# Sticky  Post Shop Pix Here, Please!



## Jim S.

I'd love to see what everyone has done, to exchange ideas and tips. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, here's my 40x40 shop snapped during some of the last few steps of completion in 2005. You can see some minor stuff is not done. It has radiant floor heat, phones, cable TV, and anice stereo. Quite a bit fuller now than in these pix, too!

Enjoy, and add some of your own!

Exterior:










Interior:



















Office/bathroom:



















Radiant heating system (75-gallon 60,000 btu natural gas hot water heater):


----------



## CGUARDSMAN

very nice! of course if i had a shop like that i would have to have a cot in it


----------



## Jim S.

Heh...I left out the shower and sit-down toilet so I would have an excuse to go back in the house.


----------



## CGUARDSMAN

i was just thinking of when i would have to sleep out there for working on my toys too long


----------



## freeinalaska

Wow, very nice.


----------



## mtman

Jim S. said:


> I'd love to see what everyone has done, to exchange ideas and tips. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, here's my 40x40 shop snapped during some of the last few steps of completion in 2005. You can see some minor stuff is not done. It has radiant floor heat, phones, cable TV, and anice stereo. Quite a bit fuller now than in these pix, too!
> 
> Enjoy, and add some of your own!
> 
> Exterior:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Interior:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Office/bathroom:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Radiant heating system (75-gallon 60,000 btu natural gas hot water heater):


beautiful shop but i noticed you dont have a sediment drip nipple on the gas line is there a reason


----------



## retire2$

Very nice pictures. 

What info can you give on the lift in picture 3 (brand, place of purchase, good and bad points, any other comments.

Thanks.


----------



## Macybaby

Glad you got pictures of it empty - how long will it take until it looks like this?



















That was two summers ago - and though you can not see it, the trailer is full up with sheetrock. Most of what is there has been installed - except the kitchen sink, it's still in the shop . . .

My DH plans on building an insulated room within the shop (once we are done working on the house). He just can't decide if he wants to make it so he can pull a vehicle inside or not. 

Plumbing is out of the question, as he does not want to heat the shop when he is not using it in the winter.

Your shop sure does look nice!

Cathy


----------



## farminghandyman

about 20 years ago I had a shop that looked like the first pictures, and now mine is closer (NOTE: I SAID CLOSER) to the second one,
but if it was not for the size of it, it would be full to the gills of the building as well, :shrug: 

I saw a few pictures of it a few days ago and was amazed what it looked like when it was new and empty,  

take them pictures and put in that special remembrance album you'll cherish it like you do pictures of your kids, :baby04: LOL


----------



## Ross

Mine looks like some guys threw a whole bunch of stuff under cover before winter hit.


----------



## Rockin'B

Jim S.,

Can you tell me what brand your building is? We are looking for something just about exactly like that.

Looks great!

Thanks.


----------



## deaconjim

Jim S. said:


> I'd love to see what everyone has done, to exchange ideas and tips. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, here's my 40x40 shop snapped during some of the last few steps of completion in 2005. You can see some minor stuff is not done. It has radiant floor heat, phones, cable TV, and anice stereo. Quite a bit fuller now than in these pix, too!
> 
> Enjoy, and add some of your own!


Take those pictures and frame them. Hang them just inside the door so that you can remember what it looks like in this condition. It will either motivate you to keep it that way, or provide fond memories of days long past.


----------



## Runners

destroy those pictures, or at least hide them from the wife & kids. Tell them there's a DIRT floor under there and all that stuff is there to cover it up & keep the chill off your feet.

The last thing you want to hear is: "Honey, _isn't your shop a little messy? If the bathroom or kitchen looked that bad...._ etc.

Then if the IN-LAWS drop by, and the mother-in-law sees them.... you'll be known as "that messy slob that can't keep ANYTHING straight - just look at those pictures, see what he STARTED with!?" etc....

Nothing but grief and bad vibes unless you want a "metro-sexual" shop (everything hanging perfectly in it's place, all dusted and odor free).

I say burn the pics before the grief starts. ...or.... find some of those pics of the wife before she 'let herself go' and hang those around the piles of junk - just in case she needs a quick comparison..!


----------



## elkhound

you folks got nice shops...i am jealous...that is a cool old cub..with a cute little sikle bar on it.i ogt a 1970 cub and a big 2004 cub.i love them cubs..you ever see the litle crawler they made??just a baby dozer..it was 17h.p.???

heres my new cub


----------



## Auric

CGUARDSMAN said:


> very nice! of course if i had a shop like that i would have to have a cot in it


If I had those posters up on the walls in my shop, I'd have no choice but to sleep out there! No way she'd let me back into the house!


----------



## speedfunk

I saw that cub too.. Looks kinda like mine... My father and I just got done making it look all pretty...


----------



## farmergirl

Auric said:


> If I had those posters up on the walls in my shop, I'd have no choice but to sleep out there! No way she'd let me back into the house!


I noticed the poster too! And where is the girl's toilet?? I guess the handyman gets to use the urinal, but the handywoman has to pee in the bushes? This cowgirl is more classy than that!!


