shop layout advice wanted

[Matt Neil]

I have a 50' x 30' barn that I plan to remodel. The back half will house the shop. I'll walk through the front half of the barn to get to the double doors to the shop.

https://www.grizzly.com/shopplanner/...5-DC6DF8528C52

Starting to the left of the doors is the drill press, then wood storage along the left wall with a RAS in the middle. Back wall has another wood rack, band saw, drum sander, scroll saw, combo sander, spindle sander. Right wall work bench. I've been using a friend's shop so I don't have the tools yet. I like to make small projects and dabble into furniture.

The small square by the jointer and planer and again by the bathroom door are support posts. I'm pricing out steel beams to use as support along the ceiling in order to remove the wood posts going to the floor. This would allow more flexibility and may make it more feasible to move those tools to the perimeter.

The DC is in an attached lean-to. Bathroom could be moved to front part of barn, but would want water pipes in the insulated wall of shop if more room is needed. Getting ready to pour concrete floor over entire surface, then would like to put would on top for shop portion.

Any suggestions?

[Ray Newman]

Matt Neil: when I clicked on the link, all that loaded was a blank sheet on paper on the page.

Now having said that, I am never able to use these PC shop lay out programs -- they are just too small.

When I was trying to position the machines for my new shop, I took a very large sheet of butcher/wraping paper & drew a large sized scale drawing of the building, noting window, door, electrical connections, etc. Then I made cardboard cut outs of the footprint for each machine. I next shifted the cutouts around until satisfied w/ the layout.

For me, it is a great deal easier to see & position objects when done in a large format.

[Von Bickley]

Matt,
If the shop will be inside the barn, why not let the wood storage area be in the barn instead of the shop? This would give you more valuable space in the shop.

I would also put a wall & door between the toilet area & the computer area.

and "Welcome to the Creek"......

[Matt Neil]

That's great advice for wood storage, and I think I could pull that off. Right now there are about 20-30 cats in the barn, and I don't want them marking their territory on my wood. Plus that area won't be climate controlled like the shop area. When I pour the floor, I could seal things up to keep the cats out of that area and move them to the attached lean-to. It's nice being assured of no mice out here in the country. BTW, I'm in South Dakota where the winters get cold and the summers are humid.

I'm considering radiant floor heat. Not sure how a wood floor over the slab will affect heat efficiency. More likely, I'll seal the place up tight with foam insulation and put in one of those split heat pumps.