Between 485 & 705 SQ/FT Tinkering Tony's Workshop

[B3D3G1]

I had to make the most of my time in the shop this weekend and didn't get as far as I planned. On Friday, I picked up some more wood to make the drawers and bench top. I decided to go with 3/8" drawer bottoms so I had to modify my drawings to match. I got most of the pieces cut on Friday afternoon but stopped short of trying out the dado blade.

Sat, Sun, and half of Mon were busy with bike rides, family get togethers and formula 1. Monday afternoon I got back to it and figured out the dado stack and cut the rest of my plywood to size. It was my first time using the dado stack but I got it dialed in and ready with just 2 practice cuts. I then drilled all the pocket holes and start assembling.

Here's where I left off:

Bench top is assembled but I'll wait to secure it until I lay down the polyacrylic coating. 3 of the 15 drawers are assembled.

Here's the pile of parts left to put together:

I'm hoping to have this project totally wrapped up by Father's day so I need to keep chipping away at it.

 

[B3D3G1]

I mentioned the driveway and patio planning in an earlier post, but I just signed the contract today with the concrete company. The work will include the 50 foot driveway to the existing workshop apron as well as a patio area next to the workshop. Here is the final design of the patio with 4'x4' tool joints and a 1' boarder. We will start looking at some type of shade structure or purgula over the right side once the concrete is in.


We were originally going to add a gas line for a fire pit but decided to hold off on that. It was going to cost $3000 for just the plumber's work so we'll try out our Solo Stove first and see if we want buy a propane fire pit in the future.

I'm just waiting for the contractor to come back with scheduling but he eluded it could be mid June and a 2 day job.
Price with welded wire fabric, 4" pour, and fiber mesh reinforcement concrete calculated out to be just under $10 per sqft with prep and demo of existing walkway included.

Our well pump also went out. It might have been related to the big storm we had 2 weeks ago and the electrical surges afterwards with all the tree limbs breaking off and causing power issues. Our normal guy diagnosed the the issue as a problem with either the wiring down to the pump or some of the windings in the pump. It sounded like there was no continuity on the circuit. He said he changed the pump about 6 or 7 years ago and told himself he would never do that again. It's about 140 feet deep and he said it was a huge task for him and 2 other guys to do manually. He gave me a referral to another guy that has some kind of truck mounted system to pull the pump up. It sounds like it could be around $1500 to pull and replace the pump. At least it's been raining off and on for the last week to not have to rely on the well to keep our yard green.

 

[zc15]

Gas lines aren't too bad to DIY. $200 for a plumber to add a tee and valve, then used polyethylene pipe with the compression fittings and risers. $200 for a trencher rental. Think we were in for $700ish for it all said and done with permit and inspection fees, 125 foot run, still have another 125 ft of leftover pipe

 

[B3D3G1]

Gas lines aren't too bad to DIY. $200 for a plumber to add a tee and valve, then used polyethylene pipe with the compression fittings and risers. $200 for a trencher rental. Think we were in for $700ish for it all said and done with permit and inspection fees, 125 foot run, still have another 125 ft of leftover pipe

The plan was to have the gas line come out of the house but this was mainly to minimize trenching length and no deal with other utilities that run between the main house and the studio building.

I did a little bit of google/youtube learning on this and it does look pretty straight forward and not that expensive. You're estimates seem to be right on from what I'm seeing. I would need about a 100' run from our meter to the firepit location and it would have to cross a conduit holding our internet service fiber buried at ~18" and all the electrical/water/sewer running to the studio building and an unknown depth and exact location.

I'll have to think about it. I don't really mind the propane option the more I think about it. I'll be able to move the fire pit if needed and I already keep a full spare tank on hand for the BBQ. If I do run a gas line, then I also feel obligated to spend more on the construction of a nice fire pit to take advantage of it. Later on, it's probably not too bad to run a gas line to this location. It's only about 4 feet in from the edge of the new concrete and one 4' walkway to tunnel under.

