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You’d think a two-car garage would make a better woodworking shop than a one-car garage, right? Generally correct, but when you don’t get sole use of the entire two-car garage for your shop, there are “compromises”.
I recently moved into a new home (from my condo) and the thought of a two-car garage was initially exciting. All that extra room! That was before I realized that family needs dictated that part of the new garage would also serve as a laundry area/storage area and studio space for my wife. The idea of parking cars in the garage never even crossed my mind.
The largest problem is losing the third wall. When you’re in a one-car garage, all the wall space is available (except the garage door wall). With the two-car, you’ve got extra open space, but you’ve lost a long wall to put tools and storage cabinets on. Back to the drawing board again, and that’s what brought one of our recent books to mind. Woodshop Lust (still love that title) showcases twenty-five woodworking shops in pictures and captions. The shops range from one-car garage shops (including mine) to some amazing stand-alone shops.
I pulled the book off my shelf and took a look at some of the two-car shops to see if anyone had “solved” my problem. Sure enough, Rick Springer’s shop was a two-car design that he’d divided with a center wall. Of course, he’s still got tools tucked in the second half, but his wife’s car still has a home. Simple enough, all I have to do is build a wall and I’ve got my storage space back!
And while I’m reworking the new shop, I think I’ll get the camera out and take some pictures for the sequel to Woodshop Lust. If you’ve got a shop you’re willing to share with our readers, drop me a line and a couple of photos and we’ll start getting the list ready for the next book. If you haven’t had a chance to take a look at Woodshop Lust, we’ve attached a couple of the shop articles (mine and Rick’s) below. And if you want to take a look at all the shops, you can pick up a copy of the book at our bookstore.
Z1079 WOODSHOP LUST Thiel.pdf (1.02 MB)
Z1079 WOODSHOP LUST Springer.pdf (884.34 KB)
, David Thiel, Executive Editor, Popular Woodworking Books
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Interesting to see and easy to counter people who think they need a Norm-al shop to do anything. I had the pleasure of visiting George Reid’s shop a number of years ago and was amazed at what he was able to turn out in the corner of a dark little basement with tools dating back to the 1940’s and earlier. He once said he didn’t own a router as he didn’t think he needed one, but thought it might be handy for some people.