Building a new shop

DLOR

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 13, 2007
Location
Chapel Hill
I am looking for some helpful advice on my shop idea. I am going to need an engineers stamp to ok the lumber I need to get clear spans. It’s gonna be a 40’w by 32’d building. I was trying to match the house roof pitch of 6-12, but not sure I will have enough headroom (8’+) and make the dormer fit. I want as big an attic as possible for future usage. Anyone want to make a few bucks and help me draw up some plans?

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Couple of totally random thoughts....


For security (stuff being visible, and ease of access) consider, instead of traditional windows, put your windows higher up on the wall. (Clerestory windows.) Also doesn't mess with your placement of workbenches, storage cabs, shelving, etc, and gives good even natural light.

10' doors are pretty narrow for more than a car. Especially to back a trailer in. Also leaves you with some mighty narrow work bays. Especially if you put in a lift. What's the main purpose of the building....parking three cars, working on a couple of project cars, etc? I'd think about if I could get buy with 2 12-14' wide bay doors. Maybe a 10' on one end, back side if you want to slip something in for parking.
 
DLOR said:
I am looking for some helpful advice on my shop idea. I am going to need an engineers stamp to ok the lumber I need to get clear spans.
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Do you live in Chapel Hill, or their ETJ?
 
I was thinking that having three bays would keep my stuff separated better. Going left to right; bay one would be the wood and metal working part, bay two would have a lift, bay three would have Jeep storage and eventually a boat. The door on the wood/ metal part isn’t a deal breaker. The upstairs will hopefully become a rec room for my kids.
I live in the rural buffer of chapel hill, meaning I have a ch address but not ch taxes.
 
Regardless of anything else, its not big enough. :D
 
Changes I would suggest:
- 2 - 15' (or closest offered) doors instead of 3 -10' on the front
- Roll up door on back
- Larger openings on both sides, for cross ventilation
- Cant tell from the napkin plans, but if your attic is for max storage, you'll want a staircase, plan for that in the floor plan layout
- Bigger; there really isnt going to be much price difference in going from 1260' up to 1500'. Adding either 7' to the width or 5' to the depth would 100% not be unappreciated. Personally I would pick greater width than depth, if you are wanting to keep either of the other dimensions as they are originally drawn.
 
With a 6:12 pitch you'll have 8' in the very center.

5' knee walls should give you about a 12' wide room.
 
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jeepinmatt said:
Regardless of anything else, its not big enough. :D
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This. If you think a 40x32 is enough now, based on personal experience, a 120x96 may be acceptable for about 3 years LOL.

I've got a 24x30 with 2 10 foot wide x 8 tall doors. 10 foot doors a trailer isn't going in at all. I wish mine was 32x30 (biggest allowed by zoning) with 12 foot doors, I'd have doors offset to one side and the extra space where tools like engine hoist, press and riding mower would be out of the way.

Figure out lift placement first, make sure floor is good in that area, and either do roll up doors like a storage unit (which suck) or have the door installer use a track that goes to the ceiling so you don't have to close door to use lift. At work we have 10 foot tall doors with either 12 or 14 foot tracks. Another local shop later out the same way by the same builder has 10 foot tracks and when you go by there, half the doors are always closed at least halfway.
 
Tim C said:
This. If you think a 40x32 is enough now, based on personal experience, a 120x96 may be acceptable for about 3 years LOL.
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:lol:
 
tknopp said:
Yeah I started out with a 25x34 shop. Out grew that and now building a 40x60.
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I regret often not going that extra 20. My square is full.
Build absolutely as big as you can afford all at once. Guy tried to tell me interior walls partitions or anything including finish was way cheaper than adding squat to the square foot.
Hind sight I would have doubled my floor space instead of building high enough for a second floor. Build tall enough for a lift and stop. Or if your not gonna wrench in the air on multiples do a high bay and spread out the rest on one level.

I'm gonna have to get really creative using all the extra air I got in my shop. The floor is full.
 
im just hear to say i heard you say boat. 32' is going to limit the length of the boat to somewhere around 22' if it has an outboard. that may be big enough for what your wanting but think about the boat you want in your future. it would suck to build a garage with an area designed for a boat to find out later the boat size you want wont fit.
 
Shawn and Cyd will know for sure, but I'm pretty certain you'll need floor trusses and a knee wall for an "attic" of any size.



My garage is 5/12 pitch, 40x30x14 (garage floor space) with a 12ft carport on the end for an enclosed trailer, and I've got 12x10 doors. No regerts as far as size.

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I just wanted my truck and camper inside with room to walk around. Got it.