----------



## moonwolf

impressive!


----------



## Jim S.

Sorry, my life has been hectic and I haven't been back til now. I'll answer all questions now:

mtman: There is indeed a sediment drip on the gas line, and it is indeed visible in the pic.

retire2$, the lift is a Gray, made for garden tractors. I do not think they are still made. Picked it up at an auction of an out of biz service center for $250. Worth every DIME! I was ready to pay about twice that, but the other guy gave up soon.

Macybaby, I have a 24x30 that is that full, mostly with Cub Cadet parts.

Rockin B, I designed and built the building myself. Saved 15 years to do it while using the aforementioned 24x30 unheated and uninsulated shop, so I was well-motivated to dream up a design that fit all my needs.

elkhound and speedfunk, I'm hooked on Cub Cadets, too. The one in my pic was the first-ever Cub Cadet to appear on the cover of "Red Power Magazine." Here's a smaller version of the pic that ran on the mag cover. Both machines were rustbuckets when I started.










I have anywhere from 20 to 50 CCs on the place at any one time, and have done quite a bit of parts selling. I'm closer to 20 right now. I helped with the development of both Cub Cadet forums on the Net, and I have technical posts in the FAQs on both. I mostly sell parts now through eBay and locally.

I have been to Dan Hoefler's house in Wisconsin and seen the dozer and other stuff he created, and Dan has made a few parts on my restorations. Dan is a great guy who has moved on now to cars, last I talked with him. He still has his creations, though.

My current project is a 1969 Fairlane 2-door 429, 4-speed. It's all in bare metal now. After that will be a 1951 GMC 5-window I have stored in my barn. Then I also have a 1971 Ranchero waiting, too. In addition to a 7264, 782, 682 and 1450 Cub Cadet. Plenty of projects left.

Here's the Fairlane.










Auric and farmergirl: No girls toilet. To put in a full toilet would have required a full septic system be installed and inspected, instead of the small septic system I got to put in myself for just the sink and urinal and cover up. Wouldn't be a shop without the posters, period. I like women.  

*LOVE TO SEE MORE PIX * of other guys' shops! Also, how guys set them up, in pix. I was hoping this might get to be a sticky.


----------



## Ross

> I was hoping this might get to be a sticky.


 Sure why not!!


----------



## Jim S.

Ross said:


> Sure why not!!


Thank you! Sure would love to see folks post their shop pix, and also pix of any neat solutions to problems, like in-floor boom hoists, elegant solutions to raising vehicles, storage innovations, etc.

I found my best source for design stuff when I was dreaming my own shop was a Net forum. So let's exchange ideas and dreams!


----------



## Ozarka

Jim 
Could you please describe the sustem pictured? How close were the tubes in the slab, how long was each one, type of pump, cost to use over the last two winters, maintenance, how much underslab insulation, etc. ? A friend in Wisc., who is a ME and master plumber heats over 3,000 sq. ft. with a water heater as his "boiler" and he is quite happy with his system. Another friend, also a master plumber, here in NWA, has a very expensive electric boiler feeding radiators and he claims that to use a propane water heater to heat a hydronic system is "rubbish, horsesh**", yet you have one, my other friend has one, please tell me about yours. You could buy 10 or 14 water heaters for the cost of one fancy, schmancy electric or propane fueled boiler, such as made by the Slant Fin Co.


----------



## Jim S.

Sure, Ozarka. The slab is on top of a 2-foot-thick thermal mass of gravel. The gravel was topped with double-bubble insulation designed for underslab use. 

The tubes are 16 inches apart and there are four zones...four loops of tube that run out of the exit manifold and back into the intake manifold. The tubes are plastic-coated copper, coated inside and out with plastic. A loop is roughly 300 feet. The tubes are marked for footage used, and you adjust valves to equalize zone heat. I can get you the brand names if you wish, just PM me. The tubes were zip stripped to the reinforcing wire prior to the pour. 

The concrete floor is 8 inches thick, but 4 works just as well. A mixture of propylene glycol (you can use RV antifreeze) and water runs through the system, which is closed (not used for potable water). But a plain water system COULD also be used for potable water easily, all components are potable water rated. Propylene glycol is used to prevent health concerns if it ever somehow backwashes into the potable water system. It is connected to the potable system for filling with a one-way valve and a ball valve, which is closed unless it is being filled or purged. The PG protects against freezing if the system shuts down due to power outage or whatever. Water direction is ensured controlled by one-way valves at the hot water outlet and the cold water inlet pipe of the heater.

The water heater is a 75-gallon Rheem 60,000 BTU natural gas unit purchased for $600 locally. A water heater is less efficient than the boilers, but a boiler unit sized for my square footage would have run me $1,800 at the time.

The pump is a cheapo $99 flanged unit from Grainger. The controller box contains a relay and transformer I bought from an a/c supplier. The thermostat kicks the relay to start the pump. You can probably do that cheaper with a self-contained fan controller relay unit instead of putting it together like I did. It depends on comparative costs.

