What Is the Purpose of Your Garage?

  • Thread starter wolram
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In summary, the person has a garage for storing cars, tools, and other items. They also have a detached garage for storing a motorcyle, ATV, and dump-body trailer. The person is also able to use their garage for hobbies, like woodworking and computer work.
  • #1

wolram

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What do you have in your garage, are you "set up" to maintain your vehicles, do major repairs, or is your garage for storage only.

Do you use you garage for hobbies, may be wood work or renovation of some kind.

Or do you just put you car in it.
 
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  • #2
Our garage is a mess. We can fit two cars in it, but the rest of the space is storage. We live in a neighborhood now, but we moved here from a rural property. We used to have a barn, and we still have all the things that were in the barn.

For instance, we still have sheep shearers. Why? I don't know...waste not, want not, I guess. Good to know I'll never want for a pair of sheep shearers.

And a pitchfork. Not a big need for a pitchfork in a suburban neighborhood, but there it is.

I have my woodworking tools, but they aren't set up - no room for a shop :frown: .
 
  • #3
I want to throw everything in the garage out. It doesn't do any good to hang on to these things in case you need it in the future, because it's a month long job to find anything. You have to buy a new thing anyway because you don't have the time to find the one that's stored in some box somewhere in the garage. Especially since, at the end of a long unsuccessful quest, you can still be confronted with, "Hmmm. Maybe it's in one of the boxes under the stairs."

Most frustrating thing is that there actually is a box somewhere that has files telling us what's in each box without having to rummage through each box. I can't find it.
 
  • #4
Mine is set up primarily for automotive work. There's a couple of different drill presses, an air compressor, lot's of specialty tools on top all the regular metric and standard tools, a couple of belt sanders, ect. I also keep quite a bit of chemicals and fluids stocked in case I'm working on something and the stores are closed. Whenever I run out of room in the house, I sometimes use it to work on desktop and laptop computers.

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a392/hypohonda/shop1.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a392/hypohonda/shop2.jpg

Here's a picture of the flowbench I started building not too long ago. When it's finished it will be used for flow testing cylinder heads on cars, motorcycles, ect. It's fully functional now, I just have to go back and clean some things up and make some other little modifications. Six vacuum motors running at once is quite loud, especially when you put them under a load... sounds somewhat like a jet engine.

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a392/hypohonda/FlowB2setup1.jpg
 
  • #5
Now i am seriously jealous, what a great set up B.Elliott.
 
  • #6
I keep my car in one side of the garage. There's a nook under the stairs that I use for storage, but that's overflowing a bit (time to do like BobG suggests and start throwing out some stuff...there are things under there that serve no function other than to hold in the other stuff and provide me with some weight lifting exercise when I need to dig out something else). I have tools stored on shelves, but other than little tinkering projects here and there, they don't do me much good right now. I also have a shelf for storing paper goods (like the packages of paper towels and toilet paper). I also have some furniture stored there, like extra chairs that get pulled out when I have parties, and some folding tables. I keep an area clear where I can set up a table and chair when I want to work on a messy hobby (like when I got out my potting soil to transplant my seedlings...that was done in the garage).

Mostly, I need to spend a day cleaning it.
 
  • #7
BobG, Noooooo do not chuck it, you are bound to want the thing you chucked away the week after, my grandad never chucked any thing, he would just build another shed when the others were over flowing, he was all ways popular as people would go to him for that odd thingamajig.
 
  • #8
Kit car, 3 bikes, engine hoist, welder, jacks and ramps, tools, a few spare engines, various things, and some stuff.
 
  • #9
Detached garage has motorcyle, Polaris APT (4x4/2x4 ATV with a dump body) and a dump-body trailer, snowblower, small mower, and lots of garden/lawn implements, leaf blower, grass trimmer, chain saw and straight and mixed gas for the same, along with reserve supplies of oils. Summer storage space for snow scoop and shovels, snowshoes, and other winter stuff. Also clean, cool storage for telescopes, tripods, and related gear.

Attached garage has two large chest freezers for winter produce and meats, large rolling tool chest and work bench with bench vise, electric and manual hand-tools for wood-working and mechanical work. Storage for fly-fishing gear, life-jackets, paddles, and lots of related stuff.

Outdoor storage (under tarps, under back deck, etc) for 18 hp John Deere tractor with mower deck, Troy-Bilt Horse tiller, and 5.5 hp hydraulic wood splitter and a couple of Old Town canoes.
 
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  • #10
turbo-1 said:
Detached garage has motorcyle, Polaris APT (4x4/2x4 ATV with a dump body) and a dump-body trailer, snowblower, small mower, and lots of garden/lawn implements, leaf blower, grass trimmer, chain saw and straight and mixed gas for the same, along with reserve supplies of oils. Summer storage space for snow scoop and shovels, snowshoes, and other winter stuff. Also clean, cool storage for telescopes, tripods, and related gear.

