Tell me about your shop

[Greg]

Wow Greg! I didn’t realize your new place was so badass!

We (I) moved here because of the shop.... the wife thinks we moved here due to the remodeled home.

 

[Noahfecks]

Wow Greg! I didn’t realize your new place was so badass!

Been there a couple times and it is nice

 

[Greg]

Been there a couple times and it is nice

It's too small these days.... The '48 Willys is currently stored under the covered area outside, would be nice to have it inside but the shop is full.

 

[Noahfecks]

View attachment 117596

It's certainly not the biggest, nicest garage/shop but I dig it.

Man I really dig what you did with the space and that early iron. You have a lot of tool boxes

 

[nnnnnate]

@Noahfecks I just went through building a new house and all that entails. I spent a bunch of time finding threads like this online and making notes and lists. All I can say is that my want list didn't come close to matching the "what I've got money for" list and even less of the "what my wife says I've got money for" list.

- Rather than a detached 2 car garage I ended up with an extra garage bay (4 car bays vs. 3) that is dedicated "shop" space. That price was 45k-ish for the detached vs 17.5k. The size of that extra bay is 12'x28. I also paid 2k extra to have the driveway width expanded 10'x30'x4". Upgrading from an 8' garage door to 9' door was $750. To be fair adding the extra bay was my wifes idea after I floated the detached garage knowing we didn't have the bankroll for it.

- I admit I didn't look at radiant floor heating but it was easy to tack on $150 for the gas line for a future garage furnace. The builders knew exactly what I wanted and needed with that and placed it up by the ceiling and added a roof exhaust vent and 120v outlets right there for me too. I installed insulation in the garage 2x4 walls (house is 2x6) and ended up getting the garage attic blown in for free since they screwed up on something else. This was pretty easy to do and was also pretty cheap. I probably spent $350 and the builder wanted $2500 for the walls and attic. I had extra and ended up doing the shared walls of my master bedroom. I'm hoping I can find a killer deal on a shop furnace in the spring or when it warms up.

- I added a 100 amp sub panel to the "shop." I paid $1850 for the additional capacity from the street and a basic sub panel in the garage. I didn't have anything run from that box but did notice they placed the future garage furnace outlet on this panel. The electricians left a whole mess of breakers for me. I don't know if they meant to or not but they left a couple dual 30 amps and a whole mess of 20 amp breakers. I had already bought breakers off amazon when I realized they were left behind but I'm an idiot and ordered single pole 30 amp-ers and didn't realize what I'd done until I went to install my extra wiring.

- Concrete. I had the builders saw the garage floor joints rather than trowel the seams. I broke a couple HF shop stools on my old garage floor. I'm not the daintiest of fellas and they were from HF but I'm already noticed that sawn joints are AWESOME. No additional cost. To have the builder epoxy the garage floor for all four bays was going to be 9k, which I declined. I didn't seal it or anything which I kind of regret but I can do that later I guess. Really, I should have done it over the summer when the house was being built. I certainly had the time and there were gaps in construction where it wouldn't have been in the way.

- I added water connections to the garage. What I really wanted was a hot/cold valve I could hook up to a pressure washer with soft water. How I articulated that was probably not the best but I got hot/cold stubs by my house entry door for a slop sink. I haven't done anything with them yet but I was looking for a surplus steel restaurant style sink with a side board drain pan. (Basically something like this but used and cheaper.) My thinking is that I would have a sink to clean up at IN the garage with a drain pan to leave stuff on after cleaning/soaking and I'd find a beefy faucet that had threads on the spout I could connect to a garden hose. I don't have a ton of space in the corner the water connection is in after installing storage shelves and my water softener salt tank but I'll move stuff around to get something to fit down the road. Someone said a drain inside the garage and I agree that would be awesome.

My shop space is more geared towards woodworking than rig wrangling but my land cruiser gets stored inside and I can pull it out if I need more shop space I my projects spill over. I'd love to have a monster shop for toys and storage but its not in the cards for me. Our lot is in a cul-de-sac and we have space in the back but with slopes and stuff it wouldn't make sense for a shop down the road back there. There is another lot behind us that the builder wants to sell me but as neat as that would be its also not very viable unless I win the lottery.

Anyway, good luck with your plans and let us know what you end up doing.

