You building a new shop - what would you include?

[adpprop]

I am thinking of:
- square tubes mounted in floor for tool stands - grinders / sanders / ????
- hooks mounted in floor for pulling
- outlets every ** feet
- I-beam installed in ceiling for lifting / trolley / crane
- central vac piping

You know the stuff you think of after you have all the concrete poured, walls up, roof closed in, wiring done, insulated and boarded and then have one of those "****, I could have had a V8" moments

 

[power wagon]

ideas always come after its done, at least for me anyways,mine started as a 24 square and then just added on,dont want to go into debt

 

[shawnspeed]

In floor set up plate for a car , consisting of 2 W flange I beams that would run the length of the car , with 2 cross beams approximately 110" apart,(axle C/L), that has a ground wire that is ran thru the concrete , to where the welder will be parked....also If you live in a cold climate, insulate under the slab, even if you do not go with the radiant floor heat...I have one barn that the radiant is installed in , but not finished, and the insulation on the floor makes it much nicer to work in , in cold weather....much better than my other barn with no insulation under slab...Oh and I used receiver hitch, in my floor ,, for my tube bender, and several other tools , and it works ok, and I can hang them on a nearby wall when I 'm done with them...Shawn

 

[sberry]

Most of this will not be used, the outlets wont be n right place and its a rare day these detailed plans work out exact, same for the tubes in floor. I have places with no outlet for 20 ft and then 2 dozen used within a 10 ft range.

Ideally is make shop adaptable. Less may be better in some places, a couple hose reels and a whip or 2 vs many many hydrants which are not really a great idea anyway in most cases.

 

[sberry]

I have made some mistakes, moist minor in the grand scheme of things and I have an interest in shop layout. What I generally find is the owner designer thinks about things and whiule some things are more important than others,,, I tend to think in frequency and duty cycle,,,,, how many times are yu going to need a floor pull if you are not in the collision biz? You will need to piss and wash hands,,, or hands first daily and then some especially if this is any working outfit.

If its busy door location is everything and that is not as obvious as it seems believe it or not. Width is imortant as length especially working on cars, there is no substitute on sq ft, you can run extra air outlets later, spend some extra to get the right dimensions, get the doors in endwalls in cold climates. ETC. Wide enough building to take advantage of running wall space, a bud built a 30x40 with 2 doors in endwall, too close to road but 2 cars side by side was crapmed and 36 wide would have made a difference. I hate the 30X40 building for a couple reasons but a 40x40 is a bunch roomier.

Beautiful thing about trusses, can be turned either direction and common wood buildings use 80 footers all the time. Thinking of it as 40x30 is different.

Ever see the sidewalk, spent big money on it and there is the shortcut trail across the lawn. All thi depends on climate, fully heated etc. You can waste a lot of effort on a lot of stuff you dont need.

 

[sberry]

I got a friend that tries all this a step at a time and would and could help herself a lot if she give up a little and buy sell, different if you have way compelling reasons to do what you do, is it hobby, business, 1 man, several, cars, collision, paint, farm, maintenance shop?

 

[Steevo]

A bridge crane.

A mop sink.

More space.

 

[John in OH]

sberry has some good points regarding the inability to plan for everything, but I think you should give it your best shot provided the cost isn't excessive.

- insulation under the slab
- some in-floor anchors in stategic locations (such as at centerlines of overhead doors for pull points) I used Champ in-floor anchors (http://www.autobodytoolmart.com/champ-floor-anchor-pot-1600-p-11538.aspx) and installed them in the slab (see post #64 of my build thread: http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=98038&page=4).
- lots of wall outlets ... they are cheap and easy to install. Maybe you'll use them or maybe not, but you don't have much invested. And if you need to add an outlet, it is much easier to do if an existing outlet is nearby.
- if you know where some of your specific work stations will be (main workbench, welding table, etc.) you can install some ceiling outlets for overhead task lights.
- make your best guess of sink location, air compressor and, perhaps, high-eff gas furnace ... all of which require drains ... and install stub-ups for these drains and in-floor drain pipes. I actually installed a few more than I thought I'd really need to provide more flexibility in locating equipment.
- install an air header the entire length of your building and install in such a manner that you can add "tees" for future drops. And, of course, install drops where you "know" you'll be installing air hose reels.

 

[larry_g]

These threads are a pet peeve of mine. The OP gives little to no detail of himself, his goals, his location, and what the building is expected to do. OP, give up some information about yourself so that those who do respond can detail items that will make the building work for you and your goals, not just stuff I need in mine.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[Regnar]

I dedicated sound proof room/closet that is for the dust collector and air compressor. These 2 tools irritate me almost all day long in the shop.

 

[Outlawmws]

These threads are a pet peeve of mine. The OP gives little to no detail of himself, his goals, his location, and what the building is expected to do. OP, give up some information about yourself so that those who do respond can detail items that will make the building work for you and your goals, not just stuff I need in mine.

lg
no neat sig line

What do you expect to be doing in there?

 

[Dodge]

A bathroom.
Bury 2 inch PVC from house to building just in case you want or need to push wire out there.

 

[nosnerd]

I dedicated sound proof room/closet that is for the dust collector and air compressor. These 2 tools irritate me almost all day long in the shop.

correct on that...


a TOOL ROOM...

i forgot about the anchor points tho...good ..one (added to list)

PVC tube is also good idea...

 

[djjsr]

Freight elevator.

I have a second floor.

 

[sberry]

I highly agree with noisy equipment shielded and I think bathroom is worth the effort especially if the house is crowded or inconvenient, you can make up a lot of time here.

