I am in the process of designing a new woodshop in a slope. the lower portion will be for storing my farm equipment. the foot print of the shop will be 30 ft wide by 40 ft long.
the lower level will be concrete wall in three sides with one side open bay. the upper level is where i plan to have my woodshop. the question i have deals with the considerations i must keep in mind so i will be able to support cabinet table saw, shaper, floor drill, band saw, planer jointer, etc. plus lumber. I may even would like to use it to work on my old motorbike and my little garden tractor. also some in the future, i plan to build a small apartment on top of the woodshop
your ideas will be welcome.
thanks
Rico
Replies
qori
What area of the country?
Is this shop for daily use?
I assume you're going to at least have the apt. structure roughed in?
How do you plan, or what are your ideas for heat and/or cooling?
Are you asking about floor framing, or the actual floor surface?
woodshop floor
Boss Hog;
sorry i did not include the minor detail :)
I am talking about the floor framing. i plan to use plywood (3/4") unless you have other suggestions.
thanks
Subflooring
I wouldn't use 3/4" plywood. It usually is somewhat warped and it's a bit** to get the tongue and grove to line up. Many builders use AdvanTech 3/4" subflooring 16" on center. It has alot of advantages over plywood. First off it's usually cheaper than plywood. It's a wood fiber material that's made with waterproof glue so it's straight and true, never warped. The waterproof glue means it can stand up to a fair amount of rain exposure and not warp or buckle giving you some time getting your roof on. It's extremely strong and should meet most building codes. The tongue and groves have a tapered desigh making it very easy to bang the sheets together.
I would do the glue and screw method using PL subfloor adhesive. When your done, you'll have an extremely strong structure !
O.K., so we're talking about framing.
If you want clear span framing, I think wood webbed floor trusses are the best option. The downside is that they'll be 22" to 24" deep. They'll be expensive. But it's awfully nice not to have any posts in your garage/storage area.
If you go to a truss manufacturer and tell them what you have in mind they can design somethign for you. Tell them it's a shop, and tell them what live loading you want. Offhand I'd think 60 PSF would be plenty.
If you want a center beam with 2x floor joists, you'll neeed to find span charts for whatever lumber is available in your area. They're available online. Again, I'd suggest a 60 PSF live load. You can come up with the size and spacing based on that.
You might want to consider I-joists instead of 2x lumber. You'll have to find a place that can get them or stocks them. They may have span charts or software there. If not they'll know who to call to specify the type of I-joist and spacing.
Any place that sells I-joists will also be able to get an LVL beam designed for you. If you need sealed drawings for them in your area they should know how to get those too.
Flooring for woodshop
the woodshop will be located in VA. My concern deals with the structure i need to use to support the equipment mentioned before based on the size and weight. do i need 2x8 or 2x10 or 2x12. as for the floor itself, it will be plywood.
the walls to the shop will be 2x6 and i will rough in the apartment on top to finish it later
thanks
qori, respectfully..................
You need an engineer.
or someone that can figure the calculations according to the weight of your equipment, the potential location of the equipment, the span and direction you will allow the joists to have according to your lower level layout and then while you're at it, the layout, loads etc of your upper floor, roof, windows doors................
When you build, all these things interact to either hold it up or let it fall down.
In other words, you need code approved plans figured out which will then tell you the size, length and position of ALL the framing.
Things to think of:
How much clear space do you NEED in the lower level, this holds up the shop floor and all that equipment.
Interior stairs? Where? Lower to shop? shop to apt.?
Size of doors and their position-garage door(s)? man doors? Windows and their position?
Then you've got the separations between a garage/shop/living area. There are firecodes and means of egress to think of.
It isn't rocket science, but there's alot that goes into a building before the first nail is driven.
Best of luck.
Like Callvin Said
You need to get this engineered.
You can save money on the fees if you do some leg work first.
Draw up the ideal shop, so they know what you want to put where. Look up the weights and footprints of the machines. If you can do at least a rough layout and floor plan of the final building, so the engineer knows what you want.
Decide how much you are willing to have the supports for the shop intrude into the lower level. A single run of posts down the center? Two rows of posts at ten feet on center? A load bearing wall down the middle with a couple of passage doors?
The more you think this through, define the problem, and do the leg work, the less the engineer has to do, and charge you for.
Flooring for woodshop
to all who have responded to the question, THANKS!!!
your ideas and concerns confirm the challenge i had while doing the research. I will continue developing the design in general but will have to find an engineer to give me the final advice on the structure.
thanks again to all
Rico
Why don't you spend some time figuring out what equipement and supplies you might have (figure worst-case), and then search out the specs to see what sort of total weight and what weight concentrations you will be dealing with. Will take a lot of guess-work out of sizing the floor framing.