My new shop

[kenny61]

Started this a few years ago and am finally starting to really kick butt on it.



the garage is 25' X 30' with a 13' ceiling height. the second floor has a 9'2" height to the bottom of the ridge beam and about 6'2" to the top of the LVL's which are set in about 5' from the sides. I plan on putting wirsbo pex tubing in the 6" floor slab and got three 10,000 btu A/C window units (left over from when I installed central A/C in my house. Any tips or ideas to make my shop more enjoyable before I finish framing and drywall?



Thanks in advance!

 

[champspa]

that's going to be a great garage . the tall ceilings are going to allow for a lot of toys.
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[kenny61]

Originally it was gonna be 35 or 40 X 30 but the town wouldn't let me so I down sized. original plans had it housing boat, travel trailer and Truck along with some equipment and tools. Three years later the boat and trailer are gone, but the three atv's have joined the family and the ditch witch, deck mower and generator are tired of being out in the cold. It's gonna be a tight fit:{

 

[GHarman]

Kenny61, Really nice shop,Bud! Glad you can put something together that is acceptable to your local authorities. I have a 30'x36' shop and still working on getting cabinets and other storage units in place. I hate to have every flat surface stacked up with parts and reminants of projects. I installed a Reznor ceiling mount, unit heater and a wood stove for heatOo. . We dont need A. C. here at 9000' as it is really dry heat and dry cold. The wood stove saves on heating costs and is a real help in getting rid of used fuel, oil filters and combustable waste. Burn 'em out and then throw the casings in the regular trash when they are cold. With the in-floor heat, you will have to keep a water heater running 24-7 in the winter to keep the tubes from freezing up. The PEX wont break, but once it freezes there will be no heat till they thaw. A Backup (heater) plan incase your boiler/waterheater goes out, may be necessary? Are you using fuel oil or natural gas/propane? Semper Fi, GregH

 

[kenny61]

I got oil heat in the house. Still not sure how I'm gonna heat the garage I figured $256 for a roll of tubing is wort it even if I don't use it. Trying to decide if I should run a zone off of my home boiler, use a tankless gas or electric heater in the garage. I thought about a wood burning stove but was worried about shop fumes exploding, main consideration for using home boiler and running buried insulated pipe out to the shop. Plus having to keep stove filled with wood for those cold nights. If I used home boiler it would have to be on all the time to stop freezing but I was thinking seperate tankless heater with antifreeze but then I have the explosion hazard again. Anybody have anythoughts?

 

[GHarman]

I got oil heat in the house. Still not sure how I'm gonna heat the garage I figured $256 for a roll of tubing is wort it even if I don't use it. Trying to decide if I should run a zone off of my home boiler, use a tankless gas or electric heater in the garage. I thought about a wood burning stove but was worried about shop fumes exploding, main consideration for using home boiler and running buried insulated pipe out to the shop. Plus having to keep stove filled with wood for those cold nights. If I used home boiler it would have to be on all the time to stop freezing but I was thinking seperate tankless heater with antifreeze but then I have the explosion hazard again. Anybody have anythoughts?

Your concern about explosion hazard is well noted. Check your local codes. Here, in Colorado, the firebox/burner/pilotlight must be 24" or higher above the deck. A run from your house boiler would work great as long as you bury it deep enough and encase and insulate it with it being on a seperate zone valve for ease of maintainence. In your area, wood available is far superior to the pine and aspen we have here! Oak, hickory etc. burn really hot and long. If you plan on being in your shop daily vs only working in there on the weekends is a consideration as well as the temperature you can hold in a N. Y. Winter. Good insulation as well as proper venting for fumes. Another thought is floor insulation!!! If you are going to have in-floor heat, place blue styrofoam on the ground and pour your floor on top. I did that in my shop and have a much warmer building. Use Rebar AND Remesh to reinforce your floating floor. The reason is that you will loose alot of heat from the in-floor system into the ground. Just a thought. I am no engineer, just did this on my own and have what I have. If you know any engineers that can run some thermal numbers for you and show you, maybe a better way of doing your floor heat system? Dont know what is out there today. I built my shop 28+ years ago. Hope this is helpful. GregH

 

[kenny61]

2" floor insulation will be installed it was never an option. Foam insulation is already on outside of foundation walls along with perf 6" SDR for footing drains Backfilled with a few yards of gravel and filetr fabric (lots of ground water and a heavy clay soil (Yuck)

 

[GHarman]