 

[zmotorsports]

I have been truly blessed and have been able to build my dream shop about a year and a half ago. Our first home in West Point I built a 34'x34' shop with 14' ceilings. It worked great for the 26 years we lived there. We built many specialty vehicles in that shop and campaigned a couple of race cars while living there but in mid-2016 the wife had enough with the white trash neighbors and she informed me that WE WERE MOVING! I had mixed feelings because we had been mortgage free for 11 years and I knew we would have to go back to having a mortgage again but I also wanted out of our deteriorating neighborhood and would have liked to have a larger shop. My lovely wife knew how cramped I was in our little shop and she wanted me to have a larger workspace as well as a place to store out 40' coach indoors. She told me to find us a place where I could build my dream shop and that is exactly what I did. We found a fairly new home (3-years old) on about 3/4 acre and the max size the city would let me build was a 3k square foot accessory building. We did not want to live in an HOA neighborhood but we did want to have a bit more strict CC&R's in order to keep properties from turning into junkyards so we didn't end up in the same situation that we had left. At first I was going to build a pole building but my wife said she didn't want a metal sided building and wanted the shop to look exactly like the house. The neighborhood we found the house in wouldn't allow pole buildings so it was pretty much perfect for us and the lot was dead nuts level so it was very conducive to be able to back our coach in and out of the back yard.

The house has a three car garage on it with the third bay being 12' wide by 50' deep so I would be able to put all of our daily drivers in the attached garage as well as lawn and garden equipment. I don't like to use my workshop for storage so this was again, perfect for our situation. I constructed a 50' deep by 60' wide stick built building with 16' tall ceilings. It is 2x6 construction with brick and stucco to match the house. It is very well insulated and heated with a 150k btu Reznor gas-fired heater. The shop side is 40' wide by 50' deep and the RV storage bay is 20' wide by 50' deep. I built it deep enough to be able to store a 45' Prevost coach which I someday home to be able to own.

Here is a link to my complete shop build on garagejournal. It's quite lengthy but I have put a thought, work and detail into it over the past year and a half of building it and putting my yard in.
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=351489=zmotorsports

This is what the outside of our property now looks like with the newly built shop in the back along with newly installed yard, fencing, gate and concrete.

The view from across the street.

View from the back yard.

View of the shop from our deck. I love this view.

Also, for perspective here is a picture of our RV bay door open with our 40' coach inside and some friends who were staying with us who had their 40' coach parked just outside of our shop. I put an extra 50-amp outlet at the front of the RV bay with the sole purpose of being able to have our RV'ing friends have a place to stop over for the night when traveling through the area.

Here are a few pictures of the interior with my newly built workbenches and newly installed overhead cabinets.

Ammco 10k pound 2-post lift that I brought from my old shop.

My machining, welding and fabrication section of the shop.

As for the electrical, I put a LOT of electrical in and I suggest doing the same. I have dual tandem receptacles spaced every 6', plus multiple 50-amp outlets for welders around the shop and 30-amp ceiling drops for my 2-post lift, lathe, milling machine, bandsaws and my son's CNC mill.

Also worth mentioning should be lighting. In m last shop I had originally used T12 fluorescent lights when I built it and then in the early 2000's I switched them over to T8's by taking advantage of some incentives. I was going to install T8's in this shop originally because of budget but again, my wonderful wife told me to equip it exactly the way I wanted so I talked to the contractor and ended up doing some sweat equity in order to put LED's throughout the shop and RV storage bay. I have just over 100 ft. candle to the floor in the shop and around 80 ft. candles in the RV storage bay. Very seldom need auxiliary lighting when working as it is like an operating room in the shop.

I also added a lot of air drops from my air compressor which is located in the RV storage bay so I don't have to listen to it while working in the shop. It is barely audible in the shop as the dividing wall is also well insulated. I have about 8 air line drops each with a dual air connector and two hose reels hard-plumbed into the air as well. On the wall in the RV storage bay I have my metal storage rack for all of my longer lengths of steel and in the shop I have some metal drawers that I purchased from Weber State's Geology department that work excellent for metal drops of various sizes, shapes and materials so they are easy to locate when needing to machine a part.

Good luck with the construction of your new shop. I know how stressful it can be and I hope it turns out exactly like you want. When they are completed and have everything you want in them they are a joy to work in and I spend a lot of time in mine and love every moment of it.

Mike

 

[zmotorsports]

@zmotorsports Mike, I don't remember, what did you do to your floor?

Nothing special Brent, just a densifier that I purchased locally. I do a lot of welding, machining and fabrication which epoxy doesn't hold up so well under.

