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#1 ·
Getting Started - Demo and Framing

This is the first in a series of posts. I intended to post as I went but the work was HARD and it was often all I could do to get the work on the shop done. Documenting? Sure, later… So now the shop is mostly done (haha) so I'll try to document how I got here.

Sometime late last year I posted some questions about converting a pole barn on our property to an insulated, well-lit woodworking shop. Got a lot of good advice. Then unfortunately, life intervened and I had to take care of some health issues. By the time that was taken care of we were well into 2019.

Here's the property (yes, we are very lucky) and the outside of the pole barn (50Ă—25).

Plant Plant community Ecoregion Natural landscape Natural environment


Dog Sky Carnivore Tree Land lot


To start, I drew up plans for what I would like to build. Here's a sample.

Rectangle Font Line Schematic Parallel


Initially, in order to expedite the process, I got bids on getting the pole-barn upgraded, including framing, electrical, insulation and new windows. The contractors were good people and the bids were reasonable but were still beyond my budget. So when our son - a master carpenter, electrician and very experienced general contractor suggested that we do it together I was enthusiastic, to say the least! To be clear, without Nat's energy, experience and support this project would never have gotten close to complete.

The plan was to

• frame in the pole barn with 2×6s,
• replace the two old aluminum windows with new 36×48 vinyl windows
• add two more new vinyl windows (also 36×48)
• replace all the old (hacky) electrical with new outlets and lights
• spray on an inch of closed cell foam to seal the envelope of the barn
• install fiberglass batts in the walls and ceiling (which is already closed in with plywood sheathing)
• Cover the ceiling batts with white plastic
• Finish the walls with ½" A/C plywood
• Cover the floor with vinyl laminate

In practice, the way it has worked is that Nat teaches me how to do something (like framing) and then I am mostly on my own since he lives 4 hours north of us and has his own life. Still, it has so far been a lot of fun - not to mention hard work. Again, without Nat's help this would never have happened.

This is what the shop looked like after some cleaning. One of the amusing (!) aspects of the renovations is that the original owners were the type who drove a nail anytime they needed to hang something. So there were literally dozens and dozens of nails - everywhere. 13 feet off the floor? Really?

The "before" shots. After cleaning at least, but before the rest of the "improvements" were removed.

Wood Building Hardwood Flooring Beam


Property Cabinetry Wood Interior design Flooring


Note: if you look closely in the above photo you will see two loops of wire rope hanging down with a piece of PVC pipe threaded through them. I am reliably informed by my friends who hunt that this is for hanging and eviscerating your deer. I was going to take them down but decided to leave them for the time being at least. Local flavour. But rest assured that no deer or other creatures will be disemboweled in MY shop! :)

The framing begins

Jeans Wood Floor Flooring Wall


Note that we did the first wall the "standard way", assembling the whole section on the floor and lifting it into place. But that was out of the question for me solo so the other walls were built piece by piece. (Who needs to go to the gym when you have a "LadderMaster"? Must have climbed that ladder 5000 times…)

Wood Fixture Building Ladder Hardwood


Property Wood Interior design Shelving Flooring


Note that the baseplates are fastened to the concrete with RedHead bolts and the 2Ă—6s are fastened to each other with 16d ring nails. And the 2Ă—6s themselves are fastened to the purlins and posts that are the frame of the pole barn. Believe me, once the plywood sheathing was added result was a building that is like a torsion box. It's not going anywhere!

Framing complete!

Wood Building Flooring Hardwood Beam


Next: Electrical and insulation. As always, any feedback is appreciated.
 

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#2 ·
Getting Started - Demo and Framing

This is the first in a series of posts. I intended to post as I went but the work was HARD and it was often all I could do to get the work on the shop done. Documenting? Sure, later… So now the shop is mostly done (haha) so I'll try to document how I got here.

Sometime late last year I posted some questions about converting a pole barn on our property to an insulated, well-lit woodworking shop. Got a lot of good advice. Then unfortunately, life intervened and I had to take care of some health issues. By the time that was taken care of we were well into 2019.

Here's the property (yes, we are very lucky) and the outside of the pole barn (50Ă—25).

Plant Plant community Ecoregion Natural landscape Natural environment


Dog Sky Carnivore Tree Land lot


To start, I drew up plans for what I would like to build. Here's a sample.

Rectangle Font Line Schematic Parallel


Initially, in order to expedite the process, I got bids on getting the pole-barn upgraded, including framing, electrical, insulation and new windows. The contractors were good people and the bids were reasonable but were still beyond my budget. So when our son - a master carpenter, electrician and very experienced general contractor suggested that we do it together I was enthusiastic, to say the least! To be clear, without Nat's energy, experience and support this project would never have gotten close to complete.

The plan was to

• frame in the pole barn with 2×6s,
• replace the two old aluminum windows with new 36×48 vinyl windows
• add two more new vinyl windows (also 36×48)
• replace all the old (hacky) electrical with new outlets and lights
• spray on an inch of closed cell foam to seal the envelope of the barn
• install fiberglass batts in the walls and ceiling (which is already closed in with plywood sheathing)
• Cover the ceiling batts with white plastic
• Finish the walls with ½" A/C plywood
• Cover the floor with vinyl laminate

In practice, the way it has worked is that Nat teaches me how to do something (like framing) and then I am mostly on my own since he lives 4 hours north of us and has his own life. Still, it has so far been a lot of fun - not to mention hard work. Again, without Nat's help this would never have happened.

This is what the shop looked like after some cleaning. One of the amusing (!) aspects of the renovations is that the original owners were the type who drove a nail anytime they needed to hang something. So there were literally dozens and dozens of nails - everywhere. 13 feet off the floor? Really?

The "before" shots. After cleaning at least, but before the rest of the "improvements" were removed.

