Shop build: what would you do differently

[rjacobs]

Im in the planning stages(I seem to always be) of a 40x60x12 shop. Wife and I are currently looking to buy land to eventually build a house on and we would be building the shop within a year of buying the property.

Im contemplating a 10 or 15 foot wide by maybe the whole 40 foot depth air conditioned space for a reloading room, bathroom, etc... Probably just run a mini split for that. Im going to get a bathroom(sink, toilet, shower) roughed in before concrete. Probably will plan to have shop slop sink on wall immediately adjacent to the bathroom for ease of plumbing run.

Ive toyed with having a floor drain put in somewhere, but most property we are looking at will be on septic and 99% of the water I would be putting down it would be from car washing or washing down the floor. I dont want to put the volume of water that(or washing the floor) takes or possible oil down into a septic tank...but at the same time, im not sure on the legality of having a floor drain that simply drains to say a gravel pit outside the shop. Im thinking having a slightly sloped floor(towards the doors) would be a better option and then its a "well its just draining from the garage" vs. a specific drain.

Going to have a lift for sure so I will have some 6 or 8" lift pads poured, but the overall pour will be just 4". I dont need the weight capacity of anything more.

I havent thought through any finish out outside of those things. Electrical will come later, dont care about having any electric in floor I dont think. Insulation for the main shop area will come later(maybe, I dont really plan to heat and cool the main shop area, so probably a waste). Lighting I havent figured out yet.

But im interested in little ideas and what not that would need to be accomplished during the build that you all have come up with over the years.

Basically what are some things on your shop you wish you would have done differently?

 

[HAP]

Floor drains really get the inspector on edge and you will conclude that they are not worth the effort...

R,
HAP

 

[MattN03]

I wanted 2 9' long floor drains in my shop. One in the front center half and one in the rear center half. My contractor talked me out of doing the rear one and I regretted it as soon as I washed it out the first time. Pushing water 60'+ to the front drain isn't much fun. My shop is 64' deep and I'd definitely recommend a front and rear drain.

Note: I'm farm exempt, so the building didn't require permitting or inspection.

 

[larry_g]

I incorporated a room in my shop below. Plan it in the beginning so that you have proper footings and supports in the area. In mine it was also planned to have a second floor above the room so that was deigned into the build by eliminating a truss and adding extra poles to support things. My old shop was similar but it had 10' walls along the shop area but kicked up to 14' where the second floor area was.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[rjacobs]

Floor drains really get the inspector on edge and you will conclude that they are not worth the effort...

That was my thought. Im sure they have to be plumbed to sewer or septic and I dont want to do that with floor drains designed for washing a car or washing out the shop floor. To much volume of water and I dont want whatever going into my septic system.

I wanted 2 9' long floor drains in my shop. One in the front center half and one in the rear center half. My contractor talked me out of doing the rear one and I regretted it as soon as I washed it out the first time. Pushing water 60'+ to the front drain isn't much fun. My shop is 64' deep and I'd definitely recommend a front and rear drain.

Note: I'm farm exempt, so the building didn't require permitting or inspection.

The property we are looking at isnt large enough to get any kind of Ag exemption, just 4 acres. If we dont buy this one and end up in something larger, I may be able to get an ag exemption, but I think minimum in Texas is 6 acres for honeybees...although you dont get the ag exemption for like 6 years or something since it has to be "in use for the last 6 years" or something.

I incorporated a room in my shop below. Plan it in the beginning so that you have proper footings and supports in the area. In mine it was also planned to have a second floor above the room so that was deigned into the build by eliminating a truss and adding extra poles to support things. My old shop was similar but it had 10' walls along the shop area but kicked up to 14' where the second floor area was.

I am only planning 12' wallas/ceilings overall so I will likely just build a single wall to separate out my conditioned shop area from the un-conditioned. I dont even want to go to the hassle to overbuild the ceiling to support storing anything on top. Im planning, I think, to just insulate the building ceiling and walls and the one wall I build. I dont think just building one wall will require any footers, ill just anchor directly to the slab.

ETA: I just looked at your build page and I like the idea of the two posts to delineate/support the wall you built. Definitely something to talk to the builder about.

 

[Mattlt]

Consider a lean-to on one side of the building for your bathroom setup. Bring the ceiling down to 8'. Could also add some office space, clean storage, etc. That way it won't interfere with the rest of your shop space.

