Man shop Ideas
 

I am trying to save up and build a shop sometime in the next few months. I know a few basic things that I am shooting for. I thought I would bounce it off of the brilliant minds here and see if I am missing anything. ;)

60x40x12ft tall metal building
6 inch concrete slab
2 large doors (probably roll up but maybe barn style) and 1 man door
Fully plumbed for multiple air outlets
High bay fluorescent lights because I HATE dark areas when I’m trying to work
Eventually a lift of some sort, still haven’t decided exactly which style.
Vented roof and an exhaust fan for the Texas heat
I don’t think it will be insulated in any way.
Some sort of floor sealant…still deciding on that as well
Plenty of electrical outlets for power tools including my cracker box welder, air compressor, maybe even an upright mill and lathe if I can find some nice used ones.
Some sort of internal structure that will support a 2 axis overhead hoist
Of course lots of bench and work areas along with storage bins

So anyway, is there anything that I have missed? Any tips or suggestions that I should know when planning construction? Anything you wish you would have done differently when you built yours. By the way, this will be behind my house and I plan to spend A LOT of time there so I want it to be perfect. I plan to use it for everything from restoring cars/trucks to changing the spark plug on the riding lawn more. Not to mention my everyday tinkering and playing around (beer drinking). :blah:

Re: Man shop Ideas
 

Sounds good, But I would definitely put insulation in. Will help with the heat. And being that big I would probably put in 2 exhaust fans. One on each end. one to pull air in and the other to push it out. And I would probably take it up to 14' ceilings. A friend of mine has a garage with 12' ceilings and a lift. unless your short your having to be hunched over under a truck or car because you can't raise it high enough before hitting the ceiling . well at least have the roof raised in the lift area.

Re: Man shop Ideas
 

Be sure to have big doors on both ends, for plenty of airflow. (But being that size it probably will anyway.) Saying this because our shop doesn't & it makes it that much hotter!

Re: Man shop Ideas
 

60x40x12?

12 = ceiling height? My uncle has 15ft ceilings in his shop, he cant lift his trucks all the way up.

Other than that good idea!

Re: Man shop Ideas
 

Good points. I should have clarified; I plan for it to have 12 ft eves and a peak of 14 or 15 ft. I’m about 5’10”, so that should be decent enough for me to work under my lifted K5 or my 2500 4x4 Ram, right? Of course it depends a lot on whether it’s a tire lift or a frame lift. I am leaning towards frame.

As far as the insulation goes, I know you are right it is just money that I could put other places. If I did insulate what type should I use, the blow in stuff or the plastic layer type that goes between the structure and the outer tin?

Re: Man shop Ideas
 

Alright, taller it is! :metal:

Anybody have an idea of what is optimum, 16ft, 18ft peak??? We don't get any snow so it will be a fairly flat slope, probably 1:12.

Re: Man shop Ideas
 

I've seen that foil type used inside the skin, between the structure.

Toilet and wash sink....for sure

Couch, TV, beer fridge and satellite to hide from the wifey....

Re: Man shop Ideas
 

Lots of tools,a refridgerator, a stereo, and maybe a t.v. Oh yeah, you'll need a big a$$ shop fan. Mario.

Re: Man shop Ideas
 

A/C.


I know, I know, but you said "perfect"!

Its only money, right?
I agree on some type of insulation definately. Or at least at some point in the near future. I made sure to fully insulate my 3 car garage (attached to house) and it doesn't get hotter than 85 or colder than 55. A little relief when its over 100 outside.

Re: Man shop Ideas
 

Definitely a water supply and probably a deep sink of some sort. It's always nice to be able to wash smaller parts or even your self, and also good for washing the shop floor down which reminds me, water drainage. You also want to make sure you have good drainage around the shop to keep water from flowing into the shop during bad rain storms, or hurricanes like you may feel a part of soon. Direct lighting over your benches and tool areas. I would draw out what you envision and walk yourself thru a project to see if your plan is workable. Storage of parts, engines, frames and body parts, spacing of tooling and equipment. You mentioned exhaust fan, remember that will come in handy for when your grinding, welding or painting, make sure it's of adequate size. Designate a corner for a office for storage of books, files, plans, a dustless area for the computer to talk to us, or just a place to sit and think. Think about leaving a corner open in case you want to erect a pvc or pipe frame paint booth. Good luck and enjoy, building a shop is as much fun as building a truck.

Re: Man shop Ideas
 

All good points. I do have to point out that it will be about 75 yards from my house and there is a dry creek bed in between. There will be power run overhead by the power company, but I am not sure what to do about water. Because of the solid rock creek bed, I cant run a buried pipe. I could possibly run some sort of flexible UV resistant piping on the surface or something...still not sure about water. I have also thought about a small 200-or-so gallon tank trailer that I could pull to the house and fill up then take back to the shop for hand washing/general use. It will probably just drain out away from the building. I plan to have a self-contained parts washer for the major parts cleaning. As far as toilet, that is a whole other problem. Doubt it is possible, however, because of the remoteness of my property, the north side of the shop will easily double as a urinal ;)

I have already gone over this in my head. I eventually want a 2x4 and plastic sheet “booth” to try my hand at spraying different coatings.

