What would you do differently if you built a new shop

[PJSprog]

Excellent thread, with excellent ideas. Will be very useful when I redo both the garage and barn shops this summer. Thanks, guys.

 

[fried1765]

, making certain that the concrete installers PULL THE MESH UP as they are pouring.

This is a common mistake made by most concrete installers. You cant "Pull the mesh up" while standing on it. Sure they hook it up and maybe get a rock under it if lucky, but the mesh remains on the bottom 1" of the concrete because the workers are constantly walking on it when laying the concrete.
Always make the reinforcing contractor lay the rebar or mesh on a concrete block or plastic coated steel chairs designed for the task , otherwise you are pretty much wasting your time putting in reinforcement.

In "the bottom 1" of the concrete", (4" slab) is exactly where the mesh should be!
When a load is parked/placed on the cured concrete, the top of the concrete will be in compression, and the bottom of the concrete will be in tension.
Concrete is wonderful in compression, and horrible in tension..... thus in a floor, any reinforcing should be in the bottom 1/4.
It is possible to keep the wire pulled up, but that only happens with a most conscientious concrete crew.
Supporting the wire with thin concrete bricks or concrete chairs (lots of them) is a good idea.

 

[ovrszd]

Put porches over every door. Both walk through doors, and roll up doors. I'm in the process of doing that to my current shop and will include it in my next one.

I'd like the porches over my rollups. So if it's raining and warm outside I could have the doors open. Just haven't "wanted" them enough to do the addition. Definitely would consider on next build.

 

[Big Barn]

Wow. LOT'S of good ideas here!

When pouring the floor on my first shop years ago I set four of these "anchor points" inside and one outside on the pad in front of the main door.




They're invaluable for anchoring come alongs,portapowers or??? The two different sizes vertical receivers are for for attaching bending jigs or portable vice/grinder stands.

When I retired I repurposed our (well insulated) coolers for my new shop area to take advantage of the increased square footage. The original shop is now rented out.

Terry

 

[woodlandfarms]

So far thanks for all the insight. This will be for Portland, not LA (do you know how much a 80x80 would cost in LA? Like millions - I will make due with my 1.5 car garage.

I will post pictures of the design when I get it back from the steel manufacturer.

I do want to do concrete knee walls, less because of water and more because of damage. Every building I see it seems if the metal goes to the ground someone got it with a bucket or pickel forks or...

What about Skylights? My metal building buddy is agains them, wants me to put clear plastic under the eaves instead. Saddly our property is north facing with a hill to the south so pumping up natural light is a plus.

And as I noted in my original post, this is not just for me, I think there is a lot of great ideas to share in this group.

 

[EddieWalker]

I never met a skylight that didn't leak sooner or later. Will you be insulating your attic? If so, a skylight is like leaving a window open 24/7.

 

[airbiscuit]

In my last few shops I run 12/3 romex. With that I have 2 20a circuits at every plug location. I also have a 240v and 120v circuit/outlets near the bay door/doors that lead to the entry. We all end up working on stuff outside.

Times 2 on that. I just put up a building and by running 12/3 romex, adjacent outlets are on different circuits. That's better than having one wall on one circuit and another wall on a different circuit. It also saves wire.

 

[/pine]

Just getting started on a new shop...
I'll be adding conduit in the slab for flush floor receptacles...for island benches...

 

[ovrszd]

I prefer an all steel building, but that's just me.

I am "heat" conscious to have no use for skylights anywhere. That's why I mentioned windows, windows, windows. Good quality double glass insulated windows to minimize heat loss.

Here's a pic I just took at 11:30 a.m. on a very cloudy Missouri day with lights off.

 

[PJSprog]

Is that a disco ball, Richard?!?!?!