Background: we have a two-car attached garage, a little over 20'x20'. Until a year or so ago, it parked two cars and my shop sat against the walls most of the time. Earlier this year ('23) my wife agreed we can park outside now since we're both retired and I get get most of the space for a shop. Two caveats: one corner is yard/gardening tools and we need to be able to pull one car in for bad weather. So at least some of my stuff needs to be mobile and it all needs to fit into half the garage for storage when needed. I have some deep storage in the garage attic but otherwise no lumber shed or storage in the house. In my prior houses I did have some dedicated shop space, but only about half as much as I have now, so this is the first time I've really had room to spread out and have it be more or less stable.

This panoramic photo is taken from the SE corner of the shop. Behind me are the doors into the house and out to the drive way, so this corner is a travel path when we come and go. On the left side, passed the garage door, you see the SW corner, which is the yard and garden stuff. The rest is "the shop."

This is the southern part of the east wall. Mostly non-tool storage, though you can see the bench-top planer, and I have routers, sanders and other power hand tools in the drawers of the cabinet. The junk on the rolling cart by the cabinet is french cleats odds and ends as I've been doing a lot of re-organizing lately. This cleat wall had really gotten filled with random odds and ends until my current re-organization effort.

Here's the north part of the east wall. Finishing stuff and misc on the pegboard - it also had gotten filled with random stuff and I've really pared it back. Measuring tools, wrenches, socket set, files, etc in the tool chests. Home-build rolling rack with my longer clamps awkwardly shoved back into the corner. (I am have having trouble figuring out what to do with my corners.) Above on the wire shelving are more power hand tools and misc supplies. The step ladder serves as both a way to access the shelves and a seat for deep thinking.

East part of the north wall. I recently extended the cleat wall all the way to the window and I've been spending a fair amount of time getting stuff organized onto it. Again, paring back a bunch of non-woodworking stuff.

West part of the north wall. I want to make the utility table under the window into a sharpening station, but right now it's a horizontal surface to store whatever and off-cut storage. The systainers with my track saw and accessories are looking for a home. Thickness planer at left is also looking for a home. Router table seems OK where it is. And you see about half my lumber storage,.

And here is my NW corner than really needs work. My dust collector is tucked back in the corner and then stuff thrown in randomly around it. The dust collector switchers manually between the table saw and thickness planer. The shelves are full of misc stuff. The empty spot on the wall to the left used to be storage for a ladder which has found another home - I'm thinking about putting up cleats and making the space my long clamp storage. More lumber storage above.

Middle of the west wall. The wall starts getting taken over by non-shop stuff at this point. I'm trying out my miter station and plywood storage back-to-back and perpendicular to the wall (something I never could do with car parking).

Stepping back from the NW corner, you can see where I'm trying out my table saw at the moment.

Stepping further back to the east, my bench is parked in front of my table saw so I can use it for infeed support. I probably spend the majority of my shop time working in front of the bench on the mat you see.

And this is the front of the stop. Two folding tables I use for finishing and other light duty work. Lots of potential here.

So, what's next? In no particular order...

1) Finish getting tools up onto the wall. Build a saw till and some more misc holders.

2) Decide that I want to use the empty wall space in the NW corner. If clamps, add some more cleats and build some more holders. See if I can get rid of my rolling clamp rack and get that floor space back.

3) Figure out what I want to do with the NW corner. I think it could be effective storage for the systainers, finishing supplies, the thickness planer, and other occasionally used tools while still housing the dust collector. Not sure what to put there to organize all that.

4) Figure out what I want to replace the tables in the front of the shop. I'd love a 4'x4' assembly table with storage, but I need to convince myself I can still squeeze a car in when I need to with something that big. Maybe a 2'x4' table with a fold-out extension?

5) Finish setting up the sharpening station. Find a better solution for cut-offs?

6) Figure out what to do with the NE corner, especially if I can get rid of the clamp rack. It's some good floor space, but not easy to get to at the moment.

7) Build a new mitre station. The one I have has served me well, but is very lacking when it comes to stops for repeated cuts. Be nice to enclose the dust collection and add some additional storage.

It'll be all cleaning and putting stuff away, but I'll take it! 

A pro installed mini-split lasted about five years because of a poor quality install.  I'm installing the replacement myself.   

