New shop build, beginning stages with questions

[rangerfredbob]

So, I've made a post a wile ago in the rural living or something area below asking about doors for my near future shop... I'm trying to finalize my plans in the very near future...

Anyway, I have an area that had grapes in it, found plans and have a quote for the complete building kit minus slab and related stuff... 36'x48' based off of THESE plans, I'd be doing the maximum size with 14' rafters. Two bay doors on the long wall, have to stick to plans and 10' wide doors for permitting reasons... I'm thinking of making one 12' tall door sliding for future "modification" and the other a 10'x10' roll up, insulation on the roof and sides.

In the plans is a ~9000lb 2 post lift in the bay with a 10x10 door so probably a 5" thick slab, along with PEX tubing in the floor for floor heating. Also want to have a small office in there...

Main questions are of course any tips, I'm pondering what I want to do for a crane in the sop, my options are A frame on casters, I beam setup with I beams running down the rafters and a hanging I beam between them and a chain hoist off a trolley (3 trolleys and 3 I beams for this setup) or a swinging JIB crane off of one of the posts.

For electrical I'm not sure what I want to do, will be a one man show with welding and fabrication equipment so ~150A should be sufficient, permitting is $79 up to 200A plus $4 per branch circuit at inspection (so, light switch and an outlet at that point...). The shop will be ~50' from the house panel, absolutely no room in that panel for anything else so probably going to have to pony out some $$ to get a line to the shop. I do know an electrician to help me with getting the hard wire in so that isn't holding me back too far... I've rewired my garage myself from scratch including trenching new wires from the panel at the house, adding at least 10 outlets and adding 10 lights or so so no worries there.

As far as land prep, I have the grapes all pulled, waiting on the dirt to dry up some so I can get to working it up and getting the top soil out of the way and leveled. I'll try to get a picture or two of the area tomorrow, haven't looked at it in the daylight in a while.

As said above, any tips or ideas are appreciated! I would get a whole lot more done if I had somewhere inside to do work! I know it's a big task building from a kit but it's the only way that's in the cards to get what I want...

 

[droptop]

You might want to check out this website that is just dedicated to garages and shops. Lots of advice and ideas. The Garage Journal

 

[truckdiagnostics]

You want an over head crane, it will give you the most flexibility. I have a roll around a frame it works but when you are not using it, it is in the way. Jib crane is a work station crane, for like over your welding area. If you are going with a lift and in floor heat, you will want to plan for lift install, as it bolts through the concrete. If your going with Jib or over head you need to plan for footing and bolting through concrete also. Have fun, and it is never big enough

 

[rangerfredbob]

Got a 2 post lift on Saturday, so now I know the pad shape as well.

Yeah, I'm leaning toward the overhead... just want to be sure the trusses will hold up to what I want. The trusses will be 12' apart, I'm thinking a 20' I beam along the two by the bigger door without the lift (haven't decided on that yet), a trolley running along each of those beams with a 12' I beam between them with another trolley and a chain hoist...

The research continues... will check out the link above as well once I get home...

 

[truckdiagnostics]

Sounds like you are head down the right track.
When we formed the shop floor, we went with 2" foam board on the outside edge and 1" underneath. It is a monolithic slab. before we finish graded we we came out 4' from the edge of the slab with 2" foam board. Pitched away from the slab, put edging around and filled in between that the slab with clear stone. You can't plant any thing there, pretty maintenance free, have to zip around with the round up once a year to keep the weeds out. It make a difference on how warm the outer edge of the slab stays. I have another building with in floor that we did not do that in, same spacing on the in floor tubing and there is a measurable difference.
I also wish I would have put the pex on the outer edge of the building closer together than I did. I also wish I would have put a thermal break in between the slab and concrete apron.
The kid is in the HVAC business and seen issues with short cuts on pex layout on the in floor heat. So, consider checking to be sure whoever is laying out the pex in floor has a designed plan. Also, check to be sure the layout matches the print before the pour.
If you are running in floor you may want to consider how you are going to do make up air.
When you are welding for example you will want a fan with a window open Also with a shop overhead doors opening and closing. In floor heat does not recover fast and with opening a window for make up air you will end up with nasty temp swings. If I had to do over i would size my boiler big enough for the in floor and a water to air exchanger for make up air. You still want the toasty warm floors, but if inside temp drops fast say 2 degrees past in floor set temp, then another thermostat kicks in. In theory that should take out the temp swings.
Laying out your own shop is a lot of fun. I would be lost with out mine.

