My Shop Build!

[Shawn F.]

I am starting this thread to show my progress on my shop I recently got about 3.5 months ago. The first 2 months it was used to store my cars, parts and tools while I waited on getting zoning permits, sign permits, etc. I am still awaiting these permits but they should be reviewed and finalized within the next 2-3 weeks. In the meantime I am trying to get this shop setup to do full service auto detailing and also setting up a retail side to my business selling detail products such as Optimum, Dodo Juice, Lake Country, Grit Guard, full microfiber line, etc etc.
A little info on what I started with... The shop was used as a wood working shop for over 20 years so you can only imagine the mess and dust in the building. The floors, ceiling, cabinets, pipes, etc were covered in inches of sawdust and dirt. The first thing I did was hose as much out as possible, cleaned the office and bathroom and started moving stuff in. I had the office and bathroom painted inside and out as well as the bay and pedestrian door. My plans are to do a 50's theme in the shop and kitchen area while doing a 40's/WWII office and a 60's tiki/beach type bathroom (woody wagon pictures, tiki trash can, etc). First things first in the shop... Lighting, walls being painted white, floor repaired/painted/tiled, and ceiling insulation ripped out. The building is pretty old and off the main road of an old town here in the city. The insulation is very old and brittle and breaks apart which leaves a major mess. Instead of replacing it, I plan to rip it out for the summer and insulate it next winter when it's really needed. Without the insulation it's open wood planks which IMO looks nice and throws a somewhat vintage feel to the shop.
Future plans in the next 2-3 weeks:
1.) Remove insulation from ceiling
2.) Paint interior and exterior walls white
3.) Add more plumbing to the building for easy hose access
4.) Sand floors to prep for paint in the wash bay and black/white checkered tile in the rest of the building
5.) Tile bathroom
6.) Loop pile carpet in office
7.) Add a de-ionizer system in the water line for spot free finish on vehicles and remove minerals from the water
8.) Build a dedicated wash bay with drains.
There's a ton more that needs to be done but it will come with time. Here's some before and during pictures. Will hopefully have some after pictures within the next 3-4 weeks.

[Shawn F.]

Heres a few During/Afters (Don't mind the mess):

[Shawn F.]

The second picture of the afters shows the split window which opens sideways. I picked this window up at Lowes on sale for only $37! I should have bought 2 more! To the left is the main pedestrian doors that the customers will walk into. I will put a shelf below this window so they walk up, pay, fill out any forms, etc. Where the drums are in the last picture I plan to either build a full room for a waiting room or half walls and a waiting room with a computer with wifi, TV, mini fridge, etc. Since most of the work I do is on higher end vehicles and I have them for 2 days, I will rarely have waiting customers so this is why I am thinking the half walls. Space is limited (just at 3000 sq ft) so I do not want to make it too cluttered. The kitchen area will have a 40's-50's fridge, 50's type table and chairs with the round overhead porcelain lighting like a diner.

[Shawn F.]

Here are some pictures I snapped today in hopes of getting some opinions and suggestions from you guys... Again do not mind the mess, I have pulled everything out and it's laying all over the place and soon the entire place is to be stripped this week in order to pull the insulation down and replace some of the old 8' T12 lights with bright T5 lighting...
View from bay door:

Possibly Wash Bay:

Middle Bays:


My questions here are where to put the wash bay. At first I was thinking right inside the bay door but there are multiple problems here. First is the location of where it's at which is right next to the entrance of the pedestrian door and where the customers will walk up to the office (first time clients). Second problem is if I built a wall there to keep the entrance from getting wet then I cannot fit a car into the middle of the shop for the middle bay(s).
Third problem is the floor in this area and how unlevel it is. The middle of the floor is high and water runs toward the wall and toward the office. I could use a jack hammer (which I have access to) and put in a drain to drain outside behind the shop in the grassy area (there is nothing back there but grass, tree's and then behind that is a train track which is behind that about 30 feet.

My idea is to make the bay straight back from inside the bay door the wash bay and put up a half wall to the left to separate it from the middle bays. What are your guys' ideas here? I want to have either 2 or 3 bays. One strictly for washing, one for interior and the other for exterior. That or interior and exterior in the same bay. I'd greatly appreciate any help/info!

