# Remodeling the shop



## Charlie5791 (Feb 21, 2012)

16×24 building. 6 feet of one end previously walled off for my wife's gardening stuff. I built her a garden shed so I could have the entire 16×24 (her suggestion, actually)

So I started taking down the partition wall today. It's half down. The actual taking it down part is easy. Taking down all the stuff MOUNTED to that wall and standing in FRONT of that wall…. that's the crazy part. The wall was clad in 5/8 OSB and painted white. Right now I am SOOOoooo glad I didn't do it in drywall. I have to get the stuff unmounted, get the panels down (they were screwed in place, not nailed) and carry the panels over to the garage and store them in there while I do this. I don't have room in the shop to store 4×8 sheets and still have anywhere to work. The shop is a rip roaring mess.

Before I put the panels back up (they'll go on the inside of the end wall now) I have to rework some wiring, and then insulate. The new space is going to be more of a hand work area. I think I'm going to put a narrow bench (counter?) along the end wall (about 16 inches deep) for soldering, battery charging, etc, with space below to store tools that I generally keep in their cases when I'm not using them.

LOTS of rearranging of table saw, band saw, jointer, planer, etc..

But I have to tell you, the biggest plus I'm noticing already is the VENTILATION! My workshop has french doors and one small window. Both on the same wall. By taking down the partition wall I'm gaining 2 more doors (she had a front door and a rear door on her gardening area so when we packed it full of patio furniture and stuff for the winter, she could get in from either end) and a window on the end wall. I actually have a BREEZE in my shop! It's not 100 degrees in my shop!

Looking forward to getting the rest of the wall down and rebuilding. Some stuff simply MUST be done rather quickly (wiring, insulation, getting the OSB back up on the walls, and rehanging my pegboard panels) because I really can't use the shop right now. Too much crap piled everywhere. But it's amazing what the added 6 feet looks like and the possibilities it opens up.


----------



## AandCstyle (Mar 21, 2012)

Charlie, it sounds like you are having fun! Post some pix when you can.


----------



## Charlie5791 (Feb 21, 2012)

Man, that was a long day. I started at about 6:30 this morning taking down the other half of the partition wall. De-nailed all the 2×4 and hauled the OSB over into the garage. Ran to the big box place and got 3 rolls of insulation and got that all in. Decided the 4×8 sheets of OSB were just too darned heavy so I cut them into more manageable pieces. MUCH easier. Did a little electrical work and started moving stuff and cleaning. I still have so much crap in boxes I can't use any of my machines.  Getting the pegboard up is actually becoming a challenge. I had some big pegboard panels that now won't fit on the end wall due to windows and plugs and such. I'll probably cut them into smaller panels, but…. my table saw is buried. I'm learning what a disadvantage it can be to have such a mixed bag of cabinets. I'm going to plan on having a place to store the 20 2×4 I salvaged from taking down the partition wall. I'm going to get things back into a condition where I can use them and I think I'm going to start culling out the crappy cabinets and build a few. Very simple. More like narrow benches with storage (shelves) underneath.

But somethin's gotta give. 

GAining almost 100 sq ft is nice, but right now my cabinets are limiting my layout.

AND…..* AND* ... what the heck is with me that I can't throw away little pieces of wood.

"oh that's walnut. I might need that 6 inch scrap for something…"

Yeah I need it for KINDLING… I have way too much scrap wood. Not GOOD scrap… I mean I could probably fill a 55 gallon drum with pieces less than a foot long … and little squares of plywood…. "I can't throw away that 8 inch square. It's baltic birch!"

I gotta remember I have a small shop and can't keep all the puppies.


----------



## Charlie5791 (Feb 21, 2012)

Pictures. Not done, obviously, but at least starting to look like a shop again instead of hurricane wreckage…

This end is near done. The wood on the left is leaning against a cabinet that is serving as the charging station for various batteries. When I took down the partition wall I gained the window and 2 doors you see in the photo. The door on the left might become a window but not this year.









THis area is also near done. Vertical lumber storage behind the door and 2 cabinets (stacked) that have nails and screws and staples and some electrical parts. The big cabinet has my routers, dovetail jig, sanders, sandpaper, stuff like that. The dresser belonged to my wife's grandpa. Top drawer is sectioned into 3 parts with carving chisels, files, router bits and some small jigs. Second drawer is various paperwork. 3rd is my hand planes. I want to get those out where they're more easily accessible so I use them more. Bottom 2 drawers are aromatic cedar flute blanks and… forget what's in the bottom.









Still a lot to do. Buried in this corner is my jointer, planer, DC. The clamp rack rolls so it goes wherever is convenient but it has a lot of junk on it that just needs to get tossed. My sliding miter is on that stand that's folded up and… yup… I'm ashamed but that's my table saw in the foreground, still covered with stuff that needs to be put away. This whole end of the shop needs a lot of cleaning up and lots of stuff has to get tossed. 









Lotta scrap and cutoffs, and that's my easel buried in that corner. I want to get this corner from about the right end of that cabinet to the easel, cleared completely so I can have a corner to paint. 









Not sure these are staying as placed, but it felt so good to get the band saw out where I could use it and this wall was a real mess before.









So that's about it right now. Yesterday I worked out there for 13 hours. That hurt! So today I'm callin' it quits after only 5 hours. Lots of stuff to rehang on the pegboard, and much wood to sort through, but I should be back to usable by the end of the week. ... hopefully…


----------



## AandCstyle (Mar 21, 2012)

Wow! What an undertaking. The problem is that everything will need to be moved 12 times before you are done. lol Keep up the good work.


