Organizing A Home Automotive Workshop

Top Ingredients for a Productive Garage

We have all seen those shops, you know, dingy, dark, dirty.

If I could have my dream garage, it would be organized, there would be a place for everything (not like now), it would be inviting. It would look like the garage from the show OCC, after it was revamped, back in July 2009. The shop looks amazing and procuctive.

The top 5 things that I would do to my garage to make it more productive (and nice to be in) would be to:

• Draw up some floor plans. Take the measurements, organize it for a good flow. Everything needs to be in an optimal place, easy to reach. They have all kinds how-to of books out there to help disorganized people get organized.
• Next I would look into special flooring, or products to protect the floor. I am planning on using my garage as my automotive workshop. I don't like spending a lot of money at the garage for other mechanics to fix my car when I am pretty handy that way. I have seen this vinyl flooring. Sounds easy to install and maintain. I am thinking that this is one of the best options out there so far.
• Another important component of a home automotive workshop is the lighting. It is easier to see what you need to see and do what you need to do when the lighting is right. Most people would agree that the fluorescent shop lights would be the best choice. I would also want to make sure that we have extra lighting around the corners and over the benches and cabinets.
• The next things would be the cabinets. I want something that looks good, meets all my needs and has room for all my tools. I love the NEOS system that they used on the OCC. It looks sharp and seems to have room for everything. It seems to come with its own lighting as well (in the pic anyways) so that would solve the lighting issue over the benches.
• The last thing that sticks out would be a lift. I was looking online for some options in this area. I know that there is no way we would be able to fit a commercial lift in the garage we presently own. This is one that would definitely be able to work though.

I know that when we are done revamping our garage it is going to be the one place in our house that we are all going to want to hang out in. Maybe we will even fill it with a nice chopper or an old classic that needs some love!!