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I'm having a tough time deciding how big (small) my new shop should be. I'm looking at a 30 x 40 but wondering if a 30 x 30 would suffice. Laying it out in Illustrator isn't helping much. I know people say you can't build a shop too big but I am in semi retirement mode. Still, I need room for my 5 x 10 router and all the woodworking equipment a fully stocked woodworking shop contains.
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Our main shop is 32 x 48. At times this area feels tight - especially when we have multiple projects on the go. Our CNC router is in a 22x24 foot separate room which is a little small for it and our stock of Precision Board and offcuts. Our 5x10 CNC plasma is in another separate room measuring 30 x 30. This area houses our steel supply and also stores our tractor and forklift. The tractor and forklift need to be moved outside to do any work there.
My clean studio/library measures 20 x 30. It's a nice size. We have a small storage space and washroom off this area.
Back when we built the shop I figured the shop was big enough to do all I could possibly think of... wrong! I built the shop when I was 50 and planned too gradually wind things down as I headed into my golden years. I planned one keeping busy with smaller projects and lots of personal projects on the side.
The area where the router now lives was my hot rod room, with two garage doors. When the router came the hot rod moved to a shipping container. It gets pulled into the shop to work on it when there's room. Everything we build in the shop we do on wheels so we can move things around as necessary.
Life never seems to proceed as per our plans. It simply doesn't work that way- at least at our house.
My advice is to build your shop twice as big as you think you might need it. Even then it is my bet you will run out of room.
-grampa dan
-------------------- Dan Sawatzky Imagination Corporation Yarrow, British Columbia dan@imaginationcorporation.com http://www.imaginationcorporation.com
Being a grampa is one of the the most wonderful things in the world!!! Posts: 8751 | From: Yarrow, B.C. Canada | Registered: Nov 1998
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It depends on what you plan on working on. Not only will you need room for your equipment, you might need room enough for , say, a truck or trailer you may be lettering. You don't want to be doing that stuff out in the Texas sun. Of course I'm not sure of the building codes where you are at. If you really got some dough to burn, you could get a two story shop. Office, supplies, and a few machines on top. Work area and your bigger machine on the bottom. And don't forget to have lots of windows. I have 15 windows on my shop plus one of the panels on my 14 foot shop door is a window. My shop door opens to the North. When I open the door, it is all shady. If the door was on the South or West side, I would get that summer heat right on me and in the shop. My office is in the shop but it is fully enclosed with a door. Keeps the dust off my computer, plotter, vinyl, Gold leafing supplies, books and other office supplies.
-------------------- Signs by Alicia Jennings (Mudflap Girl) Tacoma, WA Since 1987 Have Lipstick, will travel. Posts: 3905 | From: Tacoma, WA. U.S.A. | Registered: Dec 1999
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My shop is 2400'. I have a 24x24 wood shop which is cramped. I have doors lined up so I can run 12' or longer sticks through table saw or planer, etc. I have 16' ceiling so I can endo a stick without needing to take it outside. Draw all your equipment sizes and locate them on your floor plan and start imagining projects and follow them through the shop. You'll soon see where the shaper and jointer and table saw go. You'll see where th panel saw goes and tables for glue ups and assembly. You'll want a dust collection system that you don't need to step over or duck under. We depend on having a painting and lettering area that does not get the dust from the wood shop. It's nice to be able to drive big trucks in. Get colored markers and start making lines on print outs of floor plan. Follow a project from where materials come in, go to saws, get painted, get lettered, go out the door. Keep clear paths for the flow to happen. Have a bathroom/washroom that you can get to easily from anywhere. Make it efficient for you and minimize the showroom/sales office.
-------------------- The SignShop Mendocino, California
Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity. — Charles Mingus Posts: 6786 | From: Mendocino, CA. USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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Bob, no new cat but I look at them when I'm near Pet Smart. I've been tempted but we still have one cat so no more for now.
Back to the shop. I sold my panel saw and all my welding equipment so there's two areas I can cut back on. As far as vehicles, if, and it's a big IF, I decide to do vehicles, I'll have to do them at the customers site. There is a big culvert in front of my house so getting big trucks to the back area would be a challenge. Since I'm 69 and slowing down I mainly want to do some glass work, woodworking, 3D signs, and some 3D crafting just to have something to do. I definitely don't want a full time business anymore.
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If you're wanting to slow down and back off from the commercial sign game, just get rid of most all of it and keep some hand tools, a band saw, a lathe, and make rocking chairs.
-------------------- The SignShop Mendocino, California
Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity. — Charles Mingus Posts: 6786 | From: Mendocino, CA. USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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Shop update: I decided on a 30 x 35. This is going to help with some unforeseen costs that crept up, like $3,000 just to bring power from the pole to my shop. I laid out my shop with all the tools to scale in Illustrator and there is plenty of room for everything. 30 x 40 would have been nice but cutting back a little made the wife happy (a little more back yard left) and there is plenty of room for my truck when they predict hail, or to letter a medium sized truck. But with Texas weather, I'll could probably work on site most of the time.
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Get big tall doors. At least 14 footers. You will be so mad at yourself later on.
-------------------- Signs by Alicia Jennings (Mudflap Girl) Tacoma, WA Since 1987 Have Lipstick, will travel. Posts: 3905 | From: Tacoma, WA. U.S.A. | Registered: Dec 1999
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No can do Alicia for a couple reasons. I don't plan on doing that much truck lettering. Even in Michigan I did most of it outdoors or found places to do it in the customers buildings. I plan on specializing more toward 3D signs. Second, since the shop is going in the back yard, a 14 foot door would end up having a 16+ foot roof line and would end up with negative curb appeal. I'm only on 1/2 acre and the roof line would show too much from the street. I understand completely what you mean but at this stage I really can do without and save several thousand dollars in a 10 foot tall building.
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My workshop is presently 30x50 and is no longer enough space. The side walls are 14' high and it is over 16' in the center so I have room to place a mezzanine floor about 7.5' above the existing one. The mezzanine will add another 1075sqft of floor space to store substrates, metalworking machines,etc. without the expense of adding onto the building. Once the mezzanine is finished, it will have room for a plasma cutter and an open area, in front of the rolldoor, for moving a forklift around just enough for handling steel and lifting stuff upstairs. https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=3063973053614924&set=a.116914268320832
[ February 26, 2020, 01:56 PM: Message edited by: Wayne Webb ]
-------------------- Wayne Webb Webb Signworks Chipley, FL 850.638.9329 wayne@webbsignworks.com Posts: 7405 | From: Chipley,Florida,United States | Registered: Oct 1999
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Sounds like a good plan Wayne. I'm just looking for something to putter around in, more like a side hustle. Just not ready for full retirement just yet.
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
I planned one keeping busy with smaller projects and lots of personal projects on the side. 
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