Can a shop be too big? 25'x50' shop recomendations

[Bill Blackburn]

Getting a shop that size warm would be my main issue - we hit 41 below night back, minus 39 last night, winds working wind chills down to minus 60 or lower brrrrrrrrrrr - every seam or air leak point that cold can find shows up, no matter how tight one thinks they got things .......no way I can handle shop that size when the heat bill comes due

I'd love it if it could happen. Fill it up with tools...and junk....in no time. Then want more s/f too

[Zach England]

If it is too big just park your vast collection of classic Porsches and BMWs in the extra space.

[Gregory Stahl]

I'm 25 x 50 and cramped. I may purge some little used equipment. I do have a large Felder slider that takes up a chunk of the space though.

I keep most of my equipment in 2/3 of the shop, and the other 1/3 holds incoming/outgoing supplies and projects. It was supposed to be an area where I could put two assembly tables, but that hasn't worked out yet.

I have some sort of radiant heat. It is a tube that runs about 35' across the ceiling and runs off natural gas. It is dirt cheap to heat my place. I keep it at 38-degrees when I am not there, and 68-70 when I am working (heats up fairly fast). I am about 16-20' in height and have gaps around my doors leaking air. Last months bill was only $30 despite a cold snap and alot of shop time. Gas service is about $8 before usage and I have a hot water heater running off it too.

Greg

[Chris Tsutsui]

If you have a big space you can just use mobile carts to move stuff around.

You'll probably be more efficient this way than if you had too little space...

[Kevin Gregoire]

okay, i just heard the stupidest question ever and it happens to be the title of this thread!

Can A Shop Be To Big? NO!!!

im waiting for the day when i can get on my golf cart and drive
from one machine to the next!

[Chip Lindley]

A serious woodworker can never have too much space! As has been mentioned, heating to a comfortable temp in winter would be the biggest concern. Living in the country, I would have an outdoor wood stove, piping in hot water heat through plastic tubing in the concrete floor! As long as stove wood is plentiful in the Ozarks, I would stay comfortable all winter!

When a serious woodworker contemplates everything shop, 25x50 could in fact be wayy cramped! There is lumber storage; that trailer-load of auction cherry that sold for $1/bf. There is old machinery/fixer-upper storage; two Unisaws, two RAS's, two shapers and two CI jointers awaiting rebuilding. Perhaps even a decent welding and machine shop space with metal lathe and mill. Plenty of elbow room for a sliding TS beside the dedicated rip saw. Room for a small CNC machine to play with! A nice assembly area with FF table and panel clamping table. Space for a spray booth! Just plenty of everything!

25x50 might be just about right IF it had a second story under a gambrel (barn) roof. Lots of storage up there! But that's expensive construction. Just make mine a pole barn 50x100 !!!

[Todd Trebuna]

20X25 Garage. I don't like to call it a shop. It's more like a woodworking igloo.
Lows in the single digits tonight. Highs were in the 20's.
Makes me want to pull the car in and leave it running, just to heat the place.

[Chip Lindley]

Todd, I know exactly what you mean! Dispite my Grandiose Visions above, I, too, suffer along in a 2-car garage. But, years ago, I installed a small Timberline wood stove to knock the chill off. It keeps things nice once fired up, but I spend about as much time woodchucking, as I do woodworking. I guess it could be worse.

[Glen Butler]

Sounds like it is pretty darn cold there. Hope you have some good insulation. I have an 18000 BTU heater that gets my 1400 sq, ft. shop with 16' ceilings up to 73 degrees on a night in the teens. I haven't seen the bill yet cause it has only been 3 weeks. If I were you I would get a heat stove in that place and get to it.

[Bill Blackburn]

anyone colder than our minus 43, minus 41 and minus 37 the last 3 nights? Air temp - drop another million lower with wind chill.
I'm starting to question my mental health

[Joel Earl]

Think you win the medal!

Been a mighty chilly one all over I hear. What's up with the Global Warming thing?

[Ed Breen]

My shop is 30x50. I have an overhead system of heat tubes vented in and out. (Much like WalMart)
I am very crowded, so much so that I just had a twenty foot carport erected next to the shop and have moved the forge, stump and the rest of that stuff outside. I use a high hat for heat out there burning diesel. It puts out 185,000 btu's.
And now, I'm getting ready to move another table saw, and another band saw back in. I can't build another shop since SWMBO saw my shop and now we have two 30x50's in the back yard. Thankfully we live rural.
Ed

[Andrew Nemeth]

Apparently my sarcasm did not come across very well in my title posting. As most of the comments have implied (some more directly than others), there is no such thing as too big of a shop.

What I'm really looking for is a few sample shop layouts so that I can use the space efficiently. In addition to the main shop there is dedicated finishing room, so I don't have to include finishing space in the floor plan.

The reason I am concerned about laying it out before I move in is that all of the electric in the warehouse is getting reworked. If I have a good idea where my tools are going to go I can have my dedicated lines and lighting run before I move in. I know I will likely make some revisions to the layout over time, but I am just looking for a good starting point.

Thanks again for all your help,
Andrew

[Zach England]

I was thinking about this, and this shop would be larger than my entire lot (yes, the one with my house on it).

If I had that much space I would seriously consider two table saws.

[Sean Nagle]

If I had that much space I would seriously consider two table saws.

Two tablesaws AND a slider