There is a diaphragm tank installed to handle water expansion. The hot system runs 15-40 psi.

DISCLAIMERS: All the mechanicals are located in a separate room with entry door, which also houses the electrical, urinal and sink. There is no gasoline stored in the building. All other flammables are stored in a cabinet designed for the purpose.

Were I to do this again, with the improvements in technology and the knowledge now available in the radiant industry, I would use rigid foam designed for underslab use rather than the underslab double-bubble. The foam provides more insulation from the ground. I had to put the gravel in to level the site anyway, but on a level site using the foam, there would be no need for a gravel heat sink. The nice thing about the thick slab and the heat sink is, once it is warm, it stays warm a long time. The system only cycles at night.

The system is heating 1,460 SF with a roof peak of 22 feet and sidewalls at 10 feet. The shop has 8x10 and 8x20 drum doors, both double bubble insulated, as well as 2 single-pane slider windows and a 36-inch insulated core entry door. All those are heat-loss points, which is why I mention them. You must take your heat loss points into account when sizing and estimating fuel costs, etc.

The shop is insulated under the sheet metal skin with foil/white double bubble, foil side out to reflect summer heat, and then 4" of fiberglass on the inside.

Maintenance involves opening the top tank vent valve and turning on the valve to the water supply to purge any air at the top of the system on startup in the fall. That's been it so far.

I start the system up while outside temps are still in the 60s, to keep from having to rewarm the slab. I keep it 60 degrees in there, which is PLENTY warm when the warmth is rising from the floor. I can open both doors in 10-degree weather and as soon as I close them, it is instantly warm inside again. My feet never get cold.

Operating costs will vary by what the gas costs. It ran me right at $600 a winter the first 2 years to heat (Oct. through March here). Obviously, the higher costs are in January and February, when it's around $180 a month.

I would not trade this for anything. I can walk into my warm shop 24/7, take off my coat, and work. My feet do not get cold. The shop warms immediately if the doors are opened and closed. Plus, the system is pre-engineered for easy installation of solar panels if I ever want to do that and use the water heater as a backup.

Ozarka, when I went to put this in here, no one knew what I was talking about. Fortunately, my brother in law owns a heating and ac biz in Northern Illinois. He ordered me everything out of Colorado and it was shipped here. He has installed over 100 such systems using hot water heaters in Illinois. Everyone loves them.

Last year, I added an unvented auxiliary heater to the shop because my shop usage time declined a lot. I kept it at 50 inside, and would turn on the log heater when I used the building to bring it to 60-65, then shut it off and be good to go all day. That reduced my overall gas bill to about $500 for the winter.


----------



## FarmerCop

so far this is my shop 16x16x17.5 tall
it is a wood working area for me to get away

any tips on sealing this osb siding in a frugal manner?








[/IMG] 








[/IMG] 

Thats my neighbor working while I snap some progress shots


----------



## botebum

FarmerCop, Go to your local bigbox store and get mis-mixed paint. Get interior semi-gloss for now if they don't have exterior grades available. Stash away your pennies and get good quality exterior paint in the color you want later. Another method would be to make milk paint or whitewash and mix your own color.

Doug


----------



## Jim S.

Doug, I like the mismatched paint idea a lot. I works especially well when you buy up lighter colors, then blend them all together and add tubed tint to make a darker color.

IMHO, the whitewash won't do it with waferboard. In fact, FarmerCop needs to be ready to really lay on the paint...maybe three coats. That waferboard soaks it up something awful.

FarmerCop, if you can do it, a first coat of good primer would help a lot. On the other hand, if you intend to side it later, the mismatched paint would be good enough for a year or two til you could run up on some leftover vinyl siding. You might get a siding contractor to sell you the leftovers of white cheap, since overage is priced into the job, and accumulate it over time. Based on how it's being built, it looks like some type of siding is being planned for the future.

And thanks for sharing the pix!


----------



## LoneOak

My shop was built in 1935 and I had never taken a good picture of it because it looked like this,










Last spring I added about 7 gallons of exterior latex and now I have a shop building that I think looks
very good here at the TerracE.  










Hopefully by next spring :help: I will have enough money to put a new metal roof on it and fix the leaks.

Peace


----------



## Jim S.

Oh LoneOak, that is *WORTH SAVING * for sure! Looks like an old carriage house...do you think it dates that far back?


----------



## botebum

LoneOak, Have you looked into the corrugated asphalt sheet roofing the sell at the bigboxes, They come in several colors and appear to be a fairly easy install. Price seems right too IMHO. I'm thinking of reroofing this(my future woodshop) with them:








We should be closing on the house this week or next(damn lawyers!) and then I'll think more about it.

Doug


----------



## LoneOak

Jim, yes the shop building was built in 1935 by a true craftsman, the same man built my house. The lap siding on the right side of the building has mitered joints with no corner boards that still fit nearly perfect even after 70+ years. I saw Tom Silva cut siding like this on This Old House once, ain't no way I could ever get them to fit like that.

Peace


----------



## FarmerCop

thanks for the advice fellas.

