finishing my shop

[1972cuda]

I am looking for some advise on finish a shop. Hopefully at the end of the month I will have my own home and shop.
The shop is 30 x 50 x 14, it is a pole barn that was used to house 4 school buses in the late 60's to 80's. Currently there is no power line to the shop, and the exposed insulation is falling apart.

I was thinking about tearing out all the old wiring and insulation. Replace it with the aluminum foil and bubble insulation to seal up most air leaks, http://www.insulation4less.com/prodex_Ffmf.asp   then put up 3/8 drywall, run power to a sub panel and wiring on top of the drywall.  It has a propane furnace that should work when rewired. I will need to also insulate the garage doors and add service door between. I plan on cleaning and painting the floor with light gray industrial floor paint. I have a used large compressor lined up that will need a control switch wired in.
I should be able to get a used rotary two post lift at an upcoming auction.

I will get some pics as soon as the current owner cleans out his junk.

Does anybody have any suggestions on something I should do different.
Is anybody familiar with radiant insulation?
What type of lighting would you recommend? I want to see but can afford a huge light bill.

Hopefully I get the shop taken care of quickly so I can get started on my poor cars.

[NHCharger]

Go here.  www.garagejournal.com/forum/
Lots of knowledgable people and some good advice. As with any board there are a few members that go waaayyy overkill on everything.

[2Gunz]

Ive heard good things about the 4 x 8 foam panel insulation.


And as far as shop lighting the best bang for the buck energy wise

would be the 4' or 8' fluorescents. Going to need quite a few for a

shop that size thou.

[rav440]

dont use 3/8" drywall , you will regret it , use 1/2" or better yet 5/8" its stronger and youl want to cover as much SQ footage as possible with one sheet so get 4 X 12 or beeter yet 4'6" X 16' " yes they are heavy but well worth it . keep the drywall atleast 5/8" off the finished floor so moisture dosent get to the drywall . or you could go with 1/2" 5/8" or 3/4" OSB " cheap plywood " that way tou can hang anything you want anywhere . again keep it up off of the finished floor .

as for the fluorescent lights . look for construction remodel jobs going on , MALLS , OFFICE BUILDINGS ect hopefuly you get there while they are starting the demo . ask the guy in charge if they are tossing out any fluorescent light fixtures . if they are they will be more than glad to give them to ya , " less room taken up in the dumpster " just make sure the are 110 BALLAST not 177 or 277 .
you just might find othe goodies they are tossing out also .

good luck with the project 

[BigBlackDodge]

dont use 3/8" drywall , you will regret it , use 1/2" or better yet 5/8" its stronger and youl want to cover as much SQ footage as possible with one sheet so get 4 X 12 or beeter yet 4'6" X 16' " yes they are heavy but well worth it . keep the drywall atleast 5/8" off the finished floor so moisture dosent get to the drywall . or you could go with 1/2" 5/8" or 3/4" OSB " cheap plywood " that way tou can hang anything you want anywhere . again keep it up off of the finished floor .

as for the fluorescent lights . look for construction remodel jobs going on , MALLS , OFFICE BUILDINGS ect hopefuly you get there while they are starting the demo . ask the guy in charge if they are tossing out any fluorescent light fixtures . if they are they will be more than glad to give them to ya , " less room taken up in the dumpster " just make sure the are 110 BALLAST not 177 or 277 .
you just might find othe goodies they are tossing out also .

good luck with the project 

Thats a good tip about checking at job sites. A few years back a new book store was going into a shopping center and they removed all the interior finishes during the demo. We got 5 or 6 pick up truck loads of r-19 insulation for free!...........and we itched alot afterwards!


BBD

[rav440]

ive got some cool stuff off of the jobs over the years . the one company i work for does retail construction its always fun to be the first guy or two on the job . lots of goodies for the taking 

[1972cuda]

Ok so I will go with flouresent lighting.  Any educated guess as to how many? Lets say 8 foot x 2 bulb fixtures. Also what type of bulb I know they have t8 t10 t12 but I am not sure what the differences are.

[rav440]

Ok so I will go with flouresent lighting.  Any educated guess as to how many? Lets say 8 foot x 2 bulb fixtures. Also what type of bulb I know they have t8 t10 t12 but I am not sure what the differences are.

id say go with 4'X2' 4 bulb fixtures , reason if your going to seek out construction sites doing demo 90% of the fixtures will be 4X2 also extra 4' replasement bulbs are easier to store some place .

my garage is approx 24' X 20' i have 10 4' X 2' 4 bulb fixtures and its pretty well lit . i would have put in more but i ran out of room on the ceiling 

you can never have to much light . if you end up going to a construction site get as many FREE lights as you can put as many as you can in your garage wire them up on differnt switchs so you can shut off the ones you dont want on at them time . you can give the rest of the lights to your friends or use them as barttering tools .

remember also too if you go to a construction site find out what ballast the lights have most places are 110 but some use 177 ans 277

good luck

[NHCharger]

My shop is 30x50x11. I ran three rows of fluorescent lighting. I ran one row closer to my back wall where my work bench is so I would have overhead lighting when working at the bench. It also helps that I painted the walls and ceiling white and the concrete a light grey.
This is a pic of my shop under construction, it will never look or be this clean again.

[694spdRT]

Lighting depends a lot on how you plan to lay out your floorplan and use the building. A carpenter friend recommended while building my garage to place the lighting between where cars are going to be parked or worked on so that the lighting spreads out. Otherwise lighting put in directly over the car just shines on the roof, is blocked by an open hood, and leaves the sides of the car dark. 

[supserdave]

Our garage has 16' ceilings, and we made brackets for our fluorescent lights to get them to shine down at a 45, they work slick. I'll try and get some pictures this weekend.

[1972cuda]

Thanks for all the sugestions. I can't wait. Just over a week to go before I close on the place. I have so much planned for the place already.
I guess it would be a good idea to actually get my cars in there, and maybe do a chalk outline where everything will go.