Garage/workshop flooring and workbench ideas? Show me yours (please)….

Currently trying to sort out the garage to make it a little more pleasant to work on the bike(s) in there.
Up to now I’ve only managed to paint the walls white and put some racking up. Next job is some sort of flooring (currently bare concrete) and then a workbench (hopefully a large L-shaped one) then add a few more sockets.

Just wondered what people have been using (flooring and workbench wise)?

Floor wise I was thinking of something along the lines of these but ideally cheaper;
ebay floor tile linky

For the workbench (after some googling);
I was going to make it out of 4×4 uprights/legs (fence posts maybe), 4×2 cls ‘cross members’ and something like an 18mm ply top? I need to bolt my hefty record vice to it though so not sure if 18m ply will be substantial enough?

Thoughts/pics gratefully received.
😀

The very first episodes of ‘New Yankee Workshop’ were used up with Norm building his benches etc… He fitted two tops to the benches. One to support / give structure and then a second ‘wearing’ one. Seemed a good idea to me.

Can’t imagine anything I’d do to a bike (as it’s a bicycle forum I’ll assume you mean a push bike) that needed a vice clamped to something sturdier than 18mm ply. That said, you could easily double up the ply in the area.

As for the plastic tiles. I’d be more concerned about how well they fit together, whether they are inert (well at least don’t react with the fluids I use) and how to clean them after the inevitable ‘dropping’ of the fork oil container.

I was going to post this separately, but this workbench design has really had me thinking recently:

There’s a whole host of info available if you search for Ron Paulk.
His mobile workshop is pretty epic too!

Mount vice above cross member so it bears the vice load preferably close to a leg.

Just contemplating my new work bench while waiting for our new garden building tip be manufactured. 🙂

For the workbench (after some googling);
I was going to make it out of 4×4 uprights/legs (fence posts maybe), 4×2 cls ‘cross members’ and something like an 18mm ply top? I need to bolt my hefty record vice to it though so not sure if 18m ply will be substantial enough?

This is my effort. They’re 2×4 beams and it’s incredibly sturdy – it weighs loads too 😀 As you can see, I have a small vice which is very secure, I can easily put all my weight through the 6″ handle without moving the bench / bending the top sheet. The top is ply, 18mm sounds about right.

Total cost in materials = ~£60 IIRC

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Untitled[/url] by thezephyrboy[/url], on Flickr

http://www.hammerzone.com/archives/workshop/bench/below20xl.html

I used these instructions, although I used ply for the top rather than OSB to give a nicer smooth surface. The shelf is just OSB though to save money. It would have been very easy if I had a decent drill/driver but mine was rubbish so it took way longer than it should have. At some point I might make some drawers to go underneath – to act as the equivalent of a snap-on chest.

The only comments I have about the method is that to make it the way they suggest (I.e. in two halves), all your joints have to be perfect, and all the wood perfectly straight. Which they weren’t so it hand to be manhandled into shape for the two halves to fit together. Would have just been easier to build a square frame, then do the legs etc.

If I was doing it again, I might leave more space under the shelf for storage E.g. for riding shoes but it’s a minor point.

[/url] image[/url] by peteimpreza[/url], on Flickr[/

[/url] image[/url] by peteimpreza[/url], on Flickr[/img]

Here are before and after photos to show what a good lick of garage floor paint can do.

Old fence posts & 4″x2″ used here, vice had an additional rafter slotted in

work surface was 18mm OSB with 12mm WBP on top

i used Ronseal concrete sealer for the garage floor.

Solid.

I couldn’t clear garage out sufficiently to paint the floor properly so instead I bought some interlocking plastic foam pads from John Lewis, the sort used in gyms. Impervious to oil, water etc and you can tip a bike up on the floor with no damage to bike. Works for me. For workbenches I used a timber frame with kitchen laminate work surfaces.

I carpeted mine, stuck a bar in and put an easy chair in.

I built the workbench (which I’ve never taken a photo of…) out of 2 x 4, and used old pallets to brace the sides. As for the top I found a length of kitchen worktop the right size on gumtree and screwed that to it as I was on a budget. Cost about £25 in screws and worktop altogether.

We built these benches using 4×4 fence posts, some 4×2 for bracing and scaffolding boards for the tops. For rigidity we nailed the verticals to the joists and built the floors around them. If I were using them in around mechanical stuff I would probably buy some sheet metal to protect the tops. It’s easier to keep clean too.

About £25/£30 will buy you a 3m piece of Worktop in B&Q – cheap, looks good and easy to replace!

Screwfix bench, sectional garage 🙂

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1st Nov – Man Cave activity 004[/url] by coastkid71[/url], on Flickr

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2nd Nov; Sat beach ride 034[/url] by coastkid71[/url], on Flickr

wow Coastkid – all that space!

30 sqm AlexSimon, most allowed here without planning permisson.
Had to be 3 feet from my boundry fence so i did a clever thing building it 4 feet from my boundry fence, laying 4×2 slabs and have a roofed log shed along side which is open at back to dry logs, and a dirty area behind with vice for grinding, sawing logs etc 😉

Still to roof the wash bay at the front, it even has a mesh top gutter that drains, sorted!.

The fence posts with 4×2 benches look good!.
I have 8 x 6 foot long posts doing nothing, i need to build something! 😀

If you can bend over without hitting your head on a suspended bike or catch your ars* on the handlebars of a floor standing bike and if you actually have enough floor space to put a bike stand on and don’t have another garage to fit the stuff in you can’t fit in Garage A, you’re obviously not trying hard enough…………….

Mooter – Elu flip top 😀

Is there a Man toy you don’t own?

Can we ban McMoonter from posting on any “show us your….” threads, please? I don’t know whether to hate him or want to marry him!

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backinireland, I take it you like buckets 😉

Some good ideas on this thread. I’m still yet to sort out a workbench for my cave…