Shop design lay-out ideas?

[Guest]

I have a friend who is in the planning stages of designing a workshop, principally for boat-work. There are more than a few workshop denizens here and I thought it might be helpful to discuss workshop design.

I am no master of shop design, and am occasionally stricken with shop envy (see: pattern maker or cabinet maker friends and relatives). Working with the space I had available I got some things right, and some things wrong.

Things I got right:

Lighting. Lot of lighting. My workshop is 30’ x 22’. It has seven 36” duplex fluorescent fixtures in the ceiling. My electrical guy laughed when I laid that out and made comment about “working on the surface of the sun”. Good turn of phrase, I’ve re-used it.

But it is not too bright. It is just bright enough. When a single set of fluorescents starts to flicker it seems awfully dim to me. I have individual task lights set in various areas, but I wouldn’t have wanted any less illumination available with the flick of a switch. Bright is good, unless you would rather not see the imperfections in your prep work.

Power. A separate breaker box, with duplex 110v receptacles every 3 feet or so along the walls, mounted 54” high so they are well above the tops of the benches. I use all of them and some have extension cords, chargers or power stations permanently attached. Thinking about their position and (irregular) spacing with an eye towards potential workbenches and storage shelving helped. I got that part almost half right, as I kept adding storage shelving.

Benches. Lots of bench space. Contiguous height bench space, most of it 31” high, which is a good seated work height for me. One section of bench, separate from the rest, is 40” high, which is my stand up work area.

Shelving. Lots of shelving, incuding floor-to-ceiling shelving on one back wall. All of the benches have shelving underneath as well, set-back narrower so it is out of foot and knee space. Can’t have too much shelving; having ample storage space helps with organization and keeping the benches clear.

Big door/small door. I kept the garage door. It was a high-quality well insulated garage door, and having that large opening at one end is beneficial in many guises. I’ve even had the truck in the shop a couple of times, and a canoe trailer once. Who would have thought a garage would see vehicular use?

And a standard sized doorway on one side. I really don’t want to open the big door when it is 20F outside.

Insulation. My shop was not insulated for the first 10 years. I paid for that. Literally, in electric bills and cans of K1. It is now in fact better (or at least thicker) insulated than the rest of the house. When it’s winter, it’s cold and I can’t get the truck up the driveway my man cave needs to be warm enough to work.

Clean space. I sacrificed some shop floor space and put an 8’ x8’ room in the back of the shop. That is my “clean” space. Also my office, reference library and man cave within man cave. Even the interior walls of that space are insulated, so keeping that 64 square feet warm is easy.

Ventilation. I have a couple of large, screened windows in the shop. Plus the garage door opening. And a window in the man cave office. But perhaps the best thing I did was inadvertent; I had a leftover window, and installed it on one interior office wall, between the office and the shop.

My original thought was that I could open that interior window if I needed extra length for something on the bench. I have never used it that way. But I have used interior window almost every week for another purpose. If I am working with something in the shop I don’t want to inhale any longer than necessary – epoxy, fiberglass dust, varnish, spray paint, whatever – I just open the outside office window, the inside office-to-shop window and put an exhaust fan in a shop window. One way fresh air flow through the office.

Things I got wrong:

Non-slip, seamless cleanable floor. Well, it is coated concrete, but it is time to re-do the nonslip surface before I fall on my arse on a wet spot. It is not seamless. I put an 8 foot long addition off one end of the shop and the floor has an awkward transition there. Especially awkward when I scooting back and forth in a wheeled shop chair.

It is cleanable. My shop was originally a garage, and so has the code required slab slope, including the extension. That necessitated leveling the benches (once), but has allowed me to thoroughly clean the floor with brush and hose (more than once).

Somewhat cleanable. Pet peeve shop – I hate having things stored on the shop floor. Even the legs of the benches create a dust and debris trap, especially if they are set flush with the wall. I’m not re-doing all of the benches, but if I did I’d set the backside legs/supports a couple of inches off the wall.

