so I finally bought a house with a garage... it's a decent oversize two car garage... all these years I've been keeping my tools in cheap tool boxes in a storage shed or closet. Now that I have a garage it's time to set things up to actually be easy to get to and use...
so what does your garage tool setup look like?
Mark
Mines too shameful to post. I never did a good set up after we moved (several years ago now). I need to make the project car a roller and organize. I'll be watching this for ideas.
For me, I’ve found that I’m much more organized and productive if I have a place for every tool, with the commonly used ones out where I can see them. I’m also much more likely to put them back if they have a convenient home. If I need to search or dig for a tool something is wrong. For years I’ve been happy with with peg board, but tools do take up quite a bit of wall space on peg board. I’m also fond of magnetic strip tool holders. I have the $5 Harbor Freight ones everywhere. Great for the sides of cabinets, inside cabinet doors, etc. I’ve got a smallish tool cabinet with a flat work work top with most of my automotive tools. It’s small enough to roll to where I’m working, I’m not a fan of the huge tool cabinets that are more or less permanent- I’d rather just hang up my tools on the wall at that point. After a couple recent storage threads, I decided to try out a French cleat system. I’ve got a build thread here...
My take so far- peg board is much quicker and easier to do. The French cleat system is a lot more work, since you need to make everything. But it gives you a lot more flexibility, and I can easily see fitting a lot more tools in the same wall space. Plus, if you plan well, it’s not hard to make parts modular and portable, where you could grab a group of tools at once and bring them to your work space. I think I will be very happy when it’s done, but it will take a while to get there.
Also, power strips, cord reels, and air hose reels make things much easier.
Congrats on the house. Does the garage have a finished ceiling, or is it open with the trusses? My last house had an open ceiling. I screwed wide shelves perpendicular to the trusses, which made for excellent storage for lesser used items. Plus I mounted the lights under the shelves to maximize space.
I have 3 cheap used toolboxes. One has my sockets/ratchets/wrenches/pliers/etc., plus has a drawer for my rivet tools, one for my taps & dies, and one for electrical tools.
The second one holds most of my automotive-specific tools: brake tools/pullers/testers/my cutoff wheel/grinder/etc.
The 3rd one is also my drill press & grinder stand. It holds my PPE, drill bits, Dremels & bits, and my smaller screwdrivers.
Most of my screwdrivers are hung above my workbench.
The harbor freight boxes get good reviews.
I got a larger rolling box (not harbor freight) from a neighbor and couldn't recommend enough getting a big one and some organizers to sort your tools.
I have Kennedy and Craftsman tool box's. Each consists of a roll around lower cabinet, middle box and then the tool chest on top. This allows me to organize all my tools by type size, etc. easy to get to and easy to keep track of if something is missing. I also have a large steel wall cabinet that I store all electric, pneumatic and battery powered drill motors, grinders, saws, sanders, etc. I like keeping all tools inside tool boxes, cabinets for security reason where they can be locked up when not in use. It's also a bit neater.
My garage has mostly unfinished walls. I made small shelves that tucked inside, mostly for my car cleaning projects. I just put up very simple shelves on one of the finished walls for the cleaning products as it was easier access. I have to say I like the shelves that are not tucked in, although I will still use the tucked shelves.
I have three tool boxes that are arranged by mechanical , electrical and cleaning. With various lower drawers for larger tools (impact gun, etc). I also bought a cheap amazon tire wall rack. For my portable heater, I have it on a Dolley. I have some high shelves for stuff I rarely touch. My ramps and creeper are hung on the wall. Any tool or sockets that I rarely use are in their case hung from a wall. I try to keep the tool boxes as neat as possible.
Funny you would post this, I was going to ask for suggestions for storing my floor jacks. They always seem to be where I want to work.
My desire is to have a garage where I do not have to move something to get to something. Shelves and wall hangers are my best options.
Two big MATCO roll-aways with top boxes for the tools, blow molded cases on a shelf. Big stuff gets hung on the walls. Skinny shelves for chemicals., couple of wall shelves for gallon containers. Bicycle repair tools in their own separate little Snap On top box I got just for bike tools.
