What do you regret most?

[midwest_diy]

Hello I had my 48x80x16 building put up this summer. I have ran 200 amp service, Ethernet cables, plumbing and rough in sewer. Concrete will be in the spring. My question to you all what do you regret most that you didn’t do and wish you did?

 

[reader2580]

I wish I had put epoxy on the concrete floor right away. I have had my building done just over a year, and the concrete already has several oil stains.

 

[thammel]

Not putting in a shower..... Have a powder room, but a shower would have been great. Also should have designed in a compressor closet.

 

[GrayFlattop]

I wish I put PEX in the slab for radiant heating. At the time (34-35 years ago), there weren’t any reasonable $ options for boilers, so hanging a unit heater seemed logical. A few hundred spent then would have been cheap future-proofing.

 

[fozzy]

What they said: radiant floor heating, a shower, but above all, a urinal (that doesn't drain to an outside field).

 

[midwest_diy]

I have a full bathroom already stubbed out and In floor heat prep. I will buy the foam board soon when a good sale comes with my Menards rebates I have.

 

[Gangly]

Insulating the shop.

 

[nadogail]

A misspent youth.

 

[TurnipTruck]

I regret not building the pergola. And the lean-to is too narrow.

 

[58Yeoman]

Not using sun screen. Skin cancer is a real *****.

 

[karoc]

Better decisions, it’s too late for me but I’m happy. Grandkids and good family, over shadows my mistakes. Thank you for giving me another day One Way

 

[rdoty]

My biggest regret is not being able to finish the workshop before moving into it. It was a bigger job than it needed to be to move everything out to get the insulation and drywall crews in. I should have done the mini-split for heating and cooling much sooner - a comfortable shop is a great place to work in! The absolute biggest was not doing some sort of floor covering like epoxy when the shop was empty. The way everything is set up now I can't clear out enough stuff to do the floor.

I have outlets every 4' along the walls. Doing it over I would keep the 4' spacing but consider two rows of outlets - one at the usual 12"-14" height and another above it at around 50" high. On separate circuits, of course!

And, of course, not building a bigger shop...

 

[midwest_diy]

My biggest regret is not being able to finish the workshop before moving into it. It was a bigger job than it needed to be to move everything out to get the insulation and drywall crews in. I should have done the mini-split for heating and cooling much sooner - a comfortable shop is a great place to work in! The absolute biggest was not doing some sort of floor covering like epoxy when the shop was empty. The way everything is set up now I can't clear out enough stuff to do the floor.

I have outlets every 4' along the walls. Doing it over I would keep the 4' spacing but consider two rows of outlets - one at the usual 12"-14" height and another above it at around 50" high. On separate circuits, of course!

And, of course, not building a bigger shop...

That’s a good point about the spacing. I planed to run outlets on every 8 foot pole spacing using same circuits on every other post to keep from over loading at one area. The top and bottom on different circuits is a great idea as well. I have bough 2- 1000 foot spools of 12/2 wire and 1-1000 spool of 12/3 for the 3 switches. I am going to use smart relays to run over head lighting. Each door will have a master switch and then you can turn on or off lights to conserve energy.

 

[rdoty]

That’s a good point about the spacing. I planed to run outlets on every 8 foot pole spacing using same circuits on every other post to keep from over loading at one area. The top and bottom on different circuits is a great idea as well. I have bough 2- 1000 foot spools of 12/2 wire and 1-1000 spool of 12/3 for the 3 switches. I am going to use smart relays to run over head lighting. Each door will have a master switch and then you can turn on or off lights to conserve energy.

Yeah, 8' is way to far apart. Even at 4' I don't always have an outlet where I want it. One thing to consider is that outlets end up hiding behind things.... One of the many reasons more is better!

If you can plan ahead, burying some electrical outlets in the floor can be really convenient. For example, if you have a big island work table it would be nice to power it from below.

Also, check the height of high outlets. I ended up building a Steevo bench (which is great) but the outlets behind it are almost too low to fit. I planned ahead, but not far enough ahead...

