My Workshop(s) - Moving a Workshop

Updated June 11, 2017

Updated July 31, 2017

Here is a related forum post with good discussion on this topic: http://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/relocating-my-shop-advice-wanted.56109/

New House - New Workshops (and some moving lessons)

Earlier this year (2017), I moved to a new house located about 150 miles from my old house. As I write this, I am still in the process of unpacking boxes,setting up my new workshops, and just generally getting thing organized. Once I have the new workshops set up, I'll post some pictures and talk a bit about the new workshops. In the meanwhile, I like to share some lessons I learned from the moving process - what worked, what didn't work, and what I would do differently if I had to do it over again.

Moving a Workshop (and Lessons Learned)

Before I moved my workshop, I solicited advice on one of the machinists forums. I got a lot of good advise, so what I am writing here is a combination of that advice, things I figured out for myself, and lessons I learned from the move which in hindsight I would have done differently (or at least better).

Briefly, here is what my move entailed: In the old house, I had four work areas:

1. Garage (primarily wood-working stuff)
2. Computer room - small bedroom with computers, office supplies, and components for building computers.
3. Basement small workroom - "general" tools and some storage for nuts, bolts, etc.
4. Basement large workroom - machining tools, lathe, mill, etc.

In the new house, I had a larger garage area: Two car plus one-car. I was able to dedicate the one-car garage as a dedicated workspace (again, primarily for wood-working). Similarly, the basement of the new house had a much larger potential workspace, I consolidated the last three workspaces listed above into a single workspace.

Moving items: Because I was traveling back and forth between the old house and the new for some weeks before the final move, and because I have a 5x8 utility trailer, I was able to move quite a few workshop items before the final move. This was useful, but not as useful as it could have been (as I will explain further below). For the final move, I paid professional movers to pack and move the entire house. In general, I am glad I hired professional movers, as I would not have been able to move the heavier pieces of equipment out of the house myself, and even for those items I could move, carrying it all out of the basement was not something I enjoy. As it was, it took four movers the better part of a day to load up their trucks.

Lessons learned:

1. Prepare the new site as much as possible before moving.
2. Remove all handles, levers, cranks, etc.
3. Prepare bins, boxes, parts drawers, etc.
4. Break down machines (if possible) to reduce weight
5. Move shelving and other storage items early, if possible.
6. Label all boxes as throughly as possible; label with both contents and new location in mind.
7. Pack as many items yourself as you can.
8. Discard as many items as you can before moving.
9. Supervise the unloading (important!).
10. Take time in setting up the new workshop to do it right.

Here is the above list, explained in detail:

1. Prepare the new site as much as possible before moving.

In my old house, I had numerous shelves for storing parts, tools, nuts and bolts, and so on. Naturally, these shelves were full of items, so moving them ahead of time would have been difficult. In retrospect, however, it would have been worth the trouble to unload them and move them into place in the new house ahead of time. It would have been much easier to move the shelving into place with the new workshop essentially empty, and some of the the items moved could have been put into place by the movers on the newly set up shelves.

One thing I did do right was dis-assemble some heavy duty wood garage shelves I built myself. Before taking them apart, I labeled the parts with a felt tip marker, so it was a relatively simple matter to re-assemble them in the new workshop and garage. The shelves were built with construction screws (no nails!) which also made it easier to take them apart and put them back together. In addition, when the movers unloaded boxes in the new house, I made sure they left room for the shelves, so I could set them up without having to move boxes out of the way. One of the first things I did at the new location was to set up the shelves, so when I unpacked boxes I had a place to put things.

Other things I did ahead of time: I planned on using the one-car garage space as a workshop, and the walls and ceiling were covered with unpainted OSB (oriented strand board). This made the garage pretty dark inside, even with lights on and a window, so I painted the walls and ceiling with white primer. This was fairly easy since the garage was empty, and it made a big difference in "brightening" the garage. The second thing I did was hire an electrician to put in extra outlets in the planned garage and basement workspaces (I probably could have done this myself, but I had my hands with other relocation activities.). Unfortunately the electrician could not start work until after the move, but I made sure that when boxes were unloaded they were kept away from where he would need to work. This also meant that I could not really get started on unpacking workshop stuff until the new outlets were in, but then I had plenty of other things that needed to get done anyway.

It's worth mentioning that I put together a "moving toolkit" ahead of time. To do this, I selected some basic tools (drill, drill-driver, hammer, screwdrivers, drill bits, screws, duct tape, razor knife, felt tip marker, pencil, level, pliers, socket set, etc.). I used this tool kit to take things apart, put them together, and just general odds and ends. This was very useful, as all of my other tools were packed away in boxes.

Finally, and perhaps obvious (but I'll mention it anyway), I spent a considerable amount of time just looking at the new workshop areas and making a mental picture of where things needed to go. Even though I probably only got it about 80% right (because things always look a bit different once you have actually moved), it was time well spent, and saved me a lot of effort in shifting boxes and equipment around.