2" floor insulation will be installed it was never an option. Foam insulation is already on outside of foundation walls along with perf 6" SDR for footing drains Backfilled with a few yards of gravel and filetr fabric (lots of ground water and a heavy clay soil (Yuck)

Sounds like you got a Plan. Dont forget to double reinforce the floor as concrete is not very flexible:-laf. If you load a truck on one side and you have ATV's on the other, you could conceivably develope cracks as the floor is loaded on the insulation differently (another SWAG on my part). I did double reinforce my floor. I have a lathe and mill with a welding station on the reinforced side (did I mention that I only did the double reinforcement on half the floor?) and remesh only on the vehicle parking /maintainence area. There is a nicely formed crack right at the edge of the rebar/remesh to remesh only transition. (My Bad. I know what you mean about unwanted water. However we have decayed granite sand, not clay. I installed an under floor french drain attached to a foundation french drain to get rid of the spring runoff. I get a spring under the floor and around the shop foundation every spring thaw that runs a 6" PVC pipe at full capacity for two weeksOo. . So far everything has stayed dry. GregH

 

[kenny61]

I got 4" perf pvc on the inside of the garage which will be connected to a junction/basin box that the footing drains run into. How thick is your floor? I am planning on doing 5 or 6" probably with concrete piers under the floor where I plan on putting the lift bases, hoping to put two lifts in one frame lift for vehicle work and another with a flat floor so I can store a car under it and ATV's and othe stuff up on top

 

[GHarman]

I got 4" perf pvc on the inside of the garage which will be connected to a junction/basin box that the footing drains run into. How thick is your floor? I am planning on doing 5 or 6" probably with concrete piers under the floor where I plan on putting the lift bases, hoping to put two lifts in one frame lift for vehicle work and another with a flat floor so I can store a car under it and ATV's and othe stuff up on top

My floor is 4" with no piers. Those piers are a really good idea, especially for extra support for a lift! The extra thick floor will help with heavy loading, also. Sounds like it is coming together. Let us know how you are going to do the heat. GregH

 

[kenny61]

I will I just don't know when, The permit process was three years ago. Excavation 2 years ago,the footings and foundation walls 1 year ago, well you get the idea... . I probably won't pour the floor till next spring or summer, unless the money fairy leaves me a present! Either way I will put the tubing in the floor since it will be kinda hard to do afterwards.



I hope to finish it just in time for me to move to my retirement Estate

 

[GHarman]

YEP, I met that money fairy oncet:-laf. On the way to somebody elses project. I been workin' on my shop fer 28+ years:-laf. There is ALWAYS something that needs to be done. Planning and research as you are building is key to not having any "I wished I would have done this differently" heartaches in the future. I got a few of them from my experience. However, it is to late to make any corrections and that money fairy wont be by here again. I told him I was gonna string him up Ifn he showed up again to taunt me. GregH

 

[kenny61]

I was working in the "old" shop today and just for poo and giggles I figured I would take a picture for historical reasons so I might as well post a comparison here

 

[GHarman]

Yep! A Bit snug and cluttered:-laf. Mine is WORSE. Greg

 

[kenny61]

al...most....there

Wife took these today. I thought the clouds looked pretty cool. My buddy is supposed to come down and help me with the sheathing tomorrow so hopefully all the plywood will be up by tomorrow night!!!

 

[Diesel Gopher]

Just a quick note for ya, if you are considering the tankless water heater to run your in-floor heat, some of the companies offer an outdoor model that sits on the wall under an overhang. Takes the combustion outside, but runs hot water inside. Might fit your needs.



By the way, nice looking building.



Matt

 

[kenny61]

Just a quick note for ya, if you are considering the tankless water heater to run your in-floor heat, some of the companies offer an outdoor model that sits on the wall under an overhang. Takes the combustion outside, but runs hot water inside. Might fit your needs.



By the way, nice looking building.



Matt

Did not know that! Thanks, I gotta go find one of them.

 

[Dieselnut59]

Sweet shop Kenny! I had a 50'x90' commercial steel building built a couple years ago. I am thinking about adding a shed along the side eventually. You could do the same after final inspection is done with your municipality. I live in a rural area, so luckily they are not picky. Mine is considered a "farm shop/storage building".

By the looks of yours, you could easily add a shed to the right side in the future. Just put a gravel floor, a roof and side walls and a basic garage door on the front. You could use this to store your equipment, yard tools, trailers, etc. that you do not need to keep heated/cooled, but want to keep dry/protected from theft.

 

[rbattelle]

Sweet! Is there a stairway inside to access the 2nd floor?

Ryan

 

[kenny61]

There will be after I pour the floor