need suggestions

Hello all
Happy New Year. I am getting a new shop built at work for the county. This is will be a heavy equip garage and fleet repair facility. It also will have a dedicated paint booth for equipment repainting and refurbishing. It will be approx 6,100 sq ft with 3 14x14 bay doors to one side and a pass through bay on the other with the same doors on the other side. I have been asked to spec out an exhhaust removal system, rolling 5tn adj gantry crane, an out side wash water recycle system, 1 new 15,000 lb 2 post lift that can do sm-med tractors like kubota and deere, and in floor anchor system like the body shops use for staightening. This is a tall order to start, but was hoping from some feed back on what you guys use or have seen. I can then try to gather some vendor info and get prices. This project is part of a 27 million dollar project at our facility. The garage won't be all of that, and there is limits, but there is so much stuff on the net, that I don't have the time to look at it all, and still wrench too. Thanks for any help, this is a great site and have learned alot from you guys to date. Thanks Tom

My suggestion would be hire a arcitect or other professional experienced in commerical shop design. The dealership I work for always designed their shops in house when ever they expanded into new territory and no two were ever alike.

They wised up a few years back and hired a experienced arcitect to layout the last three shops...... what a difference! They suggested things we never dreamed about and these shops are the best in a company chain of 18.
It was money well spent in terms of operating cost...... lighting and heating considerations, and shop productivity. Remember, You only get one chance to get it right.

Thanks motrack. We do have an arcitect(s) for the project, but I have been having meetings with them and they have asked if I had any prefrences. They're looking also for companies, but I don't want to get el cheapo stuff either so it fits the budget or have left over. They are not exclusive to just my shop, they are doing other buildings, and renovating to others. I just figured if I at least sent them in the right direction on top of my own research it might go a little smoother. Bid time is comming up so they need price ranges to continue. Build date is late summer/early fall this year and looks like my building will be first to be erected. You are right though, you only get one crack at it so do it right.

Quickly, some suggestions:

1. In floor hot water heating

2. Combination wash bay and paint bay

3. Combination floor tie downs and welding bay along an exterior wall to minimize amount of flash screens and ease of exhaust ventilation for welding

4. Waste oil furnace/boiler if you have enough waste oil to heat the place

Typical paint booths have a velocity of 100 feet per minute. Any higher than this and the paint finish will be adversely affected. Much lower than this and you will be working in a cloud of over spray and the VOC's level may become dangerously high.

So lets say for a moment that the paint area is 10 feet wide x 10 feet high. 10x10x100 equals 10,000 CFM. Size the fan accordingly and make sure you purchase a proper paint exhaust fan with an explosion proof motor.

As for the welding aspect, OSHA is content with 2000 cubic ft per man.

Scott
Fab Manager
Welders360.com