how big of a garage or shop do you need?

grumpyvette · Nov 11, 2009

the amount of floor space will depend mostly on what type of work you do and the tools you have, too store,
but theres a big difference between getting things done and getting them done comfortably.
in an ideal world we would all have a 6 car or larger shop with at least two lifts, ...dream on, its unlikely to happen as most of us work on tight budgets, or have limited area to build a shop.
if you intend to install a lift ID strongly suggest a 12 foot tall ceiling and a 8" THICK FLOOR, AND A MINIMUM OF A 2 CAR GARAGE AS A WORKABLE SHOP SIZE,
I can,t see most guys with a standard two car garage thats about 22 x20 feet (400-450 SQ FEET OF FLOOR SPACE) having no room to work if they keep the shop, semi organized and clean (as long as the wife is not storing all the family junk in your garage)
so you don,t necessarily need a huge shop to produce nice work,, AS SEVERAL FRIENDS HAVE, BUILT AMAZING CARS IN TWO STALL GARAGES, but don,t kid yourself, having more room to work or store stuff is wonderful
Ive got a 36ft x 75 ft shop, in theory I could get 14 cars in it if theres absolutely no room between them, but theres also tool boxes , engine stands, work benches,several welders, a lift, ramps, jack stands, shelving , floor jacks, compressors etc, Ive found that the max is about 6 cars before it feels congested, and confined and thats about 2600 sq ft /6=400-450 sq feet per car, but keep in mind Im not just changing oil or doing brake jobs , and jobs like replacing a rear differential , or swapping out engines, or welding roll cages, takes more room.
my old shop was 40 ft long and 12 feet wide, it fit two cars, with about 250 feet of floor space each and it always felt very congested and confined, once you added the, jack stands, floor jacks , welders, tool boxes etc.
the truth here is that you'll find a way to use all available floor space, and just as you'll expand to fit, you'll find a way to work within the space available, if that's required, on my old shop I frequently needed to roll cars out into the drive way to work on some projects.
one of my friends built a huge shop, thats about 40ft x 100 ft, he still tells me he built it too small and hes got a second floor office for his computer and office area
internally it looks vaugely like this but his is significantly taller and wider than this picture suggests

grumpyvette · Jul 31, 2010

I also have bought shop equipment from

http://www.gregsmithequipment.com/

with good results, and have had fast service
the hydraulic car skates

THE ORIGINAL HYDRAULIC STYLES GREAT BUT CAN LEAK AND REQUIRE SEAL REPLACEMENT
https://www.mfrexpress.com/hydrauli...s-p-809.html?gclid=COHF3a6EvcgCFQ-EaQodmusMmw

http://www.gregsmithequipment.com/Move-It-Wheel-Dolly

http://www.gregsmithequipment.com/Move-It-Dolly-Ratchet-Style
these are a bit harder to use and smaller but less likely to require maintenance and they are cheaper

make it easy to pull a corvette into the shop, and just slide a car skate on each wheel, ,you then pump up the cylinder that closes the two parallel roller bars , lifting the tire off the ground, letting the 4 swivel casters on each car skate allow the car to be pushed in any direction.
once you get to working on a car theres lots of times that the ability to push it to a different location while the engine or transmission are not 100% functional, becomes an asset.
keep in m ind the other (cheaper ) type floor skates, require use of a separate floor jack, and the ones Ive seen that a buddy purchased at HF, are not built nearly as strong from what I,ve seen, and remember corvettes are generally so close to the floor that many floor jacks won,t clear the frame unless you first drive the corvette up on a small floor ramp, and you can,t remove the floor jack unless you place spacers or ramps under the tires (Ive got 4 double thick 3/4" 12"x12" square sections of plywood I put under the corvette tires at times just too get the required floor jack clearance.)
in fact I bought the ones I did only after seeing, how useful they were in use at, a friends, he had used a set in use in his shop, for over a year, and they were working so well, it made moving his second project car simple.

these car skates or wheel dollies make moving a car you can,t drive easily around the shop far easier, and a couple tall jack stands come in handy under a lift at times
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...444669421&SubscriptionId=AKIAJO7E5OLQ67NVPFZA

viewtopic.php?f=27&t=132&p=2677&hilit=wheel+dollies#p2677

http://www.gregsmithequipment.com/2-Ton ... t58001.htm

http://www.gregsmithequipment.com/Move- ... htmd-4.htm

btw heres a car lift thread

viewtopic.php?f=27&t=98

how big of a garage or shop do you need?

grumpyvette

Administrator

grumpyvette

Administrator