Woodshop Preference

[ncphotographer]

I am looking to move out of the garage and build a standalone shop. At this point, doing a lot with live edge slab furniture, CNC routing and some smaller projects. Looking for any input on metal buildings on a slab, factory portable built building (14 x 26) or stick built on site. I have found that each have their positive/negatives, but curious what decisions you made and what considerations were made during the decision process. This will be in a residential area in the country, on my property and considerations for noise.

Thanks

 

[Oka]

Here is a general comparison:
Metal buildings, go up quick, have limitations with modifying are pretty cheap but are best when the building is getting to 1000 ft and above,

Pre-built panelized buildings wood type are quick and can be cheaper than stick built. Just depends on what you are looking for

Stick built imho is preferred when under a 1000 ft, you can make what you want and the building will have the most flexibility.

One suggestion make walls 10 ft. That will make you the happiest especially with 8 ft stock so much easier to wield.

 

[Berta]

I have a metal building and if I had it to do over I would have done stick built.

 

[tvrgeek]

My house came with a pole barn so the choice was easy. Only 9 foot ceilings which is OK, but would rather have had 10. Sure wish I had 12 over in the half where I work on my old British cars, I could have put in a lift. I also did not know I needed 4 inch slab, not 3 in that half.

Steel buildings are harder to finish inside as you need to frame inside walls to attach the surface too. Industrial steel usually leave the insulation just covered with plastic. But, if you put up steel furring strips and drywall, pretty fire resistant. So, do consider total cost, not just structure.

If I were designing from scratch, I would cast troughs in the floor and cover them with boilerplate or 1 inch ply so I could run the DC and power from below. I did reinforce a couple of the trusses and installed an electric hoist where my bay door is. This is so one can pick up something heavy, like a tool, out of a truck. If it was just a woodshop, I would have made tight sealing barn doors, not a garage door. I think I would make the man-door a double door. Don't forget a bit of roof over the door. High south facing windows are nice. With a 10 foot ceiling, they can be above where you want shelves and stuff.

Panelized are a curious idea. Not really looked into it, but makes sense. Pulte made town houses of it. Entire 4 unit front sides in one piece. Of course, need to be able to get a crane to site for it.

My inside walls are 1/2 inch plywood. So easy for a nail here or there to hang stuff on. 6 inch walls allow more insulation and if using rock, not glass, less noise transmission, but the windows and doors will still let out sound.

I did a metal carport. Squirrels love to toss acorns on it. I have seen them. Not drop, TOSS.

 

[Pop Golden]

My son has his shop in a metal building on a slab. It's cold in the winter and like an oven in the summer.

Pop

 

[bowman]

Ditto what Pop Golden stated.

 

[ScottM]

My shop is stick built on a concrete slab. 9.5' ceilings. Contracted for the footing , block and slab. Rest was DIY. My ceiling and walls are OBS painted white. Fiberglass insulation in the ceiling and walls.

 

[tri4sale]

When I show houses to buyers, stick built get a better impression of quality over metal frame buildings, which usually are described as "cheap" feeling. I'd rather have stick built over metal from if I had the choice.

 

[pcooper]

My shop is stick built on a slab, had the slab work done and did the rest myself. Heated and cooled with mini-split system and I'm a happy camper. Only thing I would do different is to use floor joists and wood floor so I could run dust collection below the floor and get off the hard concrete. I also have 10' ceilings, and would not even consider doing less than that if I had to do again.