Yes it will be given a good primer and a few coats until siding can be obtained.


----------



## naturewoman

Farmercop...why is your structure so high off the ground, without proper framing to support it?


----------



## FarmerCop

the under side will be utilized later as for what haven't decided, as for support, you can see it was not finnished as of yet, there is adequate bracing in place now, angled cross braces throughout the bottom now.

the idea was to make it more difficult for my kids to get into, and others, thieves, in-laws, etc....


but seriously i thought about fencing the bottom off for chickens and then an oddball green house, don't knw yet i will have to see what comes.

thanks for the concern though


----------



## Jim S.

That is cool, LoneOak. Like I said, worth saving! A craftsman's work is always worth saving. There are fewer and fewer of them.

Belated congrats to Doug, too, who I understand now owns the "future woodshop" he posted here. Let the refurbishing begin!


----------



## Jim S.

DELETED


----------



## brewswain

mine is 40X135

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/2107623958/


----------



## Jim S.

brewswain said:


> mine is 40X135
> 
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/2107623958/


Man, it says yer picture has been deleted. Darn! I did find your cars pix...cool.

*C'mon guys, snap some pix of your shops, some pix of the interiors or some pix of cool setups you have designed.* Let's get this going again in 2008! It could be a great way of passing on ideas.


----------



## meancoyote

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a63/meancoyote/100_3066.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a63/meancoyote/100_3067.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a63/meancoyote/100_3071.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a63/meancoyote/100_2957.jpg


----------



## botebum

Previously posted view-








Inside now-









Doug


----------



## Jim S.

Meancoyote and Doug, those pix really show how to organize a shop! Cool!


----------



## botebum

Jim S. said:


> Meancoyote and Doug, those pix really show how to organize a shop! Cool!


You can't possibly mean me. I seriously lack floor space and bench space. My shop is also overflow storage for stuff that won't fit in the house. I've got enough stuff in the rafters to topple the place. If it never rained here I could use the shed sides for more shop but that ain't the case. I am planning on bringing the floor level across the right side and closing it in at some point but the house is a fixer-upper so it gets the cash for the foreseeable future.
I am planning on winning the lottery this Saturday so stay tuned for some really awesome changes!

Doug


----------



## Jim S.

botebum said:


> I am planning on winning the lottery this Saturday so stay tuned for some really awesome changes!
> 
> Doug


Heheheh...sorry dude, but my fortune cookie at the cheapo Chinese buffet yesterday said I was gonna win it!

Get you a bunch of pallets and reuse the wood to make shake-style shingle siding and enclose the outside porches! Or find some of those long pallets and do a board and batten thing. Having redone a few houses, *I JUST KNOW * you have the necessary "spare time" to do it! LOL.


----------



## botebum

Well, I won the lottery! All I need to do now is figure out how to retire on $9. 
Seriously though- Thanks for the suggestion on the pallets! I've got access to oak and pine pallets and hadn't thought about using them for decking and enclosing the side shed roof. That cuts back on a huge pile of lumber I'll have to buy to do the job! This might just happen sooner than we figured.
Between your idea and someone on my woodworking forum telling me where to buy Pony Double Pipe Clamps, this is turning out to be a great day! I still have to go to work for a few hours though :grump: 

Doug


----------



## kenji

here's my shop pic:



as you can see i've got a lot of work to do...

kenji


----------



## 57plymouth

30x40x12 with a carport on the side. It's too small. Boy, I need some recent photos...


----------



## iamasimpleman

Im more of a Wheel Horse kinda guy and would kill for a decent shop. Ive got a detached garage with a wooden floor. I keep it clean but it usually overflows due to my packratyness. 

Here are 3 of the 5 ive got.









Look to the left and you can see my first compost pile.


----------



## Ross

Nice pictures and I see they're your first post here on HT!! Welcome.


----------



## Jim S.

Good to see this still gets a post or two over time!

57plymouth, do you restore as a biz or hobby?





























iamasimpleman, it's Cub Cadets for me...


----------



## 57plymouth

Jim S. said:


> Good to see this still gets a post or two over time!
> 
> 57plymouth, do you restore as a biz or hobby?


Hobby. I could never make a living at this. Too much government interference to be able to make it work.


----------



## perry b

Nice looking shops. I hope to build a small one soon.


----------



## dngrous

No pics of my current shop, I'll try to remember to get them next time I'm out at the fiancee's parent's place.
It cost me $600, buying everything brand new. I designed it as closely to a house frame style as I could. It's 8x16, 8' sidewalls, and my only regret is that I made the roof so steep. 12/12 pitch is alright if you're doing traditional shingles, but I saved a few bucks by doing rolled roofing... BTW, I hate heights. 
It has 2x6 floor joists, and doubled OSB sheathing for the flooring, and single thickness for the walls and roof sheathing.
I've got a LOT of stuff crammed in there, but it ended up being more for storage than an actual shop. When we buy a place, I'll be tearing it down and just reusing the lumbers to rebuild it better. My dad told me about a lumbermill a bit north of here that sells 2400 board feet of cull lumber for $200, all roughly inch thick. 


