Jamie's Shop Thread

As I mentioned in my garage remodel thread, I am planning to build a dedicated detached shop in my back yard and would like to track it here (hopefully I can get a bunch of good ideas as I already have from the various threads here). I mentioned that the process would be starting in the spring, but that has changed for the better. Since we just finished a large construction project, my wife has convinced me to hire someone for this one. I am not completely pleased with this decision, but I will live with it in order to have a new space to work in. That said, we are on a tight budget.

Our goal was to build something between 200 and 300 square feet. Our back yard (property is only 75’ X 135’ with a slope in the back) and life style (small kids still using the back yard for play) is the main factor in this decision. We looked at a lot of sizes and finally decided on a 12’ X 20’ (I know… too small, but I can not go bigger) building and decided to go with a shed builder. This was a difficult decision for me, but again, the budget took over. The shed will be build on a 4’ X 4’ “skid” system, but I will be digging and pouring piers to anchor the shed (township requirement as well). I applied for the permits on Friday and hope to hear by this Friday. I am hoping to have the building installed by the end of the month.

There are some things about the shed company that I am not happy with, but think I can live with. For instance, the framing is all on two foot centers (2 X 4 walls and 2 X 6 roof) except the floor will be 2X6 on 12” centers. If this becomes an issue, I can add studs and rafters to supplement, but I should be good. The standard building comes with seven foot side walls. This was not even close to acceptable for me so I upgraded to eight foot (I would have liked higher, but the township would have required a variance). The standard building also only comes with regular wood framing and floor material (I upgraded to Pressure Treated).

The company will just be building the basic building, then I will customize (more on that later). It will come primed, and will have a cheesy double wood door. I will likely live with this for a while (will paint in the spring), but eventually will side to match the house and replace the door. I will be installing windows right away though.

Once I get through the township on the building, I will be installing the electrical system. It will likely be just a 60 Amp sub-panel. I will do all of this work myself, and have a rough idea as to the details (again, more on that later).

Attached are my initial thoughts on the floor plan (comments welcome) and I will be doing a Sketch Up drawing soon. The lathe shown is different from mine. I have a Nova 3K with a custom stand but you get the idea. I do not have a band saw yet, but plan to in the near future. The grinder is on a custom cabinet and is on wheels. The table saw is not the one shown, and the out feed table does not exist yet. The out feed will likely be a bench of sorts, and the table saw and the bench will be on wheels. The counters shown will be custom made to the space and I will be building cabinets for above the counters.

I will be building a “loft” storage area on the wall opposite the counter top. I am short, so this will probably be about 6 feet off the floor (our house is very storage challenged and this was the only request from my wife other than aesthetics) to enhance the storage space. Right now, I am thinking it will be 12’ wide by about 6’ (or so) deep.

Again, here is the layout… Comments? Ideas?
 

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Could you identify those tools? I can detect some of them but I'm just not sure what some are. If #4 is the grinder, I think that will get in the way of your table saw. I would put the grinder against a wall to get it out of the way.
 
jamie, what style of roof? a mansard will give you the most upstairs storage to where you might not have to sacrifice the headroom?
 
roof

jamie, what style of roof? a mansard will give you the most upstairs storage to where you might not have to sacrifice the headroom?

Tod,

The building style is Carriage house. It has a steeper pitch in the front than back (maybe a 6:12 in front and a 4:12 in back?). I know that I will not have a lot of storage room in the loft, that is why it will start lower than the wall height.

thx...Jamie
 
jamie, at the plannin` stage it`s worth talking about different roof designs just to see what you can get away with.....price and neighborhood wise. if it`s only a couple hundred more to go with a mansard and code permits you`ll be much happier with the headroom.....something to think about? tod
 
Could you identify those tools? I can detect some of them but I'm just not sure what some are. If #4 is the grinder, I think that will get in the way of your table saw. I would put the grinder against a wall to get it out of the way.