----------



## Charlie5791 (Feb 21, 2012)

yeah, I have to move stuff in order to move other stuff. I went out there again after dinner for a bit. Just to run some wire in preparation for joining the old gardening section lighting into the shop lighting. Simple stuff, but I'm going to wait until daylight tomorrow to make the final connection as I have to shut down the shop lighting circuit and don't feel like dragging a lamp out there. 

Still might move the table saw another foot and a half north… but way more important stuff to do before I decide on that. I think I have to haul the jointer, planer, sliding miter, and clamp cart over to the "clean" side and get the lumber sorted out. Gonna be a heck of a bonfire pretty soon…. hehehe


----------



## reedwood (Jan 27, 2011)

I'm wore out just from reading this. I need a nap.

good progress Charlie!


----------



## Straightbowed (Feb 9, 2012)

looks like good ol winter working will be fun finally enjoy it


----------



## Charlie5791 (Feb 21, 2012)

OK, I'm declaring myself operational again. Not completely done as I have 3 boxes to go through to decide what stays and what goes, and I have to clean all the little bitty scraps off my rolling clamp rack, BUT I went through all that wood and rearranged stuff. Very usable now at least.

This was my nightmare wall before with wood scraps and junk everywhere.









I made a real simple plywood "wallet" to hold the larger pieces









Cleanest it's been in over a year. 









Better shot of my "parking area". I only run one machine at a time. I unplug the DC hose from the saw and stick it on the planer or jointer. The way they can be moved now means I can pass an 8 foot board through them by just moving the machine I want to use and the DC hose is convenient to all of them. 









Still room on the pegboard…









And…. the burn pile. Obviously not going to get burned where it is, but this is what I culled out.









So…. now I gotta go mow the lawn.


----------



## helluvawreck (Jul 21, 2010)

Charlie, it looks like you are accomplishing a lot with this work. It will definitely give you a nicer shop. Congratulations.

helluvawreck aka Charles
http://woodworkingexpo.wordpress.com


----------



## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

Looks good Charley ,the good thing about re organizing is you find things you thought were lost and things you forgot you had.


----------



## Charlie5791 (Feb 21, 2012)

.. and things you have no idea why you saved…. sheesh… I'm a packrat.


----------



## Charlie5791 (Feb 21, 2012)

OK… boxes emptied, burn pile burned. I mean… I could still go through drawers and cabinets and toss stuff, but the shop is clean. I have room to actually *BE* an artist. The workshop was always intended to be a workshop/art studio. Now I have the room for it to live up to its potential. And hopefully I can live up to mine.


----------



## AandCstyle (Mar 21, 2012)

Well done! I wouldn't recognize the place. Time for a cold one and enjoy.


----------



## Charlie5791 (Feb 21, 2012)

OK, I'm gonna tell you there's a down side to cleaning and rearranging everything. The *UP*side is how relaxing it feels to be out there. I can just sit on my stool and listen to the radio and feel the breeze with all the doors open…

The *DOWN*side is, ... every time I make dust I feel like I have to sweep. Every time I see a tool on the bench and it's not being used I feel like I have to put it back where it belongs.

I'm going to spread PLASTIC before I paint… and throw it away when I'm done.

Oh and another upside…. not only was I able to store all of the lumber I kept, AND do it in a way that it's not in the way AND I can get it when I need it…. I *ALSO* brought in the 19 8ft 2×4s from the garage and put THOSE away and it doesn't even look like I added anything! AND… I had a half sheet of 3/4" plywood and thought, "Oh great. What am I going to do with this?" I managed to get it into the BACK of my new "plywood wallet" and only had to roll the sliding miter out of the way to do it.

So today I got the extension ladder out of the garage and after bridging a couple trusses, I have the ladder up between trusses and completely out of the way and yet it's easy to get it down AND put it away.

I'm kinda liking this clean concept. 
It's actually easier than my previous … "whatever" ... concept.


----------



## ToddJB (Jul 26, 2012)

Strong work, Charlie. I'm currently in the throws of reorganization myself, but sadly mine is not moving nearly as quickly as yours has. Good job.


----------



## Charlie5791 (Feb 21, 2012)

Today the shop smells like Johnson's paste wax. 
Yesterday was a day for cleaning machines, tuning and adjusting, and then waxing cast iron. Oh and I waxed the granite top on the table saw too, just because it makes stuff slide better.

Cast iron got wiped down with mineral spirits, cleaned up a little where needed with some 400 grit on a block and wet sanded using mineral spirits.
Wiped down again.
Treated with G96 gun treatment and let that dry real good.
Then 3 coats of paste wax.

THAT's why it still smells like paste wax this morning when I opened the doors heheheh

I can't believe how much more room I have and how good it feels to work in a clean shop. I mean…. I know they get chaotic when you have a large project or several smaller ones going on, but to be able to have room to walk around everything and set up saw horses and…. just room to WORK comfortably instead of being so cramped.

Little tip for anyone considering REALLY cleaning/organizing the shop:
Be prepared to drag a lot of stuff out of the shop. A *LOT* of stuff. So do it on a relatively nice day. You know… one of those days you'd rather be building something rather than cleaning something.


----------



## stevenikole (Jul 9, 2013)

Really Looks good charlie.

Home Remodeling


----------



## SharitaJBevilacqua (Aug 8, 2013)

You have done a good work well when we started remodeling at our home my husband was not able to do then we call one of our friend which gave us the best remodeling tips and then we completed our Home Remodeling Fairfax VA.


----------

