Truck work shops

[thejoker]

I haven't put mine together yet but I bought a 30X40 a few years ago. I should begin in January putting it up. I only paid $2800 shipped to my door. The assembly is going to be pretty easy. I have someone who has put one up helping and the hardest thing is getting started. Here's a link to what I bought.

http://www.us-buildings.com/model_a.html

JKR

[hoser]

No pics but my shop is 49x54 13" insulation in the walls and about 18" in the attic it has 90% Plus counter flow furnace and a 2 ton central a/c my shop never gets over 75 in the summer and less than 60 in the winter when I am working on a project in the shop its usually kept at about 70 degrees, their has been days when I could have used a dehumidifier in the summer, it has a bathroom with slop sink toilet and provisions for a tub shower (never finished probably will never use) I bought the best garage doors with the thermo break so they dont frost up inside on real cold days, I have floor drains so I can wash cars - trucks inside if I want, hot and cold running water.

It has cable for TV but I never use it and just use one of the kids old boom boxes for music some day I will retire my 25+ year old home stereo from the house to my shop.

Garage doors are 8' tall cieling is about 9' walls covered in dry wall, if I had it to do over again I would have built it 16' tall so I could have a loft for junk spare parts and park my RV inside to keep out of the weather and to do maintenance on.

[Inthuwind]

Here's a pic or two

[D.PASSMORE]

I hoping my wife will get tierd of me working in the driveway. She is starting to feel sorry for me... I have a barn on my farm, but it is 2 hours away and its older structure... with 3 more trucks parked inside! I've got issues...

[hoser]

Originally Posted by D.PASSMORE

I hoping my wife will get tierd of me working in the driveway. She is starting to feel sorry for me... I have a barn on my farm, but it is 2 hours away and its older structure... with 3 more trucks parked inside! I've got issues...

Nice truck and Blazer you happen to know the paint code for the Blazer I really like that color and was thinking of painting my truck the same color.

Thanks.

[Inthuwind]

84 lumber has kits you can get rather cheap-and you can modify them to your needs. I have a 24x28 which I ran wire,water,cableand wireless internet.

[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

[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

[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

[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

[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!

[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

[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.

[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.