I didn't do it, but consider setting up the overhead lights so you can turn on just one or two fixtures. There are times when you need a little light but don't have to have full daylight brightness.

 

[King Luis]

not planning ahead of time for the garage fridge. it doesn't get used as much, too big to put anywhere else and it's in a spot that i can make better use of but i can't put it anywhere else.

 

[LeeG]

That’s a good point about the spacing. I planed to run outlets on every 8 foot pole spacing using same circuits on every other post to keep from over loading at one area. The top and bottom on different circuits is a great idea as well.

I did each outlet as a double duplex, and each left outlet was a circuit and the right were another circuit This allows a shop vac and a chop saw to be plugged in next 5o each other and running on different circuits.

 

[silvermonte]

I got my floor poured last fall and then filled it full of ****, wish i have done a coating before but it was in the fall and it was to cold to put a sealer on. Now i get the joy of moving everything around.

 

[rmanrman]

That I sold my 1965 Chevy with 409 engine
Would be really crazy cruiseing in a rocket with out seat belt or airbags doing 120

 

[midwest_diy]

I did each outlet as a double duplex, and each left outlet was a circuit and the right were another circuit This allows a shop vac and a chop saw to be plugged in next 5o each other and running on different circuits.

With my building I have a 40 circuit 200 amp panel I can’t run multiple circuits per plug. I plan to have enough in the area I plan to work on race cars and automotive side work. One side of shop will be mainly storage and parking race rig and trailer. I might be able to not use as many circuits on that side and heavier on work side with the lift.

 

[pima67]

Sold my 57 Chev convert in 1963 before my 5 day cruise to Germany on the good ship Buckner (or it might have been the Darby). Somebody should have told me it would become a classic.

 

[lolaetype]

Not staying with Boy scouts and making Eagle. I made Life and then other attractions, girls and cars, fought for my attention. Other than that, no regrets.

 

[jhelrey]

I regret not putting $20K in NVDA 5 years ago.

 

[midwest_diy]

I regret not putting $20K in NVDA 5 years ago.

lol I sold a bitcoin for the building shell. Not a bad deal when I bought in 2017.

 

[drmarkr]

Not putting $1,000 in Berkshire Hathaway in 1975. Today it would be worth $18 million.

 

[drmarkr]

To your question about the shop though, not doing my floor when it was still empty. Do not make that mistake if you can help it.

 

[Skyman]

Others have mentioned finishing the floor before anything goes onto it. I'm really glad I did that, but wish I had chosen different flakes for the epoxy coating. The floor looks superb, but if I drop anything on it, it whatever I dropped instantly disappears. Many's the time I've had to fetch the push broom to make that escaped item reappear.

I'll go further to recommend finishing the interior of the space in its entirety before moving anything in. I wish I had fixed all of the drywall issues in mine when the space was totally vacant. Now, access to the walls and ceiling is a challenge, and just thinking of all of the dust that I would generate sanding a bunch of drywall mud makes me not want to even ponder it.

 

[LeeG]

With my building I have a 40 circuit 200 amp panel I can’t run multiple circuits per plug. I plan to have enough in the area I plan to work on race cars and automotive side work. One side of shop will be mainly storage and parking race rig and trailer. I might be able to not use as many circuits on that side and heavier on work side with the lift.

4 wires though each conduit on a run. Black, red, white, green. Left outlet’s get hooked to black, right to red. Share the neutral and ground. I have a dozen quad boxes on these 2 circuits.

 

[Daedalus]

Now I regret not having a 48x80x16 building.

Not using sun screen. Skin cancer is a real *****.

Yeah, that too.

 

[MichaelP]

I only regret not building a larger shop...or two. And an extra (separate?) space for boat, cars, forklift (which I don't have), etc.
6-car garage space is just too small for my junk. Having concrete driveway vs. asphalt would be nice too, but this is not a major problem.

