My workshop is a....

[dbhost]

Tom,

I have seen your shop tour on Woodworkingtalk.com and I am still awestruck... Your shop is a dream come true for sure!

Actually, honestly compared to the cramped conditions in my garage workshop, I would be tickled absolutely silly by LarryL's 16x20 (or is it 16x24) Tuff Shed based shop. I visited him up in Lorena and was pretty impressed by his layout up there...

[tseavoy]

I have heat in my shop too!

[bloomingtonmike]

Dedicated 24X36 now. I want another 60X80 or 100 one day.

[pelligrini]

Originally Posted by bloomingtonmike

Dedicated 24X36 now. I want another 60X80 or 100 one day.

Nice!

hehe, I dream of turning my 10x12 into a 15x20 someday...

[WLee]

The closest option to describe mine was

E.) Dedicated small outbuilding (12x16 or less, please explain).

But that doesn't properly describe it.

My shop is exactly 12 x 16, it IS a dedicated shop, and it IS an outbuilding... but it isn't "stand-alone" like a little shed.

Instead I built it as an "ell" or "wing" addition off the side of the existing 20'w x 24'd two car garage (I could wish the garage itself were just a few feet wider, deeper and taller, but the fact that it had 9'h walls at least allowed be to do the same in the shop. And by NOT doing a truss roof on the shop area -- instead a semi-cathedral ceiling with just the two "beams" at 30% of the chord -- I gained an extra few feet of clearance in the shop center, where it is most useful).

At just 12 x 16 the "shop" per se is on the smallish side (I could have afforded the cost of going larger, but the location of the garage vs the lot line meant I couldn't -- if I went wider than 16 I would have had to go less than 12 deep, and vice versa -- and I could only add on on THAT side of the garage, the other sides were restricted by the house, the septic tank, and the drain field).

But with the 60" wide shop/garage opening I can basically use the full two-car garage as shop space as well (for long ripping, panel cutting, and as "temporary" workspace for bigger projects) plus the workshop shares the garage heater in the winter. And of course the wide garage door makes unloading lumber easy (plus panel storage and cutting are normally done in the garage area anyway).

Photos below are various stages of construction. I've since added a ceiling fan, and a LOT more shelves -- short lumber storage on the 12' wall, and high long-lumber storage on the 16' long walls above the cabinets and on the opposite side above the shop/garage opening.

[dbhost]

Originally Posted by WLee

The closest option to describe mine was

E.) Dedicated small outbuilding (12x16 or less, please explain).

But that doesn't properly describe it.

My shop is exactly 12 x 16, it IS a dedicated shop, and it IS an outbuilding... but it isn't "stand-alone" like a little shed.

Instead I built it as an "ell" or "wing" addition off the side of the existing 20'w x 24'd two car garage (I could wish the garage itself were just a few feet wider, deeper and taller, but the fact that it had 9'h walls at least allowed be to do the same in the shop. And by NOT doing a truss roof on the shop area -- instead a semi-cathedral ceiling with just the two "beams" at 30% of the chord -- I gained an extra few feet of clearance in the shop center, where it is most useful).

At just 12 x 16 the "shop" per se is on the smallish side (I could have afforded the cost of going larger, but the location of the garage vs the lot line meant I couldn't -- if I went wider than 16 I would have had to go less than 12 deep, and vice versa -- and I could only add on on THAT side of the garage, the other sides were restricted by the house, the septic tank, and the drain field).

But with the 60" wide shop/garage opening I can basically use the full two-car garage as shop space as well (for long ripping, panel cutting, and as "temporary" workspace for bigger projects) plus the workshop shares the garage heater in the winter. And of course the wide garage door makes unloading lumber easy (plus panel storage and cutting are normally done in the garage area anyway).

Photos below are various stages of construction. I've since added a ceiling fan, and a LOT more shelves -- short lumber storage on the 12' wall, and high long-lumber storage on the 16' long walls above the cabinets and on the opposite side above the shop/garage opening.

With that 9' wall and high ceiling, 12x16 looks at least from your pics to be absolutely cavernous! Nice space!

[dbhost]

This thread just keeps popping up, nearly on a daily basis. Not sure why but it is kind of cool to see...

The folks here have a lot of really nice shops, with a bunch of great ideas for shop fixtures, layouts, and organization, not to mention equipment... I really hope folks found this thread useful and informative...

[docrowan]

Not sure, but I think it's from people who find the thread and take the poll. I think even if they don't post it still moves the thread date up.

[PhilofKayDu]

I voted shared 2 garage also. But mine is a dedicated 10' x 23' area [and spilling over] of a 3 stahl garage. Back in 2006 before the economy took a nose dive; I designed and helped build my 24' D x 32' W detached garage. I originally had enough space for my tools ;plus some. It seams funny that for years I have been looking for certain tools. Now I have a dedicated wood shop; and I need more space for the tools I have recently acquired. Alot of nice size shops out there! Good question dbhost! Phil N.

[sparkeyjames]

I have a 20x20 foot garage that is intended to be a workshop. However the remodeling work I was doing on my house came to a screeching halt due to lack of available funding. I also had some digestive system problems that ate some of the available funds and a lot of my time in being sick as a dog. So some of the tools have not made it out of the house and into the garage yet. They are piled and stored neatly in 1/3 of the large 10x20 living room and the 10x10 dining room. The inside of the garage is piled up with odd possibly recyclable refuse from the remodeling, furniture, misc personal possessions and yard work machinery and tools. One good weekend next spring I am going to rearrange everything and set things up.