Gun cleaning room ideas

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leadcounsel

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I have a large house, but not any great areas to clean my guns. Wondering what others here do and looking for some suggestions.

Most of my house is carpeted, so 'mess' is a concern. One spilled bottle of oil or cleaning agents, or repetative solvent sprays could/would cause damage to the carpet. And of course the walls need some protection from the errant sprays and splashes of solvents/oils as you pull boresnakes through, etc.

I have a small reading room, maybe 8'x8', off my living room that goes largely unused. I considered buying a used table and chair and then laying down some plastic under the work station. Alternately I could build a work station of 2x4s, but seems that buying a solid table would be faster and cheaper and it could serve a few purposes rather than being just a dedicated work station down the road.

I have a large garage, but it's not climate controlled and it's freezing in the winter and hot in the summer. One solution is to at least insulate the garage door, and get a portable heater. I may do that and put a cleaning station in the garage.

Thoughts? Suggestions?
 
The 8'x8' room with a stand alone table has possibilities but ventilation for a cleaning room is vital. Is your garage large enough to wall off a seperate room for your cleaning area? You can heat and cool such an area pretty easily and cheaply.
 
think careful on the type of heating you use---

some of the chemicals used in cleaning are volatile.
read the warnings

my garage is large & never goes below 40 in the winter.
i stoically use it year round; no extra heat in the winter.

though i often time cleaning for after a car arrives--
the hood radiates a pleasant warmth a mer 5 feet from my bench:)
 
I don't have the "extra" room for cleaning my firearms either. Soooo... A newspaper spread over the dining room table and away I go. Granted the table has a glass top that will prevent oils or solvents from getting to the wood, so I must take special care in not dropping anything heavy on it. 15+ years of cleaning on this table and not a problem, yet. My girlfriend had difficulty with this after she moved in, but she learned to live with it!

"...the Constitution does not say Government shall decree the right to keep and bear arms. The Constitution says ‘the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.’” - Ronald Reagan
 
hah, i guess you got that "carpet" thing figured out. let's just say i learned the hard way and wife now stays away from my "study".

wife:".... and here we have my husband's study. Trust me you do not want to go in there. moving on..."
when we have housewarming or friends who haven't been to the house.
 
I have a cleaning island in my gun room. It's 26 inches wide, 60 inches long and the height is 42 inches. It's covered with indoor/outdoor carpet.and has storage below. I can freely work around 3 sides of it. Really works well with working on and cleaning firearms standing up. The carpet works well with small parts not getting lost due to a hard surface. I have had a couple of minor spills but not a problem.
 
My cleaning room is my shop. It is a stand alone 12'x14' well insulated,heated and air conditioned building. I have a double window fan when extra ventilation is needed.
 
he 8'x8' room with a stand alone table has possibilities but ventilation for a cleaning room is vital. Is your garage large enough to wall off a seperate room for your cleaning area? You can heat and cool such an area pretty easily and cheaply.
Click to expand...

I agree and if one is worried that newspapers won't do the job in case of a AD or ND of an oil spill, then one could, very cheaply, go to a Home Depot, etc., and buy a roll of that plastic-rolls painters use, your choice of thickness, I recommend the light colored but semi non see thru, and simply cut out an section large enough to cover your work area floor, wood desk if it is nice, even though in my home office, I find "the little oil here or there on the wood actually makes the wood happy.. lol


Then when finished, simply roll up the plastic and admire the clean area..


Ls
 
Good idea. I'm thinking of insulating the garage this weekend and getting a portable heater.
Click to expand...

About ten years ago everything wore out at once, garage door, heat pump, ect.. Replaced door with insulated model( I had previously insulated garage ceiling with 9" batting) and replaced heat pump with high efficency model, going from 3 ton to 4 ton unit. I ran a 10" duct to the garage which is my woodworking/gunshop. With the heat pump upgrade my a/c bills dropped even though I added 400 sq feet to heated/cooled area. The only trouble now is that with all the equipment in there it is so crowded I need to build a big workshop, but things would just repeat themselves there.
 
Before I built my man cave, I was in a similar situation.

I tried newspaper, but spilled so Hoppes on it, it bled the newsprint on my white table.

I went to a fabric store and bought some heavier clear plastic- it's on a bolt, just like fabric.

I bought 2 yards of it and folded it in half in case I accidentally punctured it. It gave me a nice protected surface to with, and I could clean wherever I wanted to.
 
I happened to be in one of the Dollar Tree stores one evening and saw these plastic trays approximately 14" x 24" and approximately 3/4" deep for you guessed it... $1 each. These are perfect for cleaning and containing any liquids as well as any small parts that you remove for cleaning.

It has been a great addition to the cleaning bench
 
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My wife is far less fond of the perfume of Hoppes #9 or brake and carb cleaner than I am, and really cannot understand how difficult it is to go an entire cleaning session without a spill of some kind.

