Build Me a Shop on a 16 by 40 foot Concrete Pad

[Art Davis]

My shop is a 16 by 40 foot pole barn right now, with a concrete pad for the floor and an oil furnace for heat.

We live in the floodway of the Rogue River here in southern Oregon and FEMA is going to make me vacate my shop (as a shop). Dang!

So I'm going to raze it and build a shop on the old pad from ground up, applying for all the appropriate permits and conforming to code. I want to insulate it, wire it for 220, heat it---in other words, the whole nine yards.

I have read lots of articles and books on designing the "ideal shop," but frankly still am up in the air. So I am asking you: if you had to do this, what would you do?

Should I go for one of those metal sheds that they will come in and put up, or should I do something else? If something else, then what?

I want a small room at one end for "clean shop" activities to support my electronics hobby, and so on, with the rest for woodworking.

Any and all suggestions will be read with interest and appreciated.

Thanks.

[Jim Rimmer]

I don't have any advice, just a question. If FEMA is making you move out, how can you rebuild on the same slab? Or did I read you rpost wrong?

[Dan Manning]

Mabe FEMA doesn't recognise pole-barns as inhabitable. But seeings they are feds, they can do anything. Except dig thier way out of the Katrina nitemare.

My uncle built a huge pole-barn garage, metal-sided and roof, concrete slab and didn't need any permits, etc. It was all by code, but nothing was said.

By the way, I thought FEMA only dealt with disaster relief...

[Art Davis]

Hi, Guys,

Let me clarify things a bit.

The problem is that heated (living) spaces have to meet different requirements than do storage areas. So since I have wired it and heated it, it is treated by FEMA like a living space.

The problem is that my shop is in the floodplain of the river, so to get permits you have to have a "no-rise study done" by an engineer to certify that the "dwelling" will not affect the level of the 100 year flood. The reason for having to get permits all of a sudden is that FEMA discovered a few years ago that my municipality had not been careful enough about the permits they were issuing. Therefore some buildings with permits and some that were overlooked as not needing them all of a sudden require permitting.

That's a small part of the stuff that goes on. It is a living nightmare.

But---the reason I am not too upset is that the siding and roof on the pole barn are beginning to deteriorate. So I don't want to put more money into fixing it up only to see it condemned anyway.

Does this help or make things more confusing? If so, don't worry. I am confused about precisely what is required too. But I have a hunch I'm going to find out (in some mighty unpleasant ways).

P.S. The reason for FEMA involvement is that to get flood insurance when you live in a floodway or floodplain, you have to get FEMA certification. So FEMA is also involved in administering the insurance program as well as in disaster relief.

[Art Davis]

Anyone have any ideas?

Should I just get one of those outfits to come in and put up a metal building? Will I regret it if I do?

What about heating? Would you use electric or a gas furnace?

What about power? Anyone have any ideas abou relative costs involved? Should I have a separate drop/main panel? Or should I feed it from the one in my home? What size service do I need? I am pretty much an amateur, running a Delta contractor's saw, a Bosh Miter saw, Grizzly drill press, Jet Jointer, and a few other odds and ends. Maybe a SawStop is in my future, too.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[Thomas Canfield]

Art,

I would recommend a minimum of 100 amp service for the shop, and a 200 amp would not be out of the question. A separate service from the house could also be less cost than revising the service to the house for the additional load. I recommend a couple of separate light circuits in addition to multiple 110V wall outlets and then 220V circuits for saw, dust collector, heat, jointer, etc. Some of the 220 could be on same circuit since you would not operate saw and jointer at same time, but could use dust collector and heat when using saw.

Gas heat will likely be much cheaper to operate than electric depending on your service. Dust and fumes will also be a factor in choice of heat.

I also recommend installing an emergency power failure light in the shop if you plan to work any non daylight hours. I got caught in the back of my shop early one dark morning by a power failure and it was DARK. Stumbling that one time was enough to add the emergency light.

A metal frame building may be cheaper, but a wood frame is easier to adapt. I recommend at least 9' side walls or even 10' to get light high enough for good clearance swinging boards around. Use plenty of insulation. I had "Smart Panel" (3/8" thick paper covered strand board) put on interior walls and ceiling and it allows hanging most things to the walls with screws. I also used horizontal sliding thermopane windows for light installed higher than normal. My wife made me build a better shop than I originally planned so that it could be used for other purposes later by others. I only wish I had plumbing, but that is uphill.

Good Luck. Building a shop is a real challenge and personal.

[David Christopher]

if you are going with concrete slab, I would put in floor heat.....and use foam insulation