 

[Charlie]

Just my 2 cents worth.
If this will be a "woodshop", (no cars allowed), go stick built on a block wall foundation with a crawl space.
All electrical, ductwork, etc. can be under the floor. Wood floor is much easier on the feet and legs.
Floor level same height as a pickup bed for easy loading/unloading. 3' man door, 6' access door (double 3' doors). Do not use an overhead door because they are tough to seal and insulate.
As few windows as possible to save on wall space.
I have 8' ceilings and have yet to hit it in almost 30 years. And I don't have to heat/cool that extra 1-2'.
Sheetrock on walls and ceiling painted white. It is easy to cut into and patch if the need arises, unlike OSB, plywood, etc.
Twice as much lighting as the experts recommend. Lights on several switches so you can light only the areas required.
Minimum 20 breaker electrical panel.
Excellent insulation in ceiling and walls. I have none in the floor and it has never been below 50 degrees in the crawl space.
If you wish, go to my shop gallery and you will see what I have done. I have been in this shop almost 30 years and wouldn't change anything.
You are only about 3 hours from Raleigh if you would like to do a shop visit.
Again, just my 2 cents worth.

 

[Melinapex]

One visit to Charlie's shop = priceless..
Just sayin....

 

[stevenross]

Mine is all metal (General Steel) on slab; good sized with good height as I have section for woodworking, car lift, gardening and workout and two wide sliding barn doors so easy access. I am more a sawdust maker than woodworker but I like the large open airy feeling. Concur with - more lights, plugs and overhead fans than you think you need - as you won't go back and add. (went with metal as I was undergoing PTSD from burning down my pole barn with 40 years of tools and a couple of cars by parking a hot lawnmower over some straw)

 

[Bill Clemmons]

Just my 2 cents worth.
If this will be a "woodshop", (no cars allowed), go stick built on a block wall foundation with a crawl space.
All electrical, ductwork, etc. can be under the floor. Wood floor is much easier on the feet and legs.
Floor level same height as a pickup bed for easy loading/unloading. 3' man door, 6' access door (double 3' doors). Do not use an overhead door because they are tough to seal and insulate.
As few windows as possible to save on wall space.
I have 8' ceilings and have yet to hit it in almost 30 years. And I don't have to heat/cool that extra 1-2'.
Sheetrock on walls and ceiling painted white. It is easy to cut into and patch if the need arises, unlike OSB, plywood, etc.
Twice as much lighting as the experts recommend. Lights on several switches so you can light only the areas required.
Minimum 20 breaker electrical panel.
Excellent insulation in ceiling and walls. I have none in the floor and it has never been below 50 degrees in the crawl space.
If you wish, go to my shop gallery and you will see what I have done. I have been in this shop almost 30 years and wouldn't change anything.
You are only about 3 hours from Raleigh if you would like to do a shop visit.
Again, just my 2 cents worth.

Mine is along the same lines as Charlie's; concrete wall foundation, stick built, w/ a crawl space. I was able to do about 90% of the construction myself, only bringing in help for the jobs I couldn't do (HVAC, plumbing) or the ones I didn't feel safe doing (roofing).

I went w/ 10' ceilings because I tend to build large furniture projects and often use long boards or plywood sheets. And I'm not always as careful as I should be.

After 16 years in this shop, I would make one major change: The floor joist. I went w/ 12', 2x8's, spaced 16" oc. I should have gone w/ at least 2x10's, or spaced the 2x8's 12" oc. I under estimated the weight of some of my machinery and now have several dips / sags in the floor that really irritate me. Okay, maybe most people wouldn't even notice them, but they bother me.

Like Charlie said, if you would like to do a shop visit before you finalize your plans, you are more than welcome to stop by on your way to Charlie's. I'm in Liberty, just south of Greensboro.

 

[Mike Davis]

No matter what you think or can afford 14 x 26 will not be big enough. In 4-5 years you will be trying to find space or enlarge.

I would not build less than 20 x 30. Otherwise just bring in a prebuilt portable building so you can move it out when you get ready for the real shop.

 

[ncphotographer]

One visit to Charlie's shop = priceless..
Just sayin....

I may have to take you up on that...

 

[ncphotographer]

Mine is along the same lines as Charlie's; concrete wall foundation, stick built, w/ a crawl space. I was able to do about 90% of the construction myself, only bringing in help for the jobs I couldn't do (HVAC, plumbing) or the ones I didn't feel safe doing (roofing).

