DIY Garage Workbench

If you don't have a workbench in your garage, it's because you've NEVER HAD ONE BEFORE AND DON'T KNOW HOW MUCH YOU REALLY REALLY NEED ONE!

Workbenches are so great. You need a place to do small projects so you don't have to do them on the garage floor.

So, plan a workbench (or plant the seed in husband's ear), and declare that we need a Very Manly Workbench, and you've done all the brain work already...

DH and I have a two car garage, that technically has no space for a workbench along the walls.

But I am an expert in inventing storage. 

When both of our cars are parked in the garage, the passenger side of the my truck was about 2 feet from the right side of the wall. So, I will plan my workbench to stick out 18 inches. This means that if anyone wants to enter or exit on my passenger side, the car will have to be pulled out of the garage, but that doesn't bother us. We just wanted to park both cars in the garage (we get a lot of hail) and fit a workbench.

I decided to do a 8'W X 18"D X 35"H workbench along our garage wall, with middle legs at the 5' mark.

As kitchen counters are usually 34-36" high, I figured that 35" was a perfect compromise.

It's always easier to work a little low than a little high. If in doubt, make your workbench a little low!!!

I used: 

(I did not get pressure treated wood)

- A Ten 2x4's, cut to 34"  (for the legs). Yes, TEN. We will have six legs, but the ones on the four corners of the bench will be reinforced.
- B Ten 2x4's, cut to 14" (for the rungs of the ladder)

- C Four 2x4's, each cut to 8' (for the legs of the ladder)

- D  One sheet of 3/4 inch thick, 8x4 plywood, cut lengthwise into 8' x 18" (For two tabletops, part D-1 and D-2.)

- A bunch of screws, long ones, at least 2.5 inches.
- Pegboard and peggy hookups for hanging tools

Get two of your 8' beams (part C), and five of the 14" ones (part B), and nail them equidistant to part C like rungs on a ladder (Make two of these ladders):

Starting with the rungs on the outside, then the middle rung at the 5' mark, and lastly the final two rungs as follows:

Parts of wood are labeled here (red letters in the supply list)

Make sure you attach the rungs like this:

 
So now you should have two identical ladder looking things..

We will call these two ladders M and N.
 
 Place part D-1 on top of ladder (M) to make a tabletop, and screw it down.

 (we had to trim a little bit that was uneven, but it was cosmetic only):

The second ladder frame is behind DH.

Do the same thing for the second ladder N (for the bottom shelf).
 
Get four of your 34" beams (A), and screw them into the corners of your top shelf M, to make legs.
Now attach four more of your beams (A) at right angles to the legs you just installed. 

(see how the legs are attached here:)

You should have two 34 inch beams (A) left over. These are for the center legs.

Attach the center legs to the inside of section M.

Place the bottom shelf N on the ground, and place the top shelf M on top of it, legs aligned. Trace where the legs his shelf N in pencil, matching them up as well as you can.

Bottom shelf, one of the corner holes cut.

Now, lay the whole thing on its side (as if your workbench is lying on its side).

Feed the legs (that are attached to shelf M) through the holes you just cut on the bottom shelf N, and make sure that your bottom shelf is about 6" from the floor.

Now screw the legs to the ladder beams into your bottom shelf N.

Here's Husby helping me doing some manly labor:

Here is a view of the center leg:

Trimming the legs to make sure nothing wobbles...

You're done!

Place your bench where you want it! Since it's not screwed into studs, you can take it with you when you move too.

NOTHING will move this baby. It is STURDY! My husband was driving into the garage, and he hit it with the car as he was driving in! The car has a dent, and I can't even tell where it hit the bench. Bench - 1
Car - 0

Having a surface to do more projects is priceless.