I Built My Dream Workshop & Finally Organised It!

One year ago I built my dream workshop and somehow it's turned into this. Oh my goodness. So today I'm starting from scratch. I'm going to take out everything here and get it set up how I should have got it set up from day one. When we first finished the shed I came in and did a little tour of the space explaining what I'd done and why and where things were going to go and the idea behind that hasn't really changed. The main sort of working workshop bay I always designed to be this middle bay and it's five meters by ten meters with one roller door and a solid wall behind. I always wanted to kind of have a u-shaped workbench, storage bits and pieces. So I can have like different stations for all the different things I do. The biggest problem I've always had out here is having dry storage space because we get so much rain over winter. And when I get materials for projects, I'm not necessarily finishing them in a week and I need somewhere to store it. So I actually had an old car trailer, shipping container kind of thing. It was all rusting out and just sitting there kind of doing nothing and just getting full up with spiders. So what I did, I put it on Marketplace and I ended up selling it really quick. Problem being, i emptied everything out of it and just dumped it literally on the floor here my one good clean working space ended up as a dumping ground yet again which i said was never going to happen again after i did the garage project which looked epic for a while i've also got this wall over here to finish let's spin around and have a look Oh, bang, bang, bang. So this is essentially my U. I've got this wall. The wall that I started building was so I could get the solar installed and get the batteries installed there. And it's got a bit of wiring and stuff behind it. So the goal here is to have this bay as a fully working workshop and storage section. So I can then get onto the next project, which is the offices. So I do have a door to install here and then we'll work out what our racking solution is going to be up until that new door. So I picked this up the other week, last week. Had to go grab it from the depot because we're out in the middle of nowhere and it's almost impossible to get some stuff freighted all the way here. But it did fit all on one trailer load, which I am super stoked with. The only problem is now, the stuff that I want for that side is on this side. And I don't wanna unpack all of that. So this is an Uncle's storage, storage system. It's one of those big, you'll get the idea later. Let's start pulling some straps off. What I'm gonna do, is it's all sort of wrapped up and stuff so i don't know what's what and what's where i strapped the bejesus out of it because I had to drive a couple of hours. I think the plan is to get all of the uprights stood up and I want to get it into position and make sure that I've got enough space. Because the thing about this thing is, this racking is slightly wider than my existing stuff, which is a good thing, but it also meant that I couldn't put it on certain walls. So I'm using it as a divider. So I'm going to put it here because one section, you can actually walk through and see through a little bit of it. So it's kind of cool. Let's start pulling some straps off. Unpacking some plastic and I might start with all of this because this should be the quick bit and then that's going to be the long bit. And I might pull that off or I might just leave it on the trailer and just zip it in and out as I need bits and pieces. Goodness this is big and heavy. Oh far in. This is ridiculous. This is the cross beam which I thought it'd be It should be easy to carry. Oh, sick, it's got branding on it. Anyway. This is not standard pallet racking, but it is over-engineered, ridiculously heavy-duty racking system from Uncle Storage. So I've seen a lot of this stuff. Similar stuff like this in the US, but no one's doing it in Australia. A little bit more specialty than the stuff you get at the big stores here. And it's fit for purpose because if you can see the size of those beams, that'll give you an idea of the kind of scale and storage capacity that we're dealing with. Well, this definitely is more heavy duty than even the old pallet racking I used to have in the warehouse. I'm super excited to get this up. Starting there, it's going kind of along this relief cut. Like a small bay here with a workbench and then it's got overhead racking and it's taller than all this other stuff which is excellent. And even up the top you can put really heavy stuff up. Let's keep unloading. This is looking pretty rad. This is a pretty sleek system. You've probably got the idea now of what we're building. Mega racking. So it's got this carrier system. It's got little wheels in it. These things just slot in, cinch up a couple of bolts and then so strong. My goodness. These are cabinets hanging that can open and close. So just bolt the walls onto it, get them assembled but we'll work that out when we start unboxing them for the moment. Let's get the rest of these up and off the floor. Three in, three to go. Let's get them all up. Ooh, handles. Oh, they're pretty, they're overkill. How good's overkill? Love it. Put them aside for later. That was a big job yesterday. Got a bit of help from Lucy to lift some of the higher, heavier bits up. These things are looking sick. So today, I'm gonna try and get all of the cabinets built. But first, gotta get these cross beams to where they're finally gonna go, which is right at the top. Problem is, very heavy, very awkward. I've only got one ladder. It would be easier with two people, put them up. Not super safe. But I've got the scaffold sitting there, so unfortunately I'm going to have to set that up