Custom Workshop Build - Input Please!

[smportis]

Gentlemen, a dream has come true. I've decided to build a workshop/garage for all my projects. My lovely bride has allocated me a small space by our home to do so. I would love your input as I get on this project.

I'll start with a 3D rendering of the site. This will be the bottom floor of a 2 story building, the bottom floor being hidden by the hillside and opening away from the house.

Here is the link to the rendering. Found a simple, crude, but free site to model it VERY quickly, and guests can view it too in both 2D and 3D (click the 3D button in the upper right).

http://www.floorplanner.com/projects/26657930-workshop/

Specs if you cannot see the plan:

23' deep x 32' wide. There are two small 2.5' deep x 6' wide areas cut out of the right side (at the front and rear of the building) making the right side more of an 18' deep x 6' wide space. So, really, it is 23' deep x 26' wide, with an 18' x 6' wide space added on, centered on the right side. Whew. Sorry.

Ideas/Desires:
- Small gantry crane
- portable or in ground (rotary) vehicle lift
- Venting/exhaust system
- Central HVAC (located in TN, hot, very humid in summer)
- Enclosed cabinets above the counter in the rear of the space
- 12' ceilings
- Garage door that opens like an aircraft hangar that folds in half and opens outward/upward
- Portable Paint Booth curtain able to be hung
- Overhead storage in strategic areas for extra wood/steel
- All storage enclosed to reduce dust accumulation/ease of cleanup

Questions immediately:
1. Gantry? How accomplish this? Strong enough to lift ~ 1/2 to 1 ton
2. Exhaust system?
3. Garage door - 1 or two?
4. Is 23' really deep enough to get by? We are constrained by landscape, building envelopes, etc.
5. Overhead storage?
6. Compressed air thru shop?
7. Electrical on reels thru shop?

Thanks for your thoughts. Like to make this interactive.

 

[N0tt0N]

That looks like an excellent space. Can't wait to see the progress. Good luck!

 

[DaleK]

23' is not enough.
What are you going to have on the second floor? Might be able to work in an I-beam or two that you could run a trolley on for a hoist, depending what loads you need to carry above and where.

 

[Garage Coffee Roaster]

Any reason that you are putting in the "cut outs"? IMHO it adds complexity and cost to the project.

Make it as big and deep as your lot and budget will allow!

 

[justanengineer]

It needs to be quite a bit bigger. 23' is not enough if you ever want to work on something bigger than a small car (like a pickemup). I'd suggest in that small of a space limiting your work capabilities. If you want to work on a car or do metal fab work, get rid of the woodworking tools. If you want to do woodworking, get rid of the cars and metal fab tools. Again, bc youre in a tiny shop building you wont have room for huge work surfaces. Have 1-2 benches 4-6' long strategically placed on opposite walls and use the extra space for storage cabinets. Beyond that, place stuff strategically, you dont want your welder on the opposite side of the shop as your welding table, and unless youve got a big industrial machine building the welder into the table might make good sense for your small shop.

 

[Nowater]

A smaller window AC should handle your cooling needs if you build it right. Don't tie into your home AC for a garage.

 

[CNGsaves]

If you intend to make this thread your permanent collection of pictures and write-up about shop, then ask a Mod to move this to Gallery section of GJ.

Everyone on GJ loves to see new shop builds . . . WITH lots of PICS. Good luck.

 

[6768rogues]

I like to have the doors visible from the house, so when I go in the house I don't have to close the doors and I can keep my eye on everything.

 

[Ray916MN]

With the amount of different types of stuff you want to do in the space I think you need to group things together a bit better. Maybe set the left side of the shop up for wood and welding and the right side up for machining. Place the lift in the center of the garage and set it the entire space for one car at a time. Forego having work benches in front of the car space, as these make a short space even shorter. If you set up for a single car, you can use a narrower garage door which will get you some more wall space which will help offset not putting benches in front of the car space. You also might want to consider using under bench top carts and tool chests as a way to get more bench top space without taking all the floor space a fixed table or bench takes.

It might be possible to make this space work reasonably for two cars, but in order to do so, you're going to need to think more creatively about use of height. The simplest example is rather than having the compressor sit on the floor as shown, plan for it to be mounted up and out of the way on a wall so something can fit beneath it. Think about finding or developing a vertical wall lift system so your blast cabinet, welder, drill press, band saw and/lathe can be lifted up and out of the way. For example something like this:

Or maybe pallet racking with a hoisting system.

