Building a New Shop

[Prairie Dog]

What have you added or would like to add to your shop that has or would save you time and or money? include pictures

 

[Smokinjo]

Well we put our electrical under the concrete. Instead of running it up and over. Its shorter this way and saves money. If you run air lines for the air compressor in the wall. We put ours UP in the corner and boxed it in so you dont have to hear it. Run your lines sloped down from the compressor with petcocks in the corners for drains. And for every down spout where the hose is going to connect (at the top where the main line runs) put your "T" up. Yes up over then down to ensure water doesnt get in your air tools.

 

[norite]

When I piped my shop for air, I ran the lines uphill going away from the compressor so all moisture drains back to the compressor tank, when I drain the compressor tank, it drains all the water in the system. I ran my lines at about 4' above the floor with the electrical outlets just above the airline. This allows room for machines, benches and storage along the wall without blocking the outlets.

Good idea to mount the compressor up high and silence it by enclosing it, thats been on my to-do list for years.

If you heat your shop make sure you have a ceiling fan, no use having 90 degree air at the ceiling and ice on your floor. I would install in floor heating (tubing) if I was building it today.

 

[koldsteele]

I'm gettin ready to add another 40 x 40 to my shop and the first thing I'm doing in the planing stages is a Bridge crane ...If you've ever worked with one its hard to figure how life in the shop ever existed without one ..

 

[Prairie Dog]

we have a cx210 trackhoe as well as end dump boxes, the hight of the shop has been something that has caused a little division. I want minimum 18ft ceiling but would like 20'. My partner thinks I'm crazy and should only go 16' maybe 18'. I am waiting to see the costs to really push for my 20 ft

 

[Prairie Dog]

What about door widths too 12', 14', 16'?

 

[clay digger]

I've never had any reason to wish our shop door was any less than 16'' but could imagine many times I'd wished it wider if it were any less! Go big or go home.

 

[willie59]

May cost you a bit extra, but install quality insulated flat slat rolling steel doors. Sectional overhead doors this size are a money pit over time. Trust me, I installed commercial doors for years, I know every quirk they have.

 

[markshr151]

My shop is 28x30 and the same in outside concrete to work on.I have optimized my space with 20 foot conex boxes but the best improvement is a cheep forklift and lots of pallet racking.

 

[Prairie Dog]

May cost you a bit extra, but install quality insulated flat slat rolling steel doors. Sectional overhead doors this size are a money pit over time. Trust me, I installed commercial doors for years, I know every quirk they have.

I am working in freezing climates with high humidity inside the shop. it often happens that your door freezes to the floor from equipment thawing out inside, or if equipment has to be washed. My concern with a flat slat door is that I will start having the door freeze up in the middle of the winter. Valid concern or not?

 

[willie59]

I am working in freezing climates with high humidity inside the shop. it often happens that your door freezes to the floor from equipment thawing out inside, or if equipment has to be washed. My concern with a flat slat door is that I will start having the door freeze up in the middle of the winter. Valid concern or not?

Well, I'm no expert in you climate extremes, but logically speaking, in your scenario, the bottom seal of the door is going to "freeze to the floor" whether you have a roll up steel door or sectional steel door, the bottom seal is common of the two, have no suggestions for dealing with that. But the flat slat insulated curtain shouldn't have any issues with the extreme cold and freeze conditions, certainly nothing different than a sectional door.

 

[Prairie Dog]

i was looking at a few of them online tonight and i noticed that you need 22ft ceilings for a 16ft door. Is this right? seems like 6 extra feet is a lot for the roll up

 

[willie59]

i was looking at a few of them online tonight and i noticed that you need 22ft ceilings for a 16ft door. Is this right? seems like 6 extra feet is a lot for the roll up

I can say without a doubt it takes less than 6 feet of over the header clearance to install a rolling steel door, I have no idea where the web calculators are giving you that number. That's not correct. All I can advise you is my experience working with doors. When you're talking large sizes, 14 wide 16 high, a rolling steel door will out perform a sectional steel door in the long haul. No comparison. BTW, the doors we have in our shop are CHI. Been in service for over 4 years now and haven't had any issues with them.

http://www.chiohd.com/garage-doors/rolling-steel/

One thing I would add, avoid doors made by "The Overhead Door" company. Cheap on the cutting edge of cheap junk.

 

[norite]

May cost you a bit extra, but install quality insulated flat slat rolling steel doors. Sectional overhead doors this size are a money pit over time. Trust me, I installed commercial doors for years, I know every quirk they have.

I've had some experience with overhead sectional panel doors, probably nothing compared to yours. I have never worked on the roll up doors except for the electrical. My only memorable experience with roll up steel doors was in a mine years ago, stopped to wait for the door to go up all the way, door went to the top, the chain broke and the door came down like a guillotine.

Seems to me the roll up doors don't "balance" like the overhead panel doors do. They seem to require much bigger power openers and the handchain needs more effort to move the door more slowly. Why would you recommend them, and what are the problems with panel doors that you experienced?

 

[Randy88]

consider instead of roll up doors put on the hydraulic doors that lift in one piece and swing up, they cause less problems and thats what I'm putting in my new shop, tired of the roll up doors causing problems all the time, hydroswing makes one along with swisher or however its spelled the bifold people who make hanger doors anyhow, theres also a company that makes a one piece lift door that swings up and in and its supposed to be balanced and if a chain breaks they aren't supposed to crash down, I had a door somewhat like that years ago and the only downside was you needed some room inside the door to make it open in and up, so you couldn't park anything tall right inside the door and get it to shut but they all have a downside no matter who or what they are.