There's a thread on garage journal that has pages upon pages of people's storage. I'm a huge fan of the neat and tidy peg/cleat/slat systems but I don't have permanent space for anything like that. I have filing cabinets that I really like for power tools. They're made to hold lots of weight and can be bought cheaply. They do, however, suck to move when I move storeage facilities.
In my dad's shop we have old cabinets. Nothing matches but it's a really messy paint and fiberglass shop so it wouldn't stay pretty anyway. Somebody just gave us an old corner cabinet with a lazy susan that is perfect size for my rattle cans.
The primary feature of both wall mounting and box storage is security, but it's security in different environments. Wall mounting is for places where the tools are owned by the shop and they don't trust the people who use the tools, having them up on the wall provides an easy way to take a quick visual inventory to make sure all of the tools are still there at the end of the day. Think high school shop classes. Large rolling tool chest storage is for environments where the tools are owned by the user and he wants to secure them against theft by other people in the shop -- your typical commercial auto repair shop.
For a home garage neither of these considerations really applies. Personally I like the tool chest approach because space is at a premium, wall space doubly so. You can get a lot more tools in a lot less space by putting them in chests.
A place for everything and everything in it's place.....
In my dreams!
I forgot the number one most important thing about making your garage useful and organized. Get everything that you don’t need in the garage out of there. Lawnmowers, yard tools, bicycles, etc, put those in a shed. It is the best money that you can spend on a garage.
bentwrench said:A place for everything and everything in it's place....
for sure, I really wish I there was an "away" for everything so it could be put there.
In reply to Boost_Crazy :
Amen to that. When we bought a shed my mood improved one hundred percent. I no longer had to move bikes, lawn mower, snow blower....and then start my project. Best money you can spend on organizing your garage.
I came out 3 feet from the back wall, and built another wall. It's framed with 3 sets of double doors. The middle section has the big HF tool box, the other 2 have shelves. Even if it's a mess behind the doors, no one can see it when they're closed, it's jus a nice clean garage.
I also did the shed for the yard stuff, bikes, etc. Like others say, best thing I did. There is nothing on the walls of my garage, if you look in you see the cars, a fridge, and 2 bar stools next to the fridge.
GOSH it's tough.
But Im trying.
Husky toolchest
Since the quarantine Ive had a few organizational projects. First was this
Then I organized my sockets. In the 'main' drawer is mostly 6 points, in the 'extra' drawer is mostly 12pt
Next will be pliers, going to a 'vertically' mounted system so that theyre on their sides rather than laying flat and using up excess square inchage.
I think like a city, Im limited in my garage (I think it's about 625sf) square footage, but i still have 8" UP, so I try to think like that - UP. One wall is almost entirely storage shelving with additional shelves around. Two workbenches eat up a lot, the tool chest, drill press. Mower. Four motorcycles. Hockey gear. MR2.
So I go UP when I can.
Recently Ive been focusing on accessibility and organization. Using some 6qt clear plastic totes (about the size of a shoebox) Im organizing my things based on category. Adhesives are in one, sandpaper etc are in one, lubricants in one and so on. They are easy to stack and I can quickly see what's in them. I put those on one of my workbenches and built a 'box' around it to give me an additional shelf above it as well.
Shelves rule.
I'll get pics of garage soon, but it's a mess currently as Im pulling things out to organize, clean, and put back in a proper place. About the best thing to come out of this quarantine for me
Toolbox organization is a multi-decade rolling project for me. Current debate - devote an entire drawer to hammers?
I have a toolbox and old kitchen cabinets for storage and organization. I clean and organize, kids destroy, repeat. It's pure chaos in my garage
bludroptop said:Toolbox organization is a multi-decade rolling project for me. Current debate - devote an entire drawer to hammers?
I've got Harbor Freight 56" top and bottom combo for tools. A 42" wide by 78" tall metal cabinet for service manuals, specialty tools in blow-molded cases (compression tester, bearing & seal driver set, snap ring pliers, etc), oil, coolant, windshield washer fluid, etc. And another metal cabinet for flammables such as brake cleaner, spray paint, bearing grease, etc.
Just remember a toolbox is like a shop/garage, there is no such thing as too big or too much space. You will eventually fill it up.
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