Shop build

[StormVet]

Almost done with the shop. Can you guys post some pictures of your work area including your cabinets and storage areas. Even post your welding set ups. Gotta come up with a plan for mine. 40x60, 1st bay is where my boat will be setting. 2nd bay is the work area. Give me some ideas of what to do. Thanks

 

[kydick]

most important is to have plenty of lights electrical plug ins and air lines through out the shop.

 

[ultrarunner]

Looks real nice... bet you will have it weather tight just in time.

Is the bump out an entrance or office or wash up room?

 

[4570Man]

One thing I’d like to have but don’t is a covered area to load/unload in the rain.

 

[davedj1]

Nice shop, I'm jealous!
Unless there is an interior wall to the right of the second bay (or to the left) you may have to have the tool boxes become the wall and add electrical drops from the ceiling. I would prefer a corner area for tool boxes and benches etc.

 

[ultrarunner]

One of the nicest shops I have ever been in was 40' wide x 88'... it had a large gable end center door with equipment driven down the center aisle and parked at an angle...

It was clever because any vehicle could be taken out without having to move another... it was filled with antique tractors and cars... with outlets every 12' down the walls for chargers and such.

 

[EddieWalker]

Looks very well thought out. I put in flourecent lights in mine and will never do that again. That was before all the LED options came out.

Welder and Air Compressor are on their own breakers.

Lots of outdoor lighting. It's amazing how quickly it gets dark in winter and how there is never enough light out there when you need it.

I have an outdoor line for my air compressor that gets used more then the indoor line

I only have one outside water spicket. Two would be better.

A sink is invaluable. Even if it's only cold water, it's a must have!!!!

I have two work benches. A metal one close to my roll up door that I do all my welding on. I actually do most of everything on that bench. It's ten feet long. Then I have a low spot for my chop saw so wood that I'm cutting sit level on the work benches. Then I have a wood work bench on the right of the chop saw that is farther inside my shop. This allows me to cut just about any length of material on the chop saw easily.

All my shelves are open. No doors. You can see what's up there at a glance. I also store stuff in five gallon buckets, and I mark on the bucket whats in there in black marker. Same with my tool boxes, they are all marked so you can see which one is what at a glance.

This has worked out very well for me, and when I build my barn, this is what I will do in there too.

 

[Jeepnford]

When I built my shop I put our old kitchen cabinets in it left over from a house remodeling project. I have now taken out 90% of them. Space eating junk catchers as far as I'm concerned. A friend had a large shop built. He goes to auctions quite a bit and is always on the lookout for 10 or 12 gauge extension cords. He then hangs them on hooks scattered throughout the building so he's not endlessly
dragging cords from one end to the other.

 

[StormVet]

Looks very well thought out. I put in flourecent lights in mine and will never do that again. That was before all the LED options came out.

Welder and Air Compressor are on their own breakers.

Lots of outdoor lighting. It's amazing how quickly it gets dark in winter and how there is never enough light out there when you need it.

I have an outdoor line for my air compressor that gets used more then the indoor line

I only have one outside water spicket. Two would be better.

A sink is invaluable. Even if it's only cold water, it's a must have!!!!

I have two work benches. A metal one close to my roll up door that I do all my welding on. I actually do most of everything on that bench. It's ten feet long. Then I have a low spot for my chop saw so wood that I'm cutting sit level on the work benches. Then I have a wood work bench on the right of the chop saw that is farther inside my shop. This allows me to cut just about any length of material on the chop saw easily.

All my shelves are open. No doors. You can see what's up there at a glance. I also store stuff in five gallon buckets, and I mark on the bucket whats in there in black marker. Same with my tool boxes, they are all marked so you can see which one is what at a glance.

This has worked out very well for me, and when I build my barn, this is what I will do in there too.

Thanks lots of good info.

 

[newbury]

Get storage for "stuff" off the floor.

I'm a big fan of pallet racks.






They'll hold a ton or two, can be put together and taken apart relatively easily and often can be gotten cheaply.

Tinkertoys for the big boy.

I generally put the first shelf so it's at a convenient workbench working height, then go up several feet for the next shelf. But I've set up some so I can roll my tool chests under them.


I've about 150 linear feet of pallet racking ranging from 8' to 12' high. Mostly 42" wide, with 2 to 5 sets of shelves.

