Building 40x40 Shop-any hints?

[johnowhite]

Finally got the OK from the little lady to build a shop at the house.

Thinking about 40x40 with an assymetric lift or two, would like to see some pictures, if you could guide me to, or send me some pictures or drawings, I would appreciate it.

Probably will have an upstairs two bedroom apartment 700 sq ft (so we can live in it and rent the house out to pay for the garage....figure it should take about 5 years.)

Would like to build a nice 1 car, maintain the cars we have, and bench race a little.

Would like to make it nice, but not crazy nice. It will have functional fab, upholstery, mechanical capabilities.

Thanks for your help.

John
johnowhite@hotmail.com

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[1450-ranger]

Go bigger, thank me later!

[Msquared]

yeah, build it at my house....

[fashionbiff]

Well the only thing I can think of before you move into it get the floor coated. Fumes will kill you otherwise. I do not know how the different coatings act to welding but a light gray floor really helps brighten up the work area. Which means less lighting

[OneUpFabrication]

heated and air conditioned its the best thing my buddys ever done. maybe some sort of hoist from the roof to like out motors with ease... the choices are endless.

[Rocket 450]

I say go 60x40 at least if you plan on a apt upstairs.You may want go larger than 700 sq ft.especially if its going to be two bedrooms 2 10x10 bedrooms is 200 sq ft a bathroom adds 40 or so. Add a decent size kitchen, laundry, and living/dining room and that 700 ft gets burned up pretty quick. Also below the Apt you will want a bathroom a office and probably a motor room. Then on the other side a mezzinzine would be nice to store stuff out of the way.

So your 40x40(1600 ft) srinks down pretty quick. Dosnt leave a lot of room for more than one lift.
Another good idea is to pour the slab 20ft wide on one side.And build a carport, Your can store your trailer under there. Or allow parking for the apt

[Mumzy]

Think long term......
Power, Heat/AC, Plumbing...Are you going to have a lift? You will need at least a 12-14' ceiling for this. What size doors do you need? If you plan on parking a MH in it at some time make room for it. Do you plan on just fabricating or do you plan on a Multi-use shop.....metal / wood / paint????? =clean rooms

I am now on my third shop (sorry guys, my current shop us for wood only it is only 900sf, has 3 phase power, lts of windows and Heat/HVAC) and have had to learn the hard way about proper planning. Before you even turn a blade go down to the town and find out what you can get away with. Call Edison or whoever your power company is and see if they will even supply you with 3 phase. Talk to local contractors and see if they have done any other projects similar to what you are considering and go see them. Your doing the right thing asking questions here.

Homework....homework....homework.
What you are proposing is no different than building a 2-3000sf house. And will cost just as much!

[Ryno]

1600 sq ft is alot of open area. Like everyone else says, plan, plan, plan. Think about which way the floor joist run, make it easier to run your mechanical for your mother-in-law apt. (That's what they're called). If you can build a shop for $60 sq/ft, you'll be doing good.

[johnowhite]

Thanks for your suggestions.

So, what will fit is 40x50. Got it mostly drawn, 12 foot ceilings, the 700sq. ft. granny flat is the biggest allowed, it will be "efficient."

Is there a local place to get "Clamshell" Doors? I saw them at the airport, they hinge accross the top and middle (horizontally) and the bottom lifts. I looks like something like this could work completely on the outside, so the inside ceiling would be clear.

Thanks for your suggestions, will post some drawings soon.

[XtremeMotorsports]

Order a steel building! 40 X 60 building, fully insulated, a single 12 X 12 roll up door, one side 30 X 70 door, engineering, concrete foundation, 200 AMP electrical service, 4 skylights, separate bathroom, exterior gutters and downspouts is $46,500 installed based on concrete at $105 per yard. This doesn't include interior electrical plugs but you can go to home depot set it up with a dozen receptacles and a couple 220 receptacles for that for less than a $450. it's about $3,800 if you want the floor epoxy coated. We just had one quoted. four lowbay 400 watt metal halide fixtures were $96 each plus another $1,200 for electrical to operate them. It's less than $22 per square foot with the epoxy floors and light fixtures.