Planning a shop build, any suggestions?

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75slant6

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Hello ladies and gents, I’m in the planning stages of a 40x60 shop and open to any suggestions/ideas y’all might have.
A few plans I have are 2 12x10 or 12x12 doors in the 60’ side of the shop and I plan to put heat in the floor. Aside from that, I’m all ears.
 
Make it bigger than you originally plan. That's all I got.
 
Take 1/4” graph paper and mark out the building using 1/4” blocks per 3”

then measure everything you want to put in it and cut out that shape doing the same thing. You will see how quickly the shop will fill up. You have to leave 3’ around cars to open doors and move safe around and not chip paint. A bathroom is good, heated floor is awesome. Plus how high is also a question you need to ask because most lifts need to clear ceilings. Plus add ceiling fans.


It gets crazy! Been there done that. 30’x50’ was barely big enough.
 
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Consider that the doors should be on the south side of the building or on the east side.
 
Make sure the cement floor is thick enough for a hoist. You may not plan on it now BUT if you decide later you will be ready.
 
Make it bigger than you originally plan. That's all I got.
Original plan was a 40x60, then thought I might step it down to a 30x40, then decided to go the right thing and go back to a 40x60 plus a lean-to on one of the sides for a “barn area”
 
Original plan was a 40x60, then thought I might step it down to a 30x40, then decided to go the right thing and go back to a 40x60 plus a lean-to on one of the sides for a “barn area”
I believe you will be much happier with 40 x 60. Mine is only 24 x 28 and there are times I cannot even turn around good. I'm thankful for it, don't get me wrong. I know many people don't have anything, but dammit, I could have gone twice that when I did it and I didn't. Maybe one day.
 
I'd plan for a lean-to on both sides. You can enclose one or both later if you want.

Seems like a lot of people that I know (myself included) would add more outlets and more lighting if we could turn back time.

It's hard to plan for every possibility. Good luck.
 
As mentioned above, add LOTS of outlets and lighting. If you are welding or heating, make sure your service will handle as much 220 as you need. If you have a compressor add plumbing so you can locate drops throughout the shop. Insulate and put plywood on the lower walls. A bathroom is a VERY nice upgrade. Definitely add the lean-to's - there is no such thing as a shop that's too big. Being able to get stuff out of the weather is a godsend. A pure luxury I added this year was a mini-split so I have heat and A/C in my shop. It's almost indecent how nice that is. Good luck, and post lots of pictures!
 
I'd plan for a lean-to on both sides. You can enclose one or both later if you want.

Seems like a lot of people that I know (myself included) would add more outlets and more lighting if we could turn back time.

It's hard to plan for every possibility. Good luck.

As mentioned above, add LOTS of outlets and lighting. If you are welding or heating, make sure your service will handle as much 220 as you need. If you have a compressor add plumbing so you can locate drops throughout the shop. Insulate and put plywood on the lower walls. A bathroom is a VERY nice upgrade. Definitely add the lean-to's - there is no such thing as a shop that's too big. Being able to get stuff out of the weather is a godsend. A pure luxury I added this year was a mini-split so I have heat and A/C in my shop. It's almost indecent how nice that is. Good luck, and post lots of pictures!
Plan is to do a double outlet box every 8-10’ along the walls. And plenty of lighting. Most likely will be doing 2” of closed cell spray foam on the walls and ceiling/roof.
 
High lift doors and side mount openers. I can't understand why that is not standard. Unless you have a loft of course.
 
In floor heat is the way to go. Make sure you have a floor drain and plumbing for a sink. Use LED lighting. If I had a chance to go my shop over I would put an under floor lift in and not a post style lift. That way you can park over top of it and not have the post in the way when you are working on a vehicle or a tractor and not using the lift. If it is in the budget I would do spray foam insulation, I did with mine and it saves me a lot of propane in the winter.
 
Consider that the doors should be on the south side of the building or on the east side.
Doors will be on the southeast side of the building and there’s a big weeping willow tree on the west side of where the shop will be, so it should stay nice and cool in the shop in late afternoon/evening during the summer.
 
Put the air compressor in a separate enclosure. I did that on my garage addition and I like having that noisy beast outside of the main work area.
I made the compressor enclosure big enough to also hold my blasting cabinet.
I mounted the blast cabinet on wheels so I can roll it out of the enclosure.
 
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