Finally getting my own shop

[intjonmiller]

I've been learning on this site for years. Now that I'm finally setting up my own shop it's time to share. I was renting my previous home. Plan was to be there for 2 years and then buy a home. Numerous setbacks pushed that out to 6.5 years. In that time I packed the 1950’s excuse for a 1-car garage as full as any shop I’ve ever seen, while still being usable. Wood shop and machine shop in there. Very proud of how much I accomplished with that tiny space, but it was extremely cramped. My wife found the house we bought and it's perfect for us, with almost 1/2 acre, a 2 car attached garage, and a 16'x24' detached workshop/garage. It’s the smallest backyard shop in the neighborhood and far from my dream shop, but it’s a huge upgrade from what I had and it will do nicely for a while. Eventually I plan to make this my wood shop and build another beside it for metal so I can keep the respective messes better segregated.

Built by an older couple in 1997, the gentleman passed in 2007 having never done more with the shop than hang pegboard, build some 2x4 workbenches, and bury a 12 gauge extension cord through the yard for power in the shop.

His wife moved to a care center a year ago and passed last December, and we bought it from their estate. When their son gave me a tour of a few things after we signed on it he told me about the buried extension cord, and that they only succeeded in removing parts of it, years ago. Still under there somewhere. I'll probably come across some when I'm running power from the main panel on the same side of the house as the shop. Sprinkler lines in the way and they ran so much funny pipe I can't tell where the main lines are without doing as much excavation as actually running the electrical line, so I've given up on tracing it and I'll just repair whatever gets broken.

He mostly made crafty things like you might see at a farmer's market, like rough-sawn signs with woodburned saying such as, "An old fisherman lives here with the catch of his life." Quite a few were still in the shop, along with parts of wooden ducks and a LOT of EXTREMELY dry lumber. 13 years since he passed and it's been in this dry shop at least that long. It's all firewood now.

 

[intjonmiller]

The day we signed on the house I got started on the shop. Hauled out all the old lumber and removed the pegboard, particleboard shelves on flimsy brackets, and 2x4 workbenches. Then I ground the floor as smooth and flat as you can accomplish with a 7" single wheel grinder.

I ground wet to contain the dust as my dust collector is buried in a storage unit and I wasn't going to rent one for this small shop on top of the grinder and consumables. My wife and 7 year-old son helped me, especially with getting the slurry out the door.

It came out pretty good, though I would have preferred to have used the 20" Edco I've used in the past. Faster grinding and easier to level. This one did a fantastic job of removing the skin and getting all the way to the edges, but it leaves a lot to be desired for actually leveling. I'll be doing a heavy epoxy floor after I get the cracks chased and filled (polyurea fast set) which should help average out the remaining inconsistencies. In particular the ground settled a little below the roll-up door so there are some good cracks around it. Hopefully it's done settling now...

I doubt I used even 25% of the grinder dots. Plenty of life left to do the 2-car garage after I’m done with the shop.

 

[intjonmiller]

The outside of the shop needs work. Once upon a time I did exterior finishing for a living (architectural sheet metal, fiber cement siding, etc.). I’ll probably do fiber cement when the time comes. For now I’m just going to get it water-tight again.

I’m going to use the shed for the air compressor and dust collector. Hopefully eventually I’ll have a phase converter I can park behind it as well.

100’ of cable should be sufficient to go from the service box on the side of the house, down appropriately deep underground, out to the shop, and up to the panel. I’ll buy 110’ just in case. By my calculations #0 aluminum will give me sufficient current for 100 amps. Still need an electrician to come verify that I can even pull that much. Doubtful I will ever need that much at once, even with air compressor, air conditioner, and any given large machine running at once. But nothing overbuilt ever broke…

 

[intjonmiller]

Cost of materials to finish the shop should be approximately $2000. Goal is to move in (my machine tools are in the 2 car garage for now) before the snow falls. Very busy with work so we'll see how well that works out.

 

[intjonmiller]

No idea how I managed to post such huge text. Sorry about that!

 

[rixtrix1]

Beautiful looking home and yard. The shop must have been put together fairly well to look as good as it does. Keep sending reports on progress and, of course, MORE PICS.

 

[intjonmiller]

Thanks! It's more yard than I care to manage. One more reason to build a bigger shop. ��

As I mentioned my wife found the house, and she's entirely onboard with me setting up the shop. We call my shop time "therapy". She knows it's good for my mental health, and I can make just about anything for the home. We have two major remodeling projects planned for the house in the next couple years so getting the shop set up right will make that much easier to do.

Two days after closing on the house we hired a plumber to come make sure the sewer lines were all working properly because it's common for a house that has been vacant for a while (this one for one year) to have the sewer pipe linings slough off as they dry up, then suddenly clog when you move in and start using them again. He discovered that there's a belly in the main line, sufficient that it has caused the line to disconnect from the city's line under the street (only a slight gap, but still a gap). We're trying to get the sellers (estate of the late owners) to help with the repair. But no matter what portion they cover it means a setback in the budget for the shop project. Joys of home ownership. Nothing like paying a bunch of money just to get what you already had (or thought you did). Wish I had known that the home inspection didn't cover the main line.

 

[intjonmiller]

Looking at this image again it's clear there are spots that weren't ground as well as I thought. Interesting that I couldn't see that in-person. I should probably etch it as well. Hopefully I can do that today and it will be dry enough for the polyurea on Wednesday when my dual cartridge caulk/epoxy gun arrives.

 

[hampster]

This looked like it had the making of a great shop journey... I'd be interested in an update now that you've had a few years to settle in.