Therefore I have developed a dedicated cleaning area in the unfinished half of the basement that includes:

1.) A laminate topped table, maybe 32"X96" like are used for yard sales or flea markets, cost maybe $40 at Sams Club. The legs fold up, but it's been years since I've bothered with taking it down.
2.) Double layer of cardboard duct taped over half of the table to absorb most of the Hoppes that jumps out of the bottle every time I forget to cover it up and it knocks itself over. Easy to untape and replace when it gets too full or odiferous. Be careful when you take it out to the trashburner.
3.) 1 layer of close napped carpet (like office carpeting, not shaggy stuff) over top of the cardboard and most of the rest of the table to keep gun parts from laying on the plastic surface of the table and getting scratched.
4.) A 4 tube 48" florescent fixture centered over the table for my old fart's vision problems and the small screws that go missing constantly.

Other than that, glad my wife like to shoot and likes guns that work well so she complains less than she used to. At least about the gun cleaning area......
 
buy a sheet of "fridge magnet" material...it'll pad the surface as well as help prevent screws and such from rolling off so easily.

I plan on doing this to the cheap desk I'm buying for my new apartment.
 
You know those window shade cargo cover thingies for the back of the car? They make great table protectors if you slice off the parts you don't need. Basically square it up and it's good. Mine came off a 1986 Subaru 4wd wagon fwiw. It had armored exhaust, steel skid plates and a dual-range 5-speed. All factory and adjustable rear shocks too. That was Subaru back then though.

Finding a cover should be easy, I don't think anybody actually uses them much in the car.

John
 
I did...at one time...in the far distant past....have a room (heated and cooled) in the basement. Wifey took it over for storage of STUFF! I reloaded and did my cleaning in that room. My safe is there. My room was/is 18' x18' has a fire place and I liked my room. Wifey has control of 90% of the space. :scrutiny: Not sure HOW that happened!

So, to get back...I clean my guns in the only room that has enough room to move around in...the living room!

She HATES the smell of Hoppes #9! :D :neener:

I love her ...but revenge is sweet (fun). want some cheese with that whine?

I agree with others....go to the garage, life will be better.

Mark
 
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I dont have an extra room, but will share my method.

I simply cut a large trash bag down both sides to make a long rectangle and lay that on top of my oak coffee table. On top of that goes a large piece of fabric (its cotton and its thick, but I dont know its original intended purpose. Found it at a thrift store for a dollar).

The fabric absorbs liquid (and mild bumps to some degree) and the plastic protects. Ive used this method on carpet, beds and many other areas in the past and have never had any spills/staining issues.

The plastic gets tossed when Im done and the fabric is (very) occasionally washed.
 
24"x60" piece of laminite glued to a layer of 3/4" OSB. It didn't have rounded front, but had a raised back edge. I painted some thinner pine to act as a "curb" around the whole thing to stop things from rolling or spills from going onto the floor. Whole thing is waterproof and siliconed wherever there's a joint of any kind. I bought 12 2x4's for the project, "reminant" laminate countertop which is leftover's for 50% off. The glue and trowel were in the same trip to Menards.

In total I think I build a very sturdy bench with a shelf under the bench for around $100. It's infinitely flexible ... build it longer, add a rubberized surface instead of the laminate, separate it with a partition. Half of it is for working on guns, other half could be for reloading or whatever you could want.


If I had to do it again, though ... I'd make it an "L" shape with part of it cut out so a chair or stool can go under it so you can comfortably sit over the table, not having to learn forward to see what you're doing. I've come across a rubber tile used for like daycare's and hospitals as a "cushioned" but firm surface. I'd use that for the surface, but not glue them down so they can be taken off and washed (or replaced if solvent's damage them).


If I find the time some weekend I might just attempt...
 
I went to Menards (but Lowe's & home Depot have the same, I'm sure) & found a Formica countertop with a backsplash attached. It was about 6' long and apparently it was miscut so they were selling it for $10. I saw many others that were $2-$25 and either had a cosmetic flaw or were mismeasured. They work great, never stain, easily wiped clean and stand on end for storeage. What more could you want? Well, maybe a wife who begged to clean all of your guns for you. :D
 
I clean my guns in the living room on the coffee table. I have a heavy duty drop cloth that I cover the table with which I like better than plastic because you can wash it and if dropping a gallon of paint (hence drop cloth) wont go through then I don't think spilling a few ounces of oil will. Then I just bought a cheap $10 desk lamp from an office supply store and put a 120 watt cfl in it and have plenty of light. May not be for everyone but works well for me.

To answer your OP, again I would use a drop cloth. They come in huge sizes probably big enough to double up and completely cover an 8X8 room to protect the wifes carpet. Then buy or make a work station and add a cheap lighting solution. Yard sales are usually a good place to find tables. Personally I would stay out of the garage at all costs. You will probably pay more for the insulation then to outfit your reading room into your gun cleaning room. Not to mention that space heaters are not very energy efficient, which is another cost, and that only covers you in the winter. In the summer you have to worry about the heat plus humidity. If your reading room is really that rarely used and the wife OK's it, you could turn into your gun cleaning room for less than $100 and not have to worry about damaging anything IMO.

Hope this helps.

Shawn
 
Kitchen table covered with newspaper.

Pros: good lighting; only non-carpeted room in the house so it's easier to spot the spring or other part that goes airborne during cleaning

Con: seriously interferes with mealtimes
 
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