to get those two beams up. I'll shuffle some stuff around back there. Once that's up, then all I have to do is put stuff up there and I'm probably going to put light stuff up there because realistically this is set up for like pallet racking. That's what it is. It's pallet racking stuff. I don't have a forklift. Should have kept the one from the warehouse that I used to have. I used to have this little sick little electric one. Anyway, don't have one. Don't have the space for it. Don't really have the need for it. Get the scaff set up. I'll get those beams up because I don't want this to twist or move. I want to make sure that it's perfectly square before I get all the cabinets hanging because it's going to be so heavy. I'm not going to be able to shift it or even like kick it around like you can with some smaller racking once there's a lot of weight in it. So yeah, I'll get them up the top. I'll show you one other thing I've done, which is pretty sick actually. I didn't even realize when I spec this up, but look at that. Comes with lighting. So I've got all these little LED light strips installed. They're all just daisy chained together. There's little brackets that hold them onto there. Super easy to install. It all comes in the kit which is sick and I didn't actually realize that this had lighting in it. So that's a mad little addition and then I've got the workbench in here. So I've decided to set this down at a slightly lower level. I've got an idea of what I'm going to use this section for because it's a very deep workbench but you can access it both sides and that was the purpose of this whole little section. So that's sick, excited for that. Plenty of space underneath but yeah I've got to get these beams up there so it's all finally locked in place and it's not going to move again. I'm super happy with how it kind of ends up in that corner. I've got a little weird sort of little nook behind it. I've got an idea again for what I'm going to put in there. At the moment there's a whipper snipper, there's some recovery gear and stuff just being stashed in there but I need other little nooks Nooks and crannies to put. Shovels, rakes, all the stuff that's just lying against the wall and it's really annoying and then I'm like, where did I leave my shovel? And I've left one over in that corner and it's not there. So let's get into it. Day two. Nearly finished this wall. I left a little open gap here because I was always going to have a pedestrian door, but I previously had it drawn approximately here and I left a few studs out. But since revised that plan and I've shifted the door back this way, all I need to do now... Is put in three more studs on this side, two more studs on that side, get my noggs in, then I can sheet this wall. Once I've got this whole thing sheeted, I can get my racking sorted for this bay as well. Let's get these last few studs in, get it all finished up. I'll probably get a sheet up there, then I have to work out what I'm actually going to clad this wall with. I've got this product which is perfect for garages, which I've used in the other garage. It's actually a 12 mil. VJ product, but it's made out of the same stuff that Yellow Tongue's made out of. So Yellow Tongue is what, 18, 19 mil? I can't remember. I need to grab a few more sheets of that because I think I need four or five here. And what's really bugging me is that wall up there that's just reflective insulation. I want to fill that up. So let's get these last few studs in, nog it out, and then this wall will be finished. That's the plan anyway. See how she fits. Look at that, perfect fit. Apparently I've run out of Liquid Nails, so I've got Rapid Cure, cures in 10 minutes. I've used this once before and it doesn't give you enough time to work. So let's see how we go, because this bit's kind of flimsy. I do want to make sure it's very level for when I start the next shape. How's that wall looking? Finished, clad. I even hung a door. Didn't film it because it's the first time I've hung a door and I didn't actually know what I was doing, so I YouTubed it. But it came out really good. I've just got a little packer here at the moment to hold it shut. But it is a... Full solid core door, so it was very heavy and a little bit awkward to maneuver by yourself, but I've got three hinges on. It stays shut. There's no stays or anything behind it. I've just put a bit of tape on it for the moment. It's super balanced. It sits anywhere. I'm happy with that. The gap all the way around it turned out pretty bloody good. It's a little bit bigger on this side, but at least it's even. Here, I didn't realize how sort of tight it would come once you recessed the hinges. But I aimed for like a two mil gap all the way around and look there's just a two mil gap there. There's probably just under a two mil gap on the side and there's probably four mil gap on that side but I'm happy with that. I'll put the little trim pieces around it later. I've still got to work out a door handle, fit that up. That'll take me a while as well because it's not something I do all the time. But the wall's sick. I've double sheeted it only because That office is going to be Lucy's filming space. So I want to do everything I can to sort of soundproof it as much as I can. And I've seen a lot of things on YouTube where people in the States build like two stud walls to try and stop like things vibrating between the walls. So I've put two stud walls here as well. So I'm going to whack two layers of insulation between the wall because if I'm out here banging around and Lucy's trying to film I want a best chance. of keeping it fully silent in there. Next, do need to paint it. I'm going to try and bribe Lucy into picking up a paintbrush again. It's been a while, but it's her favourite job. Say I like painting once, now I find myself painting this whole damn house. What I'm going to do now is we're going to, we'll probably try and paint this tonight, but something that's been bugging me for a long time is this. This reflective material. It's very bright. It's very silver. It's very ugly. If I don't do this today I'll probably never do it. