Undecided on the height of the walls in my new shop

[Jeff Posey]

I would like to hear from some of the posters about the wall height in their shops. I am in the planning stages and know I do not want 8ft ceilings, but I am undicided about 9' or 10'. I have a 9' ceiling in my garage and it seems adequate, but will a 10' be better. This shop is a 1 1/2 story with a studio above for my wife. The 10' walls are going to cause a problem with zoning ordinances with a maximum 20' to peak for outbuildings, but I have applied to the board for a variance and have almost completed the variance request process without any objection from neighbors. I am framing this myself with the help of my two sons and not convinced the 10' walls will be worth the work or effort. Your opinons will be greatly appreciated and you know everyone has one.

[Sam Layton]

Hi Jeff, welcome to the creek.

I have 10' ceilings in my shop. I am very happy with the 10'. However, there are times 12' would be nice. It depends on what you do. Handling an 8' sheet of plywood only gives 2' of clearance. I am working with a lot of 12' long boards and I must be careful. I have a max 15' height requirement for outbuildings in my city.

Good luck, Sam

[phil harold]

10 or 12 would be my choice
I used to have 10 but now have 12 and love it

I will not go back to 8' or 7', unless I am forced

[ROY DICK]

Jeff,
Yes, welome to the CREEK, you could have not come to a better forum. A lot, and I do mean a lot, of great people here.
I have 10' walls, 10'10" to the bottom of the decking above.Used 3/4" decking and pull down stairs.
The space between the ceiling joists makes for some good storage for lumber and cut offs from plywood.
Good luck on your shop and keep us posted on how it is going.

Roy

[John Keeton]

Jeff, welcome to the creek. Keep in mind that even with 10' walls, if you do a dust collection system, or have any type of hanging air filter, lights, etc., even 10' of clearance doesn't seem enough.

I have 10', and would love to have 12!!

[Chris Damm]

My walls are just over 9'. If I had it to do over they would be at least 10'!

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Jeff,

I have 10' ceiling in my shop. I decided on 1/2" plywood on the walls and 5/8" sheetrock on the ceiling for cost effectiveness. I wish I had put plywood on the ceilings too. Even with 10' ceilings, I have dings in the sheetrock before the shop was completely finished.

[Scott T Smith]

The walls in my old shop were 9', the ones in my new shop are 15'5".

As John mentioned, by the time that you install dust collection lines, lights, air lines, etc, you will lose some of the ceiling height. 10' is definitely a better option than 9', and 12' even more so.

Something else to consider - if you will have a traditional roll-up garage door, ask your door installer to extend the door tracks up above your door openings and then hug the ceiling as close as possible. This really gives you some nice extra working room underneath the doors when they are open.

[Jim O'Dell]

Mine are 7'8" and I drool over the idea of 10' height inside. For all the other comments so far, I think this is a "How big of a shop is big enough" type thing. Since doing a cathedral ceiling is out because of the studio, I'd opt for the 10' if I could get the variance. Jim.

[Russ Boyd]

10' over 8', definitely! I have no problems with the 10' that I have. I know 8' would give me trouble.

[Gary McNair]

The plate height (wall height) in my old shop was 10'. When I expanded the width from 12' wide to 22' wide, I left one wall standing, tore down the other 3 and ordered new roof trusses. The new shop wall height remained at 10' however 8 of the 15 new trusses were "dropped" 1 foot and had a clear span approx 15' wide thru the center. That portion of the shop (basically the center) therefore has a ceiling height of 9'. I've tucked the flourescent lights between the rafters. The clear area above gives a nice storage w/ 1/2" ply floor although it's only 4'10" high. The roof height didn't increase which keeps the city and neighbors happy. I've installed a drop down ladder and try to keep the load on the lighter side.
More is better with wall height however we all have compromises/limitations, etc.
Good luck with your new shop.
Gary

[Kent A Bathurst]

Wall height is one question, but for me the better question is the clear useable height, after light fixtures, overhead DC piping (if any), overhead HVAC ductwork for the upstairs (if any) - stuff like that. I personally would want at least 9' clear (not that I have had that - had 8'9" ceiling height, but those light fixtures were lumber magnets).

[Damon Marxer]

Jeff:

I currently am in the process of completing a shop very similar to what you are building....man cave on main level and wife cave upstairs.

My current shop is in the garage with 9' ceilings and I have never had problems but did decide to go with 10' ceilings in the new shop. So far I am really glad I went with 10' as it does add some flexibility. I am not sure if it is much more work as you just order longer boards.

I have a friend who's shop has 12' ceilings and I believe he wish's they were 10' as they are too high for him....but it came with the house.

If you want to see the build process of my shop here is a link below. It is still not complete as I still need to drywall and finish up a few items. Worked all day today and finally rapped up the radiant....it is heating as we speak.

http://picasaweb.google.com/DamonsWo...gConstruction#

Congratulations and good luck with the process.

Damon

[Rich Aldrich]

I would like to hear from some of the posters about the wall height in their shops. I am in the planning stages and know I do not want 8ft ceilings, but I am undicided about 9' or 10'. I have a 9' ceiling in my garage and it seems adequate, but will a 10' be better. This shop is a 1 1/2 story with a studio above for my wife. The 10' walls are going to cause a problem with zoning ordinances with a maximum 20' to peak for outbuildings, but I have applied to the board for a variance and have almost completed the variance request process without any objection from neighbors. I am framing this myself with the help of my two sons and not convinced the 10' walls will be worth the work or effort. Your opinons will be greatly appreciated and you know everyone has one.

Go for at least 10 ft. Handling sheet goods and lumber is where I wish I had 10 ft walls. Material cost is very little compared to the convinence.

[Joe Stallard]

Welcome aboard, my shop has 10' ceilings in the main part that's used for working. That's a 30' section, however the lights overhead are 10" below the ceiling height. I have 12' ceilings in my lumber/storage area. I have optional machines and lumber racks here. I also have a garage door (11' H x 10 1/2' W) in this area. The walls and ceiliings are 7/16" OSB painted high gloss white. I can run dust collector piping above the ceiliing since my shop is inside a barn. Good Luck!