Dream Shop!

[keith2210]

this is great keep the ideas coming guys! A few more things for thought...

-Sliding doors or folding overhead?
-insulation/walls- I am thinking that 6x6 posts will be used with 2x4's on the outside to screw sheet metal to. If this is the case i could frame up the inside with 2x6's. this would bring the wall out even with the posts and allow for 6 or so inches of insulation in the walls. With the radiant heating i believe this could be super efficient. To cover the insulation up i am thinking sheet metal on the inside from the floor up about 2/3's of the wall and the upper third being plain osb. The reason for this is i would like to have a drain in the floor to wash vehicles and just for convenience. This would keep the wood or drywall from getting wet and deteriorating over time. The osb above that would be great to hang stuff from. Probably mostly decorations because we all have to personalize the man cave Then above the osb would be the opaque panels for some natural lighting. Whats the thoughts on this idea. good, bad, or terrible?

 

[flusher]

this is great keep the ideas coming guys! A few more things for thought...

-Sliding doors or folding overhead?
-insulation/walls- I am thinking that 6x6 posts will be used with 2x4's on the outside to screw sheet metal to. If this is the case i could frame up the inside with 2x6's. this would bring the wall out even with the posts and allow for 6 or so inches of insulation in the walls. With the radiant heating i believe this could be super efficient. To cover the insulation up i am thinking sheet metal on the inside from the floor up about 2/3's of the wall and the upper third being plain osb. The reason for this is i would like to have a drain in the floor to wash vehicles and just for convenience. This would keep the wood or drywall from getting wet and deteriorating over time. The osb above that would be great to hang stuff from. Probably mostly decorations because we all have to personalize the man cave Then above the osb would be the opaque panels for some natural lighting. Whats the thoughts on this idea. good, bad, or terrible?

Last year I built a 20x28ft equipment shed using a method similar to the one you're looking at.

Used 4x6 PT posts, 4x12 beams (my Mahindra 5525 came in handy for raising the beams)



2x6 DF rafters and lotsa 4x4 knee braces



2x4 girts and purlins



29 ga metal siding (red) and roofing (white)



Easy to build. Maybe this style of pole construction would work for your project.

 

[ndnative]

I know it's been mentioned, but I just put in an o-head electric hoist on a track, it sure is handy, and when your older -- it's a back saver !

 

[carpenter383]

What part of indiana are you talking about? I'm about 20 min from bloomington

 

[december45]

ill second that advice for going to garage journal.com ... its a great site and i've learned alot there when i built my shop

 

[zman007007]

I agree with EGON, more beer, less work. lol zman

 

[ruralruss]

thanks guys. keep those ideas coming. im taking notes. Sierra1 thats what im thinking. i want people to see this and throw ideas out there of things they would if they could put anything they want in their shop and not have to worry about a budget. wedge im from the southwestern part of indiana. about fifteen miles east of vincennes. but nine months out of the year im at purdue.

Good luck on the education and the dream. Don't have anything like your dream shop but I can add one bit of advice. Do NOT put the compressed air line at head height! Eventually someone's teeth will appreciate it.

My brother lived in Evansville 2 different time and I spent several years in and around Terre Haute so I am very familiar with the area. Myself, I grew up on a small farm due east of you but on the east side of Indiana.

Russ

 

[gazoo1]

Howdy all! First off I want to start of with a hello from the hoosier state. Ive been reading on this forum for awhile and finally decided to post. As i said i am from indiana and going to purdue university right now. Im an agribusiness management major and have two years until graduation. I work on a farm at home and have only known agriculture. My long term plans after graduation are to move back closer to home (southern third of state) and buy some ground (Im looking in the 75-100 acre area mostly wooded) On that ground i would like to have a house and pole building to start. I started throwing this idea around my freshman year in high school and have been creating my dream on paper since then. I have a blue million ideas and criteria for my barn and house. It was not long after i got to college that i found this site. Ive been reading and thought this was about as good of a resource as i can get. You just cant beat first hand experience. Now this is where you guys come in and can hopefully give me a hand. Now keep in mind this is a DREAM. It doesnt have to be all done at once but i am planning to do it all eventually. when things get done i want them done right the first time. Cost is not going to be considered at this point. Im trying to figure out what i want, what will work best, and what i can live without. I will most likely do this in a series of posts and taking detailed notes on them all. So lets start by making this thread about the shop. I will give you guys the things i want and what i already have in mind and let you tell me what you think the best size, material, shape, and anything else you can think of should be.