One problem I see with mini-split installs is that the mounting plate is pretty flexible and every install I've ever seen has one side hanging away from the wall a bit.  You're only able to catch a couple of studs with screws through the mounting plate and often one is nowhere near one edge of the mounting plate so it flexes away from the wall with the weight of the wall unit.

Another problem is when trying to use a cleaning bag, it's impossible to get it tucked up behind the wall unit all the way around, so some gunk my end up running down the wall.

I made a mounting base for the mounting plate out of some scrap 2x lumber that was flat.  First I ran it down to 1-1/4" thick to flatten pieces that needed flattening.  Corners are not glued, but indexed with biscuits and screwed together.  The one board with old paint on it is flat and I didn't want to run that dirty side with any cutters, but it will be covered by the wall unit anyway.

This 1-1/4" thick base is screwed securely to wall studs and the mounting plate screwed to it with screws in the farthest corners.

The edges of the mounting base are tapered back at about 35 degrees so the cleaning bag with have somewhere to get pulled in tight around the back of the wall unit.

I'm using an LG as the replacement.  The LG mounting plate does not have supports for the Rectorseal arms to ease an install or an uninstall, so I cut the ones off the cheap Chinese failed unit and let them into the back of my wooden wall mount.

The towel is to fill the hole overnight where the old refrigerant lines penetrated the wall.  We'll use that same location for the new lines.  The drain line is in a different place, but luckily fall behind the next vertical outer layer of White Oak board on board siding on our house from where the old drain line was.

The new LG 24k btu units are much larger and heavier than the 18k Tosot unit.

More to follow, but we're busy with other stuff too, so this will be as I can get to it.  I will be lucky to get one step done a day.

First, take a few minutes to consider the pro’s and con’s of arson. OK, just kidding, but packing is a super pain. Unpacking is even worse. Choosing a box suitable for an item vs, where in the hell should I put that item in a shop, which does not yet have any place in which to put things. And this wasn’t what I was looking for anyway.  

You’ll need a lot of boxes. Its difficult to predict how many, so plan to make more than one trip to buy them. If you have left overs they can be returned or you can give them to the people who plan to move into the dwelling you are leaving.

Around me, Home Depot had the best prices and the best selection of boxes.

Small boxes are your friend, particularly when packing your workshop. There is only so much you can lift, starting with a small box automatically limits what can get put in there.

Even a small box can get too heavy, if it’s filled with, say steel. While it may be organizational to put your entire collection of hand planes into one box, half a dozen of them may already be a load. As you load a box periodically stop to lift it up.

I particularly like file boxes. They are good sized without being over large. They have built in handles that make them easier to carry. They are modular and stack well and are reasonably strong. It is easy to lift the lid to peak inside as compared to slitting tape and lifting flaps on an ordinary box. File boxes can be taped shut, but don’t need to be to maintain structural integrity. Not perfect for everything you’re moving but very useful.

At least label the two narrow ends of each box. Labeling only one end guarantees that box will be stacked backwards.

Label completely. Write on the box a list of everything in the box. You don’t need to identify every drill bit, but if one box has your Forstners and another has your brad points, be at least that specific on each box. Don’t add an item or group of items without including it on that box’s label. You will invariably have a small item to pack, e.g. the chuck key for your drill press. It’s tempting to just drop that in to the nearest box, but without a label notation it will be very difficult to find again.

Small, odd and essential items like a drill press chuck key, can be taped to the inside of the top flap or upper side of a box. Makes it super easy to keep track of.

Brown paper lunch bags are another friend. You can buy a pack of 100 at the grocery store for cheap. These are great for easily and quickly wrapping smaller items that don’t need padding, but you don’t want scratched. They are also good for keeping small related items together. And you can write what’s in them on the bag.

Packing paper is stiff enough to loosely crumple and take up air space in a partially filled (but already heavy) box. Or as packing around items that need some protection.

Roll of 6” wide plastic wrap. Good for wrapping things together, like a set of lathe tools. If you want to move a drawer, but keep the contents inside you can wrap the drawer up. Useful, but not very environmental.

Things that come to mind are:

1) turn off the fridge in the shop.

2) seal off the two adjoining rooms

3) open all doors and place a fan at each

4) respiratory and eye  protection

5) cough and cough and repeat as necessary

6) notify the neighborhood watch that there is no imminent danger

Am I missing anything? 

My sharpening sink has a 2 gallon water heater and the hot water circuit on the fairly complicated plumbing has always worried me.  It's fed by a regular water hose.