Spills clean up pretty well as long as you clean them up immediately. If you let the oil sit for very long it does stain the concrete still. My floor is showing some use but I'm not too upset about it as I did built this as a full working shop and not a garage-mahal showroom.

Mike

 

[Jinx]

Ok hearing Nate’s experience with things laid out in the right place for future add ones, it brings up another question.

Anyone use someone to draw up the plans for their shop?

Or just start laying concrete and going from there?

I like the idea of having a set of plans to shop around with the different contractors and such, deciding how much money to dig up, etc.

Maybe if there are enough of us “thinking” of building we can get an RME architect.

 

[4x4_Welder]

There are fully engineered plans available online. They cost money, but less than having someone design one from scratch, and many come with full code enforcement approval.

 

[Noahfecks]

@zmotorsports

Don't take this the wrong way, but I think I love your wife!

 

[Jinx]

There are fully engineered plans available online. They cost money, but less than having someone design one from scratch, and many come with full code enforcement approval.

I am ok with spending some money. I would rather pay some now rather than 40 years of wishing I had thought it through better before I started.

Besides, if I have plans to look at that is at least a step in the right direction, right?

 

[zmotorsports]

Ok hearing Nate’s experience with things out in the right place for future add ones, it brings up another question.

Anyone use someone to draw up the plans for their shop?

Or just start laying concrete and going from there?

I like the idea of having a set of plans to shop around with the different contractors and such, deciding much money to dig up, etc.

Maybe if there are enough of us “thinking” of building we can get an RME architect.

I had to have fully engineered plans to submit to the city before they would issue the building permit, not sure if other cities are that way or not. This was in West Haven, but I also had to submit engineered and stamped plans to West Point back in early 90's when I built my last shop.

I drew up a rough sketch with layout and electrical and gave it to my contractor who then forwarded them to his architect for the final blueprints. I too like having plans available to discuss with sub's and keep everything on track and as designed, otherwise I have had contractors throw in their ideas which are usually to cut costs. Dealing with that right now on a large job at work where the contractor decided to not follow the detail and add their own twist to the project. I'm to the point that if they don't go back and make it right, I don't thing they will get paid as the plans were right there in front of them and this was a pretty big miss on their part where they shouldn't have taken any liberties with changing the design.

Mike

 

[zmotorsports]

@zmotorsports

Don't take this the wrong way, but I think I love your wife!

Yep, she's a sweetheart all right. Definitely wanted me to be happy with our forever home and shop.

Mike

 

[Vonski]

I’m working on a 50’x60’ with approx. 18 1/2’ ceilings and 16’x12’ roll up doors. I’ve put most things on hold until spring, but currently working with the power company to pull separate service and 3phase 208v or possibly 480v to it. Spring/summer plans are to finish exterior, wiring, lighting, insulation, radiant heat, and 2-post lift install. Future loft space a possibility.

 

[BlackSheep]

I also added a lot of air drops from my air compressor which is located in the RV storage bay so I don't have to listen to it while working in the shop. It is barely audible in the shop as the dividing wall is also well insulated. I have about 8 air line drops each with a dual air connector and two hose reels hard-plumbed into the air as well.

Mike

This is key - lots of air drops and locate the compressor either in a different room, or a shop I worked in once simply built a closet in which to put the air compressor. while that takes up some floor space, not having to listen to the compressor cycle is a big deal. The air compressor drain was plumbed to the outside of the shop. You walked around back to open the valve and drain the compressor.

Did I say lots of air drops? When we built that shop - it was back in '91, we used copper tubing for all of the air lines. We had so many drops it was incredible. We even plumbed overhead air lines in those retractable reels, plus some overhead on swing beams. It was awesome, you could grab a 6' length of air line, walk to just about anywhere in the shop and connect up. Customer's bikes outside the shop could be worked on with air tools without requiring them to be brought inside.

The other thing we did was to install outlets at bench level about every 6'.

 

[zmotorsports]

I’m working on a 50’x60’ with approx. 18 1/2’ ceilings and 16’x12’ roll up doors. I’ve put most things on hold until spring, but currently working with the power company to pull separate service and 3phase 208v or possibly 480v to it. Spring/summer plans are to finish exterior, wiring, lighting, insulation, radiant heat, and 2-post lift install. Future loft space a possibility.

That is going to be sweet.

