Setting up a shop in a coastal area

Lowell Mate

New User
Lowell
I live in the north but I am looking to move the Wilmington area. The property I purchase will likely dictate that I purchase flood insurance. Looking for advice from woodworkers who have shops in this kind of environment. For example, do you keep machinery up and off the floor so that it's less vulnerable in the event of water coming in? Interior french drains? What kind of climate controls to use? Any advice will be appreciated.
 

Henry W

Henry
Corporate Member
Lowell - I can't advise here, but welcome aboard.
There are several (many?) here who are coastal, so I hope you can get some good feedback and ideas.
 

red

Papa Red
Red
Senior User
You will need a decent HVAC system for sure. Not just for being near the coast but for being in NC. Very humid. I have a 26 x 36 workshop that I heat and cool year round with a mini-split. Works awesome. Your building codes will tell you the minimum requirements need for your area as far as drainage and moisture barriers. Good luck. NC is beautiful year round!

Red
 

Lowell Mate

New User
Lowell
You will need a decent HVAC system for sure. Not just for being near the coast but for being in NC. Very humid. I have a 26 x 36 workshop that I heat and cool year round with a mini-split. Works awesome. Your building codes will tell you the minimum requirements need for your area as far as drainage and moisture barriers. Good luck. NC is beautiful year round!

Red
Thank you, Red. Out of curiosity, and rough idea how much that adds to your monthly utility bill?
 

Roy G

Roy
Senior User
Have you considered raising your shop up on piles? Many houses down on the coast are up on piles to handle storm surge.

Roy G
 

Lowell Mate

New User
Lowell
Have you considered raising your shop up on piles? Many houses down on the coast are up on piles to handle storm surge.

Roy G
Yes, I'm looking at a house that is raised, but it has a huge garage on the ground level into which I would consider locating the shop. I understand that if there's a huge surge, a lot of equipment will get wet regardless; but as a general precaution, I was just wondering if it would pay to slightly raise machinery up off the ground. For example, pouring a 1' high concrete block and then bolting a drill press into it.
 

nn4jw

New User
Jim
I'd suggest that you see if you can find out if your proposed house had any flooding issues during hurricane Florence last year. There was a lot of flooding in the Wilmington area from Florence. That might give you a "worst case" scenario or baseline for planning. Regardless, if it was me I'd want some kind of easily reachable way to kill all power in the garage/shop for before hurricane arrivals. A flooded concrete floor and power tools can be deadly, especially if 220v.
 

Lowell Mate

New User
Lowell
I'd suggest that you see if you can find out if your proposed house had any flooding issues during hurricane Florence last year. There was a lot of flooding in the Wilmington area from Florence. That might give you a "worst case" scenario or baseline for planning. Regardless, if it was me I'd want some kind of easily reachable way to kill all power in the garage/shop for before hurricane arrivals. A flooded concrete floor and power tools can be deadly, especially if 220v.
Will do. Thank you for the suggestion.
 

joec

joe
User
I live in Wilmington. I live in an area that is well above sea level and do not worry about moist soil etc. I took over my garage and insulated the floor, wall and ceiling. I keep it heated in the winter and use AC when I am in the shop in the summer. I do not have any issues with rust and dampness.
 

Jeff

New User
Jeff
Yes, I'm looking at a house that is raised, but it has a huge garage on the ground level into which I would consider locating the shop.

Welcome to NCWW. A few questions. Why are you considering moving to Wilmington from "up North"? The Wilmington area encompasses a large area and it would be helpful if you could add the specific area and address of the home. Not all areas are in flood planes and susceptible to storm surges from hurricanes. You can search the specific address at these
sites



The ground level is the "huge garage". Do you have any pictures and dimensions of the garage that you could post here? The address would also be helpful.
 

Lowell Mate

New User
Lowell
I live in Wilmington. I live in an area that is well above sea level and do not worry about moist soil etc. I took over my garage and insulated the floor, wall and ceiling. I keep it heated in the winter and use AC when I am in the shop in the summer. I do not have any issues with rust and dampness.
Thanks for the response. I appreciate the info.
 

Lowell Mate

New User
Lowell
Welcome to NCWW. A few questions. Why are you considering moving to Wilmington from "up North"? The Wilmington area encompasses a large area and it would be helpful if you could add the specific area and address of the home. Not all areas are in flood planes and susceptible to storm surges from hurricanes. You can search the specific address at these
sites



The ground level is the "huge garage". Do you have any pictures and dimensions of the garage that you could post here? The address would also be helpful.
I have no photographs. Home is in the Myrtle Grove(ish) area. Thank you for suggesting the website. I will check it out.
 

Jeff

New User
Jeff
I have no photographs. Home is in the Myrtle Grove(ish) area. Thank you for suggesting the website. I will check it out.

Myrtle Grove is 23' above sea level so a flooding storm surge is pretty unlikely.

Do you have an address or street in the Myrtle Grove area?
 
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tri4sale

Daniel
Corporate Member
I have friends in that area, and they have no issues with flooding (at least now, give it 10 to 20 years and that may change). Worse issue they have in that area is the city sewer lines get overwhelmed and streets flood. They've not had issues with water getting into the house. But it really depends on what area of MG you are in, if near the water then you may have more chance of an issue. If the house requires flood insurance, then there is likely a chance of flooding somewhere on the lot. Doesn't mean the house is in the flood area. But with the way things are now, with heavy downpours the new norm for rain, and places flooding that never have in the past, I'd think twice about buying in spot the requires flood insurance.

