Setting up a home workshop - any tips?

[Dave_S]

Hi guys, I've just bought a new place with a decent garage. It's a 3 car space about 6.4 metres deep and 8.5 metres wide. I will be keeping cars in there, but there's plenty of room along the walls for work benches and storage. I know that most of you would probably break out the welder and knock up a custom set of shelves, work benches, cupboards and so on. The thing is, I can't weld.

I've been looking at using something like pallet racking to make some shelving up to the ceiling (2.4 metres high). I will probably buy a set of tool drawers on castors to replace my random assortment of battered tool boxes. I would like to buy a couple of solid workbenches to make an "L" shape in one corner. I'd like them to be at least 60cm deep. I'll also need storage for lots of small parts, nuts, bolts etc.

A lot of stuff I've looked at is pretty flimsy - just rubbish really. I'm currently in the process of getting all the dirt and Blutack off the walls, filling holes and painting, but will want to move in soon. Can anyone offer any advice, especially as to good, sturdy workbenches.

Cheers, Dave.

[Lemo]

How are you with carpentry
All mine are made out timber 75x35mm construction timber at 2.4 or 3.0m pending on the height of the shed?? Then just screw it all together.
I used construction ply at 2.4x1.2 cut in half to make shelves at 2.4x0.6 etc
Pretty easy really!
https://www.aulro.com/mobile-gallery/cc015460b52f8fa129b9101beb7c5b82.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/mobile-gallery/c0498d99d0325aa7da488e6556d5d9a2.jpg

Can sort of see them behind all the mess!!!!

[Dave_S]

I had planned on using timber cut to size for shelving. I want to use as much of the space as possible, so I was even thinking of putting cheaper kitchen cupboards above the workbenches to store some of the lighter items. On shelving I will probably use plastic tubs with lids, as much to keep bugs out as anything.

[Classic88]

Metal school-type lockers are quite useful and make the place look less cluttered than open shelves.

[Dave_S]

Metal school-type lockers are quite useful and make the place look less cluttered than open shelves.

I wouldn't mind looking at a set of these. They would be good down one wall where I don't want a lot of depth. As I recall they are only 30 - 40 cm deep.

[Classic88]

I wouldn't mind looking at a set of these. They would be good down one wall where I don't want a lot of depth. As I recall they are only 30 - 40 cm deep.

If you're anywhere near a Costco they generally have some good workshop storage solutions, including a tool box about the size of a chest freezer last time I was there.

[Tins]

You can often pick up secondhand Dexion reasonably cheap if you look around. Good stuff if you don't mind blue and orange. It is usually sized to fit two pallets a span.

[Dave_S]

I take it that Dexion is modular pallet racking. I figure I can probably use it to make the shelving I need, with a tall shelf at the bottom (for engines, oil drums, etc), one or two shorter shelves above that for stuff that's heavy but not tall (diff centres, starter motors, heads, manifolds) and some mid sized shelves at the top to hold plastic tubs full of lighter stuff (rags, gaskets, filters and other parts). I was thinking most shelves would only need to be 60 cm deep, but I'd like to make a short section about a metre deep with just a top and bottom shelf for panels.

Could I use pallet racking to make a work bench, or would it fall apart or be unstable if things were being hammered or thrown about on it?

[Dave_S]

By the way, I got a quote to have a professional epoxy finish applied to the floor. It came in at just under $4,000 :eek2:

So that will be a no......

[Tins]

I take it that Dexion is modular pallet racking. I figure I can probably use it to make the shelving I need, with a tall shelf at the bottom (for engines, oil drums, etc), one or two shorter shelves above that for stuff that's heavy but not tall (diff centres, starter motors, heads, manifolds) and some mid sized shelves at the top to hold plastic tubs full of lighter stuff (rags, gaskets, filters and other parts). I was thinking most shelves would only need to be 60 cm deep, but I'd like to make a short section about a metre deep with just a top and bottom shelf for panels.

Could I use pallet racking to make a work bench, or would it fall apart or be unstable if things were being hammered or thrown about on it?

Yes, Dexion is modular pallet racking. It is as strong as bu**ery if you fasten the legs to the floor with Dynabolts or somesuch. I fave seen heaps of work benches made out of Dexion, with the surface made from anything from chipboard through to 13mm steel plate. Like I said, fasten the legs and you could drop a Disco on it. It is remarkably stable even if the legs aren't fastened, so if you need it to be mobile, no problem, it just won't be as stable, but it beats the heck out of those shelf things you see at Bunnings. I've even seen benches with castors on them, so you can wheel them about.

