My 50 by 50 shop

[john mac]

First post, I have spent many hours on this site the last few weeks and have looked through every thread from start to finish under garage gallery. It is amazing to me how many people have a hobby shop, I would of never dreamed that this many shops were out there at as nice and complete as they are. Thank you all for posting them. This site has been very entertaining and a real time killer! I will tell you about myself, I own a small excavating company and just two years ago had no were to call home. I worked out of my back yard and did all of my work on a stone driveway. This business was started later in life, (40) after I sold the company I owned for 20 years in a completely different field of work. I started out with just a skid steer and a trailer in 2003. After a couple of years I had more equipment than I could store at my house and needed to find a new home. My neighbors were calling codes on me and I had to get out. I found a horse barn with 5 acre’s just 2 miles away from my house and made the move.
The barn had no insulation not septic or heat and had a second floor at 10' and roof peek is 22'. I took out the firts 32' of the second floor and left the remainder in place for a loft, put a large 14 x 14 over head door in the front and new man door and 9 x 8 overhead in the back the first year. The second year I insulated the inside and put in 150,000 btu hanging radiant tube heat, a new roof and painted the outside, and enlarged the parking area. I have also put up a salt storage bin for commercial snow plowing. I have also removed the old horse stalls and put up benches and storage racks.

I have really got into doing shop work and love the time I spend in the shop. My plans are to drywall the inside, put a bathroom on the second floor with a septic system, new concrete floor, the shop has a concrete floor now but doesn’t drain and pools water inside of the shop. I have a well for water but the water stops outside so bringing the water inside the shop for the winter would nice. The thing that you guys can help me with the most is the auto lift. I need a lift that I can drive a full size dump under and in between the posts. I don’t plan on lifting the dump truck with the lift, but do need to get the dump into the shop for service. I would like to spend about $3000 and was thinking two post lift. I would also need to lift a full size one ton pick up truck. Any suggestion would be appreciated. The lift should go centered in the shop but could go off to one side, what is the foot print ( floor space) I need for a lift. My out side walls have benches, wood stove ect. along them now.

 

[Old61]

Looks good ! Keep the updates coming. What is the height of the dump truck?

 

[autoist]

Man, yeah!!

 

[TRC51]

Dang.... that's awesome. How about stopping over in NY and digging the foundation for my 27' x 24' with that loader of yours. I ran over budget on the build when I found out how much it was going to cost me. Oh well, there's always next year... which works out good, cause that will be about when I am done digging. :lol

Very cool shop.

 

[john mac]

I was at the shop today and took some more photos. Any suggestions is welcome, I would like to make this place as nice as possible as money becomes available. I have most of the heavy equipment I need so the shop is next. I love working in the shop and it keeps me busy during the slow months. My dump truck is about 10' tall but I need to lift the dump body to do maintenance and that goes up about 19' when up all the way.
Here is some more photos’ for you guys so you can see what I am working with.

A photo of the right hand side from the front looking back. The wood stove is what I heated the place with before I got the new infrared heat. I would like to keep the wood stove for supplemental heat. Cost a lot to heat this place because of the high ceilings:



Here is the left side back looking in from the large over head and the loft area that I would like to locate a bathroom. Notice the large overhead "I" beam with the trolley on it. I use this all the time to load heavy stuff in my pick up truck. When I bought the place the beams went from front to back and second floor was complete, took all that down but used a section of the beam for the trolley lift.




Here is the space behind the stairs and my cold storage area. This was horse stalls that we took out.



I though I would show some of my equipment, the need for equipment never ends and it takes a lot of money. At some point I hope to own all of this and not the bank.


Thanks for looking and the floor plan is really what I am trying to plan out. New floor first with insulation under it and a floor drain and then the lift. I will demo and prep the floor myself and have a very good friend that will help do the finish work.

 

[Rando]

whoo Man i wish i had a space like that, im glad that your biz is doing good and you could share with us as far as suggestions im still trying to git a garage lol but good luck with it

 

[john mac]

whoo Man i wish i had a space like that, im glad that your biz is doing good and you could share with us as far as suggestions im still trying to git a garage lol but good luck with it

I hope 2009 will be good also ! I am not so sure. Any thoughts on a lift?

 

[beersed]

Your my hero. Quit one bus. & started another that you enjoy doing, I assume
Congrats. I am also in the process of getting a shop built, but not that big.
Good luck

 

[Uncle Buck]

I would look at digging a service pit to work from instead of trying to buy a lift. I think given your situation it would be a much better alternative.

 

[35mastr]

That Dump truck is too wide for your everyday lifts.You wont be able to drive into the center of a regular automobile lift.

I would either do the pit or put a regular lift off to one side so you can still get the big truck into the shop.

 

[john mac]

Your my hero. Quit one bus. & started another that you enjoy doing, I assume
Congrats. I am also in the process of getting a shop built, but not that big.
Good luck

Thank you for the kind words. I did do just that, sold a biz that I didn't like doing any more and started this. I thought I had a long time to get up and running but it takes a long time to do. I always like running equipment and it is a lot of fun. The biz part of what I do can drag you down sometimes like every day job.

