BTW, I let my wife have her way with the livingroom, bedroom, dining room. In the house she is queen. We jointly decide on the kitchen. The shop is mine and I am King in there. The only thing I want to hear from my wife in my shop is, dear, would you like a beer? You work too hard, can I sweep the floor for you? I haven't heard those words yet, but we've only been married for 25 years, she ain't easy to train.

 

You can't have too much light, you can't have too much air. Get a proper air compressor. 120 gallon, 2 stage should do it.

 

Forget the air-impact tools and get one of these:

http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item....5&group_ID=223

 

Suggestion! make it as big as your wallet will allow,they become too small very quick.We have added on three times now have 10 bays,housing motorcycles,muscle cars,and tractors.Also have a seperate machine shop,and the wife approves.

 

Snap on makes good tools but, $230 for a $20 impact driver is crazy.

 

Yup, all of my hand tools are Snap-On, and while I got a great deal, it was still extremely expensive. There are tools out there for most people that will work just fine for a fraction of the price.

 

Now that right there is good stuff. Only thing is, this early in the morning it made me squirt milk out my nose.

 

Make it BIGGER than you can afford!

 

Snap-On, OTC, Matco, Cornwell and others make good tools. But when it comes to hand tools I buy mostly Craftsman. Sears is in town and open 7 days a week accept holidays. And as for air tools it is hard to beat IR(Ingersoll Rand) who make air tools for some of the above companies.

Now as far as building a shop/garage I am in the process of doing the same. As mentioned go as large as you can afford and what ordinance will allow. Other thing to think of is 2 post lifts are not overly expensive so having a 12' 4" cieling clearance will clear a lot of makes. Cement work would need to be planned too. Some info here http://www.carguygarage.com/carlift.html No plug for company recomend researching around before buying.
Insulating will help keep temps. Drywalling/or painted white walls reflects lighting well.
Outlets, Outlets and more Outlets making sure to have at least 1 is a 208 or 240 volt for welder/plasma what have you.
Think about storage, wall mounted cabinets/shelves saves floor space compared to floor cabinets. These can be made cheaper then crap sold at most stores. Perforated peg board makes for great tool storage and space saving's.

Cheers and enjoy the soon shop/garage.

 

Dude your digs your way think about it , why follow when you have a chance to lead ? Run with it .