Obviously, think about major stuff: good insulation, walls that you can use to attach stuff to (I like OSB), a lot of light, many outlets everywhere (both 2-gang single and 3-phase), compressed air lines with multiple drops, separate compartment for air compressor and RPC to get rid of sound, space for welding gas cylinders, exhaust in the welding area, HVAC (radiant heat tubes may work well with high ceiling- so gas line of a suitable capacity will be needed). You already installed Internet, so security should be thought over too. Consider dehumidifying options if you don't like rust on your tools, machinery and metal stock (you are in Midwest, I suspect): good insulation alone would help immensely, but I prefer additional dehumidifying which may be challenging for such a large shop with large doors. I assume you have good attic ventilation.

I don't know what you're going to do there, and how much time you are going to spend in. So I base my suggestions on my experience with my serious hobby metalwork shop with very basic woodwork.

One thing that I don't regret is that I didn't do epoxy floor. Sure it looks nice. But what a slippery nightmare it would be, esp. with oil leaks! And metal chunks dropping on the floor won't be too good for epoxy either. I learned this after having epoxy floors installed in two basement rooms: ceramic studio and utility. The first time I stepped in, I could hardly walk because it was extremely slippery despite some grit and floor being dry. Then I asked the guy who did it to add more grit. I can walk there now, but mopping the floor is a headache because the grit catches the mop.

 

[midwest_diy]

4 wires though each conduit on a run. Black, red, white, green. Left outlet’s get hooked to black, right to red. Share the neutral and ground. I have a dozen quad boxes on these 2 circuits.

I understand how to wire circuits. I was referring to having multiple circuits per plug every 8 feet. I would not have enough breaker space in my box.

 

[bwringer]

...I'll go further to recommend finishing the interior of the space in its entirety before moving anything in. I wish I had fixed all of the drywall issues in mine when the space was totally vacant. Now, access to the walls and ceiling is a challenge, and just thinking of all of the dust that I would generate sanding a bunch of drywall mud makes me not want to even ponder it.

Agreed. My "shop" is a humble 2-car attached garage. But when we bought our house, the garage walls were bare drywall, still unpainted from when the house was built 20 years before.

Of course, there was less than zero room in our minds, lives, and schedule for painting it at the time, and 20 years later it's still stuffed with motorcycles, motorcycle parts, tools, an impressive stockpile of cat litter, lawn mower(s), an ancient tiller, an edger I found alongside the road, etc. and the walls are still that horrible yellowish brown of never-finished drywall.

It could also definitely use at least one more electrical circuit; there's only one at the moment, plus a separate circuit I added a while back for the air compressor. However, there's no room in the box at all, unless I give up on the reserved space for a welder circuit... dunno. I've made it work so far, and what with more powerful cordless tools over the last 20 years, it really has been less of a limitation.

What I need to do is move a bunch of the stuff out into the yard and drive under a tarp, spray everything, and move it back in. But every time I have time and decent weather, I end up riding motorcycles...

 

[midwest_diy]

Agreed. My "shop" is a humble 2-car attached garage. But when we bought our house, the garage walls were bare drywall, still unpainted from when the house was built 20 years before.

Of course, there was less than zero room in our minds, lives, and schedule for painting it at the time, and 20 years later it's still stuffed with motorcycles, motorcycle parts, tools, an impressive stockpile of cat litter, lawn mower(s), an ancient tiller, an edger I found alongside the road, etc. and the walls are still that horrible yellowish brown of never-finished drywall.

It could also definitely use at least one more electrical circuit; there's only one at the moment, plus a separate circuit I added a while back for the air compressor. However, there's no room in the box at all, unless I give up on the reserved space for a welder circuit... dunno. I've made it work so far, and what with more powerful cordless tools over the last 20 years, it really has been less of a limitation.

What I need to do is move a bunch of the stuff out into the yard and drive under a tarp, spray everything, and move it back in. But every time I have time and decent weather, I end up riding motorcycles...

You sound like me now. I have two race cars. Been building and working out of a 20x22 foot garage attached to the house with only one circuit. I usally just do maintenance and work on the dragster in the driveway out of the trailer. When I need l more power I run generator and drop cords from trailer. This will be a dream come true to have the space to store, work and entertain out of this new space.

