Hello everyone … I’m fairly new to Sawmill Creek, I’ve been reading posts for a while, but have not created any posts until now. Earlier this year I retired and I’m now building a standalone woodshop … a retirement gift to myself. I’m a hobbyist, I don’t give a hoot about woodworking as income. Family and friends have all asked what I’m planning to make and generally I paraphrase someone I saw on YouTube “… I’m going to MAKE myself happy!” Hopefully, everyone can identify with my motivation and goals.
It would be helpful for me and I thought perhaps interesting to others if I show my concept and some photos of the shop building that we just completed. I’m starting out with a clean slate, I’m interested in comments and suggestions from folks that have lived through a project of this kind and might be willing to pass on some of what they learned. I’ve spent the past 18-24 months collecting tools and equipment, some are new, but most are used from Craigslist and a local used tool dealer.
The shop is 20’x20’ in plan with an 8’-6” ceiling height. I know it should have been bigger, bigger is always better, but our local building regulations had a hand with that decision and budget took care of the rest. The shell was built onsite by a local Amish contractor to meet my design concept. The enclosed photos should help illustrate where we stand to date.
Early on, during the design, I struggled to pick between a concrete slab on grade or raised wood floor deck. In the end, I picked wood because … 1) I think it will be easier on my feet, and 2) it was a better fit with the budget. The floor system as constructed consists of pressure treated 4x4’s at 30” o.c. with pressure treated 2x4’s at 12” o.c., then a layer of pressure treated 5/8” plywood topped by a second layer of 5/8” A/C ply. The contractor calls this a ‘garage’ floor and I must say it’s very solid. I could have saved around $2,000 if I eliminated the wood floor, but it would have cost around $6000 to have a concrete slab with 36” foundation wall poured … so, the wood floor won.
The interior fit-out is all mine and currently thinking about the following approach:
- I’m planning to paint the plywood floor with a porch and deck enamel. I would like to use something like Rust-oleum’s garage floor epoxy with chips and clear top coat, but their literature says it’s for concrete floors only.
- I’ll insulate the walls and bottom chord of the roof trusses with fiberglass batts. Windows are dual glazed and the entry doors are insulated steel. For a shop, it should have fairly good thermal performance.
- I purchased a 12,000 BTU through wall package heat pump which I’ve located under the windows as shown in the concept model and photos. The unit will have a wall mounted programmable stat and I’m planning to keep the shop minimally heated and cooled during off hours to protect equipment, stored material, paints, finishes, etc.
- I’m thinking I’ll cover the walls with ½” OSB and the ceiling with either ‘Homasote’ cellulose fiber board or a high-density fiberboard. Both products are pre-finished white; the fiberboard has an acrylic finish and it’s available at Home Depot. So far I haven’t been able to source the Homasote material, not sure if it’s still available or not. Since I’m doing the interior fit-out alone I’m thinking a prefinished board will be easier to install and quicker to complete. If the budget cooperates, I’ll shoot for a B/C grade ply in lieu of OSB.
- I have an electrical contractor and we’re planning to install a 100A sub-panel which he will feed from the house main panel. I’ll have 110/220-1φ phase, no 3φ power available.
- We’ll be installing outlets at 42” above the floor and roughly 4-5’ intervals around the perimeter and all circuits will be GFCI protected.
- I’m thinking about using 2 tube x 4 foot T8 fixtures, 3 rows with 3 fixtures in each. It’s probably more lighting than I need, but I figure it can’t hurt. Again, budget is a consideration, LED’s would be nice, but that at least twice the cost of T8’s.
I’ve enclosed some JPG’s showing a 3D concept model and photos of the actual building shell as it stands today. I’m very pleased with the contractor’s work; I gave them drawings made from the 3D model and they built exactly what I designed. I have just about all the shop equipment I want for starters, I’m sure there will be adds and upgrades in the future. The last item in the current plan is a lathe and I’ll probably get serious about that after I finish the interior and have the shop operating. The concept shows a CNC router which doesn’t exist, yet. That’s going to be one of my first projects after I build what I need to operate the shop. It’s something I’ve wanted to design and build for a while … what can I say, I’m a mechanical engineer.
So, for the question at hand … how does the concept look and sound?
Regards to all!