looking for things that you installed in your shop that you could not live without
I didn't have the money for a bridge crane, so I put in a 4 ton jib. Toilet Big and tall doors with drive through configuration. Big aprons.
Aprons sure help keep crap out of the shop and provide a solid place to work if you can’t get a machine inside. Tons of light. Never seems to be enough. Even some part way down the wall. Plenty of outlets along the walls. Air line plumbed in steel pipe with proper drip legs etc. A separate room for the compressor to keep the noise out helps too. Clean room or an area away from the high traffic portion to do component work. I’ve got a small room but should have done a bigger door to get in there. I’ve slowly been improving mine over the last 10 years and it’s still not close to my vision. If I only had piles of cash!!
Bathroom with a shower. We also have a fridge, microwave,seating,etc,on an upper level. Plus you need everything that Junkyard said. The shop will never be big enough.
When I build my shop, it's going to have windows. As many as I can afford. I've worked in a lot of shops and they were all dark and dreary. I get seasonal depression every year. I need natural light. One other thing is outdoor outlets for power (110, 220, etc), air, and water. I can't tell you how many times I have to run a cord or hose out the door to something. On that note, out door lighting is a must have.
I hate stairs, so rather than a split level/mezzanine I put a lean-to on the side with a 10' sidewall. Not an afterthought, incorporated into the original construction. I have 22' Eve height. 24' would have been better for the crane. It stunned me how fast height under hook disappeared.
More dreary than the filthy cobweb windows with iron bars that shops tend to wind up with? We are spoiled here in California, even in bad weather we do most work with the bay doors open.
Well around here there's at least 5 months out of the year that the doors are closed. Most industrial buildings in the US are very poorly insulated and poorly lit (including natural light). It's about slamming the thing together as quickly and cheaply as possible. But it doesn't have to be that way.
I painted all the walls and ceiling white for light refraction. I worked in shops with white sheet metal but all the framework, cees and zees were dark red....they robbed the light. I plumbed the air lines with 1" PVC, seems good enough. In the North, you want heat and insulation too. My doors are insulated too.
If you put in a concrete floor, make a thicker section where you can have a tie down ring in the floor. Make it below the service and have a steel cover so you can keep the floor level when not using it. It can come in real handy for holding things or straightening things etc.
Don't use PVC. I have personally been in a shop when a 3/4 or 1" line let go up in the rafters for no reason. Nobody hurt but we thought something had gone horribly wrong with the oxy/acteylene we were using. I would not have want to been near the shards it let go, though.
A little oil in a PVC air line makes it brittle. Add some sore of impact and it’s like a grenade when it pops. One cheaper easier method I’ve seen used is plastic airline used on trucks. I’ve run it a few places in my shop to run my oil pump and a few other stationary items.
My shop when I bought it had pvc, it was the first thing I replaced to black pipe. Money well spent. I'm for the tie downs in the floor, if you can make a decent cover for them. I used to work in a shop that had them, one tie arm was broken, the other ones the lids were constantly getting tilted off, and you would drop a forklift wheel in them, or the caster on a toolbox or rolling cart, and they were a pain much more than we ever used them. That same shop had a center section that had a sloped floor to a drain, that was covered with a pipe welded together grate. It was kind of nice if you pulled in something covered with snow, it could melt off and run all in the drain. But any time you would drop any tool, or a special bolt or fitting, etc. You know exactly where it rolled- right in between the grates. And the sloped floor was a pain to weld up anything big, it was tough to build it because the floor wasn't flat- So I wouldn't recommend a sloped to center drain floor. I have debated a overhead or jib, but I really don't have room. Plus I have a roll around gantry/a frame and forklifts so that kind of eliminates the need, and the post and arm type seem to never be in the right place, or they won't quite reach where I want to work. I have a big apron out in front of my shop, and its really nice. Big doors, tall and wide. Plenty of benches, even though I have probably 50' of bench space in my shop, I still work in a 4'x 2' spot, I still like having a lot of bench space. I like having a separate room with shelves for manual's, filters,small spare parts, etc, that is separate from the main shop. My shop doesn't have eave troughs, which is nice, because its got trees down one side, so I don't have to clean them out. But I did spring for a 8' piece of gutter right above the walk door, so when I have to stand in the rain fumbling with my keys, now I don't get wet. I like the pictures I've seen of the big bifold doors for ag machine sheds, and I think it would be nice to have a apron, that the open door created a shade for.
I also like manual wind up air hose reels. Placed in about 3-4 spots around the shop. I have a automatic one and I hate it, I love my manual wind ones.
A vintage snap on calendar
Coffee maker, recliner, day bed, hammock outside, and a super fine female to hand me tools.
I put a used oil drain with a tank outside. Built a low wheel tray for draining oil and then push it to the drain and dump.
