Topic: Shop Ideas, Thoughts and Suggestions

[J_Speegle]

Sort of finishing up (finally) plans for a new shop. Think I have my bases covered but just in case I thought it would be helpful to me - and possibly a few others - if I asked what should be considered, what would you certainly do again and what would you not do. Have spent a fair amount of time over on Garage Journal so understand the standard stuff - build as big as you can, never enough storage and those general typical suggestions. Figured we're all doing similar specific tasks so might get some different ideas from this bunch

Figured we discussed lifts - lets see what we can come up with related to the building one might put a lift in.

A little insight space is limited by lot and city requirements.

No room for a paint booth, wash rack or machine shop 

[kr3760]

mezzanine  for parts storage

[DTruitt]

I would suggest that window size and placement is determined by what you plan to use the wall space for.  Also design your air lines, drops, etc into your plan before you start building.  It's easier and cheaper during construction!  I would definitely consider a compressor room (space permitting).  Finally, lighting... plan your lighting and electric outlets based on planned usage.

Danny

[carlite65]

you will want a floor drain somewhere.

[jwc66k]

Deep sink, and drain.
Computer "requirements", as in a reference table and laptop space.
Wiring for speakers for radio/CD/stereo etc.
Intercommunications system.
A place to keep an engine on a stand - make that two engines.
Jim

[krelboyne]

My attached shop was designed so that it doubled as a RV barn to increase my future home selling potential. Tall, wide rollup door on the end, I think that am 36 foot deep.
My windows are about 7-8 feet from the floor, I wanted some natural light, but without prying eyes.
My electrician installed the outlets on the long wall about 42 inches from the floor spaced out at about 5 foot intervals. The outlets are wired to the breaker box in odd and even intervals. This allows no two consecutive outlets from drawing too many amps at the same time on the same circuit breaker.
Walls and ceiling are drywalled and painted white for maximum light reflection. We installed T-? bulbs in the ceiling with two good sized fans.
My shop has a dedicated electrical panel, as well as a 220 outlet for welder or other power tools.
I don't have plumbing, the adjacent laundry room has a deep sink and bathroom next to that.

[preaction]

I know much of California is low in humidity but to control it insulation is key its much easier to do with a new building also I chose to use sky lights they make a big difference.

[rockhouse66]

I have never missed not having a floor drain in mine, though it was part of the original plan.  A compressor room is a good idea, though a covered space outdoors works too.  And I wish I had space for my bead blast cabinet inside and the dust control system for it outside - from both noise and cleanliness aspects.

I have a Rotary 2 post lift and rarely wish I had anything else.

EDIT:  Another post below reminded me, I do have a bathroom, utility sink and an electric water heater.  I should have bought a tankless water heater.  Takes up a lot less room (wall mounted) and my need for hot water is pretty much for washing my hands so it is a waste to keep all that water hot 24/7.  I do now have a timer on it that shuts it off overnight.

[Bossbill]

The footprint or plan view in square feet is important. What is your size and configuration?

Here are some of the things I thought about in my high bay addition:

Determine lift type and vendor so that you can scale a car and the lift in your drawing.
Arrange your router so it covers the shop and computer. I got tired of stringing cat5 so I used a directional antenna on the shop router and slaved it to the house router as an access point.
I ran empty 1" (or bigger) conduit through the ceiling and had it pop out to various locations for low voltage. This allows me to run stereo speaker wire or hard wired alarm stuff. I've converted some parts of my alarm to wireless but in some locations I'm not getting up there to change the batteries.
When I put in the 200amp panel for the shop (separate from the house) I ran 50A (welder/TIG) 4 wire, 50A stove (3 wire), 30A dryer, 30A 120V RV plug, and 20 amp 240V in various locations. It's so much cleaner to figure out your workstations and put your wire inside of the wall.
Use 100 lumens per square foot for lighting and use LED fixtures.
Put additional lights under any cupboards that overhang a work bench.
Use 150+ lumens over your main work bench.
A sink at minimum. Consider a small 120V water heater at the sink.
6" thick slab for concrete.
Insulated main garage doors with good seals.
Heat if climate requires. Then think of gas plumbing and vent.

