dear fellow ww's
I finally got a digital camera and thought that I would show you all some photos of my shop. Here are a couple of thoughts with regard to these photos.
1. When I began planning to build my shop the internet was just getting going, but what ideas I could find on the the internet I tried to use them in building my shop. I hope that by taking a look at these pictures, that some of you will also be able to take advantage of that research.
2. Although I have a sense of pride in my work, I really do try to temper it with a healthy dose of humility. I hope that I do not come across as "bragging", because that is really not what I want to do.
3. I wanted to present these photos in installments, not to drag the whole thing out, but to focus attention on particular aspects of design or construction.
Ok now for the photos.
The shop design is based upon research on 18th century english style shop/barns ( I live in an 18th century house in a historic district so I wanted it to sort of fit in) . They tended to be characterized by the "side door" style and hay lofts on either side of the door. The side additions are intentional, because as time would go by a "mature barn" would have had those additions. The brick chimeny is a feature from barns or shops that would have had blacksmith type of work going on. The overall size of the shop is 28X38 with a 18X18 second floor on the right side of the main door. There is a clear span the entire 28' length of the shop ( I had to use 1 steel beam that is 6" x 18" x 28 feet )
The walls are 10' high which was traditional and also very functional for a wood shop that has to handle 8' stock. The windows are traditional 12 lite 6x8 fixed windows that are hinged at the top for air flow even in the rain.
The building is built around a traditional post and beam type mortice and tenon construction. For the most part all the timbers are held together by riven oak pegs and a judiciouos use of 12" spikes. The frame is oak and the siding is hemlock and EWP. It is an insulated building built with a wrap and strap technique.
My son and I cut most the trees down and sawed them up on our saw mill which is located on my brothers property 30 miles away ( I did end up buying some timbers in the end- a couple were just too big for the trees we had available - 2 needed to be 12"x6" x 20 feet . I did the design based upon lots of books on timberframing. All the oak beams are hand planed and all the mortices and tenons cut with hand tools and some power tools. As a side note my son ( now 22 ) knows how to work with his hands.
The building has an insullated roof as well as side walls. The roof is traditional western red cedar. This presented a problem with having to vent the underside of the purlins that the cedar is nailed down to. The chimeny is built from reclamed brick that is about 200 years old. The doors are all 4'x8' or 5'x9' and 6" thick ! The doors swing on actual reclamed 18th and 19th century strap hinges on 1" pintels. We needed a car jack to lift the doors into place.
The shop has an underground 3 phase 400 amp capacity feed to it. I only installed a 200 amp 44 circuit load center though; thought that was enough. Having the 3 phase was one of the best things I did.
One the down side, I wish I had made it bigger !! That is why there is another building next to it where I store my lumber.
well enough for now.
Thanks for looking and hope you get some ideas for those of you who are planning on building future shops. Ask questions and if I can help let me know.
enjoy
lou
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