Let's talk shops again

I am trying to lay out my next shop on grid paper. I know.....
I am struggling with the roll up doors. How many and where to put them.

The building in question is a 40x70. I am trying to make sure that I do this one right. It's the last one I will build.

I have a 40x50 now with 38' of the 50' opening , due to roll up doors. That was a mistake, I gave up a lot of wall space for storage doing that. I thought it would be smarter to get stuff in and out, which it is, but at the price of losing the wall space. Everything has to be on the front wall. Make sense?

So, show me pics of your shops and give specifics, door sizes, building size etc. and what you wish you would have done different.

 

How many doors and what size? What's in the way that you can't put a door in the side at one end? I'll ***ume you're putting in a 36" wide service door as well. How much vehicle movement will there be inside? I don't have pics readily available but in my 30 x 40, I put a 10' roll up and the service door off center of the 30' end and another in 40' wall diagonally across the shop . This allowed me one whole side of the shop for uninterrupted work and the ability to move a vehicle completely through the shop without having to move anything out of the way.

 

I was thinking 12x12 doors, how many is anyones guess. One man door and no windows.

 

My shop, though smaller, I put the end door too close to the adjoining wall. This means by the time you put up some shelves or equipment along that wall, you have lost the space needed to fully open a car door much less do any major work comfortably. Just some thing to keep in mind

 

I keep thinking that maybe one door in the gable end (like a 14x14) and then maybe one in each eaves side, or of opposite from each other, if that makes sense.

 

The more and larger openings you have, the less wall space you have. I deliberately used 10' x 10' doors because I had several guys I knew who had road tractors and nowhere to service them. Probably sounds one way of me but, I didn't want someone else's one-day project to turn into several weeks in my shop. I also had 12' tall side walls so I built a rolling A-frame hoist 11' tall so it wouldn't go out the 10' high door when someone came along and suggested that I let him take it over to his house to use.
Another thing, are you going to air condition the place? I know where you live and it gets hotter than Hell there in the summer and when the wind comes out of the North in the winter, it's cold and there ain't nothing between you and the North Pole but a barbwire fence. The fewer openings you have, the less heat and cold you lose.

 

My shop is 40x60 and I only have one roll up 10x10 door in the gable end. It's offset to one side so I can angle cars along one long wall. Has worked pretty good for me. I also have a spray booth in there, which hogs a lot of room. I can still work on 3-4 vehicles with ease. Sometimes it takes some planning for vehicle placement though with only one door. I chose to use one door to gain more workspace and less heat loss as Alan alluded to(and no semi trucks either!).

 

How about the half round Quonset type barns ? Just have doors on each end . There’s 5 here on our farm . Two are store bought rafters the other 3 my Grandfather made a fixture and they made the rafters. Our shop sets east and west . Gets very hot in the summer time. If it was setting north and south it would have a nice breeze going through it

 

Quonset huts aren't really that cheap anymore.I priced a couple out recently. Plus I am OCD and the wasted space, due to the curvature would eat me up.

The building will probably be situated North-South. The first 20' will be a sealed off area for the upholstery shop and where the TV and couch will go. Prolly put a bathroom up there as well. I figure I'll have a covered patio that comes out that end also. This will all be on the south end closest to the house.

Building will probably be 40x70.

 

If you're putting in a bathroom, put in a shower as well. Your bride will appreciate it if you're not dragging dust, dirt and grease in the house. Hell, while you're at it, put a refrigerator, microwave, a two burner hot plate and a bed in case you piss her off for some other reason

 

I was thinking that I would build a kitchenette I. It and have a small upstairs above it for an office/hamb surfing area.

 

Sounds like a $200,000 shop

 

Barndominium

 

Stop through sometime and check out our barns . Might even loan You the fixture.

 

Now I'm getting shop envy. I only have a 24x30 attached garage and a 12x20 shed. Both stuffed full...

 

I need to get up that way someday.....I'm afraid you might put me to work.

 

Have you been over to the garage journal ? Tons of info over there.

 

Yeah, I asked this question there first.

 

Sounds almost identical to my shop, minus the gantry and rear door. I also have a sand point well in mine for water. Separate from the deep well that supplies the house. Sometimes I wish I did have the door at the back, but as others have mentioned, I would hate to give up that wall space though.
When I bought this house, the shop was already here. These pics are from last year when I moved in, so I hadn’t went to town on it yet, or moved all my “stuff” in. Now there tons of shelf space to keep as much off the floor as possible.
The 2 floor drains just go to a French drain and I found will back up if I’m washing a car in there in the winter. As soon as the heat breaks here, I’m going to run the drains out into the yard out back, an my property drops off behind the shop.

 

Side note, not to derail this thread, but.... how about some details on that LeMans? I had one years ago and that was a quick, fun car! Thanks! Nice shop by the way....

 

I picked it up last year in Colorado. It’s a pretty clean rust free driver. It came with the 326 originally, but now has a ‘69 Pontiac 400. It still has the original transaxle rear with 2.69 gears. So it isn’t a “quick” car, but cruising at 70-80 mph all day long is not an issue. A bonus when you live in a rural area like I do. Nearest stop light is over 20 miles away!

 

If your shop had an apartment you could generate income with it on Airbnb. Especially since your land is closer to Norman, and OU joining the SEC, I’ll bet you’d have it rented every football weekend.

 

It's a thought.

 

My shop is 30' x 40' I have 3 roll up doors on the front & a personal door, I have one roll up door on the back on the end where I can push the project outside for sandblasting on a 10' x 20' concrete pad.

I fully insulated the walls & ceiling and installed sheet rock and painted everything white, I have 15 4ft double bulb lights overhead. HRP