There are so many things that once I did them I say I can't live without but here are some that really help or hurt. Light - lots of it. You can,t work if you can't see. We got a lot of HID lights free from a car dealership, put 18 of them in a 1800 sqft area. It's adequate. Also a lot 4' tubes a pass lights and over benches. Compressed air - ringed the shop with drops every 10'. Lots of reels and plug in points. Filters at every point. Insulation and heat - we burn waste oil. Why give thousands of $ worth of free heat away? I like it warm for n there. Got some surplus vidmar type cabinets for tools etc. well worth it to be able to find what you need. Wish I had bigger doors. Only went 12' high and that was a mistake. Need a bridge crame. Trolley on the beams is nice but limited. Rarely use the jib. Maybe it is in the wrong place. Should have put in a toilet but didn't want to add a septic system to the cost. Dumb move. Never enough bench space or welding/fab tables. And get good door mats to keep the crap out. Make people use them. Amazes me how many people walk in and say how nice the shop is and the stamp their muddy feet inthe middle of the floor!
Cannot EVER get enough light, even if have to add breakers and separate switches install as many as think you need then add another 20% more. Being blind is not any help but more light does add to assistance. HUGE doors where you can get what you need in and out without frustrating multiple adjustment trips. Worked in shops with door zone floor drains, central floor drain, drains at corners none seemed to be much effect other than grabbing loose tools and losing small parts to. Aprons at doors(I have NOT and regret immensely) pour the floors extra thick with tie downs and good sub grade support at least 1" clean rock leveled, compacted and sheet plastic covered. If had to do over would install air piping thru the floor concrete, to stanchions I can add air couplings as well electrical outlets to, possibly a low divider wall to one bay for bench support and electrical/air supply to run along. Will need one section of floor good and level as well smooth for welding and aligning for welding. Toilet, wash sink, shower if have room for those days get drenched in something, a place for extra clothes and maybe to sit to take a break away from the work. Sammitches even beer taste so much better if not suffocating in diesel or oil fumes.
I don't know if you can really install air lines through the floor, seems they would condense full of water terribly bad. I always pitch air lines to drains, in the direction of flow, if possible.
Come up with a design footprint for the building that appears to work once you put benches, etc, in it. Then double the size............ you'll be amazed how many shops are nowhere near big enough for everything that has to go in them once they are actually built and it's pretty much too late to do anytrhing about it.
Heat and insulation can nearly double the cost of a shop if you go with any significant R value. Up North open wings on the eave sides can be a good compromise. Only half the structure would be enclosed and insulated, the rest only covered. There you can park long term low priority projects and work on them as weather permits. The wings can be dirt floor to keep taxes down. Disadvantage of this is that, being on the eave sides, they have lower ceilings. If you try to do this on the gable ends, you always have a machine to move before you can get another in the door.
The quarry at St. Charles had some massive shops, all air sent thru lines in the floors, mostly to Tower Jib cranes where the bases were used as extra air supply tanks. Had drains on those we hit at least once a week, do not remember them ever water loading too bad. Believe that foreman told me had embedded 2" sch 40 steel pipe (Welded) in the floors to the towers, came up alongside the bases and connected with flex line. Shops always too small, would end up working on half the workload Outside under eave awnings.
Small Indoor pressure washer bay for cleaning components to knock the mud off before tearing stuff apart. Good organizational/storage racks for chains, big prybars, rigging, cribbing, chocks, jumper cables, specialty tools, etc. A good set aside area for jackstands, jacks and oil drain pans and other things that have to stay on the floor but you don’t want in the way I’ve been wondering if it would be possible to pour concrete ramps to get a machine up off the ground for easier belly pan removal and work under the machine. At work we make do with running D3-D6Ks up on 6x6 blocks for some room working under them but it still isn’t fun. Position benches under reach of cranes Definitely good lighting. I’d love to have natural light without opening doors
This is a repeat, but steel rails and anchor posts embedded in the floor. Having a place to keep racks and shelves for parts and special tools. Extra fire extinguishers. A few hooks to hang coveralls, rain gear, winter coats. Plenty of electric outlets. Think ahead about a steam cleaner, where you would put it, and how to plumb in a sump. Having a press is nice too; buy new/used or homemade. Running water if possible to hose the floor once in awhile to remove mud and dirt. There's more but I don't want to put you in the poor-house before you get going.
A good alarm system with battery back up. Mine is setup to call me, the sheriff's department, and the alarm company. Both door and motion sensors. It also sends me an e-mail if it hasn't been set by 6 pm.
Kegerator! Fill a cup a few times and you won’t need anything else but an old lazy boy recliner!
OMG, now it comes, Wait for it, Wait!>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Popcorn Machine!!!!!!! Cannot forget Popcorn machine!!