 

[ovrszd]

I just finished a 39x48x14. Heated slab. 4ftx10" footing. 6" floor. 2x6 stud on 2' C. Trusses every 4ft. 1ft eave overhang. 18" gable overhang. Panel liner ceiling. OSB wall liner. Batt wall insulation R19. Blown fiberglass ceiling R49. Conduit wiring. 200A service. LED 4ft ceiling lighting. 4 post lift. Two 12x12ft overheads. Two 36" walk-ins. Four 4x4 windows. 12'x8' bathroom containing sink, stool, floor heat hardware and air compressor.

Love the floor heat but as others have mentioned, takes diligent planning!!!! Friend of mine just finished a very large shop with one 4 post and three 2 post lifts. Drilled into two circuits of his floor heat setting the lifts. I'm using a Rinnai tankless water heater for source. Operates sinfully cheap.

Don't short yourself on lighting.

Don't short yourself on wiring of any kind.

Don't short yourself on insulation. Build a solid, tight building.

You'll get exactly what you invest into this building. Invest cheaply and you'll get a cheap building.

I have $42 per sq ft in my building.

 

[truckdiagnostics]

Friend of mine just finished a very large shop with one 4 post and three 2 post lifts. Drilled into two circuits of his floor heat setting the lifts.
View attachment 589160

With the slab cold in the spring and when you first turn on the in floor you can find them with an infrared camera. They jump right out at you. I made a donation to the local fire department and they came out with there's when I had to find mine. You can still do it when the slab is warm, you just might have to let it cool and/or increase the water temp going into the floor for a short period of time.

 

[rangerfredbob]

You two will definitely "need" your floor heating much more than I will... I think the low so far this winter is 28F for maybe two nights total, rest in mid to high 30's for low, I think it got to 20F last winter... 6 years ago it got down to 6F but that was just one day... Over here by the coast we don't get extreme winters so I don't think I'll need to get quite as fancy... not saying I'm not going to take note

My goal is to not take out a loan for the shop, and to get it my way without spending a fortune I don't want to hire anything out that I don't have to. Someone from the electric company and maybe an electrician will have to get involved at some point since I'm going to need to either get another meter (my least favored option) or rework things to get power to the new shop from the house (probably 50' away from the meter and panel on the house) which could involve a new panel for the house since it's a mess and old/not labeled but we'll see.

Definitely not going to skimp on lights, not seeing what I'm doing is annoying, didn't take me long to add 6 3 bulb fluorescent fixtures in the garage (I took out two single bulb 2' fixtures that was all on 2/3 of the garage...).

Outlets are going to be a plenty . I insulated and sheeted the end walls of my garage a few years ago and added an outlet every 4' I think, need to finish that project but it will follow the shop build, too much stuff in the way.

 

[ovrszd]

With the slab cold in the spring and when you first turn on the in floor you can find them with an infrared camera. They jump right out at you. I made a donation to the local fire department and they came out with there's when I had to find mine. You can still do it when the slab is warm, you just might have to let it cool and/or increase the water temp going into the floor for a short period of time.

Yep. Very good point.

In the case of my friend it was totally his fault. Areas were designated with no piping. During lift install he moved the four post two feet forward.

 

[ovrszd]

In your case the benefit of floor heat will be minimal. A high efficiency furnace might be a good choice. If you have a one or two day dip in temps then find yourself in the 50-60 degree range you may be opening doors to cool your slab. Might want to find a similar building with floor heat and talk about this.

I totally understand the budget thing. I built my pad. I buried my utilities. I finished all my landscaping. I insulated my building. I finished the interior including all wiring and plumbing.

On my $80K building I paid $8K to hired labor. If I had done all of the work I'd still have $72K invested.

The type and quality of your build can have a large effect on total cost. Build a cheap building and that's what you'll end up with. The cost of building materials is shocking.