Fixing mechanical contraptions is hard enough without having to mop up the oil, grease and gas that spilled on your workbench or spending half your time looking for tools. We’ve put together five great garage improvements that’ll save you cleanup time and keep your tools in order—all without breaking the bank.
This sheet metal workbench cover is easy to clean (just squeegee the oil into the gutter and drain 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 less than $300.
Skip the steel decking if you wish, but it does prevent the top from denting and provides a more solid work surface. You can cut the 11-gauge (1/8-in.) steel plate into thirds for easy transport.
Drill, countersink and screw the steel plate to any wood top. Then screw down the cover with a few pan head screws covered with a dollop of silicone. Clamp a vinyl tube onto the drainpipe and route it into a bucket.
OK, this setup is overkill. But once you get a wall-mounted wet/dry vacuum mounted to the wall, it just makes sense to run inexpensive 2-in. PVC all over the place. That way you don’t have to drag a 35-ft. hose all over the garage. Buy adapters to connect standard plumbing PVC to the vacuum (central vacuum fittings are 2-in. O.D., while plumbing fittings are 2-in. I.D.).
Install 2-in. 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 2-in. pipe cap when not in use.
Connect the plumbing pipe to the power unit with adapter fittings. Search "central vacuum stores" online for parts.
Haven’t you tripped over your jack stands enough? Build this brain-dead-simple storage rack and get them off the floor. If you have a lightweight floor jack, add mounting hooks under the holder. Screw a 2-in. PVC coupler onto the side of the rack and a 2-in. cap on the wall near the floor for the handle.
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 1- or 2-in. PVC pipe to length. Glue on end caps and then slit each pipe in half on a band saw. Screw them to the drawer bottoms and load them up!
A grease gun is big and, uh, greasy. So don’t slime up your drawers or cabinets with it. Slice up a few sections of 1-in. and 3-in. PVC pipe and screw them to a plywood backer to make this slick grease gun holder. Then slap up a 2-in. coupler and cap to hold a back-up tube of grease.
