twoblacklabs

Pretty much a static newbie. Have been slowly collecting tools as life allows over the last 20 years. Several years back, had to sell what I had collected, including a BT3100, Planer, Bandsaw, and Craftsman 6" jointer (bench top on a stand).

Recently, thanks to patient searching on CL and a willingness to travel a bit, I have been able to start again. Also, my wife came through with a Jet 12" bandsaw as another CL find for my Christmas present.

My shop is a small, old, detached 2 car garage that has seen better days. I started with a single outlet and a 2 overhead lights, frost heaved and cracked floor. In fact the floor was so bad, you couldn't roll a ball 2' in any direction as it would either drop 6" or run into a 6" chuck of concrete.

I have since added a circuit breaker, outlets, a few more over head lights, busted all the concrete with a sledge and removed all of the chunks by hand, pickup load at a time until clear. 11 tons of crushed limestone was hauled in and unloaded by hand, leveled and hand tamped. I then rented a power tamper for an afternoon. Plastic vapor barrier was laid and temporary subfloor has been laid on the majority of the space until concrete can be poured.

I have redesigned a main door to replace the 2 sliding barn style doors that unfortunately were installed on the eave side of the building. This flaw was not properly designed and resulted in the north side of the structure having a sagging roof. A lolly gag was installed and the sag has been removed. The entire north wall structure (doors, jambs) will be removed, new foundation wall poured, new walls framed and the new double carriage door will be installed. The door will be a little over single car width to accommodate the occasional vehicle maintenance. Essential I am restoring the old building into my dedicated workshop, a little at a time.

-- If You Haven't Got the Time to Do It Right, When Will You Find the Time to Do It Over?