I have taken the liberty of cross-posting this to shop-talk. I strongly
suggest you join that list. The traffic is usually not high, but the
knowledge about setting up car shops is very good, and they mostly stick
to the subject. Topics include shop layout and construction, air
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Eamon A.Blaney wrote:
>
>
>
> Thanks
>
> Eamon in Ireland
> Elite Type 75 ( in need of serious attention and a roof over it's head!)
>
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>
Wow. What kind of mail system do YOU have? When I tried to reply, the
above is all my mailer copied. The actual body of your message
completely disappeared. I have never seen this happen before. I had to
go back to your original so I could paste your comments in.
\I bought the car ( Type 75 Elite ) so now I have to build the garage !
I really think so. The fellow trying to do the rear hubs in the car
park has my deepest sympathy.
\I have a space of approx 36 x 22 on which to build.
Feet or meters? I will assume feet until you tell me different.
This is 792 square feet. I am planning on going from 440 to 1000
(limited by local code) on the detached garage at the house I am
buying. I will use the original 440 (20 x 22) for shop and the added
560 for garage. The overall size will be 20 x 50, with the driveway on
the narrow end. The toy car or cars will have enter the shop through
the garage. The shop will be kept heated to 50 degrees F though the
winter. The garage will stay cold. This way, the constant opening of
the garage door for the daily drivers won't affect the Lotus in the
shop.
\Can any of you good people let me know of anything that you would
\definitely avoid if you you were building your workshop again ?
\What layout would recommend for a
\garage that is going to contain a least one, non mobile,
\basket case of a Lotus restoration and
\an area set aside for rebuilding 'boxes, engines, diff's (type 75 !!!
).
\I am only going to do
this once in my life and as I intend to spend a whole lot
\of time working on my motors, I want to
\get it right first time. Any plans for a similar
\size garage or advice on any aspect of this
\operation would be greatly appreciated.
792 square feet can be good size, but may not be the right shape for
what you want to do. More info is needed.
Is the whole 36 x 22 available for building size, or is there some
setback or clearance requirements you have not mentioned?
Which side is the access?
Can a car reach anywhere on that side?
As an example, if you have a 36x22 building with full access to the
36-foot side, you could put in a three-car garage, each section with an
inside measure of about 11.3 x 21 feet. Each could have its own single
garage door, and insulated walls. You would have the choice of how you
used each space.
There could be a side door (36" wide) into the first stall. This is
your daily driver garage for the grocery-and-parts getter. Don't heat
it.
The next 36" door brings you to the Lotus, kept warm and dry in the car
shop. This is where you do all the r & r of the Lotus parts. The next
36" door brings you to your inner sanctum where you can work on
gearboxes and engines. This makes it easy to keep the engine shop
clean, because you would very seldom open the big door to the outside.
Normal walk-in use demands you go through a couple of doors. Since
there are other doors closed when you open the side door to the engine
shop, dirt can't blow in from outside.
If noise bothers you while you are working, put the air compressor in
the daily-driver garage. You won't hear it much through the insulated
walls when working in the car shop or engine shop.
As a real dream, a full-coverage hoist beam setup in each of the heated
sections would be really neat. You can hand off the engine or whatnot
from one hoist to another through the side door.
Or you could use a cherry-picker type hoist. Make sure the access door
from car shop to engine shop is wide enough for the cherry-picker to get
through. You don't want to open the outside doors unless you must.
This layout can be used as garages for three cars if you ever get tired
of building engines and gearboxes.
\Thanks
\Eamon in Ireland
My parents have traveled twice to the old country. Although my father
is French-Canadian by heritage, my mother was a Cavanagh.
\Elite Type 75 ( in need of serious attention and a roof over it's
head!)
Phil "I wish I could start on my shop today!" Ethier
|