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to pull all of this racking down, shift it out of the way, set up my scaffold because that's nearly five meters in that corner and I'm going to sheet that wall and I'm going to paint it. When I build the office and put a mezzanine and stuff that wall will all be sheeted too. Over there and the other walls we're not so concerned about it but I want it to look finished. Got a lot of work to do to unpack all of this, pull it all out, but I'm going to do it once and I'm going to do it right so I don't regret it later. Anyway, I have been trying to clean up as I go and as I build things, but this thing's getting pulled apart. So it'll be another opportunity to sort through the junk and get things away because look, I've got paint cans. Oh I nearly hit my head again. I really have to sort that out. Once it all comes together and I've got this full u-shape I'm hoping I'm going to be like really really organized because even while I've been building stuff. But yeah like I've got sunscreen here. Random stuff. Actually, these are the best things to have on your workbench. The Bostik handy wipes. I don't know what's in them, but it's for cleaning up, like, glue when you're doing... I got them for when we were doing the floors, when we were gluing down the flooring. But if you spill glue or have, like, all sorts of crap, or, like, I squirted bloody grease gun all over the bench the other day, these things seem to clean up anything sticky, gluey, grease, anything, really. See, I need a home for everything. Myself. I thought I'd quickly get this wall up, whack a bit of primer on it, only gonna do one coat, get some colour on it, put all the racking back together. And now I am filling screw holes, which is probably totally overkill for a shared workshop, but come on buddy, look at the things. I know when I whack the colour on it, most of them are gonna disappear, and you're barely gonna be able to see them. And I'm gonna put stuff in front of them, and I'm gonna screw other holes into them. But I don't know, I don't know what it is. Massive, massive job. Been a couple of weeks of heavy lifting, playing Tetris, but we got there and it looks sick. I'm so happy to have a bit of floor space back. I can actually park my car in here again. Dusty, what do you think? You happy? Yeah, it's much cleaner in here. Plenty of room for activities now. And I'm like 90% sure I know where everything is, but it's good enough for now and it's good enough to start cracking on. With a few more projects that I really need to knock off, so after I got all the junk out, the first big thing I tackled was the uncle storage system and that's been the biggest game changer to trying to get organized in this space, so come in we'll have a look. Huge thank you to Uncle Storage for sponsoring this video. So this kit from Uncle Storage is the six bay plus, so it's extra high and with the extension on it. The total frame capacity is 2.1 tons. That is a lot of gear that you can store on this thing, but you probably don't want to overload it. Each of those storage bays can hold 220 kilos and you can put up to 50 kilos on each shelf. But essentially that means that these bays are a meter deep, which allows for lots and lots of storage there's like an infinite number of configurations you can do inside these things and ultimately this is a massive space saving bit of kit because these things move quickly showed you when i set them up the track system up here so this is like super heavy duty pallet racking with extra solid steel supports in here and then these rollers they're massive like huge oversized roller blade wheel Kind of things and they run super smooth. These are fully loaded, very heavy, probably to their max capacity already, but they're so easy to move. And that's the benefit of them, that it's like basically a walk-through system. I've got the option that I can access it from both sides. I sort of spec'd up this kit based on the fact that I was going to have access from both sides, because that bay is always going to be sort of for vehicle storage and bulk storage. I've got my surfboard, racking, car cleaning station and stuff over there, because that bay is a full drive-through. I've got a roller door on both sides, whereas this bay is like my workspace. I did manage to get most of this put together myself. Got Lucy's help for a little bit. Some of these beams, very heavy. So if you're gonna tackle one of these, do watch the how-to instructions that Zach's put up on his YouTube channel. Makes it very simple to know which bits you need to do first before you can do the next bits. Little tips like using one of the higher beams as a brace on the bottom while you get these really heavy ones in place. But I've got one little change. that i made when i was installing these shelves because we've got these little slots in here where these brackets slot into which is awesome because it means they can be infinitely adjustable you can put the shelves wherever you want you've got a support here and you've got one at the back and then you've got two little cross bars which you have to put a little screw into with a little allen key the ones at the back the little bolts very hard to get to and you can only get a quarter turn at a time on your allen key because it fouls on the back wall so i got one of the brackets on my bench and i put the two cross beams in it