workbench question

[Wayne Ilfrey]

My garage walls are unfinished and I am leaving them that way for now.
That said, I am considering building a workbench along one of the walls. Instead of legs, i was thinking about building the top frame and then bracing it with angled 2x6 supports. These would attach to the front of the top frame and then angle back to the wall studs. My hope is this will give me a "floating" counter and leave alot of my floor space available for storage and be able to push my table saw, etc. underneath it.

So (if this made any sense at all), has anyone tried anything like this in thier shop? And/or do you think it will be sturdy enough for general use?

Thanks

[Mike Cutler]

Wayne.

First, Welcome to Sawmill Creek. Pleased to meet ya'.

The setup you're describing is the same setup I used to have. The benchtops floated on 45 degree supports back to the studs.

They have been removed for a few reasons. They never did really provide more floor space, at least not an appreciable amount.
Secondly the bench top places force in a down and outward direction on the studs.If you apply enough force you can watch the studs about three feet above the bench deflect inward,which was cause enough for me to take them out. The benches also loosened up over time, which was annoying. A bench top needs to have a significant amount of weight in my opinion.


All of my benches are free standing now, and can be moved with sets of casters depending on the physical arrangement required. Nothing is connected to the walls any longer.

Once again. Welcome.

[Roland Chung]

I've done this before. At one point, I had a quick bench made from KD 2x4's. You can make it as strong as you like. The top of mine was framed like a wall, but wherever there was to be an angled leg, I doubled up on the "joists". The angled leg was held to the doubled joists with a carriage bolt and nut at the top. The bottoms of the legs were cut to match the stem wall and held in place with framing anchors.

[Bill Wyko]

You could always build a steel frame with a replaceable wood top and hinge it so it would fold up. That might help prevent sagging in the middle. You could use chains on the ends too.IMHO

[Wayne Ilfrey]

Thanks for the welcome Mike. I have been enjoying the site.

Also thanks to you all for your input. I have some things to think about for sure.

Cheers.:D