Help me layout my new shop space

[BillaVista]

Will be moving AGAIN soon (second time in 3 months) to a new house we take posession on 3 Sep.

The garages/shops are MUCH better than I have ever been used to before - and I want to make sure I make the best of it.

There are 2 garages, a double (20x20 with a 16x7 door) and a single (23x17 with a 12x7 door). The double is attached to the house, the single is attached to the double. I get the single and half of the double (only 'law' I have to abide by is that Laurie has to be able to park her van in the double, closest bay to the house, in the winter)

Here are some pics: (none of the crap in them is mine - shot these while the current owners are still there)

Outside:






The 23x17 single, has the electrical panel, 240v available at the panel, no ceiling or insulation/drywall



Right side of the single


Left side of single (building inspector checking the panel, slicks are from the POs '68 Coronet)


The double, FULL of crap.


Right side of double


Left side of double - door on side wall goes to house, door on back wall goes to back yard)


So anyway, so far my plan is to have the single as the "shop" - keep the dirty and metal work there, build a steel welding table for it. Also to insulate and drywall them both (the single needs a ceiling too) and put on a nice coat of bright white paint.

Other than that - I'm trying to decide how to best lay stuff out in my space.
So far I figure I will put the welder and welding table close to the panel in the single, put the compressor in the back right corner of the double, and I'll prob want to put in more outlets and lights.

Other than that - I'd love to hear ideas/opinions/experiences.

Thanks

[camo]

your on the right track Bill. insulate and drywall is the first step.

can you knock out the wall between the double and single ?

if so i would make actually but up a new wall making the wife parking spo enclosed single car parking area. the open up you space to on large area. the key to small shops is storage and orginazation. the first thing i would do is find some strudy steel shelfing that goes to the roof. keep as much stuuf as you can neatly store on shelfs as that crap has a way of eating up valauble floor space. the more you can make use of the full height of the building the more work area it will leave availabe for your rig and tools. think vertical.

[camo]

also i like to put all my benches, and machines on caster wheels so i can move them around easy. build your welding table out of steel and put wheels on it.

[ironpig70]

i like the idea of using the single as the "shop" cause if you mess up the wifes van your in trouble as camo said get some racks and i would advise the steel pallet racking from home depot or the like and whats cool about it is it's 4' deep and if you made it a "wall" between the van and whats left of the double you could stack stuff from both side while added a divide between yours and hers. also the idea of wheels on your table is a great one or you can use trailer jacks w/ wheels this way it rolls and it adjustable. defently need to do some sheetrock, add a ton of outlets and plumb some air great to see you getting some space. and lastly i took 4 years of drafting and one thing i learned was to get a piece of 1/4" x 1/4" squares drafting paper and draw out your space. start with the outline then add the doors and windows. then make templates of all your stuff. believe me its easier to move your "mock" compressor three times than it is to move the real one once

[plunkinberry]

Could you divide the larger one so as to isolate the wife's space? It could then double as a paint booth if that is ever needed?

My projects seem to spill into all available space at time. The requirement that she be able to park inside during the winter only is simpler to work with, rather than it being a requirement for EVERY night.

I would add lots of electric outlets and lighting. I would add dedicated plugs for the welder and air compressor. I would think ahead to see if you may want a blast cabinet or other large equipment in the future.

I agree with Camo regarding putting your stuff on casters - AND don't be cheap, get the big ones with good locking mechanisms.

Congrats. Looks like you have a nice, fun project to look forward to for the early fall.

[HandBuilt]

Welcome to the neighbourhood! Ottawa isn't exactly the wheeling capital of the universe but there are a lot of nice trails to check out if you're willing to travel a bit. The Wolf buggy should be a lot of fun if you get out into logging country.

I say seal/paint the floor, insulate, drywall, run the wiring in indust. conduit on the wall surface so you can modify easily. Tons of shelving up high to hide the useless stuff, and as many lights as you can afford.

[tsm1mt]

First, as already mentioned, break out the graph paper and the tape measure.. measure what you have and make little to-scale boxes and start arranging 'em.

I did mine on the computer this time. Makes it easy to move things around and get a feel for where stuff should go.

My layout tried to have common work-area between a few tools. In my old shop, the band-saw, drill press, and grinder shared a common "stand here and use it" space. I'm a one man operation, and I haven't felt the need to cut something while drilling it AND grinding the far end.. so why give each tool it's own "space"?