 

[john mac]

That Dump truck is too wide for your everyday lifts.You wont be able to drive into the center of a regular automobile lift.

I would either do the pit or put a regular lift off to one side so you can still get the big truck into the shop.

This was my thought also, how bought a flush with the floor lift that can lift a one ton truck? A pit in the floor would take up floor space when not in use unless you cover it with something. I also have to get excavators and dozers etc. into the shop. I going to measure my truck dimensions and post them here so we can compare. A lift to the side maybe angled could work, any idea what floor space I need (footprint) for a regular lift?

 

[Uncle Buck]

This was my thought also, how bought a flush with the floor lift that can lift a one ton truck? A pit in the floor would take up floor space when not in use unless you cover it with something. I also have to get excavators and dozers etc. into the shop. I going to measure my truck dimensions and post them here so we can compare. A lift to the side maybe angled could work, any idea what floor space I need (footprint) for a regular lift?

Most pits I have seen are always equipped with substantial covers that can be driven across when the pit is not in use. A well engineered pit can be outfitted with flush lighting, air outlets, and even a built in shelf to hold tools, parts and the like as well. A well executed pit can be very impressive.

 

[Kevin54]

My nephew works on heavy equipment (dozers, hoes, dumptrucks, etc.) He has a lift off to the side but the dumptrucks use the main space. To do any and most work on them, he has an overhead crane to remove engines, etc.. The crane spans side to side on a trolley but then the hoist also moves front to back on it. As far as working on dozers, his floor has two heavy steel beams embedded in the concrete so when the tracks of the dozer roll in, the beams are taking the damage and not the concrete. That doesn't help you with your dilema but something to think about.

 

[john mac]

That Dump truck is too wide for your everyday lifts.You wont be able to drive into the center of a regular automobile lift.

I went and measured my dump truck and it is 8' wide, has to be to be road legal, 10' tall with out counting cb antenna and 26' long. This could fit between lift?

Most pits I have seen are always equipped with substantial covers that can be driven across when the pit is not in use. A well engineered pit can be outfitted with flush lighting, air outlets, and even a built in shelf to hold tools, parts and the like as well. A well executed pit can be very impressive.

A pit would be nice, some thing I would have to consider is water, insulation, and floor space.

As far as working on dozers, his floor has two heavy steel beams embedded in the concrete so when the tracks of the dozer roll in, the beams are taking the damage and not the concrete. That doesn't help you with your dilema but something to think about.

The floor now is about 6" thick, it has held up pretty well but when I do a new floor I will have to go as thick. I guess I can't use epoxy on my floor, even the best epoxy won't stand up to a dozer! Thanks for all the help guys, still have not come up with floor space I need for a lift, correct me if I am wrong but I am thinking 20' long by 15' wide for easy wheel work? If this is the demensions than that would leave me 15' left with nothing along the wall or angle the lift.

 

[toadjammer]

I am hinking you are on the right track with an infloor lift. If you place it further forward it will still allow plenty of room for working around it. You will have to do some research into the particulars, but they do make cartridge style lifts. These may require reinforing the cover section if you are intending to run equipment over it. You also may consider rearanging the loft area if possibl to one side of the shop to allow for an area just in front of the small door for the lift.

 

[john mac]

Thank you again guys for the advice, I spent some time at one of my friends shop today and he is in the same biz as I and has a two post floor plate lift in one of his bays. He has 3 bays, always filled with dump trucks and heavy equipment every day with full time mechanics. I was surprised to see one of the bays with the lift in it and a dump truck.
The dump truck fits between the posts and you can open the doors with out taking the mirror off. This proved to me that it can be done. You just have to buy a wide lift and floor plate, no over head lines.
On a completely different subject, why do some of you guys bust balls on the guys that have a show garages? You know the ones I am talking about, the ones that are just too nice to do any real heavy work or the guy just doesn't do any, but has a real nice set up anyways. My garage is a working shop but it is a biz and has to be that way. I do welding, grinding and drive very dirty equipment in every day, but........that doesn't mean that I wouldn't like a garage that was clean all the time and never sees any oil on the floor. If I had a lambo or bmw etc to park and the garage was attached to my house than the garage is a real nice showroom for my really nice cars. The garage becomes another room instead of a shop, it just happens to have a real nice car or two or three in it. IMHO it is still awesome to have and awesome to look at and admire.
Take OCG, every one talks about how nice his place is, it is one of many very nice places that I admire on here, and he does a lot work in it as well from what I can see, but not every one has that aptitude or desire to do that, I would love to, but some guys just like to have a really nice place to hang out and call their own. It's a hobby and that is what makes it great for those guys anyway you slice it!

 

[StealthM8]

How about some Caterpillar equipment next time?

 

[john mac]

No Caterpillar. Would like to own some but the Cat brand does cost more, couldn't find any used that didn't have too many hours on them. Someday I will own a Cat, I have to be able to buy rite or I don't buy. I like to buy American. I do own Hitachi, Komatsu, Deere, New Holland, Case, Bob Cat, Ford, Chevy, and Mack.