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Building a New Wood Shop #1: Frank's New WoodWorking Shop

Blog entry by FJPetruso posted 104 days ago 740 reads 0 times favorited 14 comments Add to Favorites
no previous part Part 1 of Building a New Wood Shop series Part 2: Brick Problem... Matching the Existing Bricks on the House »

Several weeks ago I was struck by a lightening bolt… Not in the literal sense but in the verbal sense. It came out of the blue when my wife, Sue, SUDDENLY & WITH NO WARNING, SAID

“Can you build a woodworking shop on the other end of the house so I can get my car back into the garage?”

That’s how it started!

This is the “other” end of my house…

The other end of the house

My yard is small so I had to make plans to put the shop within a foot of the utility easement & am making the shop 16’ X 32’ (2 feet deeper on the front & back of the house than the house is deep.) It comes out to just over 500 square feet. The garage that I’m squeezed into now is a small 2 car garage at just UNDER 400 square feet & shares automotive tools, bicycles, garden tools, camping stuff, etc, etc, etc.

I got started by first removing a couple of trees & trimming another. Then the fence was removed. Utilities were marked & the cable TV & telephone cables that were just under the surface of the sod pulled up in preporation to be moved. The floor will have a small opening left to finish under the gas meter & the gas meter will be moved after the shop is complete. The hole will be finished with concrete then.

Now I had to start fireproofiing the wall that the shop will share with the house by bricking in the basement windows…

Basement Window & Metal Frame

The floor of the new shop will cover the lower two rows of bricks & will come up to the small white marks on either side of the windows.

View of the end of house with windows bricked

Close-Up of brick work

Fireproofing will continue after the structure is done. Then the common wall of the house will have the old siding removed & the wall will be covered with drywall. After that the ceiling of the new shop will be covered with drywall. This is to be done to meet county code.

Today the concrete contractor dug for the footing &, weather permitting, will pour the wall tomorrow (Friday) & pour the floor on the next day (Saturday). The following 2 photos are of the first progress.

One view of trench

Another viwe of trench

Notice how I took the two gutter downspouts loose & directed them away from the trench. (One dowspout is on the green plastic bucket.) It worked because it started raining as I was taking the downspouts loose & the trench got very little water in it.

Hopefully there will more progress to post in the next several days.

Frank
(FJPetruso)

-- Frank, Florissant, Missouri


14 comments so far

View trifern's profile

trifern

4738 posts in 292 days


posted 104 days ago

Wow, I’m jealous. I will be watching for progress stories and photos. Thanks for sharing Frank.

-- My favorite piece is my last one, my best piece is my next one.

View griff's profile

griff

479 posts in 287 days


posted 104 days ago

Very good start, I always figured if I moved far enough into my wifes space she would find away for me to get out. It works for you too i see .

-- Mike, Bruce Mississippi = Jack of many trades master of none

View ND2ELK's profile

ND2ELK

2556 posts in 299 days


posted 104 days ago

Hi Frank

You are going to have a great shop there when it is done. I will be looking forward to seeing its progress. It makes it nice when MaMa thinks this is a good idea. My wife let me have our garage with the understanding I would clean her car off in the winter months. I have to do it for my truck anyway, so it is no big deal to do hers as well. Good Luck on the new shop.

God Bless
tom

-- Mc Bridge Cabinets, Iowa

View Bigbuck's profile

Bigbuck

1020 posts in 188 days


posted 104 days ago

Very nice, wish my wife would say that or just quit insisting that her car go in the garage either one would be fine.

-- Glenn, New Mexico

View Wudbutcher's profile

Wudbutcher

19 posts in 231 days


posted 104 days ago

Your shop is going to be great. It is about the same size as mine (Check out the Pics) Mine is also still under construction. Unfortunately, I have been called back to Iraq so the shop is on hold tilll I get home miid September. Keep us posted. Cheers/Wudbutcher

-- Big Steve

View FJPetruso's profile

FJPetruso

91 posts in 235 days


posted 102 days ago

Seeing the other WoodJocks working in their shops & building their shops did make me a bit envious too. But it also gave me ideas on what & how to do things when I started to make a shop of my own. I’d still like to have a bathroom in my shop like Big Steve but there’s not enough room on my lot to go larger… Darn!!!

When we found we had to block in the basement windows it meant that our daughter could no longer use the room in the basement as a bedroom. When we moved her back to an unused upstairs bedroom, my lovely, wonderful, thoughtful wife & I were able to use that room in the basement to make wifey a den of her own. Now she has her computer, desk, treadmill & the like in her own area. Worst thing is…. HER ROOM IS DONE ALREADY!!!! She’s a “Happy Camper” now. We are both still waiting to get the cars back into the garage though. That’ll take a few more weeks.

I took a couple of more pix to post. They’ll be up in a few days.

Thanks to all for the “Flowers”!

-- Frank, Florissant, Missouri

View thetimberkid's profile

thetimberkid

1679 posts in 228 days


posted 102 days ago

Sounds great, it will be a nice size and I cant wait to see your progress!

Thanks for the post

Callum

-- Look great, get your TTK merchandise now! http://www.printfection.com/thetimberkid/ Check out my site http://thetimberkid.blogspot.com/

View FJPetruso's profile

FJPetruso

91 posts in 235 days


posted 101 days ago

We’ve had a “Situation” arise!

My wife’s Uncle Chuck, in Florida, is worried that he hasn’t heard from his niece for a while & insists that I prove that she’s not bricked into the “crawl space” beneath the house. Soooo… here’s a photo of her AFTER the windows were bricked in. But on a twist of an old Memorex ad… is she REAL or is she “Photo Shopped”?! LOL

Wife...Alive & Well

-- Frank, Florissant, Missouri

View GaryK's profile

GaryK

8533 posts in 513 days


posted 101 days ago

This looks like it will be good!

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

View Karson's profile

Karson

13133 posts in 925 days


posted 101 days ago

Looks like a great shop, in the making.

-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com

View Bob #2's profile

Bob #2

2042 posts in 546 days


posted 101 days ago

Go to it Frank:
There’s something really pleasant about making one of these hideouts.

Bob

-- A mind, like a home, is furnished by its owner

View FJPetruso's profile

FJPetruso

91 posts in 235 days


posted 101 days ago

Here’s my wife in the den that we fixed up for her while in the process of making my shop. You can see that I left the window openings alone in the basement & left the bricks exposed. My wife uses them as nic-nak shelves.

Sue Behind the Bricks

I hope Uncle Chuck is happy now.

-- Frank, Florissant, Missouri

View PaBull's profile

PaBull

242 posts in 190 days


posted 100 days ago

Make this a nicer world and let’s build more woodshops!

-- http://www.twinoaksgrowers.com

View Patrick Jaromin's profile

Patrick Jaromin

233 posts in 357 days


posted 100 days ago

Congratulations on breaking ground! I look forward to following your progress.

-- Patrick, Chicago, IL www.TenonAndSpline.com

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