It’s a two-car garage, that’s all it is…

Many of us dream of having huge garage-mahals but do we really need them? What if instead of dreaming of having majestic multi-car garages we develop something that works for our needs. And something that works for our needs in our current place. And and, something within a reasonable budget.

It’s possible. Let this video inspire you.

One golden rule mentioned that I really liked – the floor is not a shelf. And we all need “the compliance station”.

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17 responses to “It’s a two-car garage, that’s all it is…”

  1. wunno sev Avatar
    wunno sev

    I was ready to rant about oh here comes some Petrolicious style bullshit with slow panning shots of classic 911s and ruminations on *honest machines that take you back to a simpler time*. then I saw the scissor lift rise out of the ground. now i need this in my life. what a badass garage.

  2. Batshitbox Avatar
    Batshitbox

    I started out with a clear vision, “Let’s watch this video with the sound off while listening to Florence Foster Jenkins.” Because I wanted to be shown just what a twelve gauge garage could do, not sold told, but shown. Full disclosure, I own a twelve gauge shotgun and live in a garage. Also kinda buzzed.

    I quickly picked up on the importance of green doors being closed (is that what they call a Mise-en-scène?) seemingly permanently; no doors were opened in this film*. After the first shot of a green door being closed (followed by a 3 second zoom on the door) there were 11 more, but only 10 of the 12 were numbered; the first and last being excluded from the enumeration (is it biblical?) Maybe it’s the San Franciscan in me, but I kept wanting Marilyn Chambers to jump out from behind the green door “tool in hand”. Later in the film the device was developed to include drawers being shut. Somewhere in there there were doors neither opened nor shut, but colorless, without opacity; as if the opening of the door was unnecessary.

    I tried to count the number of times a Porsche was lifted up in the air, but Florence Foster Jenkins is a harsh muse.

    The visual narrative seems to show that a twelve gauge garage can lift a Porsche in the air like a champ, and even one or two other cars with a disclimer. Further action reveals that a twelve gauge garage has a functioning table saw, and a MIG welder. Also the door goes up*. Maybe down, that’s left to the viewer’s imagination.

    Oh, wait! I remembered what a Mise-en-scène was! JK I looked it up on wikipedia. It’s “the design aspect of a theatre or film production, which essentially means “visual theme” or “telling a story”—both in visually artful ways through storyboarding, cinematography and stage design, and in poetically artful ways through direction.

    So in my tone deaf viewing of this video I’ve learned that the Mise-en-scène was a whole bunch of yard sale tools stuffed into cabinets and crammed into corners and only one or two of them is taken out seldomly to repair an old car. Except unlike my life everything is painted Hospital Green (or is it Mission Control Green?) and the tools have orange handles.

    I want my ten minutes and nineteen seconds back. Any shithead can make a two car garage into a place full of machine tools they never use because there’s not enough room, and spend hours building pegboards for the hand tools they never use because there’s only enough room to change the oil and brake pads.

    *okay, one door opened, but vertically!

    1. GTXcellent Avatar
      GTXcellent

      I too watched with sound off. And I too felt that yeah, his shop is nice, but let’s get real here. His only material storage is a little space under one of his benches? All of his other “stuff” is in a little garden shed?
      Granted, I live a much more rural life than he does, but my 32’x48′ shed is so full, that if I need to actually work on something, I need to move some vehicle(s) out and make space. I’ve also got plenty of bench space, and ALL of my tools are put away in tool chests or cabinets. It’s not hard to be neat. I guess in a very inarticulate way, I’m trying to say that his shop is not realistic for my needs. (I do like that in floor scissor lift though)

    2. Kamil K Avatar

      So, did you like the video?

      1. Batshitbox Avatar
        Batshitbox

        Nope. The cinematography was, as wunno sev put it, “Petrolicious style bullshit with slow panning shots“. Not that I was expecting Peter Greenaway or Jaques Tati, but I was hoping to see what this garage could do. I still don’t know what’s behind the green door, or what’s twelve gauge about it. (If I had to guess, that’s the sheet metal he made all the stuff out of?)
        If your video needs an audio track to get its point across, what’s the point of the video component?

        1. Number_Six Avatar
          Number_Six

          Someone needs to just randomly chuck a dead swan in at random intervals and voila: c’est un film d’art

    3. Victor~~ Avatar

      I too have a 12 gauge , a Browning pump . Love that old gun.

      1. Batshitbox Avatar
        Batshitbox

        I have a Winchester Model 12 that dates back to 1914! Slam fire, it’s fun.

    4. 0A5599 Avatar
      0A5599

      That’s a modified lift table, not a purpose-built car lift. I wonder if it has all the ratcheting safety doohickeys advisable when working under a car.

      And a two car garage should be able to hold two cars. If you have a 4000 square foot building with 3800 square feet of cabinets and tables and one parking spot, that’s only a one car garage.

      1. salguod Avatar

        When I worked at FormaCars we used similar lift tables as does Factory Five in their facility. Not sure if they have the locks but using them for automotive work is not unprecedented.

        We also had a 2 post lift which was usually more convenient.

    5. Alff Avatar
      Alff

      I’ll have what he’s having.

  3. crank_case Avatar
    crank_case

    My garage is probably smaller than that 6 metres long, 4m wide, granted the car that goes in it is smaller too, but all you need is somewhere warm and dry enough to work comfortably, power, lighting and enough space to walk around the car really.

  4. Scubie Avatar
    Scubie

    Given the current state of my 2 car garage, I drew some inspiration from this. Granted, I was flat-out busy working on a project right up to and including Christmas Day, then I left for the annual summer holiday trip the day after. There is sh*t for Africa stored on my floor at present, all of which needs to be put back into place.
    But I fall into that category of working on both automotive and woodworking projects. I have sawdust and aluminium shavings where I don’t need them. I see a garage redesign in my future. And I too have a Lotus 7 weekend car (similar to a Caterham) which would work wonderfully with a floor jack, but alas the concrete foundations probably don’t allow me to cut into my floor… But, as I said, I took inspiration and will revisit my garage storage and workbench situation in the near future.

  5. I_Borgward Avatar
    I_Borgward

    After watching for a while, I was expecting it to break out into a TED talk.

    But, to be fair, I subscribe in principle to at least a few of the ideas presented, as applied to my tiny-assed 23′ x 13′ garage:

    1: Keep the damn floor clear. An ongoing struggle, but one to always strive toward.

    B: Maintain the space. It’s a garage, not a storage unit. Yard crap goes in the basement, along with all of my tools and car parts. I only bring out what I need for a particular task. When I’m done working, everything goes back into storage.

    Three: Light! When I rebuilt my garage, I went with a shed roof elevated along the East side, where I mounted a row of windows, then painted the interior flat white. Instead of a cave, I now have illumination any time there is daylight, but still some shelter from late afternoon heat. I have some reclaimed fluorescent lighting that I’ll mount along the top of the side walls, much like you’d see in a body shop.

    If it were my video, I’d surely go with something other than closing a cabinet door for transitions. A 10mm wrench dropped onto a floor, followed by a gushing downpour of various automotive fluids? Head bumped against hood/bonnet? A can of cheap lager being cracked open? So many choices.

  6. salguod Avatar

    I’ve seen this before and I thought it was here, but I can’t find it.

    It’s pretty easy to hate on it and I don’t think I believe his $3,500 cost, even if I assume that he did all the work and his labor is free. But, it’s a pretty neat space and it does seem to be actually designed for getting real work done and he does real work in there.

  7. Batshitbox Avatar
    Batshitbox

    comments can’t be blank

  8. Batshitbox Avatar
    Batshitbox

    comments can’t be blank