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30X40X12 - After Fire Rebuild

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SpeedinLemon

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I found GJ a few months ago as I was searching online for ideas on how to finish the ceiling of my shop. Boy did I get a lot more than ceiling ideas when I found this place! Thanks to all you guys who take the time to post your ideas and accomplishments and for so many details!
This shop is 30X40X12 and was originally built in 1999. We built an apartment in about 3/4 of the shop and it was home sweet home for about a year and half while our home was built. Over the years since we moved out the living area had been reduced and shop area expanded. At the time of the fire (July 4th, 2011 - not the fireworks we were looking for!), it wasbeing fairly lightly used...storage and a few woodworking projects here and there. Anyway...I've gotten lots of ideas from this site and will try to give back by documenting what I do as I go along. But for now...on to the pics and more explanation to follow......

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SpeedinLemon

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SpeedinLemon

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Pile of varnish/stain rags was the cause. I was able to get a hose on it pretty quick. My wife discovered and her first thought on July 4th was our 8 year old was in there with fire crackers....thankfully not the case. Also the 3 local volunteer fire departments were on scene extremely quickly considering the rural area we're in. I don't know exactly how long it took, but they definitely saved the building!
 
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SpeedinLemon

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Will post up pics of the current state of clean up and rebuild tomorrow. Always looking for ideas and suggestions. Again thanks to the members who've taken the time to document what they've done and inspire the rest of us!
 
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SpeedinLemon

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ZRX61 said:
I'm always wary of oily rags, I take them out of the garage & put them in the BBQ in the back yard on the way to the house.
Click to expand...

Believe me....I am now very wary as well! The BBQ idea is interesting...I guess you burn them? Seems like it would add a funny flavor to your ribeye :thumbup:

I'll definitely be looking for a good, safe way to dispose of them in the future.
 
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SpeedinLemon

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A few more recent pics below. With the extra hot summer we had, progress was slow. And for a relatively small fire, clean up was a mess.

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This is standing just inside the walk in door up front. Workbench area is to the left..the Craftsman 150 is patiently awaiting restoration!

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View from the opposite side. Rollup door is just to the right and I'm standing where the workbench area will be. The area to the rear will be the hangout area...planning on a fridge, kitchen cabinets a restaurant sink, etc...

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The future "hangout" area. About 16' X 20'.

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The wood stove will need a little TLC, but survived just fine.
 
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SpeedinLemon

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View media item 13892
This area was originally our master bedroom and has spent the last several years as an office. There is a bathroom back there to the right of the woodstove. There will be storage above this area.

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Looking back towards the front of the shop.

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This area was the original home to our washer/dryer. Planning a 2 bowl stainless free standing sink here. The door to the left was badly damaged, is on the north side of the shop and always leaked. It will go away. The wood to the right is covering up a 3X3 window. It will be replaced with a patio door to the back yard.

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View of the back wall. Door goes away and the window will be replaced and double in size.
 
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Red Leader

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SpeedinLemon said:
More damage pics....

The compressor is toast:

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This will get a full refurb. Considered replacing it, but thanks to several members here (Red Leader,TinBender and others) I'm inspired to give it new life:

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Click to expand...

Good man! Those old Craftsman presses are tough. An EXL deburring wheel (made by 3M) will take care of the exposed metal bits that have rust on them really quick.

Once you refurb the press it will make for a good story:thumbup:

Sounds like nobody was hurt = most important thing
 
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SpeedinLemon

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Still a little ways to go to get caught up to current:

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Looking towards front of the shop...125 Amp service and my current "pile of tools".

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The 10X10 main door. The door itself is in decent shape, but all the plastic guides melted. It never sealed well and has no insulation. I've got a guy looking at it give me repair/replace options.

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The future work bench area. I had 30+ feet of workbench previously, but rarely had any useable real estate. My plan for the new shop is less workbench area and more storage....getting lots of ideas here.
 
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SpeedinLemon

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Red Leader said:
Good man! Those old Craftsman presses are tough. An EXL deburring wheel (made by 3M) will take care of the exposed metal bits that have rust on them really quick.

Once you refurb the press it will make for a good story:thumbup:

Sounds like nobody was hurt = most important thing
Click to expand...

Thanks for the comments. I've read most of your thread....awesome and very inspiring!! And I'll need to research those EXL wheels. I've seen them mentioned a number of times.

Lost nothing I can't replace or rebuild! Can't ask for a greater blessing than that!
 
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SpeedinLemon

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View media item 13905
I hired out the new carport area and the modifications to the building for the patio door, larger window and covering over the rear walk door.

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This should be a good area to kick back and I will also be able to do projects out there that will create too much dust in the shop.

