dream shop

so, whats your version of a dream shop?
my shop just got struck due to job loss, but here it was: 30'x 60' concrete tiltup building, rented originally in 2001 for .55$ sq foot. 20' high roof made it an excellent candidate for a mezzanine. my trade was marine canvas and auto upholstery at the time. a 20'x 30' condo was built above in the rear of the unit. only problem was my neighbors were a dance school, so they had 12 little girls learning tap just on the other side of the wall. I would send them packing with 45 minutes of evanescence while grinding and welding till midnight. started wrenching again on my vanagons there 3 years ago before I had to scat in aug of 2010.

during disassembly, the table sheeting came off first. 16' x 35 ' with a single needle stitcher on the right and a double needle machine on the left for the big stuff. I could make about 200.00 to 300.00$ a day sewing boat canvas, back when the economy was good. It was cave-like dark until I stopped being afraid and installed 6 2x4 skylites--they sealed better than the original one. I pulled a 455 olds v8 out of my cousin's boat with that chain once- this project, including the lid insulation cost me 14k in 2001. I had a 10 year plan and everything was removeable that was worth taking. table is sectioned and ready for transport I paid 1800.00 to put R19 in the cieling with additional wood for that 10" cavity. the condo was in the rear there with a bed, couch, recliner, skylite with roof access, and a full kitchen and bath, shower and laundry. built bolt-on shelving everywhere. the corner above the man door was my clothes closet and pattern rack. the steel box [8'x8'] you see on the right in the first photo is this box I now work out of. I luckily had the presence of mind to sew up a zip-down herculite weather cover for it before I lost my table. a humbling swedish style workspace. when it blows or rains, I read or order parts.

Cool. I wish that I had that much space!

Dude, what a cool shop. I'm sorry the economy took it out on you. I'm blessed with pretty recession-proof job and am almost done building mine.
Specs: 16x20 with upstairs "storage area". Fully kitted with water, gas, 220v 60A electrical, in-wall air (we'll see how the HF air distribution kit holds up), insulated, drywalled, etc. Ready for it's first engine change in the next couple months. The wife 'conned' me into putting cheap solid bamboo in the upstairs because it turned out so nice. It's a great office. Working on storage cabinets now.
At first the 16x20 didn't seem big enough, but I now realize that if I'd made it any bigger, I would fill it up with E36 M3, so I'm now pretty happy with the smaller space, especially given that I have the upstairs area for a nice office/card room.

I had a design for another one that was 60x 120 with 2 big truck doors and a big u-shaped drive thru with a second level and skylites everywhere. stupid. then, there was the 300x 150 building I was going to build a production line for my bear safe camping module--all dwg board stuff. I used to hitch a customers boat up to my toyota pu and drive strait in deep. I would fit a cover and kick it under the table onto the boat, because I stepped on part of a bundle I was carrying down the stairs and fell, butting into the wall at the bottom. had a womping stereo and a fridge fulla beer. for 18.00$ I would make a macrobiotic stew and eat off that for 3 days. i had to come out to see if it was raining or not. sigh....now I am painfully aware.

Weird my Uncle lives down in San Diego and he is currently doing boat covers at a shop in Mission Bay. He doesn't run the shop but does sewing for the guy. He is really good a working with canvas, he used to run a luggage repair business but 9/11 put that one to death.

Good luck rebounding!

Here's the shop I designed for a buddy of mine. He wanted to get a huge steel building and cut it in half. Have it half home, half shop. All temperature controlled, all awesome.

Feel free to duplicate, but ask me to come visit. LOL

All the furniture in the home was the largest I could find in the program, all california king beds, huge media chairs, enormous sectional couch, completely restaurant grade kitchen appliances, huge tubs, etc. I think the home came out to like 3,000 - 4,000 sq ft or something like that. There's an engine build room there on the far left in the shop, a half bath with shower, laundry room with big freezer and hot water heater. There are benches/tables all around the walls for storage. Yes, there are 2 toilets in 3 of the 4 bathrooms. He wanted a urinal in there too. Haha!

Conquest351 wrote: Here's the shop I designed for a buddy of mine. He wanted to get a huge steel building and cut it in half. Have it half home, half shop. All temperature controlled, all awesome. Feel free to duplicate, but ask me to come visit. LOL All the furniture in the home was the largest I could find in the program, all california king beds, huge media chairs, enormous sectional couch, completely restaurant grade kitchen appliances, huge tubs, etc. I think the home came out to like 3,000 - 4,000 sq ft or something like that. There's an engine build room there on the far left in the shop, a half bath with shower, laundry room with big freezer and hot water heater. There are benches/tables all around the walls for storage. Yes, there are 2 toilets in 3 of the 4 bathrooms. He wanted a urinal in there too. Haha!

Upper right in the house part... That's a designed-in beat off station, isn't it? You can tell us, we're friends. Then we want specs.

jg

JG Pasterjak wrote:

Conquest351 wrote: Here's the shop I designed for a buddy of mine. He wanted to get a huge steel building and cut it in half. Have it half home, half shop. All temperature controlled, all awesome. Feel free to duplicate, but ask me to come visit. LOL All the furniture in the home was the largest I could find in the program, all california king beds, huge media chairs, enormous sectional couch, completely restaurant grade kitchen appliances, huge tubs, etc. I think the home came out to like 3,000 - 4,000 sq ft or something like that. There's an engine build room there on the far left in the shop, a half bath with shower, laundry room with big freezer and hot water heater. There are benches/tables all around the walls for storage. Yes, there are 2 toilets in 3 of the 4 bathrooms. He wanted a urinal in there too. Haha!