 

[teamextreme]

If you do decide to run the poly underground gas line, let me know, I have the special, pricey-ish tool for dressing the ends you can borrow. I think I ran 1" to my shop.

 

[B3D3G1]

If you do decide to run the poly underground gas line, let me know, I have the special, pricey-ish tool for dressing the ends you can borrow. I think I ran 1" to my shop.

Thanks! As of right now, I'm not going to run the gas line but I appreciate the offer.

The concrete contractor is scheduled for Monday prep work and Tuesday pour. It's a quick turn around and I'm excited to have both a driveway and patio.

I got a few more drawers done last night. It took me about an hour to do 6 drawers so I have an hour left I'm hoping to knock out today.

 

[B3D3G1]

Weekend upate:

Spent most of the weekend prepping for the concrete work. The main task was to relocate a few sprinkler lines. I wasn't sure where they went so I had to trace them but the whole area was getting dug up so at least I didn't have to worry about clean up. I traced the lines back to the walk way so I had to do some breaking up of the concrete with the sledge hammer which is never fun. Here's the final setup.

I also had to relocate one of the lines around a fence post but that was pretty insignificant to this work.

Our well pump stopped working so I had to get the service guy out to pull the pump. He brought a truck mounted crane and pulled the pump with it. It was 140 feet down so it would be pretty hard as a one man worker. Turns out, just the wire was shorted. It was only direct bury wire instead of the thicker insulated wire that should have been in there. That means I got to save the $1300 price of a new pump.



The concrete contractor showed up this morning at 7am and got to work. They are hoping to get all the prep done today and pour tomorrow. About an 1.5 hours into the work they called me and said "we found something". I heart skipped a beat for a second. I went out side to find metal tub half sticking out of the ground. I'm guessing it was for some farm animals and they just threw in a pit at some point.

 

[B3D3G1]

Prep work for the concrete is mostly done. Forms are up and they just have to finish spreading the road base and laying out the wire reinforcement. I like the look of it. I'm not looking forward to more landscaping but it will eventually be done.
The concrete order was cancelled for today. Something about supplier over capacity. They plan to pour the patio Wed and the driveway Thursday.
Driveway section

Forms around the gate area.

View from the patio


I also finished mounting all the drawer slides for the lower cabinets but didn't grab any pictures. Still hoping to be in a wrapped up state for father's day.

 

[jbrentd]

That new patio will be a really nice space for you guys! We have a fireplace on our back patio and I haven't seen the need for a gas line. And it would have only been about a 15' run for me to hook it up.

 

[wreckdiver1321]

Very cool to see it all laid out like that. That's gonna look nice!

 

[B3D3G1]

The patio was poured yesterday. Nothing like 2 idling concrete trucks outside your open window at 5:45 AM to wake you up. They were scheduled for 7 AM but I guess decided to get there early. The crew scrambled to get here as fast as they could. The patio and tool joints were done by noon. The driveway is being poured today.


I've also been slowly painting the drawer fronts for the lower cabinets. This leaves lots of time between coats so I had a chance to button up the lower cabinet frame and top surface. The top surface is 3/4" birch ply with pine edge banding and 4 coats of polyurethane acrylic. All the drawer slides are installed on the frame and drawers and it's mounted to the wall in a few places.

I also added a cheapish light strip underneath the uppers along with mounting a power strip on the under side. The cheap lights are wifi enabled and I was really hoping to get them to turn on with my smart light switches for the interior lights but I couldn't make the connections needed to automate after some trying. They are Alexa enabled so I can do it by voice and I was thinking about adding an Alexa dot out here in the workshop to use as an intercom to the house.

The paint is dry now so I'm hoping I can get the drawer fronts and handles installed today or tomorrow. My parents are coming out for Father's day weekend so I think I'm looking pretty good to have the major projects done, cleaned up, and ready to show off.

 

[B3D3G1]

Driveway and patio are in and the contractor took the forms off the driveway this morning.


