Re: Shop, need suggestions
 

Nope the city (and I use that term loosely 85 people) has no rules on buildings. I assume there are some state rules that need to be followed. I checked with the county since I figured if the city has no rules that it would revert to the county. They said they have no jurisdiction in the city limits.

So if you want to live where you don't have to worry about the size of shop you want Kent Mn is a great place to be.

Re: Shop, need suggestions
 

Finally resized.... Ron :D

Re: Shop, need suggestions
 

Here's a couple shots or mine... Its 40 x 30, block construction, insulated, hurricane standards, air and heat.... Built it in 2008 and its full!!!! Love the lift and would not be without one now!!! Still moving things around and making more useable room......

http://i882.photobucket.com/albums/a...g?t=1319714056 http://i882.photobucket.com/albums/a...g?t=1319714305 http://i882.photobucket.com/albums/a...g?t=1319714201

Re: Shop, need suggestions
 

Very nice guys.

Mack, how tall is the lift you have and what brand is it.

Re: Shop, need suggestions
 

Mack, Very Nice!

A friend of mine built: rip a 1/2 inch, 4x8 sheet of plywood in half or whatever... and build, (a 2x4 frame) into a high "bar style" table with locking wheels with 2 shelves beneath.... It would give u storage between the 2 cars, as well as a work table and eating/bench racing area. He ended up finishing the second one and gave him 16' of movable area.... I am going to do the same soon... Ron

Re: Shop, need suggestions
 

Ken its 12' and its an Atlas...... Love it!!!!! Mack

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Thanks,
Ron, great idea about the work and thanks for sharing... Never enough room..... I think I could fill a 100 x 100 given enough time...... Just a pack-rat when it comes to the car stuff.....

Re: Shop, need suggestions
 

Mack, Ywelcome, I want a tajmahal garage!! lol

How do you like your roll-up doors vs a garage door... seems like they would be cool... I believe I see a shower/rroom... my shop needs that... Love the challenger and your colors... My last drag car I want is a challenger roadster for super comp... if I could do justice to the body lines... If u ever make it up to zmax, let me know.... Ron

Re: Shop, need suggestions
 

Ron, you are right I do have a bathroom... Did this after the inspection and final from the county... Also did the prep work for a shower but have not finished that yet... Wife says I spend too much time there now... With a shower and a cot I could say there all the time... :D:D The roll up doors are fine... You don't loose any overhead space and if you want to you can add a power operator.. I don't have them... Hand chains work fine....
Also added a dump station for the motor home.. That's the handiest thing I did....

Re: Shop, need suggestions
 

Mack, great idea with the roll ups and shower, Ron great looking garage, like your idea for a Challenger bodied altered(a la dirt modified kind of way) would look sharp.Ken, Atlas are one of the best lift available, just don't forget to lock them at all times! Claude

Re: Shop, need suggestions
 

Thanks for the info Claude.

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Thanks! It was hard to stop and organize the garage as I just had bought the dragster to restore, but quickly realized I would be "spinning my wheels without being set-up, very glad I did! ...love being out there... just ask my wife!:eek: LOL ...Do you race with Gary Eickman by chance?

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Heres an idea for some of you with limited celing height or very low cars.
I got this 48" scizzor lift from Greg Smith Equip. in Delaware.
It's about 5" high,and I recessed it flush with the garage floor so even the lowest tube chassis car will go over it.
Very sturdy and only about $2k

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I've seen Tommy's deal up close and its really slick ......only downside I saw was that you better be friends with someone who can do concrete work .

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Hey Tom,

What is the lift rated at.

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For the guys that have their own dump station, are you on a septic system, or what did you do? That is on my list for the shop.
Thanks
Sean

Re: Shop, need suggestions
 

my house in MD. was on city water/sewer. i just tied my plumbing in from under the house to where i was parking m/h. then one day the city came out to flush their system, and dug up a clean out in front of the house (near the street) i just started using that one.
my house in DE. is our own sewer system. after garage was up i dug up where sewer lid was and drilled and tied into it with the PVC. re-buried it and ran the line to where i park the m/h. keeping at least a drop in the line was the tricky thing. the final hight was a little more than i would of liked but it still works great!

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here is a few pics.
most of the dump pipe is buried. it is about 70' long all together
i also put in a 30 amp RV plug and made a "water tank filler" out of some small PVC.

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Ken the lift is rated at 7000 pounds.
Its very well built and the travel speed is good ,not snail speed like some are .
I think I have some info on it ,I'll bring it along to Atco.

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i think i am ready for a new garage, this is what i have now,( have to use the dining room table for hood storage). i bought the lot next to my house an plan on putting up a 25 x 30 garage one day. lots a neat ideas in this thread.

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Marty is there any beer in that fridge?

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Yes there is

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Just making sure cause I did not see any beer box in Jack's shop.

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you ma7y be a redneck if your diningroom table is where you put your racecare hood. why not on the roof of your car?

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You got that right, the roof was already full

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Thats because I don't drink beer .........that and the house kitchen is a few feet away .

Re: Shop, need suggestions
 

Here are a few pictures of my man cave/dog house, depending. Enjoy
The pictures are in several posts. In this post are pictures of the attached garage and another storage building. The third picture is the shop with the doors labeled 1 through 4.
The boring part of this post is the list of the design decisions that were made prior to or during the build of the shop as well as a list of the ones that should have been made.

