I Finally Got One...My First Shop! YEAH!

vexvader · Mar 9, 2015

Hello Folks!

I found this site a couple weeks ago when we put a contract on a new house that has a 1 1/2 detached garage, and I was looking for some ideas for my new shop. I love it!

I have always wanted a shop but with four kids and a wife who has very specific tastes in houses, I just assumed it would never happen. What can I say, "God is good!". We found this house in the area we like. It is 2.2 miles from my job, 4 miles from my wife's job, and 2 miles from the kids school. It is four sided brick, on a cul-a-sac and has a basement.

Most important it has a shop. YEAH!!! :willy_nil

We close on the house in about three weeks and will start moving in. I've got big plans!!!

Here is what I am going to be working on in the shop! 1967 Chevy C10 SWB and a teardrop trailer that I am building with my 8 year old son.

vexvader · Mar 9, 2015

How to make pictures bigger?

Anyone know how to make my pictures bigger?

Vex

CNGsaves · Mar 9, 2015

Pics are fine. They get bigger when you click on them.

vexvader · Mar 9, 2015

Here are a few shots of the inside

I took these pics while the inspector was doing his thing. It is full of the current owners stuff. He was basically using it as a storage shed.

There is a metal storage shed in the back yard. I looks like it had a tree fall on it at some point. It will bang out the dent and use it for my lawn mower and yard tools. I will also use it to store extra car/truck parts to help keep my shop clean. Nothing but tools and the current project in the shop until I expand a little.

Toolfool · Mar 9, 2015

Congratulations, and welcome.

chief ben · Mar 9, 2015

That in Arkansas is not a House, It's A Mansion,
Nice, and have fun in your shop,
This is my work bench in my small machine shop

this is the work bench in the welding shop, and it is on wheels,

this the welding shop and the small machine shop

Oh and you have got to get a Shop Dog..LOL

vexvader · Mar 9, 2015

Thanks for the encouragement. I like your shop and your tools. A man can never have too many tools!!

Shop dog is next on the list!

VV

kamlung · Mar 9, 2015

I love that detach in the back... its great to have things separate from the day to day use... keep us posted on your progress!!! congrats...

firecracker · Mar 9, 2015

VV that is one great place to start your new plans, hope you get going soon and keep us all updated. :beer:

vexvader · Mar 9, 2015

First of all...Raise the Roof

The shop is 15x18 and has a 7 1/2 ceiling in it. I will eventually add 6 ft more on the back and raise the trusses another foot and a half, so it has 9 ft ceiling.

Eventually I will either add another six feet on the side (kick out) or I may just take the roof off and redo the trusses and make the six feet I add to the width part of the regular garage. The trusses need to me beefed up anyway. Heck, I might even put a second floor on it.

67rstbkt · Mar 9, 2015

Very Nice!

vexvader · Mar 9, 2015

Some pics of the Teardrop Build

Here are some pics of the teardrop build. I am actually doing a "canned ham" style. The first pic is what i am modeling it after, sort of an old "woody" look.

Jawn · Mar 10, 2015

Welcome from Cherokee county!

Nice garage, looking forward to seeing it progress. Also diggin' the teardrop... I have thought about building one.

taumac · Mar 10, 2015

That great you got a 2 car plus shop in back. I'm jealous. Must be nice to do want you want and not worry about family stepping through the mess.

Bib Overalls · Mar 10, 2015

Looks like your shop is sitting on a substantial chunk of concrete. The building cries out for an extended gable end with a Texaco sign and a couple of old gas pumps. Do it on the sly and surprise your wife.

vexvader · Mar 10, 2015

Jawn said:
Welcome from Cherokee county!

Nice garage, looking forward to seeing it progress. Also diggin' the teardrop... I have thought about building one.

Do it! You will love it!

VV

vexvader · Mar 10, 2015

Bib Overalls said:
Looks like your shop is sitting on a substantial chunk of concrete. The building cries out for an extended gable end with a Texaco sign and a couple of old gas pumps. Do it on the sly and surprise your wife.

Sounds like a plan. The best thing is that since it is detached and sort of out of view, the wife doesn't really care what I do with it. Also our neighborhood does not have an HOA, so I don't have to get a letter every other month telling me that I am doing something wrong.

VV

vexvader · Mar 10, 2015

taumac said:
That great you got a 2 car plus shop in back. I'm jealous. Must be nice to do want you want and not worry about family stepping through the mess.

Oh yeah

taumac · Mar 10, 2015

vexvader said:
Oh yeah

It's a simple thing but many many times I been involved in a project and had to make path because had to get to this or that.

vexvader · Mar 13, 2015

OK, we close on the house next week, and my mind is buzzing with ideas. First of all I apologize for my crude drawings. As you can see with the shop only being 18x15, things will be tight with my truck in there. Once I pull my truck in and all my tools and work bench, there will be little room to work. The wife has a ton of plans for the house so money will be tight. Here is the cheapest solution I can think of for added some sq ft. (Red lines are the proposed additions)

Phase One:

Raise the roof about 1 1/2 feet and kick out the back wall to add 6 more feet of space. I will copy the trusses in there and build two more and just extend the depth of the shop. I will pour a pad, knock out the back wall, put on the two new trusses. This will add 90 more sq feet and make the shop feel bigger with the higher ceiling (9 ft).

I plan to disconnect the trusses and jack up one side, build the wall higher then do the same to the other side.

