Need guidance on new shop

[Lou Stags]

Lou, I'm going to sound like a broken record here because I've said this over and over here on the Creek. I could give you all kinds of advice about what I've done, and what I had to change, and what I would "like" to still do... But the best advice I can give you is to visit as many peoples' shops as you possibly can to see what others have done...what will work for you, what ideas you could borrow, etc, etc. If you end up taking ONE thing from 5 shops (not items of course...IDEAS...jeesh, you wouldn't be welcome ANYWHERE if you started taking stuff...) you'd be 100 times better off than if you try to do it alone. Heck, even after visiting other guys' shops, see if you can get any of them to come over and give you their two cents on what they would do for your shop. Most of us are willing to do this sort of thing for a sandwich or beer. If you were closer, I'd invite you over, and if you wanted me to, I'd come over to brainstorm with you. Hope you find some "helpers". At this stage of the game, adding things is EASY. Once the walls are up...not so much.

Thanks for that bit of advice Mike! I will definitely try to get in as many shops as I can. I'll be in Rockville Maryland next week for work... wish I had some extra time on my hands to make a road trip to your shop as that would be fantastic to get a tour. Are you close to Rockville?

[Lou Stags]

Lou,

One small item to check before you put a closet around your electrical panel. Make sure that meets your local code. Here in Oregon we can't hide the panel in a closet.

Great point Kent. I had talk to the electrician about this and he indicated I would need 20 inches on either side of the panel, and 42 inches inches straight back to be open. The closet I am planning would definitely meet these rules.

[Lou Stags]

I presume that was the weekend of 10/8 & 9 that you were referring to, but you are welcome to stop by my shop any time you are passing through Chattanooga in the future - just let me know and I will PM my contact info. I have not figured it all out by any stretch of the imagination, but looking back I have come a long way in the past couple of years.

Paul

Yes Paul, it was this past weekend that we went there. We are definitely within driving distance of one another... I would LOVE to have a tour of your shop at some point! That would be outstanding.

[Mike Cruz]

Lou, here in Maryland (or at least in my county) you may NOT put an electrical panel in a closet. You MAY however, put one in a storage room. Funny how they let you "get by" with it as long as the terminology is correct. My advice, if you are going the route of permits, is to make sure the room is labeled as a storage room. Of course, you'd have to check with your electrician/permit office if this holds true for your area, too...

[Mike Cruz]

I'm only one hour away! My inlaws live in Rockville. You are most certainly welcome to come. Again, you may see some things that you'll love, some things that are neat ideas but don't apply to your type of woodworking, some that don't make any sense to you whatsoever. I'm home most of the time...I'm a bit of a kept man...I take care of our little horse farm. So, unless I have an errand to run or whatever, I'm here. Let me know if you have some spare time.

[Lou Stags]

I'm only one hour away! My inlaws live in Rockville. You are most certainly welcome to come. Again, you may see some things that you'll love, some things that are neat ideas but don't apply to your type of woodworking, some that don't make any sense to you whatsoever. I'm home most of the time...I'm a bit of a kept man...I take care of our little horse farm. So, unless I have an errand to run or whatever, I'm here. Let me know if you have some spare time.

Hi Mike,

Wish I had time this week... but I won't be able to slip away. Even if I could, the traffic around here is BRUTAL!!!!!!! It takes an hour to go 2 miles. Crazy!!!!

Lou

[Mike Cruz]

Yeah, depending on the time you are traveling, brutal is an understatement. I believe the DC area was ranked #1 in traffic this year... Gotta be #1 in something, right?

Sorry you won't be able to make it. But just for information sakes, the first half of the trip up here from Rockville is the worst, the second half is almost no traffic. THAT is one of the reasons I moved out here. If things change, let me know. 301 674 0087

[Lou Stags]

I met with the builder today and modified the lighting plan in the workshop. I added 3 additional fixtures. Each of the rectangular fixtures you see in the attached picture has 4 of the 4 foot bulbs. The area in the upper left corner of the shop is where the electrical panel and tankless hot water heater are located. I am going to be enclosing that area, so that is why you don't see a flouresent fixture marked out in that area.

They are putting on the finishing touches to the house and we will be closing in about 2 weeks! I can't wait to get in there!


Stagner_Workshop_Lighting_Layout.jpg

[Mike Cruz]

Looks great, Lou!

[Shawn Russell]

Lou,

Do you have any calculations of how many lumens of light you should have per sq/ft? How are you going to organize the light to switch?

[Lou Stags]

Lou,

Do you have any calculations of how many lumens of light you should have per sq/ft? How are you going to organize the light to switch?

Hi Shawn,

I didn't get to that level of detail. In reading Wood Magazine's "How to Build a Great Home Workshop", they had a section on lighting. The advice in that book was you should shoot for an overall ambient level of 75 foot-candles with flouresents. To achieve this, they recommend you use three 2-lamp, 40-watt, 4" flouresent fixtures per 100 square feet (six 4-foot bulbs per 100 square feet). All of the lights will be on one switch.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Lou - my personal experience says that you cannot have too much light coverage for your primary workbench. Part of it is simply the more light the better, and the other part is blanket coverage to eliminate shadows when you are using layout tools, handsaws, etc.

To this end, I ended up adding a pair of floodlights on adjustable shop-built overhead fixtures. Someday, I might go back in and add more fixtures.

[Shawn Russell]

Hey Lou,

Any new updates on the shop?

[Lou Stags]

Hey Lou,

Any new updates on the shop?

Hi Shawn,

We are still waiting to get into the house. They are working through the punch-list as I type this. We will be closing later this week, and then our things will be delivered from storage shortly after that. Once we get situated, I will be moving full speed ahead! I have been working on how things are going to be laid out, and my initial sketch is included below. I am sure the layout will be adjusted (multiple times) after I get in there. Any advice anyone has on layout will be extremely appreciated!

I have been toying with the idea of putting in a sidewalk from the back part of our driveway, down to the concrete pad that is behind the shop door. I have a rough drawing below of what I am talking about. I drew the sidewalk curving down, but I am hoping the final grade on the hill isn't too steep and I can do a sidewalk that is straight down and then makes a 90 degree towards the house at the bottom. The reason I want it straight is that I was thinking I could use a powered winch to bring up and let down heavy equipment (and eventually heavy things that I make!). I would build a real heavy duty "utility cart" that things would ride up and down on.

Right now it's all just day-dreaming. Can't wait to get in there!!!

Lou

[Victor Robinson]

How goes it Lou? Any progress?