The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk SHOPS AND GARAGES

IM just curius to know what size shops, sheds, driveways and garages everyone has that they work on there old trucks in? AND can you ever have enough space when your working? Just thought I would get a new topic flowing.

DUSTYG:

I am a commercial contractor by trade. I sublease an office suite and about 800sf of warehouse space for all my tools and equipment for my business, leaving no room for my truck projects. Fortunately, that changed last summer when a friend asked me to finish a remodel of his house that he wants to put on the market since he and his family moved to CA. Luckily, it has a three car garage. I promptly took over two bays for my truck projects. The center bay has been occupied by the truck I happen to be working on at the time and the end bay is occupied by my workbench, compressor, blast cabinet, buffer, sawhorses, misc. parts storage and a small shipping area I use to package and ship '60-'66 Chevy truck parts I sell on eBay.

I have not always had this luxury and will not have it muck longer, however I have taken advantage of the opportunity by working on my project trucks every spare minute I have. Since I am not married and have no children, I spent my time working on my trucks. My girlfriend works retail, so her hours are long, thus allowing me to spend extra times with the trucks.

I'll be back to toughing it in a month because the remodel is done and I'll be working in the driveway again soon. I hope everyone has the deluxe accommodations they dream of to work on their Stovebolts.

I built a 30 x 40 a few years back which put a huge dent in the truck budget but it has been nice to have the room. Of course with my frame off going on it has greatly shrunk my shop , it needs to have a 30 x 40 extension .

My garage is split between family stuff and Chevy truck parts business. That relegates my truck to the back yard under a temporary carport. Which isn't bad except that the wind has blown it over twice. So far not too much damage to the truck, but have since reinforced the carport to make it more stable. Which I had a shop building...maybe someday...

My garage has a freezer, 96 Z28, Harley, snowblower, golf cart and all sort of garden aka yard hand tools. Garage is 24X24

My shop has the 59 w/parts and such, 2 walls of work benches, garden tractor, small trailer I pull behind Harley, rototillers, weed eaters, spray equipment for paint business, and parts for race care. Shop is 32X24

Getting est. for 56X28 new shop and storage.

popcorn The Truth is Out There (I hope this is big enough!!)

I've got 1/2 of a 20x24 garage to work on my 65 C10, sharing the rest with our daily driver for the winter. Its all mine once spring settles into my area...punt the wife's car out! By the way IT'S SNOWING IN CENTRAL ALBERTA--AGAIN!!Tom.

I've only got a small 22x30 3 car garage... unfortunatelly, it is full to the eaves with parts and my wifes stuff... It's amazing how much losing 3 feet off the long side of a garage will put a dent in your storage room... I only have room for preventive maintenance or a short job...

At any rate, i've got about half of the plans for a 24x30 workshop done, which will make room for everything, including being able to work on long term projects.

The garage on the house is for the drivers (x3) and the son's model railroad layout...plus the storm shelter! The shop is for MY stuff! It's 38'x65' and is built on the foundation of the old house that got tornadoed two years ago. I have a full bathroom inside, plus 110V/220V, and (hopefully this year!) gas radiant heat. Also there is a 30A RV outlet inside, too. Two 10'x10' and one 12'x10' overhead doors, two walk-ins, two windows, and fully-insulated, too! There is room for the camper and four of my old cars and still have plenty of room to manuever around. It's a metal building with a brick wainscoting along the front that matches the brick on my house. I even have a 24'x15' porch on the front, too! Great to set up the BBQ grille under and enjoy some adult beverages!

My dad's El Camino was up for sale on ebay recently, you can see the shop in the background . here

Me and two friends rent a 3800 sq ft shop from a local farmer. It is heated, has air, water, 110/220, and phone already in it. We also have lots of parking/storage area + axcess to his loader tractor to move big stuff around.

Mine is approx.24X36,More of a barn than a garage.I put a new floor in 3 yrs.ago.I am going to insulate it and put in 2 new overhead doors.Then hook up a couple of gas heaters.On one side there is a 16X36 woodshop which is insulated and heated.So overall it is a good sized building.About 36X40.No matter how big it is I always wish it was bigger.

my shop is a 25x26 two story garage that my ex-wife insisted i build to get my junk out of the yard. the junk is my 1960 mga that i have had since 1968 and the other is my 54 3100 truck bought in 1983. i already have a 2 car attached which i use to work in the truck since she is gone. just finished hooking up heat to the manifold plate, havn't tried it yet. the only thing i regret is the contractor didn't run water lines to it. my fault for not checking closer.

My garage is 30x50 with two double doors. But, it's full! It houses all of our vehicles but, they are really sandwiched in. Since all of my trucks are licenced, running, etc it's not that big of a deal. I will leave the daily driver out if I'm working on one of the trucks, the Vette, the vintage camper, etc. But, I'm looking at both a '54 'Burb & a '54 Panel. Both need substantial work so, I need a bigger shop!!

I have a nice garage set up. On my house for mine and my wifes drivers, I have an attached 25' X 22'. My shop is a 50' X 60'. In that building I have a sectioned off area 30' X 30' that's my shop area. It's heated, bath room, white walls, very nice. A few years ago, I would have called it a dream garage.In my shop I have my 53 pickup in for a slight make over, and sitting beside that is my 48 pickup, frame, cab and mocked up engine and tranny. On the storage side in my 67 Chevy II project and my pride and joy streetrod, 34 F*rd with a ZZ3 350 Chevy, 700R4 tranny and 12 bolt. That space also stores the tractor, lawn stuff and parts. I love my garage. My good friend and next door neighbor has a 96' X 100' and calls my garage a shed, but my car buds love mine. I'm not bragging, but I've been in this hobby for most of my life and it's just grown from the car cover and drive way to this.

