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Building a shop for the boat

Looks like my house is pretty well sold, The next step is to buy a house with a big enough lot to build a shop for the beak boat and have enough room beside it to install a lift (eventually) for cars.
For all that have done it: any pointers on types of construction, roof styles, hieghts? (I want to be able to pull the engines), door types etc, the boat is 35ft long including the trailer, and is 7ft high at the sunpad. I was thinking about 40ft. with min 10ft cielings. Any things you would do different on yours if you had to do it over? Pictures are good....thankx doug :) :cool: (ps- this has been my winter boat project!)

Well what I did was tear down my 24' x 30' with 7' ceiling garage and added 26' x 24' to the back and built new with 11' 6" ceilings.
One 18' x door in the front and one 8' x 8' door in the back with a service door on the side. I went with stick built construction because that is something that I did myself.I have a 9"x 12" roof pitch to allow for room to walk in the attic. 12' x 56' floored storage area.I installed a 8" x 12" x 24 I beam mounted on two post's and tied into the building for strength it is recessed into the ceiling so that the bottom of the beam is near level with the ceiling. I wish that I had gone 2' higher on the ceiling.I have stairs leading up to the attic and under that is my air compressor, I enclosed it to quiet it down.Air is piped throughout the shop. I also installed a 5 ton central AC. With a furnace in the attic.
I have drywalled and painted but have not yet epoxy coated the floor.Electrical power is 200 amp service for my Welder And equipment.I don't have any Pictures right now but if I did I would not post the because the place is a Mess.

Rob

go higher,once you raise the hatch it's probally 11-12 feet. if you're pulling moters 7 feet plus hoist and moter probally 11-12 feet. i gonna buid one soon and do min 15 feet high. i don't know about building codes in your area check before you buy.good luck!!!

twinn29
Have you given any thought to a drive-in industrial condo? If you want to live in the city, it's a good option. Depending upon the business you're in it can work out nicely.

All I can tell you for sure is.... They are NEVER big enough !!!!
Everybody I know got done & said...Shoulda gone bigger !!!

I have 2 30x50 ft blds......Shoulda gone bigger !!!:D

My 40 x 72 with 12' walls is going up in the next 8 weeks. 12' walls so I can stand in/on the boat without hitting my head. Half (40x36) will be enclosed, the other just covered.

Construction is pole barn, but with overhangs and cupulas (sp?). Doors on each side so I can drive straight through.

No girls or their stuff allowed on the shop side. Just make sure you have room for the beer fridge and a couch.

mine is a 60' x 60' w/ 16' ceiling height. one 12' OH door, small restroom, 200amp service.

If you want to pull the engine, you'll want at least 15' clear. 2' more wouldn't hurt. Depending on the construction type, it might not cost any more to go to 16'. If you want to have an overhead crane, you need to decide what type. Bridge cranes are really nice, but they are expensive. If you do want a bridge crane, then you should look at steel frame building. You'll probably end up with a jib crane. These cranes are free standing, but take a monsterous footing. That footing could interfere with the buildings footings and foundation. That's why you need to at least have a plan. It really isn't practical to hang the crane from a truss. Yes, the truss can be engineered to take the load, but trusses are never in perfect alignment. A crane rail would need to be hung below the truss with adjustment rods. As the seasons change, the trusses will move around throw the alignment out of wack. If you want to custom build a hydraulic engine lift, then you'll want the floor to be dead flat with no expansion or control joints. This slab will need to be extra thick with additional reinforcing.

Depending on the size of your shop, it may be practical to build an attic. It'll cost more, but the square footage gain would be worth it. Most attics are designed for a 30psf load. If you really want to load it up, you should raise that number. If you have the coin, 100psf would be the ultimate. You can now store those spare 900sc's up there. It's really not practical to build a basement. I know of people that have done it using precast plank-but the cost is enormous.

If you want to use this as a shop, 200 amps would be the minimum. Unless you are really serious, single phase power will do you good. You need to look at your equipment and add up the amperages. Welders, iron workers, compressors all are power pigs. The problem is with your service, if you have two 200amp services (one for the house and one for the garage), you'll have two meters and two bills. Some utilities will roll the two meters into one bill. I would try to do this on one 400a service. A 400a service will also let you feed large equipment with a disconnect switch thus saving the panel. It's an expensive service, but you'll only have one meter. You can even wire the house up as a sub panel. This will let you disconnect the main and feed the house with a generator located at the shop without needing a transfer switch.

