I am in the design stage of planning to build myself a workshop, something around 20 feet by 24 feet.

In the past I've used Anim8or 3D Modeler (http://www.anim8or.com/) to do things like this. It's possible but very laborious, however pretty simplistic.

I would like to find another software more in line with what one would use for laying out the studs etc in a house, just not with all the other features that would come with house construction (HVAC, wiring, plumbing etc.)

Any ideas?

Cheap is good, free is better

What you want is CAD?

I've been out of the loop for a long time so I don't know what's out there now, but I would start by searching "Free AutoCAD clone". There was a good one from the makers of Solidworks? but 2D only (I think).

Yes and no.

With a search like "Free AutoCAD Clone" I find a lot of CAD programs that are made to create anything from a simple right angle bracket to a complete jet engine. I don't want "all that"

What I want may not exist. Something that just allows me to layout 2x4 stud walls easily, something specifically for stick built lumber projects with little or no bells and whistles.

You might want to look for "SketchUp"

Home site:
SketchUp Woodwork





Red

Yeah, I was hoping for something simpler than SketchUp and more specialized toward lumber construction but apparently there isn't such a beast.

Thanks, SketchUp may have to suffice. I've played with it in the past and some of the controls are a bit non intuitive for me.

I recommend joining up over at the Sketchucation forums ( http://sketchucation.com/forums/index.php ) we're a nice helpful bunch over there.

Got ya. I won't try to talk you into CAD but just show you the simplest of three AutoCAD projects I've done for my home in recent years. My parent's ~900 sq. ft. connecting apartment was a lot more complicated, now wrapping up a 280 sq. ft. cedar interior sunroom overlooking the pond (installing doors after so many windows).

The first project was a 20'x40' shed (we call it the "barn"), constructed totally by my father and I except concrete foundation...

EDIT: I know I have a compulsion for detail, sometimes a good thing, sometimes not.

20' wall with studs on 16" centers is 15 studs.
24' wall with studs on 16" centers is 18 studs.

There's a lot more to it than that...

For example, building walls...



You want to have the fewest top/bottom plate seams (longest runs) but you don't want the wall to be so heavy that you (and maybe another person) can't comfortably stand it up, level and brace it. This is what the above picture shows, the different colors represent panels that we built flat on the slab and then connected as we went. You can see that none of my plate seams line up (a good thing).

Also, wall anchoring. It's nice to show the concrete people where you want the anchors to be (they know how far from the edge of slab to go, but not where the studs will be), Especially with doorway openings, it's easier to place them correctly in wet cement than to add then later (drilling and filling) or remove them (cutting large bolts).

Planning it out in such excruciating detail takes the guesswork out of it, including *how* to build it, your exact bill of materials and so forth.

And *especially* with metal roofing where you might have no margin of error, depending on style. The roof on my shed had to be perfect (ribs overlap at 12" for last panel adjustments) at the start to fall out correctly.

Yep.

Sure is, but it's a fact that buildings in the UK have the studs on 16" centres and its been that way for hundreds of years. Recently we moved to 400mm (15 3/4") centres.

Yeah, joists are usually 16" O.C. as well. You may notice that even my rafters are 16" O.C. (vs. the standard 24"). We didn't mind using a little extra lumber to make it easier with nailing each rafter (w/bird mouth cut at top plate) to a joist, rather than toe-nailing every two-out-of-three rafters with no other support. Also, I don't know what roof loads are required in South Carolina but in Louisiana, we don't have to worry about excessive ice/snow accumulation.

EDIT: I'm realizing my pics are from early CAD drawings (roll-up door opening way too large, made smaller in final design/construction), not showing two windows on back wall facing pond, nor cupola with large weather vane.