| Blog series by Matt | updated 189 days ago | 11 parts | 3690 reads | 52 comments total |
Part 1: In the Beginning
In the beginning, there was a workshop. It was very cold. Especially in the winter. It was also messy. The owner had not mounted anything permanently, on the walls, because he hoped that, some day, he would be able to add insulation and wall covering and provide a place for the efficient warming of this desolate space. Ok, enough of that. In case you didn’t read the title or deduce from my workshop page that I’m talking about my shop, it’s me. Honestly, I had p...
Part 2: The Walls are Bare and the Insulation is Up!
Over this past week, I took some time off from work (because the weather was going to be insanely nice, Hallelujah!) and worked around the house and shop. I didn’t spend all my time on the renovation but I did put in quite a bit of time out there. I tinkered with the CNC (aka Duchess. Don’t ask. Ok, go ahead, ask.)and got the vacuum foot attached and tested. I’ll get a video and some shots of it up real soon. As you can see from the shots, I have everything, except ...
Part 3: Drywall Day - I Have Some Great Friends
I planned the drywall installation for my shop on Saturday. Several of my friends agreed to come over and help me hang it. Since I had no experience with it, this was a blessing. The night before, 30 sheets of 1/2 and 5/8 inch drywall were delivered by a local lumber supplier. My plan was to get up and start rolling tools out of the shop and, hopefully, have an area we could work in by 9:00am. I got finished just in the nick of time. We managed to get 95% of the drywall hung, 60% ...
Part 4: I Hate Sanding
Putting on the tape and mud isn’t so bad. However, sanding absolutely sucks! There, I feel much better. Actually, things are going pretty well. I have about 60% of the garage/shop done. I still have another coat to put on some spots and the area above the garage door to finish. I’m planning to run some wiring in the next week and look to build a small lumber storage area above the garage door. I’m not cramped, by any means, in here but any additional storage is alw...
Part 5: The Sanding is Done!
Here are just a few shots of the garage after I finished sanding all of the walls. Something I thought I would never finish. Once you start doing it and realize how tiring it is, you think it will never end. Perseverance is the key. Just keep your head down, don’t look up and keep on sanding. I have some gaps in places but that no longer matters to me. I never planned for this to be a ‘home interior’ drywall job. That would have been great but when all is said and ...
Part 6: Painting is Done - White and Bright!
I’m getting excited and I’m pretty happy with how everything has come out. My father-in-law came over to the house on Saturday around noon. He and I used to do professional house painting as a ‘side gig’ for several years so we made short work of it. Only took us a shade over 3 hours to do all 3 walls and the ceiling. When you have done something like this with someone for a long time, you can work really efficiently. The wife tried to come out and help a litt...
Part 7: Electrical Work and Updates
Here is the progress so far. The walls are insulated, covered with sheetrock, mudded, and taped. I have installed (4) 2-bulb 4ft light fixtures in the ceiling. There is still room for 4 more and I’ll be adding those later. I have some of the conduit and outlets in the ceiling as well as starting to run the wiring for the wall outlets. I plan to alternate circuits to provide me with the flexibility of running multiple tools but spreading out the amp draw. The wall outlets will be a...
Part 8: Happiness is an Electrical Upgrade
Well, we’re just waiting on the inspector and it will all be done. The guys showed up on Saturday morning and got straight to work. 2 1/2 hours later, they were done and I was several hundred dollars poorer. Haha. In all actuality, I’m glad I hired a pro to do this. I have a couple of brackets to add to some conduit before the inspector gets here and I should be good to go. Now, who wants to come over and help me run all the conduit for all the circuits after my inspect...
Part 9: New Shop, New Bench
As the first phase of actually building the storage and work areas for my shop, I decided to build the ‘New-Fangled Bench’. Oh boy, another one, right? After seeing the video, I just had to have this as my first real workbench. A quick trip to the BORG and I had several pieces of 2X10 lumber in the shop. I got to stretch the legs on my Rigid Granite table saw while getting all of the boards cut. I took an approach that might be a bit different than what you might have take...
Part 10: Finished Some Benches
Early Saturday morning I was out in the shop putting the finishing touches on the New Fangled Bench. The wife came out and said, “You need to get some shelves up.” She also said I needed a bench for my lathe, most likely, so I could finishing turning some bowls I roughed out late last summer! With that, it was off to the BORG to get some lumber for shelves and the new bench. Here are the benches in their completed states. I added a small shelf to the front of the lathe b...
Part 11: After Two Months.....
Complete! Well, it’s as close to complete as it can get without dragging this series along for another year or two. After all, are our workshops ever really ‘complete’. This project started the weekend of my birthday around March 25th and today, I’m putting a fork in this series. Overall, R-13 insulation was installed in the walls, drywall, a 100amp subpanel, surface mounted electrical outlets and conduit, 4 ‘2-bulb’ 4ft light fixtures, ceiling recept...
A place for all my woodshop activities.
By subscribing to the RSS feed you will be notified when new entries are posted on this blog.