Wood Building Hardwood Flooring Beam


Property Cabinetry Wood Interior design Flooring


Note: if you look closely in the above photo you will see two loops of wire rope hanging down with a piece of PVC pipe threaded through them. I am reliably informed by my friends who hunt that this is for hanging and eviscerating your deer. I was going to take them down but decided to leave them for the time being at least. Local flavour. But rest assured that no deer or other creatures will be disemboweled in MY shop! :)

The framing begins

Jeans Wood Floor Flooring Wall


Note that we did the first wall the "standard way", assembling the whole section on the floor and lifting it into place. But that was out of the question for me solo so the other walls were built piece by piece. (Who needs to go to the gym when you have a "LadderMaster"? Must have climbed that ladder 5000 times…)

Wood Fixture Building Ladder Hardwood


Property Wood Interior design Shelving Flooring


Note that the baseplates are fastened to the concrete with RedHead bolts and the 2Ă—6s are fastened to each other with 16d ring nails. And the 2Ă—6s themselves are fastened to the purlins and posts that are the frame of the pole barn. Believe me, once the plywood sheathing was added result was a building that is like a torsion box. It's not going anywhere!

Framing complete!

Wood Building Flooring Hardwood Beam


Next: Electrical and insulation. As always, any feedback is appreciated.
Beautiful place. What part of the country?
 

Attachments

#3 ·
Getting Started - Demo and Framing

This is the first in a series of posts. I intended to post as I went but the work was HARD and it was often all I could do to get the work on the shop done. Documenting? Sure, later… So now the shop is mostly done (haha) so I'll try to document how I got here.

Sometime late last year I posted some questions about converting a pole barn on our property to an insulated, well-lit woodworking shop. Got a lot of good advice. Then unfortunately, life intervened and I had to take care of some health issues. By the time that was taken care of we were well into 2019.

Here's the property (yes, we are very lucky) and the outside of the pole barn (50Ă—25).

Plant Plant community Ecoregion Natural landscape Natural environment


Dog Sky Carnivore Tree Land lot


To start, I drew up plans for what I would like to build. Here's a sample.

Rectangle Font Line Schematic Parallel


Initially, in order to expedite the process, I got bids on getting the pole-barn upgraded, including framing, electrical, insulation and new windows. The contractors were good people and the bids were reasonable but were still beyond my budget. So when our son - a master carpenter, electrician and very experienced general contractor suggested that we do it together I was enthusiastic, to say the least! To be clear, without Nat's energy, experience and support this project would never have gotten close to complete.

The plan was to

• frame in the pole barn with 2×6s,
• replace the two old aluminum windows with new 36×48 vinyl windows
• add two more new vinyl windows (also 36×48)
• replace all the old (hacky) electrical with new outlets and lights
• spray on an inch of closed cell foam to seal the envelope of the barn
• install fiberglass batts in the walls and ceiling (which is already closed in with plywood sheathing)
• Cover the ceiling batts with white plastic
• Finish the walls with ½" A/C plywood
• Cover the floor with vinyl laminate

In practice, the way it has worked is that Nat teaches me how to do something (like framing) and then I am mostly on my own since he lives 4 hours north of us and has his own life. Still, it has so far been a lot of fun - not to mention hard work. Again, without Nat's help this would never have happened.

This is what the shop looked like after some cleaning. One of the amusing (!) aspects of the renovations is that the original owners were the type who drove a nail anytime they needed to hang something. So there were literally dozens and dozens of nails - everywhere. 13 feet off the floor? Really?

The "before" shots. After cleaning at least, but before the rest of the "improvements" were removed.

Wood Building Hardwood Flooring Beam


Property Cabinetry Wood Interior design Flooring


Note: if you look closely in the above photo you will see two loops of wire rope hanging down with a piece of PVC pipe threaded through them. I am reliably informed by my friends who hunt that this is for hanging and eviscerating your deer. I was going to take them down but decided to leave them for the time being at least. Local flavour. But rest assured that no deer or other creatures will be disemboweled in MY shop! :)

The framing begins

Jeans Wood Floor Flooring Wall


Note that we did the first wall the "standard way", assembling the whole section on the floor and lifting it into place. But that was out of the question for me solo so the other walls were built piece by piece. (Who needs to go to the gym when you have a "LadderMaster"? Must have climbed that ladder 5000 times…)

Wood Fixture Building Ladder Hardwood


Property Wood Interior design Shelving Flooring


Note that the baseplates are fastened to the concrete with RedHead bolts and the 2Ă—6s are fastened to each other with 16d ring nails. And the 2Ă—6s themselves are fastened to the purlins and posts that are the frame of the pole barn. Believe me, once the plywood sheathing was added result was a building that is like a torsion box. It's not going anywhere!

Framing complete!

Wood Building Flooring Hardwood Beam


Next: Electrical and insulation. As always, any feedback is appreciated.
West of Portland, OR in the foothills of the coast range.
 

Attachments

#4 ·
Getting Started - Demo and Framing

This is the first in a series of posts. I intended to post as I went but the work was HARD and it was often all I could do to get the work on the shop done. Documenting? Sure, later… So now the shop is mostly done (haha) so I'll try to document how I got here.

Sometime late last year I posted some questions about converting a pole barn on our property to an insulated, well-lit woodworking shop. Got a lot of good advice. Then unfortunately, life intervened and I had to take care of some health issues. By the time that was taken care of we were well into 2019.

Here's the property (yes, we are very lucky) and the outside of the pole barn (50Ă—25).

Plant Plant community Ecoregion Natural landscape Natural environment


Dog Sky Carnivore Tree Land lot


To start, I drew up plans for what I would like to build. Here's a sample.

Rectangle Font Line Schematic Parallel


Initially, in order to expedite the process, I got bids on getting the pole-barn upgraded, including framing, electrical, insulation and new windows. The contractors were good people and the bids were reasonable but were still beyond my budget. So when our son - a master carpenter, electrician and very experienced general contractor suggested that we do it together I was enthusiastic, to say the least! To be clear, without Nat's energy, experience and support this project would never have gotten close to complete.

