I am interested in building a woodworking shop and naturally I would like to
get the most for my investment. I have space and am thinking of a free
standing building. Are there any websites that address low cost owner built
buildings that might be of help? Maybe you have built one yourself, what is
your advise? Do it yourself or have it built? Your comments? GCS
RESPITE95 <[email protected]> wrote:
> I am interested in building a woodworking shop and naturally I would like to
> get the most for my investment. I have space and am thinking of a free
> standing building. Are there any websites that address low cost owner built
> buildings that might be of help? Maybe you have built one yourself, what is
> your advise? Do it yourself or have it built? Your comments? GCS
I built a 30x40 shop last winter and spent a considerable amount of time
comparing the cost of the various options. The mail-order steel buildings
are fairly cheap but you still have to do the concrete work and erection
on the side (including foundation engineering certification if your building
dept. requires it). In the end, I found that it was actually cheaper (and
much easier) to just have a local builder build a pole-barn for me. From
the outside, it looks just like an all-steel building but it's wood-framed
inside. I did all the electrical myself and was really glad it was wood-
framed. It would have really been a pain in an all-steel building.
Lance
On 28 Oct 2003 14:48:09 GMT, [email protected] (RESPITE95) wrote:
>I am interested in building a woodworking shop and naturally I would like to
>get the most for my investment. I have space and am thinking of a free
>standing building. Are there any websites that address low cost owner built
>buildings that might be of help? Maybe you have built one yourself, what is
>your advise? Do it yourself or have it built? Your comments? GCS
A separate building will cost a lot more, but the plus is that this
will keep dust/noise out of the house. I built my shop in the walkout
basement--it has an electrical subpanel, windows, high ceiling,
heating/cooling. Ideally, a separate free-standing building is great
for finishing--less dust, no oil/paint fumes in the house. Take a
look at "The Workshop Book" by Landis. Think about what you will be
building. Bigger is usually better, but not always. It is amazing
how different a woodshop can be!
Well naturally if you can build it yourself you're going to save a pile of
cash that you could in turn invest in equipment for the new shop. I built my
own but thats what I do in addition to cabinetmaking. Im a general
contractor and had some free time a few years ago so I built a 1000 sq ft
workshop. Thought it would be plenty since Im basically a one man operation
but guess what....TOO SMALL!! I dont think there is any such thing as a shop
TOO big!! Check out some of the ads in the back of magazines like "Wood" and
"Fine Woodworking". There are always ads for metal buildings that seem
pretty reasonable at first glance however I have not researched them at any
depth.
Jim
"RESPITE95" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I am interested in building a woodworking shop and naturally I would like
to
> get the most for my investment. I have space and am thinking of a free
> standing building. Are there any websites that address low cost owner
built
> buildings that might be of help? Maybe you have built one yourself, what
is
> your advise? Do it yourself or have it built? Your comments? GCS
"RESPITE95" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I am interested in building a woodworking shop and naturally I would like
to
> get the most for my investment. I have space and am thinking of a free
> standing building. Are there any websites that address low cost owner
built
> buildings that might be of help? Maybe you have built one yourself, what
is
> your advise? Do it yourself or have it built? Your comments? GCS
I built mine and would do it again if I ever move. You can see it here
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/fkozerski/shop.htm
Good luck.
Frank
RESPITE95 wrote:
> I am interested in building a woodworking shop and naturally I would like to
> get the most for my investment. I have space and am thinking of a free
> standing building. Are there any websites that address low cost owner built
> buildings that might be of help? Maybe you have built one yourself, what is
> your advise? Do it yourself or have it built? Your comments? GCS
Hi, my names Mark and this is my first post in rec.woodworking (nice
group you have here).
I'm with James, I don't think there's any such thing as a shop that's
too big (until it comes time to heat it). I built a 24x56, roughly 1300
square feet of floor. About 100 square feet bigger than the house. It's
not enough. But then my organizational skills need working on. ;[
There are definitely savings in doing it yourself. "Yourself" is a
tricky term , because there are times your going to need help. Got Kids?
How about a handy wife? I had neither (Wife, love her lots, but she is
4'11" and has no mechanical aptitude.) I found $10 to $15 an hour got me
the warm bodies I needed when needed.
Site Preparation: If your going to put in a floor (I think that's a
given) you have to remove the top soil. Humus does not support a floor.
