Looking for Advice on My Shop

[1969IndianaDodgeMan]

I am in the process of converting my barn into a shop - it is not huge, ony 20 x 20, but it is what I have to work with. What I am looking for, is advice on what I need to include, or do as I go along. I don't want to get to the end, and think dang I should have done XYZ before now. I have attached a few pictures so you can see what I working with - I have everything cleaned out of it right now, and am down to bare floors and walls, and ready to start making it a good place to work. Things that I know I am going to do -
1. seal all holes and gaps in the walls of the shop to keep out the wasps and other unwanted visitors
2. Run a 220 plug to both the North and South walls - just in case I need it in the future.
3. Install new lighting in the ceiling, there are only 2 - 60 watt bulbs in there now. Suggestions on type of lights to go with?
4. insulate the walls, and put up wood walls (I just tore down a 100+ year old barn and 2 smoke houses and am using the old barn wood for the interior walls on my new shop)
5. Install 2 window unit A/C's - should keep it cool enough for summer time - I am going to run a dedicated breaker for the A/C units.
6. Seal the concrete floow with some type of sealant - suggestions are wanted and welcome.

Any other thoughts y'all have will be greatly appreciated. I have come to the conclustion that I need to get the shop done before I can go much farther on my D100.

[Jims68]

When you run a 220 line to the "Shop" make sure that the wire will be heavy enough to do a bigger job than what you need. In other words... don't run a 10 wire when you should have run a 6 wire for that 220V air compressor that you just found for $100... (example of course)

Shelves... have enough shelves to store "good stuff" and parts, but NOT too many as you will just start to load them up with JUNK.

Go with 4 foot fluorescent lighting because the bulbs are cheaper than the 8 footers. I have 6 sets of 4 footers (3 on each side) in my 24 X 40 and even though it could be brighter, it isn't bad. When I paint, I sometimes put up a couple of extra 4 footers on the outside wall for temporary use, but those are not hard wired.

See if you can find a used Forced Air heater that maybe someone got rid of due to "efficiency" reasons. You can keep a large OIL tank outside and it won't take up room in the garage that way. That is better than a portable Kerosene heater... bleh!

2 ACs should do great for that size shop!!

Floor sealer? Hmmm... I don't know. Never used it.

YIKES.... snake....

Jim

[PwrWgnDrvr]

well, u might want to start with a vehicle size door.
lots of concrete deck coatings at home depot.

[1969IndianaDodgeMan]

well, u might want to start with a vehicle size door.
lots of concrete deck coatings at home depot.

It has a set of swinging barn doors on it, about 8' wide by 7' tall (obscured by the tree in the exterior picture - that is just the best picture I had at work), I have had 2 different trucks in there already, so I don't think the door is going to be an issue, although I need to find a way to seal it off better to keep snakes out.

[1969IndianaDodgeMan]

When you run a 220 line to the "Shop" make sure that the wire will be heavy enough to do a bigger job than what you need. In other words... don't run a 10 wire when you should have run a 6 wire for that 220V air compressor that you just found for $100... (example of course)

Shelves... have enough shelves to store "good stuff" and parts, but NOT too many as you will just start to load them up with JUNK.

Go with 4 foot fluorescent lighting because the bulbs are cheaper than the 8 footers. I have 6 sets of 4 footers (3 on each side) in my 24 X 40 and even though it could be brighter, it isn't bad. When I paint, I sometimes put up a couple of extra 4 footers on the outside wall for temporary use, but those are not hard wired.

See if you can find a used Forced Air heater that maybe someone got rid of due to "efficiency" reasons. You can keep a large OIL tank outside and it won't take up room in the garage that way. That is better than a portable Kerosene heater... bleh!

2 ACs should do great for that size shop!!

Floor sealer? Hmmm... I don't know. Never used it.

YIKES.... snake....

Jim

Thanks for the advice Jim! I have used your CD multiple times, and expect it to get a good workout once I finish the shop and get the D100 in there.

[wally426ci]

Interested in this feedback as well since we are moving soon.

[Jims68]

Thanks for the advice Jim! I have used your CD multiple times, and expect it to get a good workout once I finish the shop and get the D100 in there.

Thanks! That's nice to hear!!

Jim

[nytemuvr]

What ever kind of floor coating you get, make sure it's epoxy based and powerclean the floor before you paint it on. That's a long-@#% snake skin.

[Oldguy]

I had my garage built but did the interior with a little help from friends. My pics of the build is at
http://pics.livejournal.com/mikescars/ Hope this helps. Mike

[dodgeboykim]

So what did the skin belong to. Any idea.