I'm not endorsing the company in this vid, it is for illustrative purposes only.


https://youtu.be/weT3m2k4ae8

[pop058]

Another vote for the pallet racking as work benches. As well as the work surface you can still store stuff above it. The local computer guy on here [biggrin] set up his whole workspace and storage from pallet racking. The is some pics on the forum somewhere.

[whitey56]

Hi guys, The thing is, I can't weld

Cheers, Dave.

Dave you can weld you just haven't learnt yet, it's a great skill to have and easy to do.

I have made 80% of the shelves in my shed some from skip bin formply and others from pine studs and ply shelves, my widest is the length of those plastic tubs with lids you can get for around $12, I find shelves about 400mm wide ideal.
I have used mdf for a 500 mm shelve with no cross bracing and it bowed like a boomerang will redo them with ply one day.
I do have a lot of woodworking gear in the shed, l wouldn't want to build everything i have with a circular saw and drill.
Will post photos if you want any ideas.

[loanrangie]

Some pine and t&g particle board flooring make a cheap and strong workbench.

[Homestar]

The Bunnings hammerlock shelving (or whatever it’s called - similar to pallet racking but black and smaller) is very strong, but not real cheap. I’ve done a whole wall of my garage in it - it’s very good.

[towe0609]

I made my workbench out of timber (100x100 for the legs, and studs to joint it all together with coach bolts and screws) with a top made of a single sheet of thick MDF. It's held up well, and when eventually the top is too wonky I'll just replace it. I use it as a router table too, with a router mounted underneath raised by an old bottle jack.

For cupboards I've collected a few second hand steel cupboards over the years - they tend to be flogged off as businesses shut down/move (old stationary cupboards) etc and come onto the second hand market from time to time. It's nice to not have things get so dusty as they do with open shelving.

I have a tool chest on wheels which I thought was excellent quality for the $

MAXIM 42" Black Tool Cabinet 11 Drawer Box Toolbox Chest Trolley Roller Garage | eBay (https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/MAXIM-42-Black-Tool-Cabinet-11-Drawer-Box-Toolbox-Chest-Trolley-Roller-Garage-/261025564778?hash=item3cc656086a)

I think the most important thing is powerpoints everywhere, and if you can plumb in compressed air to have that wherever you might need it. It would be nice to have a clear workshop ... I have cables and air line all over the joint ... must clear that up.

[loanrangie]

Old pantries work well for tool storage.

[whitey56]

.Metal Plan drawers are great for storage but prices have skyrocketed as everyone wants one

[Dave_S]

Lots of great ideas. I've also been looking at Pinterest and various other websites for ideas. It's amazing what some people manage to pack in, with things like drop down cupboards from rafters/joists and those pull-out floor to ceiling shelves you see in kitchens. I think the pull-out units would be really good if you could find ones capable of carrying the weight.

I'm also looking at lighting ideas and agree with the post about lots of power points and dedicated compressed air lines. I will probably mount a bench grinder outside to cut down on the mess inside, but I'll have to think about that.

Anyone got any pictures of nice workshop set ups?

[FisherX]

I got my shelving from Supercheap, and it was super cheap and pretty good. It's the same sort of stuff that is a Bunning that HomeStar was talking about. I've bought 2 sets for about $160 each and have them conncted along one side of the garage. They are 1800mm wide and 600mm deep and have 3 adjustable shelves. I use one of the shelves for my workbench which I have a rollcab underneath.

Also on the epoxy flooring it is a MUST HAVE!! I did mine myself for $280 for a double garage. Just get the Rustoleum product from Bunnings or Supercheap and give it a go. Very easy and they have a DVD istruction disc in the package. Just remember to throw the chip up in the air and not straight at the floor for a nice even coverage.

Also if you have a panel lift door you can do what I have done and mount flat panel LEDs to the door. For thouse of us with panel lift doors it was always a problem for me with light down that end of the garage when I'm painting or working on something. My solution was to mount the flat panel LEDs to the door so when the door is up I have overhead lighting, and when the door is down while I paint I have side lighting. Works a treat.

