A workshop that works...The Shade Tree Jeep shop.

muduck18 · Jul 5, 2018

Hi all, I’m new here. I’ve been trolling google for he better part of two years planning and starting my workshop project and have come across so much good and helpful information on the garage journal, that I feel I need to give back, or at least share my successes and failures.

I got the blessing from my loving and supportive wife about 18months ago to start the project. I’m fairly certain she regrets that by now. But come along if you wish and see how far we’ve come.

For the past 10 years or so this has been my shop, it doubles as our parking spot so anytime a project gets under way the wife and I lose our parking spot. (I’m sure this is why she approved the construction project.)

There are several problems with this space most of which are space. My truck won’t fit, I can’t find any good places to store tools, and the longer a project lasts the longer we have to strap children into car seats in the rain or freezing weather.

But, the most annoying of all is when cutting, welding, grinding or torching something... the house fills up with smoke or dust. And smoke alarms go off.

So... enter concept drawing one.

I put this out to bid with three local pole barn companies and settled on one with glowing references and a fair price. (Dm me if you’d like specifics)

Once we settled on that.. the real fun began.

(I’m out of time at the moment. Back in a few to continue the thread.)

zmotorsports · Jul 5, 2018

Welcome to the forum and I'm looking forward to your shop build. You had me in the title with "JEEP". :bounce:

I agree about a detached shop for the exact reasons you mentioned. When I built my previous shop as well as my current shop both times it would have been easier to get permitting and I could have gone larger had I attached them to the house but I did not want it attached for the same reasons you mentioned. Several of my friends have large attached shops and complain about the same issues.

Subscribed.

By the way, you didn't mention what size you were looking at building. Size?

muduck18 · Jul 5, 2018

zmotorsports said:
Welcome to the forum and I'm looking forward to your shop build. You had me in the title with "JEEP".

I agree about a detached shop for the exact reasons you mentioned. When I built my previous shop as well as my current shop both times it would have been easier to get permitting and I could have gone larger had I attached them to the house but I did not want it attached for the same reasons you mentioned. Several of my friends have large attached shops and complain about the same issues.

Subscribed.

By the way, you didn't mention what size you were looking at building. Size?

Ahh yes, Permits, specifically why I did not mention the size of the shop yet.

The first step on my quest for a new work shop SHOULD have been the permit office instead of the quotes from the local builders. I feel so stupid now but this is my first major construction project that I didn't do 100% myself. And as such, it was the first time I actually considered a 'permit' Call it naivety or intentional ignorance I had never rang up the permit office to ask them about doing things on my own property before, i just did them... But when having a builder do it...

Eye Opener...

My original size was 32'x40' with a 12' canopy/lean-to on one side. I discovered however that my zoning requires a 40' setback on front and rear and a 30' setback on all sides. Additionally because of new water run-off regulation I am only allowed a certain amount of impervious surface. So facing upwards of 1000$ in zoning variance fees and months of backlog on the variance process. I had a one on one with the zoning officer, who helped me bring my aspirations down to size.

and this is what I was allowed to do..

I had to bring the total impervious surface down under 1000sqf which would allow me to slide under all the building permits and setback restrictions these would allow me to place the shop where I wanted it and reduce my permit costs to 400$

I re-bid the job... but had to put the brakes on the project because the seepage bed was going to add 50% to the initial cost and I had to find a way to reduce that...

muduck18 · Jul 5, 2018

So, how do I reduce costs?
How I’ve always reduced costs. Do things myself.

Step one:
Land cleaning myself.

Step two:
Because the overall size is much smaller I decided to keep my old garden shed for the garden items. It would not contribute to my surface calculations because it was an existing (lol however non-permitted it was when I built it.) so it now needed to be moved to make way.
Also a diy job with the help of my dad and some brothers.

That went pretty well.

Next up:
Site prep another diy project that went fairly well... only got stuck once...

muduck18 · Jul 5, 2018

So this gets us caught up to April 26th 2017:

When the big boys took over.

