New Shop: kibitzing invited

[Jack Llewyllson]

Hi. New member here, though I've lurked about here and there. My name is Jack.

I'm having a purpose-built shop erected in our backyard. The construction is contracted to a local guy for reasons of efficiency, my increasingly wobbly spine, and the hope of getting it together before the 22nd century. Comments are invited -- requested, in fact -- because while I've been daydreaming about dedicated shop spaces for years, I'm solidly sure that I haven't thought of everything (and some of what I have thought of, I've probably forgotten).

I build furniture, small projects, "TIs" for our house, outdoor garden stuff (trellises, planters, gates, etc.); also turn bowls. I'm a little gimpy and VERY slow and inefficient -- just ask my sweetie!

GENERAL CONSTRUCTION:

The shop's footprint sits at 24 W x 26 L and that won't be changing, as the stem walls are now poured. It's about the biggest I can legally get away with on this property, and I think it'll host my projects adequately if I can keep it organized. Four-inch slab on grade over compacted crushed rock. The walls will rise 12' high over the stem walls (which will add about a foot and a half). Stick-framed on 2x6 under moderate-pitch trusses.

Six-foot "driveway" in front to give a little extra working room on nice days.

Couple of windows and a fiberglass walking door in the long side, with a 16' high-lift garage door across the front. Studs are 2X6 with rock wool insulation and James Hardie siding. The walking door will be a 3-0, 6-8 RH outswing, to preserve wall and floor space on the interior.

Roof will be laminated architectural shingles to approximately match the house.

A storage loft is planned to go across the back (i.e. straight back from the garage door) that will be eight feet AFF at its bottom.

Dry shop, as water is impractical for several reasons.

ELECTRICAL:
Ground conduit runs 4-ga. wire to a 100A Square D QO subpanel with GFCI/AFCI breakers. All 120VAC circuits (including lights, in case I want to tap them) will be 20A over 12/2 yellow Romex. The 240V circuits will run on 10/2 orange Romex and 30A breakers. Some of the circuits are:

==> Two interior lighting circuits
==> One circuit for exterior lighting and outlets (2 ea. quads)
==> Garage door opener circuit
==> Split outlet in ceiling for 120V drop cord reel and air filter
==> 120V tool circuit (2 ea.)
==> 240V tool circuit (2 ea.)

The tool circuits will run around the walls at 48" AFF. The 120V outlets will daisy-chain both circuits into eight quad boxes (deep boxes with 47 c.i. because my fingers are getting clumsier and weaker), such that each box has a duplex outlet from circuit "A" and one from circuit "B"."

The 240V circuits will alternate outlets between the "A" and "B" circuits. If I ever get an itch to run a TIG welder (doubtful, but possible), that outlet will get its own breaker and be located very close to the load center, the better to shorten its run of Very Expensive Wire. One of the 240V circuits will terminate in the ceiling to allow a drop cord at this voltage.

LIGHTS:
Four rows of 3 ea., 8-foot LED fixtures running front-to-back, plus two rows of same running side-to-side on the underside of the loft (these will also have a pair of heater boxes on them). Task lighting as required, from tool circuits.

ROUGH FINISHES:
We'll tile the shop floor with horse stall mats from the ag co-op.

Eight feet up from the stem walls will be covered by vertical sheets of 1/2" ACX screwed (not nailed) to the studs, with French cleats. Haven't decided whether to panel higher than that.

APPROXIMATE TOOL POPULATION of FLOOR HOGS:
JET air filter (overhead)
1.5 h.p. Delta d.c. with a garbage can separator
SawStop 3 h.p. "Pro" with a router table in the extension leaf
3' by 22" rolling toolbox/outfeed
Hand tool bench ~7.5' x 27"
Utility bench ~2' x 8' for sharpening station and benchtop tools
JET 15" planer
Delta 6" jointer (not extra-long tables)
Generic Taiwanese drill press
Mid-sized rollaway tool chest
Hitachi "double hot dog" compressor
JET 12" disk/48" belt sander on a tool cart
Rikon 18" bandsaw
Record Power CL3-48 lathe ("Old Blue")
General floor-standing mortiser
Alaskan mill & Stihl 044 (25" bar)
Possibly a large boomstick safe
Workmate and horses
Stool

