Double Garage Outfitting

[ThreePointFive]

Probably jinxing it by posting this (like I did with my Masssey Furgesson 35X dream) but we're in the process of buying a new house which has a standard sized double garage. I think 5m wide by 4m deep but confirming dimensions soon.

This is somewhere between a setting-out of what I intend to do, a wishlist and an invitation for ideas on any aspect anyone cares to offer a view.

I have a very clear idea of what I want it to be inside. I've always 'done up' every garage I've had to be a clean, orderly working space but this is my first double, so I can actually have storage that follows that idea. I'm already committed to a new door to be able to fit the car's height, so that's £2k spent without trying. I don't like exposed brick, so all the walls will be painted white and the floor wil be a light gray. I'll board out the rafters to create storage above and look to replace the lighting. I'm thinking multiple (12+) spotlights would give a more useful spread of light than the usual strip lights. As I intend to valet cars in there regularly, I want bright lighting. Looking for ideas/alternatives/suggestions...

In terms of layout, I want a work bench on the back wall with space for my two tool boxes (think single fridge-freezer dimensions rather than those snap-on monstrosities you can get) and then as much built-in cabinet space as I can without ruining the interior space. I'm unlikely to need to park two cars side by side, but I would want the space to park in the middle and take out the half shafts without struggling, for example.

I'm particularly keen to know what people have used as cabinets. In the past I have had these US Pro Tools cabinets:

While they looked smart in black, they were utter carp for build quality. They were thinly constructed and the inner shelves would regularly fall off their pegs.  This is where I'm looking for recommendations as it's impossible to tell if you're getting good quality units online, occasionally you can get lucky by not going for a big name brand.

There's options like these units from SGS, I've bought an engine crane from them which needed fettling just to work normally, but I doubt they make these things themselves. I like the idea of an integrated work bench and storage underneath, but it would take 1.75 of these units to fully kit out the back wall... which at £2k each, is not realy an option.

Other, more common options are like this which would allow me to pick the units that go around it, not getting stuck into one supplier's configuration for the whole thing is appealing and probably cheaper overall.

For larger items/spares, things that won't go in a drawer or would normally go on a shelf, I'd like to use cupboards like these. I had old, tatty office tambours in my last garage which worked well and were robust enough for the environment, two of these along the side wall would be a neater version.

Something for another wall is these 'skips' (I don't know what they're called) that I mounted last time. I screwed on a black-painted plyboard panel and then screwed these racks onto them, purely because it meant 8 holes rather than 800 for the racking which the skips mount to. Having ready access to bolts/washers/nuts/etc without having to rifle through boxes is something I'll not want to lose.

 

So that's probably enough to start, I need the exact dimensions to work with and then I'll probably do a plan layout in Excel where it's easier to do things as a scale drawing.

 

[Anderzander]

That’s exciting !! 

This maybe a bit too budget .. but could you look at 2nd hand kitchen furniture? 

[Stellaghost]

A row of evenly spaced nails along the rafters are great for hanging stuff off, from time to time Lidl sell magnet bars that you can fix to flat vertical surfaces to allow spanners or frequently used items to stick to

No photos I'm afraid, my version of a clean and orderly workspace would give you heart palpitations....

Regards Stephen

[muddy]

Second hand roll cabs or even new ones on offer make great sturdy drawers for underneath a bench. 

The yellow COSH cabinets come up second hand and ideal to have one for paint and one for cleaning products.

If you can find some of the second hand metal office cupboards its amazing what a quick lick of paint does to the look, I have used linotex floor enamel from manor paint on my metal cupboards and racking, it goes on well with one coat and seems very robust, it was/is totally useless as a floor paint but is cheap, quick and easy for any indoor metal.

[David Sparkes]

This episode of the LR Time You Tube channel may give some ideas you could borrow. This episode lasts around 34 minutes.

You may not have 'Vera' of either gender in your garage life, but she has some well reasoned arguments, backed by years of experience as a gofer, it it might be worthwhile to listen to her choices.

 

[elbekko]

The Ikea BROR stuff could be an option, but surprisingly exoensive:

https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/search/?q=bror

I've got one of those shelves in the living room for LEGO display purposes. It's fairly nice, good powdercoating, but I did have to tickle one of the shelf supports with the grinder to get it to fit nicely...

[FridgeFreezer]

I've got a few Halfords Pro tool chests (there was an offer on), a single bay of pallet racking stacked with euro crates for spares and stuff, and then wire shelves for everything else.

The amount of stuff you can sling into/under a single bay of pallet racking is insane. Plus it & euro crates can be bough used for sensible prices and sold again for almost the same price if you ever need to.

[landroversforever]

Couple of comments to add for now - I'll probably think of more later! 

Storage - I've often found that building shelving etc into spaces a far better use of space than stand-alone benches/cupboards/shelving units. 

Changing the door - keep an eye on facebook for second hand stuff. I'm on the lookout for our single garage at the moment. So many people having garages converted into living spaces and selling various roller and sectional doors for dirt cheap - sometimes even free! 

