Shop Ideas

[6sunset6]

I have built two shops. The first one was two sections the first 20 ft wide on the gable end and I think it was 32 feet deep. The garage door was in the gable end. I added to that a 40 ft ext sideways with the soffit running the forty foot way with two garage doors in the soffit wall. That part of the building had sissors trusses with the hightest point at 10ft. I hung an I beam at the hightest point and had a chain hoist on a trolly 40ft the full length.
The I sold the whole thing and got to do it again. I learned a lot and tried to apply it all to the new building.
1. Door in the gable end don't have snow and ice building up in front of the door. Vapour barrier and at least 1" of foam board under the concrete floor.
2. Most valuable space in the building is each side of the garage door ,the full length of the building. 32 foot wide 10' door 11 feet each side
64' long building
3. Height is a real trade off. I was thinking of 14 ' for hoist height but went with 12' even no for plywood sheathing and less to heat.
4. Heating , lot of volume, insulation at the 12 ' ceiling is a must. I found the stuff used for tennis court buildings foil backed vynal on one surface 4' wide and as long as you want. so 16 rolls 32' long did the whole thing .
5. I used farm trusses on 8 foot centers, 2x12 for top cord and 2x10 for bottom cord. Made them myself on site, glued up with plywood plates. Filled in between with 2x4 for ceiling joists ( insulation rolled out over top of these)and 2x6 for roof joists. built a 2 truss section on the ground plywood and all and lifted it up as one piece with a crane. So two of us built the whole roof in the winter.
I guess pictures would be good but it was 18 years ago and I have it all on film.
The I beam went back up and I have lifted a lot of stuff with the chain falls over the years. Never heard so much as a creak out of the trusses.
In the winter I put a full size backhoe and my TC34DA end to end right down the middle . The sides are taken up my lath,mill, drill press , wood working stuff, too much junk and a big double 55 gal SS drum stove. Even so when it is below 15d F it's hard to heat.

 

[Bird]

how tall did you make your benches? I have read in many places to make them 32" or so tall but that seems to short to me and I am not tall. Mine is 35" tall

I sure wouldn't want a workbench 32" tall. That's the height of the countertops and lavatories in our bathrooms. Even the kitchen counters are 36" tall in our house. I think the two workbenches in the picture of my shop in the country were 42" tall, which was just right for me, whether standing or whether sitting on my stool working on air tools. I just built a single workbench in my little shop/billiard room where I live now and it's 45 1/2" tall; too tall for working while sitting on the stool, but just fine for me standing up. I haven't measured my own height in quite awhile, but I imagine I'm still at least 5" 11".

 

[jimgerken]

Its been hinted at in a previous post, but I will say it again: Do all your wiring on the surface, in grey pvc electrical conduit. Don't use any glue. This way you can add more wires, more conduits, change circuits, etc. anytime. Use at least 1 inch conduit, 'cause it gets crowded inside there. Plan ahead, its really kindof fun once you get going on it.

 

[svcguy]

I have to support Jim on this recommendation. I ran all of my wiring externally using normal 3/4 inch conduit. While plastic would be easier, the metal worked fine for me. I also dropped in double boxes, 110 one side, 220 the other. This has worked well and I have been able to make changes over the years as needed.

I also added boxes in the ceiling so I could drop down if needed. After moving my lathe and milling machines a couple of times, this has been really helpful.

By the way, before posting my replies, I always highlight the entire text and copy it with the right mouse click. This way when I have timed out and have to log in again, I don't lose all my effort. I must be slow on the keyboard, because this happens quite a bit to me.

 

[49tandc]

My $.02,

Run PVC chases BEFORE you pour the cement. Use them for electric,etc. from one end to the other - much easier than going up/down ladder to run wire across the ceiling.

Think vertical - anything you can hang from the rafters/ceiling (speakers, etc.) does not take up your valuable floor space

If you can (local permits??), put a drain in the floor for easy cleanup.

Think about safety - fire-extingisher mounted close to exit - definitely! First-aid kit handy (more than GI Joe bandaids).
A wall-mounted water fountain becomes an eye-wash stand when you need it.

Mount your air compressor OUTSIDE.

You can't have enough lights.


Think about setting up a tool crib - where most big or bulky things (sandblaster/presurewasher/enginehoist/shopvac/welder/oven for powdercoating) reside when not in use. I hate to hunt all over the shop for a tool. Building a toolcrib gives your stuff "its own place" and you will put it back in its place when you're done with it. If no place of its own, it usually is whereever you used it last. Add lots of shelves for hand-tools, etc.