Codes for floor drains vary so much by area of the country, and what the locals will allow. Maybe a call/visit to the local building department would be in order before you make any decisions? That said, I have a floor drain in my shop that just daylights down the hill from the building, but I am not in an area subject to inspection.

 

[sberry]

If you are going to be putting rooms in go 50 wide.

 

[sberry]

This is a list of NEVERS. I have built a couple of my own, the layout I have now is really good. I have coached about a dozen others. I have NEVER had someone come back and say they shouldn't have added the space I twisted them in to, I have never had one not come and say we should have when they didn't. Same for door layouts.

 

[sberry]

The graph paper layout method is good for generalization but add 6 ft to the width and 8 to the length if you measured the car, the boat, the tool boxes. The extra size is cheap at this point. So many of the costs are fixed, permits, design, construction layout, the corners that some wall in between and some roof is mostly extra materials and only minor labor.
The people that come up with 30x40 were sales types that agree with their customers and it "sounds" good.

 

[Spook001]

Common in this area to put a floor drain in, stuff some rags in it, concrete over it, then when the inspector is gone, break out the area over the drain, do some concrete repair, then you have your drain.

 

[Bad00SS]

Common in this area to put a floor drain in, stuff some rags in it, concrete over it, then when the inspector is gone, break out the area over the drain, do some concrete repair, then you have your drain.

That's how everyone does it. I have a drain in my house garage. its nice to wash cars in there.


as for doing things differently My shop isn't even finished being built and I already want it bigger. so plan the biggest you would need then go even bigger yet.

 

[rjacobs]

If you are going to be putting rooms in go 50 wide.

If I go steel I can do whatever I want, but I believe stick built 40' width is as wide as you can go. I was going to build the small room in 10 or 15 foot of the 60', giving me 45-50 foot of shop space. This will be plenty for me as it will be mainly used for car storage. 40x45 gives me 2+ cars depth and 3-4 wide depending on how tight I park them. With a 12' ceiling I can get stacker lifts in the back along the wall. Im thinking two stacker lifts and a 2 post for working on the cars along the back wall, then will have 3 parking spots in the front row that COULD get stacker lifts as well.

ETA: the bendpack stacker lifts I have looked at are 110" wide, so "in theory", in 45 foot, I could put 4... although I cant see myself ever needing that many. The only lift I will be buying straight away is the 2 post for maintenance and I believe that is about 130 or so inches wide, so then that leaves me around 400 inches, so realistically 3, 4 post stacker lifts with 70" left over to space them out. Again, thats jamming 9.9lbs into a 10lb sack...

Common in this area to put a floor drain in, stuff some rags in it, concrete over it, then when the inspector is gone, break out the area over the drain, do some concrete repair, then you have your drain.

Good idea.

 

[december45]

Really REALLY make sure the concrete guy knows what the he** he is doing!!!
Bigger BIGGER!

 

[Sevenhills1952]

You can never have enough space. I started with 40x60 but kept adding on, and it's just me and wife. The bathroom, laundry room add on is 20x8x8 (lean to roof). Then I added 24x40, and 36x60 open overhang. Right now I'm having a 36x36 with 36x36 shed overhang built. Horse barn.
The main 40x60 is two story, and I'm so glad it is. At the time it didn't add a lot to the cost. If I had it to do over I'd make it 3 story. It wouldn't be that pretty, but the upstairs is full!

Sent from my SM-S320VL using Tapatalk

 

[rayra]

Add another 4' of width to any bay / space that will have a vehicle or trailer etc in it.
12' height might not be enough. Consider future desire for a lift or RV parking.

 

[sberry]

How you figure you can only go 40 with wood. I have set a lot of 80 ft trusses.

 

[Low50s]

I wish I would have fired my concrete contractor way before the forms were even set. all my water flows to my outside walls and not the drain.
I wish I would have made my building 10' longer. I am 30x40 now and wish I had a 40x40 so I had more room for a loft space

 

[rjacobs]

You can never have enough space. I started with 40x60 but kept adding on, and it's just me and wife. The bathroom, laundry room add on is 20x8x8 (lean to roof). Then I added 24x40, and 36x60 open overhang. Right now I'm having a 36x36 with 36x36 shed overhang built. Horse barn.
The main 40x60 is two story, and I'm so glad it is. At the time it didn't add a lot to the cost. If I had it to do over I'd make it 3 story. It wouldn't be that pretty, but the upstairs is full!

Well the plan on the property is to eventually build a ~4000 sq. ft. house with a 3 car garage. So this is legit only a car storage/repair building. It will at first double as storage and what not, but long term will be car only, and maybe a tractor.

