New garage setup ideas

[Lunacy]

Unfortunately i cant increase the size of the garage without major cost as its part of the house.
As far as lighting goes tho are you guys just using standard fluro tubes? And how many in a 6x6 garage?

[1320ft]

3 phase/higher amperage pre-wire for a welder etc & you can never have too many power sockets, put them everywhere.

With lighting, as above, you can never have too much, fluro's are fine, just put them on a couple of separate switches, so if you don't want all on at once, you don't have to have them all on. I can also say after a mate built a killer workshop/garage, having some fluro's installed at about waist height around the walls makes for easy working inside cars wtc.

[MainstreaM]

Built in workbench with outlets a little above bench height, bright light above, and air outlets for tools. Near the garage door, I'd put in an air hose reel, drop cord reel, and work lamp reel. Makes life inside and outside the garage easier. A drain in the floor is super handy for catching messes, to keep it environmentally friendly plumb it to a sump outside that you can pump into a container for proper disposal.

[starionc]

Glad to hear about the new house. Let me tell you from my personal experience in garage size. Mine was built 10 years ago. It is 6m wide and 12m long. This is NOT big enough!!!!!
Given my time / build again. I would go with 7m wide by 18m long!!
My garage is free standing, so not affected by the house.
6m wide was great when we had a Corolla! But not so good when we got a bigger car. The doors hit the side of the garage when getting in and out.
Make the roller doors 2.4 high. And as wide as you can.
Put a toilet and a shower if you have the space. (That way your mother inlaw can have all the fun in the world telling you that you should just stay in the shed!!) I've only heard that a hundred times lol
Beer fridges are good, but take up space! An area for some benches is a good idea too. Lots of power points. I have 4 double fluros in my garage. Great until your working under the bonnet. Lights on the wall is a great idea.
Good luck.

[CaptShiner]

An exhaust vent or two in the ceiling.

A hanging power lead on a swiveling arm on the ceiling.

Smooth floor surface (concrete, seamless flooring) to make it easier to pull tool trolley around. Note seamless flooring is not real good with welding slag, ground bits of metal etc.

[Alspos]

Painting the floor is a great idea as it's easy to find stuff you drop against it vs concrete, keeps the dust down too. Use a 2 pack though, oil and petrol will eat into regular paving paint if it's left to sit for any length of time.

[Lunacy]

Painting the floor is a great idea as it's easy to find stuff you drop against it vs concrete, keeps the dust down too. Use a 2 pack though, oil and petrol will eat into regular paving paint if it's left to sit for any length of time.

As the floor of my current garage is crumbling to bits, and you end up with 1" chunks of concrete in your back when under the car, the new floor will definitely be smoothed and painted!

[OLD FART]

Bryce have you thought about extending the garage out to the eaves all the way or partly so a workbench or storage cupboard won't encroach/ take up garage floor space ??

[Neil]

Bryce have you thought about extending the garage out to the eaves all the way or partly so a workbench or storage cupboard won't encroach/ take up garage floor space ??

That's a great idea.
The long edge of my garage has no eaves which gives that extra ~2ft.
My problem is that I decided to put an 8foot x 2.5foot x 2 foot marine coral fish tank in my garage and cut a hole in the wall so it was viewable from inside - does not help with opening doors on the right side of the garage .... :facepalm: . but if you dont do that... then no eaves can give you some extra room...

[TOMSUN]

6m x 6m the space will get eaten up quickly if you put 2 cars in there. I have just dome my garage 6.5 x 7.2m

Are you going to be storing 1 or 2 cars in there?

1) Epoxy the floor. I used a 2-pac kit from bunnings with the flake (used a 2nd bag of flake) heaps better.

2) Lighting. I used SIX 4ft (36w?) double battens with electric ballist/starters (instant on and not flicker). The fluros are wired in pairs so I can turn on for the left side / middle / right hand side or any combination I need.

3) ceiling is gyprock and painted straight white. Walls are brick, painted white. Off white epoxy floor (grey, white, black combo flake) . With the all the lights on a night it it like the middle of the day, its awesome!

4) Power points: Get lots. I have 7 double power points scattered around the garage all about 20 cm above bench height.

Do all the basic bits (Stuff that is hard to change later) first before you start to use it and get excited. I had plans of hoists (have a 3m celing). Racks and storage, TV etc, but with 2 cars in there its not as big as you think.


Make the garage longer by a a minimum of 1 meter. Even if it's another $5k it will be worth every cent. You will hate yourself if you don't take advantage it before you start building. Hopefully there is enough flexibility to squeeze the extra length out of it.

Good luck with the build. :beer

[Alspos]

Give some proper thought to your shelving/storage also. Keep away from bunnings lightweight shit. I was lucky enough to have a commercial racking place near where I worked, they had a leftover staircase made from dexion slotted angle racking that they cut up for me to make my shelving. Cost was only a couple of hundred bucks.

[Lunacy]

6m x 6m the space will get eaten up quickly if you put 2 cars in there. I have just dome my garage 6.5 x 7.2m

Are you going to be storing 1 or 2 cars in there?

1) Epoxy the floor. I used a 2-pac kit from bunnings with the flake (used a 2nd bag of flake) heaps better.

2) Lighting. I used SIX 4ft (36w?) double battens with electric ballist/starters (instant on and not flicker). The fluros are wired in pairs so I can turn on for the left side / middle / right hand side or any combination I need.

3) ceiling is gyprock and painted straight white. Walls are brick, painted white. Off white epoxy floor (grey, white, black combo flake) . With the all the lights on a night it it like the middle of the day, its awesome!

4) Power points: Get lots. I have 7 double power points scattered around the garage all about 20 cm above bench height.

Do all the basic bits (Stuff that is hard to change later) first before you start to use it and get excited. I had plans of hoists (have a 3m celing). Racks and storage, TV etc, but with 2 cars in there its not as big as you think.


Make the garage longer by a a minimum of 1 meter. Even if it's another $5k it will be worth every cent. You will hate yourself if you don't take advantage it before you start building. Hopefully there is enough flexibility to squeeze the extra length out of it.

Good luck with the build. :beer

Thanks for the points.

Will only be the starion in there :beer

Definitely want the floor epoxyed i think, that shouldnt be a big one as comes polished concrete as standard.
From the sounds of it, those lights you have are the way to go so theyl go on the list. And power points il go to town on too!

Having only one car in there should mean there should be space for most things!

[TOMSUN]

I keep coming back to the 12-gauge garage in the garage journal.

1 car in a double garage and a great use of space.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKhoGFBMsrM

http://12-gaugegarage.com/

And the thread that start it all... http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/show ... hp?t=55006

[ProZac]

Well, that's ruined me for all other garages.

Cheers Tomsun.

:-).

[perrinsohc]

This, just this, thanks for sharing, how awesome!

http://12-gaugegarage.com