Not normally one to send people to other forums, but the Garage Journal forum has some incredible smaller garages. Great for storage ideas etc.

'Skips' - Linbin is one of the I think original brands for these, so that search term will show them up. Often something found cheap on ebay/facebook etc. I like them in a clean environment, but they can end up collecting more carp if you're cutting/sanding/grinding.

[Snagger]

I have many of the same circumstances and wants as you.  I have a double garage on my 2012 built house, about 19x19’.  I painted the walls white and the floor and lower 18” of the walls with mid grey floor paint, and it looked good.  The floor could use another coat, given that it got a bit dirty stained and scratched before I emigrated, but that is an advantage over more expensive resin or rubber floors - a refinish is quick and cheap.

I would like bigger doors, panel or tambour, to replace the pair of simple up-and-over doors fitted on construction - they have timber frames within the brick aperture that make the doorway much smaller and they hang underneath the top of the frame, drastically reducing the height limit.  Panels or a shutter door running on tracks fixed directly to the back of the brickwork and the roof trusses should hugely increase effective aperture size.

I partially boarded the roof for storage and used the horrible low energy light bulbs and fittings from inside the house to light the garage (six in all), but they will be replaced with LED lighting, either strip or flat panel (the later designed for replacing tiles in false ceilings - I have two I used in a spare room in Dubai that work very well, so may go with more of those or just use them above the bench and use strips elsewhere).

Many companies make those wall bins - I remember fitting out Dexion installations of those.  Dexion are great, but we’re always expensive.  The trouble with those in a garage, though, is that they will fill with dust and grinder sparks.

I had one of those IKEA work benches here.  It was mostly sturdy enough, but I did add a 3/4” ply top over the included wooden top as the original looked a bit flimsy, and then bonded a sheet of 1.5mm galvanised steel over that.  It did well and was snapped up when I started selling off our furniture here for our repatriation.

I saw the new bench and storage that they fit in LR Time.  It looks strong, but I want something that will also hide the mess and keep the dust and much off the parts and tools.  Having been disappointed by the drawer runners in my Clarke workbench collapsing time and time again, I’m a little wary of the packages sold by MachineMart, but the Clarke bench was otherwise sturdy and so I may go that way and fit better drawer runners if I have trouble again.

 

[jason110]

I made a work bench out of 4”x4” posts and 2x4 for the frame then used scaffolding boards for the top. Its super sturdy and the scaffolding boards can be swapped out / sanded 

for power tool storage I’ve got two of the metal office cupboards. They were 2nd hand off FB. 

I’ve got lighting from the LED batts from Screwfix. 3 years in no issues.

its powered from the house via a 6mm armoured cable to a separate fuse box with the socket, lighting and then hot tub supplies on it. 

hand tools are a mix of shadow board and roller cabinet storage  all works for me  

The work bench does eat a bit of space. But I’ve got enough room to nose the van and work around it if I need too. Generally most of the stuff I do it DIY on our house - ongoing project / labour of love 

[landroversforever]

2 hours ago, jason110 said:

its powered from the house via a 6mm armoured cable to a separate fuse box with the socket, lighting and then hot tub supplies on it. 
 

Bet a hot tub would work nicely for cleaning larger parts  

[steve200TDi]

I'm sorting my single garage at the moment and have got some kitchen worktop as the workbench and a load of 3x3 / 4x4 for all the legs. I've sourced a couple of kitchen cupboards to go on the wall and I plan to have some sort of rollcab arrangement under the bench probably minus the wheels. 

I've never been a fan of all this 'workshop cabinets/cupboards as it all feels a bit thin and cheap at an expensive price.

So I would be looking for second hand metal cabinets which are a bit more sturdy!

I agree with painting walls and floor as it makes the space so much brighter!

Steve

[landroversforever]

29 minutes ago, steve200TDi said:

I've never been a fan of all this 'workshop cabinets/cupboards as it all feels a bit thin and cheap at an expensive price.

I have to agree, without spending big money on stuff like Bott cabinets/draws/benches.

[FridgeFreezer]

Cheap flatpack workbenches are rarely very satisfying - I got some very sturdy wooden ones out of my ex-employer, my main one has a sheet of 4mm steel mounted on top and that's been great.

You do see good industrial or home-made stuff come up 2nd hand, often very cheap because it's hard to move - catering gear is also a good shout, nice robust stainless benches and the like.

Cheapy machine mart ones I suspect you could beef up with a bit of effort, whether they're worth buying as a template / starting point or not I'm not really sure - a length of sturdy box section and a sheet of something thick for the top from the metal shop may be an easier answer.

[landroversforever]

I'd say the opposite for catering stuff.... some stuff is sturdy, but the majority is floppy as anything, often even when attached to a wall.

EDIT: main thing would be to check it physically before parting way with your cash.

[steve200TDi]

I did se some catering stuff for not much money. I was only going to buy it for the stainless top. You can then build a sturdy workbench out of wood then line the top with the catering stainless sheets.