As for my NEXT garage/shop/barn, I've been looking at plans online. I found a plan for a 24x32, but if I adjust the spans to 10' instead of their 8', and go with 2x10 joists instead of their 2x8s, it should be more than strong enough. Plus, that puts the barn at a 30x40. I'm debating if I want to add one more set of stalls, and make it a 30x50.

I'll be adapting it to use a gambrel roof, steel roofing, and 10' wide lean-tos on both sides. So, if I make it as big as I'm considering, it'll have 1500 sq ft interior ground level, 1000 sq ft exterior ground level, and 1500 sq ft interior second story. Just the thought of having 4000 sq ft of space gives me goosebumps, lol.


----------



## dngrous

subscribing, now that I figured out how.


----------



## ChristieAcres

After seeing this Thread, I figured I'd post pics of my DH- Len's Shop. After a tragic accident in 1995, Len began the long road to recovery (still permanently disabled). In 1999, he opened his own small Machine/Welding Shop on his own property. Since he still had his skills, but had to control his environment, what better way? We met in 2003, married in 2004, and bought our current property (mainly for the property & shop building) in 2007.

Len's Shop isn't a fancy building and not his idea of the ultimate size or design. I am more impressed by how much Len can do and how MUCH he has stored in his Shop. Next year, Len plans to enlarge this Shop rather substantially. Here are the pics:









This is the Front and you can see an old F-250 Diesel Work Truck (if he wasn't so good at fixing it, this ol' tired thing would be retired by now). The tractor on the right of the Shop was given to us. I will be taking before and after pics as Len plans to fix and restore it.








This just shows one side/front. There is no window on the other side, but there is another on the back. This will change when he adds on to the Shop.








Right side looking in...








Left side looking in (there is a 3/4 bath you can't see in this picture to my right)








He takes advantage of wall space...








That Hydraulic Press was built by Len








Len's Office Area. It is a bit skinny, but he doesn't seem to mind.
Len keeps his Shop clean, and is due to clean the machinery again. To see the work he does out of his Shop? Go to:
http://www.christiemachineandwelding.com/
I am very proud of Len's determination, work ethic, and overcoming the obstacles to run his own business


----------



## DaleK

Good Job Len! Do you have a better picture of that hydraulic press Lori? Kinda thinking on making one myself.


----------



## ChristieAcres

DaleK- Lori here, and yes, I can take better pictures of his Hydraulic Press for you. 
Here is some of Len's Work around here:








Len designed and built this Log Splitter








Using the Splitter horizontally








Using it vertically on a larger diameter round (2nd growth)








Nothing fancy, but we can smoke (2) Turkeys in this baby!








We have a Propane Furnace, but Len decided to design & build us this instead! LOVE IT 








Len restored his 1972 Charger RT back in 2000 (rebuilt the 440---yes, high performance & runs on pump gas, did all the bodywork, and also painted the car himself)---didn't notice the light cover until after I snapped it. 
Since we moved to this property, Len has built me a Garden Cabin, us a Wood Shed, a Chicken House, put in a 2,500 sq foot Raised Bed Garden Area (built and filled all the beds), and the list goes on. This Winter, I am going to get out in the Shop and learn to use some of those machines (besides the Plasma Cutter, that is). When our Economy improves, we will start working on Len's Shop "Wish-list."


----------



## Ross

Great pictures and its easy to see Len's skill!! Great shop pics and projects!!

I think the press Dale was thinking of is in the second last picture of the first set. There's some gray welding gas cyls to the left of it and a red pipe bender on the bench to the right of it. It's side on in the photo.


----------



## ChristieAcres

Here are the pics of the Press that Len built. Nothing fancy but works great, and last year he even made an attachment and used it as a log splitter!!!
























Now, the pics below are just of an End Cap Len welded and then finished:








This is just after he welded the pieces he had cut








This is the same Cap before it goes to the Powder Coaters
Len's latest job is to build a complete Railing System. His work is rather diverse, so I never know what he will be working on next. Since he has been working so hard and has wanted a boat, but couldn't justify the expense... I encouraged him to get a little boat for fishing/crabbing and since he fixes everything...he found this older one with a 70hp motor (needs a bit of work and Len said he could fix it). The trailer will be modified and then later replaced:


----------



## ChristieAcres

DaleK, forgot to tell you the Hydraulic Press is a 35TON.


----------



## kenji

kenji said:


> here's my shop pic:
> 
> 
> 
> as you can see i've got a lot of work to do...
> 
> kenji


my cabin burned down, so lost all my drafting equipment 
But... my original draft was in my pickup and i'm working from them @ the old farm house where i'm ranch manager 

life goes on

anyone know of a good bit of Mac software i can copy jpegs of this hand work to CAD?


----------



## ChristieAcres

Kenji- So sorry to hear about your cabin burning  Your Shop design is beautiful. Wish I could assist with the software question.


