Above 1200 Sq/FT 48x32 Shop

[Chilliwack Murray]

Rafter day. Very happy with the final layout and ceiling height. Had a drink on the deck this evening and look forward to many evenings out there. Mrs Chwk is an avid gardener so the view is spectacular all summer and well into fall.

 

[Chilliwack Murray]

Roof deck finished and ready for metal... Those prices sure haven't dropped like the lumber.



Need to cut out the doorway from the office and box in some extra headroom above the door since the doorway will be an 8" step up from the office floor. There is a 3x3 landing that will be the second 8" step up to the new floor level where the plywoood is laying on the floor covering the opening.



Had to find a way to vent the joist space under the deck:

 

[Chilliwack Murray]

Still chipping away at the addition but not many pictures to show for it.

Got the doorway cut in from the office to the new section and made a landing.






Metal ordered and received, got the roof on and metal on the back wall. Been trying to keep the plywood dry while I wait for a dry day to get the decking on... then it will be waterproof at last. Also ordered green flashing and ridge cap for the existing roof - I've always regretted the white flashing.






Also found a nice old exterior solid wood door and frame with a window to go between the office and the new section which won't be heated this winter.

 

[Chilliwack Murray]

Got behind on posting, too much time working so there are a number of things completed...

After a couple weeks successfully keeping the rain off, we had a sunny day and the deck guys came out to install 68mil vinyl.

This was one of the pricier items of the build but I wasn't comfortable with installing myself and I figured I could too easily ruin material and end up with ongoing leaks if I did it wrong.





And got the existing siding cut and put up on the side...



And the new door installed to the office...

 

[Chilliwack Murray]

And almost forgot, picked up a couple new windows and a good used patio slider... Got the front framed in this past weekend (windows just in for show).

 

[Chilliwack Murray]

And picked up a slider for cheap in perfect condition. Hoping to get the rest of the metal on this weekend then I can start on the cedar.

 

[Chilliwack Murray]

Been a busy couple months around here with the rain and now cold weather. We had a creek that used to run across the bottom hundred feet of the property but with 9" of rain in a little over 24 hours it filled in completely with material coming down the hillside and spread across about 1/3 of the property dropping sand, gravel and rocks anywhere from 1 to 3' deep and cut a few channels several feet wide and up to 4' deep. Fortunately the buildings are all okay and we certainly don't have the problems people down the hill on the prairie have, were under 6-10' of water for more than a week. All we have is a yard to clean up, but it'll take some time.

The old JD backhoe and Kubota worked many hours digging out the creek channel and building up berms preventing much more damage, along with very good neighbours with their own machines who spent many cold wet hours helping as well. You can't imagine the value of good neighbours until you really need them.

Our little creek went from this...



...to this in a couple hours (first pic is an old one obviously)

 

[Riley]

Wow! The power of nature. I'd heard about lots of rain and this week, snow in the Willamette Valley though had not been following the weather too much farther north. Hope you and the neighbors have it sorted.

The addition, outstanding as usual. It does speak to the old "it's never big enough" motto of the forum. Hope, despite the weather, you have had a safe and merry Christmas!

 

[Chilliwack Murray]

I should really have been more clear, this was the rain and flooding at the end of November, I’m only now getting caught up enough to post a few pictures. Now we’re in the cold. -17C last night is very cold for this area.

 

[racer-john]

It sounds like the weather is giving you a chilli wack out there. Lol.

 

[Chilliwack Murray]

In between dealing with the creek and subsequent deep freeze I did manage to get the addition pretty much closed up and a sliding door between the old and new areas.. and some temporary wiring to the lights so I can work inside at night.

A friend gave me some home made steel framed doors with internal latch he took out, I have about 40 sheets of 3/8 signboard material (some kind of composite with a thin aluminum skin over it) I will use on the inside walls and both sides of these doors. I haven't decided whether to make the two smaller doors green metal or some kind of wood design on the outside... Previous door still has the temporary green metal on it, maybe this one will just end up green as well.

 

[Chilliwack Murray]

Been wiring the addition, found a deal on new unused insulation so I’m able to insulate sooner than expected. Picked up an older 5hp compressor, made in Canada, in excellent shape for cheap so it’s been a good couple weeks. Weather should be getting better so I can get back to siding and finishing the outside next week.

