When we moved in to our current home we had two outbuildings on the property. One is a 40x60 shop and the other is a 24x24 garage separate from the house. The big shop isn't heated but it's where I set up all my woodworking tools for the first couple of years with plans to finish the two car garage into a dedicated woodshop in the future. Last summer I began working on it. It was unfinished and bare studs with an old bus fuse box. I had an electrician come in and run the service from the panel in the big shed and install a new breaker box inside the garage. From there I wired everything up including a flagpole light for my flagpole outside.
Here's a picture of what I started with:
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As you can see I had a helper. My boy 7 year old Dylan, was a good extra set of hands when needed. After I had the wiring done, I insulated the walls, and hung OSB on the walls and put up white tin on the ceiling for extra reflective light and then painted all the OSB white. The garage is 30 years old but the outside of it is all nicely finished with white vinyl siding, decent windows and a new roof. But other things needed some work. I fixed some places in the block foundation and did a lot of caulking. I hung a new walk in door but had to cut out a small part of the sidewalk outside and poor new before the new door could be hung. I added a new outside light above the door while I was at it and installed a timer for my flagpole light which is wired to the garage box.
The old concrete floor has settled in spots and water would come in under the overhead garage door when it rains from the East so I had a buddy come down and we took a concrete saw to the area under the 16 ft door threshold so we could slope out to the approach on the outside of the building. Then I put on a rain deflector on the bottom of the door itself. The floor may still be uneven all over but atleast the water problem was fixed. Next I filled cracks in the floor and applied a floor epoxy to it. Everything went on beautifully and I went from a dingy, ugly old concrete floor to a beautiful old, uneven floor. LOL
Next I hung my lights and added trim ontop of the block under the walls and painted the block and trim. Once the lights were hot, it was extremely bright in there with everything painted white and with the white ceiling.
Now it was time to decide on the design of the shop. I had outlets all over so I could really choose any design I wanted. Once I decided how I wanted to lay everything out, I began cutting wood for a benchtop. I didn't want any bench legs touching the floor incase water ever got in on the floor and so it'd be easy for sweeping sawdust. So I used 4x4 post miter cut and angled back to the wall so the countertop could hang on the wall. Wanting plenty of counterspace, I put in 13 feet of countertop along one wall with an extra 2 feet along a second wall in the corner. Here's a pic of it being framed up.
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I drew up some plans for a miter saw station and began working on it as well. My current miter saw at the time was a 12in Dewalt but it's not a slider. So I bought a 10in Rigid compound sliding miter saw. Needing extra space for the slider I extended the miter saw station tabletop over 30 inches off of the wall. I dropped the saw down into the middle of the station so boards I'm cutting can lay right across the top of the benchtop as well as the saw. Then I built a dust trap behind it. Here's a pic of the miter saw station going up:
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I install a Kreg fence system along each side of the saw. The station is 7 foot long which left me a little over two feet on either side of the saw. I drilled a 3/8in pilot hole and then installed 1/4in threaded inserts into the fence and the table top so the fence can be bolted down to the top and also be easily removed if needed. The station isn't quite done yet. I still need to add a raised back to it behind the saw and then add some sort of dust hood. If anyone has some great ideas for a dust hood for it please feel free to share. I built in a sloped four inch slot behind the length of the saw that has a catch hole about a foot below in the middle at the bottom connected to a shop-vac. Hopefully someday I'll get a dust collection system for the whole shop but this will have to do for now. Here's a pic of the almost finished project:
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I had a fun little shopping spree for the new woodshop and besides the new Rigid saw I grabbed a rolling Craftsman tool chest three set and one extra bottom chest that can be slid underneath my workbench. After the bench was done, I added pegboard above it and purchased some Gladiator series cabinets from Lowes. I needed a large cabinet for power tools and such. I was able to mount the 3 by 6 foot cabinet above the floor so I can sweep underneath. I added my pipe clamp rack and built a Quickgrip clamp rack to hang on the miter saw station as well. Then I built mobile bases for my band saw, sanding station and drill press. Next I built a 5x3 foot assembly table that would roll right up to my table saw. I included plenty of shelving under the assembly table an added some pegboard to one side and some shelving to the other along with a power strip incase I wheel it out of the garage onto the approach when it's nice outside. Here's the assembly table:
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I have some bolt bins added and a few other small details but still have most of my tools, etc. to bring in yet. I still need to build a mobile base for my jointer and bring it in yet as well. My small air compressor and my grinder/buffer hasn't got moved in yet either. Eventually I plan on adding a lathe and a planer to the shop when money allows it. The only other major things that need done yet are to install a heater in the upper corner of one corner of the shop. I have a gas line right behind the corner of the garage so it'll be easy to run it in. Then after that is done I'll add some blown in insulation above the ceiling and lastly insulate the garage door.
This has gotten a bit long. But thanks to all you guys who have posted along the way. I don't post a lot but read from time to time on here and have gotten some great advise, tips and ideas from all of you. Once I get to working more, hopefully I'll be able to post more and more. If you have any suggestions or ideas of things to add or ways to do something please feel free to share. Here are some pictures of the way it sits as of now. Still a ways to go but it's getting closer and is actually a functional woodshop now.
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Originally Posted by Mike Wilkins