The plan was to

• frame in the pole barn with 2×6s,
• replace the two old aluminum windows with new 36×48 vinyl windows
• add two more new vinyl windows (also 36×48)
• replace all the old (hacky) electrical with new outlets and lights
• spray on an inch of closed cell foam to seal the envelope of the barn
• install fiberglass batts in the walls and ceiling (which is already closed in with plywood sheathing)
• Cover the ceiling batts with white plastic
• Finish the walls with ½" A/C plywood
• Cover the floor with vinyl laminate

In practice, the way it has worked is that Nat teaches me how to do something (like framing) and then I am mostly on my own since he lives 4 hours north of us and has his own life. Still, it has so far been a lot of fun - not to mention hard work. Again, without Nat's help this would never have happened.

This is what the shop looked like after some cleaning. One of the amusing (!) aspects of the renovations is that the original owners were the type who drove a nail anytime they needed to hang something. So there were literally dozens and dozens of nails - everywhere. 13 feet off the floor? Really?

The "before" shots. After cleaning at least, but before the rest of the "improvements" were removed.

Wood Building Hardwood Flooring Beam


Property Cabinetry Wood Interior design Flooring


Note: if you look closely in the above photo you will see two loops of wire rope hanging down with a piece of PVC pipe threaded through them. I am reliably informed by my friends who hunt that this is for hanging and eviscerating your deer. I was going to take them down but decided to leave them for the time being at least. Local flavour. But rest assured that no deer or other creatures will be disemboweled in MY shop! :)

The framing begins

Jeans Wood Floor Flooring Wall


Note that we did the first wall the "standard way", assembling the whole section on the floor and lifting it into place. But that was out of the question for me solo so the other walls were built piece by piece. (Who needs to go to the gym when you have a "LadderMaster"? Must have climbed that ladder 5000 times…)

Wood Fixture Building Ladder Hardwood


Property Wood Interior design Shelving Flooring


Note that the baseplates are fastened to the concrete with RedHead bolts and the 2Ă—6s are fastened to each other with 16d ring nails. And the 2Ă—6s themselves are fastened to the purlins and posts that are the frame of the pole barn. Believe me, once the plywood sheathing was added result was a building that is like a torsion box. It's not going anywhere!

Framing complete!

Wood Building Flooring Hardwood Beam


Next: Electrical and insulation. As always, any feedback is appreciated.
Very interesting. Thanks for documenting this. I look forward to the "rest of the story"
regards, Kerry
 

Attachments

#5 ·
Getting Started - Demo and Framing

This is the first in a series of posts. I intended to post as I went but the work was HARD and it was often all I could do to get the work on the shop done. Documenting? Sure, later… So now the shop is mostly done (haha) so I'll try to document how I got here.

Sometime late last year I posted some questions about converting a pole barn on our property to an insulated, well-lit woodworking shop. Got a lot of good advice. Then unfortunately, life intervened and I had to take care of some health issues. By the time that was taken care of we were well into 2019.

Here's the property (yes, we are very lucky) and the outside of the pole barn (50Ă—25).

Plant Plant community Ecoregion Natural landscape Natural environment


Dog Sky Carnivore Tree Land lot


To start, I drew up plans for what I would like to build. Here's a sample.

Rectangle Font Line Schematic Parallel


Initially, in order to expedite the process, I got bids on getting the pole-barn upgraded, including framing, electrical, insulation and new windows. The contractors were good people and the bids were reasonable but were still beyond my budget. So when our son - a master carpenter, electrician and very experienced general contractor suggested that we do it together I was enthusiastic, to say the least! To be clear, without Nat's energy, experience and support this project would never have gotten close to complete.

The plan was to

• frame in the pole barn with 2×6s,
• replace the two old aluminum windows with new 36×48 vinyl windows
• add two more new vinyl windows (also 36×48)
• replace all the old (hacky) electrical with new outlets and lights
• spray on an inch of closed cell foam to seal the envelope of the barn
• install fiberglass batts in the walls and ceiling (which is already closed in with plywood sheathing)
• Cover the ceiling batts with white plastic
• Finish the walls with ½" A/C plywood
• Cover the floor with vinyl laminate

In practice, the way it has worked is that Nat teaches me how to do something (like framing) and then I am mostly on my own since he lives 4 hours north of us and has his own life. Still, it has so far been a lot of fun - not to mention hard work. Again, without Nat's help this would never have happened.

This is what the shop looked like after some cleaning. One of the amusing (!) aspects of the renovations is that the original owners were the type who drove a nail anytime they needed to hang something. So there were literally dozens and dozens of nails - everywhere. 13 feet off the floor? Really?

The "before" shots. After cleaning at least, but before the rest of the "improvements" were removed.

Wood Building Hardwood Flooring Beam


Property Cabinetry Wood Interior design Flooring


Note: if you look closely in the above photo you will see two loops of wire rope hanging down with a piece of PVC pipe threaded through them. I am reliably informed by my friends who hunt that this is for hanging and eviscerating your deer. I was going to take them down but decided to leave them for the time being at least. Local flavour. But rest assured that no deer or other creatures will be disemboweled in MY shop! :)

The framing begins

Jeans Wood Floor Flooring Wall


Note that we did the first wall the "standard way", assembling the whole section on the floor and lifting it into place. But that was out of the question for me solo so the other walls were built piece by piece. (Who needs to go to the gym when you have a "LadderMaster"? Must have climbed that ladder 5000 times…)

Wood Fixture Building Ladder Hardwood


Property Wood Interior design Shelving Flooring


Note that the baseplates are fastened to the concrete with RedHead bolts and the 2Ă—6s are fastened to each other with 16d ring nails. And the 2Ă—6s themselves are fastened to the purlins and posts that are the frame of the pole barn. Believe me, once the plywood sheathing was added result was a building that is like a torsion box. It's not going anywhere!

Framing complete!

Wood Building Flooring Hardwood Beam


Next: Electrical and insulation. As always, any feedback is appreciated.
It looks like a really good start.

What are your intentions for heating, insulation and vapour barrier? Winters are damp and grey there, are they not?
 

Attachments

#6 ·
Getting Started - Demo and Framing

This is the first in a series of posts. I intended to post as I went but the work was HARD and it was often all I could do to get the work on the shop done. Documenting? Sure, later… So now the shop is mostly done (haha) so I'll try to document how I got here.

