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  • Advice needed on Home office layout please?

    Posted by Robert Neill on July 25, 2016 at 9:17 pm

    Hi guys and girls….

    Looking for some advice from the more experienced people. Up until now I have been working out of my living room and a small shed out my back. I have now build myself a garage/office in my back garden, which is 17ftx9ft and at the moment it is empty. I am looking for some help with the layout. I.e. What I should have in it.

    I am guessing that most of you maybe have a workshop/ small space that you work out of also. And you have maybe got it set up nicely for working on the design on the computer, to cutting to weeding.

    I hope you understand what I am trying to ask. And any help/ sketches would be most appreciated

    Many thanks

    Robert Neill

    Robert Neill replied 7 years, 8 months ago 5 Members · 9 Replies
  • 9 Replies
  • Patrick Donaghey

    Member
    August 3, 2016 at 9:52 am

    Im doing the same im building a small upstairs in my shed as im running from a room in the house
    heres a quick sketch of my layout as im just getting steel cut for the floor today so id say i should have photos up in a week or so


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  • Martin Pearson

    Member
    August 3, 2016 at 11:14 am

    Robert, it will depend on a number of different factors like what equipment you have already & if you have plans in the near future to buy any new equipment, what sort of work you mainly do & if you have plans to do any other type of work.
    Depending on the size of equipment you may be limited as to where it will go.
    Are you intending to work solely from the newly built garage/office or are you keeping your other shed ?

    There have been a number of posts on the forum about this sort of thing over the years, one included photos of peoples working spaces, a lot were industrial units but there were also some home based people. Try a search on the forum as there may already be some good info on the site about this.

    I use to work from an industrial unit where I had more space available so can’y help with a more compact lay out personally 😆

  • Robert Neill

    Member
    August 3, 2016 at 12:04 pm

    Thanks Peter and Martin…. I can’t get your photo to open on my phone. Will have to try from my pc when I get home.

    I was also wondering what kind of material I should use on my table for cutting on ? It’s a big table and I had read up about people saying to use a Lino as that works well… So on that basis I was thinking that I could maybe use the vinyl that gets laid on the bus floors. As I work in a car and commercial bodyshop. So I have that stuff to hand. Do you think that would work ok ?

    Thanks

    Robert

  • Hugh Potter

    Member
    August 3, 2016 at 1:31 pm

    I start with a scal drawing of all the major components and a floor plan – easy to do in your sign software.

    make and lock the floor plan with a 1m grid on the floor. make real size blocks for your machinery, mark doors etc. and just play around with the layout.

    DO NOT forget storage, if you’re making a bench then allow storage underneath for vinyl, garments etc. have the bench as big as you can within reason!

    this was a recent floor plan I made before adding the extention to the long thin office, to accomodate our new larger equipment etc.


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  • Robert Neill

    Member
    August 3, 2016 at 1:38 pm

    Ye that’s pretty neat idea Hugh. I will prob give that a go [emoji106]

    Thanks
    Robert

  • Martin Pearson

    Member
    August 3, 2016 at 2:29 pm

    As I work in a car and commercial bodyshop. So I have that stuff to hand. Do you think that would work ok ?

    Take a bit home with you & try it yourself 😆 😆

    Never was a fan of things like Lino on table tops, maybe just me but I found that after a few uses when cutting the blade would find its way into a previous cut line & then follow that line rather than the one I was trying to cut 😆
    Always used glass myself, people will tell you it blunts blades quickly which is true but if you keep a set of scalpels just for bench work I don’t think it costs you to much extra in blades, my last top was an old 6mm toughened glass window that I got from a local double glazing Company so came free of charge 😆 😆

  • Simon Worrall

    Member
    August 3, 2016 at 5:28 pm

    Robert
    I agree with Martin..I use glass, and stainless steel snap off blades do not scratch glass.
    I do have to use a new blade every cut, but I would do that anyway.

  • Hugh Potter

    Member
    August 4, 2016 at 10:06 am

    glass worktop all the way for me. 6mm toughened.

    My new (used) bench is made up of two old 10ft x 3ft school chemisty lab benches, one on wheels, both with cupboards underneath – very handy but I hate the top surface, some kind of very hard plastic or composite and covered in vinyl! As soon as I’ve levelled them 100% there’s a big glass top going to go on!

  • Robert Neill

    Member
    August 4, 2016 at 12:31 pm

    Cheers guys. I have now ordered a sheet of glass for the top [emoji106]

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