I have started planning my shade structure over the patio. I'll draw up what I'm thinking but I'm trying for a 20 by 20 shade sail on a permanent wooden structure. I'm thinking of 6x6 posts, 10 feet high in each corner anchored to the concrete. Then something like 2x8 cedar running the 20' span. Depends on if I can find 20 ft cedar. I might have to settle for construction grade material and stain and seal it. For the sail, Commercial 95 caught my eye and I came across backyardcity.com. It looking like it could be a little under $3000 for what I'm thinking. Plus, my wife will finally get the bistro lights in the backyard she has been wanting.

 

[wreckdiver1321]

Now that looks fancy.

 

[B3D3G1]

I finished up the lower cabinets this weekend. They aren't perfect but I think they turned out really good.

The drywall (or my benchtop) is a little wavy so I laid out some leftover pine edge banding material but I still need to cut it to size, finish it, and secure it in place. I'm not sure where I want to put my latex glove holder yet but I have the shop towel holder mounted.

I also spent some time cleaning up the workshop now that the big planned projects are done. There was so much sawdust everywhere.

My parents are in town this weekend but I might try to move my miata over the following weekend. It's been so long I don't remember what is and isn't attached to the car currently. I know I don't have brakes and hopefully the suspension is assembled enough to slap the wheels on and roll it over.

Future projects around the house include re-landscaping the areas around the new patio and building a sun shade structure. This is what I'm currently thinking. 4 6x6 cedar posts anchored to the concrete with 20' 2x6 or 2x8 cedar boards running between the posts. And a sun sail anchored at each corner.

 

[jbrentd]

Looking great! Nice job on all fronts.

 

[teamextreme]

Fine looking finished product. You need a few more things on your to-do list on the white board!

 

[B3D3G1]

I picked up the cedar for my shade sail structure earlier this week. Now my shop smells real good every time I walk in!


I thought I had most of the hardware sorted but the 6x6 posts ended up being rough cut. I had to return the strong tie post bases I ordered from Home Depot which were sized for nominal 6x6 posts and find a source for the rough cut equivalent bases online. I'm going with a Strong Tie post base which has a 1" standoff built in for rot protection. I'll cover the bracket with 1"x cedar.

I also had to order new stainless steel bolts in the correct lengths for both the base and upper board attachments to accommodate the extra thickness. Luckily, BoltDepot.com makes it easy to return hardware like this. I'm still waiting on my backordered corner brackets for the sail as well as the actual sail to be manufactured. I went with a Commercial 95 fabric from backyardcity.com made to the dimensions of my structure. I'm hoping to have all the parts in hand in 2 weeks.

I picked up some Tong Oil to finish all the posts and boards. I wasn't thinking I would sand everything but I did 1 face of a post and it just makes it look and feel so much more premium. 1 face on each post is pretty rough and I'm only planning to do a single pass with 80 grit as it's just an outdoor structure. I'm hoping to get the sanding done on all surfaces this weekend and start laying down the tong oil over the course of the week. Here's a mid sand picture of to show how much of a difference I saw on the worst surface:


The serpentine belt on my 2011 Ram 2500 also started making a lot of noise last weekend so I'm hoping to find some time this weekend to replace the belt, idler, and tensioner. I picked up some specialty wrenches from Geno's Garage to remove the fan to make access to the front of the engine a lot easier. I've never done this job before so it will be a learning experience for me. Just sourcing quality parts was a bit of an adventure but I have everything in hand now.

 

[B3D3G1]

I did a good amount of sanding this weekend but I still have a good amount left. The four 6x6 posts are done and one of the four 2x6x20' is done. The 2x6 board took at least 1.5 hours so I lost motivation on Sunday night to keep going but I'll keep chipping away at it during the week.


I also replaced the serpentine belt along with the tensioner pulleys on my truck and it was a pretty easy job. The actual fix was maybe 30 minutes but I did manage to foul up the threads on the fan clutch either while taking it off or while trying to thread the fan clutch back on to the pulley. I wasted an hour dealing with that and eventual got the threads cleaned up enough to start to engage. The next time that has to come off, I might look to replace some parts as it definitely wasn't smooth threading on and it will probably be a bear to get off. The squeaking has stopped but I need a real hot day to validate the fix.

