Optimum shop size recommendation

SVanderkolff

SVanderkolff

Joined
Oct 31, 2002
Messages
979
At some point I plan on building a stand alone shop out behind the house, not this house mind you but when we buy some bigger property, and was wondering what the collective wisdom of the forum was as to how big a shop makes the most sense. I am in Ontario Canada which means cold winters and hot summers. I mostly do stock removal now but would more than likely end up trying my hand at some forging once my shop was out of the basement. My wife won't let me put a forge in the basement for some reason. So big enough to play in, small enough to heat. What are your thoughts?
Thanks for the input.
Steve
 
im a stock remover and jsut buit a too small shop. im workignout how to fit a larger lathe in now
my shop is 16x24 and 2 floors
i have a KMG,mini mill, small wood lathe, wood saw, 9 inch SB lathe, bridgeport mill, roll in saw and some shelves on the first floor and up stairs kiln computer and finishing benches
kids wanted a potters wheel so that grabbed space and wife wants to get into leather working so thts more bench space taken
you can eat up space fast and i dont even have a hot shop
more importaint is how to controll dust and dirt and how much power to run
 
My 8x12 with lofts seems to be perfect for a workbench on one side and grinder, drill, something else on the other. Plenty of lofted space for storage. Nicely insulated, it cost me less then 50¢ a day to cool it during the summer and I can't imagine it costing much to heat such a small space during the winter. I've got a very small 5000 BTU air conditioner and even smaller 1500w ceramic heater.
 
This sounds silly, but trust me it is true:

Take a legal size pad and start a list of every piece of equipment you have. Add to that every piece you will add to the new shop. Remember all accessory equipment like quench tanks, steel stock rack/shelf, tool box, cabinet for hand tools, etc. Go to one of the threads where there are shop pictures and builds. Add the things you see you forgot about.


Calculate the square footage needed for each of the above equipment, and any you suspect the shop will have in the future ( press, power hammer, bigger band saw, mill, surface grinder, etc.). A band saw needs about 6sq.ft., a forge needs 6-12sq., an anvil needs 6 sq.ft., 20 feet of 24" wide bench top needs 40 sq.ft. etc. Add cabinets, shelves, work tables, belt racks, desk, etc. Total it all up.
Add 200% of that total to allow space to move around and operate the equipment. - If the equipment total needs 100 sq.ft. add 200sq.ft and the result is 300 sq.ft. This would be the amount of room needed to have a packed full shop. If you want extra room for a clean space or office, you will need to add that.
Double the result, because you will soon run out of space no matter how much it seems on paper. The total will probably shock you. If possible visit someone's shop to see how they position their equipment.

Realize that the outer dimensions of the building are not the usable floor space. Walls, power panel area, and doors take up about 10-15% of the total footprint of the shop.



As a rule, a 20X24 shop (400sq.ft. usable floor space)is the minimum for a freestanding shop. Most who build that wish they had gone with 48X24 before long ( 1000 sq.ft. usable floor space).

One way to maximize a smaller size shop is to put as much equipment on carts and rollers as possible. When not needed park all the carts in a corner.
 
16X24 would be a minimum, 24X32 is a good size for a workshop.

Don't use a standard 7' roll up door, you need at least 8' to get a forklift in there to set a BP or something in the future.
 
I didn't mention this, but two floors is a really good plan. The build isn't that much harder, but the usability of a smaller footprint is doubled.


Put the clean stuff upstairs - Storage, office, photo box, leather work, the handle finishing and sharpening station, togi bench, small jewelers bench for sawing, channeling, and soldering guards as well as cutting saya channels.
 
Thanks everyone.
I am currently working out of a room in my basement , 13 X 35 and finding it getting really crowded. OF course the mill, the lathe and the surface grinder don't help.
This way I have some idea of the ground space I will need when we finally get into a bigge property.
Thanks
Steve
 
I'd just build the largest shop I could afford. Currently I have a pretty nice shop that was on the property when I moved in. It has an office and a bathroom. Then there's the open shop area which is large enough for me to expand. Say 25x30 roughly. Additionally, on the side is a garage where the previous owner stored his boat, this is gravel floor and no insulation. That's where I do all of my forging. It gets hotter than you could imagine in the dead of summer, but I'm young and it will make me appreciate those chilly winter days.
Is my set up perfect? Goodness no. But it's probably the best thing I could ever imagine to have with where I am financially.
Stacys advice seems to be the most accurate way to figure it out, my advice is no matter what size you decide on, go bigger.
My dad built one for storage and and tinkering on old cars and Harley's, within 6 months he wished he would have went 10 more feet both ways.
 
