shop size

[tlt23]

So I am looking at getting a shop built on my property. It is a 30 X 40. nothing crazy. I am looking for advise and anyone that has a company for the best prices.

I want to put a lift in it, so I am thinking 12 foot walls. Right now I have a quote for 10 ft walls at 14500 12ft at 15200 and 14ft at 16200.

Advice pls.

 

[Darter6]

Go 14'. My shop is (inside wall to wall) 38'x38'. Usually they will call it 40'x40'. At 14 foot we were able to put a loft with plenty of head room/off floor storage, and under the loft a rest room,office/man cave. Also at 14 foot I was able to drive my Motorhome inside.14' was the door,16 total. Just a thought.

 

[Jerry Hall]

It will take 12 foot for a lift. I have a 40X60 barn with an upstairs. My 2 post lift only has a fraction of an inch clearance between the top of the lift and the ceiling joists. If you are doing a metal building, you will have a little leeway depending on how the ceiling is constructed.

 

[MoparLeo]

Make sure that your slab is re-barred and plenty thick. You might want to put drains in the floor while you are at it. Easier to do this stuff now " and much cheaper" than to do it after.

 

[tlt23]

So 14 ft to get enough room for a lift.
I am putting in the re-barr and Helix for additional support. I didn't think about the drains, that is a great point. I will incoorporate that into the floor design.

 

[cryplydog]

That's pretty cheap square footage!

 

[Runner 68]

They do make lifts that will fit under a 10' ceiling.
Go big or go home is the rule of thumb when building a shop. It's never big enough. I did a 32 x 48 with 10' ceilings that I thought would be plenty big 8 years ago.
I'm now wishing I would have done a 40 x 64 with 12' ceilings.
You know your shop is big enough when you stand at one end and sight down it and you can see the curve of the earth.
****, I have a good friend that has an 80 x 120 with a wet bar in it and he ******* that it's too small.

 

[Jerry Hall]

I'm now wishing I would have done a 40 x 64 with 12' ceilings.
You know your shop is big enough when you stand at one end and sight down it and you can see the curve of the earth

If you are a typical collector, no matter what you build it won't be big enough down the road.
My barn is 40X60 with a 18X60 upstairs, it's full. My shop is 60X100, it's full. Also full is a 40 foot storage container out back, and one 2 car shed.

 

[NOSTRT980]

don't skimp on lighting. just a thought.

 

[mopar 3 B]

Build it tall you never no what you may want to put in there. Also make it easier to widen later if the need arises and it will.

 

[Don selleck]

or scissor trusses, just have to put the lift in the middle.

 

[moparedtn]

A lot of good advice in these responses!
1. You can't build it "too big" or "too tall".
(I love the "curvature of the earth" line...)
(Heating and cooling ain't free, though - cubic feet is cubic feet for HVAC)

2. Address electrical distribution and floor drainage wishes up front - they'll cost half
up front of what they will if done after the building is finished.

3. Garages for men are like closets for women - whatever size you think will be plenty, well...
whatever size is built, it WILL be filled and faster than you think.
Law of nature, methinks.

I was severely limited in budget (the medical industry insists on getting their $$$ first) when we
built mine, but I'm no collector either, so...
We did this one (metal building, 10' eave walls, open web truss roof, 4000lb concrete) for about $9/sf.
I wish I had built it taller (for a lift I could walk under a car with) and my wife wishes we had built it
larger (I cut off her "we'll just put this in the garage for storage" crap quick).

 

[tlt23]

Great information. Thank you all.
What about insulation to keep things compfy. The manf says 6in on ceiling and 4in on walls. I will be building in a snow area with 2ft of snow from late dec to late feb. Aug gets 100 out so I will need AC too. what would you all do for that?

How do you attach things to the wall if I want to hang peg board or something for tools?

 

[MoparLeo]

Depends on the type of construction. Metal studs and trusses or wood ? Fiberglass rolled insulation or expanded foam panels or walls filled after interior wall board is installed ? Talk to your contractor/builder. LED lighting for sure. Make it airtight and install large exhaust fans in the roof area to get the heat out in the Summers. Get a large a/c /cooler with plenty of square foot coverage. Large volume of air to deal with.

 

[Runner 68]

Mine is a pole building but we set the poles on 4' centers as the exterior is stucco and rock. Walls are 6" thick so we did R19 fiberglass insulation in the walls and R60 in the ceiling. Then we put two 65,000 btu gas shop heaters in it. I live in Colorado. It never gets above 70 degrees inside the shop, even when it's 100 degrees in the summer. We set the thermostats to 50 degrees in the winter when not working out there and they rarely kick on. I like working in a T-Shirt, we can bring it up to 65 degrees in about 5 minutes, even when its 10 degrees outside.

 

[Dan64]

Build the biggest shop you can ,they tend to get smaller . Marry the smallest women you can , they tend to get bigger.

 

[dadsbee]

I thought it was "marry a women with small hands" !

 

[INTMD8]

or scissor trusses, just have to put the lift in the middle.

That's what I ended up doing.

Mine started out as a pole building with only 8ft walls so i replaced several trusses for more clearance.

 

[Dan64]

^^^ What, are you doing surgery in there or something?,lol. Cool shop.