Started By
Message

re: What do you wish you would have built into your shop?

Posted on 4/20/26 at 5:00 pm to
Posted by dstone12
Texan
Member since Jan 2007
40384 posts
Posted on 4/20/26 at 5:00 pm to
quote:

A word of caution OR advice. Build whatever size electrical service you think you may need BUT call it storage space on permit application and install one GFCI outlet and one switched light fixture. When you get an occupancy permit and the inspector is finished load that bastard down with lights and outlets and all manner of shite. If you wire it like you want it ahead of time the inspector is liable to come up with all manner of shite that ain't necessary. I have done this with shops that had 800 amp services in them....and never had an inspector ask why. They know why.


I second this. Also hide the water input when inspector comes by. Park a car over it.
Posted by AlxTgr
Kyre Banorg
Member since Oct 2003
87391 posts
Posted on 4/20/26 at 5:37 pm to
My shop is my separate garage. I am continually pissed about not having water.
Posted by Wraytex
San Antonio - Gonzales
Member since Jun 2020
4019 posts
Posted on 4/20/26 at 5:49 pm to
An I beam run strategically across a section of the shop with a trolley for winch/chain falls

Air piped to multiple locations with drip legs

220 50 amp plugs by the overhead doors

a 2 ton mini split locate where it's easy to get to access the screen filter

large roll around work tables with locking casters make sure they are right height so they can serve as outfeed tables for your woodworking projects.

get an echo show 8 3rd gen, great for streaming music and you can ask it any mathematical or fractional computation and you'll never need the iphone carpentry app





Posted by upgrade
Member since Jul 2011
15075 posts
Posted on 4/20/26 at 6:21 pm to
About twice the size
Posted by Art_Vandelay
Member since Nov 2019
229 posts
Posted on 4/20/26 at 9:31 pm to
Commercial ice machine & beer fridge
Posted by TxWadingFool
Middle Coast
Member since Sep 2014
5641 posts
Posted on 4/20/26 at 10:36 pm to
The place we bought a couple years back had a nice 30x40 shop with a two post lift. I'll never have a shop without one moving forward. I've expanded it out to 30x90 now, put in an I beam down the middle for an over head crane. Still have things I want to do but restoring my Road Runner has taken up much of my time, the lift is invaluable for working on it.
Posted by Koolazzkat
Behind the Tupelo gum tree
Member since May 2021
3637 posts
Posted on 4/21/26 at 5:33 am to
Definitely.
Posted by ElDawgHawg
L.A. (lower Arkansas)
Member since Nov 2012
3770 posts
Posted on 4/21/26 at 7:19 am to
quote:

Building a new 40x60 insulated shop with an additional 15x60 drop shed off the side. If you could do it again what do you wish you would have built into your shop?


Still wishing I had one.... My better half doesn't seem to think it's a priority. Wasn't for me until my youngest turned 16 and now my Bass Cat is out in the yard instead of warm and cozy in the garage.
So now I need one bad.

I'd like to have a 30-36 with an overhang on each side and a loft.
I'd use one overhang for storage and the other for an outdoor cooking/entertainment area.
I will also probably slope the slab and put water and drains in it so I can clean boat/vehicles inside and also so I can pull the boat plug and drain livewells without worrying about water damage.

Outside of that, I'd just be tickled to have a shop.
Posted by Cuz413
Member since Nov 2007
11221 posts
Posted on 4/21/26 at 7:31 am to
A full 200A subpanel instead of a 20 ckt 100A panel



Let me just say what I've done that has worked out for me over the years

1. Shower/ toilet - indispensable for when you're out in the yard or shop and need to go, or clean up. But most handy when you have kids and there aren't near about enough bathrooms in the house.