Sometime late last year I posted some questions about converting a pole barn on our property to an insulated, well-lit woodworking shop. Got a lot of good advice. Then unfortunately, life intervened and I had to take care of some health issues. By the time that was taken care of we were well into 2019.

Here's the property (yes, we are very lucky) and the outside of the pole barn (50Ă—25).

Plant Plant community Ecoregion Natural landscape Natural environment


Dog Sky Carnivore Tree Land lot


To start, I drew up plans for what I would like to build. Here's a sample.

Rectangle Font Line Schematic Parallel


Initially, in order to expedite the process, I got bids on getting the pole-barn upgraded, including framing, electrical, insulation and new windows. The contractors were good people and the bids were reasonable but were still beyond my budget. So when our son - a master carpenter, electrician and very experienced general contractor suggested that we do it together I was enthusiastic, to say the least! To be clear, without Nat's energy, experience and support this project would never have gotten close to complete.

The plan was to

• frame in the pole barn with 2×6s,
• replace the two old aluminum windows with new 36×48 vinyl windows
• add two more new vinyl windows (also 36×48)
• replace all the old (hacky) electrical with new outlets and lights
• spray on an inch of closed cell foam to seal the envelope of the barn
• install fiberglass batts in the walls and ceiling (which is already closed in with plywood sheathing)
• Cover the ceiling batts with white plastic
• Finish the walls with ½" A/C plywood
• Cover the floor with vinyl laminate

In practice, the way it has worked is that Nat teaches me how to do something (like framing) and then I am mostly on my own since he lives 4 hours north of us and has his own life. Still, it has so far been a lot of fun - not to mention hard work. Again, without Nat's help this would never have happened.

This is what the shop looked like after some cleaning. One of the amusing (!) aspects of the renovations is that the original owners were the type who drove a nail anytime they needed to hang something. So there were literally dozens and dozens of nails - everywhere. 13 feet off the floor? Really?

The "before" shots. After cleaning at least, but before the rest of the "improvements" were removed.

Wood Building Hardwood Flooring Beam


Property Cabinetry Wood Interior design Flooring


Note: if you look closely in the above photo you will see two loops of wire rope hanging down with a piece of PVC pipe threaded through them. I am reliably informed by my friends who hunt that this is for hanging and eviscerating your deer. I was going to take them down but decided to leave them for the time being at least. Local flavour. But rest assured that no deer or other creatures will be disemboweled in MY shop! :)

The framing begins

Jeans Wood Floor Flooring Wall


Note that we did the first wall the "standard way", assembling the whole section on the floor and lifting it into place. But that was out of the question for me solo so the other walls were built piece by piece. (Who needs to go to the gym when you have a "LadderMaster"? Must have climbed that ladder 5000 times…)

Wood Fixture Building Ladder Hardwood


Property Wood Interior design Shelving Flooring


Note that the baseplates are fastened to the concrete with RedHead bolts and the 2Ă—6s are fastened to each other with 16d ring nails. And the 2Ă—6s themselves are fastened to the purlins and posts that are the frame of the pole barn. Believe me, once the plywood sheathing was added result was a building that is like a torsion box. It's not going anywhere!

Framing complete!

Wood Building Flooring Hardwood Beam


Next: Electrical and insulation. As always, any feedback is appreciated.
@Kent: The shop has a very good quality concrete floor with a tar-paper vapour-barrier underneath. Then we laid 6-mil Visqueen on the floor and covered it with 7mm vinyl planks

The walls are sheet metal with 1.5" of sprayed, closed-cell foam to seal the whole envelope. The roof is already closed in with a sheet metal roof and 3/4" plywood sheathing. The walls and the roof then have R25 fiberglass batts. We also replaced the old aluminum windows with modern double-paned vinyl windows.

The result is that the shop is very tight and dry. I put a small electric (oil type) heater. It keeps the shop at 62F without problems. We had a few days of 90s heat and the shop stayed cool. Now we're getting frost and the temperature still stays constant.
 

Attachments

#7 ·
Electrical and Insulation

This is the second in a series of posts. I intended to post as I went but the work was HARD and it was often all I could do to get the work on the shop done. Documenting? Sure, later… So now the shop is largely done (haha) and I'll try to document how I got here

Once the shop was fully framed, the next step was electrical. This comprised (or will comprise) lights and 110v and 220v electrical outlets. The shop has its own service - separate from the house. The shop's service is 150 amps, which should be more than enough, even though it also provides power for the "barn" (i.e. the other pole barn) and the well, but at least so far the barn only has some lights and a couple of 110v outlets (mainly used for charging the tractors).

The other interesting part of the shop setup is that our property is served by a 200-foot well. The pump is of course submerged WAY down there, but when needed, it pumps the water into a holding tank to provide pressure (at around 60 psi). You'll see the tank in the photos (the big blue lozenge).

Barrel Wood Waste container Cylinder Gas


There is also a power line connected to the pump that allows one to hook up a 220v generator to it so that water can be pumped even during power outages. We do not currently have such a generator, but I will probably get one with wheels that I can roll into the shop when and if needed.

The previous owners had wired the shop and the adjacent garage as well as running a 220v circuit out to the other pole-barn. That was the good part. The bad part was that the wiring was so bad it was clear no inspector had ever laid eyes on it. Wires running everywhere, some simply terminating at a wall, cut off and left exposed! Yikes. So the first step was to "demo" (disconnect and remove) all the old circuits and outlets (except for the one 220v circuit to the barn).

That done, we ran Romex all around the shop (14/3 for the 110v circuits and 12/3 for the bigger 220v circuits). As usual, the "we" is somewhat misleading. Nat is a highly qualified, licensed electrician - I acted as his thumb-fingered assistant. But together we set it up with 110v, 220v circuits for the outlets and a circuit for the lights. For the moment the old-style fluorescents are still in place (two 8-foot double fixtures) but will be replaced by LEDs. Also for the moment, there are circuits run into the adjacent garage for the dust collection, compressor, lights and power, but none are hooked up save for a single, temporary 110v outlet (since all other power to the garage has been demoed).

