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Workshop Build

132K views 244 replies 100 participants last post by  robscastle 
#1 ·
Clearing the land

This is a blog about the building of my workshop which has been ongoing now for almost 3 years. My husband wanted a garage for car storage and working on cars and I wanted a workshop for woodworking. We decided on a 40' x 40' building with one half for him and one half for me. It was my job to sketch up a rough version of what the building would look like. The plans were drawn by both of us and an architect was needed, according to the by-laws in our township, to design the floor system only. All the building was done by us except the laying of the cement floor.



We live on 8 acres of land and chose a spot we could clear of trees and debris that was conveniently close enough to the house and the driveway. In September of 2007 my husband rented a backhoe and began clearing the spot. It was full of trees he had to remove, as well as huge boulders and a lot of tree roots and branches. Here it is cleared:



Weeping tiles were laid in the spot under where the garage would sit.



It took 20 loads of gravel to fill in the spot enough to bring it up to level.



The last photo was from Sept. 16, 2007. We waited over the winter for the snow to come and go so that it would settle enough for us to begin building in the spring of 2008.

Feb. 2008 we had a big open flat area waiting for us, but no sign of spring:



I hope to update this soon!
 
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#141 ·
Cupboards on cleats (part 1 of 3)

It's time to post my cupboards I made to put books and magazines in, that will hang on the cleats in my shop.
(see Workshop Build #17: Cleats- Getting things on the wall)

For inspiration I used a cupboard in a magazine article, but changed the plans slightly. I wanted to have two cupboards to hold my woodworking related books and magazines. The article I saw had a moveable shelf, but I figured a fixed center shelf would be more solid and hold the heavy books better. Of course, it's always easier to make two at a time, because of all the setups, so I did just that.

For my needs, the cupboards will be 30" tall, which will allow me to hold books on the middle and bottom shelves. The depth will be about 12", and width about 24".

My plan was for pine frames around two plywood panels for each side and pine frames around a piece of plexi-glass for each of the two doors which meet in the middle. This meant I needed 8 stiles for each cupboard and 10 rails.

The backs will be 1/4" pine and the top, bottom and middle fixed shelf with be 1/2" plywood trimmed on the front raw edges with pine.

The four side stiles and four top and bottom rails on each cupboard need 1/4" grooves to hold the plywood panels.




The top and bottom rails:

The middle rails on the sides would need to have a groove on both the top and bottom edge to accept plywood. They also will have tenons to fit into the grooves on the stiles:



Because the plexi is only about 1/8" thick, the door stiles and rails need a 1/8" groove to hold those plexi pieces. But… 1/8" is really not thick enough for the tenons, so at each end of the stiles, the groove is widened to 1/4" to accept the tenons on the rails.





The next three photos show the side pieces quite clearly (I hope!)




... to be continued…
 
#149 ·
Cupboards on cleats (part 2 of 3)

To continue the cupboard building, the 7 parts of the sides are glued together:



Here are all four sides, for the two cupboards, propped up against the workshop wall:


To accept the back piece, a 1/4" rabbet is run down the back of the stile:


The top and bottom are to be 1/2" plywood, so a 1/4" wide dado is cut 1/4" down from the top and bottom of each side piece:


A 14" wide dado is also cut in the center of the middle rail to accept the center fixed shelf:


The top and bottom plywood pieces are rabbeted on each end to fit into the dado cut in the sides. There is also a rabbet along the back edge to allow the plywood back to sit into the top and bottom:


The cabinet box is glued up with the top, bottom and middle shelf plywood sitting 1/4" back from the front to allow for a solid front edging to cover the plywood layers:


One glued up box without the back yet attached:


The doors are glued up with a top and bottom rail and stile on each side with plexiglass as the panel. Here are all four doors with a few coats of wipe-on polyurethane:


A top view of the joints in the doors:


...to be continued…
 
#156 ·
Cupboards on cleats (part 3 of 3)

Time to finish off this cupboard blog.