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My Littlest Big Helper...ready to "Work in Daddy's Shop". He likes being out there almost as much as I do!
 
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SpeedinLemon

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One of the many things I picked up reading various threads here is you can never have enough storage. I was planning on four 24 to 36 inch wide cabinets along the back wall of the workbench area. I had an idea to extend the storage loft out over the top of those cabinets. Should give me a little more room up top and keep the tops of the cabinets from becoming cluttered.

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And my construction foreman:

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More of the "crew":

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mebedave

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I came close to burning down a million dollar spec home I was building back in 2000. I had a big stack of lumber that I was pre-staining and I had a pile of stain soaked used rags right next to the lumber stack. Over night you guessed it … The lumber stack went up in flames and almost got the house! Fire dept. did a good job getting the fire out and saving the house. I was real surprised when I showed up on the job the next morning; I was not notified about the fire. I’m a real freak now about oily rags!!!!!
 
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ZRX61

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SpeedinLemon said:
Believe me....I am now very wary as well! The BBQ idea is interesting...I guess you burn them? Seems like it would add a funny flavor to your ribeye :thumbup:

I'll definitely be looking for a good, safe way to dispose of them in the future.
Click to expand...
I just leave them in there until I go to fire up the BBQ, then I throw them all in the trash can
 
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redairrdstr

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Peoria, Il
Looks like its going to be a nice shop! Weird question, but I was wondering if you had any before fire pics of how you had the apartment set up. I just got my wife to come around to this idea, so we could save more to put down on building our house, and some pictures may help her envision it a little better. Great work!
 
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Nighttrain

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Thanks for posting. Its a good reminder about the rags. Looks like there is no damage to the metal. You may want to try to price a new door at Mullers Metal building.
 
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SpeedinLemon

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redairrdstr said:
Looks like its going to be a nice shop! Weird question, but I was wondering if you had any before fire pics of how you had the apartment set up. I just got my wife to come around to this idea, so we could save more to put down on building our house, and some pictures may help her envision it a little better. Great work!
Click to expand...

Thanks! I'll see if I can come up with some pics. We knew we'd be in it a while, so interior pics will look just like any other house/apartment. Had a 14X18 masterbedroom, closet and bath area (the area still enclosed), a 14 X 8 nursery for our first child and a 14X26 living/kitchen/laundry area. It worked out really well for us. It was fairly inexpensive and we probably would have stayed in it a little longer if baby #2 hadn't come along!
 
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richtersrodz

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I wish I could have gone this route. I'm building a new place, that already had a pole
barn, right next to the new house site. It has a dirt floor and of course, no septic. So
that kept me from trying to convert it. After blowing tons of money on a crappy
apartment for the last 5 months, I could have made a killer living quarters out of it with
that same amount of money.. But oh well..

Glad to see you didn't destroy it beyond saving. I'm notorious for piling up oily rags, and
have done my share of wood staining too. Guess I better stop doing that. ;)
 
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SpeedinLemon

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A few more pics to get us closer to where we're at so far....

View media item 13914Patio door to replace the window on the east side of the building. We had originally planned on mounting this flush with the outer walls of the building, but as my metal guys was working on it, he called and advised we mount flush with the inner walls. The door wouldn't have opened much past 90 degrees with so much distance from the outer wall to the inner...the door wouldn't be able to swing in.

View media item 13915I went ahead and got a front door to match the side patio door. Both have mini blinds inside the glass....keep the dust off them maybe.

View media item 13918Frame is in for the window on the north wall.
 
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SpeedinLemon

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Nighttrain said:
Thanks for posting. Its a good reminder about the rags. Looks like there is no damage to the metal. You may want to try to price a new door at Mullers Metal building.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip Nighttrain. The building originally came from Mueller. Thier replacement prices seemed pretty steep, but it's an option. I'm considering an insulated sectional door that seals better.

BTW...Your shop with the building inside the building is greatness! :thumbup: I've read every bit of it and will be stealing some ides. Thanks again.
 
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SpeedinLemon

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SpeedinLemon

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I spent a few hours with Sketchup to try to visualize how the space would look with cabinets, some of my tools and other items that will be in the shop. This really helped me and while the design is still not final (any input or suggestions are welcomed!), I did move my workbench from the southwest corner (along the same wall as the compressor) to up under the ledge from the storage area. I think that will make the rest of the workshop space a little more flexible. Unfortunately the Chevelle exists only in my computer....someday!

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Any thoughts or ideas are welcomed and appreciated.

And Happy New Year to all!
 