Door width. I had a 31” door and frame, and used that as the side door. I wish I had put in a 36” – it would be much better to be able haul a canoe through that doorway when it’s below freezing and the shop is already warm.

More receptacles. I use all of them, even the duplex mounted in the shop ceiling. It may be hard to put too many receptacles in a shop. I could not have pre-planned every shelf and peg board. At least with the peg board I could cut access holes.

Other ideas on things to include or avoid?

 

[Mihun09]

I need length that I don't have. 50 foot long would be good so I could rip/plane 20 plus foot boards for gunwales in the dead of winter. My present space is 24 feet.

My space is a single car garage built with a 6 foot ceiling height. We moved collar ties up to make a vaulted ceiling on the front portion for space and left a loft space at the back, although we have yet to use it for the intended storage. The walls were cap stripped with 2x2's and it is insulated R20, ceiling/roof as well. So far we have been heating with a 1500W electric space heater but next week the electrician is coming to hook up the 60amp panel we have out there and the 240V 4000W heater will get installed.

The floor is a concrete slab cracked into 9 pieces and frost heaves every winter into multiple levels. You have to see it to understand. Ideally I would have in floor heating in the next shop I build along with additional NG heaters.

I need a space with a floor drain for washing boats in the Winter. After stripping the varnish the boats need a TSP cleaning with the pressure washer and having the ability to do that indoors would be a major bonus with how Winters are here.

Present lighting is 4, 8 foot dual fluorescents on 2 circuits. Center and front sloped roof on one, side angled on the second. Having the lighting on the angled ceiling sides helps to eliminate shadows when working over a boat.These are the old ballasts and I need to upgrade to electronic cold start. I wire lighting at work day in and day out so doing so would be easy. All the bits needed can be bought at HD.

Most of our heat loss is through the two front doors, both of which are 6 foot high by 4 foot wide, 1x6 construction, R20 insulated and swing outwards. Sealing the edges has been an issue and I will fix that this Summer coming.

Don't have as many recepticles as you do, but we have enough, although I want to put a couple of drops from the ceiling at some point. Not duplexes on the ceiling, but actual pendant type drops to hook into.

A dust collection system would be good for Winter, Summer time we just cut everything outdoors. I too would like a clean room, big enough for a 20 foot canoe for varnish and painting separate from the dusty area's. A spray booth would be ideal.

I'll add as I think of more...

Karin

 

[Alan Gage]

I was fortunate a couple years to build a shop from the ground up and I did a ton of thinking and research before I broke ground. That doesn't mean I got it all right, but some of it at least.

First thing if starting from scratch is size. The main recurring theme I came across from people who had built their own shops was to "build it bigger." I don't know if I came across anyone who had built a shop and wished otherwise. And sure enough, the more I thought and planned the bigger the shop started to get. And now that it's done I don't regret upsizing it one bit....and a little more room would certainly be nice in the future. I ended up with 46x38 with a 10' wide overhang (8.5' from shop wall to support posts) running the full 46' on the east wall.

Insulate under and around the slab. In the north there's a tremendous amount of heat lost their and in the summer it keeps the floor from sweating (cool concrete from cool soil underneath+hot, humid air=wet floor). A nice warm floor in winter also means you can be more comfortable at lower air temps in the shop.

In floor radiant heat would have been nice but it would have been a fair amount of extra expense and a lot of extra time designing and installing before pouring the slab. Instead I went with overhead radiant. It's what we've had at my work for close to 20 years and it's wonderful. Other than the time and expense the big thing that pushed me away from in floor radiant was the way I planned to use the shop. With in floor radiant you've got a huge thermal mass (concrete floor) to warm up before the actual shop starts to warm. So if I leave the shop set at 45 in the winter and want to go out there to work for two hours I'm probably not going to get much of a rise in air temp while I'm actually working. With the overheat radiant, on the other hand, as soon as I turn up the thermostat it's like the sun has come out and is shining on your head and shoulders. You feel the heat immediately (and so do all your work surfaces and tools). It doesn't take it long to bring the shop from 45 to 55 but even when the air temp is only 48 it's still very comfortable to work in because it feels like you're standing in the sun on a cool day.