Here is the cupboard with a few coats of wipe-on poly on it:


Here is the top joint, a dado-rabbet. It's kind of rough looking, but will be covered with the piano hinge so I wasn't as fussy as I normally would be.



This shows the back rabbet that will hold the piece of 1/4" plywood. I put the poly on the piece before I put the back on. That way I could poly the big flat piece of plywood without shelf interference, as well as do the inside of the cupboard and get in the corners easier.



I attached a cleat to the back that was screwed into the top plywood edge and the side edge of the stiles. Before I put the doors on, I just had to try and hang it on the cleats (you all know how that is):



The doors were attached with piano hinges:


I added a piece of plywood on the inside at the top, that I screwed into the cleat and when the cupboard was hung, I screwed right through the plywood inner piece into the wall cleat. Hopefully that holds the weight of this heavy cupboard when it is loaded with books.

This is before I attached the inner piece:


This is with the inner piece added and screwed into the wall cleat:




Ta da!!
 
#165 ·
Strapping the outside

Time to think about putting up the siding on the garage/workshop. First we need to strap it.
The siding will be horizontal so we used vertical 1Ă—3's screwed into the OSB every 16" OC.



Around the windows and across the bottom we used 1Ă—4s.





The back is a straight 40' width which is taking a lot of pieces!


Before we can do the front, we need to build up a bit of the front small roof and deck posts. We haven't quite figured out if the strapping needs to go first, or the roof trusses. We'll start the front posts and see where it leads us. That will be in the next blog posting.

...to be continued…
 
#174 ·
Tools on cleats

I need to make some tool holders to get my tools a place of there own, where I know they are when I need them. I am going to make them so that they are able to hang on cleats, which I already have in part of my shop.

I found a picture in Woodsmith magazine showing a way to hold tools. There were no plans, but it looked easy enough to make my own without how-to instructions.

I wanted to hold three tools for now, my battery powered drill, my electric drill and my jigsaw. To figure out what size to make the parts, I laid the tools on some plywood to see how much room they took up.

My battery powered Dewalt drill with battery pack:


My electric Dewalt drill:


My Bosch jigsaw:


I decided on a 10" x 10" square of plywood for the base to hold each tool.

For the battery powered drill, I needed two holes in the base, one to hold the drill and one for the plug of the battery pack to hang through:



For the electric drill, just one hole was needed, the cord would sit beside the drill on the base:


For the jigsaw, a small hole for the blade to poke through, the cord would sit beside the jigsaw:


The sides are about 10 1/2" tall and would be angled down in a triangular shape. I used the mitre gauge on my tablesaw to cut two sides from one piece of plywood:


One small corner was cut off to make the side:


The bottom edge of the side was rabbeted to allow the bottom base piece to sit into it. Closeup:


Another view:


The back fit into the sides, by that I mean the base was shorter than the side pieces. This allowed the back to fit between the sides.



Each holder was glued and nailed together, coated with shellac, and had a cleat screwed to the top back:


The finished battery powered drill holder:


The finished electric drill holder:


The finished jigsaw holder (extra blades hang off the cleat's screw):


The trio:


I will probably move them all from the finishing room to another area of the shop where they are more likely to be used, but I don't have cleats ready there yet, so they'll stay here until that time.

... to be continued…
 
#175 ·
Nice work,Julie! You made it look easy. I need to get going and get organized , my shelf system is effective, but crude.

I can't make a project without taking pictures. That wasn't the case before I started hanging around here.
 
#181 ·
The Front Porch

Here is a sketch I made a few years ago before the building of our workshop/garage:



Now, how to get that front porch on there? We had two large cement post holders put 13 feet apart when we did the garage pour. These have saddles set into them to hold 6" x 6" posts. We wanted the porch roof to have the same slope as the whole roof, so we had to figure out the length the posts would need to be to make the roof come at the right location above the door and light.



