Divided garage ?

[Jack Burgess]

Has anyone every divided their two car garage taking one part for shop and one half for car..? Need to find way to keep one car in and still stop the spread of dust., Any tricks on doing this without removing two car garage door?

[Chad Easterling]

A buddy of mine did this. He rigged up a small pully system in the ceiling. He then took a heavy clear plastic, put grommets in it and rigged it using the pulleys so he could lift the plastic up out of the way of the garage door when not needed, then drop it down when he was working in the shop. It works really well. He essentially made French "blinds" using the pastic and rope/pully system.

[Jamie Buxton]

How 'bout a dust cover for the car? You can buy car covers, custom sized for your car. They're intended to keep weather off the car when it is parked outside. But they could be used when the car is inside.

[Brad Wood]

ditto on the cover.

my shop is an oversized two car garage that serves multiple purposes, including parking for one car.

The car we keep in there is just a mid size SUV, and I don't really care if it gets dusty. The next time I drive it, the wind will either blow the sawdust off, or the rain will wash it off.

If I were keeping something a little more exotic in the garage, I'd just do the car cover thing.

[Will Overton]

I park a car in half of a 2 car garage. I would never put a wall up, because that area becomes my outfeed area for the table saw and router table, and long boards being cut on the ras often extend into that area. While the big tools are all on the other side, that "garage" space is still important to the "shop".

[Ryan Hellmer]

Body shops often used heavy vinyl curtains to partition for priming, blasting, etc. Maybe look for a surplus version. Also, instead of having the curtain come from the ceiling as previously mentioned, you could also string a cable from end to end and slide the curtain like a shower curtain. Personally, I'd let the car get dusty until she caves on letting you build a separate shop...

Ryan

[Richard McComas]

I live in a fairly harsh environment. Lots of cold and lots of snow. What I have learned is woodworking tools are made for the indoors, cars are made for the outdoors. Problem solved.

To me shop space far exceeds the need to park inside.

[Will Overton]

Garaging a car in the cold weather isn't for the car ... it's for the person who needs to drive it in the morning.

It be all right for you Alaskans to park outside ... the rest of us are a bunch of wimps. :D

[Steve Kohn]

Body shops often used heavy vinyl curtains to partition for priming, blasting, etc. Maybe look for a surplus version. Also, instead of having the curtain come from the ceiling as previously mentioned, you could also string a cable from end to end and slide the curtain like a shower curtain. Personally, I'd let the car get dusty until she caves on letting you build a separate shop...

Ryan

I didn't bother with dividing the garage. I just took it all over as I accumulated tools. Eventually I couldn't consolidate the tools enough to allow my wife to park inside. It took 10 years but finally I built my shop and gave her back the entire 2 car garage.

Of course now that I have filled up the shop I'm looking at the 2nd bay in her garage for wood storage.

[Dave Lehnert]

If you want to keep dust off a car buy a cover. My shop is a 3 car garage with one bay divided by a concrete block wall with one regular walk in door between the other 2 bays. (My shop is in the one bay room) I run a dust collector and air cleaner. My car still gets a covering of dust on it.

[Josiah Bartlett]

The best way is to collect the dust at the source, and/or use tools that make chips instead of dust. You'll never get all of it. When you are doing something really dusty, pull the car out of the garage, and wait for the dust to settle before you put it back in, or just be zen with the dust.

[Myk Rian]

I live in a fairly harsh environment. Lots of cold and lots of snow. What I have learned is woodworking tools are made for the indoors, cars are made for the outdoors. Problem solved.

To me shop space far exceeds the need to park inside.
Just try telling my Wife that. :eek:

My shop is 1/2 of a 2 car garage. The car cover works best.

[David Helm]

What's a garage???!!! Cars are for outdoors. When you drive them they get dirty. No way will a car ever be in my shop.

[John M Wilson]

Has anyone every divided their two car garage?

A garage divided against itself cannot stand.

A. Lincoln :cool:

[glenn bradley]

I have seen pictures of automobiles in garages but, I thought they were photo shop'd. People really do that!?!

Double-plus-1 on the car cover for the interloper. The car in the one visiting. Why should you have to give up airspace just because the car doesn't like the dark? :D:D:D

[John Coloccia]

I've lived in the Northeast practically my whole life. Still, the whole concept of driving a car into the house just seems downright WRONG. But if you must (and you shouldn't, but if you must) there's no reason you can't just use a standard roll of vapor barrier to seal it off. Use duct tape to make it air tight. Done, and cheap. You'll poke holes in it. Big deal. Seal it with a piece of duct tape. Eventually it'll get ugly. Big deal. Tear it down and put up another sheet (you buy it by the roll. It will last you a while :D).

That's where I'd start because it's cheap and simple. In the meantime, you can reconsider the whole "garage" concept before spending any money on a "real" solution.

