I need to build or buy a work bench/area in my 2 car garage. I have about 4 feet at the front of garage I can utilize. I was thinking of something about 6 or so feet long. I saw some products called Renegade Garage Storage Cabinets by O'Sullivan Furniture (
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) that looks real nice. Sears also has something similar which I saw on TV that has some of the sections on wheels. Any suggestions or comments? Thanks
Forty (40) + years ago a local company discarded a bunch of their work tables. The legs were steel but the tops were 2" maple 60X30. I built two plywood boxes with front hinged doors from 3/4 plywood. Just laid the top on the boxes. I still own that "bench" after eight (easy) moves. It is at the front of one side of my garage.
A shed is the last place I'd want my shop. Unless you build it like a habitable building with insulation and venting, the temperature extremes make it unusable many weeks out of the year. And you still need heat in the winter if you are in a cold climate. With some care, you can have a nice setup and still have plenty of room for cars in your garage.
The system you show looks good if you want to buy something. I'd take some pleasure in making my own, but that is me. You don't save money when you figure the cost of materials for 3/4" plywood versus the mass produced particleboard. You just get what you want and how you want it laid out. Bt for $500 and a couple of hours assembly, you are in business with this.
The bench surface is smaller than I would like. I'm betting it's also not that rigid. If you think you'l occasionally want to drive a nail on your bench top, you'll want a really solid top. The top has no "lip" or overhang on it. I built my bench with such an overhang so I can easily clamp stuff to it.
The tool board also looks a little small. Mine is a couple of pieces of regular plywood, rather than pegboard. I hold my tools with a variety of screws, hooks, magnets and some small wire shelves (great for screwdrivers). In my experience with pegboard hooks, they sometimes come out of their holes when you grab for the tool. You are also somewhat limited as to spacing. Lastly, you can pretty much ONLY use pegboard hardware, as the pegboard won't hold regular screws well.
$500 + shipping would buy quite a lot of lumber to build a custom workbench. If you really want a neat looking shop, with closed doors and drawers, I agree that it would take a fair amount of work to build something like what you're planning to buy. But if open storage is acceptable, you could save a good deal of money without too much effort.
I made a very solid 30" x 80" bench out of a solid core door, 2x10s and 2x4s. It was a couple of hours work. I'm sure the materials came to under $80. I also bought 3 steel open shelving units, each 36" x
18" x 6' tall. Each one has 5 shelves. They were $55 each a few years ago. They hold a heck of a lot of stuff.
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