Ned Bulken
Member
- Messages
- 5,529
- Location
- Lakeport NY and/or the nearest hotel
*Note, this was 'Thoughts on my Next Shop'...
Just got back from visiting my parents, and naturally we stayed in the house which we'll be moving into later this year (if all goes well). While we were there, one of the Honeydo list items was to help my Aunt and my mother clean out some of the crud which was in the basement. I saw this as a golden opportunity to scope out the space as a potential shop.
I grew up in a larger house in Utica, which had excellent basement access... this house, not so much:
There is a side entrance, with a cellar stair:
once down there, the view is pretty standard... concrete floor with just about 7' ceiling.
There are hookups for a washer and dryer ,plus the furnace and water heater over in the corner.
There is a crawl space under the back porch area of the house:
It has your typical basement musty smell to it, but overall isn't in bad shape. There has been some water down there at times, but is currently dry.
Just on access alone, I believe I'm going to make this my second or third choice for the full shop. I can see myself with a couple of smaller tools and a workbench down there though.. just a scroll saw and benchtop DP and possibly the midi lathe with a grinder. Other than that, access, noise control and lack of power make it less than ideal.
Option 2 is to retrofit the carport with 3 more walls and turn that into a shop. Here is the best view of the front of the carport I have... the house is about 6' from the carport on the right of this image:
It currently is set up with a porch or patio area on the left side of the structure (viewed from the front), about 6' wide, full depth of the building.
this is the 3/4 shot from the most 'open' view, showing the side with the porch/patio area. There is a 1/2 wall running the length of the building separating the car area from the patio, but i'm sure that will be easy enough to remove.
and lastly a bit wider view of the back of the carport as it stands now.
Next to the carport on its own slab is a small yard shed:
not much to write home about, over in rob's 'shop thoughts' thread, I mentioned possibly setting up my TS, Planer, and Jointer there, with a DC.... and that's a possibility only until I get the carport enclosed OR I go with option three:
Building a purpose built shop.
Funding alone makes this option the least likely, though I do have ample yard space to take over if I do find the money somewhere.
Which brings me back to the carport. My Aunt asked where I was going to put my tools, and I mentioned the basement and the carport, her reply was 'well the carport does have a metal roof, and I'm sure you could ue that as a starting point.
Hmmmmm. With the basement as 'tight' access wise, and funding being what i know it will be: not much, the carport conversion is looking promising.
I neglected to put a tape measure on it for exact dimensions, but it is roughly 20x 20 overall, built on a solid concrete pad. It has stood the test of time so far, and there is basic power and a metal roof on the building as it stands now. I bet it wouldn't be too difficult to put a wall with a set of doors on either end of the 'car' section, (I'm thinking open air woodworking when the weather is decent), and enclosing the patio portion as well. I would leave the basic structure as it stands, other than reinforcing it as nescessary. I would have to put a sub panel out there, but that's ok, the entire house needs some hefty electrical updating, (there are barely any grounded outlets in the entire house) I'll have an electrician out there at some point no matter what I do.
This is all a few months down the road, and Yes Don I still have several months of work on this house yet to do, so my current shop, is getting an update his weekend as well... forecast is for some decent temperatures this weekend, so I'm going to be refitting the doors and fixing the stairs into the shop, as well as finishing up my solar heat for the shop, that's another thread though.
Just got back from visiting my parents, and naturally we stayed in the house which we'll be moving into later this year (if all goes well). While we were there, one of the Honeydo list items was to help my Aunt and my mother clean out some of the crud which was in the basement. I saw this as a golden opportunity to scope out the space as a potential shop.
I grew up in a larger house in Utica, which had excellent basement access... this house, not so much:
There is a side entrance, with a cellar stair:
once down there, the view is pretty standard... concrete floor with just about 7' ceiling.
There are hookups for a washer and dryer ,plus the furnace and water heater over in the corner.
There is a crawl space under the back porch area of the house:
It has your typical basement musty smell to it, but overall isn't in bad shape. There has been some water down there at times, but is currently dry.
Just on access alone, I believe I'm going to make this my second or third choice for the full shop. I can see myself with a couple of smaller tools and a workbench down there though.. just a scroll saw and benchtop DP and possibly the midi lathe with a grinder. Other than that, access, noise control and lack of power make it less than ideal.
Option 2 is to retrofit the carport with 3 more walls and turn that into a shop. Here is the best view of the front of the carport I have... the house is about 6' from the carport on the right of this image:
It currently is set up with a porch or patio area on the left side of the structure (viewed from the front), about 6' wide, full depth of the building.
this is the 3/4 shot from the most 'open' view, showing the side with the porch/patio area. There is a 1/2 wall running the length of the building separating the car area from the patio, but i'm sure that will be easy enough to remove.
and lastly a bit wider view of the back of the carport as it stands now.
Next to the carport on its own slab is a small yard shed:
not much to write home about, over in rob's 'shop thoughts' thread, I mentioned possibly setting up my TS, Planer, and Jointer there, with a DC.... and that's a possibility only until I get the carport enclosed OR I go with option three:
Building a purpose built shop.
Funding alone makes this option the least likely, though I do have ample yard space to take over if I do find the money somewhere.
Which brings me back to the carport. My Aunt asked where I was going to put my tools, and I mentioned the basement and the carport, her reply was 'well the carport does have a metal roof, and I'm sure you could ue that as a starting point.
Hmmmmm. With the basement as 'tight' access wise, and funding being what i know it will be: not much, the carport conversion is looking promising.
I neglected to put a tape measure on it for exact dimensions, but it is roughly 20x 20 overall, built on a solid concrete pad. It has stood the test of time so far, and there is basic power and a metal roof on the building as it stands now. I bet it wouldn't be too difficult to put a wall with a set of doors on either end of the 'car' section, (I'm thinking open air woodworking when the weather is decent), and enclosing the patio portion as well. I would leave the basic structure as it stands, other than reinforcing it as nescessary. I would have to put a sub panel out there, but that's ok, the entire house needs some hefty electrical updating, (there are barely any grounded outlets in the entire house) I'll have an electrician out there at some point no matter what I do.
This is all a few months down the road, and Yes Don I still have several months of work on this house yet to do, so my current shop, is getting an update his weekend as well... forecast is for some decent temperatures this weekend, so I'm going to be refitting the doors and fixing the stairs into the shop, as well as finishing up my solar heat for the shop, that's another thread though.
Last edited: