shop building design

[Jeff Bartley]

Much to my surprise I'm finding myself with a shop build in my very near future. We had been looking for a house with shop space but ended up finding a house in an almost perfect location.......but no shop!
I have a good idea about what I want to build but I wanted to see if anyone here had any inspirational sources of design. Target size is 24 x 40ish.
Thanks!

[Roger Chandler]

Jeff, will you be moving from your location you had when I visited your shop? It's been a while, so I did not know if you had moved from there already, or were contemplating a relocation?

[Robert Engel]

I can give you my thought processes when I expanded my shop last year from about 500SF to almost 1400.

General focused on:
1. Machine layout & work flow
2. Storage (lumber, tools & hardware)
3. Lighting
4. Ventilation.
5. Dust Collection
6. Utilities (electrics and water).

I put the milling machines (jointer, planer, drum sander) in one area near lumber storage and very close to dust collector.
You will have to figure all this out based on what machines you have. All my machines are on mobile bases so it was fairly easy to tweak it.

The TS is a central part of the shop and takes up a lot of space (like 75SF) take that into consideration, especially if you have extension/outfeed tables.

Electrics and water. A shop sink is a necessity. I located my sharpening station next to the sink for wet stones.
I ran all my electric circuits in amorlite (armored flex cable) and surface mounted all the outlets. I bought a 250' roll on sale cheaper than romex. This saves a ton of work cutting holes for outlets and romex and you have total flexibility in moving/adding circuits/boxes as needs arise. For example I recently relocated my wood storage and the wall that was freed up I moved my drill press, router table and scroll saw. Adding to the existing circuit will be a snap.

Put a nice wide door in. I used two old sliding barn doors gives me almost 8' of opening.

[John Sanford]

Compressor & DC "outside", i.e. in a exterior attached shed. Keeps the noise outside.

Lighting. Lighting. Lighting. If possible, when you pull power to the shop's subpanel, run a separate circuit off the house just for lighting. Have your exterior lighting, as well as some interior lights on that circuit. That way, when your shop subpanel is off, you'll still have some light out there.

Radiant floor heat is your friend.

Of course, it's important to consider potential other/future uses of the space. As an example, will it be big enough for the next owners to use it as a garage for working on cars? With a 24x40 footprint, it seems like it will, until you consider that they may want to use a lift. So, if possible, make sure you have enough height for a pickup truck on a lift.

Congrats on the serendipitous shop opportunity. A good resource on shop builds can be found over at GarageJournal.com They're crazy about "garage" shops over there.....

[Jeff Bartley]

Roger, we're moving to Woodstock from the place you visited, in fact if you need any big chunks of wood I might have some for you!
Architecturally speaking has anyone been inspired by a feature in a shop building? Or something about the building that really added to quality of the shop.
One of the details I'm trying to smoothly work in is a short shed dormer which will let light into the ceiling. Details like that are sometimes missed so I'm trying to find sources for plans or pics of interesting shops.
Those are great ideas John and Robert! John, do you have radiant? If so, how do you heat your water?

[John Sanford]

Those are great ideas John and Robert! John, do you have radiant? If so, how do you heat your water?
No, I don't have radiant. My father built a house outside of Taos that had radiant, and it was magic. Unfortunately, he has passed away, so I can't ask him how the fluid was heated.

Rather than a dormer, perhaps you could go "old school industrial", something styled along these lines:

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[Jeff Bartley]

Oh man, that is a beautiful building! My hands will be mostly tied with the design of this shop. We'll be in a neighborhood and I'll want to to mesh with the house.
I love those old industrial buildings with their brick, tall arched windows, and exposed roof systems.
I can't remember who's shop it was but they had bought an old fire hall and put the shop on the first floor and built out a couple apartments upstairs. It was really cool!

[Jim Becker]

That's a wonderful size to work with! My suggestions....open design; machining in one area with a high quality dust collection system, hand-work and assembly in another, keep reasonable space open for finishing, use flexible storage including a French cleat wall design so you can reconfigure easily over time. Bright and well-lighted...go right to LED and don't look back. If you can do it, use a lofted ceiling for a more spacious feel with a white ceiling surface. If you can put in plumbing, at least have a utility sink and toilet. Consider HVAC as part of the design.

Windows. Natural light is wonderful. Use roll-up doors if you need large openings to the outside. Use double out-swing doors for "smaller large openings" as an alternative. Be sure you have convenient driveway access to where you'll bring material in and take projects out.

Security system. ;)

How's that for quickly spending you money? :D :D :D

[Mike Heidrick]

Radiant fluid is generally heated by a boiler. I use an electric instant hot water heater on mine. You can do gas or whatever fuel source you need. I made a video on whats involved and how it all works. My setup is a sealed setup - no potable water at all and no flow of water into or out of the system.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YESiqIKpLYk

[Frank Drackman]

One simple suggestion, wire an outlet for your compressor that goes on/off with main light switch.

[Peter Aeschliman]

Jeff, to your question about interior architectural details that set a building apart- for me, it's the windows. Natural light. You mentioned a shed dormer, so it sounds like you're already thinking about that.

Really big windows are great. I love it when I get direct sunlight into my shop. Classic-looking divided light windows that go from countertop to the ceiling.

And as long as it's your money I'm spending, maybe I'd add vaulted ceilings with a cupola and exposed beams. :)

[Jim Becker]

One simple suggestion, wire an outlet for your compressor that goes on/off with main light switch.

That's fine for small compressors, but less practical for the larger ones that many of us use. Doing what you suggest would require a contactor to switch the 240v 20-30 amp circuits that power the compressor in conjunction with lights. I leave mine active and have an automatic moisture drain. The only time I kill the compressor is when we go on vacation.

