47-55.1 garage cabinets

[nvrdone]

We will be moving into a new house in Nov / Dec of this year. My wife says I can spend $$$$ on new cabinets, floor coating etc.
So, I would appreciate recommendations on cabinet brands, floor coatings - epoxy, race deck, vinyl tile etc.
Pictures would be appreciated.
Thanks.

[e015475]

I'd suggest that you check out this website - lots of folks post their garages and shops there and there's lots of ideas

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/...age-gallery.7/

There's enough there to keep you busy till the end of the year when you move

FWIW I had cabinets in my home workshop for about ten years. I finally took them out and sold them. I bought some 44" HF tool boxes and put everything on casters so I could reconfigure the shop for each project or project phase

[dsraven]

personally, I have found that lateral filing cabinets work well. I use the 5 drawer ones with the drawer set up that has a regular drawer on the bottom but the ones above that have a flap front that is lifted and slid into the area above the drawer. after the front is stowed it shows the pull out drawer with no front on it. some have a full bank of pull out drawers but I find they are a pain because you can't see the tools inside the drawer as well, especially in the top drawers. filing cabs can also be put on wheels for easy moving. I find they look decent when closed and they hide your expensive tools and other messy stuff so the shop looks clean and nobody passing the shop when the doors are open can see all the stuff that could be stolen later. they are usually found used for a pretty good price and are made to hold lots of weight.
for the floor it would kinda depend what you plan to do in the shop. cut, grind, weld, etc with lots of sparks and hot stuff? maybe not something that is going to deteriorate with heat. if planning on doing body work then be careful to use something that the paint, thinners and solvents won't eat. even brake clean will eat some concrete sealers. brake fluid will also eat a lot of sealers.

[dsraven]

here is a link to a generic site for the flip front or receding lateral cabinets

http://mfcoffice.com/hon-5-drawer-fl...eral-file.html

[_Ogre]

my barn is huge, i don't need to store anything other than shop stuff in mine
i have a mixture of new factory 2nd tall door cabinets and old kitchen cabinets
definitely get a big toolbox if you don't have one yet

[dsraven]

here is a link to a pro and con for floor coatings. still, you need to know what you will be possibly doing in there to get the right coating, as mentioned before.
https://www.flooringinc.com/blog/polyaspartic-vs-epoxy/

I have used concrete paint before in shopsI have worked in and my own personal garage where it was used mostly for parking with occasional mechanics use. it works to clean up the shop for a short time but usually the main wear area is soon bald concrete again. it is also slippery when wet or if you have snow on your tires. it sticks to hot tires that drive over it and then park. I have also worked in brand new shops that have the new concrete sealer applied. that goes away pretty quickly when brake fluid is spilled or if it gets greasy/oily/dirty and you try to clean up an oil spot with brake clean, it is sticky and then gone on your rag. I have worked in shops with the epoxy flooring and found it is sort of a pebbly finish so it gets and stays dirty and a pressure washer or a hot water wash is needed to clean it up nicely. if you are talking about a garage where you have some cool stuff in there with a tv and a bar and games area etc then I wouldn't call that a garage, I would call it an automotive themed recreation area, lol. nothing wrong with that if thats what you want.

[mr48chev]

A lot of it depends on your personal garage budget and how you want it to look or function. O have heavy duty file cabinets that I bought through the government auction. They came out of a social security office. You can find file cabinets,thise cabinetslikein dsravens link and other solid metal ca ones at the Habitat resale stores quite often and the price is usually under 30.00. They make nice parts and tool storage. They keep things out of sight when the gage door is open too. Nothing against buying a shop full of garage cabinets though.

[mr48chev]

I'm on my phone so my spelling and punctuation may not be the best..

[mick53]

You may want to look into a used restaurant supply house. When we remodel them we sell the stainless steel cabinets for scrap price or just give them away if they pick them up.

[dsraven]

govt auctions are also a great place to buy used stuff. I bought an old hydraulic hospital bed and made a work table out of it by using an old steel door on top. it has been great for doing resto work on the truck and other vehicles in the shop. it also is great for a work platform or really big step when I am workong on boats and stuff like that. the wheels lock so the step doesn'y move around. it is also great for loading or unloading stuff out of the truck box that is too heavy for one guy to lift. it easily drops with a foot pedal or raises with a foot pump pedal or an electric switch.

[mr48chev]

GSA auctions can be excellent sources for shop cabinets or even equipment but you have to know what you are buying and not get caught up in a bidding war.

