Workshop height

Welcome to LJ’s!!

My workshop is in my garage, and I have 8.5 foot ceilings. I think lower would be difficult for assembly, moving wood around and larger tools (band saw, drill press, etc.)

-- Chip -----------http://www.penmanchip.com-----------------Micah 6:8

Hi Larry,

Mine is about 8 ft. I would like to have at least 12 feet. I find the problem I have is if you are building something tall and have it standing on an assembly bench, it will hit the ceiling in my shop. Also the dust collection system, although I have room in the ceiling, wouldnt take up noticable ceiling height if I had higher ceilings.

-- Wayne - Plymouth MN

I have a garage workshop that has a 8’6” ceiling.

-- Charlie............Only time will tell if it was time well spent.

mine is 8’5” and that seems okay so far-

-- Tony --

Mines 10’ and it works great 4 me.

-- Only the Shadow knows....................

Mine is 7’8” and at times it is a challenge to handle full sheets of plywood or long boards. About a month ago I was getting a bathroom storage cabinet that is 84” high ready for finishing by putting it on a dolly. It was an adventure trying to move it around while keeping it on the dolly since it was so top heavy and dodging the lights. Obviously if I had my wish shop, it would be like John’s and have a 10’ ceiling. But we work with what we are given.

-- Challenges are what make life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful- Joshua Marine

12’ 4 1/2”

-- "Good artists borrow, great artists steal”…..Picasso

Mine is in a garage, with a floor sloped for drainage. The low end is 8’, the high end is 8’ 4”.

I have a canoe that hangs from the ceiling (no good storage for it outside of the shop, YET, and it hangs at 5’ 9” off the floor right between my workbenches. I am 6’ even, and I have to stoop to get around the boat.

That 6’ 4” would be somewhat limiting for handling larger projects, and material, but some creativity, and moving outside when you have to will go a LONG ways…

FWIW, LOML and I keep debating over me moving the shop to an as yet not built dedicated shed / shop. I would rather stay in the garage, and build a smaller shed for storing the lawn & garden, and camping stuff… The sheds we are looking at have 6’ ceilings, which means I barely fit…

-- Please like and subscribe to my YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/c/daves-workshop

mine is 8’. I think the lower the ceiling the harder it is to get good light setup in the shop.

-- Alex

I think you will find most everyone on here makes what they have work.

-- Alex

After working in a garage with 8’ ceilings for many years I built my current shop to my design. It is 20’X40’ and has a “shed” roof with 9’ ceiling in the rear and 14’ in the front. The slope of the roof was made to match the pitch of our near by house roof; 2” in 12”.
That works great for me except the roof collects debris from surrounding trees and with the shallow pitch it has to be frequently cleaned, especially in the fall. I use a leaf blower and the shallow pitch does makes it pretty easy to walk around on. Takes about 20 minutes. The roof material is metal and I have three 2’X6’ sky lights in it to provide lots of light.
Talk about handicaps. There was a period when I used my ex-wife’s garage for a shop (-;

-- Les B, Oregon

about 9’

-- Bob in WW ~ "some old things are lovely, warm still with life ... of the forgotten men who made them." - D.H. Lawrence

I have a stand-alone shop out by my house. It is a 40’ x 50 ’ woodshop, and it has a 9 ft. ceiling height.

-- " There's a better way.....find it"...... Thomas Edison.

Appreciate everyone replying. It seems I might hold a record so far for having the possibly shortest ceiling height for a workshop on here. Close 2nd is dbhost. I think it will be a challenge and require some creative thinking to nagivate and build certain things. As for the lights I’m still working on a good idea for that since in some areas I will potentially lose 4” there. Might put single bulb fluorescent 4’ bulbs in a run on the perimeter of the walls as close to the corners of the wall/ceiling as possible. In front of the conduit and outlet boxes I’ll be running up there.

-- ~Larry Columbus, OH

I do agree with Scott Bryan “But we work with what we are given.” If I had my way I would go a bit larger on the ceiling but my goal is to stay up the existing metal sloping carport to use that as my roof and I am basically build a box underneath it which is my workshop. Box doesn’t sound as pretty for what I am really trying to make it look like though. :)

-- ~Larry Columbus, OH