Criteria for my DREAM shop:
-unnattached from house
-drive through doors
-lean to for storage of firewood and equipment
-concrete floor with hot water pipes in floor(cant think of what this is really called at the moment)
-outdoor wood burner to heat shop and home
-walk in door
-Loft (sleeping quarters for 1-2 people)
-walk in cooler
-small butcher shop
-tool storage (all power, air, hand)
-air compressor (complete with line all around perimiter of shop)
-welder
-workbench
-floor drain
-well insulated
-Opaque panels just below roof line (for natural light)
-windows

I dont want much i know but its a dream lol. Im basically looking for any input you guys have. if you could do it different what would you do and try and incorporate my things lol. You can get as detailed as you want or just comment on a certain peice. Either way i appreciate anything i can get. Im hoping for a ton of feed back so lets hear what you guys have to say. thanks in advance and sorry for the long post. I know this topic gets beat to death but im working on a dream here. thanks.

hey buddy i built my dream shop 2 yrs ago and then we decided to sell and buy a hobby farm. so i will be building again ,anyway back to your projecti installed radiant heat flooring and i would never install anything else . a bit more money but well worth it , we used a rannai on demand gas takless water system after alot of research . we used the system for the bathroom, sinks,anything we needed water for .and to heat the shop of course cheap cheap to heat all winter.

 

[keith2210]

Once again guys the ideas are perfect. i like what im hearing so far. Prolly a few more days i will throw up a thread about a house. russ it sounds like yours real familiar with my area. carpenter i live in washington. i make it to bloomington a few times every year. i have a few buddies that go to school at iu and we always make it a point to go to the football game and do that party thing.

 

[SilverbackMP]

I know it's been mentioned, but I just put in an o-head electric hoist on a track, it sure is handy, and when your older -- it's a back saver !

Can you please post more on this? Homemade or bought? If bought what company? Any other tips? I would appreciate any feeback as I plan on building a timber frame home (after the shop) and need one of these. You can start a new thread if you want so this one doesn't get hijacked. Thanks.

 

[texasjohn]

I have a rule for my shop.... EVERYTHING has wheels except the industrial rack shelving. This allows arrangement and rearrangement to meet ever changing needs.... no wheels, it won't move and always be in the way..no good.

I have drive thru doors from end to end of the shop... allows pulling in a crew cab and 32 ft gooseneck trailer and shutting the doors...driv out the other end. sufficient turn space to maneuver on both ends is needed before you hit a fence or other structures.

 

[mjncad]

Keith:

Isn't it fun to dream and I envy you being young enough to pull this off at some point in the relatively near future and have fun with it.

If you go radiant heat, make sure the concrete slab is at least 6" thick and use rebar for reinforcement. I'd insist on saw-cut control joints. There is nothing more frustrating than wheeling something around a shop than to have a caster get caught in a tooled control joint.

As others have said, a bathroom with shower. A shop sink along with a no frills washer/dryer to wash work clothes in. This keeps the greasy dirty clothes out of the wife's washer/dryer.

All man-doors are a minimum of 3' wide.

An eye-wash station and if you're really going whole hog, an eye-wash and emergency drench shower.

A dry-pipe fire sprinkler system.

A sound proof room for the air compressor.

An office.

Ceiling fans.

High or low bay lighting as seen in warehouses for general lighting. Far fewer bulbs to change. Save the fluorescent strip lights for task lighting.

Maybe an epoxy painted concrete floor.

Metal clear-span framing.

Lots of air drops and electrical receptacles.

As others have said, 14'+ sidewalls.

BIG garage doors.

Storage, storage, storage.

Although you are young, I'm assuming you intend for this 75 - 100 acres to be the last place you live at and that you'll leave in a pine box. With that in mind, you'll have plenty of land...make it a one story house as stairs suck, especially as you get older. One story homes are easier to heat and cool using traditional residential HVAC systems. Make it as ADA compliant as practical for a residence.

