Shop Suggestions

[JayWltrs]

With the kids almost all gone, bought a smaller place with a few acres outside of town. Building a 30x40 shop for an office, storage and playhouse for the coupe. This is new territory for me. Any suggestions?

Planning to have 10' x 30' for office with minisplit and loft for storage. Rest will be open but insulated. Finding a lift and locating seems to be the pivot point for how the rest of the garage space is designed.

 

[Nicad]

I'd suggest having at least a couple of rooms that are sealed off from the general space. One could be for making a lot of dust, Bead blasting, welding, grinding and a clean room for the car and office. Might want a compressor in it's own room for noise abatement. Use Black pipe for the air lines. You will want a good compressor. 5 HP , 2 stage, 80 gallon seems like the standard hobbyist size. Run 220 to the garage if you want electric heat, AC, welding. Pour a thick pad for the hoist area. I like spray foam insulation. Get insulated garage doors. Wire the place for sound if you like music. I ended up buying a very large and well built used ktichen for my place for peanuts. The cupboards have been so helpful for storing stuff. The planning stage is a great thing. So many options and I'm sure some of the art space garages I have seen on this forum will give you ideas.

 

[autokunst]

From personal experience, make it bigger. Maybe consider taller, making the office in a lofted section (closed off but maybe with a view down to below).

 

[JFENG]

If you are undertaking repairs and restoration work, it’s excellent advice to have a separate dirty/dusty room. Grinding steel and cutting aluminum puts lots of crap in the air. Otherwise you’ll have to cover everything all the time.

Tempting to go over the top and install a basic a fire suppression system

I would do a long work bench with a stainless steel counter and reclaimed kitchen cabinets (drawer units) underneath. I would not spend thousands for those big roll around pro toolboxes. Sometimes you can fine nice vidmar type cabinets cheap on Craigslist (because they aren’t roll-around).

 

[bluecoupe30!]

I once built a 1642 square foot L shaped shop, 28 feet deep, that had 2 sections. It was nice to have one area closed off from the other because, as mentioned above, when you are grinding or sanding, a lot of dust gets everywhere. But I do remember there was a lot of area to clean, heat, light, and so on. Good thing you are soliciting input, and I wish I did, but I was way younger and had space and a permit! At another address, I built what I called my "studio". 24 x 24, but I adjusted the roof rafter design to allow a "mezzanine" level, with pull down stairs where I could store parts and set up my Ninco slot car track. French doors out to the garden. Worked great, and was way easier to heat. I am sure you will come up with something cool and creative. We will be watching.

 

[m5bb]

I built a 34x24 garage behind my house in 2009. Originally intended to be a garage on one side and a wood shop on the other.
Woodshop tools still pushed up against a wall.
I have a lift, a loft area and a bathroom.
All space is controlled by a split mini system.
One compressor out back and two air handlers inside.
I live in Atlanta and gets hot but fortunately the garage is heavily shaded in the afternoons so cooling is not a problem. Around $40 a month average for power.
Air compressor (80gal) is out back under a canopy. I hate listening to them.
Floor slopes to doors (very important) so any spills or water runs towards the door and not under your stuff.
I have a desk in the corner and a office chair. No separate office.
I have a slop sink on the main floor. Good for hands and many other washings. Parts cleaning cabinet with mineral spirits is next to sink. Handy.
The loft is a separate stairway inside the building and the loft is approximately half the floor space of the garage.
Great for parts and storage. Bathroom is up there.
You NEVER have enough room. My footprint was limited.
Walls and ceiling insulated to max.
Big stereo and speakers with CD player, Sirius XM and radio. No TV.

 

[lip277]

I have a 52'x70' shop behind my house. The fella I bought the place from built NASCAR chassis in his 'spare time' - as best I can figure.
The shop ceiling has 16' clearance to the floor - with a loft along the left side (one stall wide). There is laundry and full bath below loft. The loft is where my office and AV room will be with a balcony opening out to the main body of the shop (via a glass garage door).
See enclosed pics. I am in process now on finishing out the interior of the building.
If you do intend to do 'work' in the building - I agree with creating separate room to keep the mess to a minimum.
I do have a commercial spec air compressor as left by the PO. Works great.
I will post pics as I progress in my completion of the building - if you are interested. I am in the middle of that now...

 

[Sooner]

Mine is 60' x 45', with two office spaces and a full bath which takes up 900 square feet, rest shop. Lift, compressor, bead blaster, welder etc makes for a fun area to kill alot of time for the BMW's.

 

[rsporsche]

i wish i had been in a place to do this years ago ... ain't gonna happen now. having been in several new build shop / garages ... after a couple of years ... build it bigger than you anticipate.

 

[bavbob]

If you can find an old utility sink, cast iron....cannot be killed. Also as mentioned, if you have the $$, an air handler which is wish I had. The other thing is that I would try to make as little permanent as possible. One day we will be too old to use all the stuff and your grandkids will need a place to be sent to when you want peace...a finished basement is still too close for me.

 

[JFENG]

One day we will be too old to use all the stuff and your grandkids will need a place to be sent to when you want peace...

I plan on sending my grandkids to my barn to clean rusty car parts, dispose of dead mice and wax my cars. If they do a good job then they get a ride in Grampa’s cool classic cars for ice cream. They make face shields and respirators in kiddie sizes, right?