Overhead radiant is also a more even heat than you'd expect, I learned this from work. It's a very old, not really well insulated shop with multiple overhead doors that are opening and closing all the time. The area that's close to one of the overhead doors and at least 35 feet from any of the heaters is only 2 degrees colder on a cold winter day than the main work area. For that reason I felt comfortable heating my whole shop with one 30 foot tube situated over my main work area at the far end of the shop. I notice no temp drops when I walk across the shop.

When planning a shop draw everything out on paper/computer. I started with graph paper and drew out the proposed shop dimensions. Then I cut out pieces of paper scaled to size of my table saw/outfeed table, miter saw/outfeed table, band saw, planer, benches, compressor, etc. That way I could easily place them in different areas of the shop to see how the work area would flow. Is there enough room in front of/behind the table saw to cut long pieces of stock? Can I place another machine so that it will act as an infeed/outfeed table for extra long pieces? Will I be able to move large sheets of plywood through that area? Can I easily get power/dust collection to the table saw if it's in the middle of the shop? Can I position the table saw so that I can open a door for extra in/out clearance for long stock?

I originally wanted 10' ceilings in my shop by knowing I'd have my dad's large tractor at times meant I'd need 12' ceilings with a 10' overhead door to get it in the shop. I really hated to spend the extra money to add those 2' to the height just for that but I did it anyway. So happy I did. Makes working so much easier being able to swing around boards without worrying about wanging into a light. Higher ceilings also mean more even heat from the radiant tube (and keeps it farther from possible combustibles) and more even spread of light from the ceiling mounted fixtures. Also gives the option of hanging some things (boats anyone?) from the ceiling.

Put machines on wheels so that you can roll them out of the way when not in use or roll them to an area with more room when you have long pieces to cut. When I built my shop I didn't have any grand plans of building lots of boats so I went with the most efficient table saw placement for cutting 12' boards, the longest I was likely to use for most purposes. But I did think ahead and got a mobile base for my saw and built the large outfeed table in sections so that all I had to do was pull a dozen screws and remove the end of the my outfeed table to move my saw anywhere I wanted to cut long pieces.

Dust collection. After having it I can't imagine a shop without dust collection. I started with a portable 220v Delta, which was better than nothing, but now I have a large wall mounted Oneida unit I picked up from a friend when he upgraded. Every time I empty that 20 gallon dust bin (once per boat project) I can't believe that pre-collection all that dust would be strewn all over the shop, not to mention in my lungs. Makes it much easier to keep a clean shop, not to mention the joy that comes from sweeping up a big pile of dust/shavings on the floor and simply sucking it up with a big hose.

Put in a large capacity breaker box. 200 amp service and with lots of breaker spaces doesn't cost much extra when building, a lot cheaper than upgrading later. If you start adding 220 machines those slots fill up fast.

I did a row of double outlets (4 outlets/box), just above bench height, around the entire shop, every 12'. So no matter where you put a machine it will always be within 6' of an outlet, which means no extension cords.

I'm a big fan of drawers. Drawers everywhere! And mostly shallow ones at that. Under my large tablesaw outfeed table is cabinets with drawers. Same for under my long miter saw in/outfeed setup. I think I've got something like 40+ drawers in the shop and only a handful of open cabinets with doors. You can put so much more in a drawer and it's so much easier to access. It's more work and expense but well worth it in my opinion.

I don't have a whole lot of bench space. I have a tendency to fill horizontal surfaces with clutter so I try to keep only as many as necessary. I mainly use the outfeed table of for my table saw and recently used a couple unused cabinet carcasses to make a 4' roll around work bench which comes in quite handy.

I still have a lot more shop clean up and organization to do but it's getting there. I'll try and get some pictures posted later. Fun reading everyone's ideas.

Alan

 

[Guest]

I need length that I don't have. 50 foot long would be good so I could rip/plane 20 plus foot boards for gunwales in the dead of winter. My present space is 24 feet.

Good stuff. Thanks.

