Shopsmith Forums

My lady friend might be moving in. That's my workshop she wants to turn into a twee ever so pretty bedroom. Some people are all self.

During negotiations I did manage to snag the small bedroom for a workshop but it's way too small for the SS and all my other hobbies.

What might be workable is the cellar. It's large enough but is of crawlspace quality. Good head height but no floor as the builders threw all their rubble and rubbish down there. There is a trap door for access and I've fitted a ladder as it's useful for storing junk. There is now a lot of junk plus the builders rubble and rubbish.

Humidity is high at 80%RH but there's no mould, must have enough airbricks. There has been untreated pine timber down there for over 6 years and it shows no signs of any problems. Metal stuff takes best part of a decade to rust a little and/or get stiff or seize up. Easy enough to run power to.

So I'm hoping I might get away with it, The SS would have 10 foot by 6 all to itself with plenty of room for other kit and timber storage. I'm hoping even more that I'm up to it, I'm guessing full time job for half a year, then lay a floor.

I could do with getting into shape.


So, reckon I'm in with a chance of a usable workshop?

Probably doable.
Keep everything waxed/rust protected and do not keep covered. Humidity is most likely from the ground and covers will just trap the humidity in hastening the rust.

Any chance the builder's debris can be removed and/or turned into a suitable floor?

Removing the rubble is part of the plan. The smaller room is ~ 20 x 6 and not too bad, could be emptied with a couple of weeks of work.

The other room is ~20 x 20. Not all usable as there is a 6" soil pipe running through it at chest height. Access is from the small room via a 'window'.

Reason the small room is not so bad is that a couple of years ago, I emptied the small room into the other room.

My eldest put a Dyson vacuum cleaner down there 2 years ago. I'll drag it up and see if it runs.

Well the Dyson runs but needs a clean. I'll keep it up here and let the Henry be a dedicated shop vac.

I might as well go for this, seems daft using an exercise bike daily when there is (literally) tons of work in that cellar I could be doing. Will give me a man cave to play in.

When I had the woodshop in the farm shop (36' X 50') I had much of it on a dirt floor to start with. Then I carefully leveled an area of the dirt floor which did have enough pea sized crushed stone on it to keep it from ever getting sticky. That area was 12' X 30'. Then I put down "soil contact" treated 2" X 4" (16" on center) sleepers on edge, covered it all with a good poly vapor barrier and then put down a floor of 3/4" tongue & groove plywood and gave it a heavy coat of "porch & floor" enamel. It has been down many years now and I do love that floor. It is far easier to stand on for long hours than concrete floors and is never cold feeling in the winter. Note that the vapor barrier is extremely important...

It is not often that I see pictures that make me feel tidy and organized.


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I have a friend who has taken a crawl space under his cabin and dug it out with a hammer. I s#*^ you not. The entire crawl space is now 7 foot deep, hand poured footings, block walled and insulated, all covered with knotty pine. It is mostly a man-shop and storage. He created work space but also value. And this wasn't farm dirt, this was mountain ground full of granite. He worked with chisels, hammer drills, wheel barrels and handcarts on those rocks. I helped him remove a rock last fall that was 400 plus pounds. Bottom line is its your time and thats free if you're striving for something you can enjoy when you're done. You could make the coolest man shop ever, now buy a nice claw hanmmer and a short shovel to get started.
Oh did I mention he started the project after he retired. he's freakin amazing.

After looking at the photos, are you sure that you want to clean it up? You'll deprive some future archeologist of a treasure trove!
On second thought... Cheap labor from a local archeology group as a training site!
Please note, this is not criticism, but commiseration. My garage has a footpath from the kitchen door near the front to the laundry area at the rear.

Bonus, looks like a fair amount of brick in that rubble pile and quite a bit of aggregate material that can be used as base material for flooring. Stack those bricks off to the side and hopefully you have enough for flooring. If not, you may be able to salvage them off. Too bad on the soil pipe running through the middle of the larger room, that would have been nice to have the larger space. This is very doable if you have the time, energy and desire. Good luck and keep us posted, this group is just as passionate about work spaces as we are about the tools that go in them.

Thanks for the encouragement.

For the floor, I'll probably go for paving flags over gravel, reasonable cost and quick to do. Anything fancier and I'll probably spend more time creating the man cave than I get to spend enjoying it.

As well as trips to the tip, I think the wheelie bins in front of the house can play their part.

jm51 wrote:Removing the rubble is part of the plan. The smaller room is ~ 20 x 6 and not too bad, could be emptied with a couple of weeks of work.

The other room is ~20 x 20. Not all usable as there is a 6" soil pipe running through it at chest height. Access is from the small room via a 'window'.

Reason the small room is not so bad is that a couple of years ago, I emptied the small room into the other room.

My eldest put a Dyson vacuum cleaner down there 2 years ago. I'll drag it up and see if it runs.

Is the soil pipe cast iron? Any chance of moving it up against the floor joists?