Ronnie

Popcorn,

I didn't know you had a z28! I have a 97 ss.

Fun huh?

Oh yeah. 2 car garage with a 68 satellite 2 door on one side and a 69 four door on the other.

02 chrysler minivan adn 97 camaro in the driveway. Plus a 54 1/2 ton in the drive way.

I'm lucky in that my dad has a shop about 45 minutes away with property for non running stock to store.

Also at my work I have free reign to a 3000 sq foot unfinished basement shop with a garage door. That's where the 54 was pretty much resurected. I'm slowly filling it with extra tools and letting co workers use my "extra" tools.

I've found I might have 4 1/2" wrenches for example so I'll take the china made ones to work.

Etc.

Tim

I've got two shops out back. One is, 24 X 32, & the other is, 26 X 52.

I'm planning to build a shop this summer.

The size will be determined by interest rates and the growth in value of my house since I last refinanced it... reduced by what I have to hold back to send my baby girl to college in the fall.

I work on my 49 sub in a 45X48 airplane hangar with no airplanes in it. In the back is a 12X48 heated shop. The chassis is in there and the body is out in the hangar. The hangar belongs to my 4 sons who allow me full run of the place. Weeds

We are working on a 30X50X12. With a little luck they will pour the floor Tuesday. then in 2 weeks I can finally get my 38 back out of the weather

In order to get me to move away from Los Angeles my wife agreed to let me build a 16 car (27'6" X 55' shop/garage with a 4' X 16' service pit. It is now the world's largest junk pile. Must clean it up and get to work on the '32 Stovebolt with late model 6 cyl. 292 engine.

I've posted this photo before but this site is attracting a lot of new members!

Getting my '48 going took about 18 months and two full winters in the driveway. I did get to use the garage for the 261 when it was on the engine stand, though. (Thanks, Honey!!)
[img]http://www.sandeace.com/48/NiceCold_NoSlush2.jpg[/img]

Wally,

I like your one season beer cooler!

Last time I did that, I was changing a transfer case in a 78 ramcharger. It started to thaw and a puddle formed. I was hypothermic when done. Took me 2 to 3 hours to warm up.

As for my shop.... planning a 24' deep third stall on the new garage for a stable for the bolt. Gas will be plumbed so I can do a furnace. I hope to have 220V and plenty of lighting, both florescent and halogen. I would love to dump my compressor and get a good one that will run a DA etc.

I'm in a 20x24 garage. It is a constant battle to keep the clutter from accumulating so I can get two vehicles in. I have to move out both vehicles and then pull out my tools to do any work. Bit by bit I am getting it into shape.

I have access to a couple of other shops, but then I don't have my tools there. Also Scott (48BigTrucks) has helped me out a couple times when I had a pressing job and no room (or heat) in the garage. We need to get him to chime in here. He is getting a really nice shop set up.

At my place I have a 28'x32' attached garage that is heated that I now use for parking two cars in and since I retired I built a 50'x80'x14' heated play shop for all the toys. My estrogen free zone that I can get lost in.
Jamo

I have a 23 x 27 garage with 2 8x9 doors, cement floor water hot air furnace phone radio TV 220 and 110 power, compressor Welder torches and lots of clutter. I am trying to work on my 40 pick up but never have enough space. Seems like everything around the house and yet gets put in it always in my way.But it is way better than when I was out in the snow.
Diego

60+ year old 6 bay garage (my brother-in-law likes to say of the builders of the garage: "Everytime they had a spare piece of wood, they nailed it up somewhere!") Yeah, it kinda looks like that. It also has a small attached workshop. It's all just a dirt floor with some gravel. When it rains, in comes the water.

I know the feeling. I remember having to hold my breath because when I would breeth it created such a fog that you coulden't see. -10 sucks when you need to drop in a motor.

Thats why I pay for a heated shop. I only have to work out in the cold when I bust something.

[img]http://www.m4x4a.org/ImageGallery/album125/MISC_0009.sized.jpg[/img]

I have a 24 x 24 detached two car garage full of horse carrage, fishing stuff and the wife's assorted projects. No room for vehicles, so I had a 30 x 50 shop built. It's now full of horse related stuff along with 3 wheelers and 4 wheelers for the farm. Still no room for vehicles. We have 44 acres so I think after I win the lottery I'll just have the whole darn place covered, then if the wife approves, I might have room for the 54 series 4100 and the 47 series 3100 (advertised in the Swap Meet section) that I'm trying to restore. Sure hope the lottery check comes in soon.

My shop is my Kingdom. Therefore any expense is justified. I will be building boats in my retirement so it is a business that can be written off my taxs. The main shop is 40 x 60 feet with 20'usable headroom. Its climate comtrolled, has a crapper, a beer frig and a great stereo. Heavy shop tools consist of 12" table saw, 20" planer. 26" bandsaw, 8"jointer and a 12" sliding miter saw - that just replaced my RAS. Attached to the main shop is a 18 x 28' drive in laminar flow paint booth with full HVLP capability. And just to help this old fud move things around, I bought a 4000 lb Hyster fork lift- 1958 vintage. Stop in any time you guys are in the Murfreesboro tennessee area.

rcurrier44,

Times are really tough when you have to dig down through the snow to get to the job.

I have a garage but my son has a Model A in it. I have to work on things in the yard. Un like the guys in the photos I have an old Army shelter half that I lay over the snow or grass.

My lovely wife had a 30x40 steel shop built a few years ago! It has 14 ft walls, fully insulated and heated! It is nice to have a warm, dry work area! Got both finished and under construction rides, lots-o-benches, 100 amp electrical service, and a ton of lights! Going to expand inside with a mezzanine and add 2 20x40 wings. Never have enough room!