The power distribution is as follows:

Font Material property Number Parallel Pattern


Details of the layout are here: https://www.lumberjocks.com/DrPuk2U/blog/130188

Once the Romex and outlets were all installed, I covered all the windows, outlet boxes, breaker panel, etc. and called in the insulation guys.

The insulation was 1.5" of closed-cell spray foam on all the side walls (but not the ceiling). This COMPLETELY sealed the walls and any cracks etc. in the shell of the shop. Then the walls were covered with R25 fiberglass batts. Finally, the ceiling was also covered with R25 batts then closed up with white AFP plastic.

The breaker panel looked like this before and after the foam was sprayed:

Wood Electrical wiring Electricity Gas Hardwood


Wood Door Fixture Electrical wiring Rectangle


Note that the spray-foam doesn't cover all the wires since we wanted to be able to modify it if need be (e.g. adding a circuit, etc.).

The final result of the electrical and insulation looks like this:

Building Wood Window Door Wall


A final note. I have cable (not fiber) with Wi-Fi at the house but the house is more than 60 feet from the shop and the Wi-Fi router is on the far side of the house. The result was that the Wi-Fi wasn't strong enough to reach the shop. Since I wanted a good signal in the shop (for design, music, email, etc.) I ended purchasing a Wi-Fi extender by Rockspace. It simply plugs into an outlet and detects your router's signal and mimics it. Works easily. I tried putting the extender in the kitchen (the nearest inside room to the shop) but I still couldn't get a strong enough signal. So I ended up putting the unit on our back deck (which is covered) and that works great! Note though that is relatively slow (10 mbs up, 2 mbs down). That's OK, it's fast enough.

Gas Tints and shades Fixture Metal Rectangle


And that's it for electrical and insulation! Next is "sheathing and painting walls.
 

Attachments

#8 ·
Electrical and Insulation

This is the second in a series of posts. I intended to post as I went but the work was HARD and it was often all I could do to get the work on the shop done. Documenting? Sure, later… So now the shop is largely done (haha) and I'll try to document how I got here

Once the shop was fully framed, the next step was electrical. This comprised (or will comprise) lights and 110v and 220v electrical outlets. The shop has its own service - separate from the house. The shop's service is 150 amps, which should be more than enough, even though it also provides power for the "barn" (i.e. the other pole barn) and the well, but at least so far the barn only has some lights and a couple of 110v outlets (mainly used for charging the tractors).

The other interesting part of the shop setup is that our property is served by a 200-foot well. The pump is of course submerged WAY down there, but when needed, it pumps the water into a holding tank to provide pressure (at around 60 psi). You'll see the tank in the photos (the big blue lozenge).

Barrel Wood Waste container Cylinder Gas


There is also a power line connected to the pump that allows one to hook up a 220v generator to it so that water can be pumped even during power outages. We do not currently have such a generator, but I will probably get one with wheels that I can roll into the shop when and if needed.

The previous owners had wired the shop and the adjacent garage as well as running a 220v circuit out to the other pole-barn. That was the good part. The bad part was that the wiring was so bad it was clear no inspector had ever laid eyes on it. Wires running everywhere, some simply terminating at a wall, cut off and left exposed! Yikes. So the first step was to "demo" (disconnect and remove) all the old circuits and outlets (except for the one 220v circuit to the barn).

That done, we ran Romex all around the shop (14/3 for the 110v circuits and 12/3 for the bigger 220v circuits). As usual, the "we" is somewhat misleading. Nat is a highly qualified, licensed electrician - I acted as his thumb-fingered assistant. But together we set it up with 110v, 220v circuits for the outlets and a circuit for the lights. For the moment the old-style fluorescents are still in place (two 8-foot double fixtures) but will be replaced by LEDs. Also for the moment, there are circuits run into the adjacent garage for the dust collection, compressor, lights and power, but none are hooked up save for a single, temporary 110v outlet (since all other power to the garage has been demoed).

The power distribution is as follows:

Font Material property Number Parallel Pattern


Details of the layout are here: https://www.lumberjocks.com/DrPuk2U/blog/130188

Once the Romex and outlets were all installed, I covered all the windows, outlet boxes, breaker panel, etc. and called in the insulation guys.

The insulation was 1.5" of closed-cell spray foam on all the side walls (but not the ceiling). This COMPLETELY sealed the walls and any cracks etc. in the shell of the shop. Then the walls were covered with R25 fiberglass batts. Finally, the ceiling was also covered with R25 batts then closed up with white AFP plastic.

The breaker panel looked like this before and after the foam was sprayed:

Wood Electrical wiring Electricity Gas Hardwood


Wood Door Fixture Electrical wiring Rectangle


Note that the spray-foam doesn't cover all the wires since we wanted to be able to modify it if need be (e.g. adding a circuit, etc.).

The final result of the electrical and insulation looks like this:

Building Wood Window Door Wall


A final note. I have cable (not fiber) with Wi-Fi at the house but the house is more than 60 feet from the shop and the Wi-Fi router is on the far side of the house. The result was that the Wi-Fi wasn't strong enough to reach the shop. Since I wanted a good signal in the shop (for design, music, email, etc.) I ended purchasing a Wi-Fi extender by Rockspace. It simply plugs into an outlet and detects your router's signal and mimics it. Works easily. I tried putting the extender in the kitchen (the nearest inside room to the shop) but I still couldn't get a strong enough signal. So I ended up putting the unit on our back deck (which is covered) and that works great! Note though that is relatively slow (10 mbs up, 2 mbs down). That's OK, it's fast enough.

Gas Tints and shades Fixture Metal Rectangle


And that's it for electrical and insulation! Next is "sheathing and painting walls.
Hey Doc,
I know I'm joining late in this thread..First, thanks for documenting, great for all of us in the (perpetual) planning/dreaming stages of a shop build

Just wanted to encourage you to think about a permanent generator. We installed them (Kohler) in both our properties in Cape Cod, and have them hard " wired" into the natural gas line (as well as to our main electrical box). They regularly save our bacon (and anything else in the fridge freezer) 4-6 times a year during winter snow or fall gales. Pretty much install and forget , and they operate without intervention. Yes, hefty expense up front, but deliver strong ROi in peace of mind.

