New Studio

[Kimbell]

I am currently in the process of building a new studio and was hoping for some input from all of you out there. The building is 12x20 with a half loft on one end and valted ceilings on the other end over where the bench and exhaust hood will be.

1 - I am going to be building a work bench across the back wall to span the full 12' and will be building it out of 2x6's,1/2'' plywood and a sheet of 1/2'' Durock(cement board). However I am unsure as to what type of media to finish it off. I am wanting it to have a nice finished profesional look so leaving it with just the Durock (which is the way my current studio is set up) is out of the question.
2 - I am also planning on having an exhaust hood build, or building one myself, to span the entire 12' over the bench but have not decided as to what type of fan system to go with, ie. squirrel cage, inline fan type or other. I am thinking 8'' ducting vented out the top or back of the hood should suffice but again not 100% on that one. Mabey multiple 8'', one for each torch set up i plan on having on that bench..?
3 - I will also be puting an older Litton model F lathe in there against a side wall close to the bench work station and was unsure about addition venting or if the main hood would be enough. I realize that a simple smoke test may tell me once everything is complete but i would rather plan for it now so that there will be no modification needed once it is finished off inside.
4 - The last thing (at the moment) that i am unsure of is the finished floor material. Currently there is 3/4'' plywood and i have 1.5''(max) of total depth to fill. I have been thinking to go with a layer of 1/2'' Durock and then possibly a live layer of high density self leveling concrete and then stain it after( to give it that high end look). On the other hand some sort of granite or stone tile may be just as costly and still give me a nice "fire resistant" finished look.

Thanks in advance to anyone and everyone who has any input in any of these catagories.

[May Fern]

Congrats on your new studio/shop!
What about tiling the wall under the hood? That should hold up to any heat or glass that gets it.
As for the vent system, I'd probably go w/a fan for each torch station. We recently built a new vent system, one 6' bench, 7' hood, for 2 torch stations. We have return air coming in at the source (ducted in far away from the fan so we're getting good, clean air in while the bad is vented out), now that it's done, I almost wish I would have gone with 2 smaller fans instead of one huge one. This one is good!! Don't get me wrong, but it will suck all the heat out of the shop in a matter of an hour or 2, then we're freezing again. ;) I'm not about to ask the better half to rework it at this point. When and if I ever get my oxycons back and am working alone, I'll probably block off the 2nd station a bit so there's not as much air pulling from the entire bench, maybe it'll be warmer in here.
As for your floor, if you really want it to look nice, go w/some kind of tile or stone. I just have sealed concrete. When we built this shop, the bob (husband) insisted I should have something "nice". I didn't want anything I had to worry about scratching, cleaning, regrouted, etc. I knew what I was going to be doing in here and didn't want anything I had to worry about keeping clean and nice. This is a working studio. If a customer comes in, they might catch me at my worst. I don't care. For me, it's about function over fashion.
As for your lathe, I'll leave that ? to someone else w/more experience to answer.
My shop is 24x16 and if I had to do it over again, I'd build it about 3 times as big. Keep in mind, I also do stained and fused glass so I might have more going on in my shop than you do. I'd love to add a hot shop on at some point in time, but being in the city limits, there are rules and according to them, we're already over our allotted square footage for a secondary building. I was told we could pay for and apply for a variance, but there's a 99% chance we would be denied. o.O
If you don't mind some advice from one who has been there, put in more outlets than you think you'll ever need. Put in some 220s too, even if you don't need them now. You don't know what the future is going to hold for you. I started with one, added another one when I got my huge kiln, but wish I had the option of moving my 2nd kiln to a different spot. Can't do that w/o adding in another 220 so it has to live where it is for now.
Also, put everything you can on wheels. Makes moving stuff around a lot easier. It's easy to say "this is where I'll want that", but as many times as I've had to shuffle crap around in here to make room for more equipment, more storage, more kilns, etc., the bob knows he can't die until everything I have is on wheels. ;)
Best of luck on your new shop!!

[Kimbell]

Thanks for the input May Fern. What you said about the hood sucking the heat out of the shop hadn't really occured to me as my current setup location is in an extremely hot boiler room which tends to be a bit too hot most times. I live in Alaska and sucking all of the heat out of the building that fast or faster would be no good as it is , at least in winter, fairly cold out. after looking at my space again today I agree that two fans, one for each station, might be the way to go.
Ohh and about the advice on the electrical i would have to agree. I was originally just planning on 1 220 outlet and 6 110 outlets but when i started wiring it(with my jouneyman electrician brother-in-law) i realized that overkill on that would be much easier and cheaper to do before we close the walls up so i ended up running 3 220 outlets and 12 110 outlets as well as having a dedicated line to power an underhood lighting system.
Wheels! - wheels is an excellent idea. My lathe is on wheels as the bench it is mounted to is extremely heavy but I will definetly be adding some to the kiln table and my main work bench. Thanks!

[siteadreo]

try applying color to a pointed cone,or even a length

[May Fern]

Glad I could help!! Sounds like you have some good electrical stuff going on there. :)

[Kimbell]

Anyone have an input of the lathe venthilation?