Building rooms

[reprosser]

I have my shop walls up and floor is poured (40x70 pole building with 14ft ceiling). The next step to to put up interior walls for finishing room and bathroom.

The bathroom walls should not be too tough - just 2x4 walls, 16" oc, 8ft ceiling. I plan to put the water heater on top of the bathroom, so I need a floor on top.

The finishing room will be more of a challenge. Size is 20x20 ft, so I have a big span to cover. I plan to have 9ft ceiling, and use overhead as main storage area. Will need to built like a second floor? Not sure if I can use 2x12s to span the distance and carry the load. 2x4 walls, or 2x6 needed?

Looking for advise, and maybe links to other building help/forum sites for information on best approach to building these rooms.

 

[Ray Martin]

Rick,

That is a big space / wide span. While 2 X 12 is a fairly hefty beam... trusses might be another way to consider. Will this building have a flat or a pitched roof? I'd suggest you have a structural engineer take a look at the plans. If you submitted plans for a permit, you should be able to get some guidance from those folks.

 

[Gotcha6]

14' ceiling on the trusses & a 9' ceiling on the finishing room will leave you only 4' of clearance once you install a minimum of a 2 x 12 floor system. What do you plan to store there? If only light weight items, the 2 x 12s should do ok. Just use #1 syp and 'x' bridge it 2-3 times. 2 x 4 wall will support it but be sure you use purlins and 2-2x10 minimum headers over any doors over 3' in the load bearing wall.
​

 

[reprosser]

Pitched roof with exposed trusses for now.

So, I will have room between trusses in addition to the 4 ft of clearance to store stuff. Storage will be most anything that needs to be out of the way - similar to attic storage. I will have racks for lumber, so no plans to store lumber above the finishing room.

 

[Gotcha6]

I'm assuming that in the finishing room you'll have proper exhaust/filtration equipment. Will it be ducted through the ceiling, or to the outside? Have you allowed for fire protection of the ceiling and/or lights?
I see your finisher brought the concrete saw. Control joints are important. Get some Polyurethane caulk & seal them back up as soon as they are cut. It'll keep trash & debris from opening up the joints. The poly caulk will elongate 3-400%.
Just being mother henly here. It's what I do for a living.
Good looking building.:thumbs_up:thumbs_up
Show us some progress pics, too.

 

[James Davis]

How thick is the concrete floor? Did you make provision for a footer under the walls that you plan to use to hold up the storage area? (Thicken the slab or throw some re-bar in it?) Could you get by with a 16' X 20' or longer room to be able to use 16' instead of 20' lumber? ( The difference in cost between the two can be staggering)

Definitely use cross bracing, it will ad tons of stiffness to the floor. And follow all of Dennis' recommendations above.

Looks like a great space.

James

 

[DaveD]

Here you go:
http://www.southernpine.com/spantables.shtml

 

[reprosser]

The finishing room will be on the other end, and has a window so I can incorporate venting.

I plan to caulk the control joints.

"Just being mother henly here. It's what I do for a living. " - Please continue, I need all the help I can get!

4" floor with extra depth for the walls.

Will look at 16 ft option - compare costs. The 20x20 is flexible.

Will post more pictures.

 

[bwat]

40 x 70!!! Holy !@#$%^&*() Batman, WOW! :icon_thum Is this all going to be designed for woodworking use? I can't comprehend having that much room.

 

[Mt. Gomer]

40 x 70!!! Holy !@#$%^&*() Batman, WOW! :icon_thum Is this all going to be designed for woodworking use? I can't comprehend having that much room.

+1. I read that and my brain froze.... thanks for putting that into words for me.

Travis

 

[reprosser]

40 x 70!!! Holy !@#$%^&*() Batman, WOW! :icon_thum Is this all going to be designed for woodworking use? I can't comprehend having that much room.

Long story - but originally, it was to be a living area and workshop. Plans changed, but contract was signed. Now it will be a workshop/project area/wood drying room, etc. - but yes, basically for woodworking use. Can't have too big a workshop -right? Ask me again later after I look into heating and AC...:swoon:

 

[Trent Mason]

Wow, looks like your shop is coming along nicely Rick!

I don't know that much about any of your questions, but I've really enjoyed reading the answers. :thumbs_up:thumbs_up

 

[reprosser]

A few pictures:

The only building on the property was not really suitable for a shop...

Here is a sketchup of the basic floor layout (since changed a bit).

Here is a shot of the covered patio area with new concrete

And the shop from the top of the driveway (before concrete)

And the end of a long day

 

[James Davis]

The shop is magnificent, but if that is the view that you have at sunset, Man is that beautiful!!!:icon_thum

James:icon_thum

 

[scsmith42]

Rick, that is really looking great.

If it were me, I'd consider reducing the size of the room. Typically finishing rooms are not good places to store things because of all of the overspray and mess. As long as you have good length, even if you're finishing a long line of book cases a 20' width is probably overkill.

Something 12' - 16' wide, and 20' long (if you need that much) may work better and allow you some significant savings on the ceiling structure.

A very tall, double door entering the room would be beneficial. That way a tall project (such as a bookcase) could be fully assembled and prepped in the main shop and then wheeled inside for finishing.

Additionally, some type of i-beam hung in the ceiling with a trolley and hoist may allow you to maneuver larger pieces by yourself.

 

[Trog777]

A note on finishing room. Exhaust low, filtered intake high. Personally I wouldn't build my finishing room any larger than it needed to be. Just causes dust problems. Mine is 16x25, (was used to paint cars in another life), and I'm thinking about splitting it in half. Easiser to keep a smaller space cleaner.

 

[reprosser]

Since I am new to woodworking, I don't have a lot of experience to base my plans. I hope to build cabinets, furniture, continue wood turning, etc.

How can I deterimine the best size for a finishing room - and have options for future changes if needed? I know it is not possible to get things 100% right in the beginning, but I would like to get as close as I can and allow for changes.

 

[Trog777]

Best size would depend on what you plan to build I suppose. A cabinet maker may need one as large as you planned. I would think a hobbyist needs would be quiet different finishing one piece at a time. One thing I wish I had done differently is put a drain in the floor. One thing I'm glad I did, is put in enough lights to do surgery with, and covered the walls with bright white tileboard. Worked great for painting cars, I could wash down the walls, but now I use part of it for storage, so dust is more of a problem. Hence the comment "thinking about splitting it in half."

 

[nicemac]

I just built a shop - 22x26. I used trusses and they were cheaper (and stronger) than stick built. Trusses will easily span your 20x20 (and much larger) area without support. Incorporating storage above the ceiling with trusses will increase the price, but is doable. With 2800 sq. ft., how much additional storage do you think you will need?

If you are just doing this for a hobby, this is a huge building! Wow!