Looking forward to learning more as I progress thru your blog.
 

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#9 ·
Sheathing and Painting the Walls

This is the third in a series of posts. I intended to post as I went but the work was HARD and it was often all I could do to get the work on the shop done. Documenting? Sure, later… So now the shop is largely done (haha) and I'll try to document how I got here.

Once the electrical and insulation were done it was time to close up the walls. There were basically two choices:

- Sheetrock
- Sheet stock (e.g. plywood, OSB, etc.)

Though sheetrock had attractions as it looks better (if done right), it didn't seem like a good choice for the shop since sheetrock is fragile and easily dented. And heavy (even not so heavy) objects would have to be carefully mounted through the sheetrock into the 2Ă—6 framing. And mounting and mudding the sheetrock is a slow, tedious process with lots of dust.

So I decided on a sheet stock approach. OSB would have been cheaper but not particularly attractive. I considered CX plywood but the number and size of the "patches" on the "good" side made it less attractive. So I decided to spend a bit more and went with 1/2" A/C plywood.

The process was pretty straightforward. We simply installed 4Ă—8 sheets vertically and then filled the remaining 35" with horizontally oriented pieces. We simply measured and cut the outlet holes with a jigsaw then nailed the plywood up with 16d ring-nails and a nail gun. Except the panels over the breaker panel and well control box, which we fastened with screws so we could get access the wiring underneath, if needed.

Here are a few shots of the work in progress.

Window Wood Rectangle Floor Flooring


Wood Building Interior design Wall House


Once the plywood was all up, I went back over it all, ensuring everything was nailed properly, the outlets were mounted and the faceplates would fit correctly. Then it was time to paint.

I decided to simply pain the whole shop white. I didn't bother sanding or any cosmetic treatment. Just one coat of a high-quality primer followed by two coats of high-quality enamel paint. All of it rolled on.

Tin Paint Tin can Aluminum can Gas


One fun complication was that the well-tank in the corner makes access there difficult. To do the framing we build a platform in the corner. But we had to take the platform down to put up the sheathing. Then painting it was a challenge. Some of it I could reach with a roller, but the edges and corners were tougher. I ended up fashioning a long-handled paint brush to handle it. Not elegant, but functional.
Wood Material property Shade Gas Paint


Automotive tire Road surface Floor Wood Table


And the final result:

Table Furniture Wood Flooring Floor


Table Furniture Wood Interior design Lighting


Next up: The Flooring.
 

Attachments

#10 ·
Sheathing and Painting the Walls

This is the third in a series of posts. I intended to post as I went but the work was HARD and it was often all I could do to get the work on the shop done. Documenting? Sure, later… So now the shop is largely done (haha) and I'll try to document how I got here.

Once the electrical and insulation were done it was time to close up the walls. There were basically two choices:

- Sheetrock
- Sheet stock (e.g. plywood, OSB, etc.)

Though sheetrock had attractions as it looks better (if done right), it didn't seem like a good choice for the shop since sheetrock is fragile and easily dented. And heavy (even not so heavy) objects would have to be carefully mounted through the sheetrock into the 2Ă—6 framing. And mounting and mudding the sheetrock is a slow, tedious process with lots of dust.

So I decided on a sheet stock approach. OSB would have been cheaper but not particularly attractive. I considered CX plywood but the number and size of the "patches" on the "good" side made it less attractive. So I decided to spend a bit more and went with 1/2" A/C plywood.

The process was pretty straightforward. We simply installed 4Ă—8 sheets vertically and then filled the remaining 35" with horizontally oriented pieces. We simply measured and cut the outlet holes with a jigsaw then nailed the plywood up with 16d ring-nails and a nail gun. Except the panels over the breaker panel and well control box, which we fastened with screws so we could get access the wiring underneath, if needed.

Here are a few shots of the work in progress.

Window Wood Rectangle Floor Flooring


Wood Building Interior design Wall House


Once the plywood was all up, I went back over it all, ensuring everything was nailed properly, the outlets were mounted and the faceplates would fit correctly. Then it was time to paint.

I decided to simply pain the whole shop white. I didn't bother sanding or any cosmetic treatment. Just one coat of a high-quality primer followed by two coats of high-quality enamel paint. All of it rolled on.

Tin Paint Tin can Aluminum can Gas


One fun complication was that the well-tank in the corner makes access there difficult. To do the framing we build a platform in the corner. But we had to take the platform down to put up the sheathing. Then painting it was a challenge. Some of it I could reach with a roller, but the edges and corners were tougher. I ended up fashioning a long-handled paint brush to handle it. Not elegant, but functional.
Wood Material property Shade Gas Paint


Automotive tire Road surface Floor Wood Table


And the final result:

Table Furniture Wood Flooring Floor


Table Furniture Wood Interior design Lighting


Next up: The Flooring.
i used osb in mine and i wished i would have painted it white,a lot brighter.your gonna be glad you used ply over drywall.
 

Attachments

#11 ·
The Flooring Goes Down

This is the fourth in a series of posts. I intended to post as I went but the work was HARD and it was often all I could do to get the work on the shop done. Documenting? Sure, later… So now the shop is largely done (haha) and I'll try to document how I got here.

So we finally get to the flooring. It was fairly straightforward since the shop floor was flat, dry concrete with little or no oil, paint etc. I bought a good quality vinyl plank laminate. It was 7 mm thick and included a pad. But even though it had a pad, we decided that a vapor barrier would still be a good idea so we laid down 6 mm visqueen.

Window Wood Architecture Interior design Flooring


Wood Fixture Flooring Floor Hall


Wood Flooring Floor Wood stain Hardwood


Then laying down the laminate was pretty straightforward if a bit tedious. But it came out looking great.

Wood Hall Interior design Floor Window


Wood Building Interior design Flooring Floor


We didn't try to lay the laminate in a curve around the tank - we just left a rectangular area
bare.

The resulting floor has a nice feel and and an even better look.

Wood Interior design Table Flooring Hall


Wood Hall Flooring Floor Building


I'm currently working on finishing (with GF polyurethane) the hickory baseboards which I hope to put in next week.

