25x40 Fixer Upper

[ckpitt55]

Hey Gents,

Figured I'd share this project with you all. I'm a younger guy (25), doing grad school part time in addition to working, got a bunch of other projects going on - just not really in a position to own my own property just yet.....I've got a lot of saving to do before I can realistically enter into that. Anyway, my aunt caught wind that I was searching around for rentals and was nice enough to let me rent their old shop for working on projects in the mean time. It's an older building that really has not had any kind of real use in probably 10+ years, so it's in need of a lot of attention / clean up.

Anyway, here's an initial "walk-around" of where we started. Somewhat overgrown lol

After a little cleanup. Paid for this dearly with a healthy dose of poison ivy despite my best efforts to stay covered up.

Attention was then turned to the interior - the existing lighting wasn't working initially so I got that addressed as a temporary solution.

Stuff everywhere

More lighting needed, so off to home depot I went. Picked up 4 of the Lithonia 8' T5 high output fixtures along with an exterior flood light to replace the old fixture that had stopped working. It is a Defiant 180-degree LED fixture, Model #DF-5928-WH.

The flood light is pretty awesome. Has the standard dusk-dawn feature, but when the motion sensor is tripped the light intensity picks up. Reaches out ~70' or so easily in that case, but isn't overbearing.

Fixtures installed and wired in the shop. I think I'm going to install a few more to fill out the grid a bit but this is a tremendous upgrade from where it was. Very happy with the output of these lights. All of them had the Phillips dual voltage ballasts in them, and all of them fired up with no issues, noise, etc.

A lot more cleanup work needed before I can really move any stuff in, but it felt good to get some of the other work out of the way. I was hoping to get some input on a couple things though from you guys though:

-Heating: The shop isn't really insulated. It looks like there's foam board under the roof skin but the rest of the walls are bare aside from a little plywood. I don't think it's in the cards to go all out with insulation / finishing the interior since this is just a temporary thing, though I know it's obvious that my results would be a lot better if I did. I don't have a gas line plumbed to the shop, and have no interest in paying the bill for an electric heater given that the building efficiency won't be too great. I also don't really want to deal with fumes from kerosene / propane and for that reason was considering a wood burner since I'm currently sitting on about 2 cords of seasoned ash. I guess I kind of like the nostalgia of a wood burner too. I don't need it to be 80 degrees in the shop, just enough to knock the chill off in the cold months to come. Any input here in regards to a decent stove setup would be greatly appreciated.

-Garage doors: I need to install a new one, as the existing (wooden) one is "well seasoned", shall we say. I did a search for what's recommended on here and was overwhelmed with the variety, so I looked at the Clopay doors available from Home Depot and priced out a couple in their custom door configurator. I need a 10'x8' which pretty much puts me out of the more standard sizes from what I saw, and am currently considering a "commercial" premium door with ~12.9 R value since for some reason they're about half the price of the residential doors and better insulated. I don't need anything fancy, just something well constructed, secure, and durable. Any recommendations here are welcomed

-Security: Are there any relatively inexpensive camera systems that are worth a look?

Thanks for looking and thanks for any input

 

[n2ocamaro]

Looking forward to see what you do with the space. You should see if your Aunt will put your improvements towards the rent.

 

[zgfiredude]

Wow, such possibilities! I hope it's convenient, and works without being too far away.......good score!

Look at Thrift stores and garage sales for a wood stove, I think that will be your least expensive option. You could also look at pellet stoves as an option.

Good luck with that space, I like it!!

 

[madoc1]

nice place to start with. it sure has a lot of potential. what are you going to be using it for?

jim

 

[sean Buick 76]

I think this will turn out really good! Good job being ambitious and also realistic about what you can and cannot do right now! For sure go with a wood burner and hopefully your aunt will let you pay for improvements like the door instead of or as partial rent payment...

I am subscribing to this, it will be really cool! What kind of stuff do you plan to work on?

 

[strelnik]

Hey Gents,

Figured I'd share this project with you all. I'm a younger guy (25), doing grad school part time in addition to working, got a bunch of other projects going on - just not really in a position to own my own property just yet.....I've got a lot of saving to do before I can realistically enter into that. Anyway, my aunt caught wind that I was searching around for rentals and was nice enough to let me rent their old shop for working on projects in the mean time. It's an older building that really has not had any kind of real use in probably 10+ years, so it's in need of a lot of attention / clean up.