2. Remove all handles, levers, cranks, etc.

This was a tip I got from the machining forum, and it was an excellent tip. I guarantee that movers will happily grab any protruding lever or handle and try to lift your lathe, mill, or whatever using it as a grip, at which point it will break, bend, or jam. So I took the time to remove handles, hand-wheels, levers, and so on from all machines. I also carefully packed up (and labeled) all of the removed parts, along with any related screws, pins, etc. As it happens, I forgot to remove the table height crank on my drill press, and sure enough it got broken off. What I should have done, after removing all handles, was to go back over every machine (or better yet, have a knowledgeable friend do it) to make sure I didn't miss anything.

One more thing - put all of the parts removed from a machine into a box (or sturdy bag) and label it. If possible, tape or fasten the parts box to the relevant machine. It's very easy for parts and machine to get separated during a move; I spent two weeks on and off looking for a selector handle because I packed it separately from the machine.

With my table saw, I taped a sign on it noting they should NOT try to lift it using the table extension (same thing with the bandsaw table).

More generally, I took a mental step back and tried to think of ways that equipment might be moved improperly, and tried to take steps to make sure that did not happen - in some cases this was just talking with the movers ahead of time and cautioning them about what not to do with a particular piece of equipment.

A word about the movers: There were four guys packing and moving items from my old house. While they were hard working and reasonably careful, they did not know much about shop equipment, so it was worth it to take some extra time to make an occasional suggestion regarding a particular piece of equipment. One thing I did not do (because I thought it was obvious, but apparently not), was make sure they packed tools, parts, etc. in very small boxes, because the weight adds up quickly and the boxes get hard to move. My impression was that the movers knew this as a general rule for household items, but underestimated the weight of packing a box full of steel. Evern though they were the ones who had to load and unload the boxes, I was the one who had to shift them around at the other end.

Something I tried that sort of worked: I pre-packed a number of items (tools, etc.) in milk crates (small and sturdy). I took the time to put a heavy duty garbage bag into each crate first, then filled it up and closed the bag. However, the movers want every box to be "covered" so they weren't entirely happy with this arrangement. The work around was to cut a cardboard cover for each crate and tape it into place. I still think milk crates are a good idea, but check with your movers on this.

3. Prepare bins, boxes, parts drawers, etc.

If you have a typical shop, you likely have plastic containers full of assorted screws, nuts, bolts, or whatever. Don't assume the lids of these containers will stay closed during moving (ask me how I know!) - take the time to tape them shut. If you have parts drawers, tape the drawers closed and label the drawer cabinet THIS SIDE UP! Similarly, put a THIS SIDE UP! label on anything you don't want moved sideways, and don't assume it will be obvious to the movers that this is the case (again, ask me how I know!).

If I had it to do over again, I would pack all parts, nuts, bolts, washers, etc. containers myself, and I would put them in rather small cardboard boxes (for example, U-Haul sells "book boxes" which would be good for this purpose). Fortunately for me, most of my stuff was packed right side up, but nearly every single parts box that was packed "sideways" opened up and left me with a headache to sort stuff out and put it back where it belonged.

To summarize:

1. Tape parts boxes shut, tape drawers closed.
   • Tip: When applying the tape, fold one end of the tape onto itself by about 1/2" to leave a "handle" for easy removal later.
   • Tip: Stuff drawers with newspaper, packing paper, plastic bags, or what-have-you to keep contents from shifting around during the move.
2. Label boxes or items you are not packing yourself THIS SIDE UP! when appropriate.
3. Label boxes with a specific description of contents (for example, not just "Parts" but "Parts - nuts, bolts, screws, washers, etc.")

4. Break down machines (if possible) to reduce weight

For my 9x30 lathe, I removed as many components as I could (headstock, chuck, tool post) to make it lighter. I then built a "carrying frame" around it using plywood and 2x4s - even though this added a bit of weight, it made it easier for the movers by making it easier for them to get a grip on it, and it reduced the possibility that they would try to lift it improperly. The stand was moved separately, along with the chip pan. At the new location, I had the movers put the stand and chip pan in place, and then place the lathe (carrying frame and all) on top. The reason for this is that I am not able to lift the lathe into place by myself. In fact, I built the carry frame "in place" by lifting the lathe just enough to get a heavy plywood base under it, and then build a frame around it. Now that it's moved, I'll take the frame apart in reverse, and the lathe will already be on top of the stand.

5. Move shelving and other storage items early, if possible.

I've already talked about this in item 1 above, but I'll note that this rule applies not just to workshop items. If you are relocating, you will likely have other garage or basement items that need to end up on a shelf. If you can get those shelves in place ahead if time, it's worth the effort.

6. Label all boxes as throughly as possible; label with both contents and new location in mind.

I got this one partly right. I had the movers label all boxes with the location they were packed in (garage, basement, master bedroom, etc.). This helped greatly with unloading at the new house, with perhaps 70% of the boxes ending up where they needed to be. However, that still left quite a few boxes that had to be moved again, which turned out to be a lot of work. In addition, because I needed some basic tools at the new house to help with setting up, I had to pretty much open every box to see what was actually in it.