Don't have very good photos of my set up but here a couple. Sorry about the mess [thumbsupbig]

132544132545132546

[roverrescue]

Few things I have learnt with workshop;

Before you move in do the floor. It makes clean up of oil a diddle
I went with light acid etch then a few coats of resene pavement paint
Sure not as tough as epoxy but still hard wearing and very easy to touch up

Before painting drill a bunch of holes in appropriate locations and sink
Powers Fasterners Steel Dropins 16mm in 316SS
Drill them below surface and countersink then you can run a CSCap screw in at floor level
This gives you pull points where needed that are good for 55kN in shear and 33kN in tension
Perfect for winching dead vehicles around , straightening axles , or pre loading beams etc etc

A few of these suspended over workshop (and benches) are more used than wall GPO
Blue PowerCube 5 Socket Mountable Power Board w/ 1.5m Cord/Surge Protector 240v | eBay (https://m.ebay.com.au/itm/Blue-PowerCube-5-Socket-Mountable-Power-Board-w-1-5m-Cord-Surge-Protector-240v/122438995342?epid=1937413498&hash=item1c81eecd8e:g:zyoAAOSwfa9Zt~o5)

Come up with an effective offcut storage system before you start making offcuts of wood/steel/aluminium/uranium or titanium whatever it is you play with

S

[Ancient Mariner]

I have a heap of these tiles , they are composite timber clad with zinz anneal with plastic edging Make great decking for shelfs or screw them together as open fronted boxes and stack them as high as you want to go.Very strong and white ant proof Free if use to anybody local

AM

[Bigbjorn]

Check out your local auction houses. Lots of racking, shelving, steel cupboards, lockers etc. go through auctions on a regular basis. Plan cabinets sometimes called engineer's desks are good. The ones with the deeper drawers make great tool boxes when fitted with strong casters. These are necessarily for home/workshop use as they are not easy to move around the countryside. Great for the shed. One will hold every tool you own plus. They are becoming scarce as almost nobody nowadays keeps paper drawings. All on-line now in these days of CAD/CAM.

[mick88]

Metal school-type lockers are quite useful and make the place look less cluttered than open shelves. Yes school lockers are great for storage of parts, power tools, etc. If you keep your eyes open you can pick them up for a decent price. I bolt steel shelving into them to try and utilise them to the max., however wooden shelving in them is just as good. Old pallets are very easy to get and are a great source of timber for recycling into shelves etc. Plenty of power points and air lines are a worthwhile thought. If your has a bit of height about it and has a decent gable an attic or mezzanine floor is handy for storage. At the end of the day, a big shed is good, but good utilisation of shed space is far better. Too much stuff sitting around on the shed floor makes it a nightmare to clean. I know ;) Here below is a pic of the school lockers with shelving fitted. Cheers, Mick.

[Dave_S]

Lots to think about. My electrician is either going to be seriously annoyed or thrilled by the amount of work I'll need done. I should have mentioned that the garage has its own toilet, so that's a plus.

I'm a bit limited by what I can do with the floor. The previous owner painted almost all of it with garage floor paint (which as far as I can tell isn't much different to house paint). To put anything else on, I would first have to sand/grind the floor to remove the paint and mechanically etch the concrete. I'm thinking I'll just give it a good clean, scuff it up a bit and put another coat of the same stuff down.

I am very keen to use all of the storage space I possibly can, while leaving enough room to actually work on the cars. Why doesn't Ikea do a flat pack system??

[oka374]

A cheap way to paint the floor is to use fence paint as it is cheap and surprisingly works very well, we did one of our sheds about seven years ago and it still hasn't worn off even in the high traffic areas. A mate used to paint the floor of his tackle shop every two years with fence paint, even near the door it wouldn't wear off in two years.
Do you have enough height for a hoist? They are a must have if you do have the overhead space.

[Phideaux]

My shed is less multi-purpose than it was supposed to be - however, I've done one thing 'right'. That is, to make a sub-frame (I work mostly in wood) and set up the shelves atop them; wheels beneath (one set of turning wheels only). I did this originally so I could access almost never-used rolladoors easily when needed.
The first time I did this was for a second-hand cupboard (sliding doors are slightly better, less than you'd think). Later, I got some metal frame (100kg per shelf) shelves and did the same for them. Tip - hardwood under-frame. Or metal. I also clad them in plywood and gave them a lock - keeps honest people out.

[hotgemini]

I'm in the middle of doing this at the moment. My shed is a bit more modest at 7.2m * 7.2m.

I'd redo the floor, pay someone else to grind it (I can recommend a guy) but you can paint it yourself. PPG EXT two-pack epoxy. $160 per 8 litre kit and I'd budget on 3 kits, so call it about $500 once you add some reducer to thin the first coat. Can get the paint from PPG/Protec at Rocklea or Geebung depending on which side of town you're on.

