I'm Building a Shop - Hit me with your thoughts! - @RedBeardOps

J. Keeton

J. Keeton

Joined
Nov 15, 2005
Messages
1,209
So I recently moved again... This time to a property that I foresee my family and I staying on long term. We have space on the back end of the lot to build a shop. I'm looking for some recommendations from all the knowledgeable members of blade forms! Anything is game but to get us kicked off I'll throw out some general questions and wants.


I'm thinking 30'x45' would be around the size I'd want, however, this is flexible. I'm imagining building a shop is like buying a gun safe... always go bigger than what you think you need. One thing I'm not sure about is the height of the ceilings. If I ever did sell the property; tall doors may help people with boats and RVs. But I feel like a ceiling much over 12' could actually be a negative? I was thinking of shooting for 9-10 foot garage doors.

I'd like the option to forge inside, so I'd want to build a ventilation hood for my forge and section off my forging equipment. Maybe have a spot for future power hammer? In this section of the shop, I think I'll also have a garage door opening up to a concrete slab.. for airflow and the potential to take some projects outside.

A grinding room will be a must... I'm not sure on the size, but enough for multiple 2x72s, disk grinder, vise and angle grinder station, etc. Based on Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith 's recommendations I think this room will be lined with fire resistant hardi board. Lots of LEDs in this room as well.

Maybe a clean room for assembly and leather work? With a split system in it...

Sink and toilet cabinet?

I'm very early in the process over here and will be getting an architect out to the lot next week to start on drawings. The HOA and city have both verbally signed off on the project conceptually, so that's good.

I'm open to any ideas yall have!
Cheers,

PS... the picture is super rough... but that's what I'm working with and thinking.
 

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Have one main electrical switch next to the door.
When you finish, just hit the switch and all power will be off. Never worry if you left the heat on etc.
Dark infra red heating
white walls reflext light and are easy on the eyes
workbenches at different hights.
Screw a thing sacraficial layer of plywood on top. You'll have a clean work surface for litthe money if you want

Have more light then you need and more electrical outputs
 
Make it two stories,1 1/2 stories, or Cape Cod style with a 12/12 roof pitch The upstairs storage will be invaluable. Put shelves along both sides spaced 24" as high as it goes. A 36" wide stairway will get you up there.

Run a BIG powerline out. 100 amps sounds good, but you will find 200 amps is more like what you may need eventually.

Seriously consider raising the slab 18 to 24" above ground level. One thing a shop never wants is flooding. It also maked the floor less cold.

Put anti-fatigue mats at the places you stand (grinder, anvil, drill press, etc.) These will save your feet and back a lot of pain.

Build a clean room/office. Put in a mini-split AC/heat unit in it They are cheap and easy to install.

Install LED lights throughout the shop. Get ones with 5K or higher light color.

Install a video surveillance system so you can check on the shop when you want, and your family can check on you. Get one with two-way audio.
 
Thanks for the tips so far yall!

I'll be working on the floor plan over the next couple of weeks. If anyone has floor plan examples or ideas;; I'm all ears!
 
I'll be following closely. We are planning on starting a shop build on our front pasture come summer time as well.
 
1) Make a wish of tools you want to buy during the next ten years. Include tools that are only a dream like waterjet, laser engraver, CNC tools, 50 ton Coal press, 500 lb Little Giant, etc. Make a floor plan for all the tools with lots of room around each tool. This will help you determine the square footage needed.

2) Double the square feet.

3) Double the square footage again.

I was told this years ago and I wish I had followed the advise.

Chuck
 
J. Keeton said:
So I recently moved again... This time to a property that I foresee my family and I staying on long term. We have space on the back end of the lot to build a shop. I'm looking for some recommendations from all the knowledgeable members of blade forms! Anything is game but to get us kicked off I'll throw out some general questions and wants.


I'm thinking 30'x45' would be around the size I'd want, however, this is flexible. I'm imagining building a shop is like buying a gun safe... always go bigger than what you think you need. One thing I'm not sure about is the height of the ceilings. If I ever did sell the property; tall doors may help people with boats and RVs. But I feel like a ceiling much over 12' could actually be a negative? I was thinking of shooting for 9-10 foot garage doors.

I'd like the option to forge inside, so I'd want to build a ventilation hood for my forge and section off my forging equipment. Maybe have a spot for future power hammer? In this section of the shop, I think I'll also have a garage door opening up to a concrete slab.. for airflow and the potential to take some projects outside.