 

[56vette461]

I like the preliminary look. If you haven't already figured it out, --there are never enough electrical outlets, --in a shop. I currently work in my 3 car garage and and I have three 20amp/115v overhead electrical reels, one over each bay. Each reel has a three plug end. The best advantage is not having extension cords laying on the floor while working, and they are easy to store out of the way.

 

[smportis]

NOTE: this will be a personal workshop with the capability to do vehicle work (I'm restoring a 1976 FJ40 currently), as well as wood and metal-smithing. It is not a vehicle storage garage except when a project is within. We are constructing a detached 2.5 car garage on the other side of the house to replace the attached 2 car garage, which will get converted to kitchen space in the distant future.

Any reason that you are putting in the "cut outs"? IMHO it adds complexity and cost to the project.

Make it as big and deep as your lot and budget will allow!

The cut outs may or may not be removable. As everyone will come to understand, I don't have complete design control of the space. The exterior must be part of a larger master plan that I have "given" my wife free reign over. I say "given" to fool myself into thinking I have any say-so.

It needs to be quite a bit bigger. 23' is not enough if you ever want to work on something bigger than a small car (like a pickemup)....

23' is not enough.
What are you going to have on the second floor? Might be able to work in an I-beam or two that you could run a trolley on for a hoist, depending what loads you need to carry above and where.

I might be able to get a foot or two more depth, but we are having to dig 8-10 feet into limestone (I'm in TN, used to be the ocean floor), and we are moving it toward the house when we do that. My bride wants to keep it far enough from the house that the lawn in between will be able to be covered with a party tent when we entertain. We already went from 35' from structure to structure to only about 27'.

I wish I had the topo map and larger drawing image to post, but I don't yet. Suffice to say that the footprint will be constrained, budget be damned (and I have a large budget). It will be a beautifully disguised shop from the house side - it will be a small open art studio with floor to ceiling windows, hardwood floor, vaulted ceiling, etc. from the back, when closed, it will still be attractive.

A smaller window AC should handle your cooling needs if you build it right. Don't tie into your home AC for a garage.

Since the studio above will need HVAC, I'm going to put it in below as well. What the hell, you only get to do this once.

I like to have the doors visible from the house, so when I go in the house I don't have to close the doors and I can keep my eye on everything.

As noted above, that is one of the constraints of the building. Once I post the architects renderings, it will make more sense (if I were the only occupant, or this were in the rear of the house, I would turn it around too).

 

[smportis]

I like the preliminary look. If you haven't already figured it out, --there are never enough electrical outlets, --in a shop. I currently work in my 3 car garage and and I have three 20amp/115v overhead electrical reels, one over each bay. Each reel has a three plug end. The best advantage is not having extension cords laying on the floor while working, and they are easy to store out of the way.

Heard. Not done that part of the design yet, but will ensure there are multiple easy to access reels, as well as a 230v/50A circuit.

 

[smportis]

With the amount of different types of stuff you want to do in the space I think you need to group things together a bit better. ... Forego having work benches in front of the car space, as these make a short space even shorter.

If you set up for a single car, you can use a narrower garage door which will get you some more wall space which will help offset not putting benches in front of the car space. You also might want to consider using under bench top carts and tool chests as a way to get more bench top space without taking all the floor space a fixed table or bench takes.

...you're going to need to think more creatively about use of height. The simplest example is rather than having the compressor sit on the floor as shown, plan for it to be mounted up and out of the way on a wall so something can fit beneath it. Think about finding or developing a vertical wall lift system so your blast cabinet, welder, drill press, band saw and/lathe can be lifted up and out of the way. For example something like this:

Or maybe pallet racking with a hoisting system.

Several good ideas here Ray. Removing the benches at the rear, reducing the size of the door, compressor mounted up high. Storing things vertically.

One concern - I keep reading "Bigger door" "Wish my door were wider" "If I could do it again, my door would be 100' wide". Am I sacrificing access if the door is too narrow? What width should it be if 16' is about max?

 

[smportis]

What are you going to have on the second floor? Might be able to work in an I-beam or two that you could run a trolley on for a hoist, depending what loads you need to carry above and where.

Yes, I'd like to do this. Any good photo refs?