Steve

[Anderzander]

3 hours ago, landroversforever said:

I'd say the opposite for catering stuff.... some stuff is sturdy, but the majority is floppy as anything, often even when attached to a wall.

EDIT: main thing would be to check it physically before parting way with your cash.

It’s also often expensive ..  though that said I have a stainless commercial catering workbench that is sturdy and was about £80.

[ThreePointFive]

Thanks All, as always it's useful. I think there's some consistent views here and definitely ways to do it more and less expensively...

On 6/26/2024 at 12:15 AM, Anderzander said:

That’s exciting !! 

This maybe a bit too budget .. but could you look at 2nd hand kitchen furniture? 

Funnily enough, that was the other half's suggestion. Well, it was more like "you want a kitchen you can park the car in" but some shallow kitchen cabinets with a kitchen worktop as a bench would work well. Tthe carcasses are the important bit, so the doors can always be changed for something to my taste. I would likely have to spray them if they're second hand anyway. Which would mean potentially colour matching wih my car........ No. Too far.

I think that's the rear wall sorted... so still need the larger cabinets.

On 6/26/2024 at 8:24 AM, David Sparkes said:

This episode of the LR Time You Tube channel may give some ideas you could borrow. This episode lasts around 34 minutes.

 

 

This would be the expensive way to do it, but I admire their commitment to buying non-Chinese and to the consideration given to the layout and use - just as you said.

Drawing a consensus on your replies, Ikea is a bit like the US Pro Tools one - flimsy and yet somehow expensive. I like the style but unfortunately Ikea quality has been going down while the prices creep up.

I understand the functional argument for shelves rather than cabinets but being able to shut everything away is my aesthetic preference. I would be lying if I said this garage was going to be all-function, the look of it will be a large part - because finally I have the opportunity to do it.

I think the second hand office furniture is the winner for larger storage, it'll have to be eBay as I don't do social media (except here). The dimensions will be dictated by the garage size which I'll be confirming in a couple of weeks. Then I can go shopping for what will fit best in the available space.

It'll be interesting to see what can be achieved, it's weird that I've ended up settling on what should be the cheaper end of the scale to obtain older, higher quality/better built stuff. Shows you how broken modern manufacturing is that it works that way around.

 

 

[landroversforever]

Just seen you comment on not doing social media…. But this lot came up this morning:

https://www.facebook.com/share/VHMg7kv9c3FPfEpu/?mibextid=79PoIi
 

Loads of the linbins and small crates. 

[FridgeFreezer]

10 hours ago, ThreePointFive said:

I think the second hand office furniture is the winner for larger storage, it'll have to be eBay as I don't do social media

There's a few recyclers around, we used an outfit in Portsmouth for our last office but I forget the name.

[Daan]

I have a double garage, and while you think at the beginning that it is amazing, you will soon realize that only a triple garage or more will do.

I have been looking at a sectional door, which is about £1800, and therefore has not happened yet. I have an ebay search that alerts me if the right size and colour appears. Surprisingly, a contender quite regularly appears for very little, but always on the other side of the world for some reason. I am looking to change from recessed to flush with the outside wall, which would give me another foot of space. I boarded up upstairs and added a loft ladder, so now I have double the storage space. Don't do what I did and put all the heavy stuff upstairs, as the rafters took a pounding. and now need additional reinforcement. I tend to prioritize my cars over the garage in terms of doing work to it, and as a result my workshop looks like Einstein's workshop. But I am happy in my cave!

Daan

[Stellaghost]

3 minutes ago, Daan said:

 But I am happy in my cave!

Absolutely agree with that statement.........

regards Stephen

[bishbosh]

Used kitchen cabinets are cheap and plenty sturdy enough and you won't be precious about them when ou stain / dent / chip them.

I have office drawer stacks for extra tool storage - again can be had for very little.

Everything else I made myself to fit the space / set up I wanted.

Agree on the comment about size - in a 5x4 garage you'll struggle to get two cars in unless there is nothing else in there - even a Fiesta is over 4m long & 1.8m wide so unless you get out of the sun roof it is going to be a struggle.

Also, when all the other junk is stored in there  you'l quickly concede that having space to work on one car with a bit of storage around it is OK.

[Bowie69]

A double garage is only good for one car if you want to work on it. 

I did write a reply to all this but seems to have got lost in the ether, but I am going through similar process, except I am building mine now... 

I keep swinging from having most things mobile to having the workbench made of tool cabinets, but actually you end up working on the car, which is the other side of the space, plus then I want to work outside at times.... It gets complex. 

You can DIY fit an electric roller shutter door for less than 1K, insulated etc, I'll be doing this for mine, they aren't difficult, just need more than one bod. 

Lighting will be low profile LED battens lamps, fewer shadows to worry about unlike spots, and they are only ~20mm tall so don't get in the way. 

I'll be putting lamps on the wall as well. 

 

[landroversforever]

On the lighting front, I biased my two rows of fluorescent tubes so they’re about 1/4 of the way in from each side. This certainly helps with light down the side of the car.