5 Ideas to Upgrade Your Garage Workshop

Updated on Sep. 19, 2024

Five great garage workshop improvements that don't cost a fortune.

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Tk Ideas To Upgrade Your Garage Workshop Callouts
FAMILY HANDYMAN

Add a Metal Cover to Your Existing Workbench

This sheet metal workbench cover is the first workbench upgrades you can make to your garage workshop, and it’s one of the wisest investments you can make to upgrade your garage. It’s easy to clean (just squeegee the oil into the gutter which drains down a hose into a bucket), and it’s heavy duty enough to handle heavy car parts. All it takes is some measuring and sketching and a trip to a sheet metal shop or a local HVAC shop and steel yard.

The whole thing assembles in less than an hour and costs a few hundred dollar. Skip the steel decking if you wish, but it does prevent the top from denting and provides a more solid work surface. Drop auto and small components on the metal workbench cover and blast off the bolts. The drip edge catches the oil spills and the metal cover prevents grease stains.

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Jack Stand Holder
Family Handyman

Jack Stand Holder

Haven’t you tripped over your jack stands enough? Build this brain-dead–simple garage storage project and get them off the floor. If you have a lightweight floor jack, add mounting hooks under the holder. Screw a two-inch PVC coupler onto the side of the rack and a two-inch cap on the wall near the floor for the handle.

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Grease Gun Holder
Family Handyman

Grease Gun Holder

A grease gun is big and, uh, greasy. So don’t slime up your garage cabinets with it. Slice up a few sections of one-inch and three-inch PVC pipe and screw them to a plywood backer to make this slick grease gun holder. Then slap up a two-inch coupler and cap to hold a backup tube of grease.

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Diy Drawer Organizer
Family Handyman

DIY Drawer Organizer

When you’re right in the middle of a project, you don’t need to waste time pawing through drawers looking for tools. So keep frequently used tools neatly stacked in your workbench drawer using this handy setup. Cut one- or two-inch PVC pipe to length. Glue on end caps and then slit each pipe in half on a band saw. Screw them to the bottom of some sturdy drawers and load them up!

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Garage Central Vacuum
Family Handyman

Garage Central Vacuum

Install two-inch sanitary tees on the ceiling and drop a pipe near each car door. Install a long 90-degree bend and a stubout to connect the hose. Cap off the stubout with a standard two-inch pipe cap when not in use.

This setup might seem like overkill. But once you get the shop vac mounted to the wall, it’ll just make sense to run inexpensive two-inch PVC all over the place. That way it’s done here meant that you won’t have to drag the 35-foot hose all over the garage workshop. Buy adapters to connect standard plumbing PVC to the vacuum (central vacuum fittings are two-inches O.D., while plumbing fittings are two-inches I.D.).
Next: Check out these garage flooring ideas!