Have you ever thought about converting your garage to a workshop? If you’re a putterer, someone who always has projects underway or projects planned, you need a home workshop.
And your garage is the perfect place for it.
A recent article I came across offered some tips for converting your garage – or part of it – into a workshop. I thought you might be interested. Here’s the plan-of-action they recommended:
Step 1: Clean and Organize
That’s an obvious first step. You’ll need to get all the clutter under control to convert garage space into a workshop. But that doesn’t mean that you have to throw away lots of stuff.
We can help you with both the cleanup and the organization. You’ll be amazed at how much ‘extra room’ we can find in your garage with our storage systems.
And as the article notes, cleaning and organizing isn’t just a matter of convenience. It also makes your workspace a safer place to work.
Step 2: Build or Buy a Workbench
No shop is complete without a great workbench The workbench is the center of action in any workshop.
Your workbench should be solid and substantial. It should be perfectly level. And the base and legs should be very sturdy, and should prevent the workbench from being easily knocked over.
If you’re considering converting your garage to a workshop, you’re obviously a DIY kind of person. So you might be interested in these great instructions for building your own workbench.
Step 3: Design and Install Tool Storage
A key to productivity in any workshop lies in having all your tools stored in an organized manner. After all, nothing’s more frustrating than having a project come to a screeching halt while you waste time searching for the tool you need.
Pegboards are often recommended for tool storage. But you can do better.
In place of pegboard, we recommend the StoreWall system. It’s the best storage system we’ve ever seen for garages. (We’ll be happy to tell you more about it: Linda & Carolyn contact info here like you did in the lawn sprinkler piece.
Step 4: Install Adequate Lighting
Most garages are built with minimal lighting. But if you’re going to be working on projects in your garage, you need great lighting.
You’ll probably want a combo of overhead lighting (track lighting is recommended) and portable, adjustable work lamps. If you try to get by with just overhead lighting, you’ll likely find yourself constantly plagued with murky, shadowy areas right where you’re trying to work.
Step 5: Consider Adding Heating and Cooling
This step is optional, of course. But if you want to make your workshop comfy for year-round work, you’ll want to add both heating and cooling capability to your workshop.
That will likely mean adding some insulation to your garage walls. And you can consider using portable heating options such as natural gas and propane heaters.
Step 6: Install Easy-to-Clean, Durable Flooring
Bare concrete floors really aren’t suitable for workshop flooring. They’ll stain over time.
And they’ll accumulate lots of dust and dirt in all the porous nooks and crannies of the concrete – and you’ll be constantly tracking that into your home. (A certain significant other won’t be happy about that!)
We recommend Polyaspartic Polyurea. It’s the best garage flooring on the planet, in our opinion. (It’s FAR better than the epoxies that many contractors promote).
We Can Help You with All of It
If the idea of converting part or all of your garage into a workshop appeals to you, please get in touch. We can help you with all of it. Having a wonderful home workshop might seem like a dream. But we can quickly make it a reality. It’s what we do.
P.S. Not interested in a home workshop? Not everybody is. But everybody wants a clean, organized garage. We’ll be happy to make that happen for you.