New Shop

[jb-mck]

My wife is pushing me to sell our house and move further out from the city. I have consented with the understanding that I can build my "dream shop" as soon as we move. I intend to hold her to it. Since our agreement, I have been daydreaming about what features I need to have in the shop. My must have list is: heating and air, overhead trolly, air system (exterior compressor), 10 foot ceilings, exhaust vent, and a sink. This is not an exhaustive list.

What type of floor? I'm thinking stained concrete but I'm not sure. The floor of the machine shop where I went to school was very impressive. It looked like large tile but it may have been stamped concrete. Any ideas?

Where I live now, I share the garage with a car, and boat. The idea of having my own little hole in the world for my stuff is exciting for me.

What would be your "wish list" for a shop?

[John Stevenson]

Any type of floor.................

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[jb-mck]

John, I saw pictures of your shop on an earlier thread. I'm sure you have a floor down there somewhere, you just can't see it

[rockrat]

If you go with stained concrete, have the stain mixed into the concrete NOT sprayed on. I have seen the spray on stuff come off on shoes and track everywhere.

As for your list I would add a toilet if you have a sink. Might even find one of the inmate type of toilets with the sink built into the back of the toilet tank. The one thing I do hate is being in the shop all dirty and messy and have a sudden call to nature. Trying to get into the house without leaving a trail of the grime and using oily hands to open doors can be a challenge. Although, if your that far out in the sticks, just hop outside I would guess.

Investigate good lighting for your shop. You will find that you need more lights than you think.

Leave room or plan for an area to weld in if thats your thing. It will need a bit of different materials when you set it up.

Also, think about combustibles. I keep oil, thinner, gas, paint and the such in a different room where there are no sparks getting close. The items also sit in a metal cabinet. My grinding and welding are in one corner and the opposite corner far away is the material storage rack where there is some wood stored.

Oh, build it as big as you can. I have a 40X60 and I feel that I run out of room at times.

There are probably more thoughts but I need to get a cup of coffee.
rock~

[hornluv]

The sink is one I've been wishing for for as long as I've had a shop. Figure out how much room you need for your current shop and then at least double it. That leaves room for "expansion and new acquisitions" in business parlance. Get things arranged in your head before you build as well. With all that space, you'll want to spread out, but that will lead to a lot of walking. Have areas for your various interests and have common tools centrally located to limit the amount of exercise you have to do (or duplicates you have to buy). Don't skimp on the power outlets.

[Mcgyver]

figure out the size you want, then multiply by 3, or maybe 4, or 5

[Bill Pace]

I also stress the sink -- as said the toilet part would be nice but I, and many of us, an you too if you move 'out' can just step outside... In the interest of space in my shop I installed a "bar sink', its nice and small, is deep, has the tall fixtures and just fit in nicely. Aside from washing up, I dont know the times I walk over there and cool down a piece - whether from grinding, off the lathe/mill after a heavy cut, and of course welding/soldering.

And lighting - shoot, just cover the ceiling solid with light!! seriously, put in more light than you initially think youll want. Youre still a young whippersnapper and prolly still got really good vision, but like a lot of us the ole eyeballs sure can begin to weaken later. Try to get it made with interior walls -- sheetrock, cheap paneling, siding etc and paint them white! Simply amazing how much a difference in lighting that makes.

Electrical receptacles -- here again put in more than you think youll need, maybe 3-4 ft apart on the 110v, and 2-3 220v along each wall. I mounted mine at 4ft hgt and have really enjoyed not having to get down on the floor to find one. If you are able to get a larger size building, consider sticking a few boxes in the ceiling for whatever machine you might wanna sit out in the middle of the floor.

You gonna go the pole barn route thats gotten so popular around here? They are really nice and are really adaptable to many variations (like they already offer the 10ft ceiling) and as of a couple yrs ago, were hands down the least expensive method to get a building.

