need help shop size

[TYLER WOOD]

I am having to do some refurbishment of the house. The bank say get $20,000 to make it worth the costs, well really only need 8-9. So it looks like I could add a couple more g to it ans build a shop. What size shop do you reccommend. I do mostly only turning with small f-work projects.

[Chris Padilla]

30' x 50' minimum. :D

[Ron Journeau]

Hey Tyler..nice project to keep you busy for a while. I have, as most of us, been wishing/planning for that bigger shop oneday down the road. As I am really only into turning (one type of wood torture is enough for me) I have been doing some doodling with scratch pads, and seem to dwell on a little shop of about 12 by 20, or maybe even 12 by 16. Of course, am now in a cabano beside the pool, using half of a 10 by 12 shed with 1 115v plug and no heat/insulation, so anything would be a great improvement for me. Hope to see some progress pics of the new and improved digs.

[Jim Underwood]

I spent about $6k and had someone else build me a 16 x 20 on piers that I poured myself. I did a lot of stuff myself (like wiring and flooring). I suppose I could have built it all myself for less, but I don't see how (not even sure I could have bought the materials for that much). It's not enough room now that I have wood stacked all over.:D

[Greg Heppeard]

As big as your budget will take. I have 2200 sq ft and some days I wish it was bigger.

[TYLER WOOD]

Greg, your shop is bigger than my HOUSE!!! Maybe you should think of scaling back?!?:D Oh wait the vortex dosn't allow that!!!

[Kevin McPeek]

As big as your budget will take.

Really thats good advice, I would do no smaller than a car will fit in for resale purposes. You can get a pretty decent deal on steel buildings these days. I use most of a 2 car garage and feel like I am totally cramped.
I would shoot for 24x24 as a base.

[robert hainstock]

Rule 1, the accumulation will expand to fill the available space. I sold my 12" jet table saw two years ago and have no extra space today and it was a BIG sucker. Go as big as you can afford to heat. :eek::eek:
Bob

[Greg Heppeard]

I had all my stuff in a 2 car garage and had to go outside to change my mind...I had no room do do anything in there. I do this for a living now, so bigger is always better.

[Ron Dunn]

Tyler, with the deteriorating state of the US economy, I recommend borrowing the absolute minimum that you need. In fact, unless I was totally sure of my income over the next few years, I wouldn't even be borrowing for refurbishment.

The bank with which you are dealing is trying to push more credit on you. Don't fall for it.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Tyler my shop is 12 X 24 now and will be adding another 12 X 24 this summer. Since I mostly turn and do some small f...work projects that are on the honey-do list I sold all my big machines for small units that I could put under the bench. I would not go smaller than 24 X 24 because at least here in town a extra garage gives the buyer if I decided to sell a lot of different things they can do.

[Reed Gray]

I started with 400 sq feet. I had to open the doors if I needed to pass gas it was so tight in there. I do both flat work and turning. I moved into 860 sq. feet, and one of the guys in my club said "you'll be surprised at how fast that shop will fill up". I said, it will take about 4 hours. My flat work machines are on wheels except for the table saw. I could easily use 2,000, and 3,000 would be better, especially if I had a car port thing on the side for logs. 400 sq feet would be fine if I only turned. The one thing that I most underestimated was how much room I would need for storing wood, both logs and lumber. You can go small, but bigger is always better.
robo hippy

[Bill Embrey]

Tyler... I too have a big shop, 2000sq ft. I started in a 12x16, built a 20x30 (but 10x20 was dedicated storage so only had a 20x20) and then moved into the place we have now. BUILD AS BIG AS YOU CAN AFFORD!!!!!.... you can do plenty of wood work in a 12x16 or a 20x20... what you CAN'T do is store all the wood you collect! Think about all the space you need for the tools you have (and the ones you plan on getting) and then give serious consideration to storing dimensional lumber, sheet goods and for turning... hunks of logs and the blanks you cut from them to dry...

[Donald Barfield]

Build your shop as big as you can afford to because it will never be big enough. When I built mine a 36x48 I thought it was huge, now it seems so cramped that I wish it was larger!

[Steve Schlumpf]

Tyler - I agree with everyone else in that you should build as big as you can afford. One other thought along the lines of a perfect shop would be to take a clue from 'NORM' and have a dedicated finishing area away from all the sawdust! I wish you luck with the project!

[Allen Neighbors]

Tyler, I agree with Ron Dunn. Find a different bank, if you can... get them to competing for your business.
My shop is 20x40, with one 8x10 room inside for a spray room. It's crowded, and I store all my uncut wood outside.

[Joe Chritz]

Same answer as everyone else. Bigger is better.

24x40 is the size of mine. About 10x10 is no shop storage, 10x14 is finish room and the rest is shop (24x30). It could stand to be a few feet wider and a few feet longer easily. I also have an 8 foot overhang off the back for additional outside storage.

A dedicated finish room is a very handy addition to have.

Joe

[TYLER WOOD]

I am thinking about 25X25, with a small spray/finish room and a small office/man cave area.13X25 area for shop, 12X19 man cave and a 12X6 spray/finish area.

I already have an seperate area for log/wood storage in a shed in the back yard. Also most of the hand tools will be in the garage with a door into the shop. So all tool boxes for auto/home projects would be in there.

This is a dedicated wood working shop. I don't really do any f-work other than cutting for segmented work, or the off handed project the wife wants. Maybe two or three in a year, and for the big ones I go to a friends barn anyways. He has bigger and better f-tools than mine!!:D

I am planning my lathe, table saw, band saw (future purchase), work bench, couple storage cabintes, and other typical turning required tools. Oh and of course the required FRIDGE for after turning refreshments!:D'

Does this sound ok. I know it may seem small for some, but what do you think.......

[Greg Heppeard]

You may want to go just a little bigger if possible...If you ever have to swing a full sheet of ply in there, you'll find it just a little small, expecially with the tools arranged the way you want them. I had a 19 X 22 for a couple of years before I really outgrew it. It was cramped swinging plywood. For just turning and cutting blanks it was ok tho.

[Fred Conte]

Hi Tyler - You have asked a very subjective question but received alot of excellent advice.

I spent a year planning my shop, unlike you I have everything in my shop which is 24x60 and I added two open lean-to's on both sides for wood and metal storage, welding table and gardening tools, etc. Spend as much time as feasible on the planning part - it will save you alot of headaches and disappointments later on.

If I can make a suggestion, which you may already know, Grizzly (http://www.grizzly.com/)has a simple shop layout tool on their website and you can plug in various machines/tools to get a feel for size, its on the left side towards the bottom.

Another excellent forum is Shop Floor Talk which has a sub-forum (http://www.shopfloortalk.com/forums/index.php)dedicated to shop design, layout, etc and there are some very knowledgeable folks there, a few in your neck of the woods.

I started with a barn kit that had metal roof trusses and went from there, they come in 24' and 32' widths and in 12' increments upto 80'. This gives you the most bang for the buck.

I researched the metal building kits but concluded they were not economical on a sf/$ basis compared to a barn kit.

Hope this info helps ya!

Fred