6 distractions worth having in your garage
Of all the tools people will tell you to add to your garage, anything that would derail you from efficient work would seem the least worthwhile. However, items that many would label as distractions can be very helpful in specific situations, and to ignore their benefits is to risk complicating your life.
Let’s take a look at six things that appear to be distractions but that deserve a place in your shop—even if you have to explain why to your friends.
Television
Let’s start with the ultimate distraction. When I’m cleaning, I’ll often put on the reply of an endurance race or a favorite concert, sideshows that I can tune in or out of without guilt. It also serves as a generously sized screen on which I can review my own race footage or watch a how-to video. Recently, the TV proved its worth when a friend was over with a motorcycle I’d never worked on before. We ended up watching a how-to video on the big screen and talking through the process together. Very helpful.
Fridge/freezer
A staple of the garage for those who spend hours belly-up to the workbench. Kept stocked with cold beverages, a fridge is always a threat to productivity; all it takes is one pop tab to turn a night of productive wrenching to one of bench racing. Sure, some folks can enjoy a cold beverage and notice little change to their productivity, but any change in judgement combined with a high-risk task is a recipe for trouble.
Imbibe wisely, and remember that thermal changes can be very helpful during assembly of some pieces: That fridge or freezer can provide the perfect temperature differential to make press-fits just a bit easier.
Computer
I know it’s not just me that spends the whole working day on a computer. Therefore the last thing I want to do after hours is peer at a screen. Heck, that’s why my cars have carburetors. I don’t want anything on the car that requires a screen.
Yet having a computer on the workbench helps me assemble a parts order while looking at the project, and review reference materials or how-to outlines easily. My personal favorite is using a full-sized computer screen to review photos of assemblies I took apart weeks or months ago to know I’m putting them back together correctly. It’s far easier to scroll photo albums on a computer than on my phone. Do I need the laptop all the time? Certainly not, but it can really make life easier.
Comfortable chair
Sometime you just need to take a mental break. Personally I find it helpful to continue looking at what I’m working on while I think through the process. Even reading shop manuals is more productive when the parts are in front of me. (Plus, I haven’t sold the missus on bringing engine blocks into the living room.)
A nice place to sit is a luxury worth having in your garage. This could mean a barcalounger, if you’ve got the space, or even a supportive, bench-height office chair to replace that battered, wooden kitchen stool. Anything that creates a comfortable opportunity to get off your feet for a bit.
Stereo
The right music can dial in your focus, while the wrong tunes can be attention-grabs that do nothing but sidetrack you. Background noise can help keep you maintain focus and motivation while plugging away on tedious projects, like parts cleaning or bodywork, so don’t be scared to have a nice stereo in your shop. Bonus points if you listen to era-correct music while working on your car. That’s just affordable time travel!
Friends
Having a “helping hand” can sometimes mean that even less work gets done, but such is the cost of camaraderie. The human connection is more important than the cars. Never feel bad if the conversation ends up being your focus, instead of the project. Our friends bring a different type of joy into our lives and it is not to be ignored.
Are these the only common garage distractions? Of course not. Let us know the worst offender in your shop in the comments below.
Friends are not a distration anymore- The younger ones give me a boost in energy and get down of the floor doing stuff for me. At my age getting dwn is the easy part–getting up is a pain!
TV? Not welcome and I have a sink right outside the door.
I have a typical suburban 2 car garage. Hardly room for the cars let alone anything else. How the heck would I ever fit all the rest of this stuff in??
One of those cars- in my case it’s my winter Tahoe- lives in the driveway. Voila!
Jean,
I feel your pain three car/trucks and a couple of motorcycles eat up space.
This new comment format blows big time. Some comments are obviously a reply to something else, but you can’t tell which.
What would it all be worth without friends? I think the best part of the hobby is having friends share the thrill of a successful repair that they had some help with.
Agreed SFSGM! I have a Colt Agent .38spl with Underwood 125gr deep cut HP’s for my toolbox gun, for those “uninvited friends”! I realize this is not a gun website but it has been my experience that if you’re into guns you’re into cars as well!
I have four of the six: stereo, well stocked fridge/freezer, comfortable chair and great friends/neighbors when needed. My next-door neighbor is a heavy equipment mechanic with a complete service truck, forklift, manlift and full-size tractor with a gannon on the back! What a neighbor and one of the best mechanics on this planet!
No TV. No fridge, but I do have an old post WW2 Coca Cola chest (holds about 190 bottles of beer, has battled through many a football bbq). Yes to the other four. My garage is all about work and is no ultra clean showroom, … how the heck can you keep a garage that clean ?? Have heat, is pretty well insulated, don’t need AC this far north, would love a sink and as I get older a urinal could find regular work. I have excellent lighting but my all time dream garage would be very large and have a car wash bay.
Not to be tacky, but if you have a sink, you have a urinal…
A dartboard. I have a 40+ year old “Joe Camel” dartboard in the shop as well… only takes up a few feet of wall space & a good game of darts is always a great way to see who’s buying the next round!
Sadly, I have them all. Friends are the most fun but are the greatest distraction.
Coffee pot.
A funnel. I kept. A few funnels hanging under my bench…one of them had a hose attached that ran outside through a hole drilled under the bench. It took over 3 years before my wife realized that I would work on projects, watch football & drink beer all afternoon & never come in to the house to use the bathroom!
I just completed construction on a new house in Southwest Florida where its summer all the time. 5 car garage with 12 foot ceilings. The drive on lift is a distraction because it’s so freakin’ cool I can’t stop playing with it.
Believe it or not, some of still come out to the garage to work, be in “the zone,” commune with our wheeled alter ego, to escape television, the internet, and unless a third or fourth hand required, our talkative, inquisitive friends.
While resonating to music from classical to old Motown, Joan Baez, Beatles, something to be said for being alone with your thoughts, entirely focused, whether a demanding job or just unwinding, recharging your own battery, your car already on a trickle charger.
And a little garage art goes a long way. Less really is more, makes the little you do hang up pop, not get lost in nervous shuffle.
But to each his own.
👍😎👍
Have to add in a slot machine in mine. For heat have a waste oil burner no need to haul out the oil.
I am jealous of the room that many of you apparently have. I have a 3-hole garage, which is something I never dreamed I’d have, but too many cars. I do have 7 foot high shelving in between two of my bays, and shelves around 1/2 of the ceiling, a nice 8 foot workbench, and a telephone, which is probably the only real distraction. A strong portable natural gas heater is great for those cold winter days, and everything standing on the floor is interlaced with tool boxes, machine tools, and boxes of parts.