Phase Two:

Add 6 feet on the side all the way down. At this point, I will probably take off the trusses and build them to be bigger (see pic). I know I can build a kick out, but I like the full truss look better. I will be more work, but not much more money and will look much better.

Here is my truss plan. The old truss is in red. Building the truss like this will also give me another 1 foot higher ceiling The shop would be have around a 10 foot ceiling.

One last option would be to go a head and put on a second floor. It would primarily just be storage but have potential to one day be an office or guest room. This would obviously cost more, but I am wondering if it would be worth the extra money and effort since I would be rebuilding the trusses and putting on a new roof anyway.

What do you guys think?? Give me your thoughts!!

wasfast · Mar 14, 2015

Are there any setback issues with the property line if you add the 6 x 15 portion? Local codes etc.....

vexvader · Mar 14, 2015

wasfast said:
Are there any setback issues with the property line if you add the 6 x 15 portion? Local codes etc.....

That is a good question. I should probably check. That will put me up about 2 feet from the property line on the back corner. There is probably a required 5-6 foot buffer. I better check first.

I guess I could bump out the front. That would be a little more work because I would have to move the door.

VV

vexvader · Apr 20, 2015

We finally moved in and are getting settled. I will take a pic soon, but it is full of boxes right now. I can't wait to get it set up.

I check with a friend who does construction and he thinks the city requires a 4 foot buffer from the property line. That would allow me to add about 5 feet to the back side. It is not much, I think it would make a huge difference.

vexvader · Jul 4, 2015

I got a few projects done around the house to make mama happy.

I built a shelf to hang all our bikes. The tubs on top gave balls, toys, etc...

I bought the shelves on the end at a garage sale for $30. I mounted everything to the wall so it is nice and secure.

rubberrodder · Jul 5, 2015

HA HA HA

I am surprised nobody mentioned Jack O. and the 12guage garage yet! Congrats on the new place, and welcome to the board. Way to many ideas here to mention any in particular. So... dig in and have fun!

vexvader · Jul 27, 2015

OK, I got a few "honey do" jobs done around the house to make the wife happy. Built a bike rack. The blue bins are full of balls, roller blades, etc. Yes, count them... 7 bikes :dunno:

vexvader · Jul 27, 2015

Here is the before picture. Full of boxes and junk. Cleaned it out, built a bench and started to organize. Cut down a half dead tree and moved the lights up about 6 inches.

vexvader · May 22, 2016

Ok,

You know how you have that drawer in your house that you just throw junk into and before you know it, it is completely full of random junk... Well that has been my shop for the last six months. I finally couldn't handle it any more and today I cleaned up. It took most of the day, but I am glad I did it.

Man I am good at accumulating stuff! It seems like I do this every six months and I throw away tons of stuff, but still seem to have more and more. Well at least I can find my junk now.

I got these 4 gallon totes from Home Depot for $3.50 each and just started organizing. It was $100 well spent. I will post some more pictures soon.

vexvader · Dec 3, 2018

It's been a while since I posted. I have not done much on the shop, but I sure have been using it. Finished my teardrop camper and sold it. Finished my 1967 C10... sold it. Now I have a new project...

1977 FJ40 Land Cruiser

I still have big plans for the shop. Maybe after I finish this project... Haha

Jawn · Dec 3, 2018

Cool FJ... looks like one I saw for sale in Dahlonega. Did it come from there?

You should build another teardrop to match it.

(btw, I ended up buying an r-pod instead of building a teardrop).

vexvader · Oct 6, 2019

Jawn said:
Cool FJ... looks like one I saw for sale in Dahlonega. Did it come from there?

You should build another teardrop to match it.

(btw, I ended up buying an r-pod instead of building a teardrop).

Sorry for the late response :O) I've been spending all my time on the IH8MUD land cruiser forum.

I bought it from a guys in Ringgold, may be the same one.

Congrats on the R-Pod. Once I finish the FJ40 i might build a trailer to match. Something like this...

snowdust2 · Oct 6, 2019

Checking out your thread. Nice work!

vexvader · Oct 18, 2020

I'm Still Here!

Ill post some pic of my FJ40 soon.

MM

vexvader · Oct 27, 2020

Here is what I have been working on in the shop.\

My 1977 FJ40 Land Cruiser... here is my YouTube channel with all the details.

Thank,

MM

vexvader · Mar 4, 2021

I am still plugging along with my FJ40 restoration. I just picked up a FJ55, but as soon as I get the FJ40 on the road, hopefully this summer, I am going to give a little attention to my shop. I am sort of glad that I have waited a few years and done a few projects in it because it has helped me to know what is the priority to fix, expand, upgrade, etc.

Hopefully the end of this summer or early fall, I will raise the roof about 3-3 1/2 feet. The next thing will be to install an 8 foot door, because my FJ40 won't fit through the one I have now

vexvader · Mar 4, 2021

Here are few pics of my current and future project

Jakey poo · Mar 5, 2021

Nice Pig!

vexvader · Mar 11, 2021

Jakey poo said:
Nice Pig!

Thanks! That will be my next project after I finish the FJ40.

TurboMustang370 · Mar 11, 2021

Awesome! Congrats, and welcome.

vexvader · Nov 5, 2022

Still working on the FJ40, My shop has served me well. I installed a attic fan and painted the ourside.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_3nr2ulyZuVW0fz-dvXa4Q

I Finally Got One...My First Shop! YEAH!

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