For a shop floor I prefer just a nice smoothly finished concrete floor (which comes with the pole barn package anyway) - makes moving those 1000-3000lbs machines around so much easier. A smooth finish also allows easier maintenance of spills/drips etc

[Willy]

Rockrat brings up some excellent points.
By all means if you've got running water and a sink go for for the biffy, and while you're at at it, might as well put a small hot water tank in there...comes in handy for cleaning parts. Seriously they are well under a couple of hundred bucks and are handy for the shop.

That brings up another aspect of building a shop that a lot of people short themselves on...electricity. Not sure what you have for equipment now, but along with death and taxes, increased tool acquisitions are a certainty, and they all need electricity.

It sounds like you are going to be there for some time hopefully so try to visualize what you may need in 10-15 years down the road. Now is when it will be cheaper to incorporate adequate lighting, water, and air systems.
Also a separate area for welding and grinding should also be high on the list, as these activities are not really welcome around machine tools and tooling. Some outside covered storage is a good idea, either for material or project storage.

If you have the time and room, an office area comes in handy as well. It doesn't have to be fancy but storage of reference books, manuals, or even a computer are all welcome. And if you're like me an after hours "mood lounge" is also handy. Along with a fridge, entertainment system, and computer it makes "recharging the battery" so much more enjoyable.

Oh yeah, like everyone else says...double or triple you anticipated floor space.

[jb-mck]

I like the way y'all think, especially the separate area for welding.

Bill, I am considering standard 2x4 construction with "cased" I-beam poles and beams to support the trolly and chain hoist. Alternatively would consider I-beam and steel purlin.

[Boucher]

Here are my thoughts on your shop features.

I crossed this bridge when I retired in 2003. Here are my thoughts:

1. Central heat and air. –Money well spent. Wife tried to talk me out of it because of the cost and I didn’t have in my old shop. At this time in life my shop would not be very useful with out it.

2. Overhead trolley. — Had one in my old shop, which was much larger. Very useful there but in the smaller shop would not have the same utility. I am going to install some type of lifting device inside for larger mill tooling. Outside I am going to install an electric hoist on a trolley. This is pretty high on the to do list.

3. Air system exterior compressor. The old shop had the compressor inside for security reasons and it was very annoying. Increased the size of the compressor to run the bead blast cabinet, which is also located outside the machine shop.

4. The RPC was also relocated outside.

5. The ten foot ceiling and good lighting are both necessary. I didn’t get the lighting right initially and have been adding 4 bulb fixtures at the mill, lathe and main workbench.

6. Exhaust vent. I didn’t do this and wish I had. It is easier to do in the initial construction. The lathe is the only thing that has not moved as layout has evolved. I have two roll up garage doors, which vent good when outside temperatures are comfortable.

7. I have water plumbed to one end of the shop and intended to have an outside sink. This has not been important enough to complete. The lack of a bathroom is inconvenient but septic systems start at about 5K and are highly regulated here. Too far removed from the house to hook in there.

8. Stained floors are nice but not a good use of available resources. Trust me - You Don’t want stamped or sawed floors in the shop. The wax that is used with stained concrete works effectively to reduce dusting. Thompson’s water sealer also works for this.

[Mike of the North]

This is a good web site to get info on building a garage, some of it may apply to your shop, http://www.garagejournal.com/
I went with 6" walls and blown in insulation my furnace does not run very much at all.

[Dr Stan]

Lots of good ideas here, especially about the sink & toilet. I'm still finishing up my shop, but I made sure it included a deep sink and a toilet. Central HVAC was another must have.

For the floor I went with a slick concrete floor over which I applied an epoxy floor finish from Sam's Club. It has very good reviews and cleans easily. I went with an off white with some paint chips. It also helps with the lighting, but does not glare.

BTW, when applying the coating wear old golf shoes with the spikes. You can walk on the wet coating without leaving any evidence of doing so by the time it dries.

