Retirement Shop Upgrade

[P51Mustang]

I am new here but as I did a post with my details in the Introduce Yourself Here area (Hi from Central Iowa), I am going not to bore everyone with repeating everything.

My wife and I live on 6 acres in central Iowa. We are about 5 miles from the closest town and are on a paved road (which is a big thing here in Iowa). Our place is the building site of a farm that was split off from the farm land back in the 1980's. We have a great 1905 vintage farm house that we have redone and a number of out buildings, including a 40x60 machine shed where I have my existing shop. I am a car guy (Fords) and work mostly with vintage Mustangs and late model big Broncos (the ones based on the F-150). I also do some very amateur level road racing (I am in the middle of building a 1965 Mustang track car).

I retired a few months ago and as a retirement gift to myself, I am planning an upgrade to my shop. The existing shop is in the 40x60 machine shed. The machine shed is a very nice 2x6 wood framed building with a 12' ceiling height that dates back to about 1950 (the building runs north/south). The north 20x40 section of the building has has been walled off, with a ceiling put in and a concrete floor (this is where my existing shop is). The rest of the building (40x40) has a dirt floor with open framing and right now is used as storage (this is the way the building was set up when we got the place). The existing shop area is heated and cooled but has poor insulation and an old and leaky 16' sliding door (this 16' door is on the east side of the building, at the far north end). The building has plenty of power as a service upgrade with all the wiring ran underground was done a few years ago.

I have been planning the upgrade for a while and I have laid out a plan that I think will work. There will be no foot print change to the building, just changes to the inside. I am planning on using the dirt floored 40x40 south section for the new shop main area (this will be Phase One of the project). A new, insulated concrete floor will be poured and the walls and ceiling will be finshed off in white metal (R19 in the walls and at least R40 in the ceiling). The existing 16' wide sliding door that is on the south end of the building will be closed off and a new, most likely 12x10 overhead door and a man door will be cut into the east wall of the building at the south end of the side wall. The plans also include a two post lift. The shop will be heated and cooled (I will post in the HVAC area on the heating and cooling). The reason for the new overhead door opening is that I want a fairly large concrete pad outside the door opening to work on when it is nice out and to use when loading my car trailer. The ground just outside where the new door will be is pretty level and should not require too much dirt work (I already park my trailer just to the north of where the new pad will be). The ground just outside the existing south door drops off a lot and would require a lot of dirt work and it would be very hard to get a 24' trailer up to the pad to load and unload (my septic tank also gets in the way of access to the south door opening as it is just south of the machine shed and some of the require dirt work would most likely be right on top of it). Doing the south 40x40 upgrade first will allow the existing shop to stay operational until the new 40x40 space is complete.

Phase Two calls out converting the existing 20x40 shop area into a dedicated welding/fab/maching area (I am tired with having to do grinding and fab work right next to a car), an office/lounge with a bathroom and a storage area that I want to put a 4 post storage lift into.

I have attached some photos that show a bit of the lay of the land that may help understand some of my decisions on what I am doing and a pdf file that shows the existing shop layout and what I think the new building layout will look like. There are two different layouts options shown on the plans. The first and I what think may be the way I would go, shows the welding/fab/maching area open to the main shop. I will be in and out of this area a lot and heating and cooling the area can be done with the main shop HVAC system (I am thinking that being off to the side will keep the welding and grinding issues under control). The other option would be to wall off the welding/fab/maching area from the main shop. This option would require its own HVAC system and I am guessing a fairly large door to the main shop.

I am looking for opinions on a wall between the main shop and the welding/fab area and I am very open to opinions, comments and ideas on the rest of the upgrades.

Thanks for your time (sorry this got a bit long).

Kim Barron

 

[dfiler2]

Looks like a great project to take on. I have a similar set up with an old 40 x 80 quonset with my shop at one end and cold storage at the other. It was all done in preparation for my retirement which happened a year and a half ago. Looking at your plans the only thing I would wonder about is the placement of the lift, would the space be more usable if the lift were closer to the door? Just thinking that the space between the door and the lift would have to be kept clear and really couldn't be used for much.

Happy retirement and takes lots of pics to share with us!

 

[Renegade1LI]

Sounds like you have a good plan, I agree having wide concrete aprons around the exterior is a plus. It's nice to work with a well made building as well, good luck.

