Truck work shops

[faribran]

Originally Posted by smbrouss70

Man, ya'll are making me jealous! (as my truck sits under the carport on jack stands and the wife complains about it)

Hey Glock, is your 30'x40' big enough for 2 projects at once? I want to make sure that when I build one, it will be big enough

build it as big as u can afford... never enuff room

[glock35ipsc]

Originally Posted by smbrouss70

Hey Glock, is your 30'x40' big enough for 2 projects at once? I want to make sure that when I build one, it will be big enough

Normally, yeah. I had the 70 4x4 on one side and an 81 dually on the other and still had plenty of room all the way around. But it is cluttered now. I need to either add on or get a shed to move some shelved into to store parts, and shop tools that don't get used alot like the english wheel and stuff.

Right now I have the 68's cab in there, and my wifes Harley is torn down while I paint it. I also park my truck in there at night now that the temps are well below 0. When is gets this cold, I leave the heater on with the thermostst all the way down, so it stays about 40 in there. It was -16 F when I left for work this morning

Like someone said before, it is never big enough.

[hgs_notes]

Mine was built by the previous owner who owned one of those truck campers that was pretty tall. So I have 11' cielings, one 10' door and one 7' door. Unfortunately the foot print is only 22' wide by 26' long. Its what I got and I'm making the most of it. Sorage is always a concern, I dont have much space around the sides with the trucks inside. So I'm using my overhead space as much as possible. I built a loft area above the shorter garage door. I'm building shelves along the walls about 7 or 8' up with support from the rafters. Bicycles hanging from the cieling using a pully system I got at the hardware store. I have a small table saw and radial arm saw. I'm building a shelf to mount the arm saw that will hinge on the side of the table saw. Then the whole deal will hang from the cieling like the bikes. I have a pull down stairs in the cieling for easy attic access. My work benches are mounted on a shelf that is the same hieght as the block foundation so I can move them back against the wall and also because I like to have the work surface higher than normal, less leaning, easier on the back and shoulders, plus more storage underneath. I have the walls insulated, the cieling will get done probably next year. The plastic on the cieling keeps the heat down and actually makes it look better than the open rafters. I use a portable propane heater that will warm it on our colder days (below zero) up to about 50F, which is comfortable with a sweatshirt. When the cieling is insulated, I'm sure it will be warmer, plus I just replaced the 10' door with a new insulated one. The other door is still the original POS.

If I were to build my own, it would be at least three cars wide and about 36' to 40' long, normal cieling hieght but a full attic space over the car area and open to the rafters in the shop area. Access to the attic by stairs. Hot water floor heating and electrical outlets everywhere.

It's the best I've ever had and it's what I'll likely have for the next decade or so. Beats the snot out of working in the back yard under a tree, which I've had to do in the past.

[Yukon Jack]

Here is my 40x60 shop



and here is a pic of the mess inside

[Bill72BB]

Not mine , this would take up half my lot , but I like the looks of this one .( Got this off one of the Metal building site's )
Anyone got one of these ?

[paintpyro]

Originally Posted by Bill72BB

Not mine , this would take up half my lot , but I like the looks of this one .( Got this off one of the Metal building site's )
Anyone got one of these ?

I hear ya Bill. 2 car garage just doesnt seem to cut after seein these.

[Lippyp]

Damn, I have a single UK car sized garage that is at a stupid right angle to the drive so the only thing that you could get in it would be a little Morris Minor or some such with an incredible steering lock, the truck wouldn't fit in it anyway, neither would my daily driver trooper. I've spent today fitting new rear leaf springs/shackles/bushes to my Isuzu Trooper at a friends workshop, lucky bloke has a block built huge workshop with lots of toys.

[1969 C/K CST]

Didn't build it but it came with the house. Works alright, does have high ceilings. Upstairs-pouthouse.

[Tx Firefighter]

I just built a 30x40 metal shop this month. I went with 12 foot tall sidewalls. I insulated it and added a ridge vent too.

I went with two 10 foot tall, 12 foot wide roll up doors. The extra 2 feet width on the roll up doors didn't cost hardly any at all, and the extra 2 feet is so much easier to get in and out of.

I used one 3 foot walk in door on the front and a 4 foot walk in door on the back wall. The back wall door gives me flow through ventilation, and allows me to go out behind the shop to pee without offending the folks in the house.

[Chevy_Man]

Well i took the bullet and order my building. I ordered me a 30x40 with 12 foot walls and 2 10x10 roll up doors and one 3' walk through door and insolation on the roof. I oredered it from Mueller... Think i got a pretty dang good deal too. Now i can't wait to start...now i got to start looking at lights for the thing and figure out what is best, any tips would help.....

Hey Tx Firefighter, You got any pics of that new shop?

thanks guys,

eric

[Inthuwind]

I went with 6 8ft flourescents in mine and it's brighter than **** in there!!!!

