So, 2025 is shaping up to be a fine kettle of fish

The big news is we're expecting our first at the end of April. Don't know the gender, and we're keeping it that way; everything else about this has been a surprise, why not make it a perfect sweep? Everything looks good so far, though, and we're in pretty good spirits.

The more GRM-topical news is Mrs. says it's time to build a shop. Take a mortgage on the house and go into big debt for the first time in our lives so that I can have a place I can work on things.

I can think of plenty of other things we could (arguably should) use that kind of money for instead, but she won't hear it.

So I'm brainstorming a shop. Right now, thinking a 40x60 metal building with a 20x60 lean-to on the south side. 60x60 concrete under the lot. Three garage doors on the south, with a lift lined up on the eastern door. Southwest corner reserved for the South Bend lathe, Wells Index mill, air compressor, welder, drill press, tube bender, and a nice big frame jig table. Nothwest corner set up for "bathroom", or at the very least a good shop sink. Couple of strategically placed overhead drops for air and electricity. Ideally an overhead i-beam or gantry for a chain hoist. Ventilation for the welder specifically, and for the shop at large. 

We're in rural Kansas. Neither of us grew up with real high heat in the winter or real cold AC in the summer; just want the space to not be at the extremes. Thinking spray foam insulation. Maybe geothermal for in-concrete heat, although a coworker suggested a wood-fired boiler. Possibly radiant heat down the peak for a little additional heat in the coldest times. Good quality concrete. Likely use the digging for the concrete forms as an excuse to make sure there's good drainage away from the building.

Please use this space to be good idea fairies, to tell me what I'm overlooking, or to make suggestions. I'll post more as things solidify.

JohnInKansas said:

The more GRM-topical news is Mrs. says it's time to build a shop. 

Nothing to add.  

Mrs. have any single sisters looking to get married?

If you're planning on hiring out the building of the shop, one of my best friends is a project manager at a place local to you that builds those. I texted him and he confirmed they do work in your area. Yutzy Custom Structures is the name of his company. 785-448-2191. Josh is my friend's name. He's a real car guy, it was his garage where we built our Challenge V8 RX7 for the 2007 event, among other car projects over the years. They'll obviously consult and all that, too. 
 

Also, congratulations! Raising kids is hard work, but it's been really fulfilling, too. 

Congrats on the first kiddo and the shop! I am of two minds on both of these things happening at once. One is that your life is going to change in ways you can't predict. I find myself wishing that I had allowed some settling in time with the kids to figure out what life was like post offspring. But on the flip side, having my shop has given me an outlet to keep me sane that has helped a ton from time to time. SO.. GO FOR IT if you're able and willing. But don't let it be an anchor, in case you decide things need to change for the sake of your family.

Congrats on being a soon-to-be parent!

As for the shop, I'll just drop this here: 

How To Build a Backyard Shop

Sounds like a cool idea ,

How tall is this going to be ?  

and can you add an inside second level in the back for storage / office  ?

and pallet racks are your friends !

In reply to JohnInKansas :

Congrats on the impending arrival of a little "baby_in_Kansas"

Good to see you posting on here again.  Still have the TR4? 

Thanks all for the congrats, I'll pass them along to she who is doing most of the suffering. I feel like the group project member who shows up at the end and gets credit with basically no effort.

Mrs. has one eligible sister, not in a rush to get married, but those interested may apply within.

I'll give Yutzy a call and name drop, thank you. Still very much in the exploratory phase, and looking to have someone else do the majority of the heavy lifting early on. Current front runner is $51k for the building, delivery and on-site assembly.

I also hesitate to open this can of worms while trying to learn to navigate the early stages of parenthood, but Momma is most insistent.

Thinking I want a 14'-high garage door on one bay, with at least that much headroom inside. *Maybe* have room for some loft storage... we'll see. It's going to be an awfully big building already. Pallet racks for sure.

Yep, still got the TR4. Still got basically all the same, and a couple more. The stable doesn't get smaller the way I seem to do business.

Someone on here in the last couple of years posted a similar dimension shop, and it had a feature that I thought was pretty logical.

At the midpoint of one long wall, it had about a 10 foot wide overhead door with a lift positioned inside that door.

That way you can get a vehicle in and out to use the lift with ease and not have to have the lift blocking access to storage space at either end of the building. Of course you'll have to have a driveway to get to that side door and I don't know what your lot looks like, but I thought I'd throw this out here because it seemed like a pretty wise layout when I saw it.

californiamilleghia said:

Sounds like a cool idea ,

How tall is this going to be ?  

Most start at about a foot and grow to 5-6 feet. It takes years though. 

Congratulations on the child. Best thing except grandkids. 

Run conduit from your breaker box under the concrete to avoid having to go up and over the garage doors. I wish I had done that.

Driveway approach from north to south on the west side of the building, with gravel turnaround south of the lean-to.

There is never enough storage, but the intent is to put the other farm buildings to better use as storage and keep the shop as usable work space and storage for the projects that live in the short and long-term spots (wishful thinking, I know).

JohnInKansas said:

Driveway approach from north to south on the west side of the building, with gravel turnaround south of the lean-to.