 

[B3D3G1]

I did absolutely nothing productive last weekend and it was great. I'm knee deep in bicycle training for a few big upcoming events (Mt Evans Hill Climb and Triple Bypass), went up kayaking at Lake Granby with my wife, and took part is some local 4th of July celebrations in Golden. Plus it was too hot for me to be motivated to cram in some work.

Now I feel I'm a little behind on my patio and landscaping projects. I put my lift to good use to prep my truck for some loads of top soil and rock. Four 2x4s and four screws later, I can lift my truck cap off without help and store it mostly out of the way.

This is the highest the lift will go but I can walk under it so It's basically not there.

 

[B3D3G1]

Finally got the shade structure up last night.

I ended up going with 9 foot tall posts and I think it fits the space pretty well. The sail will sag slightly and we plan to put up some bistro lights. The sail should be arriving next week.

The post bases use only a single concrete anchor in the middle of the base. I wish it was a little more rigidly mounted to the concrete but the upper boards helped out a lot. We can get some pretty strong winds here so I'll see how this handles wind with the sail and I might add a 2nd concrete anchor in each base or even swap out to a base with different mounting style.

 

[Chrisb62]

Something like this helps a lot for rigidity.

 

[B3D3G1]

Something like this helps a lot for rigidity.

That is a great idea. It would make the top more rigid so the legs are mainly only providing vertical support.
I was just staring at the structure now and I think I could make some 45 degree supports out of 2x4s at each corner for pretty cheap.

 

[Chrisb62]

It will stiffen it up a lot.

Can't wait to see what your looks like when finished.

 

[B3D3G1]

I've been busy with all kinds of things away from the workshop but I have a few items to update on.

I finally finished the driveway in front of the house. It was lawn before the build, then it got totally destroyed during the build, now it's rocks and matches other parts of the front of our house. It about 70' by 10ish' and I didn't want the extra cost of concrete or the look of a parking lot in our front yard.

In total, I moved just over 6 tons of 3/4" grey monzonite with 4 trips from the local landscape supply. The heaviest load was 1.73 tons and put my truck at 10900 pounds on their scales. Just a little over GVWR.


I've also been working on the support braces for my shade structure. I picked up some 2x6 cedar boards and sanded, cut, and laid down some tong oil. SS hardware should be arriving this week.

 

[chad215]

That is a great idea. It would make the top more rigid so the legs are mainly only providing vertical support.
I was just staring at the structure now and I think I could make some 45 degree supports out of 2x4s at each corner for pretty cheap.

Everything looks great! I would go as far as saying those knee braces should not be optional. You definitely want them in there in some form or another. They go a long way in preventing racking of the structure. I wouldn't even attempt to build the roof without installing them first.

 

[B3D3G1]

It's been a little while.. I had a vacation to Costa Rica with the family and then a post-family-vacation vacation in Steamboat Springs. 1st time for both places and it was great! We had a great oceanside house in Costa Rica near Jaco. It was nice to get away and unplug from work and my never ending to do list.


We are also expecting our first child at the end of December and just had the 20 week anatomy scan with everything looking great. I've got a lot to learn, but I'll have a little helper in a few more years.


After all that vacationing, I had to be a little productive. After pulling weeds and beating back the over grown garden, I was able to finish up the shade structure. I think it turned out great. The knee braces were a big help in stability. It's a total game changer for this space.
I guess I'll need to check back every month and retighten the bolts since some of the main beam bolts were barely finger tight. I'm guessing the wood is settling.

Here's a little detail on how each corner went together. All stainless hardware. Staggered each set of through bolts so they wouldn't hit each other.


We had a little celebratory bbq out on the patio followed by a little fire pit action. It's so much nicer having a space away from the backdoor of the house. It feels like we are actually in our back yard and not wedged between the hot tub and BBQ. I'll definitely be adding some bistro lights under the sail to light up the patio area at night.

