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Keeping it simple

By Lesa Teer

FARM SHOP—Adam Baldwin built his sturcture for dual purposes, to warehouse seed and serve as a farm shop. (JOurnal photo by Lesa Teer.)

After buying a 1950s farmstead outside of McPherson, Kan., Adam Baldwin, a farmer and seed salesman, knew he needed to find space to build a farm shop that would serve all of his needs.

"It's a pretty run-of-the-mill shop, really," Baldwin said. While he certainly doesn't brag about it, Baldwin's shop is indeed special as it is practical, fits his needs and offers room for growth.

Room to grow

When deciding on the dimensions and features of his farm shop, Baldwin made sure he not only catered to his current needs, but those of the future as well.

"When the guys in the 70s built their 60 x 40s, they though that was just huge and that they'd never build equipment bigger than that," Baldwin said. "Now, I have neighbors that can't get hardly any (equipment) in those sheds."

Baldwin decided on a 50' x 70' structure with 17 1/2' sidewalls and a 20' x 30' lean-to on the south side. The lean-to interior is currently under construction and will soon be an office for his seed business.

"I built it to be dual purpose, for seed and a shop, so when seed is in here one end becomes a warehouse and the other end is always a shop space," Baldwin said. "I always figured if I outgrow it with seed I could always build a non-insulated seed shed."

A flexible space

While the shop initially seemed huge, Baldwin said space does get a little tight once there is a combine inside. To help combat this problem, he tried to keep the space wide open and moveable.

"I don't have too much stuff actually anchored down, it's either on wheels or moveable," Baldwin said.

The flexibility and movability of the shop space helps things flow smoothly when space does get a little tight.

"You can be working on two things at once in it pretty easy--which isn't always good, but you can have two different projects going," Baldwin said.

Baldwin has purchased the majority of his shop equipment at auctions. Several rolling tool cabinets, tables and even a heavy-duty plastic cart he bought at a restaurant equipment auction ease the hassle of working around large machinery.

Even if a shop has plenty of space to move equipment around, it doesn't do much good if an outlet is out of reach. Baldwin made sure that there were plenty of electrical outlets lining the walls and even made electric for his welder available on both ends of the shop.

Equally as important as availability of electricity is the availability of light, Baldwin said. Initially, he had planned to only have 12 overhead lights in his shop but his electrician decided to put in 15 lights--it ended up making a big difference.

"The electrician didn't even ask me, I just came out here and he had put up three more," Baldwin said. "He just said he didn't think I'd be happy. I don't know if I would've been or not but I don't think you can have too much light."

A place for everything

Of course, your shop can be set up to offer you maximum convenience when working, but that doesn't help much unless you can find all of the tools you need. When it comes to keeping things organized, Baldwin uses several ways to make finding things easier.

For starters, each area of the shop is designated for one purpose--be it seeds, metal work, smaller tools, office space or equipment. Baldwin said that, while he wouldn't mind having an extra 10 feet or so, if the dimensions were much bigger it would be a lot of ground to cover when moving around the shop.

"I think that shelving is a big deal and having appropriate-sized shelving helps in trying to find ways to avoid the clutter," Baldwin said. "And don't be afraid to throw stuff away."

Baldwin uses pallet racks as shelving to keep larger items organized. "You can set that storage up to the height you want," Baldwin said. "If I didn't have seed I would just have lined both sides with pallet racks."

For the smaller items, Baldwin uses a long workbench and a large pegboard to help keep track of tools.

"The nice thing about a peg board is that you can look up there and say 'Hey, that's missing' and know to look for it," Baldwin said. "You can keep a little better track of them that way, I think."

In the future, Baldwin plans to incorporate additional storage into this space. "I've always wanted to put some sort of storage area above the workplace," Baldwin said.

When his office is finished, he plans on having overhead storage that is accessible from a door in the office attic as well as from a catwalk over the workbench.

Combatting the cold

When building his shop, Baldwin knew that he wanted to incorporate a full concrete floor and insulated walls in order for the building to be a year-round shop.

Baldwin got his concrete floor and insulation but ran into a difficult decision when it came to how to heat the space.

"We're not out here working every day in the winter," Baldwin said. "It didn't make a lot of sense to me to have heat in the floor, keeping it warm all of the time, when I could come out and turn the heater on an hour before I was going to be out here and have it heated up 15 degrees."

One overhead radiant heater currently hangs in the shop and ceiling fans aid in keeping the shop warm as they push the warmer air down.

"In the summer the fans can create a little wind in here, but the main thing they do is they push the heat down and get it circulating pretty good," Baldwin said. "I think it makes the heaters a lot more effective."

While his current set-up does a good job of heating and cooling the area, Baldwin said that he wouldn't mind adding a radiant heater on the other side of the shop and an exhaust fan to draw out warm air during the summer time.

Wish list

Overall, Baldwin is satisfied with his farm shop as it fits the needs at the top of his priority list. However, he encountered problems with a couple of things that he had originally wanted to add to his shop.

"I wish I would have built a concrete pad out in front of it but with the way it would drain it was going to be an issue," Baldwin said. "I also would've liked to have had plumbing in here but with the way my sewage system is there wasn't a good way to tie into it without building a stand-alone system."

Advice

For anyone building or remodeling their farm shop, Baldwin has a couple pieces of advice. First of all, don't skimp on lights or electric outlets, as both will make working in the shop much easier. Decide if a shop or a shed would better fit your needs--do you need an insulated four-walled structure or would you be OK with an open three-walled structure? Think about the size of your equipment when determining the size and clearance for your shop and allow extra room for if you upgrade to bigger equipment. Also, determine how big of a mechanic you're going to be when planning your space--if you plan to pull a combine inside make sure you'll have enough room to work around it.

Most of all, there is one thing that Baldwin incorporated into his shop that he could not live without--a forklift.

"I'd say if a guy is looking to build a shed, I'd recommend to throw a forklift in with it," Baldwin said. "Until you have one, you don't realize how much you need one--especially if you do your own spraying. Guys can use forks on loaders or forks on skid steers but it's not the same, they can't lift as much and they're not as agile."

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