Potential new shop

[Laurie Brown]

I am going to be moving next spring, and retiring to the country. The place I am moving to has lots of land, and will be my small home farm. I plan to build a 10x20 storage shed for the lawn and garden equipment, a 20x40 greenhouse for growing things year round, and a 26x24 garage that will be my woodworking shop. I was thinking of going 24x24, but my current garage here is 26x19, with the 26' on the front side with double doors, and I like that setup. But I want the additional depth as 19' hasn't been enough.

My current garage shop has no climate control, and that's always been a problem, since that only leaves about 3 months of the year it's comfortable to work out there, and I seldom do any work there in the heat of high summer or the depths of freezing winter. I'd like my new shop to be usable all year round. My new site will have access to both electricity and natural gas, so either is an option to run heat/cooling. I know I will also have to insulate it for this purpose. It will be on a concrete slab, so no in floor heat, electrical, or ducting will be possible.

I am short, so really high ceilings aren't too necessary for me. My current garage has 7' clearance and that's been plenty for my needs. If I run ductwork, I can run it up over the ceiling joists. I can also probably build a small room/shed on the outside of the garage for a cyclone. I'm thinking I probably don't really need a separate space for finishing, but if I do I can probably curtain or wall off part of the shop for that.

I am looking for suggestions mostly on lighting, electrical, heating/cooling, and dust collection. I plan to only have a few windows to let in light. A friend of mine has a propane heater set into the wall, with all the venting and piping on the outside. I thought this might be nice for the shop as well, so I won't need to worry about monoxide if I go with a gas heater of some kind. I would also like to have some sort of blast gate system where the gates are triggered by each tool as its turned on. I've heard of this kind of system but have no idea how to implement one.

My tools include: a hybrid saw with homemade outfeed/assembly table, a 6" jointer, a 12" box planer, a homemade router table, standup drill press, miter saw, and a bandsaw. My tools all run off 110v electricity, I have nothing that uses 220. Currently all of that except the bandsaw is crammed into a little over half of my existing garage. The bandsaw is still in the box from when I bought it 2 years ago, because I had nowhere to put it. My current garage is basically a converted pole barn, so there is a metal pole smack in the middle of the floorspace that has been my nemesis for years, with the table saw and outfeed jammed up against it. I want NOTHING in the middle of my new shop except empty space.

Any suggestions, information, or pictures would be great. I'm still in the planning/dreaming stage now as I prepare my current house for sale and moving.

[Bill Adamsen]

Having the cyclone isolated from the workspace is great for noise. You will want to carefully consider what you do with the air it is pulling out of the shop. If you're pushing it outside, then it will have a huge impact on your energy consumption - and that may be fine for spring and fall. If you are returning the air to the shop, it's less of a problem, but how the clean and warm/cool air returns needs to be considered.

"Garage" type heaters (Modine style) can be ordered (extra charge) with outside air burner consumption. This keeps moisture out of the heated space, and dust out of the burner. I struggled with the heating approach for my shop thinking the overhead propane radiant heat a far better solution, but simply not having the right configuration to support the install. That is something where planning can really help. I think the radiant tubes are less effective with low ceilings. If you are considering a concrete floor, a really nice solution for heat is radiant slab. The heat source can be a wood stove, a water heater, almost anything that can heat and pump water. Again planning is required. Options include being able to run the fluid underground from your dwelling.

Remember that planning is 90% of the fun!

[Larry Edgerton]

Count out radiant tube heaters, they do terrible things to the wood. Been there tore that out.

If you are as far South as Roanoke I would plan more for the insulation and just use a direct vent wall heater, you know, the kind that fits between the studs. You do not want a ventless heater, not so much because of fumes, but they add a lot of moisture into the air, not good in a wood shop.

Infloor is the best, but more expensive option. Its what I would have if money was not tight.

Larry

[Mike Heidrick]

If you are putting in that concrete slab you cam most defininately put in in-floor heat -its actually teh preferred time to do it.

That beind said a heat/cool split ductless might be really nice since you want to cool it as well.

I would look up the lighting thread here for info on that.

Garage Journal forum has really great new shop threads too and tons of options for them.

[Matt Meiser]

I'd build the shop 10' longer, put a thermal break in the concrete and build an insulated wall for your L&G storage. That gives you some flexibility if you need some extra storage space for a big project. Plus you can store lumber up high.

[William Payer]

Any heater with a flame will add humidity to your shop as a result of water being a product of combustion. In addition, an open flame when you have wood dust and / or solvent vapors increases the chance of an explosion hazard. For those reasons a direct vent heater ( if you are using gas or propane) is a good choice. I have one in my shop and it allows me to keep the temp at 50 degrees and raise it to 65 or so in about 15 minutes, so it helps keep my heating costs down.
If you have water available to the shop for a reasonable cost, a slop sink is invaluable, especially when cleaning up after finishing operations.

