Your OWN shop!!!

I'm going to tag along here. Looking at putting up a shop with an apartment later this fall.

Thinking shop to be 90 long, by 40? wide, at least long enough to get a truck and lowboy (that I don't even own yet) in and thawed out, and a nice big shop to work on and build kit trucks, slavage, etc.

Want to put the apartment outside of the footprint of the shop, should be easier to block shop smells from entering the 'living space'

Also 16' tall doors so I can fit a truck with a stand up sleeper and or tall stacks in the thing!

 

PeAreas for pressure washer/cleaning , drain, painting/body work. parts cleaning. storge for multiple projrcts. bathroom shower septic laundry room for greasy clothes.. sink hot water. Lots more on the want list. tho $ gets it done

 

Big. With very tall doors.

 

A couch, a fridge full of cold beer and a mean German Shepherd Dog.

 

We built one back in 2007 IIRC. 110 ft long with a 80 ft wide clear span. We have 3 bays for loaded tractor trailers plus another bay for doing repairs. We heat with waste oil but that is getting hard to find since Safety Kleen has started paying for it. We do not have in floor heating but I wish we did (all the heat rises to the ceiling).

Don't put the compressor outside the office or you won't be able to hear when you're on the phone.

 

I would build a closet for the air compressor and put a window A/C unit in to give the compressor dehumidified air.

 

Good lighting is a must, we had the vapor lights in the one shop, and if I would of had a white epoxy floor, I wouldn't of needed a drop light to see under vehicles. A/C heat is a must, good tunes and a TV on a rolling cabinet, a nice wash bay, shower and cabinets.

 

Actually, speaking of A/C, I forgot this: We put a door at either end for drive in drive out purposes, but as it turns out, just by dumb luck we oriented the length of the building the same way as the prevailing SW winds in the summer. As a result, with the doors open at both ends we have really good cooling in the summer. Also, the concrete floor tends to sweat and the wind really eliminates that also.

So, if possible, situate your building with the prevailing summer winds (more or less) and put doors at both ends.

 

I wish mine had A/C.

 

a good hoist, dock, fork lift, office, shelf for paper back manuals, computer,

a secret door with a secret passage to a secret room,