I've been thinking about my new shop and what do do with the 6'x10' room the previous owner built in the corner. Originally I had planned to use this room as an office--a place to sit down, a place for the shop computer, etc. I've roughed in wiring for a few outlets and overhead light and was planning to fully insulate even the inside walls and heat it separately from the rest of the building with an electric baseboard heater. That way I could keep it warmish even when the heat is off in the rest of the building.
Now I'm thinking that maybe I don't really need an office in the house and one in the shop and that maybe the room would better serve as a finishing room. I'm thinking to make this work I could do the following:
- skip the insulation on the inside walls. The outside walls are insulated.
- use that white plastic paneling you see in restrooms for the walls and ceiling.
- install some kind of exhaust fan to outside and an air intake from the shop with a filter of some sort.
- replace the 3' door with something bigger, maybe a double door if I can find a deal on one or maybe something homebuilt. Make sure the door seals well to keep the dust out.
For finishing, I usually brush stain and use wipe on poly. Once I sprayed stain and wasn't real thrilled with the mess. I haven't sprayed poly or anything yet, but maybe if I didn't have to worry about the overspray??? I started expirimenting with some other finishing techniques right before we sold our old house.
Now, the questions: Will this room be big enough to be useful? So far I've mostly built furniture--tables, shelves, an entertainment center, a bed, etc. The EC definitely wouldn't have fit all at once. Making the room bigger would basically mean tearing it down and starting from scratch. Any ideas for the exhaust fan and intake filter? Should I still heat the room with a baseboard electric heater? Anyone have pictures of similar sized finishing rooms to share? Is this a dumb idea? Is there a better use for this room?
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