A grinding room will be a must... I'm not sure on the size, but enough for multiple 2x72s, disk grinder, vise and angle grinder station, etc. Based on Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith 's recommendations I think this room will be lined with fire resistant hardi board. Lots of LEDs in this room as well.

Maybe a clean room for assembly and leather work? With a split system in it...

Sink and toilet cabinet?

I'm very early in the process over here and will be getting an architect out to the lot next week to start on drawings. The HOA and city have both verbally signed off on the project conceptually, so that's good.

I'm open to any ideas yall have!
Cheers,

PS... the picture is super rough... but that's what I'm working with and thinking.
Click to expand...
James I'm no expert like Stacey when it comes to this stuff, but a big fan of your videos. Always high quality. It seems like the orientation of the shop will result in a bunch of dead space at the back of the property.

IjgkMDY.jpg


If you rotated the building, you would probably have more access to your yard. The area between the existing building and the new shop would also make a great place for an overhang where you could do outdoor work. Ed Caffery seems to have a similar lean-to setup that he shows in his Shop Tour videos here:

Here's one way it could go. Assuming the photo is oriented with North at the top, you would probably get some more of that nice northeastern light too. Eager to see how this turns out. Will make for a great set of videos.
mYH8Vwf.jpg
 
Running w/ CasePeanut CasePeanut 's idea. Sorry for the messy drawing. Plan for room to expand cuz stuff accumulates fast. Blue = building. Cyan = expansions &/or lean-to's. Could also extend the drive-way to the shop. Install lean-to over drive-way & be able to drive up to shop, bypass walking thru clean home & also be parked out of the rain. Helps if the delivery guy can delivery to the shop, out of the eyes of porch pirates. Also, ya don't have to cut that tree down.

Screen Shot 2021-12-24 at 10.03.48 PM.png
 
Thanks for the tips so far yall! I'm going to get some floor plans on paper and come back here to get some feedback.

CasePeanut CasePeanut Dogdrawz Dogdrawz The back of the property has a 20-25 foot easement due to a drainage ditch (along the fence line). You can make it out in that picture if you look close enough. I want to be far away from that as well as built up high enough not to be at risk of flood as Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith mentioned.
 
Oulets. And lighting. LOTS AND LOTS,
Outlets, triple the 110v circuits and outlets.
220v outlets. 2or 3 in grinder area, one in heat treat area, and 2 in different locations in shop for welders. One for hyd. press and one for power hammer, multiple outlets save unplugging and plugging in machinery or running extension chords
Windows. For natural lighting
Lots of overhead, particularly in area where you will finish blades and do fit and finish of handles .
And if shop expansion is in future, figure for those circuits and outlet runs.
And of course all the other suggestions DITTO.
 
You can build an extended eve over the drainage easement that will allow things to be kept there out of direct rain. This works for trailers, firewood, and lawn gear, etc.. Add it after all the shop work has been done and signed off. Just frame it as an attached awning and roof it with corrugated fiberglass roofing panels. Three or four upright posts will hold the outer edge.
 
I've made a little progress on this front. I'm clear with the HOA and city. Getting bids currently.

Does anyone have opinions on whether or not I should have them finish out the interior walls with drywall? Seems like hanging things and adding outlets would be easier without the drywall, however, it would obviously look better with the drywall and could brighten the place up if I had them paint it white.

Side note, the plan is to have them line the grinding room with hardi-board. Next step after I get some basic bids is likely going to be to take measurements and try to figure out a floor plan.




*all measurements in inches up there...
 
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A couple of ideas. First, I wish my shop was not Sheetrock - I wish it was barn board or roofing metal. I just think that would have been cooler. And I wish my shop was wired on the outside of the walls with conduit so I could easily make changes.
 
Looks good!



I just sent this to another fellow. It may help you and others in planning a new shop. Most of the info is based on a 20X40 shop.


TIP on a drill press - get a heavy duty used unit and change the motor to 220V three phase. 3/4HP to 1HP is all you will need on a floor model, and 1/2HP to 3/4HP on a benchtop unit. Run it with a cheap Chinese VFD and you have a fully VS drill press. You can do the same with other shop tools like a band saw or a benchtop drill press. Set the belt and pully at the range you will normally work in. You can then go up or down with the VFD.

When the new shop is done, set up a steel dust deputy for the grinders and a standard plastic dust deputy type cyclone for the wood cutting tools. The same dust vac blower can run both. Basically, it is a "Y" connector at the vac blower and two systems ... one for wood dust and one for metal dust. I didn't mention earlier but put port gates on all the places that you will have tools. This shuts off the flow except the device you want to be sucking up dust.