The solo stove was great, but I still feel a gas fire pit will be better for this area. Instant on/off and no anxiety over any embers flying up into the air.

 

[Chrisb62]

I'm guessing the wood is settling.

The wood is shrinking from the loss of moisture internally........don't over tighten or you will **** the bolts completely thru.

Looks great and congratulations on the little helper......

 

[nicholam77]

The solo stove was great, but I still feel a gas fire pit will be better for this area. Instant on/off and no anxiety over any embers flying up into the air.

I recently swapped a gas fire pit for a solo stove on our patio and I have to agree. I miss the convenience of the propane and not having to worry about embers. I will say the solo stove generates a LOT more heat, which might be nice in cooler weather. Also... due to its efficient burning design, it really consumes wood quickly, which I found to be kind of a bummer.

Lights on the pergola will look great.

Congrats on the baby! Mine are 1 yr and (almost) 4 yrs now, and spoiler alert, I have to say neither of them are really that *helpful* haha. In fact they make it much more difficult to do any sort of project Maybe in a few more years.

 

[jbrentd]

Back patio is looking great...gonna be a great space. Congratulations on the upcoming baby! Get some sleep now.

 

[B3D3G1]

Just a small update to keep the thread alive...

I've been busy these last several weeks. I completed the Triple Bypass bike ride from Evergreen to Vail (107 miles, 10,000 ft elevation gain). It was cold and raining off and on the whole time. Also went up to McCall, Idaho with family for my parents 50th anniversary including some pontoon boating on the lake.


Last weekend, I had the house to myself so I did a few little projects along with a ton of yard work.
I finally finished the wood trim/backsplash on the lower cabinet top. I had the spare wood sitting in place but I still had to cut to size and finish with some polyurethane before fixing it in place with some nails and adhesive. Definitely looks more finished now.


I also picked up a few new toys. I had the Astro light on my Amazon list for a while and also picked up a Mayhew prybar set. The prybar handles are a little too tall to fit in side holes of my tool cart so I need to find a good place for them.


Our 5 year anniversary is coming up next week so I made a little jewelry holder for my wife while she was out of town. The gift theme is wood and so I thought this would be fitting. She just uses a towel holder currently so anything will be an upgrade. I was going to go with something like a white oak, but I ended up with poplar after visiting my local lumber yard due to size availability. I've got plenty left to remake it if she wants a different stain or layout.


Future plans:
- 2 century rides in the next 2 weeks
- finish landscaping around patio (at least the dirt and rock portions)
- move all the remaining stuff from my garage to the workshop and organize my cabinets and tools
- Refresh 2 bathrooms before Thanksgiving (paint, vanities, fixtures, mirrors)
- move my Miata to the workshop before the snow comes (which means assembling it enough to be a rolling chassis)
- figure out how to raise a kid

 

[jbrentd]

I'm going to add one of those Astro lights to my Amazon wish list, thanks for sharing. And when you figure out how to raise a kid, can you let me know? Maybe it's not too late for my youngest (20)?

 

[B3D3G1]

It's been a while since I updated. I've been busy with house projects outside the shop. Mostly refreshing 2 bathrooms and finishing up some landscaping before winter. It's a long todo list before the baby arrives in 2 or 3 weeks.

This weekend I finally moved the miata into the workshop. This was the whole reason for building this. I pushed about half way and towed it the rest of the way with the truck. Feels good to finally move it in. I can just barely stand up under most of it when it's in the highest position. I just to just barely duck for the exhaust.


You can see a few things on the back wall I've added recently. Jackstand mounts and lumber rack. I've also filled my cabinets with all my stuff and mostly organized my tool boxes.

I also finished the landscaping around the patio. Added about 300 sqft of grass and lots of rocks. I moved about 25 tons of rocks counting the front yard "driveway" and surrounding the patio and new concrete driveway. The sun shade is down for the winter now and I'm in the process of getting solar installed which will be split between the house and workshop roofs. The install won't be until May but it's in the system design phase currently.

