Overused Garage

Discussion in 'Just Talk' started by vrDrew63, Jun 24, 2022.

  1. vrDrew63

    vrDrew63 Active Member

    Not really looking for advice... but my garage is currently over-used.

    I'm currently trying to use it as a) a place to store my car; b) a home gym, a place for my exercise bicycle; and c) a home workshop.

    This situation may, to a greater or lesser extent, be familiar to many other folks.

    But the reality is, no matter how much I reorganize and move things around, it just ain't working. It (presently) isn't doing a very good job on any of these fronts. I haven't had the car inside the garage for almost a year. The exercise bike is currently covered with dust. And the last time I did some serious woodworking, I kept tripping up over boxes, junk, cables, hoses, and god-only knows what else.

    Somethings just got to give.

    After a week or so of semi-serious labour, I think I've reached a conclusion. The table-saw has got to go.

    It's not a very good table-saw. It's a cheapo Titan model. Bought for price, and one of those tools you regret almost from the get go. But once you've owned a tablesaw, the reality is its hard to imagine living life without one. The ability to cut, square and straight, almost any piece of lumber to desired length and width. It's one of God's Gifts.

    You can't keep a tablesaw in a single-car garage and hope to keep a car in there as well. Can't be done. Can't hang it from the wall, push it in a cabinet, or hang it from the ceiling. And trust me, I've looked at all those options. And then some.

    I could disassemble the saw, down to the shape it came in a box. And put it in my loft or that horrid cupboard under the stairs. But that means almost an hour of labour before it could be actually used. Meaning I'd never use it.

    Sad to say, but my tablesaw has got to go. Hello Gumtree. Or e-bay. Or whatever. And part of me will die when I say goodbye to it.

    Thanks for reading. I'll miss my tablesaw. But getting back on the exercise bike, and keeping my car out of the rain, dust, UV light, etc. - will make my life much, much better than anything that rotten little saw could ever do for me.
     
  2. Jord86

    Jord86 Screwfix Select

    Stanley folding trestles, two pieces of CLS at 1200mm long screwed through the top to extend the surface area, three lengths of CLS at 2.4m long to place on top of the two as a support to any sheet material, two solo speed clamps, a cordless circular saw and a parallel fence will give you a similar cutting capacity if not greater than a stationary table saw and will take up next to no space when disassembled.

    Cheaper than knocking down and rebuilding the garage.
     
  3. MRY

    MRY Screwfix Select

    This happened to me. Don't do it! Life's too good and so is stuff! Get, or make, a shed.
     
  4. Resmond

    Resmond Active Member

    Saw this a a while back thought it was pretty cool, folding mft table for small spaces



    Jords solution is a lot cheaper and less effort for a similar effect tho

    other than that you could swap the exercise bike for a skipping rope, same effect in less time taking up less space.. or put all your heavy tools on high level shelves and combine your exercise/woodworking into one activity
     
  5. Rosso

    Rosso Screwfix Select

    Stop with the foolish idea of cluttering up your big shed with a motor car. Cars are waterproof. Why people think it can drive 70mph in sleet and hail, but needs protecting from the elements whilst stationary is beyond me.
    I could not live without a table saw. I have a good portable saw on a mobile stand which has a couple of wheels. Mostly it lives in the van, but if I were in your situation, I'd decide where it gets parked, and build a bench or storage above that space. As I have a small workshop, there's a large space in the middle, and all my machinery etc is on castors.
    It is possible to get an exercise bike that has two wheels, and is portable, so you can easily use it outdoors which makes a much better use of your space. See thishttps://www.halfords.com/bikes/mens-bikes/
     
    Resmond likes this.
  6. stevie22

    stevie22 Screwfix Select

    As Rosso: who puts a car is a garage??
     
  7. robertpstubbs

    robertpstubbs Screwfix Select

    if you drive a wet car into a relatively warm garage, you may be creating ideal conditions for corrosion of both the car and anything else within the garage.
     
    Rosso likes this.
  8. Offshore

    Offshore Active Member

    Definitely recognise and sympathise with the OP. Our garage is already converted into an office/study so in my case it's a shed that is over used. A big10x8 pent roof thing. For storing bikes, big tools (inc mitr saw and legs), garden tools and be a bit of a workshop. It does my head in, having to move stuff to get to other stuff. Everything just gets left (not by me) in the easiest place, usually just inside the door, and eventually all the stuff at the back becomes unreachable because there is so much other **** in the way. 80sqr feet and there is only 2x2 floor space to stand in and that's at the door.
     
    Rosso likes this.
  9. vrDrew63

    vrDrew63 Active Member

    Parking's a bit tight where I live. Mainly because, although they are mostly new-built houses with garages, pretty much no-one uses them as such. I'm trying to do my bit, and partly because, by moving my car back into the garage, it will be easier for guests who visit to find a place to park.

    It's also a cultural thing. I spent most of my adult life in the midwest United States. Where, if you didn't put your car in the garage, you had a not-bad chance of finding it buried under a foot of snow or encased in ice come morning time. Here - mainly its missiles dropped by neighbourhood birds the are the main threat.

    The exercise bike thing? Well, that's bit complicated. Because my "exercise bike" is actually a very nice titanium-framed road bike. It's just that I put in quite a few miles each week with it hooked up to a Wahoo Kickr, where I grind up Alpine passes and around tropical islands via Zwift, watching myself on a 42" monitor I've got mounted to the wall of the garage/gym/workshop. Zwift - and the indoor cycling - kept my sanity when real-world bike touring, races, and clubs were closed by Covid.

