What would you do differently if you built a new shop

[woodlandfarms]

OK, I am in the midst of my shop design. 80x80 with a modern look. There are a bunch of things I am working through (Liike how do I keep it clean, where do I pressure wash the muddy tractor, how do I deal with engine smoke and oil spills).

A bunch of you have built shops, and I believe firmly it is easier to learn from peoples failures than successes, so would love to hear what things you would change next time around and why.

Hopefully it will turn into a useful thread.

 

[MossRoad]

I'd get a couple good, quality air hose reels and mount them catty-corner up towards the ceiling. Your 80x80 is large, so you may need 4. But my garage is less than half that size, so I'd only need 2. One in a back corner will take care of two walls and one in a front corner will take care of the other two walls, and the outdoors if needed.

I'd have a small room for the air compressor.... its loud.

I'd have a small restroom with toilet and WIDE sink. Wide enough to get my forearms into when washing grease up to my elbows. :confused3:

I'd have radiant floor heating!!!
I worked at airports with heated hangar floors.... oh man is that nice! :thumbsup:

Plenty of 110v quad boxes.
Just a few 220v boxes. I have no 220V equipment.

Arc welder outlet... I'd only have one. If I had to spend money on wiring in the garage to have two, I'd rather put the money towards longer leads for the welder instead. Locate it nearer to the front door in case you ever want to weld outdoors and make sure your leads are long enough to get to all sides of a project in the driveway.

I don't do woodworking, but a dust collection system would be nice sometimes. A good shopvac with some plumbing around the garage can suffice. Several sucker outlets on each wall plumbed back to a shop vac location will work. I've found swimming pool vacuum hose works pretty well for a vacuum hose for doing our cars in the driveway. Its 25' long! :thumbsup:

Small beverage fridge, of course! :licking: Its also handy to keep fresh fishing bait in the summer, if you're so inclined. :fishing:

Tool boxes. I hate peg board.

I'd make the large door and driveway face south. Why? Here we get snow and ice. North sides never melt due to low angle of sun. East and west are better than north. South is the best. If I lived in the south, I'd probably want the door in the shade.

A small, covered area outdoors on one side of the shop. Its nice to work on stuff outside sometimes, or put a picnic table there.

10' minimum ceilings. My current garage has this....:thumbsup:

Telephone used to be important. Cell phone may negate it, depending on location.
Internet, too.
TV... something for entertainment.
Computer for looking up TBN for help!!!

A vehicle lift. On my wish list.

I'll think of more, I'm sure. :laughing:

 

[RNeumann]

Start with a good box! Most everybody here focuses on the nick nacks before they build and then complain about the building after it's done.
Proper concrete footings, proper structure, proper insulation and proper sized utilities to the building. Utilities include water, sewer, tv, internet/network and electrical.
Consider RV size or other special vehicle height requirements for doors.

You don't indicate whether or not the walls will be closed or open. If closed I'll add a bunch more to the list.

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.

Floor drain vs sloped floor vs gravel floor section is something you will need to decide based on climate and use and building type.

 

[NewfieDan]

One thing I have found with 2 shops I have had. When pouring the footings and foundation, make sure the concrete comes up at least 18" above finished grade. I found this the hard way when I had wood rot caused by the previous owner building walls directly on the slab. This allowed heavy water runoff to run between the slab and framing eventualy causing rot.

Put in lots of plugs, all at about 4ft off the floor, you never know where the work bench will end up. On a shop that is 80x80 put in a big electric service. On a shop this size, a minimum would be 100A 240V panel.

Get at least one table with wheels. Its nice to have a bench close to where you are working to lay tools/parts on.

Plumb the whole shop for air service. Why drag air hoses all over the shop.

Look at your HVAC. Will you need AC? Heating in winter? Since your listed as LA, I guess AC would be important. Will you need a separate room for painting, finishing?

Having water for toilet and a sink would be a must for me too. Keep as much dirt out of the house as possible would keep the other half happier.

 

[Shaneard]

I don't get why people want to keep their shop floor as clean as their kitchen floor. It's a shop, when I walk out to mine I see the oil stains everywhere and the dirtiness of it and it makes me realize it's a shop and stuff gets worked on there. If it's spotless and the floor is super clean I may as well have a basement on the house and with a couch and TV and not come out of it. I walk in peoples shops and they're clean and I think they don't do anything. Mine does get blown out with the leaf blower if the door is open after mowing the yard, lol. I do know a guy who has a shop about the size of mine and you can't see the top of his work bench, you ask him for a tool he has to look for 5 minutes to find it because it's on the workbench and the floor is so cluttered with stuff you can't work on anything in it. I went by not long ago and he was putting a starter on his truck, outside on a piece of cardboard because he had no room to get it in the shop. There's a big difference between cleanliness and usability. Good luck with your new shop build!