 

[jbrentd]

Looking good! What lumber racks are you using? Do you think they are strong enough for 2x2x0.125 square tubing? I need to do the same with some steel and wood laying around.

 

[B3D3G1]

Looking good! What lumber racks are you using? Do you think they are strong enough for 2x2x0.125 square tubing? I need to do the same with some steel and wood laying around.

It's a Bora 4 Level lumber rack off amazon. It says it's rated at 110lb per level but I don't know about that. It's just sheet metal pushing against sheet metal. I would be comfortable with half that, especially up high and above things of value. There are probably better options for the steel tubing.

 

[jarhead]

Hi neighbor, just read through your project.
Nice shop and I love the yard projects too.

My daughter and son in law are moving to Lakewood from Windsor. I'm up north near Wellington.
Joe

 

[Cdubu52]

Just caught up on your build. Great shop!

 

[B3D3G1]

I've been busy keeping a new human alive to do anything with the shop but we did get solar physically installed. It's an 8.8 kW system with 2/3 of the panels on the workshop roof and the remaining on the house. Still at least another month until everything is approved and connected to the grid and I can start utilizing it. I'll be utilizing net metering with a rollover bank of generated power. Not too much incentive to go with battery storage here unless you need to the power outage protection. I'll be able to claim 30% of the cost as a tax deduction for my 2023 taxes too. If only there was a way to source my own natural gas to fight these crazy high rates we are experiencing.

 

[B3D3G1]

Registration and an emissions test is due on my truck so I had to do my yearly "maintenance" work. I finally tested my plan to have both my cars along with all the other tools and racks in the workshop at the same time. I dropped the miata on to wheel dollies and swung it around one of the lift posts and rolled bench and wire racks over to one side. With my truck in, I can barely walk around the front and the back with the door closed but it works. I think I can barely get my truck in without moving the wire racks on the back wall but I would have to open the overhead door to get to the driver's side of the truck.


This was my first time working under my truck and it was a joy. A little nerve racking for the first bit with 3.5+ tons overhead, but it sure beats the back scooting and neck straining when doing the same work in the driveway. I think I'll be picking up one of those tall jack stands in the near future to stabilize the rear.

Emissions test is done and I'll change my oil as soon as my oil lift drain arrives today.

These are all just small tasks but I'm finally happy to be using my space for car projects.

 

[B3D3G1]

Just a minor update on happenings around here.

I prepped the John Deere for the season. Only about 20 hours on it so far so this is the first maintenance I have done. The kit from JD came with everything and it took longer to clean than to do the work. Oil Change, air filter, spark plugs, and fuel filter.


I put up a wire spool rack. I enjoy wiring harness work for some reason and I do some of it with my work projects too so it is nice to have my options out in the open and organized. After I took this picture, I restocked a few sizes and colors and better sorted by color.


In my down time, I'm working on putting together permanent LED lighting around my 20 ft x 20 ft sun sail structure. I have started down the rabbit hole of digital addressable LEDs. You can do some pretty cool things with them and I hope the 80 ft run will look good. I bought a QuinLED-DIG-Quad to control and distribute power and 25 meters of WS2811 96 LED/m bright variant. I'll be mounting the power supply and controller in an enclosure mounted to the back side of the far away post. Still working on the best way to mount them to the bottom of the cedar 2x6s and how to best layout the 5 strips to cover the perimeter of the structure. I might also have to hand bistro lights to please my wife.

 

[jbrentd]

I've had an x304 for many years with a few hundred hours on it. It's been a great mower for us.

The LEDs will be a nice addition to your backyard. When I was working on my set for the house, I built and tested everything on the ground to make sure it was all going to work well with the power injection points I was planning on. Didn't want to do any of that work on a ladder.

Maybe some tracks like this to mount them on the bottom of the 2x6's? The covers would do a good job of evenly dispersing the lights.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072VZSQ3P/?tag=atomicindus08-20