I can still hardly believe they built it in two days..
But they did and it works.

But that means it’s back to DIY for me...

muduck18 · Jul 5, 2018

I mentioned before that the permit required a seepage bed...
what this is a collection of rocks buried under ground to make sure a homeowner has no money left in the budget, ever, and totally kill the spirit of anyone that wants to build things in their yard..

Or as I like to call it, my inground non-swimming pool.

Step one: get stuck.

Step two: dig a giant hole.

Keep digging.

Lay some fabric and pipe.

Dump cash into the hole. (In rock form of course)

Wrap it in fabric. (Like a gift offering of cash to the gods of the EPA)

and bury it.

If you can’t tell, I’m a little bitter that they made me do this,
This seepage bed, does nothing, rain water just comes out of the ground and runs down hill like it always did, but this makes them feel better about it I guess. On the plus side, the area where it is has a great stone foundation and I can park on it now, where it used to be a muddy mess.... not sure that’s what they were going for or not... but oh well...

Throw some grass seed at it.

LXCam · Jul 5, 2018

I'll echo mikes comments, ya had me hooked at jeep and welcome aboard as well. You have got to be kidding, with all the property you were that limited, holy cow bud that *****. But I certainly understand limiting the permitting costs when possible. Well despite all that, the shop is looking great!

muduck18 · Jul 5, 2018

I read a number of different things about if I should drain my slab. I have had some water issues as you can see, and I live 3/4 the way down hill. So all the uphill water crossed my property.

So I did it anyway. I hope it doesn’t come back to haunt me.

Lay down a nice stone base.

And once again...

The project stalled.
Electrical trenching and connection was next and I had an issue with entry into the main building that I could not get past....

muduck18 · Jul 5, 2018

LXCam said:
I'll echo mikes comments, ya had me hooked at jeep and welcome aboard as well. You have got to be kidding, with all the property you were that limited, holy cow bud that *****. But I certainly understand limiting the permitting costs when possible. Well despite all that, the shop is looking great!

Thanks!

Yeah, I have a full acre, and was disappointed in how little I could use... but I won in the end... and now that everything (exterior) is complete I’m sorta glad I didn’t fill my whole yard up with a building.

I’ve been a big Jeep guy for a long time.
Most XJ stuff lately because I have three kids and tj/Yj don’t have room for that many. And JK is too pricy to smash into trees.

This is a fairly recent pic of my rock sleeper “muse”
Atlas 4.3:1 + arb air lockers + a few other goodies that make it do 80mph on the highway, but climb over anything it wants on the trail.

But if I’m honest... the boys Jeeps have been getting more love lately than My own.

muduck18 · Jul 5, 2018

After exploring many options.

It was determined that the only way to reach the primary electric service was a boring operation from the side of the house to the basement. But since the basement has a series of patios and Slab garage around it. It was nearly impossible to get to without a horizontal boring company.

So talked to a couple people about that. And it seemed like all the money I saved doing things myself was gonna go into drilling 6” holes into my basement for water, data cables and 4 massive Cooper conductors for a (measly) 100amp sub panel... the distance was the killer over 200’ of cable and voltage loss calc..

But. Right about the same time. My hvac system in my house gave up the ghost.

And as I’m in the main panel with the hvac installers... I’m realizing. My main 200amp really should be a 400 if I wanted to pull 100 off it.

So I stalled again.

muduck18 · Jul 5, 2018

Sometimes it’s better to just step back and take a good hard look at everything.

That’s where I was in November. (2017)

Nothing had been done all summer to make forward motion.

I had a spot to park my truck and throw junk, but no work shop.

So in November I talked it over with a few friends (construction company owner, electrical company owner, and a brother in law that was on the township supervisor board)

All three just said “run a new service from the pole”

An angle I had never considered.

A few phone calls later...

We were off to the races again... in DIY mode because the HVAC failure meant this wasn’t savings account I was consuming now, it’s house equity... [emoji35] oh well.

Trench to the pole.