Additionally, add a 2"or 2.5" port and gate somewhere in the line to connect a suitably long vacuum hose to. If the shop is large, place a couple of these ports so you can get to all the areas you need to clean. Use this to clean the floor and bench as well as with a small nozzle tool to clean off the equipment. When not in use you can hang the vac hose on a wall rack like the ones for garden hoses. This vac cleaning hose ports should be on the sawdust cyclone side of the "Y".

100 or 200 amps sounds like a lot but gets used up quickly.
Luckily, you can have more breakers than a total of 100 or 200 amps, as they are not all in use at the same time. Most 100 amp boxes have around 30 breaker slots. 200 amp panels have around 40
This is a basic guide for wiring a new shop. It uses 30 panel slots
110 volt breakers
20 amp breaker - dust vac
20 amp breaker - lighting
20 amp breaker - lighting
20 amp breaker -general use outlets right side
20 amp breaker - general use outlets left side
20 amp breaker - bench outlets for miscellaneous tools and lights
20 amp breaker - hanging air filter and any overhead fans
20 amp breaker - outlets in a clean room
20 amp breaker - table saw if 110V
20 amp breaker - band saw if 110V
20 amp breaker - outside outlets
20 amp breaker - vent fan through wall or roof

220 volt breakers
20 amp breaker - grinder circuit
20 amp breaker -table saw if 220V
20 amp breaker - band saw if 220V
20 amp breaker - bench 220 outlets
20 amp breaker - outside 220 outlet
20 amp breaker - HT oven
20 amp breaker - misc. 220 tools ( plasma cutter, heaters, etc.)
30 amp breaker - mini split AV system for clean room
30 amp breaker - welder

If doing wood and metal in the same shop, keep it very clean. place the grinder as far from the table saw as possible. Building a booth or small grinding room is the best solution. My new shop has a 12X10 foot grinder room for all the grinding and welding work. It has its own hanging air filter and separate dust collection from the main shop. The grinding room has its own air-in/air-out vents through the wall.

The 20X40 shop is nominally divided into:
12X20 clean room and office. The outside entrance door enters here.
4" wide stairwell going upstairs to the storage area (the 12/12 roof pitch gives lots of storage)
12X20 hot shop and general machine and equipment shop
12X10 grinding room with half walls and glass windows above that for shop visibility. Glass storm door for the entrance.
12X10 open area at the garage door. Overhead door is offset to one side of end wall. not centered

Tips on building your new shop:
If planning overhead storage, or a full two stories, make the ceiling/floor joists much heavier than code calls for. While 2X8 or 2X10 may be code, use 2X10 or 2X12. You will end up putting a lot of heavy stuff upstairs. I ended up doubling all the 2X10 joists.
A smooth finish concrete floor is best. A coat of epoxy floor paint is also good. Gray is a good color.
Carpet in the clean room/office is nice. Use a tight nap and dense commercial 2' square type carpet tiles.
Plan the wiring well before starting.
Do a layout on graph paper. Do it many different ways to see what will work best.
Plan your dust control system from the beginning so as not to end up with a Frankenstein system. Avoid ups and down in the ductwork.
Put in twice the amount of lighting you think you need. Use high Kelvi LEDs.
Have anti-stress mats everywhere you will stand. The concrete floors are rough on the feet and back.
Have a water line and sink if possible. You may not be allowed to have it inside by code, so put it outside like a fish cleaning station. Have a hose at the tap long enough to reach all areas inside the shop if a fire breaks out.
Have at least three good size fire extinguishers.
Put outlets everywhere. Extension cords are a big hazard in a shop.
Have a large thermostat-controlled vent fan to draw air out of the shop. You can let fresh air in through a louver at the other end of the shop.
Put everything that is possible on rolling carts or mobile bases. It can be rolled to a wall or set at the garage door for storage. Tools can be rolled outside and used on the apron or patio in good weather.
Try and not fill the benchtop with tools. Put smaller tools on bases (maybe 18X24") and store on a shelf below the bench (or upstairs). When needed, set on the bench top. You can make a "frame" on the bench top from 1X2" wood or angle iron/aluminum that the base pieces fit into. Tools not used regularly, like the benchtop planer are good choices for this. You will quickly come up with all sorts of things to put on these bases to have neat little stations readily at hand. I have one for my sharpening stones, too. When there isn't a tool in the frame, I drop a blank base piece in the spot to use as a work surface.
 
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