HELP. Wife Has Agreed to Allow Me to Build A NEW Woodshop!!!

[Marty Mincey]

It's going to be a huge improvement over what I have now. I'm presently working out of our garage. I am probably getting a little too excited about this project already. While we are on the subject of being excited here, I have decided to upgrade some of my equipment in the process. Any suggestons on preferences of power tools (i.e. table saws, plainers, drum sanders, ect.) would be greatly appreciated as well. Most of the work I do is in hardwoods like, mahogany, purple heart, bloodwood, hard maple and ebony. (I know.....glutton for punishment on my wood preferences.) Any advise on tools of any kind would be helpful.

[Jeff Cybulski]

Marty - Welcome to the Creek!! I like Steve's idea of a raceway for the power. With the size your building this would prove uselful to run outlets wherever you need them. Good Luck and post some pictures as things progress.

Jeff

[John Bush]

Congrats Marty,
You will find lots of good info and help from the members here. Good luck.

General ?? to other SMCers:
By the way , what ever happened to the thread on the othe Marty building his shop, also in Ga.??

[Doug Gilluley]

Marty, fer chrissakes! Kiss the girl!!!

Doug

[Jim Becker]

Marty, 'suggest you start a separate thread to discuss the potential tool upgrades. More information is also needed about the projects you do, etc., as that can have bearing on equipment selection.

My one bottom line recommendation relative to your shop design is: natural light. And just above that is "proper facilities"...sounds like more than one of you is going to be spending a lot of time out there!

[Richard Maurer]

Hi Marty: I recently changed careers to a full time woodworker here in Central VA. I remodeled a 20' x 100' barn which had a 3' concrete slab, double walled sides, and a tin roof. Roof and walls were in OK shape. The 12 windows and 5 doors were busted and there were only 5 or 6 roof trusses. No less than several hundred "mud dobber" bees and 2 or 3 carpenter ants colonies were the current residents. My shop pics are too big for this forum. Send me your email and I'll send them to you separately. Here's what I did (after I got rid of the bees and ants):
1. Added separate 200 amp service with all new electrical wiring
2. Installed ceiling truss for each of the 48 rafters
3. Added insulation, drywall, paint, and 3 ton heat pump
4. Replaced all 12 windows (Lowes' double hung, double glazed, vinyl)
5. Replaced 3 of the 5 doors, walled up 1 door, and turned the other door into a window.

Here's what I'd do again:
1. I gave the electrician a detailed scale drawing of where I wanted each outlet by machine, power/amp rating, location. (He loved me for this because it made his life so easy.) I came up with my design after LOTS, and LOTS and LOTS and did I say LOTS of research on shop layouts. I've got dedicated circuits to every floor mounted tool, and lots of "convenience" circuits (waist high) elsewhere throughout the shop for plug in tools.
2. I framed in a separate office/design room and separate finishing room. Each was a 20'x10' space at one end of the building.
3. I installed a motorized damper in the ventillation supply duct to the finish room that I can shut to keep the HVAC system from dumping potentially dust laden air on my projects during drying.
4. I ran a water line to the side of the shop with a farm (anti-freeze) hydrant that I connect to a hose bib on the side of the shop for internal water. Since it doesn't stay below freezing in our area during the day (very often), this was a suitable approach. The 3' concrete slab prevented going into the shop from underground. (you probably don't have this problem since you're building from scratch)
5. My sink drains to a drywell on the outside of the shop that I put in when I was trenching other water lines. I use an "instant heat" tankless water heater by the sink so I don't have to pay the electric bill for keeping a full hot water tank. Check with your local codes on what you can/can't do.
6. I installed ceiling outlets in the vicinity of my work benches.
7. I have a dedicated (sound) insulated room for my cyclone dust collector. It's located in the middle of the shop so I don't have longer than about 40' to any one unit. I use a remote control to turn it on and off so I'm not running to/from the unit. 6" trunk lines with 4" drops close to each unit.
8. I installed an attic/gable vent fan to keep the heat out of the attic and keep you AC bill down in the summer. I bought a combination temperature/humidity gable fan so either high temps or high humidity can get pulled out of the attic.
9. I put a fridge and microwave in office. Fridge for softdrinks and snacks (no alcohol when running eqpt that can kill you) and the microwave provides a source of heat for warming up alcohol when disolving shellac flakes and other assorted things.

Here's what I'd do differently:
1. I made the mistake of not specifying low temp lights to my electrician. Consequently, they don't work well if I decide to keep the temp below 55-60 degrees. (he claims he warned me about this but I have no recolection of this. I should have known better anyway) Pay the extra bucks and get the low temp lights so you don't have to heat your shop (if you don't want to) in the dead of winter. Eventually, I'll replace them all.
2. I would have a larger finish room if I was redesigning the shop today. That's a function of what you plan on building. It's been a problem for me. 20x10 may be fine for you.

All in all, the shop turned out great (for me). Requires lots of planning - as you are finding out and you're doing the right thing by asking for lots of input.