Wood Window Flooring Wood stain Floor


Everything is sort of on a fast track because my wife has requested that we host the Thanksgiving dinner in the shop as it has lots of space. Wait til I move the rest of the machines and the lumber-rack in!

Next up, end game planning
 

Attachments

#12 ·
The Flooring Goes Down

This is the fourth in a series of posts. I intended to post as I went but the work was HARD and it was often all I could do to get the work on the shop done. Documenting? Sure, later… So now the shop is largely done (haha) and I'll try to document how I got here.

So we finally get to the flooring. It was fairly straightforward since the shop floor was flat, dry concrete with little or no oil, paint etc. I bought a good quality vinyl plank laminate. It was 7 mm thick and included a pad. But even though it had a pad, we decided that a vapor barrier would still be a good idea so we laid down 6 mm visqueen.

Window Wood Architecture Interior design Flooring


Wood Fixture Flooring Floor Hall


Wood Flooring Floor Wood stain Hardwood


Then laying down the laminate was pretty straightforward if a bit tedious. But it came out looking great.

Wood Hall Interior design Floor Window


Wood Building Interior design Flooring Floor


We didn't try to lay the laminate in a curve around the tank - we just left a rectangular area
bare.

The resulting floor has a nice feel and and an even better look.

Wood Interior design Table Flooring Hall


Wood Hall Flooring Floor Building


I'm currently working on finishing (with GF polyurethane) the hickory baseboards which I hope to put in next week.

Wood Window Flooring Wood stain Floor


Everything is sort of on a fast track because my wife has requested that we host the Thanksgiving dinner in the shop as it has lots of space. Wait til I move the rest of the machines and the lumber-rack in!

Next up, end game planning
Your shop is progressing nicely. It must feel really good to finally have the workbench in there. Lots of work to go but well worth the effort.
 

Attachments

#14 ·
Why Does My Shop Smell Like Turkey?

This is the fifth in a series of posts. I intended to post as I went but the work was HARD and it was often all I could do to get the work on the shop done. Documenting? Sure, later… So now the shop is largely done (haha) and I'll try to document how I got here.

So by now the shop was looking good. Framing, electrical, insulation, walls, paint and even flooring. However, the house we live in is much smaller than our previous (huge) house in Illinois (6200 sq. ft, 800 sq. ft attic and 4-car garage). The new house is under 3000 sq. ft. and rather oddly laid out. So when my wife was planning to host the family Thanksgiving dinner with 16-18 people (and 6-7 dogs… :), there was a problem. Where would everyone sit? Where do the food and drink get staged? My wife's answer was "Why, in Ric's shop! It's large, warm and empty!"

Wood Interior design Picture frame Hall Flooring


In a moment of generosity (or madness) I agreed. So I postponed moving in the rest of the machines (bench, jointer and table-saw were already in). We didn't have enough chairs so instead I made 4 simple benches. Biggest problem was that there was something wrong with my planer - it wouldn't feed the boards through. And the jointer was still mothballed. And I was out of time. So instead of making the boards S4S I had to chop them down then finish them individually. Phew. But it was the first project in the new shop so that was cool. As part of the process I had to completely clean the shop - sweep, vacuum and mop. Doubt the shop will ever be as clean again…

Window Wood Picture frame Flooring Floor


Table Radial arm saw Wood Workbench Machine tool


Wood Rectangle Hardwood Wood stain Flooring


Table Wood Rectangle Outdoor furniture Floor


Belatedly I figured out what was wrong with the planer: Nothing! It was simply that the planer was stored in the unheated garage and in western Oregon it was a very cold November with lots of frost. Consequently, the rubber on the feed rollers was too hard - so not enough friction to grab the lumber!

I moved the jointer and table-saw to a corner, covered them with plastic drop cloths and warned everyone to not even touch them… ;-) I then moved my bench to the opposite corner, also covered in plastic. We used the bench for the dessert table. We then set up my two 3×6 foot worktables for dining and two more for the drinks, chafing dishes and so on. My wife and daughter strung some decorative lights, tablecloths, even flowers. The result was in fact very cozy and festive.

Food Table Furniture Tableware Lighting


Table Furniture Tableware Property Food


A great time was had by all. As a measure of that, 16 people at dinner, all with phones and nobody took any photos once the food was staged and the wine opened. :) But it all turned out great. All and sundry thanked me for making my shop available. I told them they were welcome but don't count on the venue being available next year!
 

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#15 ·
The End Game?

This is the sixth in a series of posts. I have tried to keep up with the actual work but it doesn't always work that way. Now the shop is sufficiently complete that it can be used. Still a lot to do so this post is just my rough list of what's left.

So now that framing, electrical, insulation, sheathing, painting and flooring are done, what's next?

Doors
  • Repair and replace the thresholds on both doors so they don't leak like sieves
  • Main door threshold is quite broken and doesn't fit well anyway
  • Door to garage has no threshold at all

Machines
  • Move the rest of the machines into the shop
  • Tune and repair as needed

Dust Collection
  • Mount the dust collector in the garage (other side of the wall from the shop)
  • Bore a 6" hole through the wall
  • Run PVC up to the hole and into the shop
  • Put together the necessary PVC pipes and joins to provide a drop at each machine

Electrical
  • Replace the two existing 8' fluorescent tubes with the nine 4-foot LEDs
  • All the electrical in the garage was demolished (it was so out of code as to be dangerous), so rewire the garage as needed, including new lights

Compressed Air
  • Install the compressor in the garage (on its own, already wired circuit)
  • Run an air-hose from the garage where the compressor lives, into the shop with drops at various spots around the shop

Jigs
  • Find places for all the jigs on the walls
  • Hang them…

Decoration
  • Complete installing the baseboards and, possibly, shoe moulding)
  • Frame the windows in properly with stained hickory (like the baseboards)

Machine Bench
  • Move the to Craftsman 5-drawer sections into the shop
  • Build stands for them to bring the top to 34"
  • Construct top for the bench from three pieces of Âľ" plywood, 24Ă—80"
  • Mount the top on the drawer modules and fasten solidly to the studs as well
  • Mount the big vise

Hand Tools
  • Unpack and lay out all the hand tools for inventory and position purposes
  • Build hand tool cabinet, like the one in FWW 2007 Tools and Shops)
  • Hang on the wall
  • Note that this step needs to be late in the process so the set of tools and sizes is (roughly) known

Wood Rack
  • Mount the wood rack on the wall
  • Move the good wood into the shop onto the rack

There are no doubt many tasks I haven't thought of yet, but the above should keep me busy through the winter anyway… If anyone can point out items I have missed I would be appreciative.

