DIY shop building

[Andy Pratt]

Has anyone here built a separate, purpose-built woodworking shop from the ground up? I'm just scraping the surface of the various design considerations and requirements and wanted to know if there are any good resources, books/internet/magazines geared toward providing information to someone in my shoes.

The biggest areas I'm foggy on:
- Financing from vacant land purchase stage through to a mortgage
- Site preparation and foundation work
- Common pitfalls in DIY building

If anyone has found any good resources toward this stuff, or just the process in general, it would really help me out.

Edit: I had a different question in mind when I wrote that title, but I can't figure out how to change it. Mods, if you could please change the title to just "DIY shop building"

[Garth Keel]

FWW just had an article on building a 700 sq ft shop from the ground up. I don't remember the issue # but it was in 2008. More info on their web site.

[Joe Chritz]

I did my entire house, shop and other buildings.

Stop by and talk to a mortgage person at the bank. They are ultimately the ones who will decide what you need to do.

Hire a good excavator, ask around some contractors and get recommendations.

Hire out the concrete. I can do flat work and still do mine and I have always wished it was better.

A shop building is a good place to start in construction. They are normally pretty straight forward.

I like pole buildings but they may not be a good choice for you. Buy a good framing book if you are going to stick frame it.

Good luck


Joe

[Ken Ganshirt]

Here's how I did mine. Scroll down a bit to get to the narrative. There isn't a lot I would do differently.

...ken...

[Yuchol Kim]

Andy,
I am local (well, in Everett area), feel free to email me directly and I can share my personal experiences. I built a 600 square foot shop (and 550 square foot living space above) and did everything myself except the excavation and foundation. I did my own blueprints, permit, framing, siding, insulating, electrical, heating ducts, roofing (with good help from a friend who knew what to do), window install, drywall, mudding, texturing, paint, millwork, paint, paint, oh did I say I painted??? I am NOT a contractor nor had I built something like this prior. I read a lot, researched, read manufacturer's specifications, etc to get educated.

[Don Bullock]

Here's how I did mine. Scroll down a bit to get to the narrative. There isn't a lot I would do differently.

...ken...

Ken, shops like yours and some others I've seen here and elsewhere are definitely an inspiration to people like me. The details you include are very helpful. I truly appreciate your post because I'm now in the planning stages for my new shop. Thank you.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Andy,

4 years ago in the spring, I started my shop. While I have the skills to build it myself, after breaking my back, I probably shouldn't do it. It would take forever! My wife, who could have retired, had me hire a contractor and build an empty shell. The building is 30'x24', poured footing, wall and floor. 2"x6" construction....3 3'x4' thermopane windows....insulated 10' garage door......36" insulated steel walkthrough door.....hardi-board cementous lap siding. The contractor built the empty shell....I painted it. It cost $16,000. Since then I've installed 200 amp electrical service with it's own meter, insulated the walls to R-19 and the ceiling to R-40. I put 1/2" plywood on the walls and 5/8" sheetrock on the ceilings....11 8' 4 bulb T-8 flourescent fixtures and painted it. I finished it myself. I'm in the process of designing and building the wall cabinets. I'd have been finished if those bum turners hadn't given me a lathe. My wife continues working today at a job she loves to pay for the shell. We finished the interior on a cash basis. She also gave me a Lennox 75,000 btu gas furnace..installed...

She just walked into the bank where we have our current house loan and told them what she wanted to do and how much money she wanted to borrow. She walked out with a deposit slip in hand and the money was in our checking account for payment to the contractor. The contractor and I agreed in writing at what point during the construction he would be paid what. I gave him 1/3 at the start, 1/3 when walls were up and the final 1/3 when the job was completed.

Good luck and enjoy!

[Andy Pratt]

Thanks for all of the great replies everyone. Yuchol, how did you do your own blueprints? The rest of the stuff I can figure out with a friend, but I wouldn't even know where to start with that one.

[Yuchol Kim]

I used CAD program to show existing and newly proposed. Had floor plans, foundation detail, joist details (copied from TJI), roof outlines, etc.

[Jack Mincey]

Andy,
You should be able to sketch out what you need using grid paper if you don't have access to a CAD program. Make each block on the grid paper = 1 '. Unless you are making a complex roof there really is no need to draw more than a foundation plan and floor plan. I made scale cut outs of the tools going in my shop to place around on the floor plan to see how it would all go together. Make sure to put all the outlets needed on your floor plan. When it comes to your electric panel put one in bigger than you think you will ever need. It is better to have it and not need it than to need and not have it.
Good Luck,
Jack

[Victor Stearns]

Yes, Summer 2002. I did not have enough cash to pay for much contractor work. Thus between my neighbor, brothers, and kids we constructed a 28X36 workshop. This included digging the footers and pouring the walls. Due to the size we were required to put in 4foot concrete walls. As I had an idea of the size of the shop, I went to several of the local lumber yards. I basically told them a size and they worked up the prices. The yard we choose was great. Of course we purchased only the building materials. In time we added the insulation and electrial.
And I would do it again in a heartbeat, with the exception of having some else pour the floor. Working the floor on an 84 degree day with little experience was very interesting.
Good Luck
Victor

[Leif Hanson]

Here's mine so far:

Shop Progress

I've done all of it myself except for the foundation. It is still a work in progress, though - I've yet to complete the interior... but because I have done so much of it myself, I've been able to keep the cost way down. The biggest drawback I've found is in time, but if one is patient...



