My workshop is a....

[dbhost]

When I started this thread, I did NOT expect the response this has gotten. I think I touched on something here...

Currently, fully 1/3 of us here are using a shared space garage of some sort. Now having said that, several did mention they are in a shared 3 car garage and did not vote since the options didn't list that. (My fault, sorry folks). So lump them in there...

I do agree that no matter how much space you have, We can manage to fill that space and spill out into other areas...

Keep the replies coming. I am not sure if I am the only one here that finds this fascinating, but I am enjoying reading your responses...

[tommyt654]

On wheels and in the driveway.

[Bill Stock]

I didn't see an option for disaster, so I opted for shared basement. It's actually a bedroom in an unused basement apartment. I've been fairly busy with outside work lately, so the shop has been a little neglected. I have to put away some of the crap to actually find the shop. I'm a bit of a slob, so if I had a bigger shop, my mess would probably expand to occupy the space.

[smorris]

Dedicated 1 car garage for me. It works but does get a bit crowded at times and I've reached the point that buying new tools requires some forethought.

[tseavoy]

Workshop

Some years ago I needed a place to build a boat at my (then) vacation home on Marrowstone Island, so I built a 2 story outbuilding 12 X26 using post and beam construction. As the boat progressed I used the T-111 siding I used for boat lofting as siding for the lower part of the shop replacing the plastic walls and then after some time shingled the building with some surplus cedar shingles I found. The upper floor was used as a place for my teenage son and his friends to stay when we were up and as guest quarters for friends that came up. The windows were windows salvaged from my garage in Seattle. Now the shop is half storage half workshop.

Tom on Marrowstone

[John Hunter]

I have a 2 1/2 car garage that my shop shares with my bass boat.

[drumpriest]

Mine is strange. The intended garage of the house was converted to an office when they built this housing development, and the original purchaser of the house asked for it to not be converted, leaving it as a "family room", but with a sloped floor (for drainage) and its own heating system, and an insulated wall between it and the rest of the house. So I chose to use that space as my shop. It really is a 1 car garage, but no big door, and heated. Some good and some bad to that aspect. More space would be great, I've gotten most of the tools I'd like into it by being clever, but lumber storage is a big issue for me, and working on large multi part projects also presents certain issues.

[rnelson0]

I have a one-and-a-quarter car garage. What is a 1.25 car garage, you ask? Good question! It is a 1.5 car garage where some moron puts the deck support bar inside the garage door opening. You could *almost* get two cars in if they were both minis, but backing out would be a 37 point turn to avoid knocking the deck down on top of you.

However, it does confer the advantage that one side of the garage is totally useless for cars, so you can imagine where my tools go

[docrowan]

I had to vote for dedicated "large" outbuilding, but it's just barely over the limit. I have a 12X20 outbuilding that has some garden tool storage and a few boxes of toys, pool supplies, etc. However the remainder is dedicated to my tools and workspace. I'm working on getting everything mobile and foldable so I'll be able to quickly and easily set up and tear down inside the shop for assembly room. I slice up my sheet goods outside with a circular saw because it's a bit cramped inside the shop and I don't like all the dust.

[Tom Clark]

I have one of the large outbuildings, and is it mostly shop - other than a recently added small exercise area in one corner. For the new guys there are photos on my album. At 40x60 it is probably the largest shop listed. For years, like everyone else my hobbies were crammed into part of the garage, starting with 1/2 of a one car garage 35 years ago.

When I retired that all changed. We moved out of the city to a five acre rural lot, and I had room for the dream shop, finally! We built the house and shop to be as maintenance free as possible so we could be free to travel during the summer months. The shop has heat and air, but during Florida's mild winters it isn't needed all that much, so the costs are minimal.

All I can say is if you get the chance to do something similar, go for it. It is nice to be able have a little room to work or play. Here's wishing you all get your own 'dream shop' one of these days - whatever your dreams may be!

[dbhost]

Tom,

I have seen your shop tour on Woodworkingtalk.com and I am still awestruck... Your shop is a dream come true for sure!

Actually, honestly compared to the cramped conditions in my garage workshop, I would be tickled absolutely silly by LarryL's 16x20 (or is it 16x24) Tuff Shed based shop. I visited him up in Lorena and was pretty impressed by his layout up there...

[tseavoy]

I have heat in my shop too!

[bloomingtonmike]

Dedicated 24X36 now. I want another 60X80 or 100 one day.

[pelligrini]

Dedicated 24X36 now. I want another 60X80 or 100 one day.

Nice!

hehe, I dream of turning my 10x12 into a 15x20 someday...

[WLee]

The closest option to describe mine was

E.) Dedicated small outbuilding (12x16 or less, please explain).

But that doesn't properly describe it.

My shop is exactly 12 x 16, it IS a dedicated shop, and it IS an outbuilding... but it isn't "stand-alone" like a little shed.

Instead I built it as an "ell" or "wing" addition off the side of the existing 20'w x 24'd two car garage (I could wish the garage itself were just a few feet wider, deeper and taller, but the fact that it had 9'h walls at least allowed be to do the same in the shop. And by NOT doing a truss roof on the shop area -- instead a semi-cathedral ceiling with just the two "beams" at 30% of the chord -- I gained an extra few feet of clearance in the shop center, where it is most useful).

At just 12 x 16 the "shop" per se is on the smallish side (I could have afforded the cost of going larger, but the location of the garage vs the lot line meant I couldn't -- if I went wider than 16 I would have had to go less than 12 deep, and vice versa -- and I could only add on on THAT side of the garage, the other sides were restricted by the house, the septic tank, and the drain field).

But with the 60" wide shop/garage opening I can basically use the full two-car garage as shop space as well (for long ripping, panel cutting, and as "temporary" workspace for bigger projects) plus the workshop shares the garage heater in the winter. And of course the wide garage door makes unloading lumber easy (plus panel storage and cutting are normally done in the garage area anyway).

Photos below are various stages of construction. I've since added a ceiling fan, and a LOT more shelves -- short lumber storage on the 12' wall, and high long-lumber storage on the 16' long walls above the cabinets and on the opposite side above the shop/garage opening.