and i fully screwed them up first then i put the bracket in with the support beams then i put the front one in because the front one's much easier to access and you can spin your allen key all the way around and then when you're putting your shelves in you do have to be mindful that you have to get them in on an angle so you can't go too high or if you do I do want to go higher. Get the shelf in first, put it up, then get your bracket in, get it loosely in place and then put your shelf down and then you can sort of cinch up these little bolts later. So that's my little hot tip for installing shelves. Only a tiny change. The biggest problem I had was that I started moving everything in here before I had an idea of where I was going to store everything and I just started dumping stuff and you would have seen it was an absolute dumping ground. There was boxes Boxes of crap everywhere. I'd emptied an old storage container and just put it all in here. Anyway, it was a mess. This thing's a massive game changer. I fit so much stuff in here and I've still got options to put more in or rearrange down the track. So let's have a look at kind of how I've set it up. and how it's working for me at the moment. Essentially in this first bay, I thought because it's closer to the roller doors, it's going to be closer to the cars, this is my activity station. So I've got kids' wetsuits, life jackets, my winter gear, which I finally got to put away. So my hood's away, my booties are in here. Leggies, fins, I've got my dive gear in here. There's some camping gear. More space still to put stuff away when I get to it. And when I find it, where I put it, a lot of the stuff just lives in my car. There's a whole heap of accessories and different things that you can get to spec up and figure the layout to these bays. I've got a hanging rack, the basket and one shelf here. Works really well for this sort of setup. And then this bay I've just set up with shelves and it's kind of part storage. So I've got servicing gear for the ute. Haven't serviced that thing in a couple of years, probably is due. A bit of recovery gear, which actually got a bit of a run the other night. Got a call from a mate stuck down the air. That was fun. So yeah, this one's basically car stuff. Servicing stuff, more fluids, ratchets, tie downs, charging bits and pieces, spare parts. That's about it. Then we come into this one. This is tool storage really. And at the moment I've got all my camera gear in here because if they're closed up, it keeps like 90% of the dust out. But my camera gear is out when I'm using it because I'm using it right now. But my bags and backpacks and stuff are just there. Like there's a slider in there. Gimbal's in there somewhere. Track saw fits nicely down there. And then yeah, just extra tools. Things that you kind of grab and use all the time. Spare blades for the saw. Then in this one, Gone a little bit fancy. Uncle Storage have got this epic little open tray storage divider system. So you can move the dividers to make different little bays on a slight angle. So it's great for like hardware. I've got glue and cork in a big basket tray. And then I've got individual stations for like my nozzles, which you never have enough of and never gonna find them when you need them. We are so far from shops here. When you're in the middle of renovating, the worst thing that can happen is to run out of hardware. Keeping it all here. And then on this one, gone a little bit different because I've got the 3D printer set up back here as well. This is essentially my 3D printing station. I've got a couple of shelves at the bottom and then the drawer system. The drawer system's really cool because it's also got the little dividers, like the open one, and you can change the width again of them. And at the moment, it's just actual 3D printing parts. An extra little piece for the printer and then spares like spare print plates, nozzles, servicing bits and pieces. Then I've just got a whole drawer full of cable ties and heat shrink and then just bulk filament storage. And on the bottom two shelves it's just more boxes of filament. The other cool thing about this system is old uncle Zach who runs the company has gone and included LED lighting that mounts onto the mesh of the shelf above and it's bloody bright and it helps a lot when you're trying to find stuff in here and it actually gives a bit of light out onto the floor and everything as well it comes with a controller that you literally just plug into a powerpoint so you don't have to get anything wired up but I switched it out and I hooked it into my Home Assistant which we'll go through in a bit let's spin around this whole racking setup is 3.5 meters high To use and maximize as much of that space up high is sort of essential to make the most of this joint. This rack, I've got a lot of heavy stuff up, so I can't really just get it without getting a ladder out or something. But some of the tubs I can just flick off. Storing stuff up there that I'm not gonna use every day. And then stuff for the very top. Little bit more of a mission to get up there without a forklift, but you can do it with a ladder. Let's check out this little workbench extension. If I need a little walk through, I can just push all of them over. They move so smoothly. And then I can get straight through to the other side. It's a really great size. This racking is a metre deep. Yeah, up here, more just bulk storage. Got little fans set up because it did get quite hot. Still got a lot of work to do over here and sorting all this out. But a lot of this stuff has come in and been rearranged and stored here. Anything that I'm going to be using quite often is now living in this bay. But this bench has been bloody great for when I was just working