I am still building my shop and going to do a few things different. Looking for ideas and suggestions to make it easier to work and more organized. Of course shop is heated and air conditioned. Shop is 60' x 100' with an additional 14' x 100' covered car port.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/...605@N08/51237840767/

I will be doing something similar to this Gantry but it will be built in to the overhead beams. Get the beam, locate it where I want, level it up and weld it in.
https://www.harborfreight.com/...try-crane-41188.html Then install the trolley and hoist.

That way it will be available and can roll trolley towards the wall out of the way when not in use. And I am building in a rack to hold all of my engine hoists, slings, nuts bolts etc. Purchased one of these used dirt cheap and they are handy to have. https://www.imperialsupplies.c...-WOMsBRoCF4UQAvD_BwE They were over $1000 each and I got mine cheap. Saw another on Ebay if anyone is interested. I would never pay $1000+ for one but man love mine and got it around $100 it was basically brand new but he lost the charger. Cost like $9 for a new one.

I have 80 feet of shelving 14 foot tall and will put the bottom shelf 7 feet up and work stations / Benches under them so most of work space will be on one wall and floor space maximized. Heavy stuff up top out of the way. Some tools like table saws that I do not use much I built a stand for them then I move them with a pallet jack to store them. Or can put them on the shelves if I need to.

Also getting a 4 post car lift for same reason. Can park my 67 Corvette on top and 67 Camaro below maximizing floor space.

I have been purchasing a bunch of shelves and cabinets and large roll around carts.

Picked up 5 of these and they are great. You fill them up then you can roll them right next to each other and pull them out as needed.
https://www.mscdirect.com/product/details/18006320 Expensive but really nice to have.

Bought one of these but mine is 24" x 48" work area. https://www.mscdirect.com/product/details/54761762 And I have accumulated about 8 of the plastic roll around carts.

Got dragster chassis dollies and ordered wheel dollies for my door cars. Sure makes it easier to work on. The dragster dollies raise it up to a good work height and you can roll it around the shop easy to get it out of the way.

Anyway those are some of the things I have done and looking for other ideas to help maximize floor space, make it more organized and easier to work with. Any suggestions?

Curly,

Looking good, can't wait to see more of the shop when you get everything in. Not bad for a clueless broke dyck, LOL!

Now if you would only put zoomies on that new altered with the blower!!

quote:

Originally posted by Big Steve:
Now if you would only put zoomies on that new altered with the blower!!

Lol, that is not going to happen. I am not a fan of Zoomies. I do have a nice set and I may try them once but if they do not perform significantly better then they will come right back off.

You’re killin me Smalls!
Very nice Curly!

Tree’d me Brian!

Shop looks awesome.

Push beam trolley.

Beautiful shop space! I like the carts but whew they are spendy for sure. Seems like a good way to store a tear down in an organized way.

I'm a big proponent of a loft area in a big open shop. You will always have things that you need to store, that are seldom needed, and that clutter up shop floor space and make it more difficult to clean. It can also sort of make the space under it more able to have intense lighting for things like engine building, where you can have higher light density with the low ceiling.
I like the high bay led lighting options from Lightup and am using some of them now.

I don't like zoomies on a front engine car. They tend to be loud to the point of distraction in my experience. Rear engine cars are more forgiving for the driver noise wise.

quote:

I'm a big proponent of a loft area in a big open shop.

Yep. Multiplies your floor space for modest additional cost. Had a good friend that built a commercial shop and he built a loft that was well utilized. Up to putting his air compressor up there and his small office under it.

One other thing I have done that some may be interested in. I bought 2 of the tall new 40 foot storage containers. The back one has one door and the front one has doors on both ends.
They are beside my car port and I am putting a 20 foot concrete patio between them. Have a bunch of shelves in them and will be using them to store dirty things and my shop air compressor so I do not have to listen to it. The compressor is a 5000 PSI Breathing air compressor so all of the moisture and contaminants are removed and then is stored in large 5000 PSI storage bottles and regulated down to a smaller tank for my shop air. That way I never have to worry about moisture in my air gun tools or paint guns etc.
With the front one having double doors if I had to I could into put a car in through the front one all the way into second one. The storage containers are really nice to have. They can secure and protect your stuff from the weather and theft.

The lights are LED UFO type. Pretty efficient and have a nice color. I am going with a whole bunch of smaller lights so it will be real bright and hopefully not have many shadows.Right now I have 10 -150 watt lights and 10 of the 100 watt lights and will probably get 20 more of the 100 watt ones. Plus I have smaller 30 watt lights for the office / storage space on top of living area.

