OT? Shop size and construction type?

Needing to build a shop and want some suggestions from some who have BTDT! Would like to know recommended building size and door size openings,steel or wood construcion,wiring suggestions, lighting,etc. This is in the upstate of SC.

Will pour concrete floor and want to have room to work on up to three tractors and maybe an implement/vehicle at one time.

I know this request may sound like a lot to ask, but I am hoping that there are some of you out there that if you had it to do over again would include or eliminate some things. That's kind of what I am asking.....are there some things that you just can't do without?

I currently have a nice sized bulding but it is getting cramped and does not have concrete floor or enough lighting, more like an enclosed pole building.

Thanks to any and all responders!

If I was to build another shop, and assuming money and space was not an issue, I'd put a heated concrete floor in it. My feet and ankles ache all winter anymore from cold concrete floors, sure would be nice to have a warm floor.

And build it at least 4 times bigger than you think you will ever need.

Weel EH if you already have a shop then you also already know what size you want.
Mine is 30' X 40' with one 10' x 10' door pole building, I know I can do two vehicles. Were I to do it again the building would be longer-30' isn't enough-probably 60'. There would be at least 2 if not three doors--12 or 14' wide by 12 or 14 high. In South Carolinia there is no need for heat but I would air conddition it. I have 20 4' lights which are enough so I would keep that light intensity and I have power every 8' which is also enough. I have compressed air on every wall and to add some connectors in the new building to maintain the spacing.

Well, I've never really been there or done that so take this for what its worth.

We've got a 24 x 36 pole barn. I can't really say much more than that about it, dirt floor, no electric/water inside, corrugated tin without insulation. A pair of sliding doors I think 10' wide (I never really measured them before) both on the same broad side, which is handy for almost complete access (except for all the equipment in there already). One door locks from the inside, so that you only need one padlock for one door. This is the building we keep everything in, tractor, brush hog, flail mower, sprayer, harvester, riders, push mowers, everything. What needs worked on is worked on outside if possible, just for a breeze.

Some things I do like about it are the single lock on it. You could do a walk through entry with a good lock on it and roll up or sliding doors that lock from the inside. Also, because there is no lighting inside, I appreciate the corrugated fiberglass (I think), which lets light in from the west and from the highest points on the narrow sides of the barn.

About 60' away is an old tornado shelter with another small pole structure over the storm door. This building I can barely stand. It's about the size of a garden shed, 10x10 or so. Trouble is, it's built over the concrete shelter. The concrete comes up above ground level a good 8" or more, so there is little headroom between the shelter and the building. More of the same uninsulated tin and no power/water, but isn't as big a deal in this one. The only thing in here is an old air compressor, a toilet (no, there is no water/septic), and a few old electrical components. I avoid this building when possible. However, there is a power pole with an outlet nearby that we can run an extension cord out to the compressor (I know, I'm not supposed to do that).

Right next to it is a 10x20 carport, which is decent for what it is.

My grandpa had a nice two car garage built out at his lake house, I really liked it. Concrete slab, stud construction, electric, really nice, and it did exactly what he needed it for, storage for a boat, tractor and hog, riding mower, and a small workspace. One of the handier features was a 3rd door on the back so he could just drive thru with the boat. Just something to consider. Now, a two car garage probably wouldn't suffice for what you want, but be sure to get something that will do what you need, and nothing less. If you want more, I don't think I've ever heard anyone complain of having too much shop space.

Kevin

I presume this is a stand alone shop and not a storage building as you have the existing building and will move equipment to work on it in the new building.
In my wood frame pole barn I have 400 square feet of shop ( heated and cooled) and can work one tractor at a time. Tools and lay down area takes most of remaining the area leaving wall storage for paints and such which I don"t freeze or bake. I have a table to set and work on items, work Brench for standup items, book shelf and refrigator. Welding and rough cleanup is outside this area. Most part storage ( except immediate need) is outside the shop area. With that said for each addition tractor or working bay I would add 200-240 square feet. My shop has a 10.5 foot ceiling and one place have a beam that can hold 4000 pounds (Wish I had two sky hooks). All doors should 10 foot or wider( I have a 16 x 14 High slider, but would make 20x14 today. I have 200 amp electrical just for the spaces. Most my lighting is ceiling mounted but side wall lights help eliminate the floor shadows.
My concrete is 5 inches, 5 bag with fiber glass, and cut in 16x20 pieces. My enclosed work shop is well insulated and the pole frame portion has the bubble wrap insulation which greatly helps on the solar heat in the summer. I have door on 3 side to allow good cross venalation in the summer.
One change I would make in shop would in my heating/cooling. I have electric strip heater and window type air-conditionor. I wish I had put in a heat pump( and still may) or have put in Geothermo.
I one thing I like about the shop inside the pole barn is everything is under one roof so having the radio or TV handy is not a problem rain or shine. To Hot or cold just drag the equipment in to the conditions space. Can you add on to the present building?
I would do it again with the exceptions noted