There is never enough storage, but the intent is to put the other farm buildings to better use as storage and keep the shop as usable work space and storage for the projects that live in the short and long-term spots (wishful thinking, I know).

Great idea on the other buildings, as my 30x40 shop quickly ran out of room, so now building a 24x35 garage only for storage of cars and projects so I have more room for the projects under construction. I built mine with 16 ft ceilings, so I was able to build a loft on the back half, for office space and parts storage. Great shop and congratulations on the baby on the way!

This may be the automotive equivalent of "no really, I slipped in the shower and fell on it, that's how that got there".

Congratulations and congratulations! Both will be a lot of fun and take way more time and money than you expect!

A few comments on the kid:

- Get as much sleep as you can now. 

- Go ahead and realize now that you won't have as much time for cars as you will want to spend as much time with your kid as possible while they are young.

- I know everyone says this, but the grow up fast. Enjoy them while you can. Some studies have said that 75% of the time you will spend with your kid in your lifetime will be before they turn 12. Cars will wait, but you don't want to look back and wish you had spent more time with them while they were young.

A few comments on the shop:

- Is this your forever home? Is it big enough for you, your wife, your kid, any future kids, all the kids stuff? One kid will roughly double the amount of stuff in your house. A second kid will triple that. Do you have room for that, or plans for expansion? You don't want to put a bunch of money into this house then realize in a year that you need a bigger house. 

- I had a 40x60x16 red iron shop with 5" concrete and ~2500 SF driveway built in north Georgia 4-5 years ago and it was right at 100k all in. That was the contractor doing everything except electrical which I did myself. Just a reference point as you are planning. 

- If you end up having to cut costs to fit within budget, don't cut anything related to the slab or under slab utilities (plumbing rough-in, etch). Once it's in, it's a pain to change. Cut stuff you can do later if you need to (insulation, electrical, windows, bathroom finishing, etc).

- Go ahead and look at slab specs for the lift you are planning on. Most 8-10k 2-post lifts require 4.25-4.5" concrete. I went with a 5" slab so if there was some variation I would still have 4.5" minimum and could put a lift anywhere in the future if plans change.

- Consider column spacing as well. For a 40x60 you will probably have 20' bays. Your current door spacing will require additional columns to work and will add cost.

- In your excel file, I'm assuming 1 square is 1ft? If so, I would plan for more space for the lift bay. The walls and framing structure will take up 8-9" and you want to be able to walk between the post and wall without having to walk around the car and have space to pull an axle shaft without hitting the wall. I would plan 3-4' from the wall so you have space for the wall framing, walking/tool cart space, and space for the misc random crap that always ends up against the wall. I also think you have the doors and cars a little too close together to be able to work on them comfortably. For your use, I would recommend using one of the 20ft bays for the lift with a 12' wide door, the second 20ft bay with a 16ft door for the two project cars, the the third 20ft bay for the man door and machine shop. Maybe move the welding table or frame table in front of the project cars? The 10ft doors you are currently showing are also a little narrow if you need to back a car trailer or a dually in.

- Go ahead and plan an area for the kid's workbench. They will want to be out there with Daddy and will take over everything.

In reply to tomtomgt356 (Tommy) :

Sleep is already at a premium. Doing what I can.

Acknowledged, less time to play cars. Part of the reason my wife has been pushing for the shop is because I really haven't played with cars much in the last several years, partly because of priorities, partly because of no good place to work.

It is indeed our forever home. If anything, it's too big already, so no issue there. 

Slab is spec'ed per the lift manufacturer. Not looking to cut corners on the slab whatsoever, that's the hardest part to fix later. I will be doing a lot of the finishing later as I have time and money. 

Each square is 1' x 1', yeah. Scaled the 14' garage door to 12' wide. Good note on the lift clearance, I'll try to work that in as locations and specs are finalized.

Wife is counting on kiddo wanting to be in the shop so she can have a break. Will have appropriately sized shop stuff for Junior.

That is some next level nesting, most expecting mothers just need to have a nursery ready and the whole house painted.  What I hear is, we have a baby coming, you need to stay far away so you don't screw this up, why don't you build something to keep yourself busy.

Miss Harriet InKansas

Born last Wednesday morning, two days ahead of the scheduled c-section. She and Mama are doing great, came home Friday morning. 

Going with Yutzy Custom Structures for the building, as recommended above. P3PPY, if you know what Josh is doing for them these days, let me know (or let him know) and I'll look for him as we get started building.

Plan is to demo (burn down) the existing structure in the next two weeks with the local volunteer fire department using it for interior fire rescue training. The junior firefighters are coming tomorrow after high school gets out to practice in it with just the smoke machine. 

Close on the loan Friday.

Hopefully wrapping up the property line paperwork process this or maybe next week so we can secure the building permit.

Dirt work by mid-May.

Hopefully have a finished building by mid-June.

In reply to JohnInKansas :

Congrats on the arrival of Miss Harriet !

It's a life altering blessing.  Enjoy the ride.

10:10 a.m.

10:40 a.m.

Old building fell in on itself nicely, so really just need to scoop the ash/melted fiberglass/nails off the pad and into the trash. And then we're ready for dirt work. Hope to break ground in the next two weeks.