1. 220v available in the car stalls is a lighter duty to power the MIG. The 220v in the workshop areas powers the TIG welder, parts cleaner, compressor, etc. 110v outlets are fore and aft in each car stall on each wall. 110v outlets were placed at benches locations (benches were built to from scratch to fit)
2. The width of the car stalls was decided by opening the doors of the car and allowing room to walk by. (Turns out, that’s just more room for stuff to accumulate against the walls.)
3. The workshop was split into two areas: clean and dirty. (The welders, metal grinding, etc. are in one room. Engine assembly is in the other room.)
4. Depth of the stalls was eventually determined by the county and their building codes.
5. One stall has a 14’ ceiling to accommodate the lift. The others are 12’.
6. All the big doors are insulated roll up for heat and space saving.
7. As much as possible of the attic has “space saver” trusses for small part storage. Make sure the load of the parts match the capability of the trusses installed.
8. 12” I beams were installed in 3 rooms to support overhead hoist system. (A bit of an over kill but on 30’ spans, bigger is better.)
9. 3 sets of high intensity lights in each room.
10. Bathroom with shower for extended stays.
11. The building and all of the contents were drawn to scale. The contents were moved on the drawing to help with placement of doors and walls.
12. The compressor is in a sound insulated “dog house.”
Things forgotten or not correctly designed:
1. 220v 3 phase for mill and lathe.
2. Due to location and source access, the heat sources available were electric and propane. Both are costly. Redesign would have floor heat with wood pellet boiler.
3. Too much space (WHAT??). A lot of time has been spent walking between the buildings.
Stuff happens:
1. A mill, lathe and parts washer found their way into my shop that were not on the original plan.
2. Total cost of all the cabinets and storage racks was relatively cheap. The cabinets were purchased as surplus. Most of the racks were free. Sometimes you just get lucky.
One last note, I make no excuses for the mess that you see. I have multiple projects in work all the time.

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This is door #1. The pictures are what you see as you walk in to the engine assembly room, look left, look right and look behind the cabinets. Then walk into the "dirty" room, look left and look from the other end.

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These are doors #2, #3 and #4. They were designed to just have cars. But stuff accumulates on and along the walls.

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And the final pictures are the upstairs parts bin (space saver trusses), the 12" I Beam hoist and the compressor dog house.

Hope you enjoy.

Denny

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Great shop Denny, can you feel garage envy from envy(Plymouth)

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I am in the planning stages for a shop. What are the Pro's and Con's between an all steel building and a stick building? Door styles for overhead doors with wide spans. I am planning on housing a 48' trailer inside along with truck. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks
Sean

Re: Shop, need suggestions
 

I built similar tables but 2 x 4 ft in size frames, one shelf(each table had different height on the shelf)with a 48x30 top (you can replace these). Cut all the frame pieces the same so height's are the same, with locking wheels. I have smaller garage 24x36, so I put these where I need them, If I need a large flat workspace then I can roll them out in the middle of the garage and shove them together, lock the wheels and have a pretty large table(great for serving food during our super bowl party). My wife made canvas covers with snaps so all the tools,junk on the shelves are hidden and helps keep the dust out and don't need extra space for opening doors.

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Sean,

The steel building goes up faster and in most cases will be less expensive. The stick building does not have the commercial look and is more customizable then steel building but it will increase the price significantly.

I think both can be made to handle most any door configurations, it just comes down to how much money you want to spend .

Many don't like the steel building look, but if your okay with it, I think its the way to go just for price point.

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Sean a stick building allows for thicker insulation and the studs make it easier to sheet rock. You can also build a stud wall inside a steel building to get the same but the cost goes up. I just prefer the feel of a stick building. Just finished a 30x50 addition on my shop.

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Sean,

I am attaching some pics of a building I had built last year. It starts out as a 42 X 64 pole barn that becomes completely insulated in ceiling and walls. Along one wall(64 length) we put up a wall 9' from the side to have and area for office, mechanical, parts and a one stall garage (one car totally separated). This was studded and dry walled, with 8' ceilings but went up to 9' for the stall (7' door 2' rails). I had the white metal put on the shop area for easy clean up and to help everything be bright with light. The 9' area has the painted walls and wood trim like a stick built feel, but I can tell you that the insulation is so thick and works so well with the hot water heat running through the floor. I don't have total numbers, but I will bet I used less than 300 gal of propane last year and the heat was never less than 60 the whole time. Regarding doors, I put 2 10' X 20' one on each end so that drive thru is possible with my F-350 and a 28 tag. I wanted to go even longer and be able to unload the car from the trailer while inside, but I just didn't have the money for that. I hope this helps. Attached are some of the pics.

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Steve,

Your shop looks great, man am I jealous, I wish I could have built something the big. What did you do for the floor, it looks great. I need to do mine over and have not decided what to do yet. How about some pictures of the outside.

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Ken,
A racer friend had this done in his and he told me to have the concrete guys put a "dye" in it. It did run about $900 more, but when the cost of the concrete was over $20k, that is a drop in the bucket. Color is good, but the pics don't show that all of the work that went on inside later affected the "shine" I was trying to achieve. The finish is great, wipes up oil and anti freeze even weeks later. It is not as slick when washing a car with the water and all but oil does make it slick. I have had a rep from the company visit and says that I need to put another chemical on it to soften it and release the moisture that might have gotten trapped, then it will harden again and shine.
This has slowed my progress as the fumes are very dangerous and I have daily use now for my truck. I have not put my lift in as I am waiting to do the floor as a whole.
Headaches. I will post some outside pics later.

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Some pics of the outside of the shop. Only windows are in the office area(less chance for curious eyes). Limited walk doors limit intruder entrances. There is a pic of my one car stall that is for the Pontiac, but has my Merc in it for now. It seals off so nothing can get on the car and there is little room to put anything else in if the urge should come up.
A couple of pics of my heating system. I so love the way it works.

Re: Shop, need suggestions