 

[NUTTSGT]

I would take out the wall for the fab/welding area. Allow easy access to the work area or for larger projects.

That being said, I think I wouldn't take the complete wall out but put in a beam with a very larger opening. That would still allow you to curtain that space off for various future projects.

 

[P51Mustang]

Thanks for your comments. The lift placement is something that I have thought about a lot (I have moved it around on the layout a number of times) and I am not really sure about. I have a good friend that has the lift in his shop to the back like this and he likes it. He tends to have a car on the lift for a fairly long time when he is using it and he can get a car in behind it for working off the floor. He does have to make sure that what ever he has behind it can be moved when he does need to get something on or off the lift. This is one thing that I am hoping to get some input from guys who have worked with a lift.

Having two overhead doors, where one is mainly for lift access so the lift would be placed just in front of it and the other door for access to the rest of the shop would be great but I do not see how that work for my shop with everything that is in the way on the outside (the small garage that is on the east side of the building does block a fair amount of the side wall (there is no useable access along the west side wall). I have thought about a one wider overhead door but I wonder about how hard it would be to get a car in and out with a car on the lift and just in front of the door. Attached is a revised layout with the lift moved to close to the overhead door and a wider door (16'). It may be could work. It will be interesting to hear what opinions people have.

 

[P51Mustang]

I would take out the wall for the fab/welding area. Allow easy access to the work area or for larger projects.

That being said, I think I wouldn't take the complete wall out but put in a beam with a very larger opening. That would still allow you to curtain that space off for various future projects.

That is an interesting idea of just part of a wall. The building is 40' free span so the wall is not load bearing so it can be any length. May be come up with a sliding wall that is in sections that could be rolled open or closed based on what is needed.

Thanks

 

[P51Mustang]

Sounds like you have a good plan, I agree having wide concrete aprons around the exterior is a plus. It's nice to work with a well made building as well, good luck.

Thanks

 

[NUTTSGT]

That is an interesting idea of just part of a wall. The building is 40' free span so the wall is not load bearing so it can be any length. May be come up with a sliding wall that is in sections that could be rolled open or closed based on what is needed.

Thanks

Yes, it'll only add cost of the beam or whatever you use for the beam. You already have a wall so those can be cut down for the jack studs.

 

[P51Mustang]

Yes, it'll only add cost of the beam or whatever you use for the beam. You already have a wall so those can be cut down for the jack studs.

I may think about going with a lower ceiling height in the Fab area also. This could help with closing it off when needed (plus as the office area will have a lower ceiling height, I could gain a bit of storage space above the Fab space and office).

 

[NUTTSGT]

I may think about going with a lower ceiling height in the Fab area also. This could help with closing it off when needed (plus as the office area will have a lower ceiling height, I could gain a bit of storage space above the Fab space and office).

There you go, you're thinking now.

 

[zippyslug31]

I would take out the wall for the fab/welding area. Allow easy access to the work area or for larger projects.

That being said, I think I wouldn't take the complete wall out but put in a beam with a very larger opening. That would still allow you to curtain that space off for various future projects.

This is essentially what I have for my setup - one common shop space (inside my barn) with everything sharing the one area. The room itself is 50x30 in total and houses my welding, wood, and machine tools. While it's probably not ideal to mix the media like this (wood dust on the metal lathe, and welding sparks in the same room as my wood rack, etc), it's really nothing to whip out the welding screen to separate the areas when needed.
I agree that having a very large, open space is super nice for large projects and to share the amenities (heating, tunes, whatever) not to mention common tools can be shared with each "work zone".

 

[Renegade1LI]

Actually just set up a separate welding and fab area in our main shop. Need to get pics we used some heavy duty fire rated reinforced plastic and set it up like a curtain on rails. Works great at containing the grinding and welding fumes. Makes it easy to clean and ventilate the space.

 

[P51Mustang]

It would be great to see photos of what you guys have done for a separate "fab" area. The more I think about it I do think that it makes the most sense for it to be open to the main shop. I know that I would be moving back and forth into the fab area all the time and even having to go thru a door would become a pain. Being able to share the amenities would be nice and save some money on HVAC. I also have some wood working tools that I may end up putting into this area. As you guys have said, whipping out a welding screen is not a big deal.

