Nice shed/workshop. What size can I get away with?

This year is the year for the shed of dreams. Want something I can insulate, heat and light with room for a workbench and space to spanner instead of the kitchen. There’s a full size concrete garage base to site it on, but don’t really want that big.

Don’t have an inordinate about of stuff to store, 2 bikes and a mower plus the usual tools and garden tools.

What’s a reasonable size I need, and any top tips for how to lay it out?

If it’s only heated for an evening at a time I wouldn’t bother with insulation, it’ll have lost all its heat between uses so it makes negligible difference

All I’ll say is that if you have an old garage base to use then use it all. What else would you use the space for? You’ll always find something to do with the extra shed/workshop space.

You DO want that big.

50% larger than you think you need😁

My workshop is 10′ x 8′ and is only just big enough. The garden stuff lives in another lean to shed attached to the workshop.

I’m looking at the options – and cost – of 20′ x 16′.

Be aware of council regs if >30 sq mtr.

As big as possible. You won’t regret it. You will regret it if you don’t make it as big as possible.

Work out how much space you think you need and double it. Unless you are very organised you will soon end up with less free floor area than you need. Ask me how I know…

You don’t want your workshop sitting on a wet slab, so you need to cover all of the slab with workshop, overhanging by and inch or two.

there, justified a good sized workshop for you.

but really, that’s the truth. Next: insulation. Yes. No need to overdo it, so rock wool in a 4” cavity is enough to stop the hot days getting too hot and the cold too cold. Really makes a difference.

+1 on use the garage base.

I would insulate and ensure it’s going to be a really dry space.

Insulating it may not keep it warm but it will make it warm up a lot faster and more cheaply when you turn the heat on. As others have said big as possible.

If it’s only heated for an evening at a time I wouldn’t bother with insulation, it’ll have lost all its heat between uses so it makes negligible difference

I would insulate. I did with kingspan seconds- damaged panels from a local supplier with 6 mm mdf over the top. Did the roof the same so wasn’t expensive. The reason I did it even though I don’t work in it every day is that it dramatically cuts down on condensation which damages any tools. I used 2x18mm at 600mm wide glued mdf supported on 50×50 timber along one long side to which I attached two vices as a work surface.

Use the whole base. My agri workshop was 12m x 8m, and it was fantastic. It was almost big enough for what I needed it for. Where we are now my ‘workshop’ is actually our double length garage and it’s frustratingly narrow. You won’t miss more space – you’ll miss not having it.

If I was going to get a new larger shed, I’d be tempted to partition it, with a smaller section for dirty/stinky mowers/garden equipment in one section, leaving the main area a little cleaner for for nice shiny bikes and a workspace to work on them with storage for spares/etc and maybe some exercise equipment too.

Thanks all.

The problem with full size garage is the amount of garden it’ll take up, and it’s quite close to the house also because of an extension.

I’d be tempted to partition it, with a smaller section for dirty/stinky mowers/garden equipment

SWMBO has also suggested this. It’s not a bad shout.

It’s really a decision of Shed vs Workshop, this. I wouldn’t insulate a Shed, frinstance, because it takes up a bunch of space and you’re not likely to ever get a massive benefit from it if you’re not in it a lot. Working on bikes or similiar, you still tend to be fairly selective about when you do it, you’re not real likely to be out there at 10pm on a freezing night like you might be if you had a big diy project or similar, and you just don’t need to worry about hot because you can move the work outside.

So it’s kind of, how much will you work in it and what’ll be the nature of the work, the timing of it.

But for sure go as big as you possibly can. Try and think about the spaces you work in already- working on a bike in my small kitchen absolutely sucks, it’s “big enough”. there’s always something in the way, you can’t rotate it or work easily around it, it’s always bouncing off the wall or knocking things over. Working in my living room is night and day even though teh actual work space isn’t massively bigger.

(I have a decent sized shed, for my lathe and other big tools and for storage… I’ve built an engine in it but I wouldn’t work on a bike in it, the space needs are so different)

50% larger than you think you need😁

So…. 75% of the garage pad?

You can’t have too much shed. Ever.

Whatever you build,factor in an extended/overhanging  roof ( or awning)above the door wall side.

#gamechanger.

Oh,and as said, all that garden stuff can GTF to a separate space.

😆 🤣

Bigger than mine!

Bigger than mine!

Impossible I’d say. 🤣

Go large…

Looking down on Workshop by Ben Freeman[/url], on Flickr

8m x 4m

Insulating also stops it getting unbearably hot in the summer.

Think about what you’d like to do in the workshop. If a lot of angle grinding/woodworking is on the cards then it’s handy to have that in its own area to stop covering everything else in dust.