 

[Burt Shaver]

That I started smoking, didn’t but a 1983 or 84 GMC Sierra 20 years ago when they could be had for 400.00, that my wife and I didn’t buy a 5 plex 6 minutes from us for 67,000.00 20 years ago. WHAT THE HELL WAS WRONG WOTH 30 YEAR OLD ME

 

[trashauler]

I wish I would have done plumbing for a sink and urinal, wish I used plywood instead of OSB on bottom half of walls, and wish I did a lean on both sides instead of just one. Other than that, I love my building.

 

[racecougar]

Wasting time on selfish people.

As far as the shop goes, no regrets at all seven years later.

 

[zmotorsports]

As far as my shop goes, nothing. I built it exactly they way I wanted it and how it existed in my head for several years.

The ONLY think I wish I would have done however, was added a semi-enclosed patio on the east side of the shop. We don't do a ton of entertaining, but when we do that would have been nice to have a covered concrete patio on the shady side of the shop for late afternoon cookouts in the backyard. That was an oversight on my part.

 

[midwest_diy]

As far as my shop goes, nothing. I built it exactly they way I wanted it and how it existed in my head for several years.

The ONLY think I wish I would have done however, was added a semi-enclosed patio on the east side of the shop. We don't do a ton of entertaining, but when we do that would have been nice to have a covered concrete patio on the shady side of the shop for late afternoon cookouts in the backyard. That was an oversight on my part.

That’s our thoughts. We will have a 24x24 patio outside with a 24x24 loft and down stairs bar area by the bathroom. The shop is only 100 feet from back of house but felt the bathroom was needed for so many reasons. It’s not cheap having the sewer bored but years from now I didn’t want to regret it.

 

[bwringer]

A few of you touch on something interesting, and that I found surprising; my garage is somehow much more of a social center than the nearly unused deck at the back of my house.

All my friends are motorcyclists and gearheads, so I guess that shouldn't be too surprising.

So yeah, if I were building a shop, I'd absolutely give some thought to entertaining; bathroom, patio, some shade, refrigeration, seating, sink, etc.

In my crowded little garage, I do keep several chairs at the ready, and the kitchen is just inside. I also have a couple of popup canopies I set up in the driveway when the need arises, and I drag the gas grill around to the driveway when I have more than a few gearhead guests.

 

[zmotorsports]

A few of you touch on something interesting, and that I found surprising; my garage is somehow much more of a social center than the nearly unused deck at the back of my house.

All my friends are motorcyclists and gearheads, so I guess that shouldn't be too surprising.

So yeah, if I were building a shop, I'd absolutely give some thought to entertaining; bathroom, patio, some shade, refrigeration, seating, sink, etc.

In my crowded little garage, I do keep several chairs at the ready, and the kitchen is just inside. I also have a couple of popup canopies I set up in the driveway when the need arises, and I drag the gas grill around to the driveway when I have more than a few gearhead guests.

My shop is not a social gathering place as I don't have friends, it's a place to perform work, nothing else, so no need to plan on entertaining inside. The wife and I do however, have family cookouts and such outside, but the shop is usually closed up tighter than a frog's *** because I don't want people inside during those cookouts.

I mentioned a covered patio but that is mostly just to keep the foot traffic off my lawn and to have some cover for those 2-4 times a year we have people over, but it's not enough that I kick myself for not spending the money on it. I talked to my contractor buddy who built my shop a few months back about possibly adding one, but just can't bring myself to spend the money on it because then I'll be forced to want to use it. It would have been less money and less intrusive to digging up the yard had I done it at the time the shop was being built though, so that is the only reason I mentioned it as a regret because I won't spend the money on it nor dig up my yard now after the fact.

 

[b-boy]

Sounds like you've already got it covered, but for me it was a bathroom.

I have water to the barn, but not sewer.

I made the mistake of worrying more about keeping costs down, than usability. I should have paid the extra grand to get all the plumbing stubbed out for a bathroom. My life would be much easier. Now I have to find a tree, which is no fun in February during a blinding snowstorm.