 

[Ohmess]

Buddy in Wisconsin has a four post lift with a caster kit. He can roll his lift outside, put his car up in the air and powerwash underneath, then roll the lift back into the garage when he is done.

And, again harkening back to WI, a kegerator is a very nice addition to any garage.

 

[CSteve]

And a dehumidifier if the split does not do it.

 

[Ohmess]

And a dehumidifier if the split does not do it.

Concrete draws in moisture, and will discharge it into the air when the air in the room becomes less humid. Air conditioners are not normally set up to remove moisture in situations where the moisture will be replenished through the floor. Adding a dehumidifyer to the mini-split is a good idea.

 

[autokunst]

And if you are building new, assure that there is a "real" moisture barrier below the slab (not just some thin, perforated poly) and at least 2" of rigid insulation. This will greatly help reduce the vapor drive through the floor.

 

[Steven]

By far the best hose spool I've seen!

I built a 34x24 garage behind my house in 2009. Originally intended to be a garage on one side and a wood shop on the other.
Woodshop tools still pushed up against a wall.
I have a lift, a loft area and a bathroom.
All space is controlled by a split mini system.
One compressor out back and two air handlers inside.
I live in Atlanta and gets hot but fortunately the garage is heavily shaded in the afternoons so cooling is not a problem. Around $40 a month average for power.
Air compressor (80gal) is out back under a canopy. I hate listening to them.
Floor slopes to doors (very important) so any spills or water runs towards the door and not under your stuff.
I have a desk in the corner and a office chair. No separate office.
I have a slop sink on the main floor. Good for hands and many other washings. Parts cleaning cabinet with mineral spirits is next to sink. Handy.
The loft is a separate stairway inside the building and the loft is approximately half the floor space of the garage.
Great for parts and storage. Bathroom is up there.
You NEVER have enough room. My footprint was limited.
Walls and ceiling insulated to max.
Big stereo and speakers with CD player, Sirius XM and radio. No TV.

View attachment 103834View attachment 103835View attachment 103836

 

[Markos]

My advice is to research your local building codes before throwing a utility sink into the mix. A lot of places don’t allow drains in a garage, at least on the floor. Different if you have a dedicated bathroom or finished space.

I’ll leave it to the resident architects to enlighten us.

 

[JayWltrs]

Lots of great ideas! Super unfortunate that there will be no water supply or drain. House is on well and septic, which limited some my placement options. Adding a loft with stairs (hoping I get too old for ladders). Starting to research air handlers. I'll just have to suffer through the heat in the shop area, which I'm fine with so long as I can create a cross draft. After just finishing the renovation of the basement on my old house, I'm really hoping the wood tools get only occasional recreational use.

 

[JFENG]

Here is a nutty idea:
(1) install a portable water storage tank in the attic. Replenish from the house with a house or ?
(2) tank gravity feeds a sink faucet (cold only). Sink drains into a small French drain outside the shop.
(3) put a sign above the sink reminding you and all users to only use biodegradable eco friendly soap. Exercise the discipline to use the system properly knowing it drains into your ground .

Probably totally illegal by modern code, but the PO of my barn had a system like this so he could have a wash up sink in his wood shop. I’d guess by the faucet that it was in place starting in the 1950’s. Tempting to resurrect it someday, until the authorities catch me and lock me up.

 

[Nicad]

I am pleased with the water system in my shop. Where I am it would cost about 25K to get hooked up to the city water and drain, so didn't bother with that. To meet my basic needs I took a canoe tripping barrel , which is a big blue plastic 16 gallon barrel with knap sap straps attached to it and drilled some holes in the lid. Initially I plumbed it into my air lines and have a small stainless bar sink above it. When I initially pressurized it so I could have water on demand, it swelled up and did not look happy handling the pressure. Probably only put ten or so psi in it. Next attempt was to buy a marine foot pump and have that supply water. Now when I want to wash my hands or get a bit of water for cleaning stuff it is easily pumped up.. The waste water goes down the drain to a smaller tank in a cabinet that I empty in the alley when no one is looking . I find I refill my tank about 4 times a year. Just pop it out , throw it in the car and take it home to fill up. Pretty darn heavy getting it back in the car.
For toilet needs, I bought an incinerating toilet called an Incinolet. Quite a device. I joke to my Son that it is made in Texas by the same company that makes Electric chairs. https://incinolet.com/?AdGroup=Incinolet&AdGroupId=1148990150957579&AdId=71811938518389&Campaign=**LP Canada | Branded&CampaignId=267684511&Network=s&campaign=267684511&device=c&identifiers=kwd-71812309992400:loc-4062&keyword=incinolet&msclkid=ac37a2745b2c119e10b9fdfc7c5a8b09&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=**LP Canada | Branded&utm_term=incinolet&utm_content=Incinolet
Mine is vented to the alley in front of my shop and sits in front of the compressor. I haven't used it in a while....as there is a lot of pedestrian traffic in my alley. On a hot summer day when the wind is low, people must have wondered what the Hell goes on in that shop? It is currently not working, so my work around was a local Canadian Tire store a minute's walk away that I visit for special needs as they have a spacious washroom. (Canadian Tire is probably now our biggest retailer left standing, Canadians buy all sorts of crap there).
Since I am alone in the shop about 99.5% of the time I have a cutout windshield washing fluid jug to handle the waste a beer drinker would create. That goes to the Alley too to keep the weeds down when no one is looking. So far so good. At this point, I'd say what my daughter says to me ....TMI