On the Zoomies up front they are stupid loud and have sprayed alcohol in my face when it was windy trying to start a car.

When I get it all done I will post a bunch of pictures. Right now we are way behind on finishing so it is a mess.

I have this IR in my loft along with the tank from my shelled out compressor for 120 gallons total. Haven't used it a lot yet but seems to work well.
https://www.northerntool.com/s...ALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

quote:

Originally posted by Bucky:
I have this IR in my loft along with the tank from my shelled out compressor for 120 gallons total. Haven't used it a lot yet but seems to work well.
https://www.northerntool.com/s...ALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

That is good the extra storage tank is handy.

A good friend of mine. Finished his shop last year
60x80. It was an old machine barn with no floors or doors (Open Air) Bought the barn and the property for 40K. Put another 125K in it. Place is beautiful.That little car he built there, about
250K in it.. He burns money like i change socks
He laughed. He used to run TAD. That ceiling fan up there Big $$$





The compressor i have is a "Direct Drive. Auto Man unit. 10 HP with the automatic tank drain at the bottom. Only needed one drop in my small
30x60.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: TD3550,

Compressor and storage kinda right up your alley eh. That’s cool!
Shop Backup powered?

Yes he has some massive backup unit outside in the other barn he built. Never heard of the name. It powers up the 4500 SF home he just bought too on the same property.

TD3550 that is a nice shop your buddy has.

For anyone else thinking about building a Barndominium or big shop a few things I learned.
1. Definitely get as much closed cell insulation as you can. Makes it fairly air tight.
2. Make sure you get the good insulated and sealed doors. I got the large 14? x 14? and it is on the North wall. Even with heavy winds it does not allow much air in and insulates very good. The cheaper roll up type have cold wind just blow right in over the top and around the sides.
3. If you choose to air condition it go with the high efficiency Mini-Splits. Higher the better and worth every penny. I do not need fans, I keep it air conditioned and comfortable year round.
4. Build as big as you can and plan on lots of storage space.
5. Be very careful about what Contractor you get there are a lot of dirty ones out there. Leave it at that.

Curly, you gave some good information.
Looks like you will have a very nice shop.

I'm only 28x30x12 because all I was allowed without a variance. I wish I got the variance in hindsight but I just wanted/needed a building at the time. I was ready to go on a 40x60x14 but I didn't pursue the variance. Like Curly said, go as big as you can or afford. Mine was a time thing. I should have rented a storage space while the variance was examined.

One thing I'll add to anyone putting up a building, insulate it before you put anything in the building! I learned the hard way. It probably would have been easier to have contractor to do it from go.

Best of luck with it Curly.

Thank you, on paper some of the fiberglass insulation looks really good. Has a high R rating and easy to install but I do not think that tells the whole story. Closed cell seals it up and makes it pretty air tight and so I think it insulates way better than most other types even though the R values may be similar.
So yes if you was going to insulate it you would have been much better off contracting it from the start. And I feel closed cell is the way.
But we all know we are budgeting how ever we feel is best for our needs and budget.

I mean if I had been born Rich instead of Good Looking I may have done some things differently.
I just have to live with cards I dealt. Lol

Insulating is regionally big time different. I checked into spray foam when I built mine. I am quite rural, and there were maybe to places....both at least an hour drive from me, that could do it. One never returned my calls. The other was so high, that any reasonable estimate of payback was out over 20 years. I got the caulk gun out and went to it first. Then blew in the ceiling insulation. Then did batts on the walls after foam board against the metal. Seems to be pretty decent. Would foam be better? Perhaps. it just didn't make sense in my case.

quote:

Originally posted by Bucky:
Insulating is regionally big time different. I checked into spray foam when I built mine. I am quite rural, and there were maybe to places....both at least an hour drive from me, that could do it. One never returned my calls. The other was so high, that any reasonable estimate of payback was out over 20 years. I got the caulk gun out and went to it first. Then blew in the ceiling insulation. Then did batts on the walls after foam board against the metal. Seems to be pretty decent. Would foam be better? Perhaps. it just didn't make sense in my case.

I think as long as it is sealed up really well whether it is with caulk or closed cell foam you should be good. Most houses and shops have places where air can come in and that is a problem.

My shop is sealed really good and I can already tell it makes a big difference.