It will never be big enough

This is the start of ours. Of course tha twas 5 years ago and nothing has changed. Spent 3600 to have this put up, and the plan is within the next year to close in the back and front, and install 12ft overhead doors front and back. Concrete will come shortly after. If I had been the one who paid for it, the floor would have been first.

If you have unlimited money, (which I am sure you dont). Then build it as big as you can afford. If I was a multi-millionaire and had 40+ acres then I would have a storage barn for firewood /wood pellets/corn. Storage barn would be maybe 30' X 60'.

Then I would have a Large barn/garage. Real big...Like a super large Morton steel building with concrete floor equipped with full machine shop, Milling machines/Lathes/Boring mill/grinders/ and every freaking cutting tool made that I could use. The machine shop would take up 5000 sq. feet. That would do. Big enough.....I would think with bathroom, loft, double air compressors with its own room, Oh...did I forget to mention the paint room too. Also a caustic dip tank for black oxide and other stuff. And lets throw in an office room, with desk-internet-phone and attractive suckretary....with a set of 38CC. (hey I can dream cant I)
On the other side of the machine shop would be a wood shop, with all the toys that would make Norm Abram drool. Total sq. feet of whole barn/garage 75' X 200' with 14' ceiling. And lets not forget 6-8 NEW tractors, with diesel fuel storage area, a pit for working under tractors/cars/trucks. 2 entry doors, 2 large roll up doors This barn would be 200' from the house. Outside the barn would be a rifle range too, cant forget about the guns. And a big electic fence to keep out the poor relatives.
Now I just need to win the lottery or knock over a bank.

32'front to back x 56'wide x 12'tall Inside. Doors opened have 11' overhead clearence.

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FRONT
From left to right, 32'x 12' overhang on left with gravel floor, first bay is 32'x15' drivethru bay with gravel floor, second bay is 25' x 15' with concret floor, what would be the 3rd bay is a 32' x 14' workshop.

There is an overhead I Beam running across the center of all the bays with a 3 ton chain hoist on it.



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LEFT SIDE

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BACKSIDE

Last year I had a 30x50 ft. pole building put up. It has a 14 ft. ceiling & is fully insulated with as much insulation as I could stuff in. It has a 10 ft. wide x 12 ft. high door & that"s the only thing I would change & go 12 ft. wide. It has electric heat. It is so well insulated it holds heat for a long time. If I was in there every day I would have done in floor heat but the electric hot air heat serves me well. I do turn the heat off when I"m not going to be in there for a few days. The coldest it got was 38 degrees F in January when I had it shut off for a week. I have a 10,000 BTU window a/c unit that does pretty well with the help of a floor fan. I have 2 of those metal halide lights & I don"t know what the wattage is but they REALLY light the place up. You have to get used to the humming noise they make though. I have 6 in. of fiberglass reinforced cement for the floor. The electric I had a friend (licensed electrician) do for me & I helped a little. So he has a place to come to when his pickup needs work done. This is still a "work in progress". Running water will be added sometime in the near future.

The ability to drive through without making a turn.
Figure on needing twice the room you believe you need.
Loft storage for large bulky light weight items.
Elevated wall shelving for storage of "stuff".
Running hot & cold water,three piece washroom and kitchen with fridge, sink and microwave/convetion oven.
A lean-to can be cheap partial coverage to limit sun & rain exposure of "future projects".

