SPiN Racing's messy Garage/Scotts messy Garage

[SPiN Racing]

Okeydoke

Soooo Long story shortish.

In St. Pete Florida.. you are not allowed to have a car on your property that isnt registered and legal to drive on the street.

I Race.

I bought a 1974 Mazda RX3 racecar. It had been raced since 1975, and I wasnt allowed to have it at the house unless licensed.
After getting it licensed, I continually had issues with the city if I left ANYTHING inside my carport with regards to the car. If I left a floor jack in teh carport overnight, the city would write me a letter saying it cant be left outside.

SO I was going to enclose my carport.. and make a single car garage..... However..
When the house was built 1956, there was no side street to my house.
In the early 70s I Think... they put a road in next to my house. And by today's codes, it is 0.6 Feet too close to my house to allow me to enclose the carport. 

SO
After battling the city I had to either get rid of the car, enclose the carport (after going to the board of directors of the city and applying for variances etc), or build a free standing garage behind the house.

Soooooo.. I ended up getting blueprints for the garage. Its 28' deep, and 32' wide. 8' walls.

When building it I ran into a couple problems.
The roof trusses were for snow load, not hurricane load.
The ground at my house is 6' Above sea level. By code it has to be 9'.

SO
20 Dumptrucks of dirt later, and pre-built trusses, that are an extra foot higher, as well as having a complete upstairs.. I was on my way.

The garage as you can see is tall.
The upstairs has a 12' wide room with an 8' cieling in it, that is 32 feet long.

Anyhow here are the outdoors pics.




Indoors.. is a little... Messy.
THe problem has slowly compounded over time.
My best friend brought his car over for me to do a rediculous amount of work over time. ANd its along story.. but its the black RX-7 in the center of the garage.
We got two four wheelers at a silly price.. that I got fixed up, and the boys and I go ride them.. I also use the small one as a pit bike.
I have like... 12 sets of wheels for the race cars.
Huge workbench I built,, and I didnt finish out the walls because I was putting insulation in.
My parents.. are getting very very old.. so they decided to clean out thier house of everything that isnt thiers.. and so ALL my childhood everything, that was stored in the attic.. suddenly appeared in the garage.
The boys got bicycles.. and then later newer ones.. and newer ones.. and newer ones.. so we now have like 8 bikes in the house.
Anyhow.. its a mess.
View from the doorway looking NE.


View from the mill and lathe area in the NW of the garage looking South back towards the door


View from the SE looking NW


Mill and lathe Area Looking west.

[Baldrocker]

SR
At last a workshop that I can show to her inside and say
"See mines not too bad"
I really think that stop sign should be outside the doors
BR

[Brass_Machine]

Nice garage. You got the room... Now to organize!

I shouldn't talk though, mine (garage and basement) while nowhere near as large is just as every bit a mess.

Eric

[cedge]

My parents.. are getting very very old.. so they decided to clean out thier house of everything that isnt thiers.. and so ALL my childhood everything, that was stored in the attic.. suddenly appeared in the garage.
The boys got bicycles.. and then later newer ones.. and newer ones.. and newer ones.. so we now have like 8 bikes in the house.

Similar problem here, a few years back. On top of being married to a habitual pack rat, my daughter moved household and stored some of her stuff in the garage. Then my wife's sister moved and needed space to store some of her stuff, "short term". Then her boyfriend moved in and he had too much stuff.... sooooo. I wound up being pushed into a very small and crowded corner, even with the few tools I had.

2 years later, I'm trying to get them all to come and pick up their stuff and I'm getting studiously ignored and blatantly put off, even when I offered to deliver their goods. I gave them a date to have things gone and when it came and went, I called the local Goodwill guys and had them pick up half of what was there. (2 years is legally considered abandonment) I then gave everyone a fresh new date to get things sorted out or Goodwill would be back. It's funny how suddenly everyone had space of their own.  I do still sort of wonder why no one asks anymore.

Yup... I took some real grief over it, but now no one, except my incurable wife, considers my garage a free storage zone anymore. I can get in there without having to climb over piles of stuff I didn't put there.

Steve

[bogstandard]

Spin,

You have to do it sometime.

Last year, I had a clearout of anything that hadn't been used for years, and I had been hoarding for nearly twenty years in my present location.

It nearly broke my heart to see SWMBO loading the trailer to go down the refuse tip, but I also made a lot of people happy with free gifts that they could use.

I still find it tight in my shop, but at least I can now almost find things. Average time about 15 mins, rather than never in some cases before the sort out.

So get out there, and de-junk, you WILL feel a lot better. Plus you will have an added bonus, you will be able to work in there.

Bogs

[sbwhart]

Coor Blimey Spin

That Garages bigger than my house,  in fact you'd get a complete street of houses in there  .

Cheers

Stew

[SPiN Racing]

That Garages bigger than my house,  in fact you'd get a complete street of houses in there  .

He he he

Actually Its bigger than MY OWN HOUSE!

Our house is 890 SQ FT. The garage..... 1280 SQ FT

My wife Loves me.


Actually its pretty easy to work in.
As were in Florida.. Even in the dead of winter its in the upper 70s most of the time. At worst it might get to the 40s.
I have the 2 4 wheelers.. ZX-9, whelbarrow with a load of MG parts, 48" fan, and a Dolly (red one in the pics) that are all easily movable. And within 2 minutes all are wheeled out of the garage, and parked in front of it.
At that point I have room for a full sized car.

Usually the boys take thier bikes out also, so that too makes room.

I have pathways to get to anyplace in the garage.. but not ultra functional.

This is its current state after the 5th or 6th MAJOR re-vamp.

I had another "friend" I dont talk to anymore who brought his RX-7 over to change a Driveshaft.
Well then he bought rims instead of a driveshaft..... and a set of gagues, and exhaust, and carbon fiber hood, and turbo, and manifold, and wastegate, and frontend, and intercooler, and stand alone EMS.

And I put them all in for him.. like a dolt.

ANd then after it was running and he had bought his own house.. I flat told him to take it away...

He bought a new turbo that was bigger.

Needless to say I loaded the thing on my trailer (he couldnt afford to title it) and called him on his way home from work.. and met him at his house to his chagrin.. and pushed the car off the trailer into his front yard.

As he WAS a friend.. I didnt simply apply for a mechanics lean on the thing.


the garage was a lot cleaner in the past. My brother in law who helped me build it, was a huge motivator. No skills per se... but very willing to learn, and was a great help. Wifes sister drove him to kill himself one night RIP. SO my garage work pal has been gone for almost 9 years now. So it took a while to get motivated.

Im now plenty motivated.. I just have to juggle time, and sleep.

The current plan... To get the Black RX-7 out of the garage. That is the number one priority. Once its gone... there will be a ton of space.. as all the interior, and engine and spare parts go away. My shed off to the side of the garage.. (14x14) will be empty of his parts.. as will the underside of my workbench. And a lot of floor space.

Scott

[rleete]

The current plan... To get the Black RX-7 out of the garage.

There's a car in there?   

[Stilldrillin]

The current plan... To get the Black RX-7 out of the garage.

There's a car in there?   

No....... I didn`t see it either! 

[boxtriker]

Nice Big............................... real BIG but i have found out over time you fill up what ever space you have i just wish i could have a go at filling that much space up
Boxtriker

[SPiN Racing]

Oh yes.. now to go through it (between projects) and re-organise things!