Those 4 file cabinets I bought out of the Wenachee Wa Social security office cost me 12.50. That was because no one bid against me. I was also working at the airport there TDY very often and got mileage for driving up to that airport in my truck so there was no added expense in going after them. i bought a Stainless steel table/cabinet that we used at the Checkpoint and in the baggage check area when TSA upgraded their tables and managed to get one at another airport. The ones we had at our airport all went to a guy from Idaho who bought about 20 of them overall for his business as work tables and paid over 100 each for them while I got mine for a 35 dollar bid. When he showed pp at the airport I worked at (YKM) he was tickled to get them because he said anything that matches was around 500.

On the other hand I overpaid for my drill press in a bidding war moment of stupidity and had to drive 180 miles one way plus take a ferry ride when my dog and I went and picked it up. I could have bought a new one at Home Depot that was a lot nicer for what I have tied up in that one but Harley and I got a road trip and ferry ride out of t and they put us right at the front where he could see out over the water .



The GSA auction link is here but as I said, know what you are buying. Cabinets and work tables will usually be top quality even if shop worn though. You also have to make sure what you are looking at is reasonable drive from you.
https://gsaauctions.gov/gsaauctions/gsaauctions/

[mr48chev]

I forgot you were moving over here 25 miles from me. Habit Restore in Yakima very often has nice heavy duty file cabinets and other metal cabinets for from 10 to 35 each.

They always have some of the roller office desk chairs that make nice shop stools there too. I've seen those legal cabinets like Dsraven posted the link to there quite often too.

A guy could probably get a box truck full of file cabinets from the GSA auction today but going after them would cost more than the cabinets.

[R&B51]

I had a garage cabinet business for years and still keep the checking account and accounts with some suppliers. I used several. This is one that I’ve used most in the recent past mostly doing jobs for relatives or friends and some for myself. Check out their website:
https://www.slide-lok.com/
Guy that owns it will work with you or sometimes find you an installer nearby if you don’t want to put them in yourself. Always treated me right and a good communicator. They can ship them to a local trucking dock and you pick them up with a trailer or truck. They come shipped in flat boxes with all you need for each cabinet inside each box and they are stacked up and strap down on a pallet.
They are really easy to install. Some glue and Brad or staple nailer and small compressor. Drill driver to hang them on the wall on studs. They slide together with locking dovetails and I just hang them on the wall so that the floor is easy to clean. They come in 8, 16 and 24 inches deep and they are 2 feet wide up to three or 4 feet wide depending on the modules.
He also sells epoxy type flooring products but I haven’t use those much my floor is just paint that a contractor put down for me.
I’ll try and attach some pictures
Posted via Mobile Device

[R&B51]

Originally Posted by R&B51

I had a garage cabinet business for years and still keep the checking account and accounts with some suppliers. I used several. This is one that I’ve used most in the recent past mostly doing jobs for relatives or friends and some for myself. Check out their website:
https://www.slide-lok.com/
Guy that owns it will work with you or sometimes find you an installer nearby if you don’t want to put them in yourself. Always treated me right and a good communicator. They can ship them to a local trucking dock and you pick them up with a trailer or truck. They come shipped in flat boxes with all you need for each cabinet inside each box and they are stacked up and strap down on a pallet.
They are really easy to install. Some glue and Brad or staple nailer and small compressor. Drill driver to hang them on the wall on studs. They slide together with locking dovetails and I just hang them on the wall so that the floor is easy to clean. They come in 8, 16 and 24 inches deep and they are 2 feet wide up to three or 4 feet wide depending on the modules.
He also sells epoxy type flooring products but I haven’t use those much my floor is just paint that a contractor put down for me.
I’ll try and attach some pictures
Posted via Mobile Device

Posted via Mobile Device

[R&B51]

Not for everybody but it works for me. Still have plenty of junk sitting out in my way that I have to constantly take care of but give lots of storage Up on the walls and off the floor. You can get as few or as many as you want just have to deal with a minimum shipping
Posted via Mobile Device

[R&B51]

Originally Posted by R&B51

Not for everybody but it works for me. Still have plenty of junk sitting out in my way that I have to constantly take care of but give lots of storage Up on the walls and off the floor. You can get as few or as many as you want just have to deal with a minimum shipping
Posted via Mobile Device

You can PM me if you were interested in these and want some free advice on how to pick them out and install them. They have some self install videos on the website as well.
Posted via Mobile Device

[mr48chev]

Those give a nice finished look in the garage and keep clutter down and that is what you want.

[Janky59]

My retired brother has these cabinets installed in his building. Too rich for my blood but they are well made and look like they will hold up long term. They are some type of solid surface material. I think they ran him like $3,000 including installation.

[mr48chev]

That's getting into the Garage journal show quality stuff there.

The good thing is that there are options at every price range out there along with what ever level of fancy makes your wheels spin. None of it wrong.

