If you had about $30,000 for a shop

[kwak]

Here are some. I and my wife constructed the inside walls, hired a guy to do the drywall and then we finshed the guest room. When it gets warm we will tile the bathroom and finish my office.

Redneck in Training, How big is the shop space, not including the office and bedroom?

 

[tmyatt]

ICF sounds like a great way to go but could be expensive and is it really necessary?. As far as heating is concerned, I heat my 24 x 30' shop with a 45000 BTU suspended furnace keeping it at 40 F all winter. When I want to work in the shop it takes about 15 minutes to get the shop up to 55F which I find comfortable for working. With windows across the south 24' wall the sunlight pours in and the furnace will not come on even on the coldest winter day. Some days I don't even turn up the furnace. All this on less than 300 pounds of propane a year. (3 x 100 lb cylinders about $200 at Costco) 2X6 construction and well insulated. I am not far from you, just outside of Westport so weather conditions are about the same.

Tom

Well, that sounds like a shop I'd love, but on a $30K budget, you may be hard pressed.

I'll be building a shop in the next 5 years. Being MUCH further north than you, I'm focusing on insulation as well. I'll be using ICF (concrete) blocks for the walls and include radiant heating in the floor. I will only heat my shop to 5-10C (40-50F) and use a wood stove to bring it up the rest when I'm in there. I'm also looking into adding what would look like a boxed chimney from the outside but is open and extends from the ceiling with a skylight at the top. This will allow natural light all year long and by opening the skylight in the summer during the day, provide natural cooling as the hot air will rise. I will also use large windows on the south wall and have a properly sized over hang above them. This will provide all the heating during sunny winter days but not in the summer when the sun is at a much stepper angle. There are plenty of online tools to calculate the overhang size as well as the window height. I'll also plant leafy trees on the south side to provide shade and cooling in the summer but not in the winter. By doing a bunch of stuff that is very low cost, I'm hoping to have a nice heated shop that's cool in the summer and doesn't cost much to operate.

The problem with ICF block construction is that you must finish the interior walls right away as it's a hazard in the event of a fire. That is building code here, not sure about elsewhere.

Adding a bathroom may be $30K on it's own if you have to add a septic system. A holding take works, but costs a lot to constantly pump it. Even if you can connect to the existing septic or sewer line, extra walls, finished floor and a basic bathroom (with shower?) is going to bite a few thousand out of your already very limited (for that size) budget.

 

[kiotiken]

I finished my workshop about 12 years ago and it is made of ICFs. I only
painted the interior, to make it whiter/brighter as no additional finish
is required for barns/shops not connected to a dwelling. The EPS is
less combustible than wood, and does not support fire by itself. All the
exposed steel furring strips supported many many linear feet of shelves.
Can't have too many shelves.

Interesting. In my part of the world, you definitely have to apply a fire stop for code. It's not that the foam is overly flammable, it's that the gases will drop you VERY fast. I'd suggest the OP find out for sure if he is serious about ICF.

 

[tmyatt]

My brother-in-law built a house south of Bancroft using ICF for the basement The foam is still exposed after 5 years. Everything was inspected and approved. I guess different jurisdictions have different codes.

Tom

 

[Jamming]

Mine is 55" x 39" was 80k to build 7 years ago, fully insulated and a 12" concrete floor, and a 200 amp service. dont think 30k is going to build much more than 24'x30' without much of a foundation. Some steel buildings are ok most are poor for a shop, cold and damp for washington state but other states they might be ok.

 

[timswi]

I built a 30x48x12 pole building about 6 years ago..Had the superstructure done by a local guy and had him do the roof due to running out of season. I believe that was somewhere around 12.5k..I labored on the concrete and hired finishers and I think that ran around 3K at the time..5" fiber-crete.

I did everything else, including the OSB, vinyl siding, garage door, wiring etc..Right now, I'm probably into it for around 20K..Still have to do the ceiling when I have time.

 

[Redneck in training]

Redneck in Training, How big is the shop space, not including the office and bedroom?

About 60X36.

 

[Diamondpilot]

I built a 30x48x12 pole building about 6 years ago..Had the superstructure done by a local guy and had him do the roof due to running out of season. I believe that was somewhere around 12.5k..I labored on the concrete and hired finishers and I think that ran around 3K at the time..5" fiber-crete.

I did everything else, including the OSB, vinyl siding, garage door, wiring etc..Right now, I'm probably into it for around 20K..Still have to do the ceiling when I have time.

You got a good deal. Now days you would have $3000 in just the concrete not including the labor.

Chris

 

[Whitnel]

Interesting. In my part of the world, you definitely have to apply a fire stop for code. It's not that the foam is overly flammable, it's that the gases will drop you VERY fast. I'd suggest the OP find out for sure if he is serious about ICF.

We are thinking about ICF for our house but not for the shop. I had not planned on finishing out the basement for a few years but did not think about the foam being exposed. I will have to check into that.

The shop will be either a insulated pole barn, metal building or stick frame built on top of a short block wall.
It looks like heat in the floor is not necessary and a waste of money for me. But you guys make the warm floors sound so nice.

 

[Redneck in training]

We are thinking about ICF for our house but not for the shop. I had not planned on finishing out the basement for a few years but did not think about the foam being exposed. I will have to check into that.

The shop will be either a insulated pole barn, metal building or stick frame built on top of a short block wall.
It looks like heat in the floor is not necessary and a waste of money for me. But you guys make the warm floors sound so nice.

The problem with heated floor is that it has very slow response time. It is great if you want to keep the temperature constant. I plan on adding solar heat to the shop to keep it above freezing and heat it only as needed.
Something like this guy.
DeSoto Solar Passive Heating Panel Installation