Best of luck to you.
Regards, Rich

[Ben Abate]

Marty,

Things that I miss are: an area for storage, some have over looked the advantages of having a large storage area. some place you can store wood and also sort it when you buy it. It also gives you the advantage of buying in bulk.

10 ft ceilings, and 2 ft. overhangs will help in the summer with too much light coming in, and heating up your shop, but will give you light and heat in the winter because of the low sun. You can have all the machines in the world but storage is necessary. Air compressor room, finishing room, dust collector room. Then a machine room and a bench area. Keeps things organized.

I'm jealous

Ben

[lou sansone]

welcome to the creek

electrical advise

3 phase 208 Y @ 200 amps or larger

best wishes
lou

[Bob Huddleston]

That is awesome. My basement shop is wonderful, but in the basement, which leads to a few problems. I love the in-floor heat, high ceilings and adequate electrical service. My bro-in-law put in three phase for his new workshop and it is awesome. Enjoy!

Oh, kidding about the sister. Am (usually) happily wed here

[Randall Frey]

Way to go with the new shop. One important thing for me to throw into the mix is natural light. I have a small window in my shop that provides sunlite for a few hours each day. It really helps with the finishing process to examine a project for an incomplete sanding job and or color matching. Of course you could take your work outside for the same effect but why do that, the wife will catch you, think that you are done working and drag you off to a craft fair.

[Marty Mincey]

First of all I would like to say THANK YOU to all who have posted on this thread with your advice and guidance. This is going to be a huge undertaking for me (us), and I do greatly appreciate all of your words of encouragement. It seems like this project will begin fairly quickly. I sat down with the contractor today and we will be breaking ground December 4th. Not sure how long this will take so I will try to be patient. (Yeah right!!) But this is something that I do not want to rush to get finished. Do these projects ever get "finished"??? Probably not. I built my house 4 years ago and it's still not "finished", so I guess I answered my own question. I'll post pictures when we get started for those who are interested. Once again.....thanks!!!!!!!

Marty & Cheryl

[Dan Drager]

Granted your 40' x 60' space is HUGE, but don't build to many built-in shelves, cabinets and work tables to start off. The way you end up working might not be the way you "think" you'll be working in the planning stages. Built-ins are way hard to remove or relocate.

[Bill Arnold]

... Built-ins are way hard to remove or relocate.

Something to keep in mind when installing upper cabinets is to use French cleats. This will ease the process of moving them, if you decide to modify the space. Also, I prefer to build my lower cabinets as free standing units that can be attached to a wall, if desired.

[Jim Becker]

Something to keep in mind when installing upper cabinets is to use French cleats.

And not just for cabinets. There are so many things that can be leveraged with an organized cleat system. WOOD Magazine's Idea Shop #5 has a lot of interesting ideas in that regard...and they will work nicely with large shops, too. If I actually had wall space in any meaningful amount, I'd seriously consider putting in a cleat system.

[Rich Petty]

Marty, welcome to the Creek and a BIG congrats on your upcoming project! Tips/advice? Well, this list could get real long in a hurry! Obviously, much depends on how deep your pockets are. I'm assuming it will be on a slab so, the radiant floor heat mentioned is GREAT! However, depending on your geographic location, if you need to heat AND cool, I would not discount going with a complete HVAC system to take care of both seasons! Operating windows (you should have plenty of wall space even with a lot of windows!) to take care of the in-between temps/weather. Running water/sewer is the one thing I think I miss most in my shop! Wish I had it. For a shop that big, I would most definitely go with the largest available breaker panel, with at least, 200 amp service. The more you can separate circuits, the better off you will be. Try to separate out a room for your cyclone and compressor, in order to isolate the noise generated by either. And, speaking of "rooms", wall off an area for a finishing room, as well. Even if you can't afford to install an exhaust system right away, it would be a good idea to plan ahead for it. Also, I don't know what type of building it will be but, I would stay away from those huge overhead doors (the type like they have for machine sheds and such), as they are thieves when it comes to keeping your HVAC under control! Finally, plan your equipment placement carefully and do it often. What do I mean by "do it often"? Draw up a floor plan of where you think equipment should live. Look at it daily and "walk" through the area over and over. Think of your work flow and walk it through again. Make changes and "walk" it through again and again. After several iterations of this, you'll start to get a good feel of where things should actually go. In a space that large, you have the advantage of being able to place things in permanent locations and not need mobile bases. You really only want to do that once! Oh yeah...One more thing: You guys wouldn't be interested in adopting a 50 yr-old IT guy and aspiring woodworker, would you???

Marty, to go along with the great advice that John left with you, here is a tool that may help you in the design of your new "Dog House". Goto http://www.grizzly.com/workshopplanner.aspx and design your shop using Grizzly's shop planner. It's a shockwave flash application and is super easy to use. I just built my shop last year, (not quite the indoor arena you have planned!), and it was a great help as they have all the objects already drawn for your equipment and you can just drag and drop them on the grid. (CAD for the simple minded!!!)
BTW, I'm a 50 yr old IT professional and am now considering becoming and orphan too. Keep me in mind!! LOL.
Rich.