A rather smart friend of mine put a portal on one side of his building, essentially just a 2’ x 3’ hinged door in the wall at bench height. That eliminated the need for an oversized building for his 90% needs and also allowed him to feed long stock into the building through the a side “window”.

He did a number of other smart things as well that I wish I’d paid more attention to when laying out my present shop. See “carports” below.

I kept enough floor space clear of benches or shelves that I could work on two (or sometimes three) boats at once. I wish I had another 10 or 12 feet in length, so I could set the boats at the “far end” of the shop and further away from my usual bench space. Having to walk around the boats to get to the other side of the shop becomes a hike.

But I wouldn’t want to heat much more than I have. My ultimate shop envy - I have an uncle who is a pattern maker/custom cabinet maker in upstate NY. He can back a semi-truck into his shop. His shop is wide and deep, with a dance floor of open space in the middle, and three sides of it are lined with benches, flush mounted tools and work stations. He has a bad back and has figured out his typical sequence of work and order of tool, so he picks something up once and slides it along a U shaped perimeter bench, from start to final finish at the far end.

But that is his liveliehood. He also heats largely with wood, both his shop and home. I guess in northern climes a wood stove might be an asset, especially if you use firewood anyway or make lots of scrap wood


I like the idea of a vaulted ceiling and loft storage in the shop. Some vault or high ceilinged lumber storage/drying would be a worthwhile feature to build in.

I especially like the side angles for fluorescent lighting design. Mine are all mounted flat on the ceiling and I know what you mean about shadows. I may work on dangling a DIY angle- adjustable fluorescent or two from the ceiling for use when shadow needed.

Fluorescent technology has come a long ways and modern cold starts eliminate catching a 5-minute buzz when flick the switch. Not that there’s anything wrong with catching a shop buzz before starting work.

I hadn’t thought about frost heave. My shop cogitating friend is a far north Yankee, and that may be a big consideration. That and the cold retention of a slab as well. Maybe an insulated sub floor? The concrete floor in my shop isn’t frost heaved, but it is a helluva heat sink in winter (although it does keep the shop cooler in summer).

I do sometimes lightly wash canoes in the shop, but have no floor drain. I just do so carefully with separate sudsy and rinse buckets and sponges, sweep the excess drippage puddles out the door and waft the damp spots with a floor fan. Usually after slipping at least once on the wet spot.

A sink or some rudimentary hand-washing station would be wonderful though. I work in a shop in NC that has a sink and have come to much appreciate that hand cleanliness, and other rinsing availability.

About slab floors and humidity in general. We do not have air conditioning in most of our home, but in the summer I run a window AC to help control the humidity in the shop. Being able to control both temperature and humidity for a few hours is a boon for varnish or epoxy work

Dust collection is my biggest shop challenge. I just can’t bring myself to install some elaborate dust collection system. I use a shop vac hooked to sanders and such when I do major sanding jobs, but there is still dust everywhere.

Well, not just dust, but all that other shop detritus that accumulates. A dust system won’t help with those little curlie cues of metal shavings, wood flour on the bench and floor from hand sawing, sanding or filing, the stuff I track in on my feet, and the stuff the shop cat leaves in the corners. Dead bugs and cobwebs and WTF is that thing?

It is a dirty environment no matter what I do. Best I can manage is to occasionally open the garage door and have at it with a leaf blower from top to bottom, starting at the ceiling and working down past shelving and benches to the floor. Repeatedly, in-between evacuating the area between blow jobs as the dust settles.

The leaf blower is also a good way to see what I didn’t put away properly. When it blows off the bench and into the yard I know it shouldn’t have been left there.

If I was to add anything to my shop the first order of business would be a long slab extension and a covered carport or pole barn. In fair weather being able to take projects and tools outside but still under cover would be wonderful. Wash boats there if above freezing, make dust there when warm, store or hang stuff with the open rafters

Shop envy again. The shop in the NC has two large covered carports, where I can work sort of outdoors, rain or shine. Or shaded.

Keep it coming. I feel some shop improvements coming on myself.