Shelving, talk to Absoe at Moorooka, fire them an email, don't just rely on the website. I picked up some ex-masters colby longspan shelving, 3075 high (I can fit up to 3100 so it's pretty much perfect) and 600 deep, two bays at 2590mm wide inside each, 5 shelves each with MDF inserts for under $800. It was in almost perfect condition and looks great.

Obviously you won't be able to go something that tall, but Absoe have got tonnes of stock on hand. A bit like you've discussed, I've got my first shelf 950mm off the ground to give me enough space to put the mig welder, roll cabs and a few other bulky items underneath. I expect to end up with two more roll cabs and also to make custom roll-cabs to take all of my small parts containers.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/47EvkppktZDDViIz2

Lights, you really can't have enough light. Think of a reasonable number of lights, double it then add two. Don't stick them all down the middle, then the roof of whatever car you're working on will put everything else in shadow. Light coloured walls help a lot here.

Compressed air. Run 25mm blue stripe poly and put nitto fittings at about the same spacing as you'd put power points. Long air hoses suck.

Given it sounds like you won't have the height for a hoist, then go buy yourself a big workshop jack. Tradetools used to have a great 2500kg one (it had a lower low height, higher raised height then the equivalent 2000kg one) but I note that it is no longer listed on their website. Also grab yourself four big (mine are 5t I think) and four small ratcheting jack stands. Being able to get the car up high and keep it there safely makes a big difference.

Standardise on storage containers. I use one particular series of small parts trays which are just from Bunnings. For larger stuff I strongly recommend Nally Crates, they're the de facto industry standard for commercial grade plastic tubs. They're a fair bit more expensive than your bunnings-grade items, but you'll probably leave them to your kids in your will. Best place to get Nally Crates in brisbane is "People in Plastic" just off the Ipswich Motorway at Rocklea.

[goingbush]

It was cheaper for me to buy eBay fake "dexion" shelving than to buy the wood alone, and it saved the hassle of building it. This lot was about $600 delivered , new !!

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/11/1032.jpg

[goingbush]

Also if you have any old rugs or carpet, hang them up instead of putting on the floor, They do an amazing job of absorbing noise. The neighbours have never heard any machinery noise from my shed & I have either the lathe or Milling machine running a couple of hours a week . (I try to limit grinding & cut off wheel though. )

But Im sure they hear plenty of swearing though.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/11/1034.jpg

[Phideaux]

My 'tin shed' I insulated (workshop, 6X6m, plus storage, plus carport) - fiberglass under plaster - which works adequately for hot & cold. (The 'C' section with the wires in I did not insulate - safety concerns - and that strip gets notably hot-cold.
However!
At a later date I put up a 'sound barrier' to my carport at my neighbour's request - using both fibreglass and 'wet-area' cladding. While more expensive, the Villaboard (with insulation) was almost stunning in its comparative effectiveness in blocking sound. If I'd known this earlier, I'd have used it throughout, hang the expense.

[EDG60]

I use Berger Jet Dry paving paint on my shed floor. 7x6 came to about 300bux. I reckon I'll need to repaint the high traffic areas about every 2-3 years. So that's the entrance area in the main doorway through the centre to about 2/3rds in. and another strip from the side door to the end of the bench. Total area of about 10 square metres. probably cost about 50 bux to do that. Can do a lot of that for what the "proper" stuff would've cost me.

Simply do not need heavy duty epoxy coatings under benches, cabinets, shelf units, so why bother?

[1950landy]

There is plenty of s/h pallet racking on gumtree Brisbane at reasonable prices.

[hotgemini]

Two issues with pallet racking, firstly it is too deep to make efficient shelves, secondly it will have flat rails whilst proper longspan shelving rails have a step for the shelving material (MDF/Ply/whatever) to sit down into and stop it sliding around.

You can dismantle the pallet racking uprights, cut the components down, redrill them and reassemble them narrower, but why would you bother...

I did my first shed floor with a cheap single pack paving paint (I think it was white knight, but will be pretty comparable to the berger jet dry) and it was a huge improvement over bare concrete, however for not much more effort and only slightly more cost you can step up to a proper epoxy flooring like the PPG EXT I mentioned, it's just a whole heap tougher and resistant to pretty much everything.

Do it once, do it right.

On the subject of acoustic insulation, be aware you can get acoustic glasswool which is about 5 times the density of regular 'thermal' batts. My plan for my walls is acoustic batts and then two sheets of 10mm gyprock with 'green goo' acoustic adhesive between them.