Mike

 

[zmotorsports]

This is key - lots of air drops and locate the compressor either in a different room, or a shop I worked in once simply built a closet in which to put the air compressor. while that takes up some floor space, not having to listen to the compressor cycle is a big deal. The air compressor drain was plumbed to the outside of the shop. You walked around back to open the valve and drain the compressor.

Did I say lots of air drops? When we built that shop - it was back in '91, we used copper tubing for all of the air lines. We had so many drops it was incredible. We even plumbed overhead air lines in those retractable reels, plus some overhead on swing beams. It was awesome, you could grab a 6' length of air line, walk to just about anywhere in the shop and connect up. Customer's bikes outside the shop could be worked on with air tools without requiring them to be brought inside.

The other thing we did was to install outlets at bench level about every 6'.

Agreed. When I built my first shop in '91 I built an insulated closet for my air compressor with air around my workbenches along the back wall only. The air compressor could still be heard quite substantially but much better than out in the open. I also found that over the 26 years of working in that shop I was adding air lines one at a time here and there. The one I added last and ultimately found that I used a lot was one right near my large roll up door. I was continually using it just outside on the shop's apron for things like blowing off the lawn mower and line trimmer or filling up neighbor kid's bicycle tires or one just nosing a vehicle up to the door to work on if there wasn't enough room inside the shop.

When I built this shop I told myself I didn't want to add any later I wanted them all installed now and not have to screw with air later on. Like BlackSheep, I ran air overhead to my air reels and they get used a lot. The one on my 2-post lift especially but also the one at the front of the shop between my two roll up doors. I also keep coiled hoses on nearly every drop so a hose is always within easy reach and only about 12' apart from one another.

Mike

 

[4x4_Welder]

When running air, make sure you keep a fairly continuous slope to the line, and add a drain point on every drop. Unless you run a chiller air dryer, you will have moisture in the air. I like to run the whole line on a slight down slope away from the compressor, with a dedicated drain drop at the very end, and the actual air drops off the top of the pipe, so there is very little moisture getting to the tools.
Also, never use PVC. It eventually cracks and breaks, I've worked in shops that had it and when it fails it's like a shotgun with the shrapnel. It'll also kick the remaining pipe hard enough to put it through drywall.

 

[zmotorsports]

When running air, make sure you keep a fairly continuous slope to the line, and add a drain point on every drop. Unless you run a chiller air dryer, you will have moisture in the air. I like to run the whole line on a slight down slope away from the compressor, with a dedicated drain drop at the very end, and the actual air drops off the top of the pipe, so there is very little moisture getting to the tools.
Also, never use PVC. It eventually cracks and breaks, I've worked in shops that had it and when it fails it's like a shotgun with the shrapnel. It'll also kick the remaining pipe hard enough to put it through drywall.

Good point on the drain, even though we live in a desert and the condensation is minimal plan on a way to evacuate it. At my last shop that was all run in copper pipe I ran a "T" with the fitting and then below the "T" about 6" of copper with a ball valve for a drain. In my new Aircom system the dual manifolds actually have a small drain valve built into them which is a very nice feature and hardly noticeable to the naked eye.

Mike

 

[mbryson]

....Plan for heating and cooling.... a minisplit A/C with a heat pump seems to be a good solution and its probably what I'll be adding in the near future. I have a wood burning stove for heat, but think I'll swap it to a pellet stove with a big hopper and thermostat to control it. If I could maintain my shop at 55-60*'s thru the winter, then turn it up when I'm in there, I'd be a happy man. The wood burning stove needs to be constantly fed & adjusted. If your shop is too cold or hot, you won't want to spend too much time in it. A big ceiling fan would be nice for moving air around, too.
....

so,

AC
Heat
...

.....

Radiant heat will be nice! I'm to the point of installing the boiler or water heater. Haven't decided which direction I'm going. I planned ahead and left a section down the center so I can bolt down lift to anything else in the floor.

.....

.....- Rather than a detached 2 car garage I ended up with an extra garage bay (4 car bays vs. 3) that is dedicated "shop" space. That price was 45k-ish for the detached vs 17.5k. The size of that extra bay is 12'x28. I also paid 2k extra to have the driveway width expanded 10'x30'x4". Upgrading from an 8' garage door to 9' door was $750. To be fair adding the extra bay was my wifes idea after I floated the detached garage knowing we didn't have the bankroll for it.
.....

If I'm building an attached garage at 1200+'. what do the cool kids do for heating/cooling? I think radiant heat would be fantastic but at what cost?