[byrd]

A tip on the lights would be to use the 8' HO flourescent fixture and bulbs. They are more costly up front but use almost half the energy that the old single pins bulbs do. They are 96 watts per bulb and I put 10 of them in my step=dads garage which is 50x30 with the lights only used in the shop area about30x30 and the lighting is perfect, and very bright, you can't have too much light!! For the average joe who doesn't do electrical work on their own, I would reccomend you put up the plug in style 4" el cheapos at home depot and use the t-8 thin line bulb style. The fixtures are only like about $8 a piece and 2 bulbs will run you about $6 and they are 32 watts a piece. The best thing about the el cheapos is that anybody can put them up and you jusst plug them in and if they quit working they are so cheeap that you just throw them away and put up a new one. All that needs to be done for the el cheapos is have your electrician install plugs within 5' of where you want each light and try to do it so that you can get 2 light on one plug to be more cost effective with the electrical work needed. Just my .02 Randy

[Inthuwind]

thats exactly what I used---good info BYRD

[hoser]

I used the 4' fixtures because they are 1/4 the cost of the 8' fixtures you can buy them on sale assembled ready to install for as little as 7.99 each including bulbs, I havent had one go bad so far in 9 years have only changed a few bulbs, I wired mine in with switches so only turn on the lights I need in the area I am working.

Make sure you know that most light fixtures are not design to last in the cold so if you want to run your lights below 60 degrees expect problems and failures unless you buy the cold weather balst or fixture.

[LUV2XCLR8]

Just what's attached to my house, but it has a 8' door and lots of
cool storage thanks to my loving wife, cabinets are from Lowe's

[dennislbrooks]

very nice shops and vehicles above. 3rd bay on the right is my shop.

[smbrouss70]

Dennis, you have my 2 favorite vehicles... a chick magnet and a Vette!

[chevybill]

i have a 30 X 30 building with 10 feet walls, wooden structure with vinyl siding. I used old filament bulbs for lighting and homemade doors each is 10 feet tall and five feet wide and I have a pair of these doors on each end of the building (with casters on botom of doors) so I can pull a non running vehicle in with another if needed and I have a small pass thru door on the south side (side away from road). I would have built it 30 X 60 if I had the money.

[byrd]

Originally Posted by hoser

I used the 4' fixtures because they are 1/4 the cost of the 8' fixtures you can buy them on sale assembled ready to install for as little as 7.99 each including bulbs, I havent had one go bad so far in 9 years have only changed a few bulbs, I wired mine in with switches so only turn on the lights I need in the area I am working.

Make sure you know that most light fixtures are not design to last in the cold so if you want to run your lights below 60 degrees expect problems and failures unless you buy the cold weather balst or fixture.

The el cheapos I mentioned and the ones you used are a electronic ballast and are cold weather resistant, that is why they are so popular and the price of course. I have 10 of the 4' in my garage 24x30 with 10' ceilings and need a few more, and used them with the plugs for resale value(easy changeout) I'm an electrician by trade anyway,but I always try to keep things as simple as possible for the average person who doesn't do this work for a living. A lot of people can do home electrical work and it will work, but sadly most of the time most safety precautions are not applied as the installer doesn't know any better Randy

[byrd]

Originally Posted by Inthuwind

thats exactly what I used---good info BYRD

Yeah the HO fixtures really pump the light out, and the best thing is that they are still cheaper to run than the 4' el cheapos pound for pound. They will last 5 to 8 times as long and the real savings is realized over that period which you can't really put your hand on it, but it is there. IIRC the 4' el cheapo uses .83 amps/120 volts and puts out 64 watts of light, while the8'
HO uses 1.25/120 volts and outs out 188 watts of light. WOW That is your savings, your eyes too!!! lol The 4' is .0129 amps per watt, and the 8' HO is .0066 per watt. That is better than half, but the up front cost at $45 per HO fixture and $5 per bulb it can get costly, but is well worth in my opinion. Randy

[rkarr]

Originally Posted by smbrouss70

Dennis, you have my 2 favorite vehicles... a chick magnet and a Vette!

My thoughts exactly!!!

[DirtyLarry]

Have a 3 car attached and a separate 1000 sq ft detached garage. It is a full framed, insulated and finished to match the house. No heat yet though. It will hold two fullsize trucks and a suburban with pleny of room for tools.




CoolTool Refrigerator

[Rod]

Does the fridge lock?

[DirtyLarry]

Originally Posted by Rod

Does the fridge lock?

No, those are faux locks.

Check out Too Cool refrigerator kits. http://www.toocoolkits.com/

[Tx Firefighter]

We're doing the electrical in my shop right now. It's a 30x40 with 12 foot ceilings. Were using eight- 8 foot flourescent fixtures for main shop lighting, secured to the trusses, with more 8 footers over each of the two workbenches suspended by chain down to 8 foot off the ground. We're switching the workbench lights seperately, so I don't have to have them on all the time, just when doing intricate work at the benches.

I'm hoping it will be light enough. It's been spendy, but my wife keeps pushing me to do it once and never be sorry later. The fixtures are pretty high each, around 80 dollars. I hope the extra cost of the good lights up front pays off in the long run with longevity.