Keep us posted.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I posted this awhile back, and someone already mentioned it. Put one or two courses of CMU block down on your slab then start your framing on top of that. It increases your wall height by 8" per course, allows you to put water on the slab without affecting your walls. I put down one course of CMU and used 9 foot 2x4 for walls which allowed R19 in the walls for insulation which is plenty for Hot Springs Ark. area. Since my shop has a 30x30 concrete slab with 12' leanto type sheds on each side, I put in 2 insulated standard 8 foot tall garage doors with a 16 foot and 10' opening. I wanted to put in a back drive thru door but due to location of overhead power lines, I had to situate it too close to property line so the drive thru was out. I also added a 10x 12 bathroom on one side. This room is big enough to have additional storage or even a desk with computer if I decide to put them in. Right now it is just a comode and sink for daily use. Since my shop is over 200 feet from my house, I had to install an additional sewage tank, but the effulent overflow line ties into my house field lines. My shop uses 3/8 plywood for the interior walls and ceiling. This is more convenient when you want to put in a screw or nail to hang something on especially light weight stuff like a welding hood and faceshield for grinding. I put in 8 foot fluorescent lighting, but like another poster has stated, when it goes out, I will replace with alternate lighting. I also installed some adjustable 2 bulb spot lights on each entry wall by the doors that can be adjusted for lighting up a special project if the 6 - double bulb 8 foot fluorescents dont do the job.
The ceiling height is adequate for my current needs, but if I had to do again, I would add another CMU block course. The cost was $200 for the one course so it would be cheap for the extra height gained.
Since it is built on a slope, the north wing wall is about 3 feet higher than the south side so I am thinking of adding additional shed on that side for additional storage.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I forgot to mention, I also put in two outside double bulb spot lights on each corner of the building that are adjusted to light up at least 50 feet of area in front of the shop in case I need to work outside at night. Electrically, I had double outlet 110 v receptacles installed ever 8 feet all around the perimeter (except where doors are) In between the two garage doors, I installed a 50 amp circuit and plug for my welding machine and a 110 v plug for grinders etc. No matter what I am doing, I am not more than 4 feet from a plug. I put in 100 amp service which is plenty of power for my shop since I dont have HVAC system installed although I did stick in a 110volt window unit in the bathroom which will actually cool the whole garage if left running and all the doors closed.
I didnt need sleeping quarters, and have a standard gabled roof, but I had the center floored and a pull down staircase installed so I could store items that I seldom needed. It works out to about 8 wide x 30 deep with lighting.
The whole shop completed only set me back $25,000 turnkey. It is all wood construction and was built last year. At the time, I priced a steel building for the same size and just the materials not including slab, electrical, insulation or labor to install was quoted by one of the steel building manufacturers at $36000 and I had to be there to unload the material when drop shipped. I think steel building material has came down quiet a bit now though

 

[carpenter383]

gary fowler, sounds like a nice shop, did you use something other than fiberglass insulation in your walls? I'm asking cause I've never heard of anything more than r-15 in a 2x4 wall. 2x6 walls are r-19 if using fiberglass.

 

[claridon]

Don't forget to run telephone and cable lines when you run your electric, even if you don't plan to use them now.

 

[brin]

and run water line and remember to run a line with it that has some metal...even if you had to buy a plastic coted metal clothes line at a big box store...that way at some future time when you forget exactly where your water line is you can find it with a metal detector and while you are at it run an empty 1 inch or larger PVC or other pipe so when you decide to add something else your run is already in place and trust me you will decide to run something else from the house to the shop.

 

[keith2210]

guys thanks for the great ideas! you have come up with some stuff that i had not thought of and thanks everyone for the compliments. If anyone else has anything to add then please do!

 

[J_J]

keith2210,

Have you considered all these things with and without a family. With out a family, you could do the garage thing and be comfortable for several years until you develop the land for what you will be doing, and you never did say what your future ambitions are. cattle, crops, gentleman farmer, business farmer, etc.

 

[Iplayfarmer]

Here's what I would add to what the others have suggested...

Consider peg board vs. OSB at least in certain parts of the shop. I put up three sheets of peg board in my garage and it's likely the best thing that has happened to the garage.

Lots of power. If you can get 480 volt 3-phase, do!! Not only is it the cheapest way to power electrical stuff, but there is a grundle of used industrial 3 phase machinery out there that can be had for cheap because most people can't run it.

I second office space. At a minimum have some place to keep documents. Your dream shop is going to have a bunch of dream equipment and it makes the most sense to keep the receipts, owner's manuals, etc. out in the shop where the equipment is used.

I also second the concrete or block on the lower section of the walls vs. the sheet metal to allow you to wash the floors.
Metal + water = rust
Concrete + Water = wet concrete

Run all the wire and pipe you can... Air, water, ethernet, Coax, Cat. 5, 110 V, 220 V, Hydraulic(?)

Install a good sound system with built in speakers throughout the shop. A little Roger Miller or Jonny Cash can inspire some really good workmanship.