Thread: Thoughts on the layout for my new shop???

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I’m getting closer to actually putting up my new shop. This weekend I laid it out on the ground with stakes and tape and actually put cars in to see how t would work out.

As it stands right now, it will be 60’ wide by 50’ deep with 12’ eaves. There will be 3 angled bays on each side so that no car is blocked in by another. The 2 10’ doors on the south and east walls will primarily for cross ventilation rather than bringing cars in and out.

The office will be elevated 5’ and beneath it will be used for storage of engine stands cherry picker etc.

I plan on pouring a small pad on the outside for an enclosure for the compressor.

On paper and on the ground it all seems to work out, anybody see anything major I’m overlooking?

The picture didn't seem to load the first time.

replace the 2 post lift with another 4 post.. cars can be parked underneath them, so if you had to, you could do that and have 4 cars in the lift bays

Looks good. What do you plan to do here? Repairs cars..build them? store cars? What about work benches? area for cleaning or prepping parts? What about floor coating? I used www.epoxy-coat.com Works really well,did it myself and has held up for two 1/2 years.

It will be a working garage for building and maintaining cars. From experience 4 post hoists work good for some things and 2 posts are better for others.

The solvent is up in the air….possibly in the area marked in green..

As far as floor coating at this point there is no plan for it.

I park under my two post lift all the time... I would have both as you planned at first. My place is 12 feet too but I wish I'd gone just a little bit higher to facilitate some second level stuff.

Don't forget the bed, fridge and TV.....for when Momma kicks you out for working too much! :-)~

"....Don't forget the bed, fridge and TV.....for when Momma kicks you out for working too much!......."


I think that would be called the office

For the restroom I'm also planning on laying in the plumbing for a corner shower while I'm at it.

My property is zoned GB (General Business) so technically it could be opened up as a commercial shop…….although there are no plans to do that at this point.

The angled spaces pictured are a terribly inefficient use of space. For instance, for the 60' wide building, you should be able to park 6 cars (north-south orientation) across the South end. Another row of 6 above them would net at least 12 cars (allowing 10 wide spots for each).

Consider putting two 10' doors on the south end (where the two benches are now shown). You could have six cars across that end and lots of room North of them for shop tools.

I can see the need for an angled spaces. if they were straight across, more cars could be fit, but it would be harder to get the cars in the rear of the shop out, as well as those in the middle

Maybe some of those dollies that sit under the tires? They allow the car to be rolled in any direction.

Lets see now....why six spaces? The Plymouth in one...the truck in another....that leaves space for four more.....

1-'68 Hemi Dart or Cuda,
2-Charger Daytona or Superbird,
3-440 6-pack Road Runner or Super Bee
4-and maybe a Chrysler 300...about '55-'58!

I'd rather see less car space & a dedicated area for fabrication- welding-polishing-grinding-etc, away from cars.

It a lot more about work space than storage (although storage is a part of it). Matt hit it on the head, angled spaces allow for putting cars in and out without having them blocked in. The spaces are wide enough to allow car doors to be opened without hitting the vehicle beside it.

On things like an engine swap the car would be backed into a space and the center aisle (15’-20’ wide) will give enough room to move the cherry picker around. As I think about it ideally I would back the car into the bay with the 2 post so I could raise it to disconnect and reconnect the under the car items.

I guess I should mention that my current 20 X 50 shop will still remain. It’s partitioned off into a 16’ X 20’ room and a 20’ X 34’ work area a lot of you watched the 57 Plymouth and 76 Dodge get built in there). Current plans will be for that shop to become a body work/paint area.

“……. Lets see now....why six spaces? The Plymouth in one...the truck in another....that leaves space for four more.....”

Jay although a garage full of nice done cars does have a certain appeal it’s just not me. As it stands right now once the walls and roof are up 4 spots are taken up:

37 Dodge: Build the firewall/floor, box the frame, dissemble for body and paint.
64 Ford: Brakes, suspension, exhaust,
68 El Camino: minor mechanical and cosmetic restoration
87 D-50 Small block swap

“….I'd rather see less car space & a dedicated area for fabrication- welding-polishing-grinding-etc, away from cars……”

I hear you Steve. While all the bays are going to be pretty much general purpose mechanical, I’m setting it up so the welders, drill press, hydraulic press, grinder etc are pretty much in one area (although it will be wired to the welders can be moved to the lifts to do under car welding). The bay next to it will be left empty when I’m actually doing things like boxing the frame on the 37.

On the other side the bench on the east wall will be set up with my AC/carb and electrical stuff. That’s not saying that’s the only place it will be done at or that’s the sole purpose of the slot, just where it will be most convenient to do it.

Again I really appreciate the input as it helps me firm some of this stuff up and think about stuff I might overlook.

We've been wrestling with the same problem......10 pounds of something in a 5 pound bag. We are running out of room. When we get some projects out of the way we want to make some changes. I know we have a problem, but am not quite sure of how to solve it.

One thing that would be great to have is one partitioned off area for fabrication. Right now the grinding and other dirt we create gets over every inch of the shop. Even some clear plastic floor to ceiling tarps would be helpful in containing the mess. Ideally, it would be great to have one room for fabrication, one for painting, one for doing engines, and one for assembly, but that is impractical cost-wise.

I agree that the angled spots take up more room than straight in parking, but with only 60 feet to work with you are going to be limited on turning space. I like your idea of the elevated office area though.

Don