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Thread: New Workshop - Need lots of good advice

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
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    New Workshop - Need lots of good advice

    We've just purchased a new home, and one that presents a great opportunity to design a workshop with a relatively clean slate in a great space.

    The home we are purchasing is near the beach, so is built up to withstand hurricanes. In fact, it's built to withstand Cat 5 hurricanes, and is easily the strongest home construction I have ever seen. This is what presents me my opportunity for a great workshop.

    I will have a ground floor space of approximately 45' L x 17-21' W. The really interesting part is the 17' high ceilings.

    I would like to put in a storage area over the workshop, to cut down on the massive amount of air volume I will have to cool in Florida (I'll be installing a number of split AC registers), as well as for lumbar storage, jig storage, etc...

    My first question is how high should I leave the workshop ceiling under the storage area? Is 10.5 feet sufficient? (I'm thinking that will give me 6' of headroom in the storage area after the floor/ceiling is built.)

    Also, I'm looking to install an H-hoist on two added steel I-beams, as I'll have masonry walls/ceiling/pillars that it can be attached to. How much extra clearance would I have to allow for that?

    Anyway, thanks in advance. I'm sure I'll be posting lots of questions (and a number of pictures) over the next year, so hopefully this will be interesting for more than just me.
    - After I ask a stranger if I can pet their dog and they say yes, I like to respond, "I'll keep that in mind" and walk off
    - It's above my pay grade. Mongo only pawn in game of life.

  2. #2
    So will you shop be in the wipe out zone if there ever is a high water/flooding situation? Maybe I have it wrong but Im envisioning a house sitting 17' off the ground and you are building a shop in the space below?

  3. #3
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    Yes, indeed the shop will be in the "wipe out zone". That would suck, but it is what it is. Probably only an issue with storm surge greater than 10'. The hoist will give me the ability to lift the machinery off the ground and support it underneath. Might work, might not.

    Really not any different than my present workshop that is in my garage, also in a flood zone.
    - After I ask a stranger if I can pet their dog and they say yes, I like to respond, "I'll keep that in mind" and walk off
    - It's above my pay grade. Mongo only pawn in game of life.

  4. #4
    I like your idea for "upstairs" storage. Pull down staircase or permanent?

    Seems like a 10 ft ceiling is more than high enough, unless you are thinking of ceiling fans. (I drool over those Big Ass Fans - they move a lot of air and could be an alternative to AC where I live.)

    A ceiling hoist would be handy from time to time. But I wouldn't personally get enough out of it to make it worthwhile.

    Other ideas...
    * Have you considered installing a finishing room? Would let you work on something else while your finish is drying. Would also let you use a spray gun without crapping up the whole shop.
    * Are you considering dust collection and/or compressed air? Either one would benefit from a separate sound proofed closet/room.
    * Have you considered a sink and commode? I'm constantly carrying stuff into the kitchen to clean and really wish I had at least cold running water. If you dont have sewer, you could buy/rig a sink with a tank underneath that you empty when it fills.

    Good luck!
    Fred
    .

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
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    Western MA
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    my advice is to not put your shop in the flood zone.

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by Brian Lefort View Post
    my advice is to not put your shop in the flood zone.
    Dude lives in Tampa, not Billings, guys. He doesn't have a lot of options.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by Frederick Skelly View Post
    Dude lives in Tampa, not Billings, guys. He doesn't have a lot of options.
    True, dat.
    - After I ask a stranger if I can pet their dog and they say yes, I like to respond, "I'll keep that in mind" and walk off
    - It's above my pay grade. Mongo only pawn in game of life.

  8. #8
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    Tampa Bay, FL
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    Quote Originally Posted by Frederick Skelly View Post
    I like your idea for "upstairs" storage. Pull down staircase or permanent?

    Seems like a 10 ft ceiling is more than high enough, unless you are thinking of ceiling fans. (I drool over those Big Ass Fans - they move a lot of air and could be an alternative to AC where I live.)

    A ceiling hoist would be handy from time to time. But I wouldn't personally get enough out of it to make it worthwhile.

    Other ideas...
    * Have you considered installing a finishing room? Would let you work on something else while your finish is drying. Would also let you use a spray gun without crapping up the whole shop.
    * Are you considering dust collection and/or compressed air? Either one would benefit from a separate sound proofed closet/room.
    * Have you considered a sink and commode? I'm constantly carrying stuff into the kitchen to clean and really wish I had at least cold running water. If you dont have sewer, you could buy/rig a sink with a tank underneath that you empty when it fills.

    Good luck!
    Fred
    .
    I much prefer A/C to ceiling fans, although those Big Ass Fans are impressive.

    I am definitely planning on a finishing room. I spray lacquer a lot (I already built a nice portable spray booth with an explosion proof fan that I use in my present workshop. I'll modify things to be permanently installed in a finishing room.)

    I have a 5HP Oneida cyclone. I definitely want to make a small "soundproofed" closet for that and for my air compressor (which actually bothers me more. Something about its noise is more obnoxious to me.)

    There is plumbing roughed out, so I definitely can have a utility sink quite easily. A bathroom won't be as easy, but I'd like one.

    I installed two fixed hoists in my present workshop. I use them a lot (I have a bad neck and back, and it's getting worse every day). I definitely want an H-hoist. I've also thought of building a lumber rack which can be lowered from an opening in the ceiling to be accessed and then raised so the floor of it becomes part of the ceiling. This may be needlessly complex, but it would be very cool and very space efficient.
    Last edited by Alan Lightstone; 08-20-2017 at 6:41 PM.
    - After I ask a stranger if I can pet their dog and they say yes, I like to respond, "I'll keep that in mind" and walk off
    - It's above my pay grade. Mongo only pawn in game of life.

  9. #9
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    What is the optimal height, in everyone's opinion? My present ceiling is 8'11", and it's definitely too low.
    - After I ask a stranger if I can pet their dog and they say yes, I like to respond, "I'll keep that in mind" and walk off
    - It's above my pay grade. Mongo only pawn in game of life.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
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    SE PA - Central Bucks County
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    65,685
    I have 8' now. In my "ideal shop", it would be more like 10' if it were a flat ceiling.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  11. #11
    If I was building my dream shop, I would do 10 feet at a minimum.

  12. #12
    Join Date
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    Modesto, CA, USA
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    What is an "H hoist'. do you mean a bridge crane? A bridge crane is going to need at least two-three feet above the hook. Have you considered a Jib crane in one corner? that 21' will mean a very deep bridge beam. probably well over 12-16" alone for 2 ton.
    Look on ebay and you can buy a old bridge with endtrucks for less then materiel cost. Best to buy a complete setup and build the shop around the footprint.
    Bill D.

    oldcarguy had a nice series about his but it was on photobucket

    http://www.harringtonhoists.com/tech_support/edocs/EDOC%200367%20rev02.pdf


    Last edited by Bill Dufour; 08-20-2017 at 11:51 PM.

  13. #13
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    Supply power from the top with a main breaker you can throw from upstairs to cut power to everything down below. Maybe a totally separate circuit, battery?, to a sump pump you can leave on if the basement may flood?
    Bill

  14. #14
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    About the compressor...among the top 10 annoying sounds to me.

    Have you thought about an addition level with the living space?
    Having never lived near a beach, the idea of a shop full of expensive machinery at risk of high water would leave me feeling very vulnerable.

    Perhaps if you posted pics of the home, you just might get more and better ideas.

  15. #15
    instead of upstairs storage how about downstairs and have your machines higher? you could run the dust collection duct under also

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