 

[Alan Gage]

If your friend is in the north have him look into frost protected shallow foundations. That's what I did with my shop. You get a fully insulated slab, bottom and sides, and you don't need to dig below the frost line. For me that meant no need to hire someone with a backhoe to dig footings, I could do all the excavating and fill myself with my dad's tractor.

Basically I just scraped off the top soil until I was down to gravel to get to a depth of about 18". Then I formed up and poured the footings and had a block layer lay up few courses of block on top of that to get the height of the slab correct. Foam then covered the outside of the block and footings with wings extending out to the side. Then, after back filling, 4" of foam was placed below the slab before pouring.

The concept is that the foam traps the heat from the earth under the building instead of letting it escape, so that even without heat in the building the sub-slab temp should never drop below freezing.

Standard 2x6 walls with fiberglass insulation and R60+ in the ceilings. I think it costs about $600 to heat it for the year. We have the same climate as Minneapolis so pretty cold as far as the states go. Normal frost depth for footings is 4'.

IMG_0305 by Alan Gage, on Flickr

IMG_0306 by Alan Gage, on Flickr

Alan

 

[Mihun09]

I'm formulating my ultimate shop in my head constantly. I need to win the lottery to do it but could likely build it smaller scale for much less considering I am capable of doing most of the work myself. Steel buildings are cheap and quick but lack the ambience that I would like, so I'm styling it like an old barn, 1 1/2 story, all boat storage above the ceiling with doors in the ceiling and a hoist system to move boats up and down. Access by stairs.

Ideally it would have the wood shop at the back, the front would be split, one side for finishing, the other for fabrication. 30x80 is my working size at the moment. The finishing side would be wash down as well, all paint/varnish/chemical storage in an appropriate fire/explosion proof chamber, likely positioned outside the main walls.

I have thought of using a smallish door for added length for cutting and planing in Winter, but would likely put up one of those temporary garages over the outside space which could also be wood storage. Presently, we store our wood standing up in the boat house off the floor since the boat house floods every spring.

The infloor heating done here is water piping and the slabs are heavily insulated as well. It keeps the slab warmish but I would still need radiant heating.

We do have an in-wall AC unit for Summer but I don't use it as much as Christine does, I like the heat after a long Winter. We can get very hot and dry here or very humid and have a problem with the floor sweating to the point it runs off the angled slab. Consider after last Winter it took until July for the frost to completely leave the ground. Frost depth here last Winter was just over 7 feet.

Tonight's lottery is 50 million...

 

[dave0]

This a great thread as I am planning on building off of my barn this summer adding a 16' x 26' shop. What is nice I only have to build three walls and a roof and there is also electrical running so all I have to do is tap into that for power. Since I get sun on my property from about 10 a.m. until literally sunset so I plan on putting a lot of windows in for the passive solar as I plan to insulate this bugger. I have two other workshops but they aren't insulated and I keep swearing the next shop is going to have heat! This new shop will run right into an existing 12 x 42 workshop so when joined will form an L shape. The new workshop is the hopefully new workshop and the 12 x 42 is nothing more than storage.

Due to water issue on the land with spring run off I won't have a concrete floor as it will be raised to meet the foundation height of the barn foundation, guessing about 2'.

My biggest concern is building out from the barn. I want to go out 16" but know that I will fill a couple of walls with shelves for my tools, assorted screws, washer, rope, etc.. You know how quickly that fills up with nonsense which ends up being moved dozens of times over the years, and of course camping/canoeing gear. I realize how short 16' is but the length of the shed at 26' should make up for it. heck, I am working in a 12' wide by 42' shed now so this will be McMansion to me! I will have all my big power tools mounted on rolling carts which would be my planer, drill press, table saw and router table. Lots of good ideas here. Keep them coming, makes me really reconsider some of the ideas I had so far.

dougd

 

[stripperguy]