If the shop is big enough separate out the real gungy stuff from clean. Have a metal drill/grind/weld room separate from all others with door.
Same for a clean room with 150+ lumens.
Separate area for bondo and sanding.
In the main bay put in floor pots for frame pulling. You may not pull a frame but it works great to tie down stripped cars that want to move when sanding. Two front, two mid, two rear.

There's more ...

[midlife]

I designed my 3 bay garage myself, and it has worked well under a variety of projects and jobs.  Versatility is a good thing to try and design before building.  I did 2 things that I would have changed: I had a very small bathroom for the toilet but 10' ceilings: it reminds me of a vertical coffin.  The second thing I would change is to give more room on the sides for workbenches relative to the garage doors/cars. 

Now then, things that I did right: lots of light: 18 8 foot double lamp fluorescent light fixtures on 3 primary circuits.  One can never have enough light.  Plan on epoxy painting the floor but go light on the sand additive.  Along the workbench area, I installed two electrical outlet strips, one at about 4 foot height, the other about 2 foot.  One never has enough electrical outlets nearby.  Internet access was planned with underground lines (this was long before wireless).  Depending upon where you are, central AC/heat should be strongly considered; insulation of the walls and ceilings should also be considered.  No need to be uncomfortable in your work area.  Deep work sink with running water.  If you can, have small enclosed rooms where you can store parts that can be easily damaged out of the way. 

Some folks really like pegboard; I find it takes too much wall space and it is hard to keep the pegs in the board.  Tools belong in tool boxes, not on the wall, IMHO. 

[Bob Gaines]

LED overhead lights take less power and allow more lights per circuit. FYI it is fairly easy to retrofit older florescent fixture to LED in the case. The prices have come down and with careful shopping It will cost about the same as  a Florescent ballast. I have a large commercial building with many fixtures and retrofit instead of replacing ballasts now. If the 8 ft florescent bulbs get much more expensive I may start retrofitting to LED rather then buying florescent bulbs. 

[67gtasanjose]

Though space is always an issue for most, I would never want to be without BOTH a 4-post lift AND a 2-post lift. Like any cook might say, there really isn't ONE skillet that cooks every kind of food.

[midlife]

Though space is always an issue for most, I would never want to be without BOTH a 4-post lift AND a 2-post lift. Like any cook might say, there really isn't ONE skillet that cooks every kind of food.

You mean there's other things out there than the George Forman skillet?

[69bossnut]

When building new LED is the only way to go. The fixtures may be more expensive. but they are cheaper to run & usually don’t require as many fixtures to get equivalent lighting to fluorescent. If your able to split it up dirty area clean area I highly recommend, but hard to do with limited space. Mezzanine is always good to add storage space if height is available to do so. I have BendPak 10,000lb 2 post lifts and have never had any issue. Don’t go with cheap lifts that’s not an area I would cut corners on. I can see where a 4 post drive on would be useful mainly to double storage for me, but could also see other uses. A drain is always useful if you ever intend to wet sand or rinse off a car inside or wash floor down. I don’t have any windows in any of my shops. Mainly because that allows people to look in or break in through the windows. Plus I would probably just have something placed in front of it. Go as big of an electric breaker box as you can. It’s ok to have extra spots in a large box but you can’t add spaces to a small box. Even if you think you won’t ever need a 220v plug I would still run at least 1 outlet just Incase. And of coarse you can’t ever have to many 110v plug ins. Then of coarse water lines & bath room if possible. Also if budget allows would highly recommend epoxy coat the floor.

[RoyceP]

I am in the process of designing a new shop too. I am going to have one thing in my new shop that was not part of previous shop plans. This one will have a space about 10 feet by 50 feet that is under the roof but outside. This area will house my air compressor, bead blaster, and parts washer. Those items are either dirty or noisy inside the shop.

Other things can live in this area when not being used such as jack stands, ramps, and engine stands.