Upper right in the house part... That's a designed-in beat off station, isn't it? You can tell us, we're friends. Then we want specs. jg

Shouldn't there be a euphemism for uh, flogging the dolphin? Like:

"That's a designed-in Lutz station, isn't it?" or

"That's a designed-in FT-86 station isn't it?" or

"That's a designed-in Hess station, isn't it?" (that's a low-blow, but I couldn't help it, been reading too many off topic posts today).

JG Pasterjak wrote:

Conquest351 wrote: Here's the shop I designed for a buddy of mine. He wanted to get a huge steel building and cut it in half. Have it half home, half shop. All temperature controlled, all awesome. Feel free to duplicate, but ask me to come visit. LOL All the furniture in the home was the largest I could find in the program, all california king beds, huge media chairs, enormous sectional couch, completely restaurant grade kitchen appliances, huge tubs, etc. I think the home came out to like 3,000 - 4,000 sq ft or something like that. There's an engine build room there on the far left in the shop, a half bath with shower, laundry room with big freezer and hot water heater. There are benches/tables all around the walls for storage. Yes, there are 2 toilets in 3 of the 4 bathrooms. He wanted a urinal in there too. Haha!

Upper right in the house part... That's a designed-in beat off station, isn't it? You can tell us, we're friends. Then we want specs. jg

Atleast we know what your doing in the offices when your bored.

Not bad shop though, a little too cluttered for my tastes though. If you like shops, check out garagejournal.com some nice garages and shops on there, fully kitted out, so to speak.

Andrew

I'm fixin' to buy a shop and I won't take less than 10,000 ft.

60,000 would be nice

I would be happy with a 1-car garage right now. I'm currently working with bringing my tools out to the street and hoping that my neighbors don't give me dirty looks.

For me, there's a difference between "shop" and "garage". The former being a place to work on cars and the latter a place to store them.

The perfect 'shop' would probably be 2 bays for long and mid-term projects (one with a lift, the other without) and a maintenance bay (with a lift). Bright. Spacious. Functional. On a good day, only one or two bays would be in use.

A 'garage' could be more ornate where the finishes and lighting could be nicer (think: the 'Dream Garages' books). In my case, I would also add an enclosed wash & wax bay so the other half could wash her cars regardless of weather. I would put a recessed scissor lift in this bay so the car could be raised up to a more comfortable waxing height (whenever she waxes her Spitfire, she's usually bed-ridden for the next 3 days...)

I'd be happy with a 1 car garage that wasn't completely and totally filled with crap to the point I can't get anything of use into or out of it. as it stands, my driveway in front of the garage is my designated workspace. it's ok when it's warm and dry, when it's cold or wet or both... not so much

My garage comes with the best grilled-cheese maker ever invented. And she'll even deliver them to me while laying under a car!

I just spent the last nine years with my projects and drinking-- you got me beat with one grilled cheese sandwich.....

Ian F wrote: For me, there's a difference between "shop" and "garage". The former being a place to work on cars and the latter a place to store them.

I completely agree.....and that is what led to my current arrangement.

Off of the house I have an 900 SF garage. Currently enough room for the daily drivers for me and Mrs. orphancars, the Fiero, and the Puma. And there is still room for a workbench and parts storage. I think we have 4 wire rack/shelf unit thingys.

Behind the house I have a 24 x 42 shop area. That is where the TVR is being worked on (worked over??) and is where all the dirty work happens (metalwork, fiberglassing). Have enough room to work on the car, have all the machine tools, and the lawn implements of destruction reside there as well. Also room enough for the car hauling trailer.

I know....have to get pics sometime soon.........I want to get things clean and then take pics....like that will ever happen!

I'm fairly happy with my current "shop". It's heated, has a lift, paved legal parking for 6 cars, 10ft x 9.5 ft OH door, Bathroom, alarm, internet, office with A/C, small air compressor.
If I had the money to actually buy the place I'm in, I'd add triple basin drainage as that is technically required if I have more than 2 cars inside. I'd also relocate the office to the other side of the unit by the bathroom and tear down the office wall.

right now we are looking for a cheap 80 gal compressor and a cheapish MIG welder. Our small 30 gallon compressor just isn't cutting it (literally). my floorplan currently

My parents are currently in the process of building their acreage... 4 car attached garage, 35'x60' shop out back. So my father and I will have all the space in the world (hell, I won't even need my own house with a garage now)

And I believe I get enough space for two cars MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA cough

The FM shop is pretty close to a dream shop. 25,000 square feet with a sound-insulated dyno room, five widely spaced lifts. two air compressors, bead blaster and an indoor salvage yard as well as the FM inventory shelves. Naturally, I have a key

...and still I end up building cars on jackstands in my garage. Go figure.

Keith wrote: The FM shop is pretty close to a dream shop. 25,000 square feet with a sound-insulated dyno room, five widely spaced lifts. two air compressors, bead blaster and an indoor salvage yard as well as the FM inventory shelves. Naturally, I have a key

It's unseemly to brag.

No, really, that's awesome. I would say it's beyond "pretty close to" and is "actually." It's just a shame you have to do actual work there and not just putter around all day.

In order for it to actually be a dream shop, it needs more metal fabrication tools and we need to set up the alignment rack. And most importantly, everyone has to start putting the tools away!

as I get older, and change houses on the family homestead, I foresee the biggest changes to the three houses being massive garage/shops.......I have measured designs on engineering graph paper tucked away in the gun safe, the one would be a monster, scrap away a 3 car attached and 1 car detached to create a 75ft x 30ft shop that would be tied into the current 1878 built house on basement, first and second floors.....and add approx 2200 sq ft of living space plus nearly 3000sq ft of garage/shop space. I never worked out the engineering aspect of how heavy or how expensive that monster would be though.....