We are only 5' out from the front of the building, so need to run horizontal supports that distance to the front wall. We also decided to put a 2" x 6" horizontally attached to the front and one to the back of the 6" x 6" posts.



The roof rafters will meet at a center ridge and have a slight notch (bird's mouth) cut to sit on the side pieces. We used a temporary ridge support to aid in construction.


The ends of the rafters are covered with a fascia board.



Of course both sides were done to match:


Wolmanized plywood was added to the top, which will be covered with the same green steel roofing used for the garage/workshop:


It was my job to make the design on the front:


Looks pretty much like the original sketch!


Now, we need to finish up some of the strapping and order the siding.

... to be continued…
 
#190 ·
Wall - Mounted Bins

I posted a question in the forum section here two months ago asking what others did for organizing all their screws, hooks, etc. in their shops.

Some people suggested buying plastic bins, others said use jars or bags. I had a plan in a magazine full of shop storage and tool cabinets put out by the Woodsmith/Shop Notes people and so I decided to make my own.

Unfortunately I felt like one of Santa's elves with the assembly line of parts. It seemed to take forever to make all the bins!



Here's a quick tutorial of what I did.

The plan called for sides of the bins to be made out of hardboard. I saw some pre-finished one side with white (melamine?) covering that was only a few cents more than the plain stuff, so went with that. I figured the outsides of the bins could be white and look nice against my white walls of the shop.

I would make as many bins as I could using the hardboard for the sides which were 7 3/4" for the large bins and 3 3/4" for the smaller ones. I found I could get 19 small bins and 12 large ones out of my hardboard piece.

The side pieces came from strips of hardboard ripped the length of the bins. Then I used my mitre saw to angle the pieces.



For some reason I thought I was getting two mirror images for each side of one bin, but I really was getting two of the same piece. This would not matter if I had not bought the one-side finished hardboard. But, by the time I realized that I wasn't getting a left and a right, I had cut half of them, so I ended up with some of the larger bins sides which would have the inside finished white. Not the original plan!

After removing my palm from my forehead I figured I would have to paint the outsides of the ones I had cut wrong. Crap.



The next step was to cut the bottoms and backs out of 1/2" plywood. The backs for the large and small bins are the same size, the bottoms are (of course) larger on the larger bins.



The fronts were cut from 3/4" pine, again the larger bins had larger fronts.



Next a rabbet was cut on the sides of the fronts. This would accept the hardboard sides, so was the width of the hardboard.



Another rabbet is cut on the bottom of the front to accept the bottom 1/2" plywood.


A dovetail bit was used to make a slot for holding a label, on the fronts of each bin. (The L shaped piece of wood is just a jig to help pushing the front pieces through the router)




All pieces were sanded and then it was time for assembly. The back plywood sits on top of the bottom piece, the front sits with the rabbet over the bottom plywood. Then the side goes on over that. I used glue as well as small nails to assemble these.



I had 31 of these to assemble, which took much longer than I thought it would. Please remind me in the future not to make 31 of anything.



I put a few coats of shellac on everything, which I find makes things shed off dust better and looks prettier.

Now, where to hang them? Initially I was going to put my bins on the cleats in my shop but I realized if I did that, because of the way they hang from rails, I would have to put the rails first on a backing of plywood or something similar, and then they would stick out further from the wall. So, I decided to take down part of one of my wall cleats and attach the bins rails directly to the wall.



That didn't hurt too much!


The bins hang from rails that are 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" with a rabbet in the bottom back edge to hold the bins. I made four rails at 36" long. (Plus I made a bottom rail without a rabbet)


Each rail is screwed into the wall at the joists, with 4 5/8" between them, this is important because the bins actually sit on the rail below.




Now I have to fill them and make the labels. Hopefully this helps keep things organized.

Thanks for reading
...to be continued…
 
#202 ·
Starting the Siding

Finally the siding is going to be put on the workshop. We decided on vinyl so that there wouldn't be a need for continuous upkeep such as painting or staining. The colour is called Weathered Wood and looked greyish with some green in it, in the store sample, but appears more grey/blue in reality.