1 is the planned band saw
2 is the dust collector on wheels
3 is a bench top drill press (very old and heavy) and sits on a rolling tool chest (8)
4 is the grinder sitting on a home made rolling cabinet (I want it close to the lathe (i am primarially a turner) couple of steps away)

the grinder may move. I would prefer it against the wall, but I do want it behind the lathe and close. I will give this some more thought.

thx...Jamie
 
jamie, at the plannin` stage it`s worth talking about different roof designs just to see what you can get away with.....price and neighborhood wise. if it`s only a couple hundred more to go with a mansard and code permits you`ll be much happier with the headroom.....something to think about? tod

Tod,

This was my biggest contension and I struggled with it a lot. If I go any higher with the building, I will need to get a Varience from the township (not a fun (I was told to expect 2 additional months for approvals:doh: ) or cheap process...very tight budget). Just getting the guidelines can be difficult, so I chose to go the easy route. There are just some things that I will need to deal with, and I think this is one of them. Fortunately, I do not build large furniture projects (I am mostly a turner), so I can live with the low ceilings. My first shop was a small section of a sun room (about 9X9) and only had a 6' ceiling. I did a lot of turning in there as well as a bedroom set (night stands, chest, and bed). Granted, it is not the ideal situation, but sometimes you have limitations.


Thx...Jamie
 
Jamie, my stand-alone shop is about twice as big as yours and is on a smaller lot. You might get some ideas from the journal that I kept when I was building the shop. In case you have not seen the thread http://familywoodworking.org/forums/showthread.php?t=1223, I will send a CD containing my journal to anyone who is interested (it's free).

One thing that you might think about is putting a skylight in the roof (assuming that the entire area is not covered by a loft). I put three skylights in my shop and, if I had it to do over again there would be four. You just can't beet natural light.
 
Jamie, my stand-alone shop is about twice as big as yours and is on a smaller lot. You might get some ideas from the journal that I kept when I was building the shop. In case you have not seen the thread http://familywoodworking.org/forums/showthread.php?t=1223, I will send a CD containing my journal to anyone who is interested (it's free).

One thing that you might think about is putting a skylight in the roof (assuming that the entire area is not covered by a loft). I put three skylights in my shop and, if I had it to do over again there would be four. You just can't beet natural light.

Frank,

Thanks for the offer and the suggestions. Unfrotunately, my kids still use the backyard and my township has difficult zoning rules. I do not like the idea of trying for a variance.

I read your entire shop story on the other forum, but may take you up on the CD anyway. Your story was one of the better ones, and I am going to use a lot of the information that you posted. As for the skylight, I have installed quite a few on houses, and do like them. I may plan some in the future (they are not difficult to add), but that is not in my current plans. My concern now is the pitch of the roof. It is not very steep.

thanks again....Jamie
 
Progress

Well, I just found out that my permit is ready (record time for me). I took down a small tree last weekend (forgot to take pictures) and plan to empyt, and remove the shed that is now in the way this weekend. If the rain holds out, I will hopefully layout the piers as well. Wish me luck...

Thx...Jamie
 
Frank,

Thanks for the offer and the suggestions. Unfrotunately, my kids still use the backyard and my township has difficult zoning rules. I do not like the idea of trying for a variance.

I read your entire shop story on the other forum, but may take you up on the CD anyway. Your story was one of the better ones, and I am going to use a lot of the information that you posted. As for the skylight, I have installed quite a few on houses, and do like them. I may plan some in the future (they are not difficult to add), but that is not in my current plans. My concern now is the pitch of the roof. It is not very steep.

thanks again....Jamie
Jamie, there is more information in the journal than there was in the thread on SMC. Just send me your address via private mail and I will send you a copy. There is one note of warning -to read the journal, you need Microsoft Word.
 
Progress

Well, I made a little progress over the weekend (sorry, no pictures). Since I have the permit now, I was able to remove my old shed (8X12 that is in the way). I also removed a small maple tree that was in the way. I did the tree a week ago, and the shed this past weekend.

Once the shed was down, I cut the slab in half and removed the front half. The back half will stay for wood storage (turning wood) and chain saw work. The slab was thicker than I was expecting, so the saw I rented did not go all the way through. I had to bust a good bid of it with a sledge.

