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[Legion]

Workshop

I haven’t had much of a chance to blog, been so freaking busy with my real job and my side jobs. With the recent additions of new machines it has become apparent that a new shop is necessary. Right now my shop encompasses more than half my garage and a large room in my basement. I want the new shop to handle everything and keep my house a house.

I intended to sell this house and buy a new one with a large yard and build an epic shop and I still may do that but in the mean time I must use with what I have, at least until the housing market recovers.

Woods Cross city ordnance states that you can only build one third the square footage of your back yard. After measuring I found that my backyard has about 2750 square feet. With this figure I could build a shop up to about 900 square feet or 30 by 30. However since I have three kids and they need a place to play I have settled on 24 by 24.

I have spend the last several days planning what I want, and have come up with a single story steel framed design.the reason for steel frame is I am a far better welder than I am a woodworking framer, and I have a large amount of surplus steel available to me. It will have a 2 car bays one with 8 by 8 doors. I will be adding at least 4 large skylights to help light it and reduce electrical costs. It will be heated by a small wood stove (i have 2 tons of coal i need to use). I plan to spray foam insulate the shop at a later date. I plan to add windows to the south side for solar heating. It must be wired for 200 amp service with 120 volt and 220 volt power.

All this must be done for under 10,000

The new shop must house a full size manual lathe, manual mill, tabletop cnc mill, cnc lathe, Surface grinder, Drill press, welding equipment, sand blaster, foundry, Various tooling and tool chests. It must also allow enough room for layout and future expansion as I intend to expand my anodizing and plating abilities.

I plan to start looking for concrete bids shortly as that is the only work I am really not comfortable doing myself.

[paintball sycho]

wow, sounds nice, you apparently have way more ambishion than me. G/L and we expect wip pics! just outta curiousity whats your current workshop look like?

[whooper]

You may want to consider adding windows on the east and west sides for ventilation; also add a circulation fan similar to a whole-house attic fan. Remember that it is going to get deathly hot in there during the summer months and south-facing windows will be your worst nightmare. What little good the windows will do on the south-side for solar heating is next to nil during the winter in an untempured/unheated space. I, also, suggest to stay away from operable skylights as they ALWAYS tend to leak over time.

If you go with a metal building, a "flat" roof would be best, sloped to one side (the rear). Provided that the pitch is sufficient, you could save money on roofing by using the corrugated tin roof panels and use the clear fiberglass corrugated panels as the sky lights.

Don't forget to check with the local building codes and neighborhood covenants for building requirements of both materials, imagery, and building height. There will be building permits that you will need to obtain, as well.

Best of luck to you on this endeavor.

[Legion]

All good points. I have already applied for the building permits and there is no problem with my current build plan as far as the city is concerned. I forgot to mention in my plan that i will be adding a solar powered exhaust fan on the roof like i did on my house.
It has been amazing. The south facing windows in the summer time will be covered with mats to keep the sun out. I also have a window air conditoner available for those brutal summer months.
As for materials i used to make the steel corrugated panels at a previous job and they will still give me the employee discount.

The skylights i am refering to are the solar tubes, i am quite impressed with there perfomance on a buddies shop.

[Mayvik]

You have 2 TONS of coal to use???!!? I hope that's also not stored in your backyard!

Sounds like you'll have a cool little shop when you're done, we shall need pictures.

[joelrf600r]

get it insulated right off the bat! if not, on a nice fall/spring where it starts cold but you get a rapid warming in temperature, you'll wonder why all of your equipment has condensation and a nice sheen of fine rust...

--J

[Legion]

get it insulated right off the bat! if not, on a nice fall/spring where it starts cold but you get a rapid warming in temperature, you'll wonder why all of your equipment has condensation and a nice sheen of fine rust...

I fully intend to have it insulated before fall i am looking to having it spray foamed.

Lucky Utah is rarely humid until the late fall.