Next up, Baseboards and trim
 
#16 ·
Baseboards and more...

Short entry this time. Added the baseboards and started moving the machines in. Actually did some wood working. Been a bit of a hiatus as our new "grandchild" has taken up a lot of my time.

Dog Dog breed Carnivore Ear Finger

6 weeks (8 pounds)

Dog Couch Comfort Carnivore Companion dog

5 months (62 pounds)

But the baseboards are in now

Furniture Table Picture frame Wood Window


Building Wood Floor Flooring Hardwood


I have now moved in all of the machines.

Unfortunately, all of them have been shipped across the US and sat in storage for many months. So next step is to clean and tune each of the machines. Then it is on to dust collection. Have a design, now to make it so…

Moving the bandsaw in from the garage was a little fun. Darn thing weighs 350 pounds and the lip from the garage to the shop is 2 1//2" high. So I fired up the table-saw, made a jig to cut angles for the ramp and voila! There it was.

Wood Wood stain Floor Flooring Hardwood


Wood Flooring Floor Table Rectangle


Wood Art Rectangle Flooring Hardwood


So now on to dust collection. Here is the current plan.

Rectangle Font Schematic Floor plan Parallel


And lastly (for now) dust collection
 

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#17 ·
Dust Collection

This is the eighth in a series of posts. I intended to post as I went but the work was HARD and it was often all I could do to get the work on the shop done. Documenting? Sure, later… So now the shop is largely done so I'll try to document how the last couple of steps. In the journey.

Dust collection is currently very much a work in progress. Ultimately I will put the dust collector (a Delta collector that used to be mobile but is now mounted on a plaque on a French cleat) and the pancake compressor on the far side of the wall, in the garage. Then run 4" PVC to a number of stations I the shop with a blast gate and permanent connection to each machine. Here's the plan as it stands:

Rectangle Schematic Font Floor plan Parallel


But for right now that isn't a priority. Instead, I mounted the dust collector in the corner of the shop and have a 25-foot 4" flexible hose that connects easily to each of the machines (jointer, bandsaw, drill press, table-saw and planer). It's not ideal and a little annoying to have the hose lying around the shop, but I can live with it.

At each machine there is some sort of affordance to hook the 4" hose up to. Except for the chop saw which is unchanged. When I build the "chop saw station" by adding wings to the current stand I'll look into better dust collection.

Here's the dust collector itself:

Product Interior design Desk Office supplies Computer desk


And here are the machines, hooked up.

Wood Gas Machine Hardwood Flooring


Table Computer desk Wood Desk Cabinetry


Table Furniture Plant Wood Flooring


And that's it. Not that exciting but getting there…
 

Attachments

#18 ·
Finishing the Trim

This is the ninth in a series of posts. I intended to post as I went but the work was HARD and it was often all I could do to get the work on the shop done. Documenting? Sure, later… So now the shop is largely done so I'll try to document how the last couple of steps. In the journey.

This may be the final post in this series. For all intents, the shop is now more or less done. Lots of possible improvements, but there are no major tasks left.

The final series was finishing the trim around the windows. The baseboards were done months ago but for one reason or another the window trim took a long time to get around to. I bought all the lumber (hemlock) at the same time as the baseboards and it got finished (urethane). As usual, our son Nat did the first window with me, then it was "Now you do the rest". And it stalled there. The lumber sat in the shop, getting in the way and the windows looked, well, unfinished.

So I finally sucked it up and spent a few days doing the trim. This is the result:

Window Plant Fixture Rectangle Wood


Window Property Fixture Wood Lighting


Building Plant Window Leaf Door


The worst part was that I got all the way to the end and ended up one 40" piece of hemlock short. Had to drive all the way into Portland to get some more hemlock. Then I had extra so I couldn't resist putting together the requisite pegboard with tools.

Building Window Wood Table Fixture


Wood Rectangle Wall Font Hardwood


Cabinetry Countertop Property Furniture Window


And that's it. NOW I can get back to building furniture…
 

Attachments

#19 ·
Finishing the Trim

This is the ninth in a series of posts. I intended to post as I went but the work was HARD and it was often all I could do to get the work on the shop done. Documenting? Sure, later… So now the shop is largely done so I'll try to document how the last couple of steps. In the journey.

This may be the final post in this series. For all intents, the shop is now more or less done. Lots of possible improvements, but there are no major tasks left.

The final series was finishing the trim around the windows. The baseboards were done months ago but for one reason or another the window trim took a long time to get around to. I bought all the lumber (hemlock) at the same time as the baseboards and it got finished (urethane). As usual, our son Nat did the first window with me, then it was "Now you do the rest". And it stalled there. The lumber sat in the shop, getting in the way and the windows looked, well, unfinished.

So I finally sucked it up and spent a few days doing the trim. This is the result:

Window Plant Fixture Rectangle Wood


Window Property Fixture Wood Lighting


Building Plant Window Leaf Door


The worst part was that I got all the way to the end and ended up one 40" piece of hemlock short. Had to drive all the way into Portland to get some more hemlock. Then I had extra so I couldn't resist putting together the requisite pegboard with tools.

Building Window Wood Table Fixture


Wood Rectangle Wall Font Hardwood


Cabinetry Countertop Property Furniture Window


And that's it. NOW I can get back to building furniture…
I hate moving the shop…just not up to it anymore. I honestly think if I have to move again I will simply auction off everything and start over. It looks like you have a nice dedicated building now. I have converted my current basement, but I have thought of building a structure out back…hmmm.
 

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