Re: Designing a work shop

Posted by IOWA NORTHEAST on January 04, 2011 at 14:52:53 from (206.72.18.89):

In Reply to: Designing a work shop posted by redFarmallboy on January 04, 2011 at 11:40:04:

Sloping the floor towards a door is a definate no no in a cold climate, as others have said.

If you can't afford reforced concrete, wait till you can.

Keep the fill uniform and compacted so the floor does not crack.

Workbenches that have wheels is good, if not make the front support slant towards the back, and hang it from the wall...this way you can sweep the floor, and under the workbench with one swipe of the broom.

Having the trash, scrap steel, etc on wheels just makes things easy to keep house.

Toolboxes on wheels also places it next to the unit you are working on, and saves trips. Same goes if you take your machine to a implment dealer that has to walk back and forth on your time clock. One farmer said each step is about twenty cents at the current rates of our green implment dealer.

Lay a chunk of rail road rail upside down in some area so you can use a BFH, and straighten anything without chipping your cement floor.

A 4 inch pipe right next to each door to protect it is good. One that extends upward for a swinning chin hoist is very handy if you do not go the overhead crane system.

A friend just found a cheap used overhead crane, I think in Ill. but was to large for his purpose.

If it is like most shops, a restroom with a drain in the corner is a good idea, and have it plumbed for the pressure washer. We have all seen the usual rest rooms in shops haven't we? If a pressure washer could be used to wash it down, so much the better.

A steel floor from a farrowing house (one stall---5 x 7) with a 4 inch deep pit under it, works great for a welding station, you never have to mess with a ground clamp, and you can place a steel table over it if you so chose. The welding junk falls through, and not dance across the floor. You can lift it up by hand, and clean real easy. This isn't a real bad idea around the drill press etc either.

If you live in a cold climate, in floor heat is great, and infered is a second choice.

If you live in a cold climate, a lean to is great with small overhead doors to keep the main shop warm, but the lean to bays can be easy acessable, with a simple overhead door.

When you build, do not box yourself in, so you can expand someday without a large expence. Keep one end wall without doors, or windows so you can remove the endwall and add on some day at a very low cost.

Lights are great, but put several circuts, so you do not have to make it look like a football field every time you walk in...kind of a zone thing.

If you are in a cold area, perhaps a small overhead door, plus a larger one. You do not need to open a 16 x 16 door to drive you pickup or skid loader in, yet you have the big door option if needed.

Oilless air compressors should be stored at least a half mile from your shop so you do not have to listen the the stupid thing.

If you use a floor drain, make sure the contractor has a level handy -- it is unrealistic to think one inch of slope per half mile will make the floor dry. Place something under one of your kitchen table legs so it is up up a inch, and dump a glass of water on the table--you will undrstand then that water does puddle up.

Your shop only needs to be half as big as you planed---if your wife cleans the shop for you once in a while, when you are not around.

I was asked to build a lean to on a 80 fto machine shed one day, and as I went to look it over, it started raining hard. We ran into the machine shed and waited. I then told the farmer that with his permission, I would have the same square footage for him in a half a day. Burn the feed sacks, burn the twine, get rid of all the empty oil buckets....clean house.

He decided he could cleaned up the machine shed (after his wife got wind of my proposal) when she ducked in out of the rain...we laugh about it often.

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