It was a fairly mild January, or at least for a stretch so I worked as quickly as I could to get things prepped.

But as I’m working my dad says “why not just knock a hole in the back and send water under the patio with a poor mans bore...

So... again, with new ideas we went to work.

In case you were wondering I have never heard it Called a “poor mans bore” I just threw that in there because my dad called it thepoor man way, which I think he meant cheap... but it’s a long metal pipe and a hammer.
In our case it was 12’ of pipe to reach the hole we dug out side.

I ended up running two pipes out. One for domestic water and one for low voltage lines for internet and intercom.

In case you’re wondering. Yes, my dad is the source of my insanity. Where I’m lacking guts, he eggs me on, where he’s lacking, I somehow pick up the slack... we probably do more than we should, but.... it’s worked out really well for us so far, I hope my boys and I have the same dynamic when they’re older.

Any yes, that’s my dad on February on a back hoe, digging conduit lines for my shop.

The ground was so frozen we had to use the stump bucket on the skiddy to break up the frost so the hoe could punch through.

At long last. In mid February.
We had the trench work complete.

And one cold day... this glorious sight was there for me in the morning...

muduck18 · Jul 5, 2018

Thanks for sticking with the build so far.
If you’re keeping track, it’s common up on a year since the structure was built (10 months) and the place finally got lit... a new 200amp service direct from the pole.

I can now plug my block heater in on the truck. Yay!

But it was also right about this time where my ball joints in the truck went bad.
I say that I mean i couldn’t bear how bad they were.
If any of y’all know dodge trucks of this era you know ball joints are their achilles’ heel.

So in the feeezing cold I knelt in my drive way and froze my lug n..bolts off.

And as I’m fighting with frost bite I said to myself.

Self, if you self do this shop right... make the floor not try to kill you in the winter.

So I set about learning everything I could learn about heated concrete.

Oh, and spring started happening. So a drive way was in order.

Also my neighbor asked that I fix the part of her lawn I messed up (with her permission) before she sells her house.
So... lawn work was in Order.

muduck18 · Jul 5, 2018

What’s in the box!?!?
We are caught up to June of this year now, and things are ramping up quickly.

More stone?

And site work

I think pink accent walls are the way to go.

The last few weeks have been a lot of nights working late to try to meet a deadline that was out of my hands.

Plastic vapor barrier.

I think by know you know what was in the box

And it’s lots of pink.

Don’t worry it’s not for nothing.
We are going to heat the floors with water.

A little figuring out to get the length of the runs even and distributed where I wanted them.

Yup that should do it just fine.

Let her rip. (By this point we are really close to the June 30 2018 dead line.)

Very very close to my target length on each loop.

Some bling

And we put 30psi into the pipes for the pour so we’d know if we puncture one.

Wheel borrow paths.

And.....

Concrete.

That’s about sums up the last 18-24 months of my life.. now as I wait for the concrete to cure so I can finally start to use it.. I realize I need electrical outlets and a few other odds and ends.

I will be insulating the walls and ceiling as time and money allow.

And I’ll continue to update this thread with pictures of progress and a few of some projects as they come.

Kevkx125 · Jul 5, 2018

Nice set up there, where are you in se pa?

muduck18 · Jul 5, 2018

Kevkx125 said:
Nice set up there, where are you in se pa?

Birdsboro/French creek/Morgantown area.

Kevkx125 · Jul 5, 2018

Right across the river douglassville berks county.

muduck18 · Jul 5, 2018

Kevkx125 said:
Right across the river douglassville berks county.

Yep, I work in Douglassville.

Small world this internet place.

jeepinerdeep · Jul 5, 2018

Sweet. I like the dark color scheme.

I saw the Met Ed truck before I saw your location and knew it must be close.

