MachineryLink

Ideas Straight From the Shop

Dan Miller
By  Dan Miller , Progressive Farmer Senior Editor
The shop on the Cummings Farms of Malcom, Iowa, is illuminated with rows of light-emitting diodes (LEDs, which are up to five times more efficient than incandescent lighting and are long lasting. (DTN/The Progressive Farmer photo by Bob Elbert)

DTN/The Progressive Farmer has published many pieces about farm shops. The imagination and innovation that goes into these buildings is impressive. Many designs spring from scraps of paper, even napkins in the months and years before these ideas become formal blueprints and finished buildings.

The modern shop is a key asset on any commercial operation. Here we've compiled a list of design and infrastructure ideas worthy of consideration if you are dreaming about your new shop space.

Bright idea: White steel walls and light gray floor reflect light produced by 35 sets of T5 high-output fluorescent, high bay lighting in the shop built by Joe Nichols in Cadiz, Ky. The low-glare, thin fluorescent tubes cut his lighting costs by up to 50%.

Efficient lighting: Mark Ruff, of Circleville, Ohio, put great effort into lighting his renovated machine shed. "I wanted it like a grocery story. Eliminate the shadows. Create even light," he said. He brought in a consultant who wrote an illumination plan for him. The planner recommended Mark produce his primary light from overhead, T5 fixtures and supplemental lighting from fluorescent lights mounted on the walls. The wall-mounted fixtures eliminate shadows and compensate for the light blocked when the overhead doors are open.

LEDs: The shop built by Cummings Farms of Malcom, Iowa, is illuminated with rows of light-emitting diodes (LEDs). These are up to five times more efficient than incandescent lighting and are long lasting -- 50,000 to 100,000 hours. LEDs emit directional lighting rather than the 360-degree light provided by other bulbs.

Reflection: Ron Mielke, of Harrington, Wash., covered his walls and ceiling with 5/8-inch sheet rock. Taped and painted white, the interior serves as a massive light reflector.

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Geothermal: Geothermal heat pumps reduce energy costs by using the Earth's constant temperature to heat and cool shop spaces. Cummings Farms, Malcom, Iowa, installed a heat pump that uses heat stored in the ground to warm its shop in the winter. The same system removes heat from the shop in the summer. Energy savings should pay for the heat pump system over a period of five to 10 years.

SIPs: Structural Insulated Panels bring a high level of energy efficiency to Steve Carlson's shop built outside Welch, Minn. SIPs sandwich rigid foam insulation between sheets of oriented strand board or plywood. According to Energy Panel Structures, of Graettinger, Iowa, the panels are up to 15 times more airtight than stud walls.

Compressed air: Harrington, Wash., farmer Ron Mielke's RapidAir MaxLine, 3/4-inch compressed air system is easier to install than the inflexible steel gas pipe often used for compressed air systems. MaxLine is two layers of high-density polyethylene sandwiching an aluminum layer. The lines can be mounted on wall surfaces or behind them. A 1-inch line is available for buried applications.

Smart structures: Bill Rosener, of Tahlequah, Okla., extended his shop's roofline beyond the building's outer walls to create an additional 1,100 square feet of overhanging, outside workspace protected from the sun and rain. Haw River, N.C., farmer Kendall Isley built similar, 12-foot overhangs, but he used no posts to support the outer edges of the roof. Rather, the overhangs are supported by the roof's I-beam construction. Isley's overhangs create 1,440 square feet of covered space.

Drainage: Steve Carlson of Welch, Minn., installed an in-floor drainage system in his shop called U-Drain. U-Drain is a single-slot, one-inch wide, pre-engineered floor drain. Liquids drain through the slot into the drain below. Norstar Industries, of Manitoba, Canada, is the manufacturer.

Planning ahead: Bill Schroeder of Reynolds, Ind., mounted a three-ton crane into what appeared to be a corner near an overhead door. Why would he limit the swing of the crane to 90 degrees? Schroeder was only planning ahead. The wall next to the crane was built to temporarily separate his heated space from an adjacent cold storage area. His plan was to one day finish the cold storage area. The expansion project will remove the wall and give the strategically placed crane a full, 180-degrees of swing.

Concrete pour: The White family of McKenzie, Tenn., poured 6,000-square-feet of concrete outside the walls of the farm's new shop. The large apron gave them a large, dry space for chemical handing, maintenance, and power washing.

Two becomes one: Scott Volz's shop outside Blue Earth, Minn., features two overhead doors -- one is 18 feet wide, the other is 22 feet wide. The doors are separated by a steel post that can be swung up and out of the way to create a single opening 40 feet wide.

Footprint planning: Dean Ahlbrecht, of Hector, Minn., set out stakes and caution tape to represent the footprint of the 80- by 105-foot building he was planning to build. He tested various configurations to assure he was leaving adequate space for moving equipment into the building and around his compact farmyard.

Planning big: Vaughn Zacharias, Kathryn, N.D., and his son, Vaughn were drawn to a Morton building that combined the Illinois manufacturer's traditional post-frame wood construction with pre-engineered steel roof trusses. Morton sells it as the Morton Hybrid Building. The open-webbed truss system allowed the Zacharias's to put up a 125-foot wide, clear span building that is 300 feet long. The building has 20 feet of clearance at the doors and is 32 feet high in the center.

Sunlight: Ron Brooks, of Waupaca, Wis., incorporated an idea from one of America's best-known architects, Frank Lloyd Wright, to warm his 8,400-square-foot shop. Known as Wright's 1-2-3 Principle, it describes a passive solar heating benefit from the winter sun's low angle. High on a south-facing, 20-foot wall, Brooks installed a bank of eight, 3-foot-square clerestory windows. They are installed 1 foot below the building's 2-foot overhanging soffit. The shop benefits from solar warming through these windows from mid-September to mid-April. Brooks believes passive solar heating provides about 25% of his heating needs.

(AG)

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