Before I get into the nitty gritty of the workshop design, I need to pause and make list of what features I really want my workshop to have. This will start out as a “wish list”, but I am sure I will have to pare it down later on due to cost. I figure that if I design it the way I would really want it, I can always add some of the items later on down the road if I can’t afford them right away.
The first thing I want to consider is the overall style of the building. I live out in the country surrounded by farms and fields. I have always liked the look of old center aisle horse barns and that is what I would like my shop to resemble. Plus, the design gives me the opportunity to have a small second floor where I can have either an office or extra storage. The horse barn look is both aesthetically pleasing to its surroundings and very practical for use as a workshop.
Ceiling height would be my next consideration. I would like a minimum of 10ft high ceilings. This makes it easy to stand 4×8 sheets of plywood on end and if needed roll it on its corner and still have a foot to spare. The diagonal measurement of a 4×8 sheet is just shy of 9ft.
I will probably stick with 10ft high ceilings for a couple of reasons, both related to cost. I figure that it will cost roughly 20% more in materials for the walls by going to a 12 ft ceiling. Also, when it comes to heating and cooling, it will be less expensive with the 10ft ceilings. One other thing, I think the building would just look too tall with a 12 ft ceiling.
The building will certainly have to be insulated. I live in Michigan where the winters are cold and the summers are hot. I will probably install a propane furnace, the kind that hangs from the ceiling, to heat the shop during the winter. I have yet to research all of the different kinds of furnaces but as soon as I do I will post an article dedicated to it.
Another luxury would be to have 6 inch wide walls rather than the typical 4 inch. The purpose of this would be to have thicker insulation in the walls which will reduce the heating and cooling costs. However, I am pretty sure the cost of 2×6 wall studs may be a bit higher than I am willing to pay.
Windows are another thing to consider, and there will certainly be some trade offs with them. I want as much natural light as possible coming into the shop, but I don’t want to sacrifice too much wall space either. I imagine I will have 2 windows on the side walls and 1 window on each end wall both downstairs and upstairs giving me a total of eight windows.
Both the large overhead door and the entry door will be insulated. The overhead door is for easy loading and unload of lumber and projects. I do not ever intend on driving into the shop. Because I don’t ever intend on driving into the shop, I plan on making the poured cement floor as flat as humanly possible. At this point, I can see no reason to put a drain in the floor, so there is no need to slope the floor.
The shop will have to have both 110 and 220 outlets. I currently only have 1 machine that runs on 220, but I plan on having a couple more someday.
At this point, this pretty much makes up my requirements list for the overall construction of the workshop. I will discuss some of my requirements for the interior of the shop in my next article.