As far as the specific space you'll have..

I'm with everyone else on making the single bay the work bay, provided that's enough room for you.

It might work better for *you* if you made the single stall "parking" and the double your work area, but then your wife will have to walk THROUGH the shop to get to the car.. and that won't work too well.

So.. I'd paint/seal the floor, wire the heck out of it, insulate, drywall the single stall and make it the shop.

I like Camo's "put it on wheels" idea.

Only heat this one-car shop.

Leave the "parking area" unheated and unfinished. Stash crap in the ceiling. Shelve it as much as you can and use it primarily for storage.

DO put the compressor in the 2-car shop. It could also be a spot for relatively clean but seldom used tools. Seems like a good place for the tubing bender (need the room anyhow..), the hydraulic press, and whatever else you only need once in a while and it's in the way the rest of the time.

You'll use that stuff so infrequently it won't matter that the shop isn't heated.


I'd try to lay out the single-stall shop in a manner that you can "sheet" the walls and have a decent painting area, should you ever decide to squirt some paint on something.

[Junk Driver]

I say if you gonna sheetrock the shop area, ya might as well do the whole deal. It'll just be a couple more bucks anyways. I could just hear the girls now!! Why the hell didnt you make my spot all pretty like your shop? I agree wire the hell out of it but as well plumb the air the hell out of it too. Having the outlet right there is something you never will complain about.

Only thing I got to add, is only a couple more provinces to go and you can wheel Alberta!!

[unimogken]

To put a wall in to divide up the big garage I think will be more work than it'd be worth. You would have to worry about the garage door and it wouldn't be able to be floor to ceiling.

Besides all the stuff mentioned above (wiring, air plumbing, drywall, insulation, floor coating and lighting.)

I would put the noisy things like the air compressor in the bigger garage so you won't have to hear it. I would replace the connecting door between the garages with a wider door like they use in a wheelchair house/apt. I would also add a gable mounted fan to pull out any bad/hot air out of there. It also appears that there is some useable storage in the big garage up in the ceiling. There should be some room above that sheetrock.

I just bought a house with a garage and I have all of these dreams also. Our move in day got bumped back a week so it gave us 3 days to move everything in. I was going to run wire and airlines in that week that we lost and get a couple coats of floor sealer down. But that didn't happen. Now the garage is FULL OF SHIAT! I think sometime early next year i'm going to have a 40ft container dropped in the driveway and fill it full of stuff to get the garage done then move it all back into its designated areas.

Have fun!

[K2Orion]

Keep the single as your shop.
Put in a wider door between the 2.
Maybe put in a door to the outside from the single other than the overhead. So you can get in and out of the shop without opening the overheads and losing all your heat in the winter.
Definitely need to tear out the asphalt and pour a concrete slab twice as big as what's there. You will end up in the driveway sooner or later no matter how big the shop.
Put the compressor in the double along with all the big stuff that doesn't get used all the time. I'm a big fan of putting the compessor in the attic if it will fit and the trusses will support the weight.
Wire, Light, and Ventilate the hell out of it.
A humongass stereo.

Do you plan to keep the rig in the single?

[Scott Jensen]

Originally Posted by camo

can you knock out the wall between the double and single ?

if so i would make actually but up a new wall making the wife parking spo enclosed single car parking area. the open up you space to on large area. the key to small shops is storage and orginazation. the first thing i would do is find some strudy steel shelfing that goes to the roof. keep as much stuuf as you can neatly store on shelfs as that crap has a way of eating up valauble floor space. the more you can make use of the full height of the building the more work area it will leave availabe for your rig and tools. think vertical.

i agree w/ camo completly, knock out the wall and put it over to make the wife's garage the single

[DRM]

I don't think there is any other option Bill - the single is "shop" and the double is "parking" for the rig and wife's van.

Maybe utilize part of the double for storage if you can, but confine your "shop" to the easily isolated single area. This makes the wife VERY happy, and keeps the double as a nice, neat, usable, home-type garage.

[frankenfab]

I'd run a wall down the center of the double, and change it to 2 overhead doors. That'd make it into 3 singles. With 3 singles, your wife's van would be isolated. You could do the messy work, in one, and keep the grinding dust and so forth off all your tools and equipment. You could also use it as a paint booth. I'd get a tool shed that attatches to an outside wall. Put your air compressor in there, along with seldom used equipment (shop crane, engine stand, etc.).