With that complete, I then rented an auger. I had to dig 9 holes 36" deep. With the auger, it only took about 30 minutes or so (with a little help from a neighbor). I expected to have a lot of trouble with roots, but there was only one hole that I had to use an axe, much less than I thought. I also hit an irrigation pipe with one hole. It just hit the edge, but I will cut a piece out after the concrete is repaired just in case.

Well, I just have a little clean up in the holes tonite (rain the other day) and the building inspection is scheduled for tomorrot morning. Once I get the go ahead, I will pour concrete each night until I am done (probably two holes a night). I will also finalize the shed order (they only need about a week). Hopefully, my next progress report will include pictures of the concrete piers.

I also had a chance to work on the layout of the shop. I went through quite a few versions, but these two are my favorites so far. Any comments? I think I like the first one better.

thx...Jamie
 

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More Progress

Well, I passed the inspection for the footings (piers) and pored the concrete last weekend. It was quite cold, so I covered the footings with plastic and piled some straw bails around as well. I think the concrete cured well. As I mentioned, there are nine piers and I used mud sill connectors to attach to the skids under the shed. I used long straight 2 X 4 boards to level the piers starting from the highest point. Essentially, they range from about two inches to six inches above grade (not too bad considering the slope of my back yard).

I called the shed company last Friday to schedule the construction and they had an opening on Tuesday of this week. The carpenters showed up at about nine in the morning (two of them), and by 12 they had the skid shimmed and level, the floor build, and the walls up (the shed comes as a kit with all of the lumber cut to size). By the time my wife got home from work at four, the shed was complete and the crew was gone.

I was a little skeptical with the construction methods. The framing (walls and roof) is on two foot centers (2 X 4 wall framing and 2 X 6 roof (kind of like a truss without a ceiling cord)). The floor is 2 X 6 joists on 12” centers, but the “skid” is made up of 3 rows of 4 X 4 posts (horizontally connected to the footings and shimmed with PT wood on the ground). I have never thought of hiring someone to do something like this, and thought it would be shabby. With that said, I am pleasantly surprised. I checked the floor for level and the walls for plumb and all looked very well (even in the middle of the long wall). My biggest fear was that the floor would feel “soft”, but so far, that is not the case. It feels very solid.

I am not able to get a final inspection from the township until Wednesday of next week, so I can not start any of the electrical work yet. I do have plans for this weekend though. I am going to put a layer of sub floor down. The kit came with 5/8” PT plywood, and I want to upgrade that. I will likely use 7/16” OSB (still thinking about that). I am also going to build the loft that I have planned for storage. This will be along the 12’ wall and be about 4 foot deep. Lastly, since I did not have the company install the cheesy small windows that they offer, I will install three decent windows.

Since it is so cold, I will have to wait until the spring to do the painting. I also have some landscaping in mind for that time, but for now, I will not be doing anything to the outside of the building. It is kind of strange that a 12 X 20 detached does not look big on paper, but I was surprised to see how much of my back yard is taken up. The height is a little daunting as well. I am glad I went with the size that I did (I am sure that I will change that statement in the future). To date, this is the largest shop that I have ever had. I am really looking forward to getting back into woodworking (it has been almost a year since I have been able to do anything).

Here are a couple of pictures. (how do I insert pictures in the text???)
 

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I do have plans for this weekend though. I am going to put a layer of sub floor down. The kit came with 5/8” PT plywood, and I want to upgrade that. I will likely use 7/16” OSB (still thinking about that).
...
Here are a couple of pictures. (how do I insert pictures in the text???)

OSB? Hey, check with Marty and see if he'll sell you any of his leftover Hickory flooring seconds... :D

As for inserting photos... First you upload all the photos with the "manage attachments" button. You've got that part down. After that, you use the Paperclip dropdown menu at the top of your text box (right beside the white smiley face) to insert the attachments right in the middle of your note.

