Ceiling height in new shop

[Marty Walsh]

Some of you might remember the thread I started a while back about wood floors in a shop. Thanks to Frank and several others, that decision has been made and my shop WILL have wooden floors.

My next question for everyone is about ceiling height. I was planning on 12' ceilings, but the more I think about it, I'm starting to lean towards 10'. The thought of having to hang plywood/OSB twelve feet in the air doesn't appeal to me. I'm also concerned that I'll have to drastically increase the lighting to overcome the distance it needs to travel to work spaces below.

So, what do you all think? Twelve foot ceilings just because I can, or should I go with ten footers?

And for anyone interested, I'll probably be breaking ground in the next few weeks on the shop. The engineer is done with the plans, and I'm satisfied with his work. (I'm not thrilled with the cost to obtain the load carrying I wanted, but I'll manage.)

I thought about chronically my work on here, but there's no way I could do it as well as Frank, so I think I'll post occasional updates and questions at best.


10' or 12' ?
Thanks in advance...
- Marty =

[Steve Ash]

Marty, mine is 10', I figured I wanted enough to comfortable work sheet goods on end and give enough room for lighting. I have been very happy with it this way and never once have I wished I made it taller. No use for me to heat uneccesary area...my .02

Good luck in your decision and congrats on getting a new shop!

[Alan Turner]

In terms of lighting, I was advised that with t-8 lights at a height of 8', spaced 8' apart, I would have sufficient light at bench height. This has proved true. Lights get expensive in large quantities, and I don't know how many sq. feet your shop is, but if you plan to hang the lights at a ceiling height of 12', you may need t-5's, which I think are a bit spendy.

[Joe Chritz]

I have 10' and would want nothing less. It gives me just under 9 below the dust collector pipes. Easy to move full sheets around without cramping the ceiling.

I can't see a reason for 12 unless you are planning some tall equipment at some point, like a 36" bandsaw.

That extra 2 foot is also area to heat and cool.

Joe

[David Duke]

Guess it all depends on what you'll mainly be doing, I've got 10' and it seems to be plenty of height for me, I have no problem handling sheet goods or long lengths of lumber. I don't think the pros would out weigh the cons for the type of work I do, another disadvantage of the higher ceilings is if you put plan on putting in a HVAC unit you have that much more area to heat/cool.

[Matt Meiser]

I have 12 foot ceilings in my shop because the building alreay existed. If I built, I would have done 10. I had to spend a lot on lighting and ended up renting scaffolding to install the ceiling, lighting, and most of my duct work. Its pretty much a pain to work on the ceiling because of the height. The good thing about 12' ceilings is that I don't have to worry about hitting a light or anything else with long boards or sheet goods.

[Marty Walsh]

Yup, between the lighting, and hanging whatever I decide to cover it with, and then heating/cooling the additional square footage...

I don't plan on any tremendously huge equipment, so I think 10' may be the way to go. But since I only want to do this ONCE, I thought I'd try to get the consensus from everyone on here...

- Marty -

[Jim O'Dell]

I drool at having 10' ceilings in the shop. (mine are 7'7" :( ) The only way I'll get that is if a tornado rips the current roof off the shop. :rolleyes: If you go with the 12', I'd be sure to mount some hugger type ceiling fans to redistribute the heat. Now if you do the radiant floor heating, you would probably have no problems, even with the 12' space.
I agree with you about Frank's shop threads. Can't top that. So much detailed information. I do like to see the progress of the building, though. I've shown that in my shop rehab thread. I hope you'll do the same. It's neat to see the pictures as the building transforms from just an idea. Kind of lets us all be part of the progress. Jim.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Marty...........I'm in the process of finishing a new shop with 10' ceilings. I had to use a lift to put the sheet rock on the ceilings. I put plywood on the walls. To mud the sheetrock on the ceilings, as an amateur, I'm using scaffolding. I can't imagine why 12' ceiling would be of any significant greater value. JMHO.

[lou sansone]

my shop has 10' and 18' in some sections . 10' is fine and would not do 12's unless you plan on having a ships saw or some other monster in the shop

lou

[Jim Callaghan]

Marty
I have 10 1/2 foot in my shop, I've never needed more, the post about the fan to push the heat back down is good if you are in a cold climate.
Why are you doing plywood or osb on the ceiling? Have you given thought to metal siding in white? thats what I did, great for lighting, strong enough to span the joists and kold insulation. Unless you are going to be walking on it it is more than strong enough.
Jim Callaghan
Wisconsin

[Frank Pellow]

I would recommend 10' and I would also recommend that the material on the ceiling should be plywood painted white and that you should have lots of skylights coupled with T8 flourescent.