[Thomas Canfield]

Double garage doors will result in a third or so of you shop ceiling being covered at some time. You will also need 8' ceilings for the garage doors to operate properly, and then there are the garage door openers also. I like the idea of 9' ceilings and then being able to run duct work below the ceiling and also have florescent lights mounted below the ceiling without reducing height too much. Also running things above the ceiling gets harder to do with age and access.

You do not have now, but you should plan your electric service for 220V users such as dust collector and AC/heat if electrical are used, and possibly even change some of your current equipment to 220.

Good luck.

[Jim Andrew]

I built my shop 26 x 50, and had no storage space. Added 16' to the end, now it is good. Still could use a shed just for the lawn mowers and tillers and such.

[John Lifer]

I've a 30x30 and it is not large enough. Also, I have a roll up garage doors nothing overhead,good alternative

[Phillip Gregory]

A few pieces of advice:

1. I'd make your new shop more than just 5' deeper than your current setup. I'd make it at least 30 feet deep (26x30) or a slightly wider standard size such as 30x40 or 30x50. It's much easier to add more space when you build it than later, and you WILL find a use for the space.

2. Electric (resistive) heating is the easiest and probably safest way to heat a shop. I heat my little 20x21 metal building on a slab shop with a 5000 watt forced-air space heater and it does very well- it raises the temp from about 40 degrees to 60 degrees in half an hour or so. I just have the heater on when I am in there and keep things that can freeze in my (car) garage which is heated. I live in Missouri and it gets cool during the winters (highs in the 40s, lows in the 20s) and hot in the summer (highs around 90, lows around 70.) I use a fan for cooling in the summer and that does well enough.

3. You want at the bare minimum 100 amps of 240 volt electrical service, 125 or 150 is better. It's even better if you can get the disconnect off the electric meter and having the outbuilding be a main-type panel rather than running it as a subpanel off the house main panel or needing a separate meter for the shop.

4. For lighting it's hard to beat 110 watt T12HOs. They work better in cooler weather than the commonly available T8s and are much more widely available and less expensive than cold-weather rated T8HOs. I know I will get guff over this as they use a few more watts than T8s but it's only a handful of watts.

[Don Jarvie]

Since you are starting from scratch I'd search this forum and other forums to see what others have done. Fine Woodworking has a few books on setting up shops. It can be a bit overwhelming at first but there are some great shops out there to poach some ideas from.

A few suggestions. For the doors consider carriage style doors that open out and not traditional overhead garage doors. As was mentioned above they take up overhead space. For the ceilings go with a cathedral style ceiling with at least 10 to 12 feet in the middle. It's much easier to flip wood around with higher ceilings. Make sure you have a wooden floor. You can then insulate the floor and its easier on your back.

Once you decide on the building you can plan the lights, electrical and layout. Enjoy the planning process.

[Bill George]

You need to ask around in your area before deciding on what source for heat. Some areas the electric rate is so cheap it pays to go that way, otherwise natural gas is usually cheapest. Gas heat properly vented does not add humidity to the space. The products of combustion and the rest go out the vent. If your concerned about flames and dust consider a furnace that draws its combustion air from outside the space and then vents out the other pipe, usually PVC.
Its great to add a thermal break around the perimeters when pouring your slab but insulating the entire floor and in floor radiant heat is an expensive option. If it was a house fine, but a shop for a few hours a day, expensive.

By all means add AC to the shop, mine has it and its great in the summertime for the cooling and humidity control.

This information is from someone who spent a good part of his life working on Commercial and some Residential HVAC along with electrical. Also spent about 12 years teaching the stuff.

PS, Your shop will never be large enough!!

Another thought, an air to air Heat pump with either electric or gas back up might be something to consider.

[Chris Fairbanks]

Garage Journal forum has really great new shop threads too and tons of options for them.

+1 on what mike said. Everything you ever need to know about building a shop, heating/cooling it, lighting, floor finishes, etc can be found at garage journal. Good luck with your build.

[Larry Frank]

The garage doors of any kind are not energy efficient. I agree that you should put in 220 electrical service. A natural gas high efficiency furnace would be ideal.

I can not even imagine what your utility bills would be with a green house and shop plus a house....have you estimated costs..

[Bill George]

The garage doors of any kind are not energy efficient. I agree that you should put in 220 electrical service. A natural gas high efficiency furnace would be ideal.

I can not even imagine what your utility bills would be with a green house and shop plus a house....have you estimated costs..

My garage/shop doors are 2 inch (I think) foam board, walls are R11 and ceiling R13 and its 24x24 with 1/2 inch sheetrock. I heat the shop to 45 Degrees and set it warmer when I go out to work. Using natural gas and I sized the heater to shop area using a Heat loss/ gain calculator on our program where I taught. My total heating / cooling bill for it and 1835 sf house year around are $170 month. House has a 95% natural gas unit.