 

[Ray916MN]

...
One concern - I keep reading "Bigger door" "Wish my door were wider" "If I could do it again, my door would be 100' wide". Am I sacrificing access if the door is too narrow? What width should it be if 16' is about max?

Widest residential vehicle is typically a full size truck which is generally about 8' wide at the mirrors. For single vehicle access this means you need at least 9' width, but ideally something like a 10' door width. With a 10' wide door you should still be able to slide by the vehicle to get in and out of the garage and pulling in and out should be pretty straightforward.

Make it even wider to the degree you want to carry stuff in and out of the shop while a vehicle is parked in it.

 

[smportis]

Here are the renderings of the workshop building and the topo and driveway layout drawings.



Floorplan


Topo showing relationship to the house (top right)

 

[smportis]

If you intend to make this thread your permanent collection of pictures and write-up about shop, then ask a Mod to move this to Gallery section of GJ.

Everyone on GJ loves to see new shop builds . . . WITH lots of PICS. Good luck.

Suggestions for an admin to ask? I PM'd one, but not sure who is around frequently.

Thanks,
Scott

 

[theoldwizard1]

Any reason that you are putting in the "cut outs"? IMHO it adds complexity and cost to the project.

Make it as big and deep as your lot and budget will allow!

+2 !!

Investigate a mini-split heat pump, perhaps with 2 zones (even though you really only have one). You have the perfect climate for a heat pump !

Insulation will be important to stay cool in the summer. The best way to do this is with Structured Insulated Panels (SIPS). Yes, they cost more initially, but you save of labor and heating.cooling. They also give you a completely open space above the top of the wall with no supports (except if you want an "attic")

I would stay with a one door, but you might want to make it a bit narrower.

I know work and storage space are important, but that rear bench and cabinets could be a problem when working on larger vehicle. If that is a wood lathe, I would mount it on a bench on casters and then move it somewhere else and then put the rear bench and upper cabinets on the right hand side.

I hope the table saw is on casters, because you won't be able to cut 4'x8' panels where it is.

The welding table should also be on casters, because it is a long way from the welder !

 

[Kevin54]

I would go no less than 28' deep. I would also square the building off instead of having the two cutouts on the R.H. side. You don't want your tall storage cabinets right beside your hoist. If anything, move them over to the other side by the long bench you are showing. If you do away with the two cutouts, that would leave room for a tall cabinet on each end.

As far as the depth of 23', a fullsize vehicle will not fit in with benches up front. 28' will give you adequate room to move around. If possible, take some marking paint and layout the size in your yard where you plan on building, then park your vehicle in it. Or drive some stakes and run some string around. You'll find that 23' is not nearly enough room for things. Also I am assuming that is a propane tank on the right lower corner in that cutout? If it is over a 120 gallon tank, it has to be a minimum of 10' away from any structure. A 120 gallon can be right against a structure. At least that is the rules around here

 

[smportis]

Anyone seen a door like this?

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[mwbailey]

smportis, you've gotten some good input and it looks like you've already incorporated a lot of it in your floorplanner/modeling rendering. Nice planner! You've probably noticed that the HVAC unit is right in front of a man door to your garage. . . from the 3D view. You may be putting a lot of activities into a limited footprint, but as long as you allow yourself the set-up and take-down time to move those portable/rolling tools, you should have a pretty versatile set-up. Good luck.

 

[Ray916MN]

Anyone seen a door like this?

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These folks can take care of you. http://www.bifold.com/ A great small business success story.

 

[smportis]

smportis, you've gotten some good input and it looks like you've already incorporated a lot of it in your floorplanner/modeling rendering. Nice planner! You've probably noticed that the HVAC unit is right in front of a man door to your garage. . . from the 3D view. You may be putting a lot of activities into a limited footprint, but as long as you allow yourself the set-up and take-down time to move those portable/rolling tools, you should have a pretty versatile set-up. Good luck.

Ah, oops, yes I moved the door last night and forgot to move the AC unit.

I'm going to try and get rid of the cutouts in the building, but those help form the outside stairwell and platform of the side door on the second floor.

Yes, good input. I'll try to incorporate it into the model and communicate back to the architect and builder as we move forward.


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[smportis]

These folks can take care of you. http://www.bifold.com/ A great small business success story.

Thanks for the link. Looks like a great solution. Attractive door too.




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[N0tt0N]

"Anyone seen a door like this?" Wow, that's neat.