 

[Chilliwack Murray]

Time for a few more pictures.

Finished wall insulation and put up some composite panels I got for free. The panels are actually from large signs and are made of some type of composite with a skin of aluminum on both sides, very tough stuff and quite fire resistant too. Had to peel some lettering and vinyl in places but mostly used the back sides. Marked up here and there but this is a metal working and welding bay anyway... and did I mention it was free? I may cut strips to cover the vertical joints but the horizontal joints should be hidden behind the crane rails anyway.




Also got the ceiling insulated and almost ready to put up some used metal roofing for a ceiling this weekend. After that I will mount the lights on the ceiling and start on the crane however with the weather improving it's time to start cleaning up from the flooding last fall so there will be less time for this project.





...and picked up a bunch of 2 drawer file cabinets, nearly free and in nice shape, drawers all operate smoothly. Should make for good tool storage, should make a good practice painting project.

 

[Juiced06GTO]

Just read this whole thread, not sure how I missed it before, but what an awesome build!! Looks great man!

 

[Chilliwack Murray]

Just read this whole thread, not sure how I missed it before, but what an awesome build!! Looks great man!

Thanks, it's been a long process due to budget - I did not want to borrow more than I could pay down in the same year to build, and time - there's always other things to fix, yard work and other projects, not to mention motivation isn't always there when it's cold and dark.

There's a light at the end of the tunnel now, it's close to the stage where I can start putting things away permanently instead of stashing here or there and having to move them when I work on a new area. It's been a pretty disorganized mess for quite a while and hard to find things when they get moved around.

 

[Chilliwack Murray]

Time for another picture dump. Been a busy spring reclaiming the yard from the creek and trying to get work done on the addition. We've also had a very wet spring so motivation to do outside work like the siding has been tough. A very good friend loaned me this mini excavator when the creek overflowed to keep as long as needed so in exchange I've been fixing leaks, resealed a few rams, replaced a couple hoses and fixed a couple electrical issues. Cheap rental for the better par of a year.


Also built what I now know is called a sissy bar to cover the teeth on the digging bucket making it much better for collecting the creek gravel and leaving a smooth surface. I had made a similar thing for my little kubota backhoe.

The cleanup went better than expected, all the channels filled in and most of the ground scraped to within a couple inches of the original dirt (where it still exists) but now I have 70-80yds of material to get rid of.

 

[Chilliwack Murray]

That was the yard, now the shop... Between the rain I did get most of the siding on, some soffit and started making legs and assembling the crane.

Siding - a little tedious but satisfying when it's done.


It is a long way down, scaffold was much more comfortable than a ladder. Would've been very tough to access without the wraparound deck though.



This is the venting for the shop ceiling/deck. There is about 1-1/2" open air space above the siding under the flashing to allow airflow from the soffit across the top of the insulation and up the wall. When the sun shines on the deck you can feel the air flowing out so it seems to work. Cedar strips are to close the gaps and keep the wasps from building nests in the voids. There is fibreglass screening under the flashing.



Need to get the soffit in before I finish the siding under the eave and add batten boards to the front but it stared raining so I moved inside to mess with the crane.





I had planned to cut the beams shorter to match where the leg sits as the leg would interfere with the door on the other side however I now think I will leave the cantilever and get a little more travel since the beam won't block the door anyway. Four posts done, two more to go.

 

[Chilliwack Murray]

Not much time for working on the shop this summer with all the work needed to repair the flood damage from last fall but the yard is starting to get back to normal. Would have been an almost impossible task if not for the loaner mini-ex and my own equipment. Still one heck of a lot of work though. I did get some outside finishing done on the shop but still more to do. I'll get some of that posted soon as well.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

 

[Chilliwack Murray]

Things slowed down while I paid off previous upgrades but I did pony up for one piece gutters on the front of the whole shop. and moved into the lower section so I could finally start putting things away after 10 years. Hoping to get the soffit done and siding trimmed out before the summer heat. Everyone was sold out of aluminum soffit and backordered in the fall so it didn't get finished on the rear and the underside of the deck.

Been on the lookout for one more piece of I-beam for under the crane rail but in reality it the large rail will hold more than the bridge I-beam so the better solution is to buy a wide I-beam for the bridge and use the old bridge for the last leg.

