Shop Builds and Ideas

[Turbo Zach]

I looked at a place that had a shop laid out like what 81Cutlass said. Only difference was it had a nother thirty foot horse barn separated by a wall with a garage door. Really was a neat setup. I would have bought the place but, it was right on the highway and the layout of the house was crazy. For my 30x40 shop I wish I put two 10x9 doors in instead of the smaller door and I wish I went higher than 10 foot sidewalls. 10 foot is not quite enough room for my car lift.

You could store six cars in a 30x40, but there would not be room for other stuff or room too work.

 

[B's 87mcss]

37 x 40 x 16. Would have gone 40 x 40 but local county rules said no. 1/2" plywood walls inside and out, fiberglass insulation, and acrylic stucco seal shop very well. 4 sliding windows on one side, fairly high up to discourage visitors. Underfloor heat provided by electric boiler, keep's it at 50 F, and when you want to work in shop fire up 100,000BTU wood stove. 16 foot walls allows for high pallet racking , racks go all the way down one side, as well as air compressor up out of the way. Went with 12 x 14 high doors on the end, 2 man doors. Not sure how much snow you get but doors on the side up here usually allows all the snow off the roof to land right in front of the shop doors. Things i would change. Probably add a couple high up windows on other side to allow more natural light in, that's about all. I keep a skidsteer and Monte inside, still have a good amount of room to play with wrenches.

 

[Turbolq4]

I would add at least one more large door to the original plan. Drive thru shops are good in theory but not the most efficient or productive use of space. Our 50x60x14 shop has that setup. Makes for a limited amount of actual work area without clogging up the only way in and out. Having the doors in front of where the wagon is parked vs where they are would be more efficient but it still works nice and has the drive thru thing even if we don't use it for that much.

 

[Kemper1976]

42x60x16
1-14x12 door
2-10x9 doors
1-8’x9 manual side door
1- 36” walk in door

If I were to build this again, I would’ve made the eaves 18” instead of 12” and I would installed a floor drain or channel drain to wash my cars and floors in the winter.

I did have my builder search to find a walk-in door and overhead doors that came from the factory matched (or close enough) to the outside. There was no price difference getting tan doors vs white.

I had no interest in painting the white doors builders always seem to install in these buildings.

 

[fleming442]

Radiant floor heat
12' ceiling- neighbor has 14', seems too high.
200a electric
Big 2 stage compressor
6" slab

 

[TURNA]

My father in law has a 24x24x14 garage and it is way to small for 2 cars with a lift work bench, compressor etc.

But around here that is HUGE for a garage

 

[79 GP 4 speed]

I'm looking at doing a 32 wide by 36 deep with 14' ceiling height with 2 10' by 10' garage doors and 2 man doors on opposite corners. The reason I'm going 14' side walls is I can put a lift in and put a loft in part of it.

 

[79 GP 4 speed]

I'm also going with a metal roof and metal siding, the walls are going to be barn red to piss off the neighbors.

 

[ssn696]

If cost is a problem, you can concrete part of the floor later. If you have a portion that will just be parking, compact the gravel really well, just build a ramp over the footing.

 

[Doug Chahoy]

On my father-in laws steel garage, they used a few fiberglass panels on the roof and back wall that actually act as window and sky lights during the day. My house had a real small one car garage under the front porch. Useless as a garage. I got rid of the garage door and converted it into a storage shed, where i installed my 80 gal. 6 HP 2 stage air compressor and piped it into my new (then) garage. When you start acquiring the new tools and equipment we need for these projects, that big garage starts shrinking.