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10 ft doors are plenty wide for my dually

Of course I packed it to the brim with the furniture from 3000sqft house the second it was finished (along with 2 Jeeps, the truck/camper, and the wifes car) but the whole back wall is lined with 30" deep pantrys, a workbench, and I've got a shower in the corner. FOR ME....it's all I need


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Once we build the house and the furniture goes in, I'll pull down the mezzanine and put in a 2 post lift. But again, it works for ME

YMMV
 
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I'm currently in a 30' x 40' shop roughly with 12' wide 10' tall doors. It is full with no room for all my toys. Building has an office and it is 50 x 52. My current plan is 40' x 60' with 12'wide x 10' tall doors front and rear. At 12' wide my car hauler will fit in the door with my jeep on it. It has to be spot on. I have put my hauler in a 10' opening and it was tight. If you plan on moving a car hauler in a door plan on 12' wide in my experience.
 
My 14' wide doors sound like a lot....but the RV is 8'6" wide, plus about 14 inches iirc each side for mirrors. Right at 11'....leaves 3' total thru the door, or 18" each side.

Typical trailer is 8' wide. 10' door leaves right at a foot on each side. A little less maybe, depending on tracks, etc. Have to go straight in and out. Too cheap and easy go with wider doors.
 
Logan has a good point about boat length. I was thinking about a poontoon but don’t have anything yet. My initial design is very similar to castertroy. Same size lean to but was gonna make it a shed roof off the right side. We have a standard two car off the house so this will be just for my junk. So the wife can park inside and kids junk will all be packed into the existing garage. I don’t have a lot of space to fit the shop bc if setbacks and i live on top of a hill. I have a 35’ wide side of the driveway so it seems like a logical space to fit it.
These are mostly all good ideas and I know it will never be big enough.
 
DLOR said:
Logan has a good point about boat length. I was thinking about a poontoon but don’t have anything yet.
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A folding tongue trailer can help cut off a few feet, but doesn't usually save as much overall length with a pontoon trailer as with a V-hull trailer. Different trailer layout, different position of the winch on the bow of the boat, different amount of A-frame sticking out in front of the bow, etc. You can get weld-on or bolt-on retrofit hinges for most common trailer tongue sizes, if you need to add one to an existing trailer.
 
Depending on what you work on...think hard about the depth.
FIL has a 40x30 . This winter I helped him pull the motor from an 80s longbed k20 SO regular cab.
We had to open the doors and push the ass out slightly to get the engine to clear the front radiator support with the back of the cherry picker hitting a 20" deep bench.
Math says it should have been tight but worked (I thbnk the truck is 18' long - maybe) but reality and math dont always line up. Plus we had it so close to the door you couldnt walk behind the truck which was inconvenient.
 
I am really liking the doors on my shop on the short end walls, not the long walls. Shop is 42x60, one end has 2 14x14 doors, the other end has 2 12wx10 doors. But...really wish I had gone ahead and put 14x14's on all 4. It would have been a fair bit more $$, though. Doors not so expensive, but the heavier-duty openers were.
 
One thing that a few have brought up but regularly gets overlooked is the depth of the shop from doors to the back wall. I’d gladly take a deeper shop than a wider one with more bays for reasons like what @Ron and @CasterTroy have shown or talked about. Ability to work on stuff completely inside the shop, pulling vehicles all the way in with the ability to move around etc.

I’m slowly reworking the 40x100 that I’m building the Jeep in and really couldn’t imagine much shallower than 40’ in depth for a new build. Once you throw in workbenches, shelves of any kind etc you are eating into floor space quickly. When I’m done it will probably be more like 35-36’ deep in workable floor space in most bays.

For me, I’d spend the money on a deeper shop vs height for an attic. But I hate attics as they tend to be a place where things go to be forgotten about and a burden later.
 
Fabrik8 said:
A folding tongue trailer can help cut off a few feet, but doesn't usually save as much overall length with a pontoon trailer as with a V-hull trailer. Different trailer layout, different position of the winch on the bow of the boat, different amount of A-frame sticking out in front of the bow, etc. You can get weld-on or bolt-on retrofit hinges for most common trailer tongue sizes, if you need to add one to an existing trailer.
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honestly i was thinking that hes close enough to the coast that he may be looking at a smaller off shore boat. 26-30 ft boat wouldnt fit.
a pontoon adds another factor id be getting a wide and tall door.
 
I can’t go deeper than 30-32’ bc i can’t go closer to the property line and I wouldn’t be able to turn a trailer around at the top of the driveway. I’m already cutting 2’ out of the existing driveway to squeeze it in. The attic area isn’t a deal breaker. With how this pandemic is going, the future is looking like my kids are never gonna be able to leave again. So I need a place to store them when I’m not playing with them ;)
 
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