On Mon, 26 Jan 2004 23:27:33 +0000, Mark Rand
wrote:

On Mon, 26 Jan 2004 07:16:50 -0500, "Backlash" wrote:

Well, today's a snow (ice) day for me, so let's see if I can get a good
discussion going about shop design and construction In building a
workshop/garage, in which metalwork, machining, mechanical repairs, auto
repair, and in a separate partition, woodwork is to be performed, what
materials and type of construction would you guys use, and why? What
niceties would you install if you were building your ultimate workshop?
Phone, intercom, satellite TV, 25 disc cd changer, surround sound,
microwave, fridge, water supply, bathroom, alarm system, in-floor bike lift,
welding vent hood, hoist monorail are some of the things in use in the old
one, for example.
Present workshop is concrete block with no wall insulation, vinyl siding
on the outside. Insulated celotex ceiling. ( moderate climate) It has
served me well for 23 years, even surviving a high level flood with a racing
current going by, when my home didn't make it. This was due in part to
threaded clamping rods running from concrete up through the blocks and top
plate every 4 feet. Due to a new location, flooding is no longer an issue.
Hurricanes are. This construction won't be used again, due to insulation
issues, and my next shop WILL be toasty and cool as needed. I was younger
and poorer then. I am already well versed in building and uses of building
materials, and have some ideas in mind. If anyone wishes to participate, we
might all come out with some good concepts. This is open to inclusion of any
item that might be used in or on a workshop, tools and subsystems included.
I'm sure that some people just starting out in the workshop scene could find
this very informative.

Also, thanks Guys and Gals, for the insights and ideas I have personally
received from this NG so far. Let the local farmers sit around the heater at
the country store. I'll hang out here with you guys.

RJ


I am currently looking at building a new workshop in the next few months to
house my stuff and some of the stuff inherited from my father. The current
shop is a bolt together concrete garage which is un-insulated and only kept
dry by the 24/7/365 use of a dehumidifier. I can't mend the original without
taking it down and rebuilding it completely, so I'll get the new shop and the
wife will get the rebuilt old shop.

My absolute requirements so far:-

1) Telephone and network access to the house, I currently run three servers in
the garage and they will need to be catered for in the new shop.

2) Floor, walls and roof waterproofed with damp-proof membranes. I will keep
the dehumidifier, but I don't want to collect a gallon and a half of water a
day from it when the weather is wet!

3) Walls and roof insulated with 2"-3" foil fronted polyurethane foam boards.
Floor insulated with 4" expanded polystyrene below the slab. It would be nice
if the heat from the computers were enough to keep the shop above freezing in
the UK winter.

3) Option of heating/air conditioning based on the first year's experience.

4) Carpet tiles on the floor. Both to make it more comfortable and
_importantly_ to prevent things getting damaged when they're dropped.

5) Air compressor in a separate brick enclosure to cut down the problem of me
jumping out of my skin when it starts.

I will almost certainly use another bolt together concrete structure, but I
hope I can build it better than whoever put up the leaky garage 44 years ago.

I am severely limited by the size of my plot and cannot get bigger than 8' 6"'
by 17' 6' internal dimensions. What I have been toying with is the idea of
excavating a basement under the workshop. I reckon that a 6' by 7' by 14'
basement would involve removing a bit more than 30 cubic yards of soil with
the addition of formwork, reinforcing and concrete. The cost might only go up
by 75% of the original price for another 60% of usable space out of the plot.
has anyone done this sort of thing?

Excuse me for inserting my $.02USD here..but given the small size of
your proposed shop..why not expand onto the original structure? Doing
so will not only give you more room, but cost less, as you already
have one or more walls to work with.

On grid paper, lay out the exisiting garage on your property. Look at
the property lines, etc etc..then add shop space around one or more
sides of the exisiting structure until you are within proper distance
of your propery line(s). Doors as needed may be put in the wall(s) of
the exisiting structure, etc etc. Done with a bit of foresight and
planning, it will give you far more room, various spaces to perform
clean or dirty work, storage etc etc and you may use proper
ventilation from the new section to help keep the old section dry.

At most, you only need to construct no more than 3 external walls and
perhaps only two. Basements are very nice..but they do flood, tend to
be humid, and take up valuable floor space for access to the stairs,
unless you live on the side of a hill. Its very hard to move machinery
or long stock down said stairs, and it winds up being used mostly for
storage if you have other shop space. You already have storage in the
old garage. Shrug. The large Tupperware type tubs with snap on lids
work pretty well in humid areas for keeping things moderately dry when
racked on proper shelves.

Just an old rednecks suggestion, worth what you paid for it.

Gunner
"As physicists now know, there is some nonzero probability that any object will,
through quantum effects, tunnel from the workbench in your shop to Floyds Knobs,
Indiana (unless your shop is already in Indiana, in which case the object will
tunnel to Trotters, North Dakota).
The smaller mass of the object, the higher the probability.
Therefore, disassembled parts, particularly small ones,
of machines disappear much faster than assembled machines."
Greg Dermer: rec.crafts.metalworking