Carzy · Jul 6, 2018

that's some great work you've done there

GLTHFJ60 · Jul 6, 2018

Yes sir, that is bad ***. I've been looking at building a similar shop at my house for some time.

muduck18 · Jul 6, 2018

Carzy said:
that's some great work you've done there

Thanks! I originally told me self I wasn’t going to do much myself... but I am glad that I can say I did so much. (With much help from family and friends) plus the added benefit of being able to add little features and things like the floor heat at very little extra cost.

jeepinerdeep said:
Sweet. I like the dark color scheme.

I saw the Met Ed truck before I saw your location and knew it must be close.

Lol, I can’t take credit for that one, my wife is in control of aesthetics if I had picked it would probably clash with itself [emoji23]

GLTHFJ60 said:
Yes sir, that is bad ***. I've been looking at building a similar shop at my house for some time.

Thanks! It’s been a long time coming I hope to find out soon if it was worth all the effort.

muduck18 · Jul 12, 2018

I was finally able to post a little video of the concrete pour, and how I laid down the PEX pipe.

I had two camera's setup one inside the shop and one on the truck outside, but the one in the shop got hit with a screed pole about 2 minutes into the pour and had a nice shot of the ground for a good 2+ hours...

oh well. This is better than nothing.

Blazinzuk · Jul 13, 2018

I'm jealous of your floor heat! No matter how I worked the numbers it wasn't gonna happen.

My shop is built in a similar fashion. Check my build thread for ideas on insulation. It gets stupid cold here for months but insulation is always good.https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=392771

Also I dig the XJ seems it has the correct stuff to surprise a whole lotta people. I dig mild looking builds with good parts

muduck18 · Oct 26, 2018

So the progress on this shop has been very slow.

This summer was all work and very little play...

But about all I’ve accomplished is putting some junk on the floor and letting my boys play in it for the summer.

I started hanging some house wrap just the other week. I’m thinking this will help keep the fiberglass off the metal, especially if I have to replace a dented panel or something.

I was hoping to move into it this fall and have heat this year, but a few major truck repairs set my budget back a bit, and I’ll be lucky to have it insulated by spring.
Oh well, maybe tax return season [emoji1745]****[emoji3603]

Still a great place to work on the truck.

muduck18 · Nov 5, 2018

Glacial speeds of progress here.

Have been able to so far keep most of my tools out of the shop, but have had a hard time keeping the kids toys and random yard junk from collecting in there. But oh well, I gave up on getting the radiant heating operational this year. I’ll be lucky if I can just get framing and insulation started.
Oh well, that’s part of having a full time+ job and three kids I suppose.

Kevkx125 · Nov 6, 2018

Muduck18 at least you are making progress, looks good enjoy!!

Blazinzuk · Nov 7, 2018

Man I was basically 3 years from start to mostly finished.

It will be awesome when it's done

Ole Slewfoot · Nov 7, 2018

Twin laser cannon on the bucket too!

%20that%20works...The%20Shade%20Tree%20Jeep%20shop.jpg

muduck18 · Nov 7, 2018

Ole Slewfoot said:
Twin laser cannon on the bucket too!

He he now that you mention it. I see that. I guess that’s the Pew pew life [emoji23][emoji23]

muduck18 · Nov 7, 2018

Blazinzuk said:
Man I was basically 3 years from start to mostly finished.

It will be awesome when it's done

Kevkx125 said:
Muduck18 at least you are making progress, looks good enjoy!!

Thanks guys, i get frustrated when I have to move so slow. Your compliments and encouragement are appreciated.

seanc_mt · Nov 7, 2018

Where did you get those stainless manifolds? supplyhouse?

muduck18 · Nov 7, 2018

seanc_mt said:
Where did you get those stainless manifolds? supplyhouse?

I can’t speak to the quality or life expectancy of them long term. Since mine have not even seen glycol or water yet. But they have held 27psi for 4+months so that says something to me.

I went through hundreds of websites looking for the best deal I could find but ended up just ordering on amazon. Because it was convenient and the price was competitive. And it came with everything I needed to connect it, then I just had to add a pressure gauge and a schrader valve to put pressure on the tubes.

I could have saved some money, if I wanted to swear copper and skip the flow meters... but this was easy and quick.

