New Shop Status

[fjimp]

After months of planning, design and a couple of weeks working through the permit process, Ground was broken yesterday for my dream workshop. Today the excavator finished digging for the foundation. The power company discovered the buried power line came within a foot of the corner of the foundation. It was fun watching that fellow gingerly search for that line. The good news being he proudly found it without a nick in the cable. Hopefully within a week we will have finished the foundation process. The builder is hoping (weather willing) to begin framing with 10 days.

The finished shop will be 25 feet by 19.6 feet. It will have three wide doors and several highly placed windows with three rows of florescent lights. I had planned on a bit larger building. Unfortunately the setbacks and easements limited the size. The good news being twofold; First for the first time in my life I will have a heated and cooled shop on the main living level. That part is becoming more important as my ability to handle stairs is sometimes limited. Secondly the new shop is adjacent/attached to an over sized two car garage that is also heated. I have already built some storage into the garage. I am in hopes that my Christmas present will be completed and in use by early December. I will post pictures as the project moves along.

The only hitch in our plans so far was two days of 50 to 80 mile per hour winds early this week. Two sides of the yards privacy fence were demolished. The second day of the storm I attempted to reinforce a portion of the fence only to have the wind gust and lift the gate and an adjacent section of fence, including posts out of the ground knocking me down with the fence on top of me. Now that was a rude awakening. Oddly enough we had conracted with a local fence builder to repair the fence a couple of days prior to the storm. He re bid the job and today completed about 1/2 the new installation. Tomorrow he should complete the job. The part of all this that bugs me is the number this does on my building budget. fjimp

[mickyd]

Very jealous but also very happy for you Looking forward to seeing photo updates for sure.

[beeg]

Definitely JEALOUS of ya and your upcoming new almost 500 sq. ft shop.

[dusty]

I am very pleased for you, Jim. This sounds like it shall be a dream shop. I am looking forward to some pictures.

As for the power lines. I always thought the Power Company was supposed to "know" where those lines were.

[efmaron]

Congratulations on your new shop, hope you have many years of woodworking enjoyment in it.

[curiousgeorge]

Man! Just imagine a shop with heat and air. Are you installing the heated flooring system? I'm as happy for you as if it were my own and hope it all goes without a hitch. I bet you are feeling like a kid waiting for Christmas. I know I would be.

[8iowa]

Congratulations. This is an exciting time for you. When I built my "Workshop in the Woods" in '07, I made sure that I had plenty of electrical recepticals, including 240V, situated about 44" off the floor. The newer T8 electronic ballast lighting fixtures are much superior to the older magnetic ballasts, operating at high frequency, thus no flicker or hum.

What was it Henry Ford said? Something like; "you can have your shop any color so long as it's white". Well anyway, even if he didn't say that, I'm glad that I painted the walls and ceiling white.

Keep us posted on your progress.

[fjimp]

First I thank everyone for the kind comments. Secondly part of my design included spreading the light evenly and electric outlets everywhere one can imagine. In fact two of those 12 gauge pull down extension cords will be mounted from ceiling. Yes all nine florescent fixtures will be T8. I currently have those and find them far brighter. I realize some folks do not like wallboard in a shop. I prefer it as it can be easily painted white. Yeah I know Henry believed in black. Personally I require all the light I can get. Walls and ceiling will be insulated and all windows will be double hung. I attempted to layout the heat/air and electrical demands by taking to heart all I have read here and by my past experience. No the heated flooring ended being far too expensive. At the moment I am having trouble finding an affordable gas space heater. Everyone wants me to spend $1,500 or more and the ratings are greater than necessary for the shop size. Building codes here have changed several long time assumptions about the shop. Most folks including my architect and contractor think I should include two roll up garage doors. I opted for french style 5' wide openings for doors. I hate losing wall space to doors I would never use. Besides with swinging doors they can become wall space for hanging clamps or tools. I will have three doors one opening from the garage (increasing size of existing door way), another opening to a driveway and a third opening into the back yard. Admittedly that one is primarily for Kelsey my beloved shop dog. The doors are placed in three different areas (corners of the shop) with safety in mind. Am I like a Kid waiting for new toy, those I have talked about my dream shop allready know I have a years worth off goodies in storage bought a long time ago in anticipation of this space being completed. As to the power company knowing where their lines are, yeah right! I should likely leave this story out, but I won't. The fellow sent to locate power and such rang the door bell Saturday afternoon. I explained to him the gate was locked from inside yard and I would meet him at the gate to open it. When I arrived at the gate he had already pulled the handle off of the gate and was visibly angry. When I tried to soothe him by paying a compliment for how well he was using his tools, I thought he was going to throw them at me. Once he located the power line and explained it was only 12'" inches from the proposed foundation wall he walked over to the garage wall and hit it with his hand and walked about half way to where the new wall is to be built and scratched at the grass with his boot and exclaimed that would be a big enough addition and that I had no business building any thing closer to the power line. Our power company at one point was called "Public Service" I can't help but wonder if their name was changed for a reason. Naw that couldn't be. Thanks for the nice comments. I will get some pictures out in a couple of days. Fjimp (excited waiting for new shop kid):D