The first step is to put the corner pieces on (ours are white), and J trim around the doors:


Then the bottom strips go on:



The siding hooks to the bottom strips and fits between the corner piece and the J trim:


Our windows have a J trim built in to them, but we needed to shim out along the bottom of the window so the siding didn't just flop in there. It goes up quite quickly, really:


Still more to do, but it's a good start!

...to be continued…
 
#207 ·
Finishing the Siding

Why do things always take longer to do than we think they will?

The siding is on the workshop, so the outside is mostly complete. I just need to make a small front deck that will sit on the ground in front of my door.

The sides were done (see previous blog post) but we had to do the back of the shop, which is a huge wall, 40' long. The good thing is there are no windows there, so the bottom part went on quickly.



We rented scaffolding from the Home Depot in order to be able to get the higher pieces put up. My husband did all the high work, I cut angled pieces and handed them up to him.


When the back was done we switched to the front.





We had to work around the porch roof angles on the top and underneath.




We put matching green steel roofing on the small roof the same as there is on the workshop.



It's nice to be finished, especially since it's getting colder and snow is most likely on the way soon.




...to be continued…
 
#217 ·
Trimming the workshop windows

I haven't posted here in a long time, and finally I'm getting around to finishing my interior windows. On and off over the past few months I've been working on them. The front room windows had already been done by me a couple years ago. This is the south side, and where I enter my shop.


I chose pine to trim the windows with because it's my favourite and the shop cupboards and router table I made are pine.The vinyl clad windows were inserted from the outside and nailed into place through their flanges which are now under the siding. They were also screwed into the framing from the sides to keep them firmly in place.

This is what they looked like from the inside, before being finished. There are three windows along the east side of the building.


Here is one of the sad looking windows, unfinished:
Window Plant Fixture Wood Building


The first thing to do is make the jambs, this is the wood that fills in the framed area, not the part that sits on the wall, but perpendicular to it. These windows are made with a groove that holds the jamb so that the wood fits into it… who knew?
Window Window blind Wood Fixture Gas


The great part about having a planer is that you can make your wood exactly the thickness you need it. I planed mine down to about 3/4" thick so that it would fit perfectly in the grooves the window had built in.
Wood Floor Wood stain Flooring Hardwood


This is how the sill will fit into the groove when it's finished:
Window Property Wood Fixture Shade


I decided on having a sill that extended past the outside of the window trim or casing by 1". Because of this, the sill piece has to be cut to fit into the groove as well as on the wall. You can see it here at the bottom:
Window Fixture Wood Twig Tree


Here's a close up, the window casing is 3 1/4" wide, so the "finger" on the sill extending out has to go past where the casing will sit by 1". It also is wider than the side and top jamb pieces, to allow the side casings to sit on it.
Window Fixture Wood Shade Rectangle


I also used the same trim style on my interior window which I blogged about earlier:


The side jambs will sit between the top and bottom pieces, of course everything has to measured precisely.
Window Wood Shade Tree Rectangle


The previous photos show a trial fit with unfinished wood. Since I was trimming three windows and two doorways, I had a lot of pieces to cut and finish. I coated all pieces with five coats of wipe-on polyurethane.
Table Wood Plank Hardwood Wood stain


I'll post the finished project tomorrow or the next day… have to get back to the shop…
 

Attachments

#218 ·
Trimming the workshop windows

I haven't posted here in a long time, and finally I'm getting around to finishing my interior windows. On and off over the past few months I've been working on them. The front room windows had already been done by me a couple years ago. This is the south side, and where I enter my shop.


I chose pine to trim the windows with because it's my favourite and the shop cupboards and router table I made are pine.The vinyl clad windows were inserted from the outside and nailed into place through their flanges which are now under the siding. They were also screwed into the framing from the sides to keep them firmly in place.