2. Commercial SS 3 compartment sink.

3. Washer and Dryer hook ups.

4. Hangout room for the kids and me (now home office). Exercise room

5. Outlets everywhere. Including using outlets for my overhead lights. This makes it easy when a light goes out to unplug and plug in the new one
Posted by Murtown
OT Ballerville
Member since Sep 2014
1784 posts
Posted on 4/21/26 at 8:02 am to
quote:

A word of caution OR advice. Build whatever size electrical service you think you may need BUT call it storage space on permit application and install one GFCI outlet and one switched light fixture. When you get an occupancy permit and the inspector is finished load that bastard down with lights and outlets and all manner of shite. If you wire it like you want it ahead of time the inspector is liable to come up with all manner of shite that ain't necessary. I have done this with shops that had 800 amp services in them....and never had an inspector ask why. They know why.


Amite county, Mississippi. Zero permits and zero inspections required.
Posted by MrLSU
Yellowstone, Val d'isere
Member since Jan 2004
29741 posts
Posted on 4/21/26 at 8:16 am to
A bar, lounge, and pickleball court.
Posted by highcotton2
Alabama
Member since Feb 2010
10521 posts
Posted on 4/21/26 at 7:05 pm to
Regret not putting a bi-fold door on both ends. Have a 30’x18’ bi-fold door on porch end but put a 25’x18’ insulated garage type door on the back. Damn thing is nothing but trouble because it is so heavy. Bi-fold door has had zero problems.
Posted by Sus-Scrofa
Member since Feb 2013
11061 posts
Posted on 4/21/26 at 7:06 pm to
Bigger air compressor. No one has ever said “I wish I had bought a smaller air compressor for my shop”
Posted by AwgustaDawg
CSRA
Member since Jan 2023
14043 posts
Posted on 4/22/26 at 6:52 am to
Most people will tell you to double the size, as if that is something you forgot to do LOL. I have had a shop at 5 different houses in the last 35 years. One was 4000 SQ feet with another 800 SQ feet of office and bathroom space. This was the office and shop that served as my business shop and I had a couple of employees there most days and more often than not on Saturdays. It was also my "hobby" shop. It was pretty close to perfect for my needs at the time. I had one in New Mexico that was a commercial building, in my backyard, and it was 8000 sq feet with 2 18X18 roll up doors, a 1500 square foot mezzanine which I converted to an ADU and office and it had a 800 amp, 3 phase, 277/480 volt service. The entire building was climate controlled. This was my "hobby" shop. It was WAAAAAYYYYYYYY too big for what I used it for. At the time I had a pretty basic commercial custom cabinet shop and associated tools and equipment. That space would have been ideal had I been running a custom cabinet shop commercially with several employees. I was not. I was using it to store 2 boats, an RV, and a shite load of tools and equipment. It was still cavernous....I tried everything I could do to fill it up with more tools and machines and equipment....and made a game effort at it....but the work flow, for what I did in it, was severely impacted by the sheer scale of everything in it. We bought that house because of that shop but it was, for an individual, simply too big. I pushed carts from one end to the other constantly. I have found that somewhere in the neighborhood of 1000 square feet, for a shop only, is ideal for what I do in a shop. Not storage but just my shop. I am currently in 484 sq feet....22X22. That is too small BUT it is more efficient than tha 8000 sq foot monster was. Bigger is not always better...it can lead to massive inefficiencies in work flow and, if you're a junkie, a massive amount of tools, machines and equipment you probably do not need.
Posted by WillFerrellisking
Member since Jun 2019
2873 posts
Posted on 4/22/26 at 8:51 am to
I put a drain in my shop floor where I park my boat.
Posted by El Segundo Guy
1-866-DHS-2-ICE
Member since Aug 2014
11648 posts
Posted on 4/22/26 at 9:15 am to
I have 3 shop buildings, all for different purposes.

Some interesting ideas, but I've never needed or wanted a bathroom in any of my shops. If I need to piss, I walk outside and piss. But I live in the middle of the country.
first pageprev pagePage 2 of 2Next pagelast page
refresh

Back to top
logoFollow TigerDroppings for LSU Football News
Follow us on X, Facebook and Instagram to get the latest updates on LSU Football and Recruiting.

FacebookXInstagram