Posted by Brian A. on Wednesday, March 12, 2003 at 11:33AM :
In Reply to: OT Building a work shop posted by mrmc on Wednesday, March 12, 2003 at 10:07AM :
I too am a licensed contractor and MoparNorm is very correct in what he is saying. There are some things I would like to add though. I currently have a 24'x32' conventional, single story garage with 8' sidewalls which has served as my garage/machine shop for 15 years. It is not perfect, it is what was here when I purchased the property. I insulated the entire building, installed a well insulated overhead door, divided off 12' at the back for my machine tools, and had a seperate 200 amp electric service put in.
Here are my observations after living with this arrangement. Any added height or second story that can be included in the plan will be helpful and is usually less expensive than building the same square footage at ground level. A garage area with 20' depth will work for small vehicles, but my M37 w/winch and snow plow will not fit in unless the plow is dropped off and the pump unit is allowed to stick through the door into the shop. If you live in snow country, try to keep the doors on the gable ends to avoid snow from the roof building up in front of them.
Some ideas to consider, if you are not stuck with 24'x30'. Make some cut-outs of what you want in the building then try to fit them in different configurations of buildings the same square footage. The more close to square the building is the shorter the overall wall length, thus the less the potential energy loss, but a longer, narrower building may fit your stuff better.
In conclusion, my old garage is currently being converted to all shop where my fabrication activities will be centered because I am finishing the construction of a 28'x64' shop with a 12' ceiling on the ground level and a 28'x40' second story with an 8' ceiling for storage. The W500, XM282 and M35A2 just did not fit under that 7' door or within the 20' depth no matter how hard I tried. Though I did demonstrate that an M35A2 can force its way in, much damage to the building can be expected though.