This is what they looked like from the inside, before being finished. There are three windows along the east side of the building.


Here is one of the sad looking windows, unfinished:
Window Plant Fixture Wood Building


The first thing to do is make the jambs, this is the wood that fills in the framed area, not the part that sits on the wall, but perpendicular to it. These windows are made with a groove that holds the jamb so that the wood fits into it… who knew?
Window Window blind Wood Fixture Gas


The great part about having a planer is that you can make your wood exactly the thickness you need it. I planed mine down to about 3/4" thick so that it would fit perfectly in the grooves the window had built in.
Wood Floor Wood stain Flooring Hardwood


This is how the sill will fit into the groove when it's finished:
Window Property Wood Fixture Shade


I decided on having a sill that extended past the outside of the window trim or casing by 1". Because of this, the sill piece has to be cut to fit into the groove as well as on the wall. You can see it here at the bottom:
Window Fixture Wood Twig Tree


Here's a close up, the window casing is 3 1/4" wide, so the "finger" on the sill extending out has to go past where the casing will sit by 1". It also is wider than the side and top jamb pieces, to allow the side casings to sit on it.
Window Fixture Wood Shade Rectangle


I also used the same trim style on my interior window which I blogged about earlier:


The side jambs will sit between the top and bottom pieces, of course everything has to measured precisely.
Window Wood Shade Tree Rectangle


The previous photos show a trial fit with unfinished wood. Since I was trimming three windows and two doorways, I had a lot of pieces to cut and finish. I coated all pieces with five coats of wipe-on polyurethane.
Table Wood Plank Hardwood Wood stain


I'll post the finished project tomorrow or the next day… have to get back to the shop…
Julie,

Great work! Projects like this really "dresses" up the shop / gives it the finished look. I'm sure it fills you with pride everytime you knock a project like this off your list. Nice touch on that extending "finger" / lip. Bravo!!
 

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#225 ·
Trimming the workshop windows part 2

The jambs are attached first, this shows the bottom sill and the side jamb:

Window Wood Wall Flooring Hardwood


When the jambs are nailed in, they have to have shims put in between them and the framing, to keep everything level and perpendicular. I also had to add some insulation in the space.

Window Fixture Wood Shade Twig


Next I put on the 3 1/4" wide side casings, all are 1/2" thick. Note that casings sit back from the jambs about 1/8" - 1/4", something I didn't know until I researched how to trim windows.

Window Building Fixture Shade Wood


Here you can see how the side casing sits on the bottom sill:

Window Wood Paint Fixture Tints and shades


For the top frame piece I glued a 1" wide piece of pine perpendicular to the top piece:

Red Gas Automotive tire Wood Automotive wheel system


The top piece lines up with the outer edges of the side casings and gives a trim style that is different from the usual mitred corners.

Window Fixture Shade House Wood


The final piece is the bottom apron that sits below the sill and also lines up with the outer edges of the side casings.

Property Window Wood Fixture Shade


The finished window:

Window Fixture Wood Shade Wood stain


Now I just need to make doors for two openings!

... to be continued…
 

Attachments

#226 ·
Trimming the workshop windows part 2

The jambs are attached first, this shows the bottom sill and the side jamb:

Window Wood Wall Flooring Hardwood


When the jambs are nailed in, they have to have shims put in between them and the framing, to keep everything level and perpendicular. I also had to add some insulation in the space.

Window Fixture Wood Shade Twig


Next I put on the 3 1/4" wide side casings, all are 1/2" thick. Note that casings sit back from the jambs about 1/8" - 1/4", something I didn't know until I researched how to trim windows.

Window Building Fixture Shade Wood


Here you can see how the side casing sits on the bottom sill:

Window Wood Paint Fixture Tints and shades


For the top frame piece I glued a 1" wide piece of pine perpendicular to the top piece:

Red Gas Automotive tire Wood Automotive wheel system


The top piece lines up with the outer edges of the side casings and gives a trim style that is different from the usual mitred corners.