I came up with a different plan.  I bought a cheap Chinese little circulating pump and hooked it up to a bucket.  I put RV antifreeze in the bucket, turn the little pump on and go hold a wand open on the pressure washers while running the electric one or pulling the cord with the switch off on the gas one.  When antifreeze foams out the end of the wand, I let go of the trigger and go turn the pump off.

For the sharpening sink, I leave the cold water cut off, open one hot faucet until the red stuff comes out, close that faucet then open the other hot one.  After I'm satisfied the hot circuit is taken care of I close those faucets and do the cold ones.

No guesswork and no one gets wet hands or antifreeze on them.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09TYSZHQP?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08X397V32?

I thought this was interesting.

Shop Size:

I have a shop that is 29'x29'. I make custom tables, Live Edge, Traditional Etc. So mainly working on larger projects. Because of this I need to keep some open space, vs spreading my machines over the whole floor. 

Current Layout and reason for my question:

Attached is my shop how it is currently laid out. I am planning on running dust collection through my shop soon, so I want to be sure of my layout beforehand so I want some thoughts from you all.

Additional Tools I want to add

Currently, I have all the tools in the shop except for one. A small 15" planer, I currently have one, just no dedicated space for it. Ideally would add a chop saw at some point, so if you have ideas of where, Id love to hear.

I do want to get a jointer, but I have a separate shop where that would go, along with my slab surfacing machine, and wood storage.

As I said, I work on tables, so as much as possible I want to keep some areas open,  vs spreading my machines over the whole floor. On the one attached pic, I have a highlighted blue section, this is where i would prefer to keep open space, or I could move this open space to the right if it would seem best to move the current machines there, elsewhere.

Thanks again, interested to hear any thoughts you have.

Pics on Link - Let me know if there is a bette way to share pics

Shop Drawings with Layout

thank you. 

I'm going to help him with the ceiling drywall and maybe the outside paint.  The taping and mud work is on him because he used to do that in one of his previous lives and actually enjoys it(???).  I may go up and help him with the interior painting if he decides to do that.  I am pushing him that direction and owe him a lot of payback for the work he did on my shop.

I believe others on the forum have a similar arrangement and welcome any tips and lessons learned. TIA.

BTW, we did consider building a separate shop but given woodworking is still a relatively minor hobby for me we decided it wasn't worth the expense of adding a concrete floor, power, etc. to the build to make the new building a shop.

Here's something i struggle with CONSTANTLY - efficient storage of cutoffs and shorts. 

I have 2 wood racks. 

The upper shelves look respectable, like this: 

But the lowers are a disaster  as i end up with shorts all over. 

Exhibit A

B

And embarrassingly, 

C:

I know the best answer is to spend some time using this stuff up, but until that happens....

I'm interested in how those who are more organized than me (Gee-dub, Von, Chet, Sanford & Son) deal with stock that's under 36"??

I have the hardest time burning scrap because there's this voice in my head saying " There goes $5, $10, etc)  with each piece. 

For years, my router bits have been in their original packages, piled on top of one another in a nearby cabinet. I don’t know what got into me but I figured that had to come to a halt. I don’t have wall space for a cabinet but did find a drawer that wasn’t being utilized. A UTube video gave me this idea. The little blocks are 2” square and use the Rockler universal holders. I didn’t realize when I drove to Rockler that I had so many bits and have to return for more. Due to the depth of the drawer or lack there of, I have to lay some of the taller ones down in a tray. 
 

So, I bought a timer switch and permanently attached it to the air compressor.  Now, whenever I need to use the compressor I turn it on for 15 minutes or one hour or whatever, and I don't need to remember to turn it off.

I did the same thing with my ancient George Foreman grill which has no switch or indicator lights.

I needed to get some new masonry bits so I looked on Amazon.  I liked this set, but the description says "Rotary only, not for hammer drills!"

There's also these, which say "percussion" and "hammer drill".  The two drill bit sets look the same.

I have corded and cordless hammer drills, so I can use a hammer drill if it would work better.  I'm just confused as to what's going on.  I know that you can use masonry bits in a regular drill, it just won't work as quickly because it won't shatter the very hard, very brittle stuff you're drilling into.

Masonry bits designed to be used only in a regular drill doesn't make sense to me.  Can someone explain what's going on?

Thanks in Advance!!