I certainly didn't mean not to plan but to plan to get the big general things right first before too many details, match the intent etc. and the likelihood it is/makes a great investment. Auto hoist yes, bridge crane for most, well not so much. If you feel the need to tow dead car certainly makes sense to anticipate this but arbitrary numbers of hydrants and outlets,,, not so much. I installed service and hung a lot of cords.

If a guy wants to be a hermit the office/bathroom/utility room can go anywhere but I like it in front corner, enter shop via walk door then enter office, I see one the other day where office is in back, walk all the way thru the pig pen to get to it, good business in some sense due to reputation but their infrastructure kills them simply due to layout.
I fab the steel in this little shop crane in the pic, swings 180 all the way agaisy wall but the post became kind of useful as an air electric drop point.

 

[PhantomEB]

More lights than you think, more outlets than you think you need, floor prep. Thats just for starters.

 

[adpprop]

It wasn't meant to be about building a specific shop. I never would have thought of putting a couple of tow hooks or a post or 2 in the floor to hold a grinder / anvil / whatever until I had seen them in another shop and thought "neat idea". And then wish I had seen or heard of 'em before I had poured the floor.

 

[Swan]

Fire extinguishers.

 

[gringowillie]

A floor safe and a closet with a HVAC style air filter for your compressor

 

[pauls340]

Without a doubt...Vapor Lock 20/20 Admixture http://www.spggogreen.com/ in the concrete. All or any moisture issues will be gone!

 

[justanengineer]

It wasn't meant to be about building a specific shop. I never would have thought of putting a couple of tow hooks or a post or 2 in the floor to hold a grinder / anvil / whatever until I had seen them in another shop and thought "neat idea". And then wish I had seen or heard of 'em before I had poured the floor.

There is a reason you dont hear about those things too often, bc for many of us theyre more of a PITA to work around than actually useful, which is something you have to consider whenever you "add" to a shop. I like to keep everything mobile via either casters or a skid I can move with a pallet jack. As projects or my wants/needs change, so can the shop. Tools like grinders, anvils, and vises dont really need to be lagged down so long as they have a decently heavy base, and if youre like me you really dont want them lagged down. I dont like to waste space so want them put away when not in use, and altho they work in one spot for several projects, I guarantee that will be exactly the wrong spot in the future.

 

[crewchief888]

insulated slab, with tubing installed for future heat
gas line run
2x6 wall studs for more insulation
floor drain
flouresent lights hard wired
switched ceiling outlets between the lights for expansion
100a service
"spare" PVC run for future needs
outlets every 6 ft around the perimeter walls
3 220 outlets, one on each wall
"soundproof" room for air compressor
ceiling or wall mount hose reels
cieling height to allow a portable A-frame/chain fall
osb or plywood wall covering
attic/rafter access

 

[smokem2020]

I would put my ceiling as high as I could without looking out of place with the house. The higher the better. Thats not something you can change easily later on. I'm thinking at least ten feet. If its a pole building you can space trusses for a lift or two. The added highth doesn't cost that much more. Then all electric in surface mount conduit. Its easy to add to. Eveybody has good ideas, pick the ones that mean the most to you. Your the one that has to live/work with it for a long time. Good luck

 

[Alcohol]

Auto Lift for starters

 

[yuk]

lots of mirrors and a brass pole.

 

[Ggg]

I am glad the floor anchors were mentioned, I needed ideas and a source for some in my shop. The type of fabrication and welding I do usually requires things to be secured to the floor.
I did not see it mentioned a water supply with a proper bathroom including a shower. I have taken oil baths more than once and would have liked to clean up before entering my house. Not to mention if I need to do bathroom work in my house I have another place to S.S.S.
At work we use ceiling fans to circulate the air in the shop area which helps in both the summer and winter.
Pauls340 can you tell more about this concrete additive you mentioned. I read the info on it but it was kinda vague.

 

[BlackLead]

There should really be a sticky for this topic. Here are a couple of old threads that have good info:
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=446
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2998
And this one even has a well-considered layout for consideration:
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=108897

These were invaluable when I was designing my garage.

 

[coljar]

The back room in my new garage is a bathroom/storage, furnace, compressor room and it is well insulated between it and the main room because I also hate to listen to a compressor. I have 4 big cast eye bolts countersunk in the concrete with screw on covers that are flush with the concrete. Before the concrete was poured, I ran 2 1/2" conduit to various points for water and electric feeder wires. And no, they are not together in the same conduit. I am putting receptacles so close together, there is no wrong spot for them. There will be one on the 2 post hoist, the post furthest away from the wall. All wiring that is not in the underground conduit is in EMT conduit. I had thought about running the piping for my vehicle exhaust system under the concrete, but decided against it. My grinder stands will be mobile because I don't want to be locked into one spot that might make them in the way later on. I could go on, but I've already Blah Blahed too much.

 

[Bib Overalls]

You can over think these things. Friend of mine built a very nice shop. One of the things he planned to do in it was rebuild wrecked cars. So he made up a large octagon out of 2" x 6" channel, set it on the floor, and filled it with concrete. He was going to use chains, come-alongs, etc. to pull frames and sheet metal back into alignment. It never happened. I asked him once why he didn't just take it up because it was always in the way. He said he might need it someday.

 

[545days]

Wire the interior lighting on two circuits. Two circuits means that a single tripped breaker will not plunge you into darkness. Also, you can turn on half the lights during the day when you don't need as much artificial light, and both sets at night, when you need to do detailed work, or when you get old and can't see as well without lots of light.

 

[jsaw]

A smaller seperate room that you can keep heated in the winter, so that you can have a warm place to work on a small job without having to heat the whole garage.
A lean to , or roof on one side, or the back so that you can do dirty work outside but still have a roof overhead to keep the rain, snow, or hot sun off of you.