This is a difficult problem to solve, because with two or more people involved in packing, it's hard to be everywhere at once. However, walking around with a felt tip pen and making more extensive "notes" on the packing boxes is advisable. The other thing I should I done is have the movers label the boxes with where they were going to go - not where they were coming from. If I had it to do over again, I would give every room in the new house a "name" (living room, bedroom #1, bedroom #2, small garage, large garage, etc.) and if necessary, tape up signs to designate the rooms. I would then have the packers label the boxes with the room they were to go in at the new house. This would have saved a some time unloading at the new house, and would have helped to make sure more boxes ended up where they needed to go.

7. Pack as many items yourself as you can.

This is definitely worth doing if you have the time, but if you are having professional movers move the boxes, make sure you are meeting their requirements. For example, most professional movers will not move any liquids - this includes paint, laundry detergents, cleaners, food items, solvents, glues, oils, lubricants, etc. In addition, the boxes that I did pack myself were better labeled, and more "consistent" (for example, tools and household items were packed separately).

Remember that when you pack boxes, you are going to have to move them yourself at some point, so make sure you can lift them!

8. Discard as many items as you can before moving.

This seems obvious, but it is hard to do. Especially if you have been building a workshop for years, you have all kinds of odds and ends that you "might need some day." I donated some "extra" items to a local MakerSpace, donated quite a few items, and discarded quite a few more. Still, no matter how many items I have moved, I end up getting rid of items I wish I had kept, and moving stuff I end up throwing out.

As I said, it's hard to get this one right.

9. Supervise the unloading (important!).

The movers will put stuff wherever you tell them (they'll even move it again if you change your mind, but have a heart and give those hard working guys a break - don;t do that too often). This is where labeling, and having a good mental picture of where you want things to go, will pay off. Go through the new house with the movers before unloading, and give them a general idea of where you want things to go. This is the time to explain what you mean by bedroom #1, areas that need to be kept clear for upcoming work, etc. Give a brief explanation of how you want things set up (but don;t expect them to remember it!).

As the unloading proceeds, you'll need to spend some time at the truck explaining where boxes or equipment need to go. From time to time, visit each area along with the mover to make sure things are going where you want (and NOT where you don't want). You can take an occasional break, but expect to be busy the entire unloading time making sure things are organized the way you want. Remember, even though the movers should have a general idea of what you want, they can't read your mind, or anticipate your every wish, so take the time to make sure things end up in the right spot, without making a pest of yourself. This is time well spent, because every box or item that ends up in the wrong place is something you will have to move later by yourself.

10. Take time in setting up the new workshop to do it right.

In my old workshop, I had plans about how I was going to set things up, build holders for my portable drills and battery chargers, and so on. In the new workshop, I am taking the time to organize things as much as possible while I am unpacking. I've finally built those holders for drills and battery chargers, put up a lumber rack, installed racks for oversize boards, installed new shelving, etc.

There is still a lot of work to be done yet as I write this. It will probably be several more months before my workshops are fully operational again, and several more months after that before I finish making all of the necessary improvements. In the meanwhile, I hope my reflections on this "moving experience" will be useful to others who find themselves in the same situation.

My Old Workshops

The section below talks about my old workshops, before I moved to a new house. I'm leaving this section here, because I still use many of the same techniques, and have many of the same tools.

I either have two workshops, or one workshop split into two locations. Either way you look at it, there's not enough room.

One of the workshops is in the garage, and is used mostly for woodworking, painting, and jobs that don't fit in the other workshop. Unfortunately the garage is not heated, and since winters get pretty cold here, I generally can't work there year round. In a pinch, since it's an attached garage, I can open the connecting door and blow in warn house air with a fan. After a couple of hours this gets the garage up to 45-50 ºF (about 10 ºC), which is not exactly comfortable, but is workable for some quick projects (still too cold for painting, though).

The other workshop is small basement room. This is where I keep my mini-lathe and mini-mill, most of my tools, and so on. Obviously this is where I do machining, as well as small fix-it jobs and other such stuff.

Wheels, wheels, wheels

As you look at the photos below, you'll note that a good many items are mounted on wheels or casters. I find this a great way to squeeze the maximum of storage into the space available. However, there are a few safety issues to keep in mind:

• When using shelving on wheels, be sure to keep the very heavy items on the bottom shelves. Don't let a shelf become top heavy and in danger of falling over. When moving a shelf, hold it with one hand as high as possible to stabilize it, and pull or push with the other hand on a lower shelf. For the heaviest items, I use steel shelves lag-bolted to the garage wall.
• For machinery mounted on casters be sure to use casters rated for the weight of the machine. Make sure at least two of the casters are locking casters, so that the machine does not shift in operation (or use appropriate wheel chocks).

Having so many items on wheels is obviously not as convenient as having a large workshop where equipment can be set put permanently, but it's not a bad compromise when space is not available. I find that I can "unpack" the garage in five minutes or so, with another five minutes to "re-pack" after a work session, so not all that much time is taken up.

Garage Workshop

Below are photos taken along one wall of my garage, with the workshop in "winterized" condition (so I can get a car in there). I keep a lot of items on wire shelves with casters - these can hold hundreds of pounds, and can be easily rolled out of the way when necessary. You can't really tell from these photos, but my band saw (for wood), table saw, work bench, and drill press are all tucked away.

Basement Workshop