[BillaVista]

Great ideas, thanks for the help.

I don;t think I'll be dividing the double for a couple of reasons - first it's beyond my time and $ budget, or at least would eat more of it than it would be worth, especially since the door would have to be changed. But most importantly, Laurie only really needs the parking space in winter, so in summer I can have one big clean shop, with the fab 'n' metal shop next door, then in winter I still have the single shop undisturbed, and my half of the double can either be a parking space for truck or buggy and/or storage for the big, seldom used items as mentioned.

silly question - what's the best technique for insulating and drywalling? (never done it other than patch repairs, and I especially suck at taping and mudding but I'd like this to look nice too)

Any one ever use fluorescents or other lights mounted low on the walls to floodlight down low under rigs?

tsm1mt - what program did you use for layout on the computer?

[PekingMan]

Originally Posted by BillaVista

what program did you use for layout on the computer?

VISIO is a great 2-D drawing program that has tons of stencils ranging from electrical symbols to architectural walls & structures to shop & storage equipment. Extremely easy to use and learn. HIGHLY recommended. Fairly cheap too or free through Kazaa (although I paid for mine as I used it extensively through my electrical engineering degrees for drawing up professional schematics). I use Visio 5, but there is a newer version out.

Oh, that lower light idea sounds really cool. Never seen it though. I wonder though, if you would either block it out by laying on the floor with your back to it or if it would blind you if you faced it?

[tsm1mt]

Originally Posted by BillaVista

silly question - what's the best technique for insulating and drywalling? (never done it other than patch repairs, and I especially suck at taping and mudding but I'd like this to look nice too)

Since I have a steel sided "pole barn" shop, I had "Corbond" insulation sprayed on. R-21, sticks to the metal, is it's own vapor barrier, and I didn't have to lift a finger ('cept to write the check, of course!)

I did half the wiring before the Corbond, half after. Then sheetrocked.

Bought a stack of 4'x12'x5/8" (fireboard!). I did things backwards. You're supposed to start at the top, and put a cut piece on the bottom. I put my outlets at 48" from the floor, so I started with a full sheet of drywall, notched for the outlets, at the floor. It goes horizontally.

I then had to cut pieces for the top (10' walls).

On the ceiling, it runs across the trusses (one 12' sheet (USE A JACK!) should grab 6 trusses).

I hired someone to do the fire-tape job, then we thought we needed to do a better job, so my wife and I spent a few days sanding and re-mudding.. it doesn't look a whole lot better.

Any one ever use fluorescents or other lights mounted low on the walls to floodlight down low under rigs?

I painted my floor, walls, and ceiling white.. and hung 12 4' 2x40w fixtures in my 34x28 thus far..

tsm1mt - what program did you use for layout on the computer?

I've used Visio in the past, but this time I used gDiag (IIRC) under Linux.

This is the "air layout" diagram, with the "shop layout" under it. There's another variation with some details about where I was going to wire and how, as well.



More Shop pictures

You'll find pics of the floor painting, the wiring, the insulating, the drywalling, the taping & mudding, the painting, the air plumbing and shelving throughout those galleries.

ALMOST got it done..

[K2Orion]

Any one ever use fluorescents or other lights mounted low on the walls to floodlight down low under rigs?

I think there's $$$ in this idea. I'm gonna invent baseboard lights. Kinda like baseboard radiators. Just screw em to the bottom of the wall in place of or over baseboards. Just use thick acrylic or lexan for the lense and flourescent tubes inside.


A friend of mine built a light rack when he did his own bodywork on his Chevelle in a dimly lit pole barn. A "C" shaped rack with 4 8' fixtures on it. The top 1 pointed at a downward angle, the bottom 1 pointed up and the 2 in the middle faced straight out. It was built out of 2x4s and was on casters with a power strip attached. Worked well and was mobile.

[Flatfenderman]

You may wanna consider putting corrigated steel or something similar in the fab area over the sheet rock. It's alot safer from a fire standpoint when the sparks get to flying around and easy to clean too. Here is a pic of my shop before I put all my stuff back in it. All my fab stuff is in that corner now...

Flatty