----------



## raymilosh

I have been working out of a 7 by 10 shed as a shop for 8 years. There is a tarp for rain cover outside over a woppy jawed plywood floor. I have always had decent shops before this setup, but wanted to stay out of debt. It works OK. I'm looking forward to the new shop, though.
The combination of scrimping and saving and working on cars on the side and borrowing money from neighbors and 3 years of work on and off has gotten me this far on the new shop I've been building:

















It is 36 by 46. So far it is constructed of hebel block, has 12 foot ceilings, passive solar windows/orientation/overhang, insulated slab, radiant floor heating pipes. Next comes the clearstory for solar heating the second floor, the tin, 4 big barn doors, coloring and sealing the slab, electricity, ceilings and insulation, wood heat and wood fired water heat, earthplastered interior and exterior and eventually a lift. It's twice the size of my house on the first floor and 3/4 the size of my house upstairs. I joke that if my house gets a leak, I'll bring it in the shop to fix it.
It may be a couple years before all the stuff on the above list is done...but i am willing to begin to use it after the slab is sealed, which aught to be within a few months.


----------



## OkieDavid

Very nice shop Ray! Alot of thought and planning obviously went in to the design and it looks great.


----------



## Roadking

Can't beieve I missed this for so long.
Here's mine. Built be myself, for under $300. 12x22 plus the overhang.
Currently, '65 T-bird under the overhang and '73 VW Thing inside getting a full resto.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=120205&l=2ada108ede&id=1666638789

Matt


----------



## seagullplayer

Not a picture of my small shop tool shed really. But a picture of my cleaned off work bench! But for how long...

It is a Harbor Freight oak top model I got for Christmas.


----------



## clovis

Raymolish,

I love that shop!!!! Can we see the completed pictures?

What is the story on the VW truck? Those things are cool!


----------



## RuffusWI

Heres my furture woodshop.


----------



## Ky-Jeeper

RuffusWI said:


> Heres my furture woodshop.


Nice ! Maybe you can teach me how to post a image. I believe Flickr may work for me. Good luck.

Ky-Jeeper


----------



## RuffusWI

Ky-Jeeper said:


> Nice ! Maybe you can teach me how to post a image. I believe Flickr may work for me. Good luck.
> 
> Ky-Jeeper


Ya right funny. My pic didn't show. I was told to use photobucket. Tried it and the result:smack


----------



## meddac

40X60 garage with additional 10x60 lean to. To the right of the house in one of are rare snow days in GA couple years ago. Has 3 cars, a truck, and tractor inside and a 20X40 shop on the end.


----------



## Ross

Beautiful setting and a good looking shop! Are you on an island or crossing a river? Or pond? Very nice thanks for sharing your pictures!


----------



## meddac

Ross said:


> Beautiful setting and a good looking shop! Are you on an island or crossing a river? Or pond? Very nice thanks for sharing your pictures!


 Thanks Ross. It's a 5 acre pond split by my driveway.


----------



## JawjaBoy

Guess I can post a few of mine. I started with a 10 by 16 aluminum storage house that my dad put here almost 40 years ago. To that I have added a 12 by 16 shelter on one side and have recently added a 10 by 18 shed to the back and a small 6 by 12 shelter on the back of that. The shed is kind of strange as it started as a simple shelter and I decided to add a floor and walls to give us more storage space and me a safer place to park my motorcycle. I still have a good bit of work to do on it before its finished, but I'm hoping to have it done before summer.

Outside front:

















Side view:









Inside view of shop - This is an older photo taken when it was clean!









Inside view of shed:









It ain't much, but I'm proud to say that everything was done by me.


----------



## seagullplayer




----------



## seagullplayer

I noticed I had posted a picture in this thread of my work bench from 2008.
The top picture here is right after we finished the concrete floor and I just started moving stuff in.

The second is a picture of where it sets today in my garage. My small garage has been a dream of mine for years. Last October it finally became a reality. I am still working on getting everything set-up and tool acquisition will be a life long endeavor I am sure. 

The larger tool box on the left is new, just picked it up at Home Depot for $98. It is a five drawer, I am very happy with it. The smaller one on the desk also came from there last year, I think it was $38.

Excuse the mess, I took the picture just as I walked out last night. I have several projects going on right now. Painting our address on a rock is one of them.


