Finishing Room

[Matt Meiser]

I'm working on getting ready to build a dedicated finishing room in my shop. I've got a roughly 16x9 area to work with. I'd like to end up with essentially a self-contained finishing room with space to a good size project (for example a book case or an entertainment center and space for fold-out drying racks when spraying smaller items like doors and drawer fronts. I'd also like to put a 5' run of cabinets in there that I use for mixing and storing finishing supplies equipment.

Floor will be wood (plywood or OSB), walls and ceiling probably drywall. The door would be a double door, 5' wide. Unfortunately its going to be about an 8" step up from the rest of my shop due to the joists for the floor. I can't excavate due to concerns with the "pit" filling with water during the wet season. Concrete would work but is out of the budget. I'll have a ramp outside the double doors to make moving things in and out easier. I'm debating on making the ramp long and removable or shorter and permanent. I really only anticipate needing it on the heaviest projects so I'll probably go the removable route.

I'd move my exhaust fan into here and build a new filter box over it. Fresh air would be drawn from my shop through a stack of filters in the wall.

Is this too much to expect from the space?

[Mitchell Andrus]

Bigger than mine.

I'd make it possible to choose to draw fresh air from outside also as long as you're at it. In the winter, a mix of out/inside air will save some heated air for the humans. It'll be great to stain/finish and keep the stink out of the rest of the shop.
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[Jim O'Dell]

I dunno...sounds pretty slick to me. I've got a space that is 12 X 14 that will eventually be my finishing room. I'll be limited to hand finishing with mostly water based finishes. I have a walk in door to the back yard, and a 6' wide opening for a double or french door back to the shop. (No doors for it yet) I love your idea about fold down shelves for smaller objects. Consider that stolen.I plan to have some sort of way to hang objects like doors or drawers. We'll see if that works out or not.
You have the cabinets located right where I would have put them, since the short wall by the door will be pretty much useless for anything else. You might make the cabinet mobile so you could turn it where it sticks out over the one door so if you are working on a 4 X 8 book shelf you can have enough room to walk around it laying on it's back.
Other than that, I'd go for it! Jim.

[Matt Meiser]

Mitchell--I thought about the outside air draw but it takes valuable wall space by the drying racks or ends up being too close to the fan to get any cross ventilation. That wall and the back wall adjacent to the fan are the outside walls.

I forgot to mention that the back wall will eventually have a lean-to on the other side of it to provide some protection for my tractor implements and stuff like that so the fan needs to go in the side wall.

Jim, I'm stealing the folding drying racks from someone else I know, so feel free to make them your own.

Making that cabinet mobile is a great idea--I'll have to loo and see how feasible it is--probably just make a 2x4 base with casters and set them on that.

[Van Huskey]

Mitchell--I thought about the outside air draw but it takes valuable wall space by the drying racks or ends up being too close to the fan to get any cross ventilation. That wall and the back wall adjacent to the fan are the outside walls.

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Why not vent it in though the ceiling (assuming there is attic above), either from the attic or through duct from the outside.

[David Prince]

I find it hard to believe that concrete is out of your budget. You need to put in a footing of some sort for the walls. Is the rest of your shop slab on grade or frost footing? The floor joists and floor sheeting will cost you. 3/4 t&g isn't cheap. I would stay away from OSB on the floor if it is unprotected. You want to watch out for potential rot issues on your outside walls if your framing is too close to grade without treated lumber.

I know people have their complaints about concrete, but it will last. And, in this application it would appear to be the best product for your floor. You can always add mats at a later date for your comfort.

[Matt Meiser]

The plan is to basically build a deck and most of the posts are existing as part of the pole barn structure.

[Matt Meiser]

Well, this project is finally getting revived. As long as the weather cooperates I will be getting concrete poured after all. We're putting concrete in the entire 16x30 unfinished area of the shop. One big advantage is that the floor will now be on the same level as the rest of the shop.

I'll probably do what I accidentally did on part of my shop floor and coat it with oil-based poly after a few months in the finishing room. That will make it easy to clean without investing in something like epoxy that will get messed up over time anyway.

I'm also considering moving my welding equipment out to the unheated part of the shop and moving my wood storage into the shop. The disadvantages of these two ideas are that I'll have to run more power out there, but the advantage will be that the mess will be out there and I won't have to worry about grinding dust contaminating woodwoorking projects, supplies, and equipment.

[Dick Strauss]

Matt,
Call me and I'll put you in touch with my buddy. He used to work at Ford in the trim painting area and knows a thing or two about finishes. He has a finishing room in his basement and sprays stuff for me every once in a while. I'm sure he could give you a few pointers in getting your system set up properly.

Take care,
Dick

[Matt Meiser]

I just might take you up on that. I've looked at a couple spray rooms built by members of my club but it couldn't hurt to see more.

Got started on floor today. They have to excavate about 4" of dirt/gravel the previous owner had put in out of the space before pouring the slab so it will be level with the existing one. Plan is to pour tomorrow as long as its not raining too hard. I'm getting a bit of a deal even though the contractor is busy because mine is under cover so they can actually work this week despite the forecast.

I'm not going with any foam under the slab as the existing slab doesn't have it and the extra excavation and materials would have driven the cost up.

IMAG0163.jpg

[Rob Cunningham]

Matt,
I have a concrete floor in my finishing room. To keep it from getting all covered in overspray, I use a heavy duty painters drop cloth similar to this,
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1...atalogId=10053
You don't say what size fan you are planing to use, but you may want to build a bigger filter box to get more even air flow rather than a wind tunnel effect. It's also best if your intake and exhaust are in line with each other, however my setup is like yours and works fine. I thought I had a picture of my filter box setup but I can't find it. I'll look at home.

[Art Mulder]

Looks like fun, looking forward to the photos.

I'm also considering moving my welding equipment out to the unheated part of the shop and moving my wood storage into the shop.

when you say the unheated part, do you mean the rest of that back area getting the new concrete? I thought that was tractor / yard-tool parking?

[Matt Meiser]

Looks like fun, looking forward to the photos.

when you say the unheated part, do you mean the rest of that back area getting the new concrete? I thought that was tractor / yard-tool parking?

Yes, that's what I mean. The tractor and our Kawasaki Mule (think monster golf cart with a bed) live back there, but I'd be able to pull them outside easily enough.

After many inches of rain today, I'm guessing this pour isn't happening tomorrow. Last time I looked almost the whole area had standing water in it.

[Art Mulder]

After many inches of rain today, I'm guessing this pour isn't happening tomorrow. Last time I looked almost the whole area had standing water in it.

Us too, sigh, us too. I heard the other day that they are forecasting an extra hot summer... but when I look at all this rain happening this spring that is hard to accept. Oh well!

But back on topic... I would agree with the wood storage. Nice to keep it close at hand and in conditioned space. I've never welded so I don't know how much of a mess that makes. Could you put up a big shower curtain like some of our friends with lathe do to close off sections of the shop? Of course I'd think you could do that with finishing space also?

[Matt Meiser]

Yep, not getting poured today or tomorrow. Hopefully if it stays dry over the weekend it will dry out enough to pour Tuesday morning. I feel bad for the contractor because he gave me a break on price thinking they'd be able to do this one in the rain.

Welding--there's two problems. First is there's sparks so I always thoroughly clean the shop before doing any welding. Second is dust from grinding which is basically metallic dust that gets everywhere.