SHELF HOGS and DRAWER LINERS:
Several boxes of FESTOOL stuff plus a CT-36 droid vac
A fair assortment of Kreg pocket hole stuff
Lion-style miter trimmer
Moderate copse of levels
Probably 30-odd chisels
Couple doz. hammers and mallets
Nail guns, worm drive, Sawzall, etc.
B.O.S.S. spindler, Delta scroller, three grinders/buffers, Tormek
Around three totes' worth of sentimental hand tools
A doz. or so handsaws of various types
Probably 40 handplanes
A few jigs

I know it's too much stuff to jam into ~600 s.f. without stumbling over things, but I plan to enjoy trying to whip it into shape. I figure, worst case scenario is it'll add about as much value to our little house as it costs (not an illusion I want dispelled; thanks).

Suggestions -- especially suggestions about efficient use of wall storage -- are gratefully considered.

Thanks!

Cheers,

Jack

[Jim Becker]

Welcome to SMC!!! Sounds like it will be a nice space. Keep the lesser used tools mobile so you can herd them into a corner when not needed to free up space to work.

Given you cite some physical challenges consider embracing adjustable height work surfaces for hand tool use and assembly. It really saves the back big-time.

I'm not a fan of garage type doors myself, but I suspect that it may have been a requirement to get the permit as a "garage" rather than a workshop. A 16' door takes up a whole wall, too.

[james manutes]

Welcome to the "creek" . Have you considered a load calc. to get your heating/ cooling requirements ? Do you even need AC or heat ? Consider replacing the trash can separator with a Dust deputy ? Sorry , shop built cyclones are a favorite of mine . How about an Air cleaner also . You have some great gear there , I'd think about better DC , thats about it .

[james manutes]

My Bad ! Just noticed the first thing you listed was an Air Cleaner . sorry .

[Brian Tymchak]

..I'm so jealous of you guys building shops.. Congrats!

I can only think of 2 little things to comment on.

• I didn't see any accomodation for lumber, sheet goods, turning blanks storage. Do you have plans for that?
• Will you at some point consider upgrading your DC to a bigger unit requiring 220? DCs like to be on their own circuit so there is no competition for juice with other tools.

[Frederick Skelly]

Sounds like a nice place. Welcome to the Creek!
Since you also like handtools, you should come visit our Neanderthal sub-forum on SMC.

See you soon.
Fred

[Bruce King]

Sounds real good Jack!
For my fatigued self I have a large heavy sitting bench that is light enough to put on my assembly table. I can stand up an end table on it while messing with drawer alignments etc. Being 6’5” I have to get things up higher. I have a stool that I sit on whenever possible. Also an office chair to sit in while goofing off.

[Robert D Evans]

I'm currently working out of my basement shop but if I ever get permission to build a larger shop, I would design it so that the dust collector and the air compressor were outside of the workshop. Those things make an annoying amount of noise.

[Bruce King]

I'm currently working out of my basement shop but if I ever get permission to build a larger shop, I would design it so that the dust collector and the air compressor were outside of the workshop. Those things make an annoying amount of noise.

I would have a smoke detector in there linked to the ones inside.
Smoke detectors don’t like dust so you would need some kind of filter or a special unit.
Insurance companies don’t like wood shops due to fire hazards with sawdust and chemicals.

[Jim Becker]

I would have a smoke detector in there linked to the ones inside.
Smoke detectors don’t like dust so you would need some kind of filter or a special unit.
Insurance companies don’t like wood shops due to fire hazards with sawdust and chemicals.

In many cases, heat-rise detectors are used instead of regular smoke detectors because of the dust issue. They are harder to come by, but available for most systems.

[Andy D Jones]

Your DC and TC separator will need to roll around to where you need them, because they likely won't suffer the duct run length to cover your shop from one location.