[JPG]

First I thank everyone for the kind comments. Secondly part of my design included spreading the light evenly and electric outlets everywhere one can imagine. In fact two of those 12 gauge pull down extension cords will be mounted from ceiling. Yes all nine florescent fixtures will be T8. I currently have those and find them far brighter. I realize some folks do not like wallboard in a shop. I prefer it as it can be easily painted white. Yeah I know Henry believed in black. Personally I require all the light I can get. Walls and ceiling will be insulated and all windows will be double hung. I attempted to layout the heat/air and electrical demands by taking to heart all I have read here and by my past experience. No the heated flooring ended being far too expensive. At the moment I am having trouble finding an affordable gas space heater. Everyone wants me to spend $1,500 or more and the ratings are greater than necessary for the shop size. Building codes here have changed several long time assumptions about the shop. Most folks including my architect and contractor think I should include two roll up garage doors. I opted for french style 5' wide openings for doors. I hate losing wall space to doors I would never use. Besides with swinging doors they can become wall space for hanging clamps or tools. I will have three doors one opening from the garage (increasing size of existing door way), another opening to a driveway and a third opening into the back yard. Admittedly that one is primarily for Kelsey my beloved shop dog. The doors are placed in three different areas (corners of the shop) with safety in mind. Am I like a Kid waiting for new toy, those I have talked about my dream shop allready know I have a years worth off goodies in storage bought a long time ago in anticipation of this space being completed. As to the power company knowing where their lines are, yeah right! I should likely leave this story out, but I won't. The fellow sent to locate power and such rang the door bell Saturday afternoon. I explained to him the gate was locked from inside yard and I would meet him at the gate to open it. When I arrived at the gate he had already pulled the handle off of the gate and was visibly angry. When I tried to soothe him by paying a compliment for how well he was using his tools, I thought he was going to throw them at me. Once he located the power line and explained it was only 12'" inches from the proposed foundation wall he walked over to the garage wall and hit it with his hand and walked about half way to where the new wall is to be built and scratched at the grass with his boot and exclaimed that would be a big enough addition and that I had no business building any thing closer to the power line. Our power company at one point was called "Public Service" I can't help but wonder if their name was changed for a reason. Naw that couldn't be. Thanks for the nice comments. I will get some pictures out in a couple of days. Fjimp (excited waiting for new shop kid):D

Nice Guy! Obviously does not observe nor respond to anything external to his skull! He is to be pitied for having to endure the rest of the world!

But then we know NOTHING about his environment immediately prior to your 'encounter'. Hopefully his outlook was temporary!

[8iowa]

The 5' double doors are a good idea. When I built my shop, which was actually a "garage" packsge, I decided against the typical garage door. After all, I was building a shop - not a garage, and I'll be hanged if I'm going to build for the convenience of the next owner.

I had to compromise between wall space and windows. I opted for as much natural light as possible. I don't have room for those nice wall cabinets that display your "goodies" so nicely. However i'm finding that shelving holds more and is more flexible in use.

After using the shop for a year I installed a Reznor 35000 BTU propane heater. It has the separated combustion feature - no exposed flame.