Just my opinion.

[Van Huskey]

The cheapest and probably most effective is a car cover. If the car in question is the vehicle of a significant other YOU put it on before you work and remove it after the dust settles...

Also just get a cheap cover at Walmart, it doesn't need to be able to stand up to the elements. As you take it off make sure the you don't just wad it up, don't let the top of the cover touch the bottom, the crap on it can scratch the paint, it is easier than it sounds due to the elastic.

[Tracy Hall]

I have seen pictures of automobiles in garages but, I thought they were photo shop'd. People really do that!?!


I'm originally from the northern Illinois and it was a big surprise to me about how many people use their garage as storage instead of parking their car in them. :eek:

+1 on the car cover, as others have mentioned, it gives you ability to "temporarily" use that space for a larger project or infeed/outfeed.

There may also be a problem in dividing your garage (permanently) if it has a water heater inside it like we do here in SoCal. I believe there are rules about having low vents in the walls because of the water heater.

[Vince Shriver]

Quick and dirty fix:

www.zipwall.com (http://www.zipwall.com)

[Jesse Wilson]

If it's that harsh outside then the dust will be off the car within a few minutes of driving it anyway so why bother covering it up.

[Jerome Hanby]

A garage divided against itself cannot stand.

A. Lincoln :cool:

See, isn't this nice? And you didn't want to come to the play tonight.

A. Lincoln

[Jim Rimmer]

I tried the "wind will blow the dust off the car" logic. She drove the car and it rained just light enough to make a huge mess. Didn't wash the dust off, too humid to blow it off. Solution: Next time I backed her car out before I started.

[Jack Burgess]

Thanks to all for info. Think the cover makes the most
sense. For those of you that are using the cover how do you take the cover off without dumpting all of the dust on the car - sounds like it take a trick or two.

[Jack Burgess]

Thanks for info - for those using the cover - how do you get the cover off without dumping all of the dust on the car?

[Myk Rian]

Take it off one end and let it fold over itself inside out. The elastic will do it for you.
When it gets real dusty, it takes 2 to shake it out.
Mark one side of it so you don't get the in/out sides mixed up.

[Steve Griffin]

The car cover sounds like a pain to me--while the least upfront effort, you still will need to deal with dust around the car, tracking it inside, fuss with the cover etc. There will be the inevitable time when your wife needs to leave and you have left the cover on.

I'd reconsider a partition. Maybe 2 x 2's for a framework and clear heavy gage plastic, or tarp. Or if you think you may be there a while, consider a simple sheetrock wall which is painted with a man door--sheetrock is as cheap as a tarp ,and your garage would look less like a refugee camp. It could be dismantled for house resale.

As far as the silly anti-garage talk--tell that to my wife when it's 10 degrees, blowing snow and she has to load up a 2 year old and everyones stuff. You do not want to interfere with her quality of life, or you will end up with an entire house to yourself to do your woodworking in...:)

-Steve

[Kent A Bathurst]

A garage divided against itself cannot stand.

A. Lincoln :cool:

I saw the thread title, and assumed it meant that one spouse's car had a Dawgs bumper sticker, and the other's had a Gators bumper sticker.

Now that I understand.........David H. is correct. Driveways are for cars.

[Tom Welch]

Here's the solution to your problem. Get quotes from a few contractors to build you a real shop in your back yard. Set up a date with the bank for 2nd mortage on the house. Tell the wife she will have to go with you for this meeting. She will probbly throw a fit, explain to her that you tried to use the garage but half is just not big enough. But if you can have the entire garage for a shop, then you can save all that money. Unless it is really you that wants to keep your car parked inside the garage;).

[johnny means]

Be a MAN and take back what's yours:D.

[Todd Hoppe]

Thanks for info - for those using the cover - how do you get the cover off without dumping all of the dust on the car?

Drive the car around a bit before you remove the cover, and let the wind blow it off of that...

[Jeff Erbele]

I know this is an old post; I was using the "advanced" feature searching for solutions regarding curtains and partitions.
The ideas are invaluable; the humor is priceless. :)

We are having a house built with an attached "shed", consisting of four contiguous bays; two bays 20 x 20, and two bays 20 wide x 30 deep
Regarding all those silly ideas about parking vehicles smack-dab in the middle of an otherwise nice work shop, my wife came up one that ranks over the top.

As my truck will not fit in a 20 feet deep bay, she allocated the 20 x 30 for my truck, workshop, and storage for all the yard machines (4), wheel barrow, garden tools and patio furniture. Between the patio and porch, we have an outdoor dining room and full living room worth.

She attempted to lay claim to the 20 x 20 for her car, AND the car of the rare, over-night guests. She made me cry. I have tears rolling down my face;
Tears of Laughter. :)