Laying out our dream garage, suggestions would be great

[Andrew]

My dad just bought a house that has a 30'x60' shop. I'm trying to lay it out and redesign it for working on cars. I've seen the post your garage thread and I know a lot of you guys have experience in this so advice and suggestions would be great.

Here is how the shop is laid out now. It's poorly drafted and nts but it gives a good idea,
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd164/kyboshh/2012%20april/DSC_5405.jpg

The first 2 things I want to get done is the flooring and lighting. Could you guys please suggest a good product to coat the floor with? Also what have you all done for lighting? Fluorescent?

We are debating about tearing down the mezzanine. It would be nice storage and we could always use that back area by the washroom as a clean room for final assembly, but it would really open up the shop more to get rid of it. The paint booth is likely going to stay as it's got a built in exhaust fan which is convenient.

Please suggestions and ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Andrew

[Sandbagger]

What kind of work do you do primarily ?
Lots of metal fab ...you want the shears ,brake ,e-wheel ,sandbag ,bead roller ,table all together in one area .

[dhutton]

My recommendation is that you plan for a lift and that it is a relatively straight shot from the door. Once you have a lift you will wonder how you ever managed without it.

I would keep the mezzanine. It is amazing how quickly you accumulate parts and project cars and before long you are out of space.

Don

[d110pickup]

Block out some time and check out WWW.GarageJournal.com
You will definitely find a massive amount of info there, both good and bad.
When I built my shop I had a Build Thread going there, here's a link.
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10218
Mike

[chevmech1969]

on coating the floors i would just check into staining, never have to worry about pealing or anything like that.http://www.howtostainconcretefloors.com/

I also would put as much lighting as you can afford and are willing to run. the more light always the better, ive got 12 4ft florecent double bulbs in my 26x36 and i am currently going to put three on the wall about 3-4 ft up. it makes seeing under the car awesome. i wish i would have the height for a hoist, ive got to use jackstands. a hoist and ibeam trolly crane would be on my wish list for sure...

[Andrew]

Sorry for my delayed response here.

Thanks for all of the suggestions and ideas gentlemen.

We are moving in at the start of June. Then we can begin getting to it.

As the garage sits right now it was being used for an upholstery business. All walls, ceiling and floor have been cladded with particle board that has been stained. It's nice but not for the way we desire to use it. So we will begin by removing the wood on the floor and either staining or coating depending on the condition of the floor.

The heating system is one downfall of the place currently. It has 6 small wall mounted electric heaters. The house is being converted to a propane furnace so we may just put in a small propane furnace in the garage as well. Jeff, thanks for the reverberray suggestion. I'll have to do some reading about them. I would love to put a woodstove in the shop but all of the insurance companies have deemed it un-insurable if we do so.

The ceiling height is 14' or 16', sorry I can't quite remember. It's more then enough for a lift and the vehicles we are working on.

Thanks again for the comments and suggestions. Sorry for the lack of pictures. I'll be sure to post some as we move in and work begins.

Andrew

edit* Mike, thanks for pointing out that site. Awesome shop you've built yourself. Very unique and it looks like you've got tons of space.