Attached garage has two large chest freezers for winter produce and meats, large rolling tool chest and work bench with bench vise, electric and manual hand-tools for wood-working and mechanical work. Storage for fly-fishing gear, life-jackets, paddles, and lots of related stuff.

Outdoor storage (under tarps, under back deck, etc) for 18 hp John Deere tractor with mower deck, Troy-Bilt Horse tiller, and 5.5 hp hydraulic wood splitter and a couple of Old Town canoes.

The only thing missing is an aircraft carrier.
 
  • #11
lisab said:
I have my woodworking tools, but they aren't set up - no room for a shop :frown: .

Are these for cabinet making, general joinery?
 
  • #12
wolram said:
Are these for cabinet making, general joinery?

Nothing advanced, just a table saw, a miter saw, belt sander...just basic tools. Enough to make shelves or other simple projects.

The place I work now has EVERYTHING in the wood shop, so I don't really have any motivation to set up my trivial little shop at home.

The wood shop here has the biggest band saw I've ever seen - it's about 17 feet tall !
 
  • #13
I have a neighbor with a Wood-Miser saw-mill that can handle huge logs and can produce very wide boards. He leaves his "garage" unlocked and I can use all his wood working tools freely. Edging saw with roller supports for 16' boards, if necessary, planer, jointer (with vacuum systems to collect shavings, dust), chop saw, table saw, biscuit cutter and joining system with a very large clamping table for making laminates. I supply him with hot chili relishes and salsas and he supplies me with garlic (growing my own this year), and he has given me free run of his wood-working shop.
 
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  • #14
I don't have a garage, and you don't even want to think about what's in the basement at my house (I don't live there). I probably carry more **** in my pockets than most people have in their garages. :rolleyes:
 
  • #15
Danger said:
I don't have a garage, and you don't even want to think about what's in the basement at my house (I don't live there). I probably carry more **** in my pockets than most people have in their garages. :rolleyes:

I can just imagine, 17ft band saw, laminating work bench, engine crane, cork screw etc.
 
  • #16
wolram said:
I can just imagine, 17ft band saw, laminating work bench, engine crane, cork screw etc.

And that's just my front right pants pocket. The stuff in my hoodie would scare even you. :biggrin:
 
  • #17
Danger said:
And that's just my front right pants pocket. The stuff in my hoodie would scare even you. :biggrin:

Nothing scares me, except what's in your hoodie pocket.
 
  • #18
Yeah, hoodies can hold a lot of junk.
 
  • #19
:biggrin:
 
  • #20
(Lloyd Grossman) type voice, So what's in your hoodie pockets.
 
  • #21
Lovely, we've highjacked the garage thread to talk about Dangers junk :biggrin:

I have a small ranch house in the burbs that had the back half of the one car garage turned into a dining room and laundry alcove so you aren't stuck with a small eat in kitchen. Thus it becomes mostly a storage space as it's easier to get into than the crawl space up top. So I suppose you could say I have a 1/2 car garage.
If I cleaned it out it could be good for storing/working on a couple of motorcycles or become a hobby shop for something.
 
  • #22
Francis M said:
Lovely, we've highjacked the garage thread to talk about Dangers junk :biggrin:
Even worse. We've highjacked the thread to talk about what Danger has in his pocket. Where's Mae West when you need her?
Is that an Otis King cylindrical slide rule in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?
 
  • #23
wolram said:
The only thing missing is an aircraft carrier.

:rofl: So noted for prolongation of the funniest member crest.

Anyway, my 'garage' is mainly occupied by 8 tyres for two vehicles, to be changed summer or winter.
 
  • #24
I don't have an aircraft carrier, but my nephew is the highest-ranked non-com on one. Maybe I could borrow it for a weekend...
 
  • #25
BobG said:
Even worse. We've highjacked the thread to talk about what Danger has in his pocket. Where's Mae West when you need her?

This is so bad of every one, hijackers should be made to walk around with 20lbs of junk in their pockets.
 
  • #26
wolram said:
This is so bad of every one, hijackers should be made to walk around with 20lbs of junk in their pockets.
I already do that, so I'm grandfathered and free to hijack with no penalty. Tape measure, jeweler's loupe (10x hastings triplet), Leatherman Mini, Camillus lock-blade knife, Fisher Space Pen, keys, wallet, comb, change, and (Ta Daa!) a flat Pabst Blue Ribbon bottle opener.
 
  • #27
I only have a lean to type garage just big enough for my two bikes, it is inhabited by some of the worlds biggest spiders, drop an engine on one and it will run away with it.
 
  • #28
Lock up your tools and small parts. Spiders are notorious thieves. I have spiders in my attached garage, and I know that when I can't find something, they have lugged it off.
 
  • #29
turbo-1 said:
Lock up your tools and small parts. Spiders are notorious thieves. I have spiders in my attached garage, and I know that when I can't find something, they have lugged it off.

This is so true, drop an essential part and one can never find it, the spiders are just waiting their chance.
 

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