Woodworking in a self storage unit??

[Steven McLeavin]

Anyone ever heard of this or know if this is frowned upon or a viable option?? Trying to think outside the box, since i have limited funds. thanks for any advice!

[Bill Huber]

Anyone ever heard of this or know if this is frowned upon or a viable option?? Trying to think outside the box, since i have limited funds. thanks for any advice!

I had a friend that tried it but it didn't work out.

There was just not enough power to run his tools and he would trip the breakers and have to have the owner reset them all the time. After a few times of calling the owner, the owner told him flat out he could not run his equipment in the unit.

[glenn bradley]

I would think you could go Neanderthal below the radar for quite awhile. Depending on your climate, material storage could be an issue. Perhaps you could run some form of power equipment at home to break parts down to general size and take them to the "shop" to work on if the materiel was in real rough form to start.

[Jamie Buxton]

It probably depends on the individual storage place and its policies. I've been in one which had no electricity in the units. I've also heard of one which had policies about things which weren't allowed. Working on motorcycles or cars was the issue there, but woodworking might have been on the list too.

[Tony Bilello]

Anyone ever heard of this or know if this is frowned upon or a viable option?? Trying to think outside the box, since i have limited funds. thanks for any advice!

Attached is a link to my original 12 X 36 bay. (SawmillCreek wont let me post pics twice.) http://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=89370In the rear, I built a room 8' back from the rear wall and the full 12' wide. This room is for personal stuff that I didnt want to get dusty. The owners dont mind as long as we dont have signs and dont conduct business in there. We are allowed to work in there though. There are several cabinet shops in there. One of them has 7 bays. The electricity sucks so I bought a generator to run my copmpressor and other stuff.
This is a nice facility in a nice area, it is not a scrap heap. Since these pics were taken, I have rented an adjacent bay, also 12 x 36. It costs me $155 for the first bay and they discounted the second bay to $145/Mo.
It has worked for me so far. Now I am thinking of leasing a regular commercial building or possibly buying a lot and building on it. I want about 5,000 sq. feet.
Anyway, yes, you can make it work.

[Gene E Miller]

Greetings & Salutations,

I happened to have been a manager for a 300 unit storage facility when I first moved to Forrest City and it was in our lease that you could not operate any type of equipment or shop in the units.

Our units were not equipped with electricity but we still did not want any type of commercial activity going on as it would have run our insurance costs through the roof.

Even with a hobby type operation we could never be sure what exactly was going on so it was for storage only. They could store materials there but could not run any machines or build anything or manufacture anything.

Again it really boiled down to insurance for the facility.

I have heard of units that you could have a shop in but make sure you check your lease. If our lease was violated we had the right to confiscate the unit.

[Stephen Tashiro]

If your funds are limited, why would you want to take up woodworking? I don't think modern woodworking with power tools is a realistic option. It's always tempting to think that you can make furniture worth $2,000 from only $500 in materials. But you need $3000 worth of tools and and a $50,000 shop! Take up one of the many kitchen table type hobbies.

[Greg Magone]

In my area, they are advertising a place called GarageTown (storage units that you purchase rather than rent). They advertise woodworking as one of the specific uses of GarageTown.

They are supposed to be nice, but the units are pricey ($50,000 to $120,000).

[Greg Magone]

If your funds are limited, why would you want to take up woodworking? I don't think modern woodworking with power tools is a realistic option. It's always tempting to think that you can make furniture worth $2,000 from only $500 in materials. But you need $3000 worth of tools and and a $50,000 shop! Take up one of the many kitchen table type hobbies.

That's because not everyone lives on 30 acres with an unlimited supply of Maple and Cherry in their backyard and owns a 2000 square foot shop!

Even if his funds are limited, I still encourage the OP to dream and think about it. Yes, woodworking is not cheap, but how many hobbies are? As long as a guy buys good used tools at the right price, you can get every penny out of them when it comes time to sell.

[Kendall Landry]

Ive seen HVAC guys using one to do their work in. Drills might be the only tools they were using. Not sure.

[Kevin McMichael]

If your funds are limited, why would you want to take up woodworking? I don't think modern woodworking with power tools is a realistic option. It's always tempting to think that you can make furniture worth $2,000 from only $500 in materials. But you need $3000 worth of tools and and a $50,000 shop! Take up one of the many kitchen table type hobbies.