I see that you are up north. I presume then that you'll be heating the garage. If so, you'll want to insulate the foundation and maybe the slab. 2" of rigid insulation is fine. If nothing else, put a layer of 6mil plastic under the slab. Gas fired unit heaters work really nice in a shop. The problem is that the heat all ends up in the trusses. If you go with a unit heater, then I'd add a drywall ceiling and 3/4" CDX plywood walls with insulation and a vapor barrier. Radiant heaters also work well in a shop. The problem is that they have a window of heat and if you are out of that window you'll be cold. Also, if the heater is pointed directly at the boat, the finish could be damaged over time. If you only want to heat the garage when you are occupying it, that's fine. I would add some electric base board to a small room where you keep the items that can't freeze. A low temperature alarm would be prudent. Some people with alot of money have added radiant in floor heat. This is the ultimate system. The problem is that if takes a long time to bring the space up to temp, so it will always need to be on. Also, you won't be able bolt any equipment down without running the chance of damaging a tube.

Check the load requirements of the car lift. The area where the lift is going to be placed might need some additional reinforcement. If you have the coin, I'd just do the whole floor with a 6" slab and 6x6 10/10 wwm for reinforcement. Then you won't have any issues.

If you have a collection paints and flammable items, it would be wise to store them in a steel fire cabinet. Be sure to have several fire extinguishers. I have two 10lb ones. One is a dry chemical ABC and the other is a Co2. The Co2 is nice because there is no mess to clean up. If you can't put it out with a 10lb, then you should start running-or take a course in how to use a extinguisher. If you have a alarm system, I'd add the shop to it. Motion and heat detectors will be adequate. Don't use a smoke detector because of the chance for false alarms. If you decide to add a water heater, but sure to have it mounted 2' above the floor. Flammable fumes collect on the floor and a open pilot from a water heater will ignite them. The same would be true for the base board heaters. Don't use them around flammable items.

I you add a water heater, I'd go with a electric instant hot unit. These are small single point of use heaters that are perfect for a shop. I'd also add a spigot where you can mix hot and cold water for washing the cars off during winter. Of course a water supply will require the shop to be heated during winter. It will also dictate that a floor drain be added. Be sure to get one that has a built in clean out for all the stones that will get washed down. You don't want grit to be clogging a pipe. Naturally a utility sink is a handy thing to also have.

You gotta go 14' high ceilings. Trust me I know. Our OSO member JpClear, has 12' ceilings with a bridge crane. He has pulled many engines, although on smaller boats. You stick a high freeboard Cig type boat and 12' wouldn't do it.
His bridge crane is hung from the wooden 2x4 trusses on 2' centers. It works well. He engineered the whole thing himself.
Maybe I can get him to post some pics.
They (shops, barns, work centers) are never big enough. Maximize the footprint and you will be much happier.

I had 11'8" clearence in my shop and when I pulled the engine I had to back the boat up, drop the hatch, then pull the boat forward. I had about 2" of clearence over the pad. I would say if you can go with at leaste 13 feet. Man I was just thinking about this the other day. :D:D

Jon

Here is the only problem I see, you will need at least 14 feet tall for a car lift, you will want it to be 40 feet long or bigger unless you never plan on getting a bigger boat, and 12 feet wide. That is as small as I think you could go for what you want to do. I am building a shop in the next year or so 100x60x25 so I can put all my toy's in and back a 50 boat with the truck hooked up.I dont have a 50 yet but they don't make them much bigger that I would want. Now here is the problem, I have A1 zoning so I can put up pretty much any size garage I want, but depending where you are and zoning you might not be able to build one that big. A lot of the places I was looking at for houses were only letting you have a garage that was 75% of the house size. So make sure you check that before you buy, it would suck to have to tell the wife you have to sell the house a week after you moved in.

If you can get lucky like I did and get a house with a wooded lot next to it for the garage so you can kind of hide it, those steel buildings are nice and you can get them for a good price for the size you get. About a 1/4 of what it would be if you build it with wood. And make sure you get 6-8 inch slab. I can't remember what the law says for a lift I think it's 6, but when I had the concrete guy out to price my driveway he said go with 8 if you going to be putting a 20k lbs. boat on it. so it wont crack.

Hear are a couple of pictures of mine. 30 X40 with 12.5' Ceilings.