How you figure you can only go 40 with wood. I have set a lot of 80 ft trusses.

Everything I have seen, down here in Texas, when you go beyond 40' wide goes to steel. I honestly think 40' width will be plenty for me. I can always build another building in 10 years or whatever. BUT I am also trying to research steel vs. wood, as the price difference doesnt seem to be much of anything.

Im basing stuff off of my 20x20, 2 car garage I have now. 40x40 I definitely could flat park 8 cars. I can, along with a 2 post lift, fit three 4 post stacker lifts along one 20x40 portion, so thats 6 cars, plus 1 in the spot of the 2 post. Im a sports car and motorcycle guy so I dont see myself trying to store trucks, SUV's etc... on stacker lifts. So 6 cars on stackers and 3 or 4 cars parked in front... or I could get 3 more stackers, so at least 12 cars... If I ever own more than 12 cars, I think there is a problem.

 

[chargermann]

How you figure you can only go 40 with wood. I have set a lot of 80 ft trusses.

...I can't specifically remember, but while working with an Architect on my 40' x 50' outbuilding in Florida, I recall something said about trusses which exceed a 40' width. The building classification/purpose changes (especially within a residential-zoned area), plus the design parameters are much more complex.
Also, pricing for trusses over that 40' width were considerably more expensive, to where it was not cost effective for a non-commercial building.

 

[Fix Until Broke]

Few random thoughts from someone who has never built their own shop, but worked in a lot of them and been involved in the construction of a few so take that for what it's worth...

I've always thought it would be best to have a flat floor, but a slight slope to the doors with a trough like drain right on the inside edge of the garage door so everything drains to that point and if the door leaks, it goes right into the drain. I like the idea of a flat and level floor with a drain on both ends like MattN03 mentioned above, but I'd probably take it one step further and put a drain on the entire perimeter.

Insulate, insulate and when you think there's enough, insulate some more. You want that thing to be like an igloo cooler. This gives you so many more heating/cooling options, not to mention reducing energy usage/cost. Even if it's just the side room, insulate it as well as you can. I'm not sure how you plan to work on cars in Dallas without HVAC in the main shop, but even if you don't heat/cool it, insulating it will help keep the temps stable inside when it's blazing hot outside.

Working on cars takes up a lot more room than parking cars so if you're going to have a working area, make sure it's big enough in all directions so you're not bumping into other cars, having to shuffle around things, etc. I'd say that it takes 4x the area to work on a car vs to park one, especially with a typical 2 post hoist.

If you can swing it financially, a set of portable column lifts like these from Rotary look like such a cool solution to a fixed location 2/4 post lift.
https://rotarylift.com/category/mobile-column-lifts/
I love using a lift, but always find it a hassle with the posts in the way of the doors, the large amount of floor space that it takes up, etc.

Any thoughts to a storm shelter/safe room if you're in tornado country?

Echoing what everyone else has said, do the cost analysis on an additional 6 to 8 feet in either/both directions and/or a lean to off one side. If nothing else, at least plan for how and where you can expand if/when the time comes. Laying out things like plumbing, electrical, heating, etc with this in mind makes a big difference if/when it comes time to add on.

Same thing with height - 12' is absolute minimum for a hoist and this is inside finished dimension. I'd consider 16' if your thinking of a loft or storage above the other room. Again, guessing the cost difference is minimal.

 

[Coyote556]

I wish I would have:
-Made sure concrete guys didn’t add so much water
-add 2x8 behind interior metal so there is something to screw things to
-run conduit under the concrete to pull wire to welding table in middle of shop
-insulated outside edge of my slab
-added extra conduit sleeves from inside to outside in concrete

 

[Steve from Socal]

The 12' walls are too short, as mentioned at least 14' to allow an RV 16' better yet. With 16' eaves you can do finished space above or at least regain the floor space in storage.

I will add that windows or translucent panels up high make a world of difference in ambient lighting.

Steve

 

[skipchang]

To piggy back on OP’s question, I’m having a 40w x 60d x 14h detached workshop. It will have two 12x12 overhead door on the 40w end. I will have full 60’ usage space from each door. The issue I’m struggling with is where to put the concrete pad for the lift. My original plan was to put it towards the back wall (15’ away from the back wall). For those that have similar size shop, where did you put your lift? Near the back wall or near the overhead door. Do you have any regrets on the location?

Thanks,
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