[Jeff Bartley]

That's a great video Mike, thanks for sharing! Do smaller systems still have dual pumps?

[Jeff Bartley]

Thanks for the input everyone, I haven't worked on the plan again, hopefully this weekend I'll get some drawings together. For details I have: shed dormers for natural light, LED lights for supplemental light (I guess I'm gonna have to read the LED threads!), utility sink (i'll plumb for a toilet but I'm not gonna put one in initially, the shop will be 20' from the house), 9' roll up doors, two man doors (one at each corner of building)......

I might frame in an opening on the back of the building for a big set of windows that would later be turned into french doors opening to a deck.

And I'll move the french cleats from my existing shop over to the new one, and likely add another run of cleats up above the first; I love french cleats!

Still not sure where the cyclone will go. I have it in an insulated cabinet now but I might build a closet for it in the new shop so I can stuff the compressor in there too.

[Jim Becker]

I highly recommend the closet for the cyclone and compressor...that was one thing I did in my shop that paid off big-time in noise abatement and so forth. As long as you design a good baffled air return, you'll have great performance and significantly lower noise levels.

[Jamie Buxton]

Height! I'm now in a shop with ceilings at 14 feet. It is terrific to wave boards around without ever taking out a lighting fixture.

[Martin Wasner]

If you're in a residential area, your biggest problem might be ceiling height. If you've got a two story house it might not be too bad though since the shop won't be dwarfing the house. An eight foot ceiling is miserable. If you can do something where the exposed wall on the exterior is actually lower than the interior height that might be a way to hide it. Steeper pitch and a larger overhang on the eve ends and extend the rafters low to disguise it with the lower soffit panels with out making the heel of the truss look massive.


If you can go to 26' wide it might be a bit better for down the road when you sell the place, even if you sacrifice some depth. 24' is pretty narrow to park two vehicles side by side unless they are smaller. The downside is the roof line just gets taller.

[John K Jordan]

I built my shop a few years ago. I tell people I built it with my bare hands but I lie - I actually used tools. :-) Big tools for the dirt work...

Mine shop is the same size as yours with the exception of 22' added on one end for maintenance/storage etc. and an 8x12' porch subtracted at the entrance.

I made many, many pages of hand-drawn plans in an engineering notebook before I even started prepping for concrete: changing plans on paper before building is easier! I like to make scale cutouts for every machine, in/outfeed, walking and working space, etc and slide them around on a big piece of paper to optimize the layout. I planned the placement of every storage shelf, tool box, HVAC and DC outlets, light, and electrical circuits and outlets ahead of time. To judge walking space I also used some big cardboard boxes to mock up some tight spots to visualize just what I could live with.

Power and lighting are very important. I ran 100 amps underground, put outlets every 4', installed ceiling outlets for pull-down reels and air cleaner, and put 220v and 50 amp circuits where needed. I put many T5 fluorescent dual-mode fixtures in several switchable zones as well as a lower level string of lights on one circuit for walking and fetching without turning on the bright working lights. I wired in emergency lights too in case the power fails.

Two things I am VERY happy I did - put the DC cyclone and big air compressor in a sound insulated closet, and installed heat and air. I know so many people who don't use their shops much when it is cold and hot. Another useful thing: I ran a couple of ethernet cables in underground conduit when I ran power. This gives me strong WiFi in the shop and drives a personal cell tower for a reliable signal.

I recommend plumbing to bring compressed air where needed. I used RapidAir, ended up with seven air outlets, one outside.

Add at least one steel double door to get big things in and out plus a conventional door with an electronic keypad lock. I actually set my cabinet saw in place with a fork lift before I put up the last wall - made life simpler. I minimized windows to maximize wall space. Plywood walls and ceilings installed with screws (for future mods) simplify mounting.

In case you are interested, this is what I ended up with (but this doesn't show the machine layout). 6x6 posts, 6" walls, concrete floor with an excess of welded rebar - not one crack in three years. Future project - run water, add on a room for bath/kitchen.

The plan.
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The construction.
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The use.
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JKJ

[Mike Heidrick]

LOVE my porch too. Best idea my wife had for the shop!!

You really want to control the temperature deltas of the fluid entering and exiting your boiler so that is the real need for two pumps so you can control it with a mixing valve and two temp loops if you will. I am no expert but really it does not add much to the cost.

[Jeff Bartley]

Keep the ideas coming, this is great!

Martin, due to site constraints the roll up (or carriage, or sliding barn style) doors will be on the side of the building, so the 24' width is still a little narrow but that number is not set in stone.

The idea behind the shed dormers is to increase the ceiling height and let in natural light. I'm stumbling on how to incorporate the 9' roll up doors. When I have more than a napkin sketch I'll post up a pick.

And John, I have the paper cuts in full effect!!

[John K Jordan]

I'm stumbling on how to incorporate the 9' roll up doors.

Jeff, I don't know your situation but I had to get creative with my garage doors. I used industrial overhead doors since there was not enough clearance for roll-up. The industrial overhead doors are well insulated compared to most.

I have 9' ceilings covered with 1/2" plywood. I wanted 8' high doors to accommodate my tractor with roll bar. Ended up putting the industrial doors on residential tracks, cutting a bit off the bottom of the tracks.

Fitting electric openers was more challenging since there was not enough room to follow the directions in the opener. (I used a belt-drive openers.) I ended up screwing the tracks for the belts directly to the plywood in the ceiling and fabricating a mounting plate from steel to get the bracket arm positioned so the geometry was right. This method sure made for a sturdy installation! They continue to work like a charm - used one door today when emptying the cyclone DC barrel. I love my shop.

JKJ