Do you guys crave shop time?

[mikec4193]

Hey Rat Rod guys and gals out there...

I left my govt job in January 2023 so I am down to working part at the local Home Depot...so like 25 to 30 hours a week...3 days a week...

So I am out in the garage at lot more but I find if I am away from it for more a day or two I get jittery for happy place...

My shop/garage is where I am most at peace then any other place in the world...

Anybody else have the same addiction to the garage crack pipe??

MikeC

 

[Bamamav]

Yeah, I get restless, especially this time of year when I can’t get out and do anything. It’s not just working on the cars, it’s working the tractors, cutting the grass, building stuff. I love the challenge of making and fabbing stuff. I find myself staying on the computer too much, reading, and watching car shows on TV.

 

[Old Iron]

If I don't hit the shop virtually everyday, it feels like I'm missing something

 

[dutch]

My shop is on the way out of my house, under the same roof, so everything in there follows my steps closely when passing through. I feel blessed I get to play there almost every day and almost all day... I don`t miss the wrench-out-doors-days

 

[Tripper]

We moved to the boonies after I retired 10 years ago & the biggest thing on my list of must haves was a decent size shop where I could have all my wood & metal working tools all in one place... it's my happy place!

BoB

 

[gene49]

For the last 20 years of my working career I worked out of my home garage. The toys always saw work time between bill paying work.

When I retired, it was into a completely equipped shop without the interruption of bill paying work. I still put in 40+ hours a week working on my stuff. It was great! The 5 years that followed saw 3 complete builds roll out of the door, but that last build took a lot out of me.

Now that the last one is on the road, I have lost most of the desire to work in the shop. I don't currently have a project, but I also don't currently have a desire to work on one, if I had one. I will occasionally go into the shop to tinker a bit for an hour or two, maybe a day or at most 2 days in a week. It is real easy to come up with poor excuses to not go into the shop. Maybe things will change once winter is over, but the shop is heated, so that remains questionable. I thought I would be joyfully doing this stuff until they dragged my dead body out of the garage.

My entire life has pretty much been about cars. I turned 67 last fall, so its not like I'm really old, and though there are aches & pains, I'm still in pretty good health. I never thought I would ever be in this position, but here I am! For the first time in my life, I have no idea what direction my future is going. Kind of scary, and kind of exciting, in a way.

 

[smallfoot]

As my life goes, there is always something to get built or fixed and most of that goes on in my barn. I built the barn when I finished the house and was married at the time. I built my barn 100 yards from the house to appease the house goddess and keep the noise down. It's now a source of exercise. My tools are scattered between there and 3 other buildings so there's alot of walking going on. Everything is 100 yards apart. I retired 20 years ago. Probably have done more in those 20 years than I did in the 30 years before while working but all of it gets worked in there. Yeah, I'd feel funny not getting into the shop.

 

[Couper]

I love being in the garage as much as I loved being in the gym, I get in there everyday, sometimes to work, other times to clean up or just watch a little of Rust to Riches..... but I do have to get in there every day for something.

 

[MercuryMac]

Ya, I'm with you guys, I have to be out in the shop almost every day. I really enjoy making new parts or inventing things. One thing about retirement is there is no timetable for you to be done by. That makes fixing a way more enjoyable.

 

[soltz]

My shop / garage is 1200 sq.ft. Attached to the house. The shop part is 500 of that. About 30 ft of workbench and storage. I’m in and out mostly all day. When working on the project and it’s quitting time every thing stays where I left it till next time. Still room for SUV, short bed truck, 2 motorcycles and wizer type motorbike. All the stuff for holiday decorating and the miscellaneous stuff I might just need some day?
works for me. FYI retired 24 yrs 78 and still doing what ever I want most days.
Have a good yr everyone. stay safe!

 

[redidbull]

Yeah, I get restless, especially this time of year when I can’t get out and do anything. It’s not just working on the cars, it’s working the tractors, cutting the grass, building stuff. I love the challenge of making and fabbing stuff. I find myself staying on the computer too much, reading, and watching car shows on TV.

This is pretty much what I could post. I am depressed this time of year. I have been taking up most of my time with doing remodeling in the house but it is not the same as building something out of metal. Spend too much time on the computer and watching TV too. I do work 4 days a week, 4hrs a day so there is some structure. Retired for a while and got pretty lazy and chubby. Need the structure. Jim

 

[bob w]

Coming up on 28 years retired. I have a 3 car, extra deep garage attached to the house. Heated. Have built 19 or 20 ground-up hot rods or drag cars in that time. My body is pretty creaky, weak and sore now but I get into the garage every day for at least a short amount of time. Just to maintain the discipline. Bench work when I can't crawl around or do the heavy lifting. I put all the tools and supplies away after every task even if they come out for the next task. That's thinking/design time and keeps the clutter from getting out of hand.
I do believe the current build is the last new build. I've got quite a few cars and most of them need more attention. Some of them will be sold off soon. I don't really need the space or the money but in other hands they will become useful and create happiness for someone else.
As long as I'm able I'll be working on a hot rod.
If I was into wood working I'd have built 3,500 bird houses since I retired.

 

[offroadrolls]

I've done a ton of remodeling in our home over the last 25 years while running a small business so, I've got quite a bit of carpentry, plumbing, and electrical type junk in an oversized 3 car garage at home. I used to have the small business and my hobby/machine/fab/auto shop all in the same 6000 sq ft building that I built in a business park 4 miles away, back in 1997 but, I had to sell it in 2015 to finish paying my ex her half of the empire I built, lol. So now, in addition to the shop at home I have my machine/hobby/fab/ and auto shop across the street from my old shop in the business park but, it's a mess because it's not nearly as big as the dedicated space I had in the old shop, it's maybe 2000 sq ft. but, it's my life. When I was about 6 years old I used to go into my mom and dads little storage/work room in our basement on Saturday mornings and nail pieces of scrap wood together just for the heck of it. In fact, as I'm sure many of here can relate , there's never really been a time in my life when I wasn't fixing, building or creating something. At 64 years old my biggest obstacle today is the beta blockers the doc has me on since my heart issue in 2017. The meds rob me of my drive. It used to be I would MARCH through projects. Now days I just kind of stroll through projects and I tend to lose interest in them quickly and then they become work instead of fun.

 

[kenny c]

Like most of you guys I'm a garage rat. My shop is a second income source. when I was married I would go in the shop before I would go in the house. The same thing happens in the summer months , in cold weather I stop at the house to turn the heat on and them out to the garage. It is a place to wind down from work. I feel most comfortable in the garage. It is also my personality. When I visit my friends in Florida I feel funny if I'm not accomplishing something so I work in his shop a bit on his rat which is the 49 ford I started. the same thing happens when I visit other friends. I create working vacations.

 

[MercuryMac]

I hear you Kenny. I like travelling but I always have the feeling that I'm not accomplishing anything while I'm away.

 

[lowbudget50]

I agree shop time is a must!! Almost every day!
I told the wife the same thing it's almost like therapy for me. Keeps my mind from going nuts. I love the problem solving fabrication type work. I'm in the wiring stage on two projects at the moment and believe me it's hard to keep myself motivated doing that but it's also a good problem solving issue. Just not as fun as the fabricating side, but I'm not going to complain