Lay out half of a 2 car garage

[david kramer]

I'm moving into a new house which has a 2 car garage. My wife insists that her car needs to live in one half (something about carrying babies and groceries in from the rain :)). So I'm left with maybe a bit more than half of a 2 car garage in which to set up a new shop. There won't be a wall between the spaces, so I can always temporarily move the car out if I need to cut a big board. I'm wondering about how to lay this out?

This will be my first real dedicated shop of any note, so I'll be buying a bunch of tools :)! I need to think about where tools will go, how to get power and DC to them etc. At this point I'm thinking I'll need to make space for the TS, roughly in the middle, aband saw somewhere at the edge and a possibly-mobile jointer. I'd like to make a combo TS/router table. Everything else I'm hoping to put on mobile cabinets to make the most of the limited space.

Does anyone have any pointers to sample layouts, clearances w.r.t. walls etc.?

One other issue that I'm thinking about is DC. I'd like to keep the car half of the shop as dust-free as possible. The garage has a pretty low (8'?) drywalled ceiling. I don't want to put in a real wall, because that would limit my ability to temporarily expand my space. The only idea I can come up with is maybe some kind of curtain that could be retracted to confine dust to half of the garage. Anyone have any better ideas?

Thx
David

[Randy Klein]

I think time would be better spent arguing for full use of the 2-car garage. But I lost my fair share of those arguments.

My experience:


everything needs to be mobile
dust-free is impossible (and compels SO to park outside)
hand tools take up far less space, so you may want to learn/freshen up those skills
you'll change your layout 12 times in 10 days, so don't put down any final power, ducting, etc. until you're certain about layout
and due to the one above, instead of planning the best way to position things, just put them somewhere and start working. You'll quickly realize what needs to move and where.

Edit: If you can choose a side and one side has a window, choose that side definitely.

[Jim Becker]

In a word: Moblity

With what is essentially a one-car garage space, make everything mobile. You'll need that flexibility. It also means you can easy leverage the "other half's half" on nice days. Use a woodworking bench at the wall for hand-tool work and have an assembly surface that you can put away and also have at different heights (rectangular boxes work well for that) Use a cleat system like the one shown in WOOD Magazine's Idea Shop # 5 to make your storage options flexible, too.

I would not bother with the curtain as it's not going to make an appreciable difference in dust transfer, in all honesty. Get a decent DC and hook it directly to each tool...in other words, make that mobile, too.

[Doug Shepard]

I'm in the exact same situation - 1/2 of a 2 car garage. What Randy & Jim said. Absolutely everything must be mobile. Dont even bother buying a new machine without factoring in the cost of a mobile base or casters and buy it at the same time.
I've managed to pack in a cabinet TS, 16" BS, Drum Sander, Cyclone DC, drill press, router table, jointer, planer, belt/disc combo sander, OSS, shop vac, small lathe, several large tool boxes, air compressor, 6-1/2 ft workbench and thats just the WW stuff. Everything on that list except the cyclone and benchtop planer are mobile. I can still park a car inside, but when it's time to do any work, most things require that the car be backed out. Takes a few minutes to roll tools out and hook up power and DC hoses but short of a separate shop, I'm sort of stuck with it.
And during good weather making the garaged car park outside is usually something you can get away with for a few weeks at a time - especially if the project you're working on is for the driver of that car.;)

[Danny Thompson]

Tripling-down on the mobility angle, there is a very interesting article on this subject on the FineWoodworking site, and I've seen it in at least 3 different Taunton Press Shop Design oriented magazines and books.

If you are a subscriber, you can see the video and a link to the article here:

Video Clip:
http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/Workshop/WorkshopTour.aspx?id=22880

Article:
http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/Workshop/WorkshopPDF.aspx?id=2887

[Don Bullock]

Danny provided links to the best solution that I have ever seen.

18 working days and counting down.:D:D:D

[Dewey Torres]

Garages aren't for cars, they are for tools... then they are called shops:D

Keep it so dusty that parking the car in there will be a nightmare!

Dewey

[Mark Patoka]

I'm in the same situation. Everything has to be mobile. I have my bench in one corner and my lathe and scrollsaw along the wall. I just put up some old kitchen cabinets I helped a friend take out of his house so that has helped to keep things more organized and dust-free. Bandsaw, tablesaw, planer, router table, dust-collector and mini-lathe are on mobile bases or casters, everything else is benchtop and gets placed on the WorkMate when needed.

Everything fits neatly crammed into my half so there is usually room for the car. When I'm working, I have to use the entire garage. I wouldn't mess with the curtain thing to control dust. I can't use any tools unless they are rolled into the other half of the garage so dust is going to end up getting everywhere anyway. I just have to clean up each night before putting everything back in place.

[Danny Thompson]

Regarding DC. I don't think a curtain will help much. It's amazing how dust carries and settles evenly into every nook and cranny. I believe the best solution is an overhead air cleaner centered over your TS/router table or, if that won't work, then over another workbench or mobile tool.

[David G Baker]

David,
I do not know where you live. If you live in the warmer part of the country like my parents did, you could build a carport (code permitting) in front of your garage for keeping the family out of the weather when getting in and out of the car.
I purchased a kit for my setup when I lived in California for around $900. It was 20 feet wide by 12 feet deep. Worked great and the price was not bad. At todays metal price the price may have doubled but still not out of this world.
If you have no other choice you can make it work if you do as mentioned above, go mobile.

[Katherine Bercaw]

my shop is a small 10X 12 foot section of the basement under a "bumpout" extension.

LOML is an electronics engineer who designs computer chips for a living. There are computers, parts, chips, etc everwhere in the house - expecially in the basement. Apparently, dust is really bad for electronics..... have you ever tried woodworking without creating dust? He's sweet, but LOML is not very realistic

There's an ibeam between my shop and the rest of the basement. I have furnace filters stuffed between it and the rafters and a cloth curtain hanging from it. (moves easily when I'm cutting big stuff.) It's dramaticly cut down the dust in the rest of the basement - especially if I'm using a palm sander that won't hook up to a vac system. At this point it's hard to tell that there's a woodshop by looking at the rest of the basement.

[david kramer]

Katherine,

Thanks for the post. Are the curtains anchored to the floor, or do they just drag?

Thx
David

[Don Bullock]

...

There's an ibeam between my shop and the rest of the basement. I have furnace filters stuffed between it and the rafters and a cloth curtain hanging from it. (moves easily when I'm cutting big stuff.) It's dramaticly cut down the dust in the rest of the basement - especially if I'm using a palm sander that won't hook up to a vac system. At this point it's hard to tell that there's a woodshop by looking at the rest of the basement.

That sounds interesting. Something like that might be useful in the garage/shop building I'm planning. Can you post some pictures?