MDB and I are just now planning our next home...we have split a 34 acre parcel with daughter and SIL...their home is nearly done, we build next spring or summer.
Included in our plans is a good sized, fully detatched work/storage barn, maybe 40 ft x 60 ft. Some will be strictly storage, some work space. I need space for building canoes, furniture, sailboats, cars. I have made a hobby of restoring insurance wrecked vehicles, actually more than a hobby, it has turned into a little side business. The work space will include some sort of spray booth, I do a lot of spraying and really need at least a semi dedicated space. I do plan for radiant heat in the concrete floor, I can tap off the wood boiler that we plan for the house heating loops. We have mostly mature oak, maple and ash, probably 5 years of just standing deadwood, so heating costs should be lower. Also planned is solar electric for the barn roof, we want to be as energy independent as possible. I currently have a 15 hp rotary 3 phase converter, that will move to the new place. I do have a dust collection system, but it is not set up well, so that will need improvement in the next place too.

So then...
Large uninterrupted floor space-check
3 phase power-check
Good lighting-check
Dust collection system-check
Spray booth-check
Radiant heat-check
Lift for heavy stuff-uhmmm

I haven't yet decided on materials, sheet metal buildings are cheap, but so is the Amish labor and lumber that's not too far away. Roof will definitely be sheet metal with solar panels.
Lots of good ideas here, thanks for helping me organize my thoughts too!!

 

[Rocky Headlands]

Surfboard shapers use side lighting, fluorescent tubes mounted horizontally under 6-8" shelves. Directs the light on the project and gives the shapers a darker, more contrasting space above. Side lights can also be adjusted for taller projects like canoes

 

[Robin]

My little canoe shop is not all that well planned out, it's 12 x 24, concrete floor, un-insulated but it has used pine barn board on the interior walls. I have a real nice Vermont Castings Vigilant wood stove for heat and a bunch of pictures, posters, signs, paddles, snow shoes, and other outdoor gear, a nice place to hang out.
I store my spare wood in another side of the barn, so the shop is not too cluttered, and my few power tools are set along one wall. I have a rack for 4 canoes in the shop, plus a rack in the barn loft....right now I have 7 canoes, 3 in need of restoration.I have a rack for my paddles and some storage under the work bench and a cabinet to keep my tools in.
I store my paint, glue, and anything else that might be effected by the cold in my basement during the cold months.
I don't have alot of ideas, my shop is more an extension of my canoe tripping style. Not very efficient, but a heck of a good time.
I recently read on another site where someone was describing a new canoe with the benefits of zero maintenance, well, if I couldn't work on my canoes off season it would be a long winter...but to each his own.

Here is a video of me hanging out in the shop on a cold winters night, cookin' some venison.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cULEOWOfmoA

 

[Mihun09]

What you are putting the shop on should be a consideration as well. Out here it is all clay soil, in Summer it gets wet and stays wet then dries out, it moves a lot. Across the street they put up a new steel building and started with 2 feet of gravel they compacted for 3 weeks before putting in the forms for a 12" thick concrete slab. That slab has a couple tons of re-bar in it as well as the tubing for in floor heating. After pouring it sat for 6 weeks before the steel started to go up.

Any thin (6" or less) non-reinforced concrete here will crack the first year. We have footings the kitchen addition sits on that not only broke but moved leaving walls unsupported and gaps for critters and cold air to enter the crawlspace underneath.

I have the problem as well with horizontal surfaces gaining clutter. Wall space is limited for putting things away on and I tend to leave it so I know where it is next time. Christy puts it away and I cannot find it. I'm getting better but with a small space it is difficult at times to put everything somewhere. My space at work is tidy and clean, not so much here, but I'm working on it. If I can keep the one bench clear, I have 20 feet of length to work on gunwales and this will come in handy when we get to doing the Morris.

Our insurance company nixed both a wood or oil stove, possibly due to the fact the existing shop is attached to the house with a breezeway.

Just thinking out loud...