When something like this grabs you, there is not much you can do about it.....you are going to be making some sawdust on some kind of project.

For many of us, the hobby picks us, not the other way around.

I think that if I could choose a hobby on practicality it would not be woodworking, shooting, archery or guitar playing. I would go for something like Hedge Fund management!

[Rob Haskell]

Hi-I did it in Miami for about a year before moving to a larger space. My neighbors who were all Cuban American said it was the world's smallest factory. They also had businesses there. Each day I would move the cabinets in and out to work on. If I applied laminate in the summer sun it would peel off. It was hard but got me going again. Good luck and be proud of what you're doing. Rob

[Ray Frederick]

Not to start an argument but Stephen's comment is just crazy.

Perhaps 'modern woodworking' meaning copying Norm's techniques to the letter is not possible without gobs of money and space but take a look at any woodworking book from as little as 20 years ago and see the beautiful work being done without a ridiculous amount of tools.

Fred Bingham's 'Yacht Joinery and cabinetmaking' (I goofed on the full title I'm sure) has him making some wonderful looking furniture on a table saw made of a skil saw and an orange crate. As a working carpenter for years I can say we've made some exceptionally nice mantel and site built cabinetry with nothing but skil saws, shooting boards, router jigs, and our abilities.

I've personally made tables, arched cabinets, and other items on my porch using simple powered hand tools and a bit of thought.

As a note to the original poster , I have done woodworking in a storage unit..I actually produced architectural millwork for small office tenant improvements in such a space and it worked out fine. Luckily the owner of the units was accomodating on letting me use power, one thing to keep an eye on is tripping the power so keep a surge protector on the table saw.

[David DeCristoforo]

This thread is making me laugh. When I started out as a carpenter/woodworker, my entire shop fit in the back of a 1950 Chevy station wagon. I literally worked out of it (and sometimes it did "double duty" as my bedroom too.) My father's first shop was a closet in an apartment in the Bronx. My brother's shop is on a houseboat. So, to answer the question, if the owners allow it and there is sufficient power to operate whatever tools you have, sure you can work out of a storage space. It's way more about desire and determination than anything else.

[Jason Beam]

It may not be the cheapest or considered among some to be the chosen method, but if you just get a single 120v outlet, rather than risk popping breakers with machinery, why not try to do what you can with cordless tools? Then the only juice you use is for chargers which would surely be kind to the circuit breakers of the facility.

A guided circular saw can do much of the work of a table saw. You can find battery powered routers, i'm sure, for some stuff. Try to keep the power consumption down and I think you'll have a viable solution.

Regardless of your budget, woodworking finds a way. You don't need more than desire for this hobby, period. If you want to work wood, you will find a way. Don't be discouraged by the naysayers. You don't need all that stuff to build good things. :)

[Dino Makropoulos]

You can even do production work from just one table.
Here is a video link of the SET table.
Our new SET table is much smaller and more flexable now.
This setup was used for our own production and is not availale for sale.
You can use few ideas and make your own.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sC5m1vl90fo

I saw a trailer with a tablesaw setup and it was a good idea.
The sides of the trailer flip up and down and they become infeed and outfeed tables.
If I find the company I will post a link.

Enjoy.

[Adam Stevens]

My dad managed a self storage unit for years. There was a woodworker (specifically a picture frame maker) there. With permission from the owner, he paid for and had an electric meter installed, he also was responsible for the monthly bill for what he used. This was an older storage company, I think they are usually more customer friendly. Good luck.

[Mike Wilkins]

Yes, it can be done with a little ingenuity. I had a serious amateur shop for a couple of years, sharing space with other household items that would not fit into the apartment. Only major concern was electricity. Running the benchtop planer would pop the breaker sometimes, but otherwise OK.
This was an older facility and there were others that ran their business out of the place, including a guy restoring old Mustangs. Newer facilities may not be wired or even allow anything other than storage.
It allowed go for it and have fun.

[Steven DeMars]

I would first let everyone on the board know where you are located . . .

This way maybe someone who has already walked in your shoes can be of help. It is possible someone might have extra unused space in a large metal building.

I knew of on guy that got use of a 3000+ square foot building for years for free while it was tied up in an inheritance dispute. It needed an occupant to maintain insurance for some reason.

Good luck . . . .
Steve:)