 

[Impact]

May cost you a bit extra, but install quality insulated flat slat rolling steel doors. Sectional overhead doors this size are a money pit over time. Trust me, I installed commercial doors for years, I know every quirk they have.

I used to install them too.
HIGH Cycle Springs. Cost a few hundred now, saves you thousands later.
Three inch tracks.

 

[willie59]

I've had some experience with overhead sectional panel doors, probably nothing compared to yours. I have never worked on the roll up doors except for the electrical. My only memorable experience with roll up steel doors was in a mine years ago, stopped to wait for the door to go up all the way, door went to the top, the chain broke and the door came down like a guillotine.

Seems to me the roll up doors don't "balance" like the overhead panel doors do. They seem to require much bigger power openers and the handchain needs more effort to move the door more slowly. Why would you recommend them, and what are the problems with panel doors that you experienced?

Those are very good points norite, and I'll be glad give you some info about the two types of doors, sectional and roll up. Again, I strongly recommend getting a quality door of either type, you'll get far better service in the long haul than trying to save a few bucks up front. And there's a reason I said avoid "Overhead Door" brand doors, not that I'm trying to slam the company or that I have a personal bent against them, it's just just over the last 30 years they have been the innovators of making it "cheaper", all other companies have had to change their product to compete with Overhead at the bidding level. Which is directly related to why I recommend avoiding sectional doors of large size, all door brands now have a "cheaper" product in that line, and a door that's 14 x 16, 16 x 16, 16 x 18, that's a big door, cheap just won't last. I've been away from the door business for some years and don't know the latest about the different brand doors, but Raynor used to make the best quality sectional door out there.

As for comparing sectional to roll up, it's actually simple, the roll up uses less parts, no hinges, no track rollers, no cables to break, bottom line. And they are very compact in the space they take up in a shop, simply a covered roll mounted on the wall above the door header, no tracks going back into your shop ceiling requiring hangers from the ceiling like sectional doors need. I worked on a 20 x 20 once in a coal mine shop that someone had bent one of the top track on one side with something, then the door was raised and the bent track pulled the rollers out of the three top sections making them hang down on one side, that was an interesting mess to repair. Also the guides on the wall are far different with the two doors. The sectional will use a roll formed thin 2" track, very easily bent. A good quality roll up will have 3/16" thick 3" structural angle guides, very much more durable than a sectional door track. If either door is installed properly, they will give years of trouble free service. But from a installer and repairmans perspective, the roll up is more trouble free simply from its design and from using less parts.

Now, the door you saw crashing down, very simple; the chain broke because the counterbalance spring inside the roll shaft was broken. The electric operator and chain was simply hoisting the door up all the time, which it's not designed to do. Eventually the chain gave up, hence, door came crashing down. A broken spring can and does happen on both type of doors and can have the same result. The difference is, on a sectional door the springs are visible and someone generally notices it's broken where on a roll up they are inside the tube shaft and not visible. That's the reason roll up door makers typically use high life cycle springs making them last longer. A broken spring on a quality roll up door is actually quite rare, but it does happen. But to answer your question, the roll up door counterbalances just as well as the sectional door when either are installed properly.

Which brings me to my next point, the electric operator. I've worked on so many doors that someone doesn't have the springs adjusted properly and they use the operator to hoist the door up and down. They are not designed to do that. This includes the door at you home garage. The operator is designed to "move" the door, not "lift" it. Springs on sectional doors progressivly weaken over time because they use small gauge wire. One should once a year lubricate the rollers and springs on their garage door with motor oil, then disconnect the operator arm from the top section and see how the door works by hand. If it's heavy to lift, you need to get a door service man to adjust the springs. Rolling steel doors don't suffer as much from springs getting weaker because they use a large gauge wire size for the coil, but they too should have an occasional "look over" by a door professional to insure proper service. If someone would have done that, you probably wouldn't have witnessed that door crashing down.

Here's a thread that has two pics of roll up doors we installed back in the late 70's, both are still in use today.

https://www.heavyequipmentforums.com/showthread.php?t=15918

 

[alrman]

A good idea if you run track type equipment is to set some railway line into the concrete in at least 1 bay. Have them protuding about 1/2" - 1" above & you would have to space apart them depending on the machine/s you have - stops tearing up your concrete every time you enter the shop.
Failing that have a few lengths of conveyor rubber handy to slip under as required.

 

[norite]

Thanks ATCOEQUIP, that was a great reply. That was a long post which you obviously put a lot of effort into and I appreciate it, my knowledge on OH doors has been greatly expanded. :notworthy

 

[JDOFMEMI]

One idea if you need to gain height on the building would be to buy the 16' high model, then puor a 4' concrete stemwall to set it up on. Then you gain height, and also have a rugged wall section that you don't have to worry about getting bent up and holed if a machine rolls into it or something like that. It is also a good nonflamable section to do hot work near.
Good sized concrete filled bollard posts by the doors save the dorr track and walls from damage also.
These are some considerations that are more important if you have, or will have, employees.