 

[Chilliwack Murray]

On the inside (music room), I had almost everything I needed to wire and insulate so that's done apart from outside lights. Going with a couple recessed LED's in the soffit and a few more in the soffit under the deck.

I have the insulation for the ceiling but based on the screws I've seen pulling out of the OSB on the main roof I'm going to put longer screws into backing blocks before I finish this ceiling. I replaced all the screws on the main roof with longer screws into backup blocks in the fall as about 1/2 were loose and allowing water in. Mrs. CM was not happy about crawling through the attic holding up blocks while I ran screws down but its done now and should last. As far as I can tell, the combination of long metal sheets and OSB decking is bad. Either one by itself is probably fine but I wouldn't use OSB ever again for a roof deck.

Next spend will be soundproofing for this room - I'm thinking 3/4" sonopan, resilient channel then 5/8 drywall for the walls and ceiling. That seems to be the biggest bang for the buck.

 

[Chilliwack Murray]

Also swapped out the white edge and peak flashing for green when I replaced the roofing screws in the fall. Looks a lot better I think.

 

[dmittz]

What and epic build thanks for sharing. And i must say you really have perserverance to keep improving your shop over time.

 

[Chilliwack Murray]

Thanks, it’s not so much perseverance as being too cheap to go into debt for a shop so I’ve completed it as I could pay for it. On top of that, I didn’t know exactly what I wanted and have somewhat figured it out as I went.

I’m bad for not updating the thread regularly and I know I’ve not updated in some time. I’ll
update soon.

 

[dmittz]

Thanks, it’s not so much perseverance as being too cheap to go into debt for a shop so I’ve completed it as I could pay for it. On top of that, I didn’t know exactly what I wanted and have somewhat figured it out as I went.

I’m bad for not updating the thread regularly and I know I’ve not updated in some time. I’ll
update soon.

haha i'm about the same but much earlier along in my shop building journey hopefully I can see mine through like you have done with yours. Anyway cheers, look forward to seeing your updates.

 

[Chilliwack Murray]

Well I had a look around the shop and at this thread and nothing much has changed... I did put the lights in the soffits for the deck, got the wiring done in the upper finished area and replaced the roofing screws with longer ones into 1x4 blocks under the OSB roof decking but that's about it. There was the regular flow of car and equipment repairs for family and the Model A is currently on the lift awaiting me to install a good (new to me) used connecting rod to replace one that failed the babbit a couple weeks ago. It got rapidly loose and noisy on the way to a show but I was able to nurse it home with no other damage.




Had to put a roof on the house this year so shop spending is scaled back for a bit as well as a lot of time my is required on the house. Need to take down two 3 storey brick chimneys that are no longer structurally sound and pass though a deck that is a constant source of headaches. Took them down below the roof level prior to installing the new roof, now I have to finish the job, build some fireplace boxes and run new stainless chimney pipe for the one remaining wood burning insert. Most winters we get at least one power outage lasting more than 24 hours and several lasting 6-24 hours so I am not willing to give up the wood heat. It's my contribution to the carbon neutral society.

 

[Chilliwack Murray]

Time for an update but sadly there was zero progress on the shop in the last 6 months except putting some insulation in the ceiling of the addition. My attention was focused on removing two 3 storey brick chimneys from the house that were failing and since we were replacing the roof, now was the time. They both passed through a deck which had to be repaired from rot then closed up.



We have a wood burning insert is in the middle floor and the bottom of that chimney was sound so I took it down below the deck and ran a stainless liner up to the top of the flue then transitioned to the stainless insulated pipe through the chase and above the roof. This allowed me to keep the existing firebox so it’s just a repair The local government is trying hard to get rid of all wood burning appliances so anything that keeps them not involved is best. All done and inspected for insurance purposes and cozy again.



Some shop related news though, this little Clark forklift followed me home yesterday. Got it for a song as it wouldn’t start and had no compression on #3 due to a stuck valve. It’d been sitting for several years outside. Got it home last night, freed up the valves, oiled everything up, cleaned all the crud out of the fuel pump and carb and it is running well even with very old gas. My only disappointment is the 3 stage mast shown on the data plate has been replaced with a two stage so it only has about 11’ reach.