The very best advice I an give to assure success is to get a piece of white board where you can lay out your shop to scale. I used 1" = 1 foot. Draw the out side of your future shop and using the same scale, place every piece of equipment you have into the shop using the same scale. Some people use cutouts so they can move the pieces around. The time invested in doing this will pay for itself a thousand fold. When you have everything in place on the drawing, if you don't have enough room, increase the size by adjusting the building size on paper instead of finding out after the building is built.

The result of doing this is when you move in every piece will be exactly where it should be and you'll feel like the shop was built just for you and how you like to work.

Enjoy, Fred
 
Minimum size i you want to forge would be the aforementioned 20 x 24. Now that assumes only one big overheard door. You you have a 10 foot wide door at both ends, then you might want to go a bit bigger. My shop is 20 x 24 and I have two genders, a metal cutting bandsaw, a big rolling toolbox and a flor standing drill press on one side. I have a 16 foot work bench fridged and space for steel on the closed end. the other wall has my 24 inch paragon, quenching talks, a spot previously occupied by a 25 pound hammer and my press in the corner up by the door. My anvil and forge sit in the middle of the floor up by the doors and I still have lots of room in the center of the shop. That is where I have been planning to put in a second bench with a post vice......for 5 years. LOL. on the front wall in the corner opposite the press, I have a wall locker for all ofmy chemicals, braised, adhesives, etc and a space to store bar stock next to it.
 
The proper size is "huge!"
Seriously- you can build a bigger shop than you think you need, and wall it off inside to make it easier to heat/cool. If you need more air-conditioned/heated area, you can move walls to make it bigger.
 
My shop is 24x36, and it's pretty crowded. But, I have a well equipped hot shop with hammer and press, great metal and wood sawing capacity, a good row of grinders, big welding capacity, a coal forge even, a sword length tempering oven, big knee mill and lathe, lots of bench space and finishing area, and a bit of storage. It does all fit and work, and it's reasonably well arranged I feel. I'm going to have to shoehorn in a LARGE surface grinder and a sword forge soon though, and then it will be outright cramped. I will have to perhaps sell off my large power hacksaw and eliminate a lot of storage at that point.

I definitely see an additional, larger shop in my future when I can afford it. Where else to put the badass air hammers I eventually have to own?
 
Mine is 14x50 and it's never big enough.This was the biggest I could go do to city laws.For heat I have panels in the ceiling witch gives a nice even heat everywhere in my shop and it don't take any wall space.
 
My shop is a 20'x24' attached garage. With 3 anvils, grinders a surface grinder, forges an 1100# oak stump and 3 work benches, vides, piles of metal and other crap I would be hard pressed to go into anything less than 40x20 and that would hopefully have more. I have two commercial spaces I'm negotiating on and both are around 2000 sq ft with mezzanines for my plumbing and knife shop combined.
 
Brian,Whe I started long in the summer of 2007, i had a LOT of trouble finding a shop anywhere within 10 miles of me for less than $900 a month that would let you "weld" I just lucked into the one I have back in like November of of 2007. It was $285 a month for 480 sq feet including electricity as long as I didn't get crazy and is still $315 a month. The complex has like 100 small units and has been owned free and clear since the current owner's father who built it in like 1971, paid off the loan in the early 90's. In a perfect world, i would take over the one that backs up to me, tear out the wall and have a 48x 20 space with cross ventilation, which would be nice when forging in Florida most of the year. I just can't justify the cost even though it is probably available now.
Brian Ayres said:
My shop is a 20'x24' attached garage. With 3 anvils, grinders a surface grinder, forges an 1100# oak stump and 3 work benches, vides, piles of metal and other crap I would be hard pressed to go into anything less than 40x20 and that would hopefully have more. I have two commercial spaces I'm negotiating on and both are around 2000 sq ft with mezzanines for my plumbing and knife shop combined.
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jdm61 said:
Brian,Whe I started long in the summer of 2007, i had a LOT of trouble finding a shop anywhere within 10 miles of me for less than $9000 a month that would let you "weld" I just lucked into the one I have back in like November of of 2007. It was $285 a month for 480 sq feet including electricity as long as I didn't get crazy and is still $315 a month. The complex has like 100 small units and has been owned free and clear since the current owner's father who built it in like 1971, paid off the loan in the early 90's. In a perfect world, i would take over the one that backs up to me, tear out the wall and have a 48x 20 space with cross ventilation, which would be nice when forging in Florida most of the year. I just can't justify the cost even though it is probably available now.
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I lucked out in that the owners of the buildings are my customers as well really good friends. The buildings also have an art focus with 4 galleries and two workshops in them already. I have a brand new Millermatic 211 at my friends that I will finally be able to have in my shop.

The real challenge isn't in building your shop big enough. It's in not filling it up with too much stuff once you have room.

I do think when you build your shop forethought on layout is important. Nothing worse than setting up your workbench and grinders and realizing it's a 50' walk round trip between them.
 
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