[cptzippy]

Looking good. I'm jealous

[C. Charles Hahn]

Looks pretty good so far! Looks like you ought to go through and make sure all those fluorescent lights in the work areas are consistent color temp/etc. -- in a few of your pics it looks like some of them are different than the rest.

[Shawn F.]

Last pictures for now... Here's what the ceiling looks like and the wood behind it:

Ceiling again and heater:


There was an A/C system in the place and the unit is still outside but the inside blower unit was torn out and needs a new one. I may or may not do that this summer, we will see. If so then I cannot wait until winter to replace the insulation unfortunately.

[Shawn F.]

Charlie, you are correct! They are all different types of bulbs and inconsistent. I plan to every 2 weeks replace the entire unit with the brightest T5's I can find at Home Depot or Lowes. I will start with the front row and work my way back. As for the bulbs I bought a huge box of them and need to go through and replace them. 3 of the actual fixtures are ruined and need to be pulled down and new ones put up. As for explosion proof, are the T5's explosion proof do you know? My plan is to have the shop OSHA ready even though I will only have 1 employee and from what I've heard I do not have to worry about OSHA unless I have 2 employee's or more. I'd rather have it ready so later down the road I do not have to worry about doing it after the fact.

[C. Charles Hahn]

Charlie, you are correct! They are all different types of bulbs and inconsistent. I plan to every 2 weeks replace the entire unit with the brightest T5's I can find at Home Depot or Lowes. I will start with the front row and work my way back. As for the bulbs I bought a huge box of them and need to go through and replace them. 3 of the actual fixtures are ruined and need to be pulled down and new ones put up. As for explosion proof, are the T5's explosion proof do you know?

If you're after explosion proof fixtures, they'll be sealed enclosures and a LOT more expensive than standard lights. You would probably also have to go through a lighting contractor to get them instead of Home Depot/Lowe's.

That would be overkill for a detail shop's general task lighting, IMHO; unless you're going to be doing painting in there with HVLP equipment you don't need explosion proof fixtures. The biggest focus is bright lighting with a natural looking color temp and relatively high CRI.

[Shawn F.]

Ok I got ya... I thought to be OSHA approved they have to be explosion proof. If that isn't the case then I will not do so. The lights I am looking at are the T5's with 85 CRI, 78,000 lumens, etc. VERY bright compared to whats in the shop now. How about non florescent lighting? I have shop/work lights, about four 1000 watt ones and Brinkmann lights as well. My biggest problem now is deciding where to put the wash bay though. Any suggestions, opinions or ideas on this? I am thinking straight back and build a half wall to the left to separate the middle bays. As for a drain, I can probably build a lip around the wash bay and drill a coupe holes toward the wall with screens or drain caps and squeegee the water that doesn't drain on it's own...

[C. Charles Hahn]

I've never seen an auto service/repair facility or detail shop, or for that matter even a body shop that has explosion proof fixtures outside of their paint booth area, for what it's worth. Honestly before you start putting a ton of time and money into doing things in your shop, I'd go through the OSHA Compliance guides and make sure you're on the right track:

OSHA Compliance Assistance Quick Start

Your non-fluorescent lighting with the 1000W halogens and Brinkmanns should be good to go; I wouldn't permanent mount any kind of specialty lights until you get the shop layout finalized and develop a good consistent workflow.

Is the floor of the shop sloped at all? That may help you determine where to place the wet bay. You also might consider mounting a large curtain (think body shop "prep station" type) to use when you're washing instead of a permanent wall, so that area can be used as either a wet bay or a dry area depending on what project you're working on or how much space you need for it.

Body Shop Curtains, Auto Repair Curtain Walls | Goff's Curtain Walls

[Shawn F.]

Charlie, thanks a lot for this info! Those curtains are exactly what I was thinking instead of fixed walls actually! I am going to look into purchasing something like this. The floor is not even. In the back it slopes toward the rear of the building. This is why I am thinking instead of putting the wash bay at the front bay door and blocking other cars, etc, I'd throw it straight in front of the bay door all the way back and drill 3" holes through the bottom of the wall with screens or drain plates to keep bugs and critters from coming into the shop and sealed up. I guess I will have to just set it up like that and see how it works out. If it doesn't seem like it's working good I can always change the setup/layout down the road. I also need to invest in a good water de-ionizer as to not leave mineral deposites in the water and on the vehicles...