Anyway, here's an initial "walk-around" of where we started. Somewhat overgrown lol

The flood light is pretty awesome. Has the standard dusk-dawn feature, but when the motion sensor is tripped the light intensity picks up. Reaches out ~70' or so easily in that case, but isn't overbearing.

Fixtures installed and wired in the shop. I think I'm going to install a few more to fill out the grid a bit but this is a tremendous upgrade from where it was. Very happy with the output of these lights. All of them had the Phillips dual voltage ballasts in them, and all of them fired up with no issues, noise, etc.


-Heating: The shop isn't really insulated. It looks like there's foam board under the roof skin but the rest of the walls are bare aside from a little plywood. I don't think it's in the cards to go all out with insulation / finishing the interior since this is just a temporary thing, though I know it's obvious that my results would be a lot better if I did. I don't have a gas line plumbed to the shop, and have no interest in paying the bill for an electric heater given that the building efficiency won't be too great. I also don't really want to deal with fumes from kerosene / propane and for that reason was considering a wood burner since I'm currently sitting on about 2 cords of seasoned ash. I guess I kind of like the nostalgia of a wood burner too. I don't need it to be 80 degrees in the shop, just enough to knock the chill off in the cold months to come. Any input here in regards to a decent stove setup would be greatly appreciated.

-Garage doors: I need to install a new one, as the existing (wooden) one is "well seasoned", shall we say. I did a search for what's recommended on here and was overwhelmed with the variety, so I looked at the Clopay doors available from Home Depot and priced out a couple in their custom door configurator. I need a 10'x8' which pretty much puts me out of the more standard sizes from what I saw, and am currently considering a "commercial" premium door with ~12.9 R value since for some reason they're about half the price of the residential doors and better insulated. I don't need anything fancy, just something well constructed, secure, and durable. Any recommendations here are welcomed

-Security: Are there any relatively inexpensive camera systems that are worth a look?

Thanks for looking and thanks for any input

You can't insulate without spending a lot of money so I wouldn't try.
If a wood stove is available, you could use it, but you will have to spend some time venting and insulating around it.

To me, fitrst order of business is to secure the building to avoid losing what you and your aunt leave there.

Good luck!

 

[captain14]

What purpose did this barn serve prior to your moving in? Lots of space for projects.
How far away do you live?

 

[dubber]

Looking forward to see what you do with the space. You should see if your Aunt will put your improvements towards the rent.

This is a great suggestion. Will you be getting rid of all of her stuff in there?

 

[ckpitt55]

You can't insulate without spending a lot of money so I wouldn't try.
If a wood stove is available, you could use it, but you will have to spend some time venting and insulating around it.

To me, fitrst order of business is to secure the building to avoid losing what you and your aunt leave there.

Good luck!

Same conclusion I reached....that couple grand in insulation / finishing materials is money I'd rather put elsewhere right now. Next order of business is getting a new door on it - hope to get that ordered this week. Once the building is secure, then I'll worry about heating it.

What purpose did this barn serve prior to your moving in? Lots of space for projects.
How far away do you live?

My uncle was an iron worker and I imagine used the space for storage of a lot of his tools / equipment when he was working. Over time though, the space got used less and less and just became a place for junk to accumulate. The building has sat pretty much unused for the past 10 years.

I live about 20 minutes away.

This is a great suggestion. Will you be getting rid of all of her stuff in there?

Not all of it - I was able to regain a lot of space with some simple reorganization and throwing away some of the clutter.

Here's where we stand after this weekend...I added two more of the lithonia 8' light fixtures and moved the old 8' fixture to be centered over the garage door opening. I plan on working with the door closed the majority of the time and didn't want that lingering dark spot. I also got tired of the garage going completely dark every time I needed to work on a circuit so I wired up the lights to be on two separate breakers and relocated the switches to the wall just inside the door. Used to be you had to walk the entire length of the shop in the dark to flick the lights on. I think I'm going to find a spot to put the old 4' fixture back up (it's free) but aside from that I think the lighting is finished - plenty of light in here now.

My dad came up to help. Still some more work to do on this corner but we're getting there.

Now as far as a door goes - I was considering a commericial "premium" Clopay door from home depot and a Liftmaster 8500 jackshaft operator. Initially I was just going to do a manual door with keyed entry but I want to make it easy for my aunt/uncle to get in the building if they need to as they're not getting any younger. Is anyone aware of any compatibility issues between these two?