Look for deals on "Used office furn" - like file cabinets. Office desks are great & cheap too (a great reloading bench).

Get a used "portable dishwasher" outta the newspaper ($25 or so) for a parts washer.

Used frige's are cheap & avail everywhere.

A lot of A/C places have squirrel cage fans that will go cheap (move a lot of air & very portable) You need 2 or 3. Maybe one mounted on the gable-end to exhaust your shop.

Mount your I/R security lights mounted 4' off the floor - in opposite corners (high enough for pets, but not for the tresspassers) - alarm in the house as to not tip off the bad guys.

49T&C.

 

[Blk88GT]

Some observations from my own 36x46' shop:

- Set the lights up on different circuits so you can shut certain parts of the shop off if you're not working in them.

- Put lights above every workbench, suspend them from the ceiling to get better light quality

- Speakers mounted up high are better than at chest level, mine are 11 feet off the floor

- Run air lines around the shop in copper pipe, with outlets every 12 feet. It makes life much easier in the long run and can all be done for cheap. I even have an outlet on the roof with a retractable hose reel mounted up there. It's nice to have a 3 foot coil hose at the workbench to blow off stuff you're working on or cleaning

- Plan to hang a trouble light from the roof, it's so much easier than dragging cords around

- Good locks on your doors are imperative

- Never put a window in your shop that is large enough for someone to fit through

- A pit in the floor is a godsend if you live in a snowy area, it's great to be able to thaw your vehicles out and not worry about standing water

- Garage door openers make life much easier with big doors and don't cost a lot of money, plan your electrical outlets and make sure you have outlets where each opener would go

- A nice high grade beam around the outside of your building is worth every penny

- Consider putting in a wireless router somewhere in your shop that's connected to your house and home network via CAT5, that way you can have access anywhere in the shop with a laptop or whatever

 

[BTDT]

Never put a window in your shop that is large enough for someone to fit through


I like that. In the shop (gas utility) where I used to work, the walk in doors had glass with the wire mesh, so someone couldn't just break the glass and unlock the door.

Lot's of good ideas so far.

 

[svcguy]

I noticed a few people suggested insulating slabs and using vapor barrier. For those of us in Northern climates, it certainly is recommended. I contacted a commercial roofing company that does tar and gravel type roofs on hospitals and other large buildings. They sold me used 2 x 4 foot sections of blue sm styro that was 4 inches thick. Same as you buy in any building supply store but about 20% of new. While it was a bit dirty, it was in good shape with all the overlap joints on all four sides. While four inches is pretty heavy duty, it's the same as buying 1 inch at new cost and they had hundreds of sheets available. It might be a building regulation for them to replace it, but when you bury it, a bit of dirt or tar on one side certainly won't hurt.

 

[excelagator]

I hope to build a 28 x 32 garage shop soon. I will probably go with 2 blocks high and use 8 foot doors. Plus keeps the footers dry if you spill water on the floor. I decided to go with a garage so I am not heating a barn type structure. Plus to hang tools, peg board it is cheaper than a pole barn. You do have to finish it out barn and ends up costing more.

One bay will be a sand blast/welding/paint area (long story) more or less a dirty bay. I have been building stuff, like a stand for my bandsaw. I have been putting things like that all on wheels. This way you can rearrange the garage completely in short order and by yourself. I do have a friend that does a cheap version of this he takes a pallet and installs caster wheels under to move around small blocks.

Yes here we do insulate the floors, because some of your heat is lost that way. Vapor barrier and 4 inches here. This is especially important if you do infloor heating which is very nice.

Dan

 

[svcguy]

Concerning the floor. In actual fact, there is quite a bit of heat loss through a floor. The myth of heat always going up is now well known to be inaccurate. The laws of physics dictate that heat transfer finds cold. If you insulate the ceiling and walls with R80 and don't insulate your floor, your heat is going down. The fact that the ground is warm compared to the outside air temp doesn't mean it's not worth appropriate insulation. I was convinced by my home builder not to insulate the floor of our family room since the floor was 5 feet below the surface and the walls were insulated. He said there was no reason to insulate the floor because of the soil temp 5 feet below the surface. I finally caved in and that floor is so cold it just sucks the warmth out of you. My shop floor is at least what ever temp I keep the shop at. I can lay down on the shop floor and work comfortably but can't walk around my own family room in socks. Oh well.