Building a new shop--tips, ideas?

[swervin ervin]

I built a 24x30 back in 98. I wish now I had went with 30x40, but hindsight is 20/20, as they say. I guess it can never be big enough. Although I'll never have over one vehicle in it at one time. It's big enough for me the way it is. I guess if I were doing a frame off, my space would be real limited.

Anyway, I went with 8' ceilings, which is all I wanted. It would have been nice with 10 or 12, but I wanted it to look decent from the outside also, and not out of proportion with my house.

Make sure you go with 4 mil poly for the moisture barrier under the concrete, so you can paint the floor if you ever decide to. Depending on what your plans are for the shop, you may not need to run piping for air. A hose real works just as good for me. If you do go with piping, PVC will need external grounding. As the air goes through the PVC, it causes static electricity, and will ignite gas fumes in the shop. Personally, I would go with copper piping myself.

Add floor drains so you can rinse it down. Don't make the mistake I did and put it right smack dab in the middle of the garage door. This gripes me every time I get under my truck with a creeper.

There are a ton of things you can do. Make a good plan on what you want because it's a lot easier to do it now, than later.

As you probably know, the needs for a mechanical garage are a lot different than one for wood working. It's tough to try and use either one for both. Grease don't mix well with wood or wood with grease.