----------



## raymilosh

Well, I finished the shop a few years ago, but my camera died. Now I have a phone with a camera, so here are a few pictures of it complete. 
It's made of hebel block and stucco. Friends who did the stucco and paint work inserted gargoyles on the exterior walls and a shrine to Ganesh (He's the fellow in the Hindu tradition with the head of an elephant who is the "remover of obstacles".) The floor is coated with epoxy paint. Good stuff. The gable ends are sided with home milled wood. The bay doors are cased with local milled 8 x 10, so if I bump them, I won't damage them much. The clearstory windows up top are made from old doors. Three of them swing open. They can vent and light and warm the room upstairs, if/when i complete it. the many windows on the south wall warm the floor in winter and the overhand shades it in the summer. They are sliding glass doors and windows from habitat.
The solar collectors on the roof heat coolant which cycles through tubes in the floor (closed loop radient floor heating). It's too shaded by trees to work very well, yet. I'm cutting trees a few at a time each winter. I don't want to take so many trees out that the yard is overheated in the summer in order to make the garage warmer in the winter. It's a balance thing.
It's a four bay shop with 2 lifts. I found the lifts on Craigslist. Definitely a good investment. Huge time saver and safety improvement. 
It looks nice, won't need much maintenence and we keep it clean. That makes it more likely that I can be at ease while working on troublesome things. I made one door large enough to fit my wife's F700 dump truck.
I had lots of help with design, construction and money to make it happen. 
There is no way I could have done it myself. It is a testament to the support of the people of Pittsboro NC and the people of Blue Heron Farm and my family. This garage is quite an asset. Thanks, everybody.
Oh, and if the roof on the house springs a leak, it'll fit nicely in the shop for repair. With room enough left over to still use the 2 bays for car work.


----------



## jefferson

I saw the floor in my shop once; about 30 years ago!!!


----------



## Mike CHS

Our shop building was finished a couple of weeks ago but we still need to hang the 10' door and get a couple of power poles set to get electric to it. Overall size is 32' x 66' with the enclosed center section being 42'.

We had to bring a dozer in to level a spot for it since I'm short on flat land where I needed to build. The crew had to spend quite a bit of time with jack hammers to get a couple of the poles set.

The open left side and the back will be inside the pasture but I plan on keeping the area on the front side open.


----------



## Canyonero

Oh my. Shop Porn. Naughty.

Here's my 40' x 60'. This was a half-finished shell with a dirt floor that sloped 6' from one end to the other when I bought it. Now it's all closed up, nice concrete floor, insulated, wired, tool room, storage loft.

I could live in it. But I like my nice comfy house too.


----------



## Canyonero

My little sitio.


----------



## Canyonero

Tool room.


----------



## Canyonero

Welding shop


----------



## LuLuToo

Good grief! If my husband sees this, I am in so much trouble! Did any of you guys build these super-duper sharp shop buildings on the cheap? How much can I expect this to set us back if we do the work ourselves? (Just a per square-foot cost is good).

LuLu


----------



## Canyonero

LuLuToo said:


> Good grief! If my husband sees this, I am in so much trouble! Did any of you guys build these super-duper sharp shop buildings on the cheap? How much can I expect this to set us back if we do the work ourselves? (Just a per square-foot cost is good).
> 
> LuLu


Mine wasn't done on the cheap. It was a half-finished shell that came with my house and property. I finished it in phases over a few years, and it took a lot of thought to figure out how to do it.

I don't have the skills to build a big steel-framed concrete-floored, code-wired building with overhead doors, tool room and loft with storage. The only part I did myself was insulation and painting, along with a couple of young hired helpers, who had decent welding and fabrication skills.

Just based on my knowledge of local real estate, I figure my shop is worth about $100K or so. At 2400 sq/ft, that's about $42/sq ft. I don't know if I could build it for that cost today , as it sits, in the current market.

I own an industrial building near town with the same square footage, in a good location, and it's worth about $125K.


----------



## LuLuToo

Canyonero said:


> Mine wasn't done on the cheap. It was a half-finished shell that came with my house and property. I finished it in phases over a few years, and it took a lot of thought to figure out how to do it.
> 
> I don't have the skills to build a big steel-framed concrete-floored, code-wired building with overhead doors, tool room and loft with storage. The only part I did myself was insulation and painting, along with a couple of young hired helpers, who had decent welding and fabrication skills.
> 
> Just based on my knowledge of local real estate, I figure my shop is worth about $100K or so. At 2400 sq/ft, that's about $42/sq ft. I don't know if I could build it for that cost today , as it sits, in the current market.
> 
> I own an industrial building near town with the same square footage, in a good location, and it's worth about $125K.


It is beautiful and I truly appreciate the per foot pricing. It gives me somewhat of an idea. The husband has built large steel-framed buildings and worked concrete before (was in construction), but it has been quite a while. Wonder what he can still do with those skills? We sure wouldn't need 2400 sq ft., so maybe he can just drool while looking at all these pics. (btw, I can tell by looking that none of these were really done 'on the cheap'. They are all way too nice for 'cheap'.).

LuLu


----------



## Canyonero

LuLuToo said:


> It is beautiful and I truly appreciate the per foot pricing. It gives me somewhat of an idea. The husband has built large steel-framed buildings and worked concrete before (was in construction), but it has been quite a while. Wonder what he can still do with those skills? We sure wouldn't need 2400 sq ft., so maybe he can just drool while looking at all these pics. (btw, I can tell by looking that none of these were really done 'on the cheap'. They are all way too nice for 'cheap'.).
> 
> LuLu


Yeah, if he's done steel buildings before, I wouldn't think it'd be a problem. 

Mine was custom built by a local guy who fabricates the frame from surplus drill pipe, and cuts all of the perlin and sheet metal to fit. But there are plenty of outfits that'll deliver a complete pre-fab kit, ready to assemble.

