Shop building questions

heathicus · Post by **heathicus** » Mon Dec 05, 2011 3:21 pm

Well, I think cooling in the summer will be more challenging than heating in the winter. I can work in the cold. Put on a jacket (observing safety with power tools), plug in a space heater, etc. (Or maybe one of those Amish heaters!

) But the humid heat? Where sweat pours off you if you just step outside, and setting up a fan is just blowing more hot air on you, and it just makes you feel drained and not want to do anything...

swampgator · Post by **swampgator** » Mon Dec 05, 2011 10:52 pm

heathicus wrote:Well, I think cooling in the summer will be more challenging than heating in the winter. I can work in the cold. Put on a jacket (observing safety with power tools), plug in a space heater, etc. (Or maybe one of those Amish heaters! ) But the humid heat? Where sweat pours off you if you just step outside, and setting up a fan is just blowing more hot air on you, and it just makes you feel drained and not want to do anything...

Same here in Pensacola. Really been enjoying this weather and getting so much done as long as it doesn't rain. Garage too full of stuff to work inside. The apron is a very nice place under the oak tree on a summer day except for the humidity.

heathicus · Post by **heathicus** » Sun Dec 11, 2011 9:48 pm

It rained all last weekend so I started the build this weekend.

Got the skids down, blocked, and leveled.

Since this is all rough cut lumber, every floor joist had to go through the table saw twice to get two (mostly) straight sides and get them all to a consistent width. I borrowed the little table saw from my father-in-law. The old picnic table made a good outfeed table.

Then the ends had to be squared up and the boards cut to length. My helper had to stop and take a nap in the sunshine while I did this.

All ready to start laying out the floor joists.

heathicus · Post by **heathicus** » Sun Dec 11, 2011 10:13 pm

I put down the first and last joist, measured front to back and diagonally to get them squared. Then I ran a string line from front to back on each side to guide the lateral placement of each joist. I cut a length of 2x4 to guide the spacing between each joist placing them 16" apart on centers.

I put on the side pieces, then had just enough daylight left to clean up.

Happy with the progress, but wish I could have made it a little further. I plan on putting 2x4s every 16" between the floor joists making a torsion box. I had hoped to get that done today too, but just didn't make it. It will be well over a week before I can do any more work.

beeg · Post by **beeg** » Sun Dec 11, 2011 11:46 pm

Looking goood so far. But I'd like to see ya ADD 2 more skids, one on each side.

MikeG · Post by **MikeG** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 7:51 am

Ed in Tampa wrote:Question has anyone put CFL bulbs in a garage door opener?

I do and there have not been any problems for over a year. I use the opener lights for general lighting when I need light in the middle of the garage as the workbench lights are along the back wall.

mbcabinetmaker · Post by **mbcabinetmaker** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 8:01 am

Looking good there Heath. Don't beat your self up on running out of daylight. That is beyond our control.

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 8:10 am

Ed in Tampa wrote:Never thought of that, at first I was going to say your method would cost more since a socket with plug is about $8 but I guess by the time you buy the shop light and tubes it would be less. What is the going price for a 150W equalvent CFL?

Question has anyone put CFL bulbs in a garage door opener?

I have but they have only been there for a short period of time. I also have one in a bench lamp. These are experiments and do not necessarily mean I have converted.

heathicus · Post by **heathicus** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 9:21 am

beeg wrote:Looking goood so far. But I'd like to see ya ADD 2 more skids, one on each side.

Before it is all said and done, I'll add some more blocks along the sides.

mbcabinetmaker wrote:Looking good there Heath. Don't beat your self up on running out of daylight. That is beyond our control.

Yep. And, having done just about everything myself, and having spent a lot of time digging boards from the bottom of the stack, and then having to dimension all of them down to consistent width and length, I guess I made good progress.

robinson46176 · Post by **robinson46176** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 10:27 am

heathicus wrote:Well, I think cooling in the summer will be more challenging than heating in the winter. I can work in the cold. Put on a jacket (observing safety with power tools), plug in a space heater, etc. (Or maybe one of those Amish heaters! ) But the humid heat? Where sweat pours off you if you just step outside, and setting up a fan is just blowing more hot air on you, and it just makes you feel drained and not want to do anything...

Heating and cooling were the main reasons I "finally" made the decision to use the basement space as my woodshop. Here in Central Indiana we have some of the worst of both hot and cold. During the summer it is not uncommon for it to be hotter here than in the southern states with terrible humuggity (my own word) and in parts of the winter we sometimes show lower temps on the map than Alaska. Summer highs usually top out at 100 and winter lows are rarely under -20 but that is still a pretty wide swing.
Then also we get some pretty deep snows at times and in the dead of winter snow and ice can stay for a month some years.
I was just lucky (or cursed

) to have options. With the woodshop in the basement I have several advantages in this climate. If I were living in another part of the country I might have chosen differently.
As said the heat and high humidity can be a bigger handicap to shop work than being chilly. All of the regularly used parts of our house is air conditioned including the basement. It will not cost any more to keep it cool and dry than it does now.
The same applies to the heat, no extra cost for the heat.
Beyond that I can get up out of my Lazyboy or from the dinner table and walk downstairs any time day or night and start doing stuff. No dressing up like an Eskimo just to get there or to keep warm for an hour while the shop warms up enough to shed some layers of clothing.
If it is 5 degrees out and the 400' walk to the existing shop is under an inch of ice or a foot of snow it is really hard to get inspired.

As I get older (which keeps happening) concerns about falls doesn't really keep me in the house but in a few years it might. This is planned as my last shop and I feel a need to consider such matters more in it. We already have a place picked out for an elevator to be installed but do not plan on putting it in unless required. We are the kind of people that if we go to Wally World we don't drive around the lot 6 times trying to get 2 spaces closer to the door. Unless it is pouring rain we usually park farther out and walk... My wife has a handicap hang tag for the mirror but it is almost never used.
The horses keep us going out but horse work is a lot different than doing detail work and in bad weather can be handled in a few minutes.
If we were 20 years younger we probably would not give these factors as much weight but I am a realist.

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