Now just to figure out the best place to put the two post lift.

 

[nadogail]

My shop is in a garage supposedly designed for two cars. It is part of a house occupied by my son, he thinks it is his garage; truthfully he is allowed to park in my workshop.

The addition of the cabinets, machines and tools have made it pretty tight. All the machinery is on wheels and gets shuffled around to allow work to be done.

 

[racecougar]

It would be great to see photos of what you guys have done for a separate "fab" area. The more I think about it I do think that it makes the most sense for it to be open to the main shop. I know that I would be moving back and forth into the fab area all the time and even having to go thru a door would become a pain. Being able to share the amenities would be nice and save some money on HVAC. I also have some wood working tools that I may end up putting into this area. As you guys have said, whipping out a welding screen is not a big deal.

Now just to figure out the best place to put the two post lift.

I pull a simple curtain across when metalworking. It stows against the back wall when not in use.







Paired with a air filtration/dust collection unit, it works well to keep the other side dust free.

 

[P51Mustang]

Dropping a tarp down as a curtain would do the job. The dust collection unit is a good idea. That looks like a home made unit. Something like a big in the wall vent fan with a filter box on the outside from the looks of it? Looks good. How big is your shop? It looks like a nice size.

I assume from your user name you have Cougars. What year/years?

Thanks for the input!

 

[P51Mustang]

My shop is in a garage supposedly designed for two cars. It is part of a house occupied by my son, he thinks it is his garage; truthfully he is allowed to park in my workshop.

The addition of the cabinets, machines and tools have made it pretty tight. All the machinery is on wheels and gets shuffled around to allow work to be done.

Wheels on tools are great.

 

[racecougar]

Dropping a tarp down as a curtain would do the job. The dust collection unit is a good idea. That looks like a home made unit. Something like a big in the wall vent fan with a filter box on the outside from the looks of it? Looks good. How big is your shop? It looks like a nice size.

I assume from your user name you have Cougars. What year/years?

Thanks for the input!

Yep, I built that unit entirely out of scraps: bed frame rails, galvanized sheet metal from an old furnace installation, a direct drive furnace blower fan with a 10" x 8" wheel, and some odds and ends. I reuse the used 20"x20"x3.5" Merv 15 filters from my home HVAC unit and pre-filter with cheap 20"x20"x1" Merv 9 filters. Just to be clear, it does not go through the wall; it filters/circulates the air in the shop. If the weather is nice, I have a 30" whole house fan in the ceiling that I can run as an exhaust, but the majority of the time, I don't want to lose my conditioned air.

It works exceptionally well in my 30'x60'x13' metal working shop. I've been completely impressed with its ability to prevent the usual grinding / welding haze. It moves a heck of a lot more air than the entry level wood working filtration units (smaller WEN's and JET's), and it cost me nothing but a little time to make.


I have a very much not-stock '90 XR7.

 

[P51Mustang]

First, nice Cougar! If you could not tell, I am a Ford guy. Mainly Mustangs (65's and an 84 T-Top Fox body) and big Broncos but there is an old Fairlane just to keep it interesting. I am in the middle of a full on road racing 65 Mustang build right now.

Good job on the dust collection unit! I have come close to putting a thru the wall vent fan into the existing shop a number of times. There are no windows in my building and the only ventilation on nice days is thru the door opening on one end. I may think about adding some windows or at least a vent fan.

 

[kj_mustang]

Great username, two of my favorites.

 

[P51Mustang]

Thanks, I am a big WII plane buff as well as a Mustang guy. The P51 is my favorite warbird of course!

 

[39Tudor]

Racecougar, I really love the look of that cat!

 

[nadogail]

I threw together a Dust Collector from a box fan, some 20X20 furnace filters and Duct Tape. My only out of pocket cost was the Filters.

The Dust Collector is suspended from the ceiling joists. The Box Fan was left behind by a tenant who moved away. The duct tape was in my stock.

Works great and does a great job of clearing the air after welding in my small shop.

 

[CraigStu]

I have got to get on this project. The nice thing about just recirculating the air is you don't lose your heated or cooled air to the outside. And you are not constantly having to heat or cool air coming in from outside.