Matt's Workshop (version 2!)
Well, I outgrew my previous workshop. It was a 24x24 with a rollup door. It was much too crowded to try and juggle woodwork, metal work, and auto repair in one little cramped space. After a couple years of heavy overtime, I was able to build a new shop. This would also house our 3 vehicles. It ended up being 80x24, with 4 parking bays and an extended end for the workshop area. Since bay 4 (part of the shop area) was going to have a car lift, the design of the building was influenced by the needed ceiling space. I opted to build the front wall 14ft and the back wall 12ft and have a single surface roof. This would simplify insulating the shop area and keep costs down. Snow loads in this part of the country are minimal, but design precautions will be made to handle moderate loads if needed. The single surface roof will also make water reclamation an option in the future...
Early in March of 2015, work on the slab began:
This site previously had a house trailer on it, so power and septic were already run. As long as septic is available, might as well a small bathroom.
The slab will mostly be 4” except for where the lift will be – that will be 6”
The slab cost 10K$ (OT $!)
After about 2 months, in May 2015, a local builder took my napkin scribblings and started the framework.
The
main supports are 4” structural tubing supporting 6” C
channel – back-to-back forming quasi I
beams.
The supports are on 12' centers in the parking area (each
bay being 12' wide x 24' deep).
The
shop side (right) centers are at 15'
Skin
going on
Next is the roof and trim – and done
The doors are next. These are panel doors instead of rollup. They seal much better and easier to put openers on.
The building was 40K$ ( no interest loan – Federal perk :-) )
Now the interior work gets rolling.
The shop area will have a loft in it for immediate and short term storage that is semi-convenient to get to. There are also purlins here to build a divider wall that will separate the shop area from the parking area so the shop can be insulated and climate control installed.
Note
the 8” C Channel I beam trick again – this will support
the floor but will also be used to bolster the roof support above
when a support section gets installed.
Here
is the divider wall going up:
The next step involved attaching 1x4 slats to the inside structure so insulation and OSB walls can be attached. On the ceiling is 1/8” pressboard.
Weaving the insulation into the ceiling was the worst part!!
Ceiling painted white, and wiring / loft ceiling installed. All lighting will be 12V LEDs because that's how I roll
To facilitated moving heavy things to and from the loft, I built a hoist swivel
Next came the painting the walls and install some lighting
I
also built a lighting control box next to the entrance. It has a
motion activated light above it as well.
The dimmers are touch controls.
The next step was to get the car lift set up and installed
After setup then tested it out
I found
some Stanley Vidmar cabinets on Craigslist down in the Austin area –
snatched them up cheap!
Next, got them sanded and painted – turned out nice!
Novemebr
2015, took off some time to get the floor done and move stuff in!
I opted for Vinyl Composition Tile. It's pretty tough stuff, and will hopefully compel me to maintain order and a degree of clean in the new shop. Got the adhesive down first – on half the floor, then the tile.
The next day, got the rest put down. This area is about 1100 sf.
The tiles were off-shade at times – even in the same box. Meh, not really a big deal. Besides,
I put one down completely wrong – different color AND the “grain” going the opposite way. This way I won't take the floor too seriously. After all, it IS a workshop!
Next, got it sealed and waxed.
A (slightly distorted!) panoramic:
Starting to
get some stuff moved in. The new metal cabinets were on sale at
Lowes – so I picked some up.
You
can see the need for a better way up to the loft. I will be building
a nice not-in-the-way ramp that will raise up with an electric winch.
Note my baby CNC machine. Under that guide is where the 4x8 woodworking table will go.
Cctv
cameras waiting to go in
More to come!