Can see cribbing timbers or crane matt timbers for crawlers to run up on, not sure would like to try to set concrete ramps and run them up on them.
Oh yes of course. Can’t be without that. Imagine all the beer belches and popcorn farts! Which brings me to a new “must have”. Ventilation!!!
Steel against concrete = very slippery.
Parts washer, shop press, and a real heavy duty bench for disassembling components. Then another lightweight bench for laying out all the cleaned pieces of a broken down component. I like to be organized.
Like timbers as tend to get some bite on them from any form of grouser.
The only thing I would add to this already growing list would be to run the rails full length all the way out to and through the aprons. Maybe a third rail to support smaller crawlers.
So if we add up all the suggestions here...……..is this a 250K shop? LOL
Sounds a little too cheap, must be using imported labor.
LOL The wife has been slacking on my back massages lately...……..told her I was going to import me a new masseuse. The look on her face told me that wasn't funny.
You get a bunch of mechanics discussing how things should be done and you would think they are all millionaires.
Depends how big. If you want just a single bay shop to work on one piece at a time, you might build the building for that, if you already have the ground. The shell of the building isn't expensive. Its the concrete, water, sewer, electric, insulation, windows, doors, compressor, overhead crane, etc. etc. etc. If you don't own the ground, and have to buy commercial zoned land, bring in water sewer elec, pour concrete, and want a 3 bay 70 x 100, I think you would be staring at $1 million. Now, if I was just wanting to get out of the sun and the wind. I think I would pour a 60' x 80' slab, and set 4 -40' high cube conexes around the outside perimeter. Then cover the center with a fabric arch building. But it doesn't get that cold by me.
I have been thinking about the container thing myself.
I've built two container barns (not used as shop). Here's one of them. There are pros and cons. Good idea if you don't intend to pour a foundation.
Can still use them on slab, set the anchor bolts at latch lugs, can then also set them Up off grade to keep more dry and taller center section.
If you're going to pour a slab, it's not really cost-effective to use the containers. They make the inside of the shop smaller and the doors are tedious to get in and out of. You get four containers and forget which one a part is stored in and you waste a lot of time. In many states, portable buildings are not subject to property tax. Stand alone containers are good for storing junk you seldom use. No tax no depreciation. Put them together with a roof and they are subject to tax.
I agree with that not being cost effective. I don't claim to be an engineer by any means. That being said, a few years ago I tore down a hog confinement building that the concrete floor sat on @ 12" concrete 'pillars' (for lack of a better term). They were spaced @ 8' apart throughout the building. So, basically they dug a bunch of 12" post holes and filled them with concrete then poured a slab over them. I'm guessing they used this method instead of a footing because this particular building didn't have any kind of a footing. Basically I was wondering if a person could get by with basically setting a container on a bunch of those 'pillars' then could just pour a slab with footings between the containers? Like I said I'm no expert by any means........
I think the purpose of pillars was to build on unstable clay or disturbed ground. The pillars get you down to solid ground below the frost line much cheaper than trying to do the same with a poured footing. Sometimes these pillars are used in conjunction with stem walls in questionable substrates. Yes, a pillar at every corner would be fine for a container. They stack em on ships several containers high with all the weight on the corners.
I'm wanting to do the container thing up the hill from my shop. I would pour sono tube pillars where the corners sit and two in the middle. (6 pillars per conex) I've done it like that on several yards. There's no reason to put concrete under them, but I want to keep them level. Then I'll probably start with just leveled and rolled base rock in the middle, but leave it low enough to add concrete to the bottom of the conex floor height. I want to be able to pull two semi's and a crane in boom dolly or multiple cranes between the conexes. Just to keep my equipment out of the weather, sun and rain. I really like the white fabric buildings I've been inside, they are like working under a skylight during the day. The initial outlay is much less- 4 conexes at $3,000 per, plus the pillars. Then the fabric roof and tube trusses. And center filled with rolled base rock. A couple years down the road add the concrete, or even a "bay" at a time.
They are designed to handle their rated load (60K# or so) with all the weight on just the 4 corners. I have found they are pretty easy to level using a bottle jack (slightly tilted) on the upper flange of the channel iron perimeter.
Built a shoestring budget shop to work out of last fall, and I'm mobile only. No machines in my shop but an occasional component. 32x40 pole barn with one 8' overhang, compacted gravel floor, 6.5" foam on exterior, R60 in ceiling. Structure materials cost $32K. Dirtwork cost $16K. 12x12 door was given to me by customer, along with a waste oil heater. Just a bare bones shop to keep my truck and tooling out of the weather. Don't have a picture of it dried in. As I get money I just add stuff to it.