It is a heavy sucker though, well over 8000lbs but 4000lb capacity is nice to have plus it helps locate any soft spots in the gravel in front of the shop. It takes some doing to get it unstuck though.



Once I’m sure it’s not going to leave me stranded I’ll put the Blue Giant up for sale, it’s a great little machine - 15’ lift and 2000lb capacity but getting hard to move around as my knees are aging quicker than the rest of me.

Carb and fuel pump were completely full of crud, thankyou ethanol, this is so much worse than what old gas used to look like.



Hydraulic fluid looks good, I’ll change all the filters and the engine oil and call it good. Probably practice my painting skills on it at some point.

 

[fuslit]

awesome build! I appreciate you sharing it and the process that you've been through to get here. I will be following along.

 

[Chilliwack Murray]

On another note… The Dodge has had a slight noise while warming up since I bought it at 50k km but it changed on a trip through the mountains a year ago at 320k and it’s been off the road since I bought a new smaller truck for work a year ago. Long story short, I found a mark on #2 cylinder wall so I pulled the head and found the very beginnings of a lower piston scuff.

I was able to clean it up with a ball hone taking off only a few ten thou of material. The point of all this is, I’m extremely happy I put a drain in the floor as I was able to wash out the cylinder with as much water as I wanted with no concern about flooding the shop. It was freezing out when I did this so pushing it out the door wasn’t an option.

Anyway, the good news is it’s all clean, new piston and rings in hand it’s ready to go back together.

Yay, floor drain.

 

[Chilliwack Murray]

No significant work on the shop recently but the Dodge went back together with one new piston and a new set of stingers. It runs well, in hindsite, I think better than it ever did.

After struggling with climbing up and down for most of the tear down I ordered a fairly cheap topside creeper and apart from being a bulky thing to store unless you partially disassemble, what a lifesaver that was. It would've just about broke me to get this done without it; getting older is a drag that way.

I had posted this in the 'what did you do in your garage' thread so didn't post it here but here's a couple photos of the before and after:

 

[Chilliwack Murray]

Now for the only 'shop' addition in a while. I picked up an older Bigfoot fifthwheel trailer last fall pretty cheap as it needed major work... The intent was that it was light enough to tow with the Nissan Frontier and I was all ready to install a hitch when I had a change of heart and decided to fix the noise in the Dodge and keep it. I put the hitch in the Dodge and soon realized I would need a way to remove the canopy and store it. I had been using the forklift but I still had to put it somewhere outside (maybe someday I will free up some racking but not today).

Anyway, I picked up a pretty cheap storage platform winch system from Amazon and installed it in the new section where it's out of the way and works well. It was and is cheap though - it's supposed to be rated for 300lbs and tested to 600lbs but the 210 pounds of canopy really feels like all it should lift. The wormgear winch came completely devoid of lubrication and no mention of any lube required however after the first few turns with load it became clear that it was needed. Once I greased it all up it worked much better but it's definitely for occasional use only and needs grease added every use. That said, it will suffice for now and didn't break the bank. I also dropped bolts through the mounting holes in the canopy and 2x4s so it can't slide off should something happen to one of the ropes.



Most of my time at the moment is spent working on the trailer, no timeline as it is a major upgrade but hoping to get it out in October.

 

[jollygreengiant]

You'll have to post pics of the work on the trailer as you go.

Those older fifth wheel trailers are a great value, nobody wants them because they are too small.

 

[Chilliwack Murray]

They are nice because there’s little wood in them to rot (although a lot of what was in this one was rotten). The repair, once you figure it out is simple since there’s no framing to do. They are also very light, this 20’ fifth wheel is only 3500 lbs but I’ll probably add a few hundred by the time I’m done. They certainly get a high dollar in good condition but I didn’t buy it to resell. It is always a comfort to know you can get your money back out of it if you don’t like it though.

It’s a learning process and can I see where their shortcuts and design caused issues and how things could be done better so after some trial and error I’m well on the way putting it back together better than new.

I am (just catching up) documenting the repair on a fibreglass rv forum which seemed more appropriate than here… Not hard to find if you Google it. I’ll just post the overview here since it’s all happening IN the shop.