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This is a sketchup view of my proposed shop's South wall.  Wall shown is 48' long, end walls are 32'.  12' ceiling.  

Seven small windows (in blue) are 22"x 64", two on ends are 32" x 72".  Sills are 42" above the floor.  North wall has 5 small windows and one 60"x 66" big window. (All windows are double insulated) 

Yeah, I like light.

Do you think I'm giving up too  much wall (shelf) space for the windows?

Personally, yes.  I like windows and natural light as well, but I have a small basement shop and wall space is more valuable to me than the windows.  If your ceilings are high enough, could you put horizontal windows up near the ceiling to allow natural light, but not consume so much wall space?

The entire rear of my house (east facing) is floor to ceiling glass (almost).  The windows start just above the baseboard heaters (about 8") and end about 8 to 10 inches from the ceiling (probably because of the header).  

The ranch house is 100 feet long.  If we subtract the two car garage (about 30 feet) there is 70 feet of wall.

Of that 18 feet is solid wall.  And 10 feet is glass over the kitchen counter.  

Because it is east facing I get a tremendous amount of heat gain before noon on sunny days.  That would not be the case with a south facing wall.

I would favor tightly grouping the windows and allowing larger areas of solid wall.  This allows some flexibility in arranging furniture.   Also, if my finances ever allow it, I will replace one 12 foot section of window with a single sliding door.  Something I could not do if the house did not feature solid blanks of  glass and solid blanks of wall.

There is some whole Indian philosophy on south windows.  You could take a look at that, though it could all be nonsense.

https://www.google.com/search?q=vastu+no...e&ie=UTF-8

The windows fit between the studs.  Horizontal would mean lots of header building, etc.

But I will look at putting them closer together.

Loosing too much wall space, . Remove all the smaller width ones and put another wider one in the middle.

Then, since you have 12' walls, put more windows in up higher.

(12-28-2017, 03:21 PM)Wild Turkey Wrote: [ -> ]The windows fit between the studs.  Horizontal would mean lots of header building, etc.

But I will look at putting them closer together.

I took a second look at your drawing.  Are you proposing running 12" wide windows to fit between 14" o.c. studs?

It is probably cheaper and better looking to use cripple studs and a header and going with a much wider window.  Also, I favor extra tall windows where ever it is feasible.  They let in lots more light.

http://www.finehomebuilding.com/2001/03/...ramed-wall

I should mention that I have no neighbors behind my house (and never will) so privacy is not a concern.  All that glass would be a concern if there is a privacy issue.

Where I live, the zoning has no restrictions on windows to the front or rear of the house, but the windows that face an adjacent house (to the left or right of the house) may not come below 5 feet. 

Basically they are forcing us to have homes that are difficult to peek into.  Not a bad plan.  But it makes cross ventilation in rooms minimal.  I added a whole house attic fan to deal with that issue.

Also with the floor to ceiling glass I came to the back door and saw my cat on his hind legs with his front paws against the glass.  On the other side of the glass a raccoon was standing on his hind legs with his front paws against the glass.  Only the glass separated the two.  They were paw to paw and nose to nose.  

Another disadvantage.

And a red-tailed hawk landed on my deck railing and was doing the whole voyeurism thing.  (The family camped out in my back yard for an entire summer).

Another disadvantage.

(12-28-2017, 03:21 PM)Wild Turkey Wrote: [ -> ]The windows fit between the studs.  Horizontal would mean lots of header building, etc.

But I will look at putting them closer together.

Another vote for putting them adjoining, or using bigger windows with wall space between them; you get the same light but have wall space.

(12-28-2017, 04:03 PM)Cooler Wrote: [ -> ]I took a second look at your drawing.  Are you proposing running 12" wide windows to fit between 14" o.c. studs?

22" windows inside 24" OC 6" studs.
Only the two end windows need the studs moved.

Windows overlook a flood plain; no people for nearly a mile.

I'd use 3 of the smaller windows, (either side and center and reclaim the wall space. Put 6 6" glass blocks, (~18" wide), above the height of the windows between every stud. That high up you won't be planning to look out and the glass blocks are good insulation and a wall of natural light 12" high.

To me your shop will be huge and I cannot relate.  Natural light is great, but oh how I would love to have more wall space!  As previously suggested, raise the windows and create as much wall space as possible.