I’m a bit late to the party, but this is what I have found. Two major categories of planning, Location and Environment.
I am 50 miles from coast in Houston. Humidity is the #1 consideration and Heat is #2. Courtesy of my teenager FAFO with garage door, I had opportunity to replace/upgrade to an insulated garage door. This alone dropped temperature in garage by 15F in summer. I added a mini-split A/C to cool off as well as deal with humidity.
The 3rd consideration is Dust. My garage really is my workshop with no room for a car to fit. Wherever a particle of dust, especially wood dust, settles it has potential to cause rust. The wood dust acts like a micro-sponge and absorbs moisture. I store things in covered bins, cabinets with doors, and under protective covers as needed.
The 4th consideration is “other activities” in garage. Is the garage going to be a dedicated workshop/man cave or is it a functional garage with family going in and out opening garage door? Depending on where you live, privacy and access may not be an issue. I am in the suburbs so having my neighbors, delivery drivers, and strangers seeing my gear might be problematic and also encourage bad actors. While walking my dog it is not uncommon to find garage doors accidentally left open all day or even at night… no thanks.
The 5th consideration is Adequate Lighting… make it excessively well lit.
After some trial and error I settled on my dirty work (tumbling, vibrating, annealing, solvents and cleaners) are stored and used in garage. My reloading gets done in my office. I built a reloading bench with drawers and plenty of storage to store all of my gear. I repurposed a cabinet to use as storage for powder, primers and other critical components.
I am 50 miles from coast in Houston. Humidity is the #1 consideration and Heat is #2. Courtesy of my teenager FAFO with garage door, I had opportunity to replace/upgrade to an insulated garage door. This alone dropped temperature in garage by 15F in summer. I added a mini-split A/C to cool off as well as deal with humidity.
The 3rd consideration is Dust. My garage really is my workshop with no room for a car to fit. Wherever a particle of dust, especially wood dust, settles it has potential to cause rust. The wood dust acts like a micro-sponge and absorbs moisture. I store things in covered bins, cabinets with doors, and under protective covers as needed.
The 4th consideration is “other activities” in garage. Is the garage going to be a dedicated workshop/man cave or is it a functional garage with family going in and out opening garage door? Depending on where you live, privacy and access may not be an issue. I am in the suburbs so having my neighbors, delivery drivers, and strangers seeing my gear might be problematic and also encourage bad actors. While walking my dog it is not uncommon to find garage doors accidentally left open all day or even at night… no thanks.
The 5th consideration is Adequate Lighting… make it excessively well lit.
After some trial and error I settled on my dirty work (tumbling, vibrating, annealing, solvents and cleaners) are stored and used in garage. My reloading gets done in my office. I built a reloading bench with drawers and plenty of storage to store all of my gear. I repurposed a cabinet to use as storage for powder, primers and other critical components.
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