 

[Alan Gage]

Our insurance company nixed both a wood or oil stove

From what I can tell that's common practice everywhere now. I heat my house solely with wood and when I built my new house, which is very well insulated, I bought a much smaller stove, which meant I had a few cords of wood that were too big to burn. I was excited to get the new shop built and put in a nice big stove that could swallow up anything I could throw at it but the insurance company said no. No wood stoves in unoccupied buildings is their policy. I looked into switching companies but found that policy pretty much universal. Lots of people have wood stoves in their shops but I think it's just because the insurance companies haven't caught up to them yet or perhaps it's an old policy they're still honoring.

If I remember right the one caveat was that it would be allowed in a business. So if I was running a business out of the shop it would be allowed but then it would have to be on a separate policy from my homeowners insurance.

Alan

 

[Guest]

From what I can tell that's common practice everywhere now.
I was excited to get the new shop built and put in a nice big stove that could swallow up anything I could throw at it but the insurance company said no. No wood stoves in unoccupied buildings is their policy. I looked into switching companies but found that policy pretty much universal.

That is important to know before planning a wood heated shop.

About open shelving vs closed cabinets. I have a mix of both, with far more open shelf storage. I used the closed cabinets mostly for hand power tools, sanders and circular saws and drills, as well as for things I want to keep largely dust free.

But most of my storage is open shelving, sized to accommodate shallow bins or Xerox box lids. If I need spray paint or stainless steel hardware or some adhesive I just pull out the whole tray and have a gander at the possibilities.



Yeah, the trays are contents-labled. On both ends in case I return the tray to the shelf backwards.

Another stupid shop trick – I have some screws, nails, bolts and etc that I use all the time and replenish when I run low. Those live in coffee cans with an example of the content hardware hot glued to the lid. The trick is that those coffee cans fit perfectly in a 2 liter plastic soda bin. I put a rope handle on the bin so I can tote 8 cans of hardware around one handed. That is especially nice when I am travelling to work somewhere and want to bring what hardware I think I’ll need.



Same thing with those rectangular plastic kitty litter containers. They stack, they have handles and lids and if I’m working on something in-situ far away from the shop I can fill one with the tools, parts and materials I need. See travelling again as well.



OK, one more container item. If you know anyone who does lab work plastic pipette tip boxes when empty typically go in the trash. NOOOOO! Those things are great for storage of small bits and sorted stock hardware. And when I’m taking something apart I put the loose pieces in one so I don’t lose anything. Plus they fit in my shelf tray storage nicely.



About fire hazards – I have had a small shop fire, caught before it did any significant damage. We have a couple of fire extinguishers in the house, one in the kitchen, one in the basement and one in the shop.

 

[dave0]

Went to get some help rounding over gunwales at Hal's place yesterday. Took some shots of his shop. The 4x8 windows allow a lot of passive solar heat in and the wood stove does the rest. heck, it was 81 degrees in the shop when we started working on the gunwales. BTW, the wood stove was made by his FIL and it does one heck of a job!

http://plus.google.com/photos/115656...545?banner=pwa

Now, here's a question, when is a shop ever done being built to personal specs? Or is this just a never ending evolution?

 

[Guest]

Went to get some help rounding over gunwales at Hal's place yesterday. Took some shots of his shop.

http://plus.google.com/photos/115656...545?banner=pwa

Now that’s a man cave. All it needs is a big screen plasma and a well stocked bar.

I look at that lovely laminate floor. And I look at the epoxy drips, paint smears and mystery blobs on my shop floor. And I think, eh, probably not. Having met Hal I somehow envisioned his shop as a rustic affair, with a floor made of old barn siding and the wind whistling through cracks in the wall. Oh, wait, that was Doug.

Now, here's a question, when is a shop ever done being built to personal specs? Or is this just a never ending evolution?

Done? Never. Constant evolution? Always.

The thing I have most added to my shop is storage shelving. I planned where some of that was going, and over time added size-specific storage shelving to any stretch of wall space that wasn’t already occupied. But I am an accumulator of parts and pieces. Hey, I might be able to use that someday. Especially if I can find it again. Sound like anyone you know Dougie?

The thing I most wish I had designed into my shop is an attached covered carport or expansive overhang for summertime work, major dust creation, washing boats and etc.