Let us know if you go ahead with it!


----------



## LuLuToo

Canyonero said:


> Yeah, if he's done steel buildings before, I wouldn't think it'd be a problem.
> 
> Mine was custom built by a local guy who fabricates the frame from surplus drill pipe, and cuts all of the perlin and sheet metal to fit. But there are plenty of outfits that'll deliver a complete pre-fab kit, ready to assemble.
> 
> Let us know if you go ahead with it!


I'm sure it will be a while since we won't be closing on the property until some time next week, but if he builds it, I will let you know.

LuLu


----------



## simi-steading

LuLuToo said:


> Good grief! If my husband sees this, I am in so much trouble! Did any of you guys build these super-duper sharp shop buildings on the cheap? How much can I expect this to set us back if we do the work ourselves? (Just a per square-foot cost is good).
> 
> LuLu


I built a 24x40x12 polebarn shop, with two insulated 10' wide by 8' tall doors, concrete floor, 20x24 foot loft, and electric service with all my own labor. It ended up at almost 20K in materials.


----------



## ihuntgsps

it is still possible to build a nice shop inexpensively.

I built a 36' x 34' shop for under $5k including the 5.5"-6" steel reinforced concrete floor.

Bought a $500 pool building that needed removed. It was built using 12" aluminum I-beams and smaller aluminum cross members.

Building has only 7' sidewalls but 14' peak height so seems much bigger than usual.

I dismantled and used the I beams for the frame and built around them as you would a std. wood pole building. 2x4x8' on edge 2' centers for the roof and 3' horizontal spacing on the sidewalls. cut up rubber inner tubes to use between the treated wood and the aluminum. 

Tore down a steel Morton building that had been damaged in a storm and used that steel for the roof and skin of the building. both 36" walk-in doors were used and 5 used windows. 2 new insulated garage doors.

Did everything myself which took awhile but came out beautifully. Appraisal is over $27K value. 

Cheap and nice can still be accomplished but it takes time and work.


----------



## TnAndy

I built my shop about 20 years ago, 35x75 (2625sf) for under $10sqft. The slab was the most of the cost, all the lumber including the siding is off my place via my Woodmizer mill.



















It is a combination woodworking, metal working and vehicle repair shop. Has a 12x10' roll up door on one end. The wood working machinery is all connected to a dust collection system run under the floor, and exits to a pile outside.



















The back 12' contains a wood dry kiln (door to the left), a work room, center, and a storage room far right. Over head of that is storage space. The floor to ceiling in the main room is 14' in the center.


----------



## meiere

Here is our shop we are just finishing up. It is 40x56 divided into two work bays with a 15x24 office with bathroom and shower. The electrician's are just finishing then it will be time to move everything in!


----------



## chaossmurf

is it possible to fall in love with a gigantic rolling door ????


----------



## seagullplayer

Here is a picture from a couple years ago. The cub is gone, that's another story...
Still getting a lot of use.


----------



## Xperthunter

It's a. Bit crowded with my truck inside, ad I do clean it once a year. But here she is. Solar powered, solar and wood heated. 

View media item 78View media item 77View media item 76View media item 79


----------



## Joel_BC

I really like shops that you guys have posted about and supplied your pics.

I haven’t got all that great a shop situation to show. Just wanted to 'get the T-shirt' by posting a few pics.

My basic lack is finances to build a new building. I’d like one at least 32x24. Present time, my gear and spaces are spread around — unheated area back of our small barn for metal & sm engines, basement for electrical & most handyman stuff, out in the unheated woodshed/general-storage bldg for lumber & table saw.


----------



## Txyogagirl

Anyone build a 40x25 let me see you pics of so. We are planning to build that size. How do you like the sizes of your shops? What would you have done different and why? What’s your favorite thing about your shop?


----------



## Txyogagirl

Sorry a ton of mis typed words above lol


----------



## Allen W

Txyogagirl said:


> Anyone build a 40x25 let me see you pics of so. We are planning to build that size. How do you like the sizes of your shops? What would you have done different and why? What’s your favorite thing about your shop?


I would go wider another, 8 to 10 foot width would give you about 30% more room.


----------



## Txyogagirl

Allen W said:


> I would go wider another, 8 to 10 foot width would give you about 30% more room.


Well steel comes in 20 25 or 30 so I would have to do 50 bc if I did 8ft more it would waste material. I was trying for 1,000 sq ft that’s we’re I got those numbers we are planning a 16x25 loft on one end. Under the loft area will be insulated and finished out have mini kitchen bath and living space. I know everything seems kinda small but I’m hoping it would be enough have to save money somewhere bc the house plan is too expensive lol the rectangle shape works well with our space


----------



## Allen W

Length is no problem with steel if you can weld.


----------



## honey20miss

very nice, happy for you


----------



## Kelly Craig

My 30' x 60' is kind of cool in that everyone thinks it's a house. As such, less likely to draw certain types of unwanted attention.


----------



## Kelly Craig

Some of the inside of my "house," which is the shop:


----------

