Western Oklahoma start...

Just wanted to share a few photos of my project (wish I had taken the photos as I progressed). Wife & I moved into a house over 3 years ago, and at the time it had a new 24 x 24 unfinished work shop.

With no time or money... the shop was relegated to became nothing but a storage building full of an unorganized mess of "stuff" both good and not so good.

Well.... no more! Starting back in May I started moving the "stuff" out and anything that wasn't deemed worth keeping was either tossed in the dumpster or set on the sidewalk for others to carry off.

During the cleanup I found large piles of red dirt on the floor. It never ceases to amaze how much wind Western Oklahoma has, and that wind can cover everything with dirt!!! For this reason I decided that the shop would need to not only be insulated, but sealed with foam insulation. A spray foam would seal every crack insulate with an R7 per inch, and also add a bit of rigitity to the metal building.

But first thing on the list was to have electricity run from the opposite end of the property to the shop. I had the electricians run this 100 amp service from the meter into the shop and wire up one 110 and one 220 recepticle out of the bottom of the breaker box. This would allow me to use power tools and a welder to prepare the shop for insulation. Once electricity is in the shop... I can wire everything else.

Now that the welder was working, I added some additional steel to to some areas of the shop for added reinforcment (such as to the loft) and welded in additional c-channel rafters to mount the lights on.

I really like the look of epoxie floors... but welding would be a problem, so opted to simply apply a densifier product from legacy industrial instead.

Knowing that the application of the spray foam would be messy, I debated wether to wait until after to install the lights. In retrospect... that may have been the wiser choice, but I didn't

Once the lights were installed I hired the shop insulated with 2 inches of foam. As you can see from one of the photos, the application was every bit of that. In some place it may have been a little less, but in many places much more. All in all I am happy with how it came out. That photo of the insulation is from a hole I cut in the wall when the AC was installed.

Now that the insulation was applied the preperation of the sheet iron installation began. This required scraping & triming the insulation from the c-perlings so the metal could be screwed onto the wall.

After the metal was installed on the walls I wired & installed my air system... but I will share more detail of the air system in the next post.

This past week-end was spent assembleing the shelf & cabinet. I have started moving things back into storage now... as you can see there is much to organize.

I wanted a US built air compressor and am happy with the choice. It is installed outside for noise reasons, and I will later this year enclose the compressor in it's own room.

From the excelent information from this board, the basic pipe design was inspired. 3/4 pipe is run from the tank through the wall into the shop. From there it is split into two directions into 1/2" stainless steel tubing (parker fittings).
The first outlet runs to the underside of the loft through regulators & filters into a hose reel. The second run has not been built yet, but will eventually go to a work bench area.

This is the first time my air tools have had air since 1994!!!

Things to do:

Have a benchpro 5' stainless work bench ordered to place next to the tool box... but I also plan to build an 8' welding bench as my next project.

Of course moving things back into storage must take priority now. Looking for ideas for bolts & other small parts storage.

Need to finish the wiring, including the recepticles & outside lights.

Wall hanging storage system for ladders, yard tools & such.

Am also looking for a flameable liquids cabinet to store gasoline, paint, and other such chemicals safe from welding sparks.

I am going to build a small hoist system for removal & installation of the hard top from my Jeep. (photo below) I have a design in mind, but basically I plan to store the hard top on the loft.

Looking good! Did the insulation contractor not insist on painting the insy white? Mine did, said it was required. He said any ultraviolet, even reflected would begin to degrade the ins in short order? He did My 30 x 40 in about 5 hours, including paint.

Bronson said:

Looking good! Did the insulation contractor not insist on painting the insy white? Mine did, said it was required. He said any ultraviolet, even reflected would begin to degrade the ins in short order? He did My 30 x 40 in about 5 hours, including paint.

Click to expand...

Ahhh... he didn't mention anything about paint. What type was applied to yours?
Thanks for mentioning it... looks like I may have another project.

I am pretty sure it was a white latex. I told Him I would be installing sheetrock up to the 8 ft level, but he insisted that it was necessary. All I can tell ya, bro. You can see in the pic, they painted every bit of the red iron while they were at it!

Cool Shop.

Can either of you guys tell me what they charge to spray the insulation on a 30X40? I live up here in OKC and will be building a shop pretty soon. Like to know if it is a option for my budget. Seems to be a better alternative than fiberglass and they say it lasts forever.

