[TheForge] building a new shop/shed

[terry l. ridder]

hello;

i have settled on a design for the new shop/shed, the only quyestion now
is whether the floor is left as dirt. i am leaning toward leaving the
floor dirt. a step up from dirt would be compacted crushed stone. 
i am planning on burying radiant heat piping in the floor whatever the
composition may be and using a wood fired boiler to heat the water.

the reason for leaving it dirt is that dirt is easier on my legs than
concrete. granted this winter has been an unusual chicago winter, but
the cold dampness of the concrete floor in the current garage causes
pain issues with the legs. the perimeter of the shop/shed will be a 4
ft. deep footer. i could dig out the dirt and back fill with sand, pea
gravel, and compacted crushed stone.

the shop/shed is a design from www.barnplans.com. right now i am figuring
on a 24 ft wide x 30 ft long  shop/shed. i need to build a couple models
out of art foam board to determine which size will blend in with the
house and landscaping. the shop/shed will have a 2nd story. i am
planning on this being long term storage and home office space. a
small size freight elevator ( 8 x 8 ) which i am planning on putting
in will allow me to get to the home office easy enough. there will be
a wide staircase for those with working legs. ;-)

the first picture on the below url is the design i have choosen.
http://www.barnplans.com/dormer.html

anyway, what have others decided on for their shop floors?

-- 
terry l. ridder ><>