As others have mentioned, I would be looking at an upgrade for it, with more power and a good cyclone separator. Don's skimp on the filter either, although the air cleaner helps. And (also previously mentioned) plan a separate circuit for the DC, since it is almost always running when something else is running.

I'm not sure I like the idea of two circuits in the same outlet box. Any time you need to work in a box, you have to shut off both circuits. I think you will appreciate twice as many, alternating, smaller outlet boxes distributed around the walls. You can put two circuits' boxes side by side if you want.

If code allows, I could see putting both 120V circuits in the same box if they are on the same 240V breaker (opposite phases) which would also give you the option for a 240V outlet. They could both be run using one 12/3 cable. But a trip on either 120V outlet would trip the other too.

If the building is specified as a garage for code purposes, all 120V outlets will likely have to be GFCI (either daisy chained with the first outlet GFCI, or on a GFCI breaker). Some local codes differ on whether 240V outlets in a garage have to be GFCI (AFAIK, the only way to do that is with a GFCI 240V breaker). Just keep in mind that many GFCI's don't like VFDs, if you ever intend to run a 3 phase machine off a VFD.

-- Andy - Arlington TX

[Lisa Starr]

Your shop should be able to serve you well. I'm in a 24 x 24 that, though compact, works fine. I've found that lots of cabinet are one of the keys to storage that works. The other thing the really helps is I have "storage shelves" that hang about 18" below the ceiling in several places. They are fastened to the purlins along the wall and then the outer edge hangs from the ceiling truss via a threaded rod. I keep a 4' step ladder handy to access lots of lesser used items that live on those. That arrangement frees up a lot of valuable wall space for more important items.

I skipped the garage door to help maximize wall space and went with a double man door as that permits 6' of wall to serve as both my daily egress and materials/project egress.

[Jack Llewyllson]

Welcome to SMC!!! Sounds like it will be a nice space. Keep the lesser used tools mobile so you can herd them into a corner when not needed to free up space to work.

Given you cite some physical challenges consider embracing adjustable height work surfaces for hand tool use and assembly. It really saves the back big-time.

I'm not a fan of garage type doors myself, but I suspect that it may have been a requirement to get the permit as a "garage" rather than a workshop. A 16' door takes up a whole wall, too.

Hi, Jim! Thanks for the welcome.

We probably could have permitted it as a "big shed" with barn doors, but the mid-range plan is to convert our attached garage into living space. This is a real small castle, and stealing back the garage footprint will add 60% to the current floor plan.

Mobile bases will definitely be used liberally. Might still need room to screw a dinghy together before my fishing buddy and I are too broken to enjoy it.

[Jack Llewyllson]

The other thing the really helps is I have "storage shelves" that hang about 18" below the ceiling in several places. They are fastened to the purlins along the wall and then the outer edge hangs from the ceiling truss via a threaded rod.

I skipped the garage door to help maximize wall space and went with a double man door as that permits 6' of wall to serve as both my daily egress and materials/project egress.

I really like that high shelf idea and will likely employ it here -- thanks!

I left this part out of my planned reply to Jim, above: Because we plan on converting the current attached garage to living space, having the shed "around back" be serviceable as a garage adds value in the event we sell our house later... say, to a car hobbyist instead of a woodworker.

[Jack Llewyllson]

• I didn't see any accomodation for lumber, sheet goods, turning blanks storage. Do you have plans for that?
• Will you at some point consider upgrading your DC to a bigger unit requiring 220? DCs like to be on their own circuit so there is no competition for juice with other tools.

I'm thinking of a swing-out rack for sheet goods. They're leaned up higgledy-piggledy against my lumber rack right now. Solid stock is headed upstairs to the loft, though I may regret that (not so good on ladders).

My DC is already 220VAC, and resides on a dedicated circuit for now. My reasoning behind having 2 ea. 240 circuits with multiple outlets each is to allow changing its location without it having to share a circuit.

One of these days, I hope to pour a little pad outside the shop, run a couple of dedicated circuits to a soundproofed "wart" shed on the outside of the shop, and size up both my dust collector and compressor. That will definitely be AFTER the inspector signs off (and after my budget has recuperated).

Thank you for these good reminders, Brian.