For security purposes plus increasing the interior wall availability I did not install windows. Instead I lucked out and found three skylights on clearance at Lowes. They open manually and seriously increase the amount of light and circulation. In addition I put up ceiling fans. Consequently a lot of the time I do not need the HVAC.

Due to my budget I went with 8' walls, but left the rafters open. I insulated under the roof sheeting and then covered it with used ceiling tiles to keep the welding sparks away from the fiberglass. The tiles also help reduce the noise.

I covered the inside walls with MDF, that I purchased as surplus from a local manufacturer. That makes mounting stuff much easier.

On the electrical another poster already said more outlets are a good thing. I also went with single strand in conduit surface mounted on the walls. Sure makes it easier to modify or add to your electrical instead of fishing inside of walls.

Keep a look out on Craig's List. I found a 10' garage door in excellent condition including an electric opener for $150. I also found enough architectural style roofing shingles to cover about half the roof and a steel exterior door. Matching the shingles was not a problem since Home Depot carries the brand. I just mixed the two lots together while shingling and no one can tell they are from different lots. One from pile A, one from pile B. Repeat.

I also found my HVAC on CL. $600 for a 3 ton unit < 10 years old with a high efficiency gas furnace.

Refind (operated by Habitat for Humanity) is another good source. I bought two steel doors from them which I turned into a 6' double door.

Enjoy building your shop. I have.

Stan

[Rattrap]

You didn't mention budget or size constraints, so take what you can use from this.

Four years ago, my existing shop was no longer sufficient, so I built another on the same property. Figuring I'd be impossible for any contractor to please, I did it myself, working evenings and Saturdays for almost a year.

It's 2000 sq ft and already too small -planning is in the works to add 600 sq ft. I went with 12' 6" ceilings. You may never need that much height, but if you do, it is pretty hard to fix later.

I installed a high-efficiency split system heat pump. It runs for pennies an hour. I put six inches of insulation in the walls, and the entire building was wrapped inside with plastic before installing the interior metal siding. Stopping air leaks is essential to having an easy to heat/cool building.

I put in a small full bath. I'm out in the sticks, but going around back for nature calls is a bit too primitive for my customers There's a shower too. Maybe I'll never need it, but it's there and the new stall was a yard sale bargain. A small mobile home water heater is in the B/R. I use hot water all the time. You will too if you have it.

I used four 8" steel pipes as part of the post frame construction. They don't yet have jib cranes mounted on them, but it is on my list. I need them often. A buddy has complete coverage of his 2400 sq ft shop with several jibs. Handy.

The building is powered by its own 200 amp service. Again, you might think you'll ever need it, but....
I put two electrical receptacles every six feet along the walls. You can't have too many.
I used T8 fluorescent lights. They are the cat's meow, as far as I'm concerned.

I left the big air compressor in the old shop and buried a line to the new one. It's nice to not have to listen to it. A buddy put his compressor in the bathroom of his shop. Get it somewhere besides the work area of your shop, if you can.

I coated the floor with POR-15 urethane. It is really easy to clean and reasonably durable, but swarf takes its toll. If you can find a contractor who knows how to finish concrete super smooth that is probably the best route. Don't listen to the scary Marys who think a slick floor is a bad thing.

YMMV

[boaterri]

x2 on the shower. Just think how pleased you wife would be if you came in covered in gack (grinding dust, lube oil, coolant etc) and hopped in her nice clean bath tub leaving a trail of xxx thru the house.

Good luck,

Rick

[Dr Stan]

Stopping air leaks is essential to having an easy to heat/cool building.

The building is powered by its own 200 amp service. Again, you might think you'll ever need it, but....

2X on Rattrap's comments.

I could not install building wrap by myself, so before I insulated I caulked every seam or joint on the inside of the exterior walls. The $30 I spent on a pneumatic caulk gun was worth every penny. Since the caulk will not be exposed to the elements, the cheap stuff was more than adequate.