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Advice on building a shop
I am in the process of building a 24x32 shop to house my tractor and collector vehicle and wondered if anyone had any advise as to what I should and should not do. I am trying to prevent the situation of having to say after its built: "I wish I would have done that differently"
For instance:
Should I put in an overhead air line for a compressor with mutilple ceiling or wall outlets?
Advice on overhead lighting or electrical outlet placement.
Wall storage systems? Pegboard, shelves or cabinets?
Should I paint the floor with a high quality aircraft hanger floor paint?
And anything else you may have as suggestions.
The shop will be used for storage and just general activities. I am not a mechanic but do enjoy woodworking.
Thanks for your help.
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Advice on building a shop
Having just built a 28 x 36, I can give a few opinions.
1) Build as big as you can, then go a little bigger (I wish I went bigger)
2) There are NEVER enough electrical outlets (I have 20+)
3) Plumb air lines if you can right away (still not done)
4) Consider "In floor" heat rather than a forced air blower (more efficient and warmer to work on)
5) Ceiling height of 10' is MINIMUM!! (code limited for me, I wanted 12' for a 10' door)
6) Painted floors are slippery, but add allot to the lighting (I used gray tinted sealer, rather than paint)
7) Painted/finished walls add more to the lighting (I used Sheetrock)
8) Consider a cheap ceiling fan for air circulation (Still not done yet, but definitely needed)
9) Pitch the floor more than enough for drainage (GRRRR!!)
10) hot/cold water is very handy (Definitely "next time."
11) Bathroom? (How great would that be?!?)
12) Go with the largest electrical breaker box you can (I used a separate service with a 200A box)
Feel free to PM me.
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Advice on building a shop
All the above are great suggestions. After building my third garage and being tired of ice and snow melting off a car or pickup that gathers at the bottom door gasket of the overhead door causing it to freeze down I finally learned something. If you have an outlet for a floor drain put it about 8-10 ft. inside the door and pitch the floor to the drain, no more frozen down doors. Even us old dogs can sometimes learn a new trick. Frank.
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Advice on building a shop
Floor heat is the only way to go. I absolutely love it. Also, put in at least 10 ft wide doors...I put in 9 ft and now struggle with an 8 ft wide camper due to the extra width of awning, vents, step...only a few inches on either side. I wish I would have just went 11' x 11' on mine. Never know what you may end up wanting to store in there. I also hung white tin horizontally on the inside of mine. Looks clean and keeps the place bright. I have been thinking about the aircraft hanger paint...any insights to the durability of this?
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Advice on building a shop
How is aircraft hangear paint different from regular concret floor paint? I did'nt know there was such a product. I did'nt paint mine but did use a sealer recommended by the concret co. It was a little slick at first but now is fine. Frank.
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Advice on building a shop
AV8R: Thanks for all of the great suggestions. I will use some of them. My garage will be a "daylight basement" garage with the above ground floor being a craft area for my CEO...a compromise to get my garage. That way I will also get the bathroom on the above ground floor.
Hardwood: As to your question as to how aircraft hanger paint is different from regular paint...I'm not sure about this but I'm told true "aircraft hanger" paint is epoxy based and is expensive and needs to be applied by a professional. Any help on this one out there? I have always admired the durability, cleanliness and "squeakiness" of the floor of airplane hangers. I think I want to do this. Perhaps AV8R will have some knowledge on this.
In my attached garage, I hung 4X8 sheets of 3/8" pegboard on one total wall for hanging things. They have a lot of really quality hanging devices out there to hang all sorts of stuff.....expensive but I think it's worth it. I hung the sheets horizontally along one wall so the bottom 6 feet or so are sheetrock and then I put 4 foot high shelving. You don't want to hang things below 5 feet high or so. I may do this on all three walls in my detached garage.
Under the stairway to the above ground floor will be enclosed storage.
Great idea on the ceiling fan....would have never thought of that. I have plans for a hot/cold utility sink....have one in my detached garage and love it.
Also plan to put a high output, upright, handled water outlet on the concrete apron in front of the garage for hosing down equipment.
Any other good ideas?
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Advice on building a shop
I have heard of the epoxy based floor paints, but never as "aircraft hangar" floor paint. Most hangars I have been in have bare concrete, with oil stains for decoration.
Okay, one is carpeted (really) but that's just a little silly.
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Advice on building a shop
Definitely, when it comes to covered storage of any kind, experience has taught me to calculate the needed amount the same way I price jobs for relatives.
I carefully calculate to a very exact figure what is needed to do the job properly...... then I double it and then add another 30% for good measure.  .
Seriously, a shop can NEVER be big enough, too well lit, plumbed or wired, I know, I've tried. If you look at my picture # 2 you will see what I mean.
The original shop is the tall part on the left side. It is 40' x 50' with two 12' high bay doors in the far left side. Two years later the right side, the shorter portion was added. It is 25' x 50' being 3 bays for vehicle storage and one bay plus the extra space next to the tall portion as my workshop.
It is still not big enough, this year I want to extend the roof of the shorter portion out 15' to meet the wall of the main shop, this will give me another 15' x 50' area of covered, but not enclosed storage space.
Best of luck.
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Advice on building a shop
My barn/shop is 28 x 36, with 12' to the roof trusses, and it's not big enough. With the tractor and implements stored in the barn, it really cuts into the shop room. The implements require enough room to be manuevered to the tractor, so you can at least double the square footage you think you need for them.
Consider putting a hoist beam in the roof of the shop. You will need at least 10' of headroom to make it practical, but the uses are un-limited. If you plan for it now, you can have the capacity built into the roof system so the hoist beam can be hung.
Seal your floor. You will be disappointed with yourself if you don't. I'm not familiar with aircraft hanger floor paint, but there are plenty of good epoxy based floor paints available that would do the job for your floor. Not only does sealing protect the floor from spills, it makes just broom cleaning a whole bunch easier.
Check your building codes. Some places have restrictions on square footage based on the main building on the property, and how many structures are allowed, along with a long list of other code requirements.
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Advice on building a shop
3M has a newer product out for garage floors that seems to work good. Non skid, I think Home Cheepo has it.
Do you get any frost where you are? If so run your foam board out beyond you apron at least a foot. Rebar it back into the floor. I have some pics of a 28x36 I have under construction if your interested in looking at it.
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