Window Fixture Shade House Wood


The final piece is the bottom apron that sits below the sill and also lines up with the outer edges of the side casings.

Property Window Wood Fixture Shade


The finished window:

Window Fixture Wood Shade Wood stain


Now I just need to make doors for two openings!

... to be continued…
Looks great!
 

Attachments

#231 ·
Leaving my fabulous shop!

After building this beautiful shop, we are moving. Something I never anticipated when we built. But things happen and change is good. My shop is a shop to-die-for… I just LOVE it and I know I will never have another one this fabulous.

I've written a bit about the building of my workshop, but really haven't shown any inside photos.

My husband and I built a 40' x 40' garage for both of us. The whole building has in-floor heat which is wonderful to work in, especially in Northern Ontario winters. The cement floor keeps the building cool in the summer as well, which is a bonus.

My side of the building is half at 20' wide x 40' deep and was designed by me as a woodworking workshop. My workshop is the right hand side of this photo:



Because of the type of woodworking I do, and the way I work, the positioning of the tools was done in an efficient way for me to work.

Doorway 2 is the middle door from the garage side of the building. I buy rough wood and bring it in through this doorway and to the left on to the lumber rack. When I am going to make something I take the wood first to the mitre saw, then to the jointer, the planer and the tablesaw. This keeps me working in a counter-clockwise manner through the shop. It works for me!



Doorway 1 is the door to the front finishing room. I do most of my painting in there as well as designing and sometimes gluing. I keep my woodworking books in the front room as well as small hand tools. This is my front room:

Picture frame Furniture Table Wood Interior design


Table Furniture Wood Interior design Building


And this is the larger workshop room:

Property Table Wood Interior design Flooring


Picture frame Wood Table Floor Hardwood


Wood Floor Cabinetry Flooring Hardwood


I am in the process of packing all this up. I'm taking my shop cabinets and lumber rack as well as all my tools. We are moving 1,000 miles to Prince Edward Island at the end of October. There is no garage or shop at our new house, so if all goes well we will start building in the spring.
 

Attachments

#232 ·
Leaving my fabulous shop!

After building this beautiful shop, we are moving. Something I never anticipated when we built. But things happen and change is good. My shop is a shop to-die-for… I just LOVE it and I know I will never have another one this fabulous.

I've written a bit about the building of my workshop, but really haven't shown any inside photos.

My husband and I built a 40' x 40' garage for both of us. The whole building has in-floor heat which is wonderful to work in, especially in Northern Ontario winters. The cement floor keeps the building cool in the summer as well, which is a bonus.

My side of the building is half at 20' wide x 40' deep and was designed by me as a woodworking workshop. My workshop is the right hand side of this photo:



Because of the type of woodworking I do, and the way I work, the positioning of the tools was done in an efficient way for me to work.

Doorway 2 is the middle door from the garage side of the building. I buy rough wood and bring it in through this doorway and to the left on to the lumber rack. When I am going to make something I take the wood first to the mitre saw, then to the jointer, the planer and the tablesaw. This keeps me working in a counter-clockwise manner through the shop. It works for me!



Doorway 1 is the door to the front finishing room. I do most of my painting in there as well as designing and sometimes gluing. I keep my woodworking books in the front room as well as small hand tools. This is my front room:

Picture frame Furniture Table Wood Interior design


Table Furniture Wood Interior design Building


And this is the larger workshop room:

Property Table Wood Interior design Flooring


Picture frame Wood Table Floor Hardwood


Wood Floor Cabinetry Flooring Hardwood


I am in the process of packing all this up. I'm taking my shop cabinets and lumber rack as well as all my tools. We are moving 1,000 miles to Prince Edward Island at the end of October. There is no garage or shop at our new house, so if all goes well we will start building in the spring.
It's not hard to see why you wouldn't want to leave it, that is really nice. Love that setting as well.
 

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