I have built two shop buildings, that is Shed#1 at Pellow's Camp and Shed#2 at our place in Toronto. They both have cathedral ceilings with the peak of Shed#1 being 14 feet and the peak of Shed#2 being 10 feet. The parts of my shops that are less than 10' are problematic when it comes to moving stuff around and the parts that are more than 10' seem to be waste space that I have to heat.

[Chris Fite]

I have 12 foot ceilings because if the high bay lighting I have. I have radiant hydronic heat in the floor, so the extra space matters not. All of my ductwork is above 107 inches, because that is where the inlet to the Gorilla is with it mounted as high on the wall as I could get it. I don't have air conditioning because of the insulation's effectiveness and the normal shade over the shop. If it weren't for the high bay lighting that I chose to install, I would have made the ceiling 10 feet.

[Jerry Olexa]

I vote for 10 ft.Think of heating, A/C etc. 12 could be overkill unless your building really BIG things.:)

[Barry O'Mahony]

The thought of having to hang plywood/OSB twelve feet in the air doesn't appeal to me.

Why would you need to?

Next time you're in a commerical building (like the local Home Depot or Lowe's), Look at the high parts of the wall, and the ceiling. What do you see? Usually, just insulation, nothing more. It's surfaced with white poly low-flame-spread facing that's OK to leave exposed.

At my usual lumber supplier, most of the boards are 10-12 ft long. My 12' high walls (w. ceiling trusses with a peak at 16') make handling them alot easier.

[Norman Hitt]

Marty, I have a Metal building (with a low pitched roof), and was originally going with 12' side walls, but then decided 10' would be fine since it was $500 cheaper to build. Due to a "Code Glitch", however, involving the top of my south wall and the peak of the neighbor's adjoining wellhouse, the walls ended up being 11'. There is ONE structural member crossing the center of the bldg at 10', (why they did that instead of 11', I do not know), But I have only hit it four or five times so far, (jolting me back to Reality I might add), so it hasn't been a Real large problem. I think it mainly depends on what length items you move around in your shop, BUT, you will get used to whatever height you build. My advice is to make sure that it is ALL the SAME height though,:o 'cause it's awfully easy to Forget about that ONE THING hanging down lower than the rest, especially when you're busy and in a hurry.:D

[Tom Drake]

I'll vote for the 10' ceiling height.

[Marty Walsh]

Well, it looks like the "majority" concensus is 10' walls. I'm thinking that's what I'll go with. Aside from the cost savings in materials to construct shorter walls, the savings in not cooling and lighting the additional square footage is non-trivial.

As a result of the new lower walls, I'm now rethinking another design decision I thought I had made.

I'm going with roof trusses, (no skylights Frank), and while working with their engineer, we looked at putting in an 'attic room' truss system. I didn't think access to this space would be practical, especially trying to haul items up a 12' folding attic ladder that I would have to custom order, or build myself.

Now that I'm considering 10' walls, that extra storage space might be worth the cost. I'd have to change from a 4/12 pitch to a 5/12 pitch to get enough usable room to justify the cost. The major drawback is having to use folding attic stairs to access this storage area. Luckily, they come standard in 10' heights. The major advantage is that I could hide dust collection and the A/C air handler up there.

What are people's thoughts on the storage idea? I've had folding attic stairs in previous homes, but never tried to carry anything large or very heavy up or down them. Are they vialble for this application?

(I know I'm sort of switching topics, but I thought it was close enough not to require a new thread...)

Decisions, decisions...:confused:
- Marty -

[Luther Oswalt]

My ceiling is 12' and I'm very happy with it ... I also have a car lift in the shop and that is the main reason for the 12'. However if I ever build another shop the ceilings will be at least 12'. I use T-8 tubes and they are great.
Leo

[Frank Pellow]

...
What are people's thoughts on the storage idea? I've had folding attic stairs in previous homes, but never tried to carry anything large or very heavy up or down them. Are they vialble for this application?
...
- Marty -
Sounds good to me. :) If I had an attic above my shop, I would definately find lots of uses for it.

(But then I would not have skylights -and I would chose those over an attic any day :p )

[Steve Clardy]

Mine are 10.5