[PwrWgnDrvr]

So what did the skin belong to. Any idea.

a snake

[dodgeboykim]

Well I kinda figured it was from a snake. But what kind. A harmless overgrown red racer or something that you really don't want in your shop cause it might go after a kid or dog.

[1969IndianaDodgeMan]

So what did the skin belong to. Any idea.

It looked like a water moccasin to me - I killed 1 in the barn a few weeks back, and have killed several around the house in the last few weeks. They are bad around here right now for some reason.

[Jims68]

So what did the skin belong to. Any idea.

a snake

It looked like a water moccasin to me - I killed 1 in the barn a few weeks back, and have killed several around the house in the last few weeks. They are bad around here right now for some reason.

I am glad they don't live near me... or do they??? Aren't they poisonous too?

[1969IndianaDodgeMan]

Yea, they are definitely poisonous, and no fun to be around at all. If you need me to send some your way I can do it - I have plenty to go around, and my mom always taught me to share what I have with others.

[dodgeboykim]

That sucks. Worst thing we have in my area is wasps and hornets.

[66patrick]

Since you are limited to the present size of the shop, write a floor plan of what you have. You want to utilize every possible square foot of space that you have without wasting it. Every square foot counts when you have only 400 square feet to work with. Design your shelving and counter space appropriately. It's a hell of a lot easier doing it to scale on paper first.

Spray-type insulation will do you well. With just uninsulated sheet metal walls in there, you will just be wasting electricity with two wall a/c units, unless you do someting to insulate and seal what you have.

Have a breaker box installed, if one isn't already there. If you are not an electrician, spend the extra money and have at least the rough-in done right and to code. You don't want your shop to burn up, and then have the insurance company come and say "gee, there are no permits for the electric, sucks to be you!" after a fire. Light this up! You want as much lighting as you can afford. I hate a dark shop! At one time, I had a one-car attached garage (12' x 22') with one little dinky-assed 60W incadescent bulb! It got five eight-foot florescent fixtures and a four-foot bench light in short order. Painted the walls semi-gloss white, and it was as bright as it gets, with minimum shadows.

Far as the concrete floor goes, what's been said so far is pretty much it.

[1969IndianaDodgeMan]

Since you are limited to the present size of the shop, write a floor plan of what you have. You want to utilize every possible square foot of space that you have without wasting it. Every square foot counts when you have only 400 square feet to work with. Design your shelving and counter space appropriately. It's a hell of a lot easier doing it to scale on paper first.

Spray-type insulation will do you well. With just uninsulated sheet metal walls in there, you will just be wasting electricity with two wall a/c units, unless you do someting to insulate and seal what you have.

Have a breaker box installed, if one isn't already there. If you are not an electrician, spend the extra money and have at least the rough-in done right and to code. You don't want your shop to burn up, and then have the insurance company come and say "gee, there are no permits for the electric, sucks to be you!" after a fire. Light this up! You want as much lighting as you can afford. I hate a dark shop! At one time, I had a one-car attached garage (12' x 22') with one little dinky-assed 60W incadescent bulb! It got five eight-foot florescent fixtures and a four-foot bench light in short order. Painted the walls semi-gloss white, and it was as bright as it gets, with minimum shadows.

Far as the concrete floor goes, what's been said so far is pretty much it.

Thanks Patrick - it does have a breaker box installed, and actually has it's own meter out there, that and the metal store room beside it are the only thing on the meter. I will need to add new breakers to the existing box to do what is needed. Writing a floor plan is a great idea, and one I had not thought of - I appreciate that, and will definitely do it. I was debating between roll insulation on the walls and then putting up the siding, or blowing in insulation - I am definitely going to put a ceiling in, and blow in insulation above the ceiling (I need to blow in additional insulation in my house anyway - the current insulation is from 1973 and is not sufficient anymore).

Any thoughts on the design of the counters and shelving?

[facechicken]

I have the blue rustoleum epoxy floor covering in my garage, its easy to do, looks really nice when its done (they even give you little paint flakes to sprinkle in it). I once had a puddle of oil sit on it for about a month (I was being lazy, mower leaked) and it didn't hurt the finish at all (and it was a big spot). Its cheap enough, one box did my whole garage floor....just be sure to follow the instructions that come with it. The kit even comes with a cement floor cleaner for the prep on the floor....good stuff, highly recommend it Also they say it is slip resistant, but I have never tested the theory

[wally426ci]

http://www.garagejournal.com/

check this site out