Show us your set up: garage / tools / workspaces

[Davie]

I know we've had a similar topic before but a lot were those highly polished display boxes for exotica, which are all well and lovely but I really enjoyed looking at the proper working garages, the man caves where stuff gets done, car and bikes get fixed and there's a grubby mug of tea always to hand... that and some of the tool and equipment set ups some had were excellent, made for interesting reading.

So, this may fall on its arse but anybody willing to share their current set up... your tool collection, the garage set up, driveways with ramps, kerbside setup under a gazebo in the rain whilst you wrestle with the rounded sub frame bolt whilst swearing loudly... doesn't matter what is it, how basic or how posh... just something I find quite interesting, proper man spec weekend spannering and all that!

I'm currently half way through completely rearranging and clearing the garage of crap, happy to share later once home!

[Davie]

Superb, proper garages!

I never had the luxury of my garage for many years and I can tell you, doing a head gasket on a Cavalier in the snow in Scotland in March is character building stuff. I did work in the trade so had limited use of some posh ramps as and when and handily a mate had a garage I could borrow from time to time. I then got a small storage unit with some friends which grew in to a part share in an old bus garage but too many people in one big space created issues.

My first garage was integral to a house, whilst warm, dry and new it was tiny... a Mk3 Cavalier barely scraped in so as a work space it was really only good for nosing the car in and tinkering under the bonnet. I then moved and the nice dry garage gave way to a concrete pre-fab, again barely big enough to squeeze the car in and put a tool box and a jack at the side. Better than being in the rain but pretty restrictive to be fair.

We moved a couple of years back, one of the plus points was the garage... granted, still a pre-fab concrete poured effort but this time about 3ft wider than normal and it had been extended back by around 10ft. Granted, leaky roof and as wind proof as a sieve but utter joy at being able to walk round the car and also have half again of space at the top to put up some benches and so on. Granted, it's pretty miserable in this weather... more so as any warmth inside quickly becomes condensation as the temperatures drop but such is life.

Currently having a reshuffle, moving the benches and storage around and have my little Aldi cheapo compressor (7yrs and counting!) in place the corresponding retractable wall mounted hose fitted... granted, lots to do and with the arrival of the little man, time in said garage is limited (hence perhaps looking here for inspiration!) but have invested in a new roller chest and restocked my tools that have gone awol over the years so it's getting there, very slowly but Rome wasn't built in a day.

Will get some images up ASAP and would be good to get some thoughts on how to try and combat the condensation, I guess boarding and insulating would be the answer but would need to address the flat roof first, it's just asbestos sheets and leak between a couple of the overlaps so hoping a roofer mate can recommend some sort of bitumen esque paint that I can slap on?

Keep them coming!

[Davie]

I fear I may have jinxed myself by creating this thread as having done so, my planned purchase of my current house complete with 30m x 10m garage has been dealt a hammer blow and so now we're relocating to the country... many plus points to this but one huge downside is there is no garage space, granted have some land so now exploring the options from timber built sheds to steel kit garages to a bespoke build. Temporarily, all work will stop and tools / cars etc will need to be put somewhere. Hopefully not eBay!

Down, but not out...

[Davie]

The test driver said:

Davie said:

I fear I may have jinxed myself by creating this thread as having done so, my planned purchase of my current house complete with 30m x 10m garage has been dealt a hammer blow and so now we're relocating to the country... many plus points to this but one huge downside is there is no garage space, granted have some land so now exploring the options from timber built sheds to steel kit garages to a bespoke build. Temporarily, all work will stop and tools / cars etc will need to be put somewhere. Hopefully not eBay!

Down, but not out...

garagejournal.com

Say goodbye to hours of your life Davie

Just re-read my comment and realised how ttish it sounds "...have some land now..." so I hasten to add, several hundreds acres complete with deer, peasants and a well stocked fishing lake it isn't... what it is, is a small area of waste ground to the side of the house that is however a) ours b) flat and c) accessible thus it does lend itself fairly well for a build, though my budget is about bugger all so sadly whilst some of the workspaces posted here are superb, I fear I'll have to reel my neck back in a bit and aim a bit lower for the time being. Had debated one of those steel garage kits but the general advice seems to be "don't" and instead timber may be an option but security is a factor... anyways, have a thread in Homes & DIY on the subject so will stop contaminating this thread and away and waste several hours reading that website before becoming depressed... or financially ruined. Or both.

Cheers