How big is your shop?

[Thomas Prondzinski]

Just wondering how big of shop does everybody have? I have a 26x32 garage with a single stall walled up to park the Hog and LOMLs car. She has given the go ahead to add on.If the city fathers will allow I will add on 12 more feet for a total of 1144 sq. ft.(26x44) which I will put up a wall so I would end up with a 22x26 shop.I'm thinking that would be just fine.comments please

Thanks Tom

[Dennis Peacock]

I have a fairly small shop.....It's only 1,800 Square Feet....Natural Gas Heat and two window Air Conditioners, indoor plumbing with a real working toilet, utility sink and I even have electricity and a telephone in the shop......Oh...and did I mention that I also have a floor drain in two of the three bays?

I sure do need some more space in my shop.!!!

[Dean Baumgartner]

Tom,
Other than the standard answers of never enough space and tools/clutter will expand to fill all available space, I've got a 30x30 shop less the stairs to the loft space with a good setup for the table saw and benches and about a 12x24 empty area used for assembly. Seems to be working well so far.

On the other hand a few of the members from across the pond have absolutly tiny spaces and still turn out some really fine work.

The best advice I can give is make it as large as you can and enjoy every bit of time you can spend in it.


Dean

[Wolf Kiessling]

Just wondering how big of shop does everybody have? I have a 26x32 garage with a single stall walled up to park the Hog and LOMLs car. She has given the go ahead to add on.If the city fathers will allow I will add on 12 more feet for a total of 1144 sq. ft.(26x44) which I will put up a wall so I would end up with a 22x26 shop.I'm thinking that would be just fine.comments please

Thanks Tom

If Dennis' shop is fairly small, mine is tiny. 24 x 24 with an 8 x 10 space partitioned off as a finishing space. It has an HVAC system with one vent in the finishing shop and two in the main space. It is plenty big for what I do, I even part the lawn tractor in it, but then again, I don't build furniture. It is a detached building from the house, Joyce's stained glass studio is in the house.

[Dave Arbuckle]

If Wolf's is tiny, mine is even smaller. 20x20, give or take a couple inches. Water heater closet takes up a little, family storage a little also. All the rest of it is entirely consumed by my overwhelming mess.

Dave

[Pat Salter]

Last October I finished (mostly) my 24X40 shop. seperate building that took about 6 mo. to build (I did 90% of the labor, that's why it took so long). The inside isn't finished yet. going to sheetrock the walls. and also plan to build a single wall about 10 ft. from the back to make that storage. I want to sheetrock that off so any dust I create won't cover all the stored stuff. No water at this point. going to add a small sink with just cold water so I can wash my hands/brushes etc. No insulation or heat. Hey, this is So. Ca. don't need it!

the bigger the better for sure. Your city fathers will tell you how much you can expand. There is a limit here in San Diego county but with 2/3rds of an acre I could have buildt double the size and been ok. but you should have a nice one when you are done.

Good luck with the inspectors. Mine were pretty easy on me.

um, Dennis? shut up...just kidding, sounds awesome!

Tom, keep us posted on the progress!

[Mike Evertsen]

mine is 24 x 24 with 7' 8" ceiling I had hope when it was built 24 x 30 with 10' ceilings and wish many times I screamed what I wanted until I was heard,,,,

[Bart Leetch]

So far I've got small 13'5" x 24'5" with a 7'10" ceiling. With all the normal power tools for flat work as well as round work.

[Joe Bourbois]

I'm in a 3 car garage, but one bay is essentially household storage. I use the other 2 bays as my shop, with usable space of about 18' x 23'. Everything is on wheels so I can push it all to the side so my wife can bring her car in. No heat, except for 2 rollaround kerosene radiators, but heat isn't that critical here in San Antonio. I wish I had AC though, as the summer in the shop can be unbearable at times.

[Frank Pellow]

My current shop is in the basement and it is a (very overcrowded) 210 square feet.

I am just starting to build a new shop in my backyard and I thought that it was going to be big enough until I saw many of the entries posted above.

The plans, for which I have a building permit, are for a 24' by 18' building with a bite out of one corner. Once I subtract the bite as well as the width of the walls, I will be left with 345 square feet. The building will have a cathedral ceiling with lots of skylights. I will have the use of the old basement shop for storage and for finishing.

I could have designed a bigger building and still have been within the zoning rules but, as it is, the workshop will be crowding in on our vegetable garden (about 1000 square feet) and gardening is another major hobby of mine.

Once the snow melts and I can start staking things out, I will see if I can modify my plans (once again) to get the useable space up to 400 square feet. I hate to have to do all the redrawing and the recalculations, but it seems from what I read above that, some day, I will probably thank myself that I did.

[Andy London]

48 X 20 with the final renovation completed (outside) last fall, started 12 years ago by building a 24 X 20 shop and built on twice since.

Here is my current layout...only say current as I seem to change things around once a year....

http://www.picframer.ca/shop_in_2003.htm

Andy

[Jack Diemer]

363 square ft basement shop here. u

[Stefan Antwarg]

Just because I want to one up (or one down) everybody (), I used to have a 10x10 shop. I had that for 4 years. Now I have a 16x36 shop with the potential to make it 36x36. It is just the unfinished basement of my house. I purposely do not use half of it so I don't spoil myself. Eventually, the basement will be converted to a family room and I know that whatever I have will not be too big.

Stefan

[Glenn Clabo]

3/4 of an old Cape Cod basement...and I share it with the furnace and washer/dryer. I've been trying to put it together for 5 years but remodeling the house keeps getting in the way. There is never enough room...or time!

[Aaron Montgomery]

In the basement - 16x26 + an 7x10 room + misc storage.

http://home.insightbb.com/~apmonte/WoodworkingShop.html