When we built our shed we allowed for a container to form part of one wall. With an opening in the side, it’s made a cheap but strong extra room that we store oil and the like in. Another handy tool for a small shop are these drum trolleys. Just wheel the drum up to the machine and pump away.
I was going to put in the center stands, because I plan to cut doorways from the center of the building into the side of the conex. That way you could load things in and out of the conex without having to go from the long end. The side wall panels are what give the strength to the conex when it only has end support, and I plan to cut some of that out. A center support eliminates that problem. I've just got straight mast forklifts, with a telehandler you could maybe come from the end, but its not handy.
I've looked at a few of these in the past as part of business personal property appraisals. They work good for operations that expect to be in one place for more than a year but will eventually have to move somewhere else. Most have wood structures for roofing between two cans. The best one I've seen had asphalt for base but they only worked on trucks and components in that property. The cans were usually wired for 220 volt with welders on the inside and compressors landed on the opposite wall outside to decrease the noise. Most had some kind of heat because in this wet climate lots of slimy stuff will grow in there if not kept dry.
We had the Office versions of the Conex at the Nuke, paneled inside with 100a electric service and a separate 240 line connect for heat pump. Hot and moist in summer cold and moist in winter.
Natural Light supplement and high ceilings. I have 14' ceiling and the top 24" or so of the exterior wall is skylight material. I do not recommend the clear for any wall other than one that faces north. Use opaque. Bridge crane - I cannot tell you how handy that is. I built it from scratch and traded sawmill work for the main beams, so not a whole lot of $$$ really. Radiant tube heat and good insulation for northern areas. Apron. Eaves/overhangs and gutters on the building.
Some more things from my shop. Floor anchors are 1 3/8 Williams Form Engineering ASTM A 722 bars. Bars are anchored with a 1" plate, 40" under finish grade. Bars are in a pvc tube. Tie downs internal to the thick portion of the floor should be good to 75 tons per anchor. Bars are finished below grade with a coupling nut. Remove cover and screw a spare bar into the nut. There will be a crack around the heavy floor section. Run electric conduit under the slab. I have subpanels on two walls. No heavy power goes over an overhead door. I have both 240V and 480V panels. For your climate, lots of insulation. I have 3 1/2" under the wall and roof panels. After the structure was completed, 8" was added in the walls. The girts are fully insulated, with a white plastic on the inside of the insulation. 8' high white building panels line the inside. The roof purlins are also full of insulation. There is white strapping screwed on the bottoms of the purlins. Then white plastic was laid over the strapping, then the bats were laid on that before the roof was installed. If you put doors on the south wall, get extra light panels. My south door is a 9 panel, the bottom 2 panels and the top panel are solid, the 6 center panels have 11? windows. If its a cheap building they will omit a girt at 4' off the slab. You need that girt for strength and convenience of hanging stuff. Put windows at 16' in the south wall. Put the office on the south wall. Make sure the windows in the office are at residential height. My office windows are side sliders setting on the 4' girt. I don't like them. They should be residential single or double hung windows at more like 38". If you have a budget problem and have to build smaller than you need, build the width and the height. You can always add length. Tell the builder so the end for expansion will get a full rafter.
Spring for storage trusses - can't go wrong for storage space.
Living where we do, there is no need to have a closed shop to keep the weather out, however we do get the odd uninvited guest...Tawny Frogmouth.
Great, bird poop on everything!! Better than snakes.
That is one ugly bird
I was in a nice shop setup last weekend. Building sets on a hill, and 40 years ago someone used it to great advantage. Side by side doors, but one is 6' or so higher in elevation. Concrete wall and slab, over to a huge old bridge I-beam laid on its side, supported by beams and concrete pillars. About a 3' or so opening between the wide beam and the concrete wall. Drive on lift- long enough for probably semi tractor and trailer, but with walk in or even forklift in access from the side. My shop is on a pretty good slope and its got my wheels turning- it was really well built. Old company and you can tell the guys that built it had worked on equipment before. Nice walkway on each side and great access from underneath. I can see this on one side of my shop- someday....
^^^ This I like, I hate pits... Always full of oily floor dry, cigarette butts, and garbage. They never have enough room or lighting.
It was really a nice looking set up. I don't know how handy it would be in actual use, because I've never had a pit. You could have a rack/ bracket for the forklift and drive up and install a transmission or 3rd member from the side. Just for a under inspection and oil change it would be slick.
That set-up is super slick. Old folks were always thinking. I guess that's what made them the greatest generation
I was in one shop once that had a pit, it had 6" of ground water in one end and was infested with tree frogs and common toads. Seriously...
I had a pit outside at one place I worked. It had a sump pump in a hole to try to keep the level down. Power would go out and the motor in the pump would be underwater for a bit. Had to find a trash pump to take out the water cause no one would go swimming to fish out the sump pump.