Separate Wood and Metal Shops?

[SteveHGraham]

I have a question about shop space, for people who actually have it. Unlike me.

I am considering moving to a house that has a 3-car garage plus a 25 x 36 detached shop. The garage is nicer. The floor is epoxied, and it has drywall. The concrete driveway goes right up to it, so it's possible to move things in and out easily. The detached shop is like a hundred feet away, and the slab under it doesn't touch the driveway, so if I needed to move anything big into the building, I would have to take it over grass.

I'm thinking it would be nice to have the machine tools and wood tools in separate buildings, because wood is a disgusting mess. Dust goes all over the place. If I did this, and I needed hand tools or whatever while doing woodworking, I would have to walk back and forth a lot. There is a certain risk that I might lose weight.

Does it sound like a realistic idea, or am I better off cramming it all into the garage?

[Lew Hartswick]

Metal shop in the garage ( heaver machinery ), wood shop in the separate bldg. A few duplicate hand tools (shouldn't require too many).
...lew...

[Plastikosmd]

I had a dust divider in my basement shop in the past. I have now upgraded to 2 separate spaces. Way better

[Steggy]

I have a question about shop space, for people who actually have it...Does it sound like a realistic idea, or am I better off cramming it all into the garage?

Metalworking in the garage, woodworking in the standalone shop. Eventually, you should consider making a hard surface pathway between the two. The grass that is in the likely pathway between the two shops isn't going to thrive for very long.

[NP317]

What's the address? Maybe I can outbid you...


Get movin' Man!
~RN

[SteveHGraham]

Eventually, you should consider making a hard surface pathway between the two. The grass that is in the likely pathway between the two shops isn't going to thrive for very long.

That is the truth.

What's the address? Maybe I can outbid you...

Don't get me started. For less than half the cost of a cramped half-acre where I am now, with (obviously) no outbuildings, I can get ten beautiful acres in north Florida, complete with a nearly new house, the barn, the shop, a shed, a chicken coop, and an IRON GATE TWO HUNDRED YARDS AWAY FROM MY FRONT DOOR. I could get a hundred acres if I didn't mind being half an hour from the nearest grocery.

[NP317]

Eventually, you should consider making a hard surface pathway between the two. The grass that is in the likely pathway between the two shops isn't going to thrive for very long.

That is the truth.

What's the address? Maybe I can outbid you...

Don't get me started. For less than half the cost of a cramped half-acre where I am now, with (obviously) no outbuildings, I can get ten beautiful acres in north Florida, complete with a nearly new house, the barn, the shop, a shed, a chicken coop, and an IRON GATE TWO HUNDRED YARDS AWAY FROM MY FRONT DOOR. I could get a hundred acres if I didn't mind being half an hour from the nearest grocery.

Wow!
Just make sure it's got some altitude. Look for that rising sea level.
~RN

[neanderman]

I'm with what appears to be the consensus: keep them separate - metal machines in the garage; woodworking in the outbuilding.

I'm hoping to put my metal shop in a new garage and keep my woodworking in the basement.

Wood dust is not healthy for machine tools and metal chips are not healthy for woodworking, especially if you use hand tools to any extent.

[John Hasler]

I wish I had three shops: machining, woodworking, and welding/grinding/foundry (plus a wet lab for chemistry).

[tornitore45]

My way would be to lay a driveway to the shop building and park the car/cars there, assuming it has a car door.
Separate the garage with a light partition and have the shops there.
Reasons:
When I drive I am "usually" dressed and presentable, a bit of rain to get to the garage is not a problem, rarely I go to and from the car more that 4 times a day if at all.
I go in the shop at any time of the day, not necessarily properly clad, many times in and out, between enjoying my hobby and surrendering to biological and spousal interruptions.
The epoxied floor is a tremendous benefit, it sweep clean without the eternal concrete dust. However an anti-slip gritty treatment is mandatory.

[warmstrong1955]

I wish I had three shops: machining, woodworking, and welding/grinding/foundry (plus a wet lab for chemistry).

Yeah! Me too!

When the weather is good, I do woodworking and Welding/grinding in front of my shop on the concrete slab.
Problem is, the weather isn't good often enough.

When it's not good, I throw tarps over the machinery. Sawdust is bad, grinding dust is worse....

Bill

[tornitore45]

I wish I had three shops: machining, woodworking, and welding/grinding/foundry (plus a wet lab for chemistry).

That is where my ideal house concept of 2 bedrooms, 4 baths and 7 car garages come from.