Thanks in advance

P.S. Bronson, I love that Conoco sign. My Gramps had a Con station in the 60's. I've been looking for one just like that. SWEET

cnyeco1 said:

Cool Shop.

Can either of you guys tell me what they charge to spray the insulation on a 30X40? I live up here in OKC and will be building a shop pretty soon. Like to know if it is a option for my budget. Seems to be a better alternative than fiberglass and they say it lasts forever.

Thanks in advance

P.S. Bronson, I love that Conoco sign. My Gramps had a Con station in the 60's. I've been looking for one just like that. SWEET

Click to expand...

I don't remember the exact formula... but it was priced by dollars per sqare foot - per inch of thickness. I paid for 2" thickness on my 24 x 24 with 10 ft walls and the total cost was around $3000.00.


I also like the Conoco sign. I grew-up with a red rag in my back pocket at my Dad's Gulf gas station. It would be cool to have an old Gulf sign in my shop.

Thanks to Bronson's suggestion... I painted my foam insulated ceiling & walls this weekend. Now to get back on schedule.

I was quoted $3900 for my 30X40X12. Just a reference.

vonhef said:

Thanks to Bronson's suggestion... I painted my foam insulated ceiling & walls this weekend. Now to get back on schedule.

Click to expand...

You wont regret the paint, good job! My 30 x 40 shop was around $3500 for the foam insulation. Not cheap, but it sure keeps it warmer in the winter. I have no problem maintaing 70 degrees.
I would love to find a big Gulf sign. I located one a few weeksa ago, but didnt have $800 to spare....It was a 6 foot porcelain.

I was quoted $3700 for my 30x40x12 here in Lubbock. Just as an FYI.

I have made some progress to the shop. Added a bin shelf for the small items... then installed metal peg-boards along one wall to store the long and akward items. This proved to be a bit more challenging than expected due to the metal walls. I ended up building brackets out of 1x1 square tubing then attaching the peg-board to the brackets.

I also built a hoist system. My main use will be for removing the hard top from my Jeep... but could also be used to move other items to the loft.

Lastly I have added a stainless work bench. This thing weights over 250 lbs... and was a challenge to move alone.

Next on my list... build a welding table.

Very nice !

I like the shop. How much will the hoist hold? Looks like barn door track and hangers. If you upgrade the track you could use the hoist at it's weight rating. Just saying.

dittle fart around said:

I like the shop. How much will the hoist hold? Looks like barn door track and hangers. If you upgrade the track you could use the hoist at it's weight rating. Just saying.

Click to expand...

It is a barn door track, and the hoist is only rated at 440 lbs... so the track will handle what the hoist can do.

This is more than enough for the intended use (Jeep top at around 100 pounds).

Finally built a work bench safe for welding. It is 2' x 8' made from 3/8 plate and 3" x 3" square tubing for the legs. I estimate that it weights somewhere around 300 lbs... so I installed wheels on one end and added a short stub for a lift point (for the floor jack) on the other. When the table is on the floor, all 4 leggs will support the table, but as the jack lifts one end, the weight transfers to the wheels and allows the table to be rolled around with the jack.

It will be nice not welding on the floor now.

Nice shop you got there and am really a fan of spray foam, and appreciate the info on pricing in this area. (TX,OK) cause if I the sellers mortgage companies finally take my offer on the house and pole barn (been waiting over three months now) then after I put in a floor, I want to spray the insulation. Was your insulation contractor local?

slghmmr88 said:

Nice shop you got there and am really a fan of spray foam, and appreciate the info on pricing in this area. (TX,OK) cause if I the sellers mortgage companies finally take my offer on the house and pole barn (been waiting over three months now) then after I put in a floor, I want to spray the insulation. Was your insulation contractor local?

Click to expand...

The insulation was applied by a guy that does this on the side (it's not his main livelyhood). Strange because his equipment to get into this "side" buisness cost him nearly 50K! so I can understand part of the cost to have this type of insulation applied.

Thanks for the compliment on the shop. Hope you get yours finished.

Looking good. Have you already applied the densifier to the floor? If so how do you like it?

Nighttrain said:

Looking good. Have you already applied the densifier to the floor? If so how do you like it?

Click to expand...

Yes... the densifier was installed a number of months ago. No change in apperance. Does seem to have eliminated "dusting" of the cement and may have added a bit of stain resistance... but other than that it is hard to tell that the floor has been treated..

Thanks for the compliment of the shop.

Started building the enclouser for the air compressor and have it mostly framed today....