LOTS OF STORAGE SPACE

 

[thepumpguysc]

Love the idea of spacing them hi enough to roll the boxes under/in them.. it'll surely free up floor space when needed. Good thinkin'..

 

[newbury]

Love the idea of spacing them hi enough to roll the boxes under/in them.. it'll surely free up floor space when needed. Good thinkin'..

Well in total I've got about 5,500 square feet of floor space so that wasn't my main issue. More important is to get stuff organized so I could store the "rarely" used where it would be in my field of "occasional" vision. So I've things like rolls of different insulation stored on a top shelf, I've reusable plastic containers, totes etc. that probably take up a shelf.
It would have easy for me to build wall shelves floor to ceiling (and I've done it in other shops) but they tend to become permanent. Three times in the last 4 years I've had a "mission" change and torn down a 12' high shelving unit and moved it.
Now if the pallet rack units had cost full retail price it would have been a no go. But I've paid about $300 over the years for a unit with 3 uprights and 12 8.5' beams, enough for a 17' long wall with 3 levels of shelves 42" wide and steel racks.

 

[oldtimer 66]

I had a clear span building erected in 1991. It was a Sharron Steel Building 40' X 60' and they are now defunct I think. I had in the past done various repairs in my house garage and I was always concerned about starting something on fire. Therefore I wanted a steel structure, not a poll barn type building. I am not saying that my present building cannot catch on fire but the chances are much less. I divided the bldg. into two 30' X 40' areas, one heated and one not with one center interior partition. I used steel roof decking for the interior walls of the heated section Type B Roof Deck 22 gauge and painted primer gray. I finished painted it gloss white after installation. Above the roof decking is the as built rolled fiberglass insulation. I have one block exposed inside that I attached a 2.0 X 2.0 base angle galvanized. The roof decking is attached to the base angle and at the middle girt. The panels are 8' plus the exposed block on three walls and 9' on the 4th partition wall. I hung all of my steel shelving on the roof decking. That is the shelving starts 8" above the floor so I can sweep under the shelving. All of this shelving is open and anything stored there gets the normal dust and dirt accumulation. Everything that is hung on the walls is attached with self drilling screws. I started hanging items using the HF V shaped thin wall pipe hangers that cost 1.99. I cut them in half to make 2 hangers and then screw them to the roof decking. I have also custom made hangers for my wrenches, tractor chains, etc. I also have hung up a couple of old steel kitchen upper cabinets that I wish I could find more of. They work very well for a clean storage area. I have also picked up at auctions some used steel drawer cabinets for small parts. They also come in handy. Because this is my garage and not a community garage I have a lot of my tools hung on the walls and on my tool box. This makes it very easy to Identify if I have mis placed or lost a socket after working on something. The same goes for hammers, open end wrenches etc. they are all hung up for easy access. I like to have more than one as you can see from the pictures and divided as to inch and metric. When I have a car on the lift I use my rolling work table as a work bench. As I go from corner to corner doing brakes etc. and the rolling work bench follows along with me holding parts and tools. I have a 200 AMP service and all wiring is in conduit. The only welder I have hung on the wall is my Thunderbolt stick welder. The Lincoln 256 Mig, Lincoln 225 Tig, Hypertherm 65, O&A cutting are all on carts. I move them to the work as required and to the rolling work table. The car lift also acts as a large work/ welding table. I have a Wells band saw and I have that on casters also (2) on one end only and move with a floor jack on the other end for doing large work. You will diffidently need a locker or lockers of some type. I store my weld helmets and weld jackets in that locker. My lighting is old school high pressure sodium/ 400 watts 6 fixtures. If I were to build new it would be LEDs but I am not sure of the configuration though. I will attach some pictures and maybe that will give you some ideas on how you want to set up your bldg. Now this is 27 years into this project and it is no longer shinny and bright and clean. But it works for me. Note the vice grips on the floor jacks and engine lifter. Just a little trick. No more dropping stuff. Later.

 

[oldtimer 66]

Additional pictures.

 

[thepumpguysc]

OT66>> Love the shop.. Very well done.. it looks like you've got the room & tools to do just about anything that comes your way..
& I LOVE the "Tool Rules".!!!