I'm currently finishing up the wiring. After that all that is left is to do the final hookup on the heat, installing the insulation, and drywall/finishes.

Hope it helps some maybe there's something helpful in the link above, which isn't quite up to where I'm at yet.

Leif

[Steven Hardy]

Has anyone here built a separate, purpose-built woodworking shop from the ground up? I'm just scraping the surface of the various design considerations and requirements and wanted to know if there are any good resources, books/internet/magazines geared toward providing information to someone in my shoes.

The biggest areas I'm foggy on:
- Financing from vacant land purchase stage through to a mortgage
- Site preparation and foundation work
- Common pitfalls in DIY building

If anyone has found any good resources toward this stuff, or just the process in general, it would really help me out.

Edit: I had a different question in mind when I wrote that title, but I can't figure out how to change it. Mods, if you could please change the title to just "DIY shop building"

I built my own house from the block up..a 2800 square foot custom home.The blueprints I purchased from Garlinghouse with a licence to build one home...for about 175.00 dollars

If you do your own design,at least have a licensed architect review your plans and have a licenced electrician review your wiring scheme. If you live in a snow zone,play close attention to those ties that tie your plates together.Roof collapse is nothing to mess with.
There are some simple design principles that I shall pass on to you,that I see violated from time to time (including in the pictures on this post)
1 design and build on modulus ...the most practical is to build on 16in centers following a modulus of 4 feet.....ie 20x32, 16x32, 24 x36 etc. If you design oddball non modulus lengths (stick and frame const)you are wasting material,(Blocks that didnt need to be cut,timbers that didnt need to be shortened ,and drywall and plywood that didnt need to be shortened.
2 determine load bearing walls based upon the roof down...all the way down to the footer if doing a basement.Floor beams underneath should match the scheme.
3 save money on wiring by using 15amp service ONLY for lighting fixtures.(its also a code thing)Be sure to follow the principle wiring color code and use nail sheilds for the wiring path (2x4 walls). They are dirt cheap.
4 If you decide to have a high ceiling by eliminating or raising cross supports going to your plates...have an architect analyse the roof load.
5 use lots of hurricane ties...they are dirt cheap.
6 beware of insurance limitations of uninspected construction.

[Josh Bowman]

Building your own shop is a ball. I have a father in law that's a contractor and he was a great help in finding the folks to do what was needed to help me dry it in. For the most part I used some books I bought from the internet/bookstore on building shops. If you want the titles, I'll have to get them at home.
Basically I figured how much space I could give to a shop, in my case the constraints were a driveway and a property line and a hill. So that gave me a 42' by 30' area to work with. I determined I could afford to dry in that size concrete block building. The price went up rapidly as I upgraded stuff, like using sprayed foam to water proof the back wall, adding a bath with shower, adding a 14' garage door and opener, upgrading the electrical in my house from 200 amp to 400 amp, lots of stuff that really didn't need to be done but "Might as Well" be done. The bottom line is "Might as Wells" cost a lot! Anyway you get the point. In my case I went from thinking it would take about 15k to 25k pretty quickly. But once it was dried in the real work for me began and I think I may have give up woodworking as a hobby because building and designing this shop is great fun! I've been at it for about 3 years now and am still adding and tweaking things, but that's me and as I said it's fun.
Back to the design. The books I mentioned and looking at pictures of other shops is a great help. The books will help you with lighting....don't underestimate this. They will help you with the placement of equipment and heating and cooling. I looked at trying to keep the overhead cost low. So the building went under ground on 3 sides and lots of insulation was blown in the ceiling. I put in 3 skylights to keep from having to turn lights on just to get a tool out for the house. I added 3 incondesent lights on 1 switch to keep from having to turn on the 16 four tube floresencts for short runs in the shop (I did put them on 4 switches to allow only lighting the areas I'm using). I did put an old gas furnace and split unit AC in and only have it blowing across the shop (no duct work). I have a bath so as not to drag saw dust in the house if I need to go. I added a 2 gallon hot water heater. Lots and Lots and Lost of 4 plex outlets and still wish I had more! My electrical service is 100 amps and should have been more, but I think its enough. I put an underground dust collector in that took much careful designing. The underground walls were "dam tighted" and the ceiling (OSB) was sprayed white to help reflect light better. A bay was included to allow my truck to be parked and a third of the shop is for storage/truck/greasy work stuff. I did pipe in air pipes to several places in the shop as well as running a line to the house for the garages and ran a line up the hill to a small storage barn. This is a great help for putting air in tires at these remote areas since I have a dedicated air compressor and the 1/2" pvc works great (I've used it for years in a smaller shop).
The shop is really finished; I'm just not willing to stop building it. As my Mother (artist) told me once...."It takes 2 artist to paint a picture, one to paint it and one to say it's done".
If I can answer any questions, obviously I love to build this thing and will gladly admit my goof ups as well as what I think is working
Josh jsbowman@bellsouth.net

[Andy Pratt]

Great advice all around, fun to hear everyone's story and see how you guys have had pretty good experiences with it. I'll definitely keep this thread handy when I get closer to building time. Thanks for all the help.

Andy