I went w/ 10' ceilings because I tend to build large furniture projects and often use long boards or plywood sheets. And I'm not always as careful as I should be.

After 16 years in this shop, I would make one major change: The floor joist. I went w/ 12', 2x8's, spaced 16" oc. I should have gone w/ at least 2x10's, or spaced the 2x8's 12" oc. I under estimated the weight of some of my machinery and now have several dips / sags in the floor that really irritate me. Okay, maybe most people wouldn't even notice them, but they bother me.

Like Charlie said, if you would like to do a shop visit before you finalize your plans, you are more than welcome to stop by on your way to Charlie's. I'm in Liberty, just south of Greensboro.

That sounds like a good idea. Really appreciate the open arms.....guess i'll probably need to offer up some sweat equity

 

[Charlie]

That sounds like a good idea. Really appreciate the open arms.....guess i'll probably need to offer up some sweat equity

Nothing required.

 

[bobsmodels]

My wood shop is 13' x 35'x 10' ceiling, inside a 30' x 60' building. That 13' dimension is a killer for long boards, even 8'. You would think that is enough space, but with shelves and cabinets on the walls, lights hanging from the ceiling etc you get fouled up. I agree with Mike I would go with a min of 20' wide.

I have slab that was insulated underneath and up the sides (actually the most important area to insulate), makes a big difference in comfort. I put a complete HVAC system in but in retrospect I should have put heat in the floor in addition to the HVAC. You can put a system in that is not intended to warm the entire building just to keep the slab slightly warm. At a minimum insulate the slab as if you were putting in the floor heating system and make sure they run the insulation up the sides.

Bob

 

[chris_goris]

I built one last year, investigated all of it. I ended up building a 30 x 72 stick built, its divided as a dedicated 52 x 30 shop and a 20 x 30 garage . It is on a slab, I wouldve liked a wooden, raised floor , but I had to consider resale with a building this large. Could it be designed to support a vehicle? certainly, but the cost skyrockets. I have 8 foot ceilings and a 12 x 72' walk up attic space designed with load bearing attic trusses (6:12 pitch) for lumber storage. I installed a 200 amp service and have 2, 12 foot overhead doors. The dust collector is in the garage area so I dont listen to it run. I have 7 windows in the shop for lots of natural lighting and LED ceiling lights. From the outside, it sortof looks like a steel building because I used steel for siding but it has an asphalt shingled roof. The inside walls are sheeted with OSB for ease of hanging things anywhere I want and also for removal if I need to. Cost per sq ft complete is about $25. I decided no to go with steel for many reasons previously mentioned here and decided Id have to build a building inside of to properly insulate and wire it.

 

[Pop Golden]

Size: listen to Mike. Even if you built 1000 sq. ft. it would be too small at some point. The old rule of thumb is whatever your planed size is double it.
Celling: Boy those 10, 12 or even 14 ft. is one valuable place to spend a little extra cash. My shop is in a basement the floor to celling height is 7 ft. 6 in. Moving stock around in that space is no picnic. The celling is floor joist and insulation. The only good thing is that the house HVAC provides ambient heat and cooling with the duct work. In the dead of winter I have a gas space heater that I use from time to time. Burning low it help keeps thing pleasant.
Lighting: I'm 80 and my eyes that no looker so good. I have T-8 lights all over basic tool areas. It's a split system with each side of the shop separate. I also have lights on machines. I found a clip-on lamp that I modified to fit my Shopsmith light brackets. It's a little work but it beats $70 per light. Check these things out. There easy to install and allow the lamps to be moved from machine to machine if needs arise. All machine light have 100 watt equivalent LEDs.
Power: I have 2 220 volt circuits for my table saw & 15 in. plane. All other circuits are 120 VAC 20 amp, except my lights are one 2 15 amp. There is one additional 15 amp. which feeds my sanders, HVLP & airbrush compressor. I was thinking less power use. I should in retrospect made every thing 20 amp.

Pop