Thinking outside the errrrrrrr garage

tod evans said:

jay, unless you have intentions of doing woodworking for profit i`d advise against renting shop space.....now if you have the fincial wherewithall to buy a building to use as a shop that`s a whole `nuther animal....real estate even in todays climate is a good investment. there`s more than one way to "make do" with your current space, it`ll just take some thought and effort.....the ol` "where there`s a will, there`s a way"...

Click to expand...

Even if the way (for me) is underground, or like Ralph.....

8'x6' is enough

I'd not want to rent a place, put a bunch of time into setting it up just right and then, for a multitude of reasons, trip, sickness, family trouble, have to be away from it for an extended period, getting no use, and paying the rent, so you have to move out and then you have wasted all that time you spent setting it up...

Maybe you could scale things back to fit into your space better, if you can find a shop that will charge you a fee to say plane lumber to your sizes, you could do away with jointers and planers, and or a Festool set up (just thinking out loud) Multi Function Table, you could do away with your tablesaw......?

Dunno, but I'd be loathe to rent space.

Cheers!

Jay,
what todd mentioned is absolutely on target. The only reason John and I were renting was that neither of us had a place to put our tools. It was an expense every month and ultimately my not using that shop enough caused me to pull out of the shop and store my tools. Now a year and a half later I'm about to get them out of there.

Jay, that is a tough decision. Of course, your wife will be involved. Unless you are expecting to make substantial profits, renting industrial space does not seem practical. For me, it would destroy the pleasure of walking into my shop and doing some work whenever I wish and stopping to rest, again, whenever I wish. In 40+ years of marriage and several different home, all with garages, one even with a barn, we have never had our vehicles inside. Moving to a rural setting is an alternative, albeit not and easy choice for everyone. From what you describe, the immediate solution would be cars outside, shop in garage. Then start shopping for a new home that has exactly what you need.

At this point, moving is out of the question!

I know it is easy to say move, but it is unrealistic in our circumstances. We love our location (except for the shop issue) and I've done A LOT of work on the place over the past several years and I want to enjoy it for awhile.

Frankly, we are trapped by our success in the real estate market. We bought "right" several years ago, and with our homestead exemption the rate at which our taxes can increase is limited. If we were only to replace what we currently have, we would face a bump up to the new tax structure, that and moving expenses etc leads us to conclude that we would be foolish to move and stay in our current community.

jay, i wasn`t suggesting moving.....but if you`re able to buy another property close enough to use as a shop the market is kinda depressed now?........i haven`t gotta clue to your finances or the market in your area, but it`s something to think about rather than renting. renting if you don`t absolutely have to is foolish.....

Hi Jay,

As you may remember from another post, you and I share a dilemma - corner lot, up against the setbacks, etc. Now I see we also share another - no place to put our cars. I did solve one problem we shared and that was a large weeping birch that once hung over our driveway. The operative word being "once" as it is no more. Dirty trees those weeping birches!

We resigned ourselves to never having a garage so long as I was able to stand unsupported by an aluminum frame in front of the table saw. Never the less, there seems to be some wavering in the wind. On more than one occasion over the past few months the LOML has noted that we "could really use" a carport to keep the vehicles out of the sun and snow (the only two seasons we have in Boise). Fortunately (?) we have an "L" shaped ranch and we can build on to the front of the garage up to the setback line, about 20'.

Do you have room for an 'open' structure like that? I'm guessing you might if you have room for the sails - need idea by the way but, would they look out of place in a residential front yard?