blond wood formica, and it has a single drawer. I mounted a wooden frame underneath to attach casters so that it became easily movable. It's a nice piece, but it sits in front of my XJS and crowds access to the fridge and drier. I plan on keeping that neat little table around and will find another home for it eventually.
I also have plans to build a much bigger roll around table that will be tall and wide enough to straddle the hood of the XJS or any other car parked there. It would also be handy to fold laundry.
I could pull that out and set it in the empty bay. Then set up my wood working tools and my vise, grinder, or hydraulic press.
I have a couple of little plastic cabinets on wheels that I can easily move them to position out of the way, in front of the side door. I have my air compressor tucked in along a sidewall.
Do I need to have four U Haul boxes of magazines taking up space? Do I need five boxes of Beanie Babies? I have to pare down and simplify, again.
A two car garage can hold two cars but that's about it. I have my two roll away tool boxes along the back wall. I put my stand up air compressor against the right wall. I keep my two floor jacks under my XJS, which isn't getting moved much. My new electric lawn mower will have to spend the damp Winter in the garage, then it will go back outside under the lean to.
We had two 10' x 12' sheds built in the backyard. These were put there expressly to hold my Wife's and some of my Daughter's stuff. Better there than in my garage. I built an open lean-to shed out of mostly old materials that I had lying around. It fits between the front fence and the back of one shed. It has a asphalt shingle roof that was covered with left over shingles from the sheds construction. It's water tight but everything there is subject to moisture damage. Not the place for sensitive or valuable items but perfect for bikes, yard tools, hand trucks, and extra cans of house paint, I used to keep those paint cans in the garage!
Of course it never ends.
I'm having an internal debate about whether or not I should be too ashamed of my mess to post any pictures. I'm sure that I'm not the only one with a messy garage. What looks the worst is the junk that I've got piled on the XJS. Any horizontal space will become storage, if you're not careful.
I think that I'll hold off on any pictures until I get things better under control.
Things are particularly bad around Christmas time, as I bring all the boxes down so my Wife can decorate the house.
My dream, at one time, probably shared by many car guys, was to move to the country and buy a house on a couple of acres. I would build a big barn to hold my cars and stuff. Dreams die hard, but they do die. We've decided to stay put. It seems to me now that a better idea is to cut down on the number of cars, instead of building a barn. I know that this plan just makes too much sense. Maybe I do need a Porsche 911.
Maybe having a single worthwhile project/hobby car is the main takeaway from this discussion!
Of course I've still got that side yard. It's 9 1/2 feet wide. Why not add another shed? I don't plan on storing an extra car there anymore.
My new plan is to build a 10 x 6 ft. shed that will hold my work bench and my tools such as my drill press, vise, grinder, band saw and hydraulic press. I'll snuggle the shed up against the outside garage wall and still have a 3 1/2 ft. pathway to walk past it.
Lately there has been a lot of progress on the garage. My Wife has taken some of her things out.
I've almost got enough space to park my Mustang inside.
What functions does my garage have to fulfill, besides housing my cars?
First, there are the utilities located there. There always has to be unobstructed access to them.
The washer /dryer are also out there. It helps to have some kind of table convenient to fold the laundry.
There's our extra fridge.
We also store extra groceries on shelves in the garage, and even just regular items like bottled water, since our kitchen doesn't have a pantry. There is a wall cabinet on one side where I used to keep chemicals and stuff. I concentrated that stuff and gave my Wife a shelf for cleaners, disinfectant sprays and wipes for pandemic supplies.
My neighbor gave me an old wire tack shelf that was usually mounted to the back of a door. I've placed all the spray cans of lubricants, solvents, waxes, glass cleaners and what not in that unit.
I also keep some brooms and yard tools tucked in a corner.
I have to make sure that my cars don't restrict or curtail any household business that goes on out there.
Having control over the garage was part of "the deal." My Wife got the living/dining room to use as her studio. I got our Son's old room which was formerly her crafting room, to use as my "den." I was also going to get the garage. She also just recently got the use of our Daughter's old bedroom. It will be used as an occasional guest room and whatever else she deems appropriate. Maybe a "sewing room?"
In the process of emptying out the garage I offered to install (finally) a 10 ft. long oak shelf in the sewing room. It had been lying on the garage floor for over a year.
I still had another big project ahead of me that I had promised to take care of last year. When we moved in thirty odd years ago, our lot was full of trees and shrubbery. There was a row of five pine trees in the neighbor's yard, across the rear property line. On our side of the fence there was also a heavy garden structure, an arbor or pergola that had supported a luxurious growth of wisteria vines. This arbor was twenty feet long, and combined with the trees gave us a lot of privacy from the neighbor's two story house.
The pine trees were the first to go, they either died from the frost or some type of infestation. This was after we'd been living here for 10-15 years. The neighbor finally had the trees removed after a couple of years. Though there was still a very tall and wide pine that grew in the rear of their house. That tree finally died a several years ago. It's size still helped provide some screening. That tree was removed after we had our own tree troubles last Summer.
This is the kind of thing that you have to deal with when you live in a house for over thirty years. Things start to die off! I had always thought that we'd have been gone long ago!
Our arbor had fallen onto hard times as it was eaten up by termites and had enough rot set in that it started to sag and lean. I propped it up with several 2x4s over the years, and it even survived numerous earthquakes. It was still standing until last Summer when I finally tore it down. Now the rear of our house was very exposed.
My Wife wanted me to build some type of structure to replace what we had lost. We had been discussing this for years, well before I tore down the arbor. That structure had four up rights of 10x10 redwood, I didn't know where I would find replacement lumber and was concerned that it would be more expensive than I wanted to spend. I came up with an idea of building a framework that would support five 4x8' lattice screen panels. We had bought the materials last Summer and they had sat in the yard until just now.
Long story short, I finished building the screen, it only took me three days. For now my household project debt is fulfilled, at least for a while.
With that out of the way I can start thinking about building my park underneath, roll around table.
Details will follow.
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