Transform Your Garage into the Ultimate DIY Workshop - Step by Step Guide
Most people use their garage as a storage
place for their vehicles, tools, and other things that don’t belong inside the
house. However, only a few people use the full potential of the space instead
of using it only as temporary storage. There are numerous ways and methods you
can use in order to turn your garage into
the ultimate DIY workshop; all you need is tools, goodwill, and a bit of
patience.
There are a lot of resources online where you can find ideas on how to turn your garage into more organized space. Reading this blog post from a garage door repair company helps a lot and will give you more ideas.
There are a lot of resources online where you can find ideas on how to turn your garage into more organized space. Reading this blog post from a garage door repair company helps a lot and will give you more ideas.
Previous experience with carpentry is
desirable but far from mandatory. As far as your budget goes for this project,
you won’t need much money to turn the basic idea into reality. On the other
hand, the more things you want to add and integrate, the more money you’ll
spend.
If you follow most of these steps closely,
there shouldn’t be any issues along the way. In fact, the whole project should
be done in a matter of few days as long as you devote enough time on a daily
basis.
Step 1 – Clean your garage
The first thing you should do is get rid of
all the unnecessary stuff inside the garage. You might not realize it, but a
large percentage of things in your garage probably don’t belong there as they don’t
have any specific purpose.
For example, if you have a bunch of old
newspapers lying around in the corner go ahead and recycle them. Not only do
they take space, but they also don’t have a purpose besides taking up valuable
free space.
In the perfect world, one should get rid of
everything that doesn’t facilitate making stuff. However, most of us don’t live
in a perfect world and thus have to think about categorizing and separating
household items from the workshop items.
Therefore, you will probably have to make some compromises. In case
you’re bound to categorize, make sure you do it neatly as it will bring
confusion sooner or later if not handled correctly.
In case you’re struggling with free space,
you might want to consider building a DIY
garage shelf using humble materials and simple techniques.
Safety should be your primary concern. In order to make the space as safe as possible
for work, make sure you clean the floor and get rid of the stuff lying around.
The reason behind this is pretty simple – you don’t want to trip and fall over
during work.
Step 2 – Your workbench
There are two ways you can use to deal with
this particular step – you can either buy or make your own workbench. In case you’re not willing to hassle with carpentry,
heavy-duty tools, and a bit of stress – go ahead and purchase a workbench.
However, it’s highly recommended that you
make your own because that offers you much more room for customization.
The most important thing to remember when
building your own workbench is to include
sturdy and reliable materials such as dense wood or even metal. The key to a
good and reliable bench is its stability. Both the base and legs should be
sturdy and heavy so that the table can’t be
moved easily. The top part should be durable and resistant to dents,
scratching, and etcetera. In case you’re struggling to come up with ideas,
there are plenty of different DIY
workbench plans you could refer to.
Step 3 – Storage
The biggest investment in almost any
workshop is the tools. Therefore, one should always make sure to keep their
tools categorized and properly stored. Now, you can either invest in a
high-quality toolbox and call it a day or you can DIY your way through by
making some drawers or shelves. There are a lot of ideas you can find in this garage door blog.
One way of doing this is by installing
pegboards on your walls. Dealing with pegboards is probably one of the easiest
ways you can solve the storage problem as it doesn’t require too much
experience at all. In fact, one can easily make a DIY pegboard organizer within
a day or two which is more or less a
home project you can do in a weekend.
One of the most important things you should
remember is to keep your tools away from water, and
humid spaces as that can lead to issues with rust and corrosion. On top of
that, make sure to clean the drawers of dust occasionally as it can jeopardize
the integrity of some tools. Last but not least, try finding cheap drawer mats
online and install them into the drawers to keep the tools from sliding around.
Step 4 – Fresh coat of paint
This particular step is usually done for the aesthetic appeal
instead of functionality. However, that doesn’t mean it’s not important. Hiring
a professional for this step isn’t necessary because you can give your
garage a new and updated look by following a set of simple and easy rules.
As far as the colors go, it’s entirely up
to you to choose. It is recommended that
you avoid bright tones as they usually tend to show imperfections on the walls
and become dirty quite quickly. On the other hand, darker tones tend to hide
dirty spots, stains, and etcetera.
In case you have a slightly bigger budget,
make sure you install thermal insulation. It’s probably not the best idea to do
it yourself, especially if you have no experience with such projects. Hiring a
professional for this task is strongly advised
Step 5 – Electricity
In case you are not eligible to mess with
electricity, please hire a professional. It’s extremely dangerous to handle
electricity if you’re not completely sure you know what you are doing, and it’s
definitely among projects
you shouldn’t DIY. The first thing you should think about is the position
of the outlets.
Most garages have one or two power outlets
which are probably not nearly enough for a decent workshop to operate smoothly.
That’s why it’s recommended that you
install at least four or five outlets throughout the space. Most people
compromise by using extension cords, but the solution isn’t as simple as it
seems.
Overusing an extension cord can lead to
serious safety hazards, especially if you’re utilizing a cheap one. Low-quality
extension cords aren’t able to cope with high currents which consequently leads
to a fire. As you can assume, fire isn’t something you would want in your
workshop, ever.
Step 6 – Lighting
Even though it doesn’t seem as important,
lighting is a crucial part of every workshop. Lack of light can lead to serious
safety issues, and you should never work
under dark conditions without proper illumination.
Track lighting is usually the safest way of
dealing with dark garages because it’s relatively easy to setup, even if you’re
not a professional. However, the biggest drawback of track lighting is the fact
that it casts shadows, especially when mounted overhead. This issue can be
solved by strategically positioning work lamps across the workshop so that they
can eliminate the shadowing effect of overhead track lighting.
In case you aren’t willing to hassle with
work lamps and track lights, you can always opt for the LED solution. While
it’s slightly more expensive in comparison to track lights, it’s far better in terms of carbon footprint, saving
electricity, and most importantly – shadows.
Step 7 – Additional accessories
Now that you have dealt with the crucial
elements, it’s time to add some additional accessories. Bluetooth speakers are
a good solution for breaking the silence, but they are vulnerable to dust and
debris. However, there are plenty of job site
radios on the market that are
specifically designed to withstand and endure tough environments.
Mounting a TV on the wall or installing a
computer in the corner is advisable but far from mandatory. The TV is slight overkill, but the computer is definitely a thing you should consider
incorporating into your new workshop.