Decisions,decisions...:dunno: which way to go..
As many of you here know,I have a quonset garage,and lately,I have been frustrated about lack of space to store things,without taking up floor space..
I have 4 garden tractors in it at the moment,and this leaves not enough room to park my truck inside it--especially if the plow is on it..
I know many of you have the same dilema--garages never seem to be big enough,no matter what size you have..
Building is 20 x 40 feet,but inside dimensions between the foundation walls is more like 18'10"...
I have two 10 foot x 8 foot pallet racks in there,one on each side,one is closer to the center of the building,the other is almost butted against the rear wall on the opposite side...for what room they take up,you cant really put that much on their shelves,which are 2' wide..and I put the shelves at a height tall enough so I can walk under them without fracturing my skull,so things on the floor will fit under them..
I have a few benches in there too,on one side,that were intended to be work benches--but usually end up being piled up with various objects,instead of a clean work surface..I removed one and put it outside to gain some room,but it wasn't enough..
Since the quonset arches curve inward after the 4 foot level,its not possible to hang things on pegboard unless I did some creative framing--there is no real access to the walls with "stuff" in front of them anyways..
I took some photos of the inside and outside of the rear wall of the building,they aren't the best though--excuse the mess & clutter,I had to move everything around to SEE the back wall!....but it should give some idea of what I've pondered about doing to increase storage space..
One idea I thought about was making a "loft" like the one pictured in this book I have..
The only problem with a loft is there is a small room on the right rear corner of the building,and a loft that stuck out more than 3 feet from the rear wall will block the sliding door to that room.(You can see the door,it has a flag on it,next to the ladder).....which wont be enough to provide much storage area..but that might be wide enough to allow one of the workbenches to be moved up onto the loft,instead of taking up floor space...
Also a loft would not allow a back door to be installed,or repairs to the wall be done as easily..since the yard behind the garage is often "mushy" certain times of the year,I never bothered to make the garage a "drive through"..a car or truck would likely get stuck easily..
The next idea was to take off the plywood I put over the 9x9 foot rear door opening I framed,but never did get a door for,and build an extension onto the rear of the building,9x9 feet wide,and at least 8 feet deep,maybe even longer--this however,will likely result in my property taxes going up...but might be worth the extra money,to gain more storage space..
Something like what is pictured below..
Third option is to forget doing anything to the garage,and just make another small shed,large enough for a tractor or two--as long as it is less than 100 square feet there is no taxes on a shed.....problem there is despite having a large yard,there is not really any good spots to put another shed ,that wont get "plowed in" or become difficult or impossible to access after a foot of snow falls..(this is why my 2 existing sheds 75 feet from the driveway behind the garage are practically useless in the winter--anything put back there is there until spring,or the snow melts ,and the ground is often mushy there too..)
I could clean out my house garage,and store some stuff in there,but not any tractors--I cant have anything that has gasoline in the house garage,the oil furnace is in the next room...dont need fumes or potential fire hazards..
I do plan on getting rid of some things I no longer use or can use ,but they aren't all that big,so ditching them wont increase the space in the garage much...
Anyone have any ideas,or solutions you have used to get more room in your garages ?...especially a quonset garage ...?..
As many of you here know,I have a quonset garage,and lately,I have been frustrated about lack of space to store things,without taking up floor space..
I have 4 garden tractors in it at the moment,and this leaves not enough room to park my truck inside it--especially if the plow is on it..
I know many of you have the same dilema--garages never seem to be big enough,no matter what size you have..
Building is 20 x 40 feet,but inside dimensions between the foundation walls is more like 18'10"...
I have two 10 foot x 8 foot pallet racks in there,one on each side,one is closer to the center of the building,the other is almost butted against the rear wall on the opposite side...for what room they take up,you cant really put that much on their shelves,which are 2' wide..and I put the shelves at a height tall enough so I can walk under them without fracturing my skull,so things on the floor will fit under them..
I have a few benches in there too,on one side,that were intended to be work benches--but usually end up being piled up with various objects,instead of a clean work surface..I removed one and put it outside to gain some room,but it wasn't enough..
Since the quonset arches curve inward after the 4 foot level,its not possible to hang things on pegboard unless I did some creative framing--there is no real access to the walls with "stuff" in front of them anyways..
I took some photos of the inside and outside of the rear wall of the building,they aren't the best though--excuse the mess & clutter,I had to move everything around to SEE the back wall!....but it should give some idea of what I've pondered about doing to increase storage space..
One idea I thought about was making a "loft" like the one pictured in this book I have..
The only problem with a loft is there is a small room on the right rear corner of the building,and a loft that stuck out more than 3 feet from the rear wall will block the sliding door to that room.(You can see the door,it has a flag on it,next to the ladder).....which wont be enough to provide much storage area..but that might be wide enough to allow one of the workbenches to be moved up onto the loft,instead of taking up floor space...
Also a loft would not allow a back door to be installed,or repairs to the wall be done as easily..since the yard behind the garage is often "mushy" certain times of the year,I never bothered to make the garage a "drive through"..a car or truck would likely get stuck easily..
The next idea was to take off the plywood I put over the 9x9 foot rear door opening I framed,but never did get a door for,and build an extension onto the rear of the building,9x9 feet wide,and at least 8 feet deep,maybe even longer--this however,will likely result in my property taxes going up...but might be worth the extra money,to gain more storage space..
Something like what is pictured below..
Third option is to forget doing anything to the garage,and just make another small shed,large enough for a tractor or two--as long as it is less than 100 square feet there is no taxes on a shed.....problem there is despite having a large yard,there is not really any good spots to put another shed ,that wont get "plowed in" or become difficult or impossible to access after a foot of snow falls..(this is why my 2 existing sheds 75 feet from the driveway behind the garage are practically useless in the winter--anything put back there is there until spring,or the snow melts ,and the ground is often mushy there too..)
I could clean out my house garage,and store some stuff in there,but not any tractors--I cant have anything that has gasoline in the house garage,the oil furnace is in the next room...dont need fumes or potential fire hazards..
I do plan on getting rid of some things I no longer use or can use ,but they aren't all that big,so ditching them wont increase the space in the garage much...
Anyone have any ideas,or solutions you have used to get more room in your garages ?...especially a quonset garage ...?..