Within reason, y'all. Wife gave me the thumbs up to build a new shop. I'm thinking 32x48x10 range. Radiant in floor heat. I'll section off part of it for a wood shop, the rest for wrenching and storage. Wood shop will have dust collection which I don't have now. Just getting started thinking about it, but anything anyone did and loves or wished they would have done, let me know your thoughts.
Hello I just built a 12 x 20 workshop next to my house under the deck on the side. This end of the house has a garage under the house so we cut a door in the ciderblock foundation for entry into the new shop from inside the house. Before the sheet rock went in I ran all sorts of wiring for a shop circuit breaker panel and AC outlets, 230 VAC air conditioner outlets and a 50 Amp welder and or plasma cutter outlet. Also I wanted a nice radio so wiring for a 13 speaker home theater was wired in with 2 -12” subwoofers built into the ceiling to save space for a Marantz receiver resting in a floating TV stand and Sony Bravia 49” flat screen above using the Dolb Atmos setup for 3D sound with an Atmos DVD player. Also some LED Can lights in the ceiling that shine down on the work tables. How about a wood stove to get a little heat from those wood scraps? What tools and radio will u have?
32 X 48 is good starting point.. Look at roof trusses for bonus room above!! Dry storage is always a plus!!
Fun project. I went 12' so I could have a 10' garage door for taller vehicles. Wish I'd had put in some conduit for some floor outlets for table saw & stuff. Conduit under the floor to save wire cost for the far wall from the breaker panel. Airlines under the slab too, from compressor area to a couple wall locations. Do have Ceiling outlets, hang down trouble lights & extension cords. A 4"x6" beam in ceiling across 5 trusses, with eybolts down thru ceiling , (hang moose ...lift heavy stuff) Drain ,a slight circle taper to drain, 5' diameter or so, where vehicle will go, keep floor dry=, & salt/snow melt to drain but the work shop areas , level 36X 52, tall side heated. short side, cold storage (toy box): Radial arm saw bench above storage drawer, (really long stuff stick out man door) .. .
You probably already know, but for radiant, insulate under the slab. Depending on how you build, insulate the perimeter of slab/block. I wish I'd done some under slab piping and wiring runs for various things. Maybe a small bathroom or utility tub. Maybe a small room as an "office" that's air sealed from the wood shop. Wood dust is like water, it finds a way into everything. Make it bigger. I ran switched outlets in the ceiling for lights. Put in more outlets than you think you'll need. Turns out I don't really use the sectional garage door the way I thought I would. Seal, and insulate, insulate, insulate. BIG eaves, unless you plan to have gutters. Mine are 12" and there's too much splash back onto the siding. Been thinking I should do a lean-to on each eave side. Cabinets with fixed shelves suck. Do drawers. I just got a HF dust collector a while back and it REALLY helps the planer do a better job of...planing. Keeps most of the dust out of the air. For the rest, I have a hanging air filter. Do a cyclone or similar and make the container EASY to empty. The bag on the HF is a PITA. Sorry for the book.
In my old woodworking shop (now a lambing barn) I went in a different direction with my Radial Arm saw. Instead of trying to center it, I put it fairly close to one short wall, and then put a window there. Outside I put a set of rolls. Because my shop was 24 feet, I could cut a 24 foot board anywhere I wanted too (24 feet of rolls outside the window). To make the rolls I just used 4 inch PVC pipe since a 4 inch hole saw could produce wooden slugs to put inside the rolls. Threaded rod served as axles. Just a little ways away, I put my planner that fit into a recess so that it could be a flat bench, or fitted with the planner. In that way, again, I could plane a 22 foot long board by slipping my board out the window onto those rolls. When I did not want the planer in the way, a cable and hand cranked winch lifted it up out of the way. Most of my woodworking was not big stuff, so once I broke the long lumber down into shorter sections, my other tools could fit in other areas of my shop and work the wood up (table saw, routing, drilling, etc). But I did this because I wanted to save money; on building the shop and on heating it.
A lot of good points here mentioned already. I would have outlets on perimeter in conduits in case I wanted to move them. Or, just add more. Dust collector would be central with metal duct along the walls with blast gates for every tool that needs it. Vinyl flex on a short run to the tools. Have to consider static electricity. Maybe an air line spool overhead near where assembly will be done. A large, level, low, build platform cause kneeling down staining and painting is not gooder anymore. This size shop is out of my range to comment on lighting or heating, but I'll follow along. We are hoping for a move soon with an outbuilding that will be a new shop with dry storage.
I've been thinking about making a 1/4" cowling at the planer out feed that the dust collector could be attached to. A lot of the planer shavings end up out the side and miss the collector hose. A little containment will go a long way. I have had dust collector bags blow off the top of the unit because the operator failed to check that the straps were tight.
One thing I have noticed in most shops/garages is not enough lighting. I cheaped out on lightning in my shop and regret it, but budget didn't allow more, but can add later Put in as many fixtures as you have room for so when people come in they have to wear sunglasses to see anything!! If you put them on different switches you can turn some off if needed I hate trouble lights, flash lights, moveable lamps, etc, but sometimes a necessary evil
Also, build 3 times bigger than what you need now, you always accumulate more "treasures" over the years
Looks like some good woodworkers on here and the guys do have you covered. My old barn was here. I have 12 ft ceilings with a 10 ft sliding door. Comes in handy for work and getting tall trucks and my old camper in here. Newer one is to tall of course. I wish I had room for a auto shop. Enjoy your build.
I had dust collection, but also had a big cleanout in the floor. It was bricked and about 2 feet deep so when I swept the shop, I just lifted a steel cover (tin) and swept the shavings into the pit where my dust collector blew it outside so I could scoop it up with my tractor and haul it away. Beside my "rolls" I had a narrow, but long A-Frame that had plexiglass, but open underneath. It was about 4 feet off the ground to allow air to circulate, and that worked well as a solar lumber kiln. I would pull my boards out of that, then set them on the rolls, then go inside, lift my window, and then roll the board across my radial arm saw for cross-cutting and planning.
Every outlet in my shop was 20 amp, with 12 AWS wire, only 4 outlets on a circuit with 20 amp breakers obviously. I highly recommend that. If nothing else, use the #12 AWS wire so you can upgrade the circuit breakers and outlets to 20 amps later. My outlets were spaced 4 feet apart.
I had a floor outlet in the center of my shop: all it did was fill with fine sawdust that was a pain to keep clean. I will never do that again.
Welcome to the Hoard (although I see you’ve been a member since January...)@creekin Nice to see you chime in
Yea, Run the conduit to a few places, if not needed plug it , cap it at floor level, takes some planning to put it next to where protected & needed, I cut a channel to my 230v table saw , PIA to do , but much better than a trip hazard.
Thanks! Wish I had some of the carpentry skills of some of you guys! Wouldn't be much help except hold this or help me carry this, that is 90% of my childhood woodworking experience with my dad Sounds like lodgedtree has some good ideas!
I try to tell people both what did work, and what did not. A lot of what I did however was in trying to make a small shop work well. Mine was only 24 x 12, BUT I also made wooden models. This is not my best work, but this is what I made for models anyway. Tractors, skidders, trucks, etc. I thought about doing it again in my retirement just for fun.
My boss is actually in the process of building a shop, what I told him is what I tell everyone: spend your money where it counts, mainly insulation everywhere and lots of it!! Make things as energy efficient as possible (within reason of course), and ask as many people what they would change about their setup and what works well for them