 

[fried1765]

I don't get why people want to keep their shop floor as clean as their kitchen floor. It's a shop, when I walk out to mine I see the oil stains everywhere and the dirtiness of it and it makes me realize it's a shop and stuff gets worked on there. If it's spotless and the floor is super clean I may as well have a basement on the house and with a couch and TV and not come out of it. I walk in peoples shops and they're clean and I think they don't do anything. Mine does get blown out with the leaf blower if the door is open after mowing the yard, lol. I do know a guy who has a shop about the size of mine and you can't see the top of his work bench, you ask him for a tool he has to look for 5 minutes to find it because it's on the workbench and the floor is so cluttered with stuff you can't work on anything in it. I went by not long ago and he was putting a starter on his truck, outside on a piece of cardboard because he had no room to get it in the shop. There's a big difference between cleanliness and usability. Good luck with your new shop build!

I would use fibre reinforced concrete, and the heaviest gauge reinforcing mesh available, making certain that the concrete installers PULL THE MESH UP as they are pouring. Make certain that floor thickness is adequate for ANY future weight.
I would put plastic piping in concrete in floor for radiant heating (even if OP does not plan to install radiant heat right away).
Have concrete expansion joints CUT in floor within 16 hours of pouring.
Seal concrete (use garden sprayer).
Paint 2 coats of 2 part epoxy coating on floor, after concrete curing, but BEFORE putting ANYTHING in the building.

 

[fidowanttobe]

Before pouring the floor I would have a couple floor anchors installed out of the way. Really wish I would have done that as they are great when bending or straightening stuff when you can anchor it to the world.
Floor heat, drains and plumbing. Anything under the concrete basically cuz the rest can be added later even if it is a bear.

 

[PILOON]

For power tools, 20 amp circuits with outlets 48" high.
All shop lighting on separate circuit from tool outlets.
\Multiple 220 VAC outlets'
Shop breaker panel fed from household main panel.
Air tool plumbing with drains at each outlet.
I hate tripping on electrical cords to I installed an overhead swinging arm that allows me to plug in power from overhead, also later added an airline connection.
This allows me to have a work or assembly table free of air and electric lines to trip over.*
Wall mounted air line reel and outdoor air connection.
Last and most important, much bigger shop!
Annex that houses compressor and central shop vac system.
Baseboard vacuum sweeping collection point.
Metal or PVC cladding on lower 4' of shop walls to allow vehicle washing.
Thru the wall smoke and fume extractor for that dust, paint and welding fume extraction.

*I often will have 2-3 power tools and even a couple of air tools all in use on the same project!

 

[newbury]

OK, I am in the midst of my shop design. 80x80 with a modern look. There are a bunch of things I am working through (Liike how do I keep it clean, where do I pressure wash the muddy tractor, how do I deal with engine smoke and oil spills).

A bunch of you have built shops, and I believe firmly it is easier to learn from peoples failures than successes, so would love to hear what things you would change next time around and why.

Hopefully it will turn into a useful thread.

OP - Do you have a timeline?
This discussion could go on for years.
Have you visited Garage Journal?
There can be a lot of "finer" points like putting in strategically placed floor drains, optimum lighting, etc. etc. etc.

I never had a shop of my own before buying over 5,000 sq feet of shop with my future retirement home.

But I've noticed some critical things:
PLAN on change. Make it flexible. Oversize the utilities a bit. Get high.
I didn't have any 240V tools, now I've a shop full.
By get high I mean give yourself PLENTY of ceiling height. I've one shop with 14 foot to the crossbeams. I hope to put in a 4 post lift to accommodate my F350.

I don't get why people want to keep their shop floor as clean as their kitchen floor. It's a shop, when I walk out to mine I see the oil stains everywhere and the dirtiness of it and it makes me realize it's a shop and stuff gets worked on there.

I view the stains as badges of work done. I try to contain spills but life happens.

If it's spotless and the floor is super clean I may as well have a basement on the house and with a couch and TV and not come out of it. I walk in peoples shops and they're clean and I think they don't do anything. Mine does get blown out with the leaf blower if the door is open after mowing the yard, lol.

That is one of my delights being able to use a leaf blower for indoor cleaning

I do know a guy who has a shop about the size of mine and you can't see the top of his work bench, you ask him for a tool he has to look for 5 minutes to find it because it's on the workbench and the floor is so cluttered with stuff you can't work on anything in it. I went by not long ago and he was putting a starter on his truck, outside on a piece of cardboard because he had no room to get it in the shop. There's a big difference between cleanliness and usability. Good luck with your new shop build!

Many of the TBN'ers are what I consider "vertically challenged" for storage.
I rant and rave about the wonderful utility of pallet racks.
With sufficient pallet racking and smart storage practices one can quadruple the storage and work area. Get everything off the floor so you can use a leaf blower to clean it!

 

[topbuilder]

Ridge ventilation.
Ball washer... Well, if you're going to have a central vac system so you don't have to drag a dust pan out, might as well wash your balls with all that spare time.