    I'm making progress towards returning the garage to my dual-purpose (gym/car storage) ideal. Just a couple of bags of scrap lumber to take to the recycling centre. Oh, and the time-consuming and joyless task of disassembling the unloved tablesaw.
     
  10. Rosso

    Rosso Screwfix Select

    I know you said you aren't after advice, and this is worth exactly what you are paying for it.....If your car is shorter than your garage, make a tool storage cupboard/bench along the back. Even if its just some shelves a foot deep so you can find your gear when you want it.
    Make a fold down bench hinged to the side wall of the garage. Fit a ledger to it, so that when the bench is folded, your bike sits on said ledger, keeping it out the way of your car. I imagine a titanium framed road bike is easy enough to lift.
    When my son was 4 or 5, we had quite a bit of snow and a freeze down to, oh 14F. He's 20 now, and we've not had more than an inch of snow since. Britain is not Nebraska-The last time we had big snow here was 1963
     
    vrDrew63 likes this.
  11. vrDrew63

    vrDrew63 Active Member

    My car (which is not, by any modern standard, a big one) barely fits into the garage. There is a scant 30cm of clearance, nose to tail, between it and the back wall and garage door. I have installed upper cabinets for light tool and supply storage. The car does fit, and with some minor acrobatic manoeuvres I am able to extricate myself from the vehicle when its in the garage.

    I'm relatively new to the MFT (Multi-Function Table) workstation system. It looks ingenious, and is probably a godsend for people who need to have a relatively portable wood-cutting solution for doing jobs on-site. I probably could make it work in the garage, but doing so would require an investment in tools and learning time I can't quite justify at the moment. But filed away for future reference - thanks to all who suggested it.
     
  12. vrDrew63

    vrDrew63 Active Member

    Aaaah... It's done.

    I've decided to ditch the tablesaw. As noted earlier, it wasn't a good one. In fact, it was borderline dangerous, as the fence wouldn't stay parallel to the blade and the mitre fence was so sloppy as to be all-but useless. It was also extremely noisy. But, for my situation, it simply takes up too much space in the garage, with no practical way of storing it when not in use.

    I'll replace it, in due course, with a plunge-saw (track saw) and a folding MFT table. Thanks to those who suggested I look at that route. I'm pretty sure I can make that work.

    The garage/gym now looks much, much better. Surprising how much dust I managed to accumulate in 2 1/2 years of "minor" household and garden projects. Also surprising how much useless/dangerous junk I had. Like a plastic petrol jerrycan. An item for which I cannot imagine having a need for.
     
    Resmond likes this.
  13. jimbobby

    jimbobby Screwfix Select

    If you haven't used it for over a year..get rid of it.
    (waves goodbye to wife...:cool:)
     
  14. robertpstubbs

    robertpstubbs Screwfix Select

    She told me you don’t know how to use it.
     
  15. vrDrew63

    vrDrew63 Active Member

    Well, the job is done.

    My car has spent the last two nights safely ensconced in my garage.

    Sunday afternoon, as I was happily watching the British GP, my next door neighbour washed his car. Which is fair enough, but he also managed to get water spots all over my (recently washed and detailed) car. Another reason I wanted to return the garage to its intended purpose.

    As you can see in the attached photos, the garage is cozy. But not too cramped. With the rub strip on the driver's side wall, I can comfortably exit the vehicle. I do have a Garola automatic roller garage door, so I can open and close the door without having to exit the vehicle in the driveway. I'm also pretty sure I'm the only person on my entire housing estate who actually keeps his car in his garage. But we all have our peculiarities.

    I did make extra sure there was no danger of any tools or other items falling on the car while in the garage. This involved re-hanging the storage cabinets on the left, which I discovered had come somewhat loose from their original hangings. I also noticed that the LED batten light in the ceiling is not straight. But that's a job for another day. Those who may wonder, the LED screen on the back wall is hooked up to an Apple TV, which I use to run Zwift, my indoor cycling app. Obviously the car will have to be moved outside when doing that, and the bike and trainer is now parked, somewhat inconveniently, in the hallway that leads to my downstairs utility room. But I can live with that. I'm a little concerned about the Hozelock hose reel I mounted (probably foolishly) right next to the screen. If the hose or its fittings were to fail at the wrong moment... that would be bad.

    I've decided to replace the hated tablesaw with a plunge-saw and MFT table, as suggested by several of you. I've spent the last few days learning everything I can about them. I've watched about half of Peter Millard's YouTube channel. In a perfect world, I'd have a 5x10m workshop where I could install a cast-iron cabinet saw and all the accoutrements. But I don't. I think, with some planning, I can get a plunge saw and folding MFT table in the garage, and maintain the capacity to do all the word-working I'd reasonably want to. The plunge saw, track, MFT workbench, and accessories are going to cost me the best part of £1500 - about what a decent cabinet saw costs. But the plunge saw is much better suited to small spaces. And much less likely to cause me a serious injury. So overall - I figure I'm coming out way ahead.

    Thanks for reading, and for all the suggestions, and encouragements.
     

    Attached Files:

  16. Jord86

    Jord86 Screwfix Select

    I would be removing the ceiling and utilising storage space above if that was mine and I was as tight for space as that, or extending the back further out into the garden.
     
  17. Rosso

    Rosso Screwfix Select

    Do not buy Festool's MFT table. Just don't. I don't know anyone who feels the got their money's work out of it- including me. Or alternatively, if you do want to buy a Festool MFT table with all the twiddly bits and a new plywood top, and very little used, get in touch
     

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