...art
 
01/29 Weekend report

I spent a lot of time in the new shop this weekend. It is not really a shop yet, but it is beginning to feel that way a little (and it helped that my wife was actually excited for me). Anyway, on Saturday I went to a window factory to check out there seconds. Unfortunately, they did not have any new construction windows there. They could have modified the replacements, but I did not want to wait until next weekend, so I went to HD to get a couple. I ended up getting two sliders (36 inch square windows with screens). I installed these as soon as I got home. I am still planning to put in another double hung window (just in case I ever want to install an air conditioner plus I will like the light).

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While at HD, I also picked up some 2X6 joists for the loft area and some OSB for beefing up the floor. The floor went down Saturday afternoon and the loft was on Sunday. The floor seems even more solid now, and I will like it once I paint it. I am still thinking of a hardwood floor, and may upgrade some time in the future, but we will see (I actually found some utility grade hardwood on ebay for $.69 per square foot (+ shipping?))

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Well, I am still waiting for my final building inspection (Wednesday). As soon as I get that, I will start the electrical. I am planning a 60A sub panel with a bunch of 20A 120V circuits (I have read many threads on this subject, and will use a lot of those lessons). I am still looking into how I will do the lighting, and am not sure how that will pan out. I am also going to put in a couple of 220V receptacles for when I upgrade my lathe and table saw (will probably account for the DC and band saw as well). I will start the internal wiring at night and rent a trencher for the weekend. Hopefully, I will be live and have my stuff moved in over the weekend. I am holding my breath that where I have my equipment is not too humid…
 

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When your shopping for a sub panel check into a 100 amp panel in stead of the 60 amp. Even if you only feed it with a 60 amp breaker it will give you more capaity for future circuits. Last time I checked it wasn't very much more money. I think the borg has them for less then $50.

If you have 2 220 Volt circuit (for a 1 man shop that should be enough) put in several 220 Volts plugs on each circuit so you won't need extension cords. If you have a DC or a cyclone or are planning on putting one in then a 3rd 220 V circuit for it.

110 volt circuits I'd go with 4 seperate circuits all at 20 amps with 4 gang plugs every 5 feet. and stager the circuits so that no two adjacent plugs are on the same circuits

In terms of lighting a good rule of thumb is at least 3 watts per sq.ft.. I believe your shop is 240 sq.ft. so that would mean 720 watts total. that would be 18 40 watt lamps. some folks like the 8 footers but I prefer the smaller 4 footers since the 8 foot tubes are very expensive while the 4 footers are cheep. If I were doing it I'd put in 10 4 footers on two seperate circuits, again stagger the light so that no two adjacent lights are on the same circuit. That would give you 800 watts. and paint the walls and celling white. I am planning my electrical for my new shop so I have been giving it a lot of thought.

JMHO

Oh and BTW nice shop.
 
Thanks Don,

I plan on using a 100 amp panel for my sub. It will geve me enough spaces for expansion. I was also thinking pretty much the same in the circuit count. I am not sure if I will use double boxes though. I may install one douplex high and one low about every five feet though. I am still thinking about that. The lighting is another story. I appreciate the count, can not remember seeing that formula. I am going to look for a source for fixtures that I can afford tonight.

I will be using OSB on the ceiling and walls. I will likely paint it white (most likely the same method as Marty). I seem to need a lot of light. I will have some task lighting (magnetic base lamps) at the lathe and at least the drill press. Still a lot to do.

thx...Jamie
 
Well I think it looks great! :thumb:

I agree with Don about the more power, or at least the ability to expand the power you have, is a good thing.

Thanks for all the pics, love to see them, keep up the good work, it is going to be great! :D

Cheers!
 
James, first - Bravo! :clap: Your shop is coming along very nicely. Well done.

Second, I'm with you - I like lots of light in the shop. Don's giving you some very good info. I can only add one thing - use daylight color lamps with a high CRI #. You will not be sorry - especially on those long winter nights when your shop lights up with brilliant white light like you own little corner of the tropics.:D Not to mention the better color rendering when you're doing finishing.
 
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