Workshop recommendations?

Given you have proper money, I'd at least cost up having it built properly out of bricks / blocks. Mind you 25x20ft is a fair size but it might at least be worth seeing how big you can afford out of bricks at any rate. Especially if you're doing a proper floor anyway.

- Hywel

Agreed,

Some years ago I rebuilt my garage with concrete(?) building blocks - size was 16 x 10 feet and it cost me about £600. Admittedly it was a DIY job and the concrete base was already there. Given inflation, I would reckon you could manage to do similar at the size you want for between three and four thousand and have some money left over for the interior "bits and bobs".

Then again, I could be living in "cloud cuckoo land".

Malcolm

>

If it helps, I have today been phoning around for prices on concrete blocks for my new workshop. Standard dense blocks (7N/mm^2) are £7.00 plus vat per sq metre (ie 10 blocks) including delivery. BothTravis Perkins and Jewsons offered this price.

Bob

Cost me about =A32200 to get it to the stage without windows and doors .about 10 years ago.........that was doing most of the work myself. see here :-

total cost was less than =A34500. all the best.....mark

all the best.mark

In message , david writes

[snip]

If you are going for wood then make sure that you specify a vapour proof barrier internal lining (tar paper or similar). You might even consider double glass. Also, if your main windows are south or west facing, consider an overhanging roof to reduce solar gain - plus a bonus of a little extra storage space. . I got my wooden workshop from a specialist in stables, loose-boxes and 'tack-sheds'. Such people tend to be much more co-operative when it comes to accommodating what you specifically want. Also they use heavier scantlings for construction (horses kick!). I was lucky, some warped and damaged but still perfectly usable 50mm foam insulation slabs were thrown in at a knock down price.

======== David, think HEIGHT. Whatever ground area you choose, when you run out of floor area (as one does-) if you have a bit of height, you can always stow some lighter/bulkier stuff up there. Also extra height is often nesessary when setting up lifting devices. Even a couple of extra courses or brick (or blocks) would not add all that much to the cost, but it does to the benefit gained.

Been there, wish I'd gone that extra bit higher.

JW² ========

Reducing solar gain??? In England??? That;s funny!

In the USA, the larger DIY stores offer prefab outbuilding kits for very reasonable prices. I know that the UK doesn't have stores to match these but you could check with B&Q or Wickes to see if they have anything like that.

In article , david writes

Depending on what you want to do in there, you might want to consider a partition to sub-divide it into a 'clean' end and a 'dirty' end. That way you can keep grinder dust, sawdust, nasty fumes etc. out of the area where you do the precision stuff. You could also line the 'dirty end' with something a bit more fireproof (and ventilate it), so you could do the occasional indoor brazing or heat-treatment without having to worry too much about the fact that you're in a wooden building.

And put in plenty of electrical sockets - you can never have too many...

Thansk all.

Noted.

We stapled white bed sheets across the roof beams in our timber building, it helps reduce the heat coming in and brightens the room. The rest of our studio is bare treated timber, and YES, in summer it gets hot. South Yorkshire... Note, we also have a wood burner in there too as in winter it gets bloody cold...

Joules

I lined my wooden workshop with Rockwool what a difference it must be 20 degrees cooler in the summer and a small fan heater is to much in the winter

Would second the comment about the height. Remember that its not only the height of the milling machine but add extra for the lifting device. It may pay to install an RSG as a fixed beam unless you intend to use an engine hoist to assemble any equipment. I lined my workshop (old garage) with old scrap polystyrene foam under the flat roof.

...and there I was, getting quite excited about building myself a new

12 x 7 workshop and you come up with a 20x25 affair :(

Chris

Have you thought about SIPs? I don't know what the price is but you ca

get SIPs (Structural Insulation Panels) with cement bonded OSB on th outside and ordinary OSB on the inside and 100 mm of foam in th middle.

Most suppliers of SIPS seem quite ready to supply them already cut t shape (Winows, roofline, doors) and with the hard points for joinin them together already installed.

At 150mm thick they are even strong enough to support reasonabl lifting gear.

Robi

-- rss

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Mark, just out of interest, did you build this to a published or commercial design, or did you DIY (design it yourself) ?

I had an architect draw the plans up for me. It's all my design though , with corrections. by the architect.

I had no idea of how deep the foundations should be .intervals of buttreces.....he worked all that out and Incorporated it into the plans.

He did it all as a foreigner, he was working for the council at the time,so was well aware of all the rules and regs. Think he charged me round about =A3100 to do the plans and the running about with planning permission ..and forms etc

The building is the maximum height, square or cubic footage , I could have at the time.......for the "then" planning permission rules....this building did not come into the building regulation rules. it was still inspected about 6 times as it was getting built. inspections as far as i can remember were.

1=2E..inspecting the plot. 2=2E..inspecting the trenches for the foundations. 3=2E.inspecting the stage before the concrete pour. 4=2Einspecting stage with all walls built. 5=2E inspecting the roof framing ...truss work.....and carrier girders. 6=2E final inspection all the best..mark