But yes to the AC, I put a minisplit in my garage and screen porch, and my bill went up maybe $10 bucks.
 

Gripbd

BD
User
First of all, welcome to Wilmington and N.C. Woodworkers. I’ve lived in Wilmington for almost 30 years now, and in that time we’ve had several flooding storms. If the house that you are looking at is built on stilts, it is most likely that the property is subject to flooding. You should be able to research the property to find out if it has flooded in the past 30 years. Hurricanes Floyd in 1999, and Florence last year were the worst. In most areas that flooded, raising equipment a foot wouldn’t help. I also wonder if raising equipment wouldn’t make it inconvenient to operate. Also, most shop equipment will not be ruined by exposure to several inches of water except for ensuing rust.
Regarding climate control- I have an unheated, un-airconditioned shop, and have to deal with serious rusting problems during the spring. Cool nights followed by warm days and high humidity causes condensation on anything metal, followed by rusting. Hot summer days make it impossible to work in the shop during the afternoon. If you can do it, I would recommend heating and air conditioning, with a priority of heating to maintain a minimum temperature at night to combat rusting.
I hope this all doesn’t sound negative. I love living in Wilmington. We have great nightlife, restaurants, concerts at Greenfield Lake Amphitheater, and of course, the beach. NCWoodworkers is a great bunch of people, and the annual picnic in Raleigh is worth the trip. I’m sure that you will really like living here.
 

mlzettl

Matt
Corporate Member
I have lived in Carteret County (Morehead City, Newport, Beaufort, etc.) since 1980. We built our house with a detached 600 sq. ft. shop in 1985, and I added an additional 600 sq. ft. in 2008. Lowell's recommendation regarding checking the current flood zone maps is good one. I think it is important to keep in mind that flooding is not the only issue. We have never had any flooding at our house, even last year with Hurricane Florence. However, we have had wind driven rain damage, although never serious to the point that we had to move out of the house. Flood insurance is relatively reasonable as far as cost is concerned, but wind and hail insurance is quite expensive, but absolutely necessary. Your standard homeowner's insurance covers very little, if anything, related to storm damage.

I would suggest several things. If you are in a flood zone, or even close to a flood zone, you need to have flood insurance. If you have a mortgage, this will be required. That being said, flood insurance alone will not cover the cost of replacement for all equipment, tools, etc. You may want to consider additional insurance. Elevating the shop above flood level may not really be practical for a number of reasons. Raising the equipment several inches above grade or floor level would also be impractical from the standpoint of effective use, and I doubt that it would afford a reasonable level of protection anyway. You do need to carefully consider and plan to make the building as windproof as possible. I would exceed code requirements in this regard. A hip roof with a very securely fastened metal roof is the most effective. The roof itself needs to be secured from the top plate all the way to the foundation, and there are systems available to accomplish this. Do you research, as having the roof blow off in high winds would be catastrophic. That being said, there is almost no way to prepare for a storm like Dorian with 185 mph winds when it hit the Bahamas. Everything goes with those kinds of wind speeds.

As far as air conditioning, heating, etc. I would echo the recommendation to go with a mini split system if you want to have a comfortable conditioned space year round. These were not available when I built my shop, but if I were starting from scratch right now, that is what I would do. I use space heaters in the winter when it is really cold, but actually don't have to do this often. I use a window mounted air conditioner in the summer when it is really hot, but again, most of the time I do without. Yes, one needs to pay attention to exposed steel or cast iron surfaces of hand tools and machinery, but a bit of preventive maintenance is sufficient. I am not obsessive about it, but I clean and wax my table saw, jointer, planer, etc. 3 or 4 times per year. It only takes a few minutes. Similarly, I clean and protect planes, chisels, etc. while I use them. Unless you are living right on the beach, the rust problem is manageable without having to condition the space 24/7.

This is just a brief summary of a complicated subject. There are many ways to approach the problems, and no single solution exists. Do your research, and talk to as many people as you can, preferably those who have lived in the area for a long time. I hope this helps some.

Cheers and welcome to coastal NC,

Matt
 

Oka

Casey
Corporate Member
Mini splits are the most economical and easiest to install. Essentially, all they are are a condenser (the outside unit) and a coil with a fan (coil is just a another word for heat exchanger or radiator that has the fan blow through it).
There are VRF (Variable Refrigerant Flow ) systems that allow you to have independent control zones. Either way, the best way to get the cheapest cooling bill is R-30 (9-10" thick Insulation)ceiling/Roof and R-19 (6") for the walls. If you have 2 x 4 walls, then, use R-13. I Depending on the heat load (a more complex calculation) use 300-350 sq ft to 1 ton cooling (1ton=12,000 btu). Typical rule of thumb for houses is 400 ft per ton but, considering ceiling height and equipment motor heat, the 300-350 sqft is a safer for back of the envelope calc. ......... Remember, insulation, dual glazed windows are your energy saving friend..... by a lot.

Finally, At my dad's place on of of his sheds we used a sump system as a back up in case there ever was a flood incident. May not prevent flooding but can minimize the effects and buy you time to get things safe in case of one.
 

marinosr

Richard
Corporate Member
I don't have any real world knowledge about these things, but I do know that a few people in Houston really saved their butts during Harvey using these inflatable levees. (Or something like those, I'm not sure those are the exact ones.) Could be a viable option if flooding is immanent to keep your shop dry... I think it would depend a lot on the depth to groundwater and the hydraulic conductivity of the soil surrounding you (e.g. if the soil is super sandy and water can move through the soil easily, then the levees may be less effective.)
 

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