Building dream shop, need clever ideas

[Martin Wasner]

How are you heating and cooling? Mini-splits seem to be a good choice these days, but they take up wall space, and you have that nice basement. Maybe something that can make use of the basement space would be better.

A mini split can go in the ceiling as well.

[Bill Adamsen]

You mention the "proper set of stairs." I have my stairs outside and appreciate the amount of room saved inside on both the main floor and basement. I rarely find the outside trek too inconvenient. Access to both levels is quite good and I've had no issue rigging in equipment.

Since your square footage is constrained by zoning, putting stairs outdoors might save as much as 600 square foot total, since likely zoning is looking only at the footprint. Another advantage for me is, the outdoor stairs can be used when taking the compost to the garden, and getting garden produce. The outdoor stairs are used by everyone in the family. I bet your outdoor stairs could be covered with a simple roof without running too afoul of the zoning authorities with regard to square footage. Disadvantage is that weather intrudes. The stairs require shovelling and rain impacts workflow.

Other Features. I also have lots of windows, lots of light, ... all the things everyone else mentions. One idea that worked out really well ... I installed three way switches for indoor and the outdoor lights running through conduit from the house to the shop/barn. I can turn on/off some interior and the exterior lights without leaving the comfort of my house. And of course they can also be turned on or off from the shop. That is a really great feature. The size of my shop is about 24'x36', 860 feet square. Similar to, but smaller than what you're proposing.

[Jim Andrew]

About the 7' basement, the practice in most areas is to pour the floor on top of the footings, and if headroom is an issue, Trowel the footings on the inside of the building, and use an edger, then when you set up the floor, grade the sand so the top of the floor is level with the top of the footing, so you can gain about 4" in ceiling height.

[Thomas Canfield]

A 4' entry door was mentioned in one reply, but I used a double door, 2-3' doors for 6' wide opening when needed for large items on previous shop which only had access for a hand truck. I am very happy now to have an insulated garage door on my later shop, but the raised door does cause light problems, and it does not seal near as well as the previous set of double doors.

[mike mcilroy]

Not sure if it was mentioned but put a few outlets in the ceiling. I have a couple of areas in the middle of the room where I have to have extension cords for hand held machines. Router, jigsaw and orbital sander all get used in a variety of places and end up walking over the extension cord. If you have dust collection in mind adding a couple of wyes over benches for these hand held machines and the ability to add make shift hoods/ shrouds will come in handy as well. The DC suggestion is one of the few I planned for instead of finding out the hard way.

[Stew Hagerty]

Hello.

We recently sold our house and are building a new one. As part of this, I am able to build my own woodworking shop. The zoning on the lot only allows for 985sf. So .. I'm building the shop 985 sf.

I want as few regrets as possible.

So far, this is what I've arranged. The shop is excavated right now. Foundation walls on the house where poured on Friday.

(1) The shop will be 985sf .. but it has a full basement with a 7 foot ceiling height. This building is actually a 2 car garage, so the floor is engineered to be able to park 2 cars on it. My reason for going with a wooden floor are to be able to run dust collection and electrical downstairs. And to have the storage.. I will set up sharpening downstairs as well. There will be a proper set of stairs going down to the basement.

(2) I plan on sheathing the interior walls which are covered in drywall, with 3/8" Plywood first. That will mean setting all electrical boxes at 1" instead of 5/8". The reason is for backing.

(3) This shop will have its own 200 amp panel.

(4) It appears the shop is going to have an 8/12 roof, with Sizzor trusses of 5/12 inside. At 27 feet wide, and with 9' walls, that should net a centerline ceiling height of just over 14'. I plan on doing the ceilings in 1x6 T+G Pine. Walls in Drywall.

(5) The shop will have water and sewer. I plan on putting in a sink.


What I'm hoping for is tips.. For the stuff I will wish I did.

I have a phase converter and a 3 phase panel to install.