Re: Man shop Ideas
 

I'd say 20 tops. But 18 should do just find, with about 6'6 under the truck, that is if the lift you get goes that high.

Re: Man shop Ideas
 

I built my shop with 16' roof. I can lift my 70 4x4 all the way up and have plenty of clerance up top and at 6'2" I can walk under it without hunching.
The vinyl lined fiberglass insulation is very easy to install.
You might even think about a safe of some kind. I like the kind that get set in with concrete when the slab is built.
You should get roll up doors. If you get track doors it can interfere with overhead space. Power doors are nice to.
An alarm?
Space for wharehouse pallet racks? They will hold most anything.

Re: Man shop Ideas
 

I recommend a MIN. of 14' clear below the ceiling. As been said already be aware of the o.h. door tracks and raised door when positioning a lift. I would also not go without insulation but be sure that the place can be sealed of from birds or they will get into the insul. and build nest. AC is pretty easy to do if you have good insul. One large or a couple small window units work fine if you keep the doors closed. Make sure you have 220 power for all the heavy duty stuff and I would go with a min. of 200A. panel.

My dad has a pole barn with one o.h. door and one man door. 12" of insul in the ceiling and 6" of insul in the walls. All drywalled, no windows and one AC unit. He also has two old style piston lifts (which suck). He can keep it at 75 all day long in 100 deg summer heat.

Re: Man shop Ideas
 

My shop is 40 x 60 with 14 foot sides. I don't know how high the peak is. I'm pretty satisfied with my shop's size but hate the fact that there is only one large door and it is not wide enough! Going in with a motor home or a loaded hay trailer is a pain. Heck, just having my 69's large side mirrors makes for a tight fit. I would like a big door on the opposite end for sure.

Lots of good suggestions but I'm thinking you need to run a high speed internet line out there so you can connect to your buddies when you're in the man cave!!!!

Re: Man shop Ideas
 

Good one Yukon. Definitely need to access the board without having to get all cleaned up and inside.

Phone drop might be good too - so you can order pizza...

Re: Man shop Ideas
 

I have 15' 7" from the floor to the trusses in mine and I have a truck lift. I am 6'2" and I can stand under mine with a truck, Suburban or Excursion on it.

Might not be your "cup of tea"......but we have a stripper pole also!!!

Re: Man shop Ideas
 

I really appreciate the input guys. I am a licensed electrician and currently I work for the largest electrical distributor in the world. So don’t worry, this thing will be lit up like the 4th of July and have an outlet about every two feet. :lol: It will be getting its own meter loop with a 200-amp main so I will never be without “Juice”.

Y’all have really got me thinking about the whole “A/C” thing. I have never really thought about that because so few people around here have it in shops, but you know, why not??? I think I am going to build the building myself from 5in pipe and C purlin so it probably won’t be a kit. I will have to get a few quotes on insulation costs. Also, I would like to have industrial style roll up doors (no tracks) but if I had to save a little cash somewhere, how bad would barn doors be??? I guess keeping it fairly airtight would be harder in that instance.

Re: Man shop Ideas
 

Polly type spray foam insulation would probably be $15,000. Batt would be about $10K I bet.

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Down here I can not get insurance with barn doors because of the wind rating or lack of a rating I should say.

Something else to consider when you do get a lift. Do you want a stationary lift or one you can move around. I bought a Autolifters lift and it can be moved around even with a car on it. What is nice is it can be moved outside to do dirty work like power washing the under carrage.......

You have to have a driveway bell for the shop to.

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You can find mid grade roll up non insulated doors for $700. I have 2 10x12 and 2 12x 14 and I didnt pay more than $625 for each. Roll up IS the way to go!!!

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D@mn, didn't expect quite that much. Gonna have to keep saving.

Good point, I will have to do more research on this. I had always invisioned it being stationary, but you bring up a good point.

That's a reasonable price, and I only plan on getting two so I can probably afford that. What are the dimensions of your shop?

Re: Man shop Ideas
 

Well, my uncle has a 91 Cummins 4x4 D350 SRW. So it looks like it has a 4" lift. And we put a utility body on it last summer. He hates the low ceiling. He also cant put his 96' Powerjoke 4x4 all the way up either.

Re: Man shop Ideas
 

I would consider attic space ,60 x 40 is big (mine is 30 x 40 and packed now) ,but you will be suprised at how quickly it fills up. my roof is 5 on 12 and I ordered trusses with attic space only 5 dollars more ,so I have an additional 8 x 40 storage space in attic with attic ladder which limits what you can put up there but saves floor space . good decision to go with taller cieling wish I had did that only 9 ft now ,good luck and there is nothing like having a shop to work in it beats being a gravel mechanic anyday

Re: Man shop Ideas
 

I have a 40x60 with 16' side walls with metal span trusses. I wanted the heighth in case I bought an RV.

One thing I wished I had done was to install a couple floor drains.
Also, I have a friend that just built a shop for business and he installed a 4" floor vent to hook up exhaust to vent to the outside through the slab. That sounds elaborate, but it would be less than a hundred bucks to lay that out before you had your slab poured.