on the other benches and setting up because it's so deep. You never have enough bench space. But the key is to try and keep it clean. Got the 3D printer station set up here because it's close to power and everything over there. It has been running hot. I'll show you all of the stuff I've been printing for the other walls. But I like having this. as sort of open and not with a back wall or anything because i do have a roller door there sometimes it's nice to get a breeze in or just to be able to see outside you can see the ocean so plenty of storage space under here all right come over here and we'll have a look at this So the goal now is to try and keep it looking this neat. It does look neat up here. Some of these, not so neat, but that's a job for another day. This is the existing racking that I already had. I had this set up in the garage. So when I did the garage makeover, I had all of this racking and these drawers and stuff set up. But yeah, that garage is now Lucy's space. Her car lives there. She's got all of her samples for her design projects in there. She's still got some racking and she's still got drawers and stuff, but I stole the drawers with all the tools in it. We've got a 15 amp outlet here. I like to have all the power points off the bench because if you put them like right at bench height you often get things with adapters that are like the wrong shape and styles and you can't plug them in and it also means that you lose some of your workable base if you've got a power point there and a cable coming out. So yeah, charging station and then anything that I just come in here and need to grab and use for something. Things like ear protection, keys for the tractor, screwdrivers. All the different size bits for roofing screws because you pick up a bloody packet of screws and you're like, oh, they're the smaller ones or they're the bigger ones. I've also put things on the wall that I might've started doing a project without even considering, like eye protection, because I lost it, or gloves when I'm doing something dirty on the car. The little 3D mount for the Mac Mini. There's a 3D VESA mount behind that. Oh yeah, there's a little 3D print for... Key storage, just so many bloody keys for padlocks and stuff. If I don't put them somewhere where I can see them, I'll lose them and I'll never be able to find them again. Then up here is stuff that I'll use a lot of the time but not all the time and I like to pack it all up and kind of keep it consolidated. If I'm doing something in the house like we're finishing up a bit of plastering, we need to sand and gap fill and that. I've got a painting and sanding box, pretty self-explanatory. And then things that I will be using a bit. Here's just a whole tub of things I've 3D printed but I haven't used yet. I keep losing my bloody levels. So I've got one here and then I've gone and put the small ones on the wall and the really long ones. I've got this like, About 250mm extra space where the racking didn't go to and then there's a beam for the shed. It's kind of the perfect spot. Got the aluminium straight edge, three more levels, the tracks from a track saw. One of the best things I found are these cheap and cheerful magnet. Mounts. I like to have my drills and stuff somewhere where I can put them away quickly, otherwise you just end up leaving them on a bench. So I 3D printed these little storage things for drills. If you put them away, they don't just get left everywhere. I finally finished knocking up this wall. I got the door in. Don't have a door handle yet. Get to that soon. Clad the wall and then added this little bay in. This is a bit of a work in progress. I want a bit more storage, so I might change this, but it's working for the moment. Oh, remember when I was working over there earlier in this video and I kept donking my head on my clamps? Oh I nearly hit my head again, I really have to sort that out. Yeah I found a little 3D print to hold these clamps and put it on the wall. I've also got these hooks that come with this racking and slot in so there's like single hooks or double hooks. Put my tool belt on, first aid kit, essential in any shed because I use it like every week. Somehow I cut both my thumbs the other day in the same day, that was fun. I've got a bit of extra open space under here, got big shop vac. Little step ladder. Sometimes I need the step ladder to get up the top. Found all these moving blankets that I had stashed in a trailer somewhere. This is just an extra workspace really. I'm going to put another layer of something on this so I can bolt my vise to it. And then I've got this grinder. I'll be able to store some tools under here. Obviously I've got the table saw in there, which I pull out when I need to use. I'll be able to get the welder in here. Then I've got my grinder set up. I actually broke something on the tractor the other day. And I was waiting for a part to come in. So I snapped off one of these wheels on the mower deck. So I pulled this off, ordered some new wheels, and we might as well get them fitted up. What do you reckon? I'm trying not to leave stuff out on the benches anymore. Except my rule is if I've got a job to do and I leave it out, hopefully that'll make me do the job so I don't have stuff on the bench anymore. So why don't I grab the tractor in here and I'll fit them up. One less thing on the bench. How good is it when you know where everything is? We're trying to remember where everything goes, but now I can finish mowing. Let's get this thing out of here. Hope you liked the video. If you've got any questions about what I've used, how I've done it, or anything else, or any suggestions on things I should change, leave us a comment below and be sure to like and subscribe. Plenty more videos coming your way.