New Alaska shop

[Byron Chastain]

Very nice!!

[Gary Pennington]

Great looking shop. -70 is wicked cold so you must have frost driven deeply into the ground. We're in Maine where we normally get 60-100 inches of snow every winter. A few years back, we had almost no snow and a VERY cold (for us) winter. Temps were so cold that many peoples drain filelds froze due to the lack of snow to insulate the ground from the cold. With such cold winters in Alaska, how do you dispose of waste water?

[Jason Fastenau]

I've got a Toyostove OM 180 on demand oil heater running the floor heat. Last winter I used about 100 gallons of fuel oil from when I got the heater running to mid-summer. Not too bad considering I open the garage door and flush all the heat out at least twice a day.

I'll include some heater shots when I get back as well.

[Jason Fastenau]

Here are some inside shots:

The floor heat is running off of a on demand water heater. I used a glycol solution that should be burst-proof down to -70 or so to help me sleep easier if I'm out of town for extended periods in the winter:



Here are a few shots of the inside. (I know it's a disorganized mess... the next big project is building better storage, racks, etc., and generally planning out the organization and flow of the workspace.)





On the electrical, I pulled everything in conduit to avoid breaking the vapor barrier any more than necessary. Every wall has its own 20A breaker, with the first outlet in the run being a GFCI, and duplex outlets every 4 feet. The lights and garage door share a breaker, and the heating system has it's own 15A breaker.

I also pulled two 220 circuits with 2 outlets on each run using 8 gauge wire, (my knuckles will be forever scarred from rapid contact with sharp junction box edges.. that stuff is hard to pull!). I know the wire is over-sized for what I'll probably ever need, but if I do need to exceed 30 amps in the future, the capacity is there with the change of a breaker and outlet. For the moment they just have 20 amp breakers.

Here is a shot of the outside finished with trim paint and stain/seal:



Now the big challenge is figuring out how to best set up the right side of the building to have a decent work-space. I'm thinking I'm going to put as much stuff as I can on mobile bases for now. Eventually I'd like to build in storage on the left next to where I park. I should have enough room to put in a wide enough workbench to mount sanders, grinders, etc., along that wall, opening up a lot more space on the right.

[Kirk Miller]

Jason, Looks like a nice setup so far. I have a shop that just got finished in Eagle River AK. It is attached to my Garage that is attached to the house. I can work in Flip Flops & Tank Tops Year around......lol I am working on designing the workbench's, and where all the equipment will go. It is all full of household goods untill the house is finished. I will be a hermit once the house is done. Good luck and keep us posted

[Brodie Brickey]

Jason,

Here's something you might be interested in for the future:
http://www.arttec.net/Solar/BarnHeat.html

Marsden up in Maine converted a barn to a work shop and heats primarily with solar. He's got a pretty detailed process laid out along with lessons learned after a couple years. Congrats on the new shop, wish mine was as large and spacious.