Embarking on a New Shop Journey.

[JunkYardDawg]

We've just made an offer on a house with barn, shed, and a building which will be converted into my new shop. My hope is to start a thread here that will track my progress, and I will add photos as soon as they accept our offer.

We're pretty excited, so I don't know where to begin, but I'll try to tell you guys how very cool it is. The house is huge - post & beam - and the barn is 200 years old, and very well maintained. Yeah the barn is nice, but its the other building that I am most excited about... Its a recording studio!

A semi-famous musician owned this place. I will reveal his name once we actually sign for this place.

He built a 30x40 building around 2002 to do recordings and jam in. That building is also post and beam. The overhead lights are sweet and I would leave those. They would provide nice lighting for my machines.

The floor is built-up 6" via wood construction to run all the electrical wiring and cables for the mixing booth and so on. there are 120v outlets all over the floor in strategic spots. Its a poured slab underneath, and obviously the wooden floor would need to go. I cant imagine putting my Bridgeport and lathe on a wood floor unless it was 2" oak plank or something brutishly-sturdy like that.

Now here is the kicker: The whole building is climate-controlled. There are TWO absolutely massive AC units on a pad out behind the studio. These are industrial units like you'd find on the top of a commercial building. They are wired 3ph!

Oh btw... did I mention there is 3 phase there? WOOT!

Anyway - and I'd love to hear some comments about this - I'm thinking the AC has to go. Its probably very nice in there in the summertime, but how can I justify the expense of running those units? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

 

[wasfast]

If you don't want the expense of AC then just don't use it. I don't see the need to tear it all out................

 

[countryroad82]

I would love to have AC in my shop for those east Kentucky Summer's but I never could justify spending the extra cash when there are so many other things I can get for what I would spend. I also vote to keep it. 3 phase power is freaking awesome!

 

[My Old Tools]

I would kill for a wood floor in my shop. I would just reinforce the area for the lathe. The Bridgeport should be fine with its footprint. Not that much heavier than a grand piano. BP isn't relying on being perfectly level for accuracy like a lathe. I don't know what size lathe you have, But an extra sheet of 1" plywood under it would probably be sufficient for anything like an SB 13.

 

[zcar751]

I've lived in NH and Maine, don't think for a minute it doesn't get hot. You may not have as many hot days but there will be days you will need it. Can't wait to see the pictures.

 

[Kevkx125]

Two units may be overkill, see if one unit is enough and how high are the ceilings?

 

[JunkYardDawg]

If you don't want the expense of AC then just don't use it. I don't see the need to tear it all out................

I'm all about spartan living. I don't want anything I cant use. Better to sell/trade off those huge units now while they are still newish and in decent shape. If I don't use them, they'll still be attached to the backside of my shop.

Still, I do suppose that I will have an HVAC guy over for consultation, and to freshen up these units and turn them on. They've been sitting idle since 2007, so I can imagine they are full of wasp nests and so on. The fans probably need new belts, and the freon may need a top off. I would like to get them running, and determine just how much of a running cost they'll be. A climate-controlled shop in the summer would be excellent, because it does get humid here.

We'll see how it goes.

 

[JunkYardDawg]

I would kill for a wood floor in my shop. I would just reinforce the area for the lathe. The Bridgeport should be fine with its footprint. Not that much heavier than a grand piano. BP isn't relying on being perfectly level for accuracy like a lathe. I don't know what size lathe you have, But an extra sheet of 1" plywood under it would probably be sufficient for anything like an SB 13.

A wood floor in a woodshop is de rigueur, but since my shop is primarily machining and fab, anything less than steel or concrete is dangerous. Chemicals spilled, hot sparks, etc. I also weld in my shop too.

I would also like to remind you that a solid floor in turn makes for better accuracy with ANY piece of precision machinery.

 

[Fueler]

Anyway - and I'd love to hear some comments about this - I'm thinking the AC has to go. Its probably very nice in there in the summertime, but how can I justify the expense of running those units? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Excuse me while I pick myself up off the floor. Is that a serious question? climate control means no rust on your equipment.
Better see the Doc. You have a momentary insanity issue.

Besides, by purchasing this property you just ran right past the "I am all about Spartan living" persona. Deal.

 

[JunkYardDawg]

I've lived in NH and Maine, don't think for a minute it doesn't get hot. You may not have as many hot days but there will be days you will need it. Can't wait to see the pictures.

I know this. I'm a Maine native, and I've lived here in NH for 25 years.

I do agree with you, however. Sometimes the heat is simply brutal, even though we live in the mountains. My current house is located at the southern base of a mountain, yet we are in kind of a hollow here. The river is 1000 yards down the road, and around 400ft of altitude above the river, so not much humidity generated from there. Not a lot of wind, so it do get stuffy up in here.

Also, we become acclimated quickly to the changing seasons because we exercise and spend a lot of time outside. When you do that, your body gets used to the weather more rapidly. Plus, as we age, we grow more attached to the warmth.

Back to the humidity...

Humidity is a killer of precision machinery. When it gets above 50%, I run two dehumidifiers in the shop. It keeps everything from getting gross and rusty. This new place will be nice to have AC, because that will **** out any moisture at all. A big win for the machines, but a total ***-kick to my budget.

Again, time will tell.

 

[JunkYardDawg]

Excuse me while I pick myself up off the floor. Is that a serious question? climate control means no rust on your equipment.
Better see the Doc. You have a momentary insanity issue.

Besides, by purchasing this property you just ran right past the "I am all about Spartan living" persona. Deal.

This shop is one of the perks of moving there, and this whole move thing is generated and steered by my wife. She's the one with all the cash. All I have is a military pension, which she doesn't ask for a dime. However, I pay my own way. No toy I buy is ever with any of her cash, unless she buys it for me out of a surprise or something. I do my own gig, and she does hers, and we've been happy together for 39 years.

Yep, we never argue about money, but she does pay the bills. If I get the shop on its own billing - which it probably is anyway - I dont want it to drain my cash allotted for other cool stuff. I'm not cheap - just an old frugal yankee.

So getting down to the "spartan" thing - I'm not worthy of such a nice shop.



I am trying to deal with it, lol!

 

[JunkYardDawg]

I'd also like to apologize for the wordiness (verbosity?) of my posts right now. I love GJ, and I'm just looking for a medium to help me work through a few things.

I should know if they accept our offer soon, and I'll start posting pics and keep this thread as a journal of me transforming the studio into a metalworking shop.

 

[nolimits76]

LOL, come spend a summer in OK and then let's talk about heat & humidity. Until then, consider yourself blessed. It's just a tick above hell in this part of the region. Only thing worse is TX, which I think is the northern region of hell.

For those reasons I'm thinking you probably don't need the A/C, but I bet the heat would be nice as I understand it gets much colder in your part of the country.

Still in yet, just because you may not NEED it doesn't mean I'd rip it out. Remember, part of the value assessed to your property is because of the current build conditions. The elements you are talking about removing is something fairly significant and would provide added value when/if you should ever decide to sell. I know when buying, we all think we are never moving, but the reality is life happens and situations change so sometimes we move anyways. I always look at home purchases as investments and try to stay in a positive cash position in case I am forced to move for some unknown reason.