There are some garage cabinet outfit out there who will put together pretty fancy setup at a pretty fancy cost. I thought Griot's had those cabinets for the sporty car brigade but they are not in their catalog.

[nvrdone]

hey all: Thanks for all the cabinet info. My present garage is a std 2 car, but it does have high cellings so I built a full width shelf up there. Then I used Ikea kitchen pantries and base cabinets for storage.
But now with a new house with a garage that is 20 x 24' deep, and only has 8' celings, I get to have lots of fun. And my wife says just the truck goes in. we will see about that.
Wish me luck as I drool over all the cool garage stuff.

[mr48chev]

I'd say that you don't want deep cabinets except where the work bench is but you might want a full wall of cabinets. Those file cabinets I like stick too far out in the room, fine beside the work bench were I plan to have them but they are long front to back and stick out too far from the wall for a tight fit garage. The legal cabinets don't take up as much room out from the wall but while taking more wall space hold the same amount.

I have a bunch of cabinets simply because each project gets it's own cabinets. 48 pieces go in it's cabinets, pieces for the boat tail roadster go in their cabinet, Pieces for the Model A still are in their cabinet but I sold the Model A.

I'm still not sure what I want to do with the 8BA flathead and all that goes with it.

[R&B51]

nvrdone- notice the all important spot for the ice cream mixer lives, gotta keep priorities right!
If you haven’t already built the place, I just had them use half-inch smooth plywood for the walls and painted it. Nice finish work and you can mount anything you want anywhere you want plus hit a stud if you need to.

mr48chev- thanks for pic of your buddy, what a handsome dog (backstory on him?) sorry to side track the thread.

Part of reason I enjoy this site is the daily unexpected good stuff

[nvrdone]

so far in the planning stage I may have a side wall with 24" deep door cabinets with a work bench are some where in there. Im thinking 24" deep so that I can get my sawsall, buffer, etc in length wise. Then the front end will have a new matco 56 or 72" box with a work surface and shelves on either side. The builder insulates, sheet rocks and tapes the garage. I like the idea i plywood walls. that could be mounted over the plywood. Then the other wall would have my art work - posters, license plates etc.
I think i will be spending time in a comfortable chair in the garage trying to get a vision of what I want to do.
But that wont happen until next year after we move in and get the house set up.

[my56chevytruck]

Originally Posted by nvrdone

We will be moving into a new house in Nov / Dec of this year. My wife says I can spend $$$$ on new cabinets, floor coating etc.
So, I would appreciate recommendations on cabinet brands, floor coatings - epoxy, race deck, vinyl tile etc.
Pictures would be appreciated.
Thanks.

check out used furniture stores and for scratch and dent facilities for your cabinets to save a few bucks

[dsraven]

if the walls are bare now you should decide what you will mount on the walls so you can install the back bracing for the screws to go into in order to support the weight properly. with a narrow garage you need to conside what you will be doing in there more seriosly. if you install stuff on the walls that stick out then sometimes you cant get the doors of the vehicle open without hitting the mounted items. I have used pegboard or slatboard in those spots before with a small shelf that sticks out above any open dorr height. then some of those parts boxes can sit on the shelf. it looks cluttered though, more like a working shop. all those parts bins fill up with dust etc as well.
rather than use plywood I have opted for corrugated sheet metal instead because, in my case with cutting, welding, grinding etc, I don't want to have the issue of starting the plywood on fire unknowingly. as a firefighter I know how hot a plywood fire can be, we used it as a heat source in our fire flashover simulators! the corrugated sheet metal can be bought cheaper at the farm supply usually. it is used for roofing or siding on commercial buildings as well. it will take a spark, continued slag spray from a cutting torch etc. it is also a reflective material so the shop is brighter.
if you have a small shop I would say a super big tool box may not be your best bet. it takes a lot of space and isnt that fun to move around without bumping into something. my current shop is 26 x 30 and I have a larger box and upper unit for the everyday tools that I can move around to to be next to the vehicle I am working on and also a narrower box and upper unit for the stuff I need occasionally and it is tuckd into an area behind the door near the air compressor where a car wouldn't be close to anyway. I have a steel topped workbench/welding table with an open shelf under it to stow jack stands, parts trays etc and the oil drain pan sits on the floor under that. there is a home made sheet metal break on one end of the bench and a big vice mounted at the other. also a hose reel near the bench to keep the floor tidy when working.
it depends what the use will be for the area. if you want a cool place to hang with your buddies and sip a beer while tinkering and watching the game then that is different than a working shop style where there will be cutting, welding, grinding, dissassembling, floor jacks, drill presses, and a lot of space needed to store the tools to do all that. I also have a shed in the yard that stores some of the large shop required tools like the engine lift, extra metal supplies etc.
what will the end of your new space use be?