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SpeedinLemon

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richtersrodz

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Wow.. looks good. I wasn't expecting the foam to be white.. I used to help my FIL shoot
foam roofs, and it was almost impossible to not get it everywhere. But we were outside,
and that is a whole different ball game. Looks great!
 
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SpeedinLemon

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Thanks richter...The foam is actually very pale green. I was expecting it to be yellow, but the installer said this was a newer "Eco-friendly" soy-based foam. So far it seems pretty strong and it takes some work to remove it in some spots I needed cleaned off the upper purlins. It's going to be fairly cold tonight, so I'll see how much different it makes when i fire up the propane heater.
 
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SpeedinLemon

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I got a quote today to replace the 10X10 rollup door with an insulated sectional door with three windows at about eye level....About $1100 installed and $1500 with an opener. It's supposed to seal much better than the rollup I have now. How does that sound to anyone who might have installed something similar?
 
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shopnut

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SpeedinLemon,

When you posted over in my thread, it didn't dawn on me that you were the guy rebuilding from the fire. Fire is probably my number one fear - not only does it have potential to damage the toys (and, of course people) inside, it can also destroy all the hard work one puts into the building itself, and I have 6 years on hard labor invested in mine. Glad no one was hurt in your fire.

Not sure if you've made a decision on the ceiling material yet, but knowing you might be a bit more mindful of fires than the average guy, I just wanted to mention vinyl would not fare well in a blaze. That's probably it's one drawback. Anyways, just thought I would remind you of it in case you missed it in the other threads I referred you to.

The place is looking good. I'm not sure what the place looked like before the fire, but the 3D rendering suggest a very nice workspace (and play space?) is on the horizon. The '70 Chevelle looks good in there too (but I'm a bit partial :)).

Keep up the good work!
 
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jktruck150

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SpeedinLemon, it is amazing the amount of work you have had to do just due to the fire! Looks like it is all coming together for the better though! I am impressed! I like the awning in front now. Also, I had never seen light colored foam, but it seems to brighten the place up. Oh, and I like the ole chevy pickup you have sitting over there.
 
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SpeedinLemon

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shopnut said:
SpeedinLemon,

When you posted over in my thread, it didn't dawn on me that you were the guy rebuilding from the fire. Fire is probably my number one fear - not only does it have potential to damage the toys (and, of course people) inside, it can also destroy all the hard work one puts into the building itself, and I have 6 years on hard labor invested in mine. Glad no one was hurt in your fire.

Not sure if you've made a decision on the ceiling material yet, but knowing you might be a bit more mindful of fires than the average guy, I just wanted to mention vinyl would not fare well in a blaze. That's probably it's one drawback. Anyways, just thought I would remind you of it in case you missed it in the other threads I referred you to.

The place is looking good. I'm not sure what the place looked like before the fire, but the 3D rendering suggest a very nice workspace (and play space?) is on the horizon. The '70 Chevelle looks good in there too (but I'm a bit partial :)).

Keep up the good work!
Click to expand...

Thanks Shopnut. Although, I hope and pray not to have to go through a fire again...I am leaning towards a metal ceiling at least in the front half "shop area". You are correct, the back half will be dedicated more to play and as a entertaining area as part of a planned pool in the future. Hopefully be an excuse to have the kids and family out in the shop!

I've loved the Chevelles since I was a young kid. Lived next door to a guy who was restoring one. I remember taking a ride with him to "dry it off" after I helped him wash it....Wow! My boys are getting to the age where we should be able to start a project like that in the relatively near future.

Thanks again for the help and your great thread.
 
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SpeedinLemon

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jktruck150 said:
SpeedinLemon, it is amazing the amount of work you have had to do just due to the fire! Looks like it is all coming together for the better though! I am impressed! I like the awning in front now. Also, I had never seen light colored foam, but it seems to brighten the place up. Oh, and I like the ole chevy pickup you have sitting over there.
Click to expand...

Thanks jkt...

Yep...for as quick as the fire was put out it was a real mess! I am making more changes and improvements than I had too (Thanks in no small part to all the ideas and inspirations i've gotten here!). The rebuild is taking longer than I would have thought and everything is more expensive than I think it should be, but I'm enjoying working on it.

The foam surprised me too. It has helped the lighting situation since I just have the one live oulet and the portable lights. Some of the foam that has been exposed to light has turned more the yellow color I was expecting...It's also made a huge difference holding the heat. I'm hoping it will do as good a job keeping the heat out when summer roles around in March or April!

The truck is a '64 C20 with dual rear wheels, a 454 and a hayspike. I can feed the cows in a hurry if needed! It needs some attention and the awning out front should come in handy for that type work.

Thanks for the comments....
 
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