4 Loop 1/2" Pex Manifold Stainless Steel Radiant Floor Heating Set/Four Branch Kit from VIVO (PEX-M12-4) Not suitable for potable water applications https://www.amazon.com/dp/B011W54YL2/?tag=atomicindus08-20

muduck18 · Feb 20, 2019

Well dead of winter hasn’t stopped the slow and steady work toward the finish line.

I’m loving the ability to tuck the truck and the little tractor plow in and close up before these snow storms.

I decided to frame and stud for r19 in the walls using reclaimed 2x6 that my dad and brother-in-law pulled from decks being rebuilt.

But first, the air compressor kept popping the ground fault outlet. So I added some better temporary /permanent receptacles.

One of my buddies asked if we could do some work on his FSJ, his township was complaining about his projects and I’m always game to having a nice looking jeep around.

But: this showed up. Enter “rat (turd) rod jeep”

Of course the real reason it was here was to test fit a legacy products sliding rag top in it.

Then off to the scrap heap.

And in with the real beauty.

But I won’t let that keep my shop work from happening. Not entirely.
So I worked on framing slowly but surely.

muduck18 · Feb 20, 2019

So next up is r19 on the walls faced fiberglass batt.

And galv tin on the ceiling. With cellulose blow in. So I need to put some wrap up to keep the blown in out of the eves, then put up tin.

So now I wait until the funds build up again and buy the TIn....

Slow and steady....

Fun to be able to use the plasma out there occasionally when I need to now...

***** hauling back and forth to the house... but soon. Soon.

muduck18 · Mar 1, 2019

Stead progress this week. Slow working by myself and little details are tedious and slow.

But I added some ambient lighting. I don’t want some big dusk to dawn light but I want something that will allow me to walk up and see what I’m doing while I unlock the place.
So I grabbed some little 12v led lights.

Made some angled pieces so I could aim them at the ground.

The hard part was getting them installed in the eve. I didn’t think about hard hard it would be to install the nut on the back... but I got it.

And it looks pretty good.
Does exactly what I wanted it to do.

I’ve changed my mind so many times about electrical on this project I finally made a decision. Hide the bulk of it in the walls... so I bought all the stuff I need to put the rough in wire...

Gonna start in the ceiling. And borrowed some rolling scaffold from my dad to work in the rafters.

Tomorrow hopefully all the wires are rough in...

JustinS · Mar 2, 2019

Cool space, but I’ve got to know more about that Waggy.

muduck18 · Mar 2, 2019

JustinS said:
Cool space, but I’ve got to know more about that Waggy.

Oh that waggy is a beauty!
It belongs to my buddy Jon (Jonbleepingjeep on YouTube or bleepinjeepjon on Instagram)
He’s in the middle of a complete frame off restomod on it. He installed an Izuzu 4bd1t diesel, strongbox doubler/low range box, 1ton axles and 37’s.
It’s getting really close to completion but his daily driver needed attention so he’s working on that first and we’re doing some work on it here at my place where I have some more space than he does which makes installing a rag top on it easier.

I live vicariously through him often. [emoji12] he’s got nicer jeeps than I do... right now... but my shop is nicer(or will be soon) so it evens out I guess.

JustinS · Mar 2, 2019

I thought it looked familiar! I saw it on his IG, loving his yellow XJ build.

muduck18 · Mar 2, 2019

JustinS said:
I thought it looked familiar! I saw it on his IG, loving his yellow XJ build.

Yup, that’s the dd. It was having trouble coping with life in the Volkswagen, so it needed a better shell [emoji23]

muduck18 · Apr 10, 2019

Well I guess it’s time I make a quick update on the last month or so of progress.

Kept plugging and chugging with the electric.

Had a visit from an injured mallard.

Then I called in a few favors again..
And put the ceiling up in one night.

Did some more wire stuff.

This photo with the caption “hanging out with some strippers and dikes...
didn’t go over too well with the wife. [emoji849] something about crude dad jokes [emoji2369]