In my case I built on land that was an orchard 100 years ago. Talk about
beautiful soil ..... couldn't build on it though. Small dozers can be
rented for around $200 a day. You can use it to cut in your drive also.
About the drive: Make sure you put in a good base.
Power: I was lucky, there is a transformer 80 feet from the corner of my
building. I had looked into running power from the house but that would
have been 125 to 200 feet of buried cable (depending where it exited the
house) , I forget what NEC states but I believe an out building powered
from another structure calls for a 100 amp service. I'm not entirely
sure of my memory on this as when I tallied up how much the buryable
cable was going to cost I was into the price range of putting in a
separate 200 amp service. The down side is I have to pay two base fees
(the cost of nothing) and the shop electricity costs 25% more than the
residential power. The upside is, 200 amp GE copper buss load center.
There is no worry about running out of power. I built the service myself
thus saving a bunch of money.
Attached vs detached: As you have probably gathered my shop is detached.
It's about 125+ feet from the back door. I feel bad about the wife
having to walk that far in the snow to get to her car, she doesn't feel
bad at all because she has a place to park it out of the elements.
What's been written about detached, keeping shop pollution in the shop,
and house pollution in the house, is very true. My shop is mostly for
wrench work, gets pretty stinky. One thing I didn't see mentioned was
the effect an attached garage has on the home owners insurance. IIRC
detached is much lower.
Another factor is the difficulties tying a new structure to an old
structure. I wouldn't want to try it without an experienced carpenter.
Heating: Here's where my friends and I got into a bit of a row. They
kept trying to get me to install a wood burner. Granted a wood burner
would be cheaper to use (woods plentiful here) but there is no way to
extinguish it NOW. Something happens where a bunch of fumes get into the
air and I could be a fireball. I opted for a used oil furnace (can't
wait to get it installed). Because an oil burner is forced induction I
can pull combustion air from outside reducing the explosion / fire
hazard. Plus it can be disabled by a breaker or switch.
Stay away from unvented heaters/ heaters that put exhaust back into the
workspace. IE: Torpedo or catalyst heaters, K1, LPG or natural gas. 1)
These put phenomenal amounts of moisture into the air. You would be
begging to rust up your tools. What's more important though is 2) what's
in the air gets burnt and put back into the air you breath. Lots of the
materials we use make fumes that aren't healthy in the first place, heat
or burn them changing the compounds into God knows what and your playing
a game of roulette.
Structure: Build as big as you can. That's a given. Go for 10 foot
ceilings. You'll be happy with a 8 foot ceiling 99% of the time but that
1% is a killer. Specially if you've drywalled the ceiling. Try flipping
a full sheet of plywood in the house, that will give you an idea.
Electrical, part II: Before you finish the inside of the shop (I.E.:
Drywall) make sure you wire in more outlets than you'll ever need (NEC
is a good guide, but put more). Also wire in several 220 outlets. Don't
forget to wire the ceiling for lights and ceiling fans. Lighting, isn't
that a subject. Just like you can't build a shop that's too big you
can't have too much lighting. Better to disable a light than to wish you
had more.
Geez, I think I've written enough.
Water, I forgot about water. Gotta have it if only for safety.
No matter which way you go, either building it yourself of having it
built for you, start researching your local codes. Keep in mind, codes
are a minimum. Learning about everything that needed done drove me batty
but it was worth every lost hair (I'm now bald).
--
James D Kountz wrote:
> magazines like "Wood" and "Fine Woodworking". There are always ads for
> metal buildings that seem pretty reasonable at first glance however I have
> not researched them at any depth.
Neither have I, but they sure go up easy. The guy across the street dozed
the vacant lot that had been there for decades and built a gigantic steel
industrial building on the site. Right across the street from my house;
how lovely.
It's ugly to look at, but it sure was interesting to watch. The thing is
maybe 200' long, 100' deep and 25' tall. Once the slab was poured and the
many truckloads of parts delivered, one guy with an off-road forklift and a
front-end loader built the whole damn thing in a couple of weeks.
I think a shop-sized building of the same general design is definitely
within the reach of the average homeowner. It's just a question of time
and money. Helps if you have an off-road forklift and a front-end loader
too I guess. :)
--
Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan <[email protected]>
Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/