My 2 Cents...
(1) Don't put your sharpening station downstairs. You want it right next to where you will be using your planes & chisels the most. You're much more likely to give a quick hone if you don't need to run downstairs to do it.
(2) Ply under 5/8" firecode drywall is a great idea. You're covered for codes and you still have a solid backer so you can hang stuff anywhere. 3/8" versus 1/2" I don't know that it matters so much. If you're worried about rigidity, just put some construction adhesive between the ply & the drywall.
(3)Good
(4) Insulate at the roof and leave the trusses exposed. a vaulted ceiling is nice, it gives you lots more headroom. However, here is another idea. A 102" ceiling is pretty good already. You can get "attic trusses" which have a big square opening in the middle. Put some 3/4" Ply up there and even though it wouldn't be tall enough to stand up, it would give you a ton of extra storage space.
(5) Toilet & sink and you're good to go. Oh, put in a shop or laundry style sink rather than a bathroom type.

Like I said, just my 2 cents...

[Jim Becker]

I'll second the double door suggestion...I did that for my shop (which was originally a multi-vehicle garage) and it makes it a lot easier to get things in and out (big tools, material, etc) as well as provides for wonderful light and ventilation during nice weather. They open out, so they don't block anything in the shop and I have security pins on the inside to provide more, well...security...than just a dead-bolt would give.

[Rick Fisher]

Here are copies of the actual plans for the shop / garage

[Rick Fisher]

Its actually a 7' crawl space with a proper concrete slab. Entirely underground, with 6 big posts holding up triple layer, 14" LVL beams. With 1-1/8" Edge Gold T+G flooring, its going to be sturdy. You can park 2 trucks on it ..

I got the height variance this week, so we're going ahead. The basement will be 7' now .. I'll attach some pics of the site.

[Rick Fisher]

There is a saw horse on the left side, the shop goes on the grey to the left of that ..

As I said, I'm limited to the depth I go due to water. This excavation is very close to the ocean, and the water table is really high. Its part of living on an island. That picture is taken last week, February in Canada.

The driveway is the main part of the picture, going to the house. Its killing me.. 140 feet long, all the soil removed, replaced with 61 loads of gravel. Each load is an hour of trucking return ..

[Tom Clark FL]

Rick,

What works for one person may not be for everyone. With that in mind, here are some of the ideas used in my latest dream shop. It is similar in size to your new shop.

My tiny rest room is just on the left side of the photo.

Leave an assembly area so you have a place to work and assemble projects, surrounded by machines you use the most.

The big machines are located around my dust collectors, right next to the assembly area.

I have a small model area with lots of storage for special work.

Dump all machine stands and build cabinets with tons of storage where normally wasted space is.

Mostly drawers below waist height.

Home made shop cabinets triple the apparent size of your shop.

Shop cabinets do not all have to be on wheels. I use plastic feet so they can be slid around now and then. You will want to rearrange things now and then.

I built double doors 6' wide going into the attached garage for easy in and out.

Good luck and enjoy your new shop.

[Mike Heidrick]

Man Rick. Awesome pics and plans. Great job.

Tom! Amazing looking space. Thank you for sharing that.

[Rick Fisher]

Tom, thanks so much for the pics. I got a great idea from you, using the same outfeed table for 2 tools.

My old space was about 500sf .. So while I will have almost twice the room, I want to be as efficient as possible, and actually have space left over ..

What is that big band saw you have in the background, it looks older ?

The sheer mass of drawers in your shop is inspiring ..

[Rick Fisher]

I have an idea that I can make a disc which I can screw to the floor, then router around it and cut a 6-1/4" hole for dust. I can easily make another disc exactly 6 1/4" around and use it to patch the same hole should I ever decide to move a machine..

[Tom Clark FL]

What is that big band saw you have in the background, it looks older ?
The sheer mass of drawers in your shop is inspiring ..

The bandsaw is a 20" Woodtech from around 1990. Grizzly has very similar machines. It has been a great tool. I made the oversize table to support large parts I made for my telescopes.
Drawers are the most efficient storage for most tools, and keeps what you need right at your fingertips.