The perfect shop - what would you include

[Rob V]

The size is going to be 28x30 (was originally 28x25) The total size of the new building is going to b 28x43 - but 13 of that has to go for my boat.

[Scott Brownell]

Missed the original post, what are the perimeter measurements?

Scott

[Mark Jerde]

Built-in air filtration so I don't have to have several of these hanging around the shop.

cage fan larger than necessary running slower to reduce noise, easy to change filters, easy to clean ducting.

-- Mark

[Bay Area Dave]

and one more area to store materials...

dave

Silvan wrote: snip

[Nova]

I don't know about 100' x 300' either. I sure would hate to pay the heating/cooling bills. But it sure would be nice to be able to rip/crosscut a 4' x 8' sheet and joint/route/plane a 6' to 8' long board without out having to jockey machinery around.

An assembly area and a separate finishing room would be nice as well.

-- Jack Novak Buffalo, NY - USA (Remove "SPAM" from email address to reply)

[Jerry Gilreath]

Mark, Do you have a squirrel cage setup? Or do you have the regular air filtration?

[Mark Jerde]

Both. I have a 4'x8' sanding table that uses a squirrel cage fan I got for free from the guys who service our furnace and AC. It works very well. If there's a lot of dust in the air about 2 to 3 minutes of the sanding table running cleans the air of my single car garage shop. I also have a filtered box fan hanging from the ceiling.

Since this is a "dream shop" thread I though I'd mention quieter/better air filtration than I have now. My dream shop will have pristine air. ;-) There is family history of respitory problems in old age so not breathing too much dust is a good thing for me.

I've been in two custom houses that had great air movement without a lot of noise. The 2nd house used a huge fan (think roof of an apartment building) running at about half the normal RPMs. Even up close it was almost silent. With proper ducting it would keep the air in a 6 car garage shop clean.

-- Mark

[Mark Jerde]

Yurg! Make that a 2'x4' sanding table. It would be fun to have the space for a 4'x8' sanding/assembly table.

-- Mark

[Jerry Gilreath]

I was getting ready to say, damn, 4x8 sanding table???? Sounds like you got the setup going on! Reason I was asking, I was thinking along the same lines of using an old furnace fan for doing the same thing. Where you got it going to? Outside? What did you use for piping and such? Maybe combing your setup and my idea, I could incorporate it into my little ole shop. I don't have much head room, so hanging a factory made one is outta the question. Guess I could loose some bench space, but man, it's at a premium.

[Mark Jerde]

It's a standalone, roll around unit based on an old furnace fan. I'll try to put some pictures in abpw.

-- Mark

[Silvan]

Fork lift. :)

[Frank K.]

A toilet. Saves romping through the house leaving a trail of dust.

[Tim Douglass]

We saved a ton of money on my garage/shop by having the electrician wire the service and one outlet and one light circuit. I'm doing all the rest. Partly because it costs a fortune to have them do it and partly because I want to be able to fiddle around and change things to suit me. It is gradually taking shape, it has been over a year now since the ground breaking and I should be able to start moving tools in before spring.

Tim Douglass

[Tim Douglass]

Excellent ideas. I planned for the wood stove and wired for an exhaust fan (but don't have one yet). The conduit for phone etc. is something I'm going to wish I had done. Hard to change now because it is a concrete slab floor. The power cable conduit is large enough, but I doubt that cat5-e will work in with the main power feed. I plan to do part of my walls with plywood blows to give the "hang anywhere" capability. On the rest I'm going to make continuous cleats as shown in one of the recent WW magazines. I'm getting cabinets by scrounging old kitchen cabs from remodel jobs. It pays to have friends in the trade!

Tim Douglass

[Charlie Self]

Another joy of country life...slide one door open a bit and save all that plumbing work.

Charlie Self

"I have one yardstick by which I test every major problem-and that yardstick is: Is it good for America?" Dwight D. Eisenhower

[Silvan]

Country life hell. It's my property. I'll piss anywhere I want to. Keeps the varmints down.

(Of course, I have to avoid being *seen* doing this...)

[Frank K.]

How deep does the pile get before you spread it over the lawn?

Frank

[Jerry Gilreath]

Not to worry about cat 5e, just go either fiber in the electric conduit, or wireless! I'm running fiber with a digi box on both ends going to a 24 port hub in the house and a 16 port in the garage. Cat 5 to the shop.

[Mark & Juanita]

One problem with desert dwelling, even if you are in the country, there's not a lot of cover for privacy.

[Franklyn]

If I had a shop the one thing I would definitely include would be a large resaw bandsaw. I have plenty of left over 3/4" flooring from jobs I have done over the years and it would be perfect for inlay work if I could resaw it into 3/16" stock.

A company that I was working with had a saying, "There is a natural human need to fill empty space" No matter how large you make the shop you will find something to fill it.

Franklyn