If I could build what I would want I would want a work pit like the oldtime garages had before hydrolick lifts to be able to drive truck, car, tractor, combine over and stand up in to work on bottom

As big and nice as your pocket-book and wife will allow.
Walt

i"m building a 40x40 shop right now, 16ft ceiling and a 24x14 overhead door on the one end, you could work on three tractors at the same time, but there wouldn"t be a lot of spare room. wall are made of 6x6 inch laminated posts (3 2x6 glued and nailed together, the bottom 8ft being treated lumber) and are spaced at 4ft on center. i think we will use metal halide light once the building is finished, they take a while to warm up but give good light after. i sank some square steel into the floor before we poured the concrete to give me some anchor points, particularly for a large vice that will allow me to work on all sides of the vice. we will put in plug on eight foot spacings, i don"t think you can even have enough.

I built a 40 x 63 about 12 years ago, said it would be all I would ever need. 6 years ago, I built another one. It's full.

I am located in central Illinois. DO NOT use a WEST DOOR as your main enterance to your shop area/work area as you will be TOO HOT in summer afternoons!! BTDT!! I will never do that agin! By the way my shop is 50ft. by 64ft. ceco building with clear span steel trusses 0n 16ft. centers, cement floor with a few anchor rings, 14ft. side walls, and a 16in X 16ft. I-beam at the highest point under the roof between trusses on 16ft. centers. Armand

I have a 30x40 pole building. I made sure the 10ft doors were set so I could drive in and pull out without a care.I had them put in an L position of one another. I put in my own electric service.100 amps, wish I have more. Remember if your feeding the power box from somewhere else to send enough power to the building.I set plug ins in my main work area every 8' in the other areas 16.This way I have enough for work tools in the main area and dont have to run a cord to a battery charger or trouble light when I need to do something back in the corner.I couldnt afford piped in air. I put my $100 air compressor in a corner and ran quick releases to a 60 gal. tank.So if Im doing big things I have volume, but if Im doing little tire pump ups I can disconnect the compressor and go closer if needed without having to drag hose. I put the 4' florecents in the main area,6 lights,on one switch. But added 4 ceramic light bulbs throughout the building.This way if I am just needing to walk through for something I dont need to turn on all the 4'ers.I went to a local lift truck repair shop/rental place.They by chance had a 20' jib crane on a 13' pedestal.
When pouring concrete I dug down 2.5' and stuck the 4' round base in and poured the concrete on top. I set it in the middle of the 40' wall.It has a lift cupacity of 500lbs as a swinging boom,but I can put a detatchable leg on the end and add another 1000 lbs. This is my saving grace. I can unload truck or pick up and shift things around without wrenching my aging back. And it swings out of the way when not in use.I paid $125 for it used. Would pay twice that now that I have it.Make sure to make at least a sm. approach to the doors. I didnt and when I am backing something in the little bump up (4or5") will sometimes make an easy job very difficult.
I have phone and electric in my building. As of now I havent saved enough to insulate the place so I didnt add water but I put in conduit for it to come through the floor at a later date.Same with a gas line for heat if I get real lucky.This is in central mi.

I have a 30X40 Steelmaster Quonset-hut style workshop. It has 1 walk thru door and 1 10X10 rollup door. I put in a bathroom and built 2 other rooms beside it across the back. One for the compressor room and 1 for tools and storage. I ran pipes for the air and put outlets every 6 feet. I also put a 200 amp service because it is easier to expand in the future. It has a concrete floor which is of course cracked even though we used fiber and expansion joints and had a pro finish it. I have storage on top of the rooms which is very handy. If I had it to do over, I would make it at least 30X60 and put another rollup door at the opposite end and have them at least 12 foot wide. And I would add more ventelation and a 30X30 pad out front. And I would refuse to let anyone store stuff that never seems to get reclaimed! I do like the above floor storage and the bathroom is really handy. Good luck.

Sid

Wow! Thanks to everyone for the response and suggestions, this is exactly what I was looking for! You all gave me so many good ideas, most of which I had not even considered. The building I have been using has become hay storage along with "everything else" storage it seems, so it is time for another building that can hopefully be dedicated to shop space/tractor parking. I can't thank everyone enough for the input, noe to get the VP Finance to release the funds! Any suggestions there? Thanks again, Ed