New Shop?

[billy smith]

I’m in the design/layout process for my new home shop. My largest concern at this time is basic size and shape. Of course once the size and shape is decided on I will be moving forward with actual lay out which will be another thread. I’m fortunate that I have a blank slate to work with but I do have one limitations, I would like to keep it under 1000 sq ft and if possible less the 800 sq ft. Do you believe it is possible to keep it within that size limitation? The shop will serve both as a metal and woodworking with separate and independent areas for both. I’m interested in feedback and ideas/opinions you would do if you had a blank slate to work with. A basic list of the current machines tools I have or will be adding are the following: Woodworking Parks 12” Thickness Planer Radial Arm Saw (I may or not be keeping) Delta Unisaw 18” Bridgewood Band Saw Jointer (Sometime in the future) Various Festool Sanders and Dust Extractor Various Hand Tools Metalworking Kingston 17” x 43” Lathe Bridgeport Series I Milling Machine Heliarc 250HF TIG L-Tec PCM-32I Plasma Arc 150 Gallon Air Compressor Various Hand Tools Thank you for your ideas and recommendations.

[Aaron Berk]

Build it to your MAXIMUM allowable sq foot, and as tall as possible. Over head storage is a major space saver.

800sq' sounds very small for 2 separate areas. I wouldn't put a wood shop in anything under 700sq.
If you can get away with 1000sq' then go for it. Building on additions is more costly than building big the 1st go around.

Put as much machinery out side the shop as possible (ie Air Comp and DC)

[Aaron Berk]

Post Script:

Welcome to the Creek, introduce your self and fill out your profile

[Ray Newman]

Aaron Berk said it well. You will never regret having too much room in the shop, but you will regret having too little room.

Since you are building new, make the building as energry effecient as possible. When my shop was constructed in 2001, the maximum amount of insualtion and a propane heater was installed along with quality double pane windows. The shop is comfortable all year long and not very expensive to heat in the winter.

Build it right the first time and you will never look back or regret it.

[Bruce Wrenn]

You will need to get covers for your metal working tools. Air born saw dust just LOVES oily surfaces!

[Joe A Faulkner]

800 square feet is a great amount space for a hobbiest shop, and sometimes finances dictate that we scale back. Plenty of folks have very nice wood working shops in less than 500 square feet. The space is somewhat a function of the tools you plan to acquire, the techniques you plan to use, and the pieces you plan to build. I don't have any experience with metal work, so I can't comment on the amount of space you can reasonably dedicate to this and have something that is functional and comfortable for what you do. I'm guessing a compressed air station could be housed with the metal working area, and service the wood shop?

I know you said you wanted to save layout considerations for another thread, but I think you might want to start playing around with layout ideas in order to figure out whether say a 28x28 space would cut it for you. Building square will maximize sq footage, while minimizing materials. Of course if you want a finish room, and a bath room, dedicated woodworking space, and dedicated metal space, then fitting all of that into 800 sq ft is a challenge.

Let's see
16'x28' woodshop.
12' x 10' finish room
6' x 5 ' 1/2 bath
6' x 5' DC closet
12x13 Metal shop

Of course doorways, overheads, etc have to be factored in, as would hvac. The point here isn't to suggest a layout, but to encourage you to consider layout in order to arrive at a workable size. Hope this helps.

[Bill LaPointe]

You will almost certainly need to have a separate area, sealed from any wood of any kind, for your tig and plasma units. My shop also has wood and metal working areas (1600 sf) but no welding or cutting is done inside.

[billy smith]

Due to where I live, code requires structures to be built 10’ – 12’ above ground because of flooding. This adds a tremendous cost to the construction of any structure. If it wasn’t for the extra cost I wouldn’t be as concerned on the specific size of the shop. My current plan is be somewhere around 900 – 1000 square feet range with a decent size deck around the shop. I plan on doing all metal grinding, cutting, welding, etc. on the deck. Because of the size of the pieces worked with during woodworking I plan on allocating it the largest part of the shop. I’m definitely planning on installing a dust collection system along with keeping the air compressor outside of the shop. Thanks for everyone’s recommendations, please keep them coming.

[Greg Portland]

You will need to get covers for your metal working tools. Air born saw dust just LOVES oily surfaces!

.... and wood doesn't like sparks!

Make as many tools as possible mobile (wheeled bases that you can weld up, etc.) and have the ability to push everything up against a wall to leave you as much room as possible for your current task.