Workshop Exterior

This picture should have been included with the photos I took of my shop’s interior as a kind of introduction, but there were picture count limitations. So, here it is, probably where it should be, anyway. The interior shots are located in the shop pictures section of my page.

The original shop is to the left and that was built for me 25 years ago. However, the section to the right was built by me maybe five years ago, and there is a third section added on at the rear of the original section, as well. The walls of the old section are original, but the interior trusses, which were on 24-inch centers, have additional trusses added by me, making that truss arrangement now on 12-inch centers to better protect the roof from falling tree branches in windstorms. The new section to the right, plus the new section out back, have trusses on 16-inch centers, with the wall studs also at 16-inch intervals.

The original section had a 3/4-inch plywood floor on 2×4 floor joists on 24-inch centers, and with those seated on two 4×4 beams set on concrete blocks. The corners of the original section were secured by house-trailer tie-down straps. To buttress the old section before building the additions I added a third 4×4 beam underneath. The new sections use either 2×4 floor joists on 12-inch centers or 2×6 joists on 16-inch centers, with concrete potted posts sunk into the ground for stability. Later on, the original floor got a layer of 1/2-inch plywood over its surface (bringing it up to 1.25 inches thick) and the other floors each got 3/8-inch plywood layered over 1/2 inch plywood. Both nails and carpenter’s glue (spread on liberally) were used to glue the plywood layers together. The result is a floor that can easily hold the weight of the multitude of tools inside of the shop. (See my interior shop photos for a view of those tools.) If you look closely you can see the two power lines (10 gauge and 12 gauge wires) leading into the shop to the right of the door.

Overall, this is a good shop. Initially, I built a small deck built in front of it, but the deck has been expanded twice (you can see the different wood shades in the photo) to accommodate more adventurous woodworking projects. Eventually, the roof will be needing new shingles (they have held up well due to the tree shade), and when I do that I will first lay down a second layer of sheathing over the existing sheathing. Those tools inside need plenty of protection.

Howard Ferstler