6-11-06
New developments.

After a year of working in the shop I have decided to build an addition.  I will be adding 12-feet to the length of the building which will give me 12'x30' overall.  I will do the framing myself but have hired someone else to do the cement work.  The contractor set the forms yesterday and will pour cement next week.

Here you can see the siding removed from the back side and the forms for the new floor.

In this shot you can see how much larger the building will be.

I decided to add a sidewalk to help keep the grass and leaves out of the house.

6-18-06
The cement was poured yesterday and here we have the finished product.

The walk slopes sightly to the outside of the curve for drainage.

Another angle.

The slab with the tie down studs in place.

I ordered the shingles and siding last week so they should be in  sometime this week.  Everything else I need is already in stock at the lumber yard.  Time to start building.

6-24-06
I picked up the materials for the shop yesterday then started construction this morning.  I have the end wall pretty much disconnected from the rest of the building.  All that will need to be done is to cut a few nails when I am ready to pull the wall out.  The East and West walls are framed up and ready to go.  Weather permitting, Monday morning will be go time.

Here you can see two of the walls framed up.

6-26-06
Major construction started today with the help of my father.  We didn't get the roof sheeted but still made respectable progress for a couple of self taught carpenters.

At the end of day one.

6-28-06
I forgot to take a picture yesterday.  Below is the result at the end of day three.

With the siding in place, the shop looks really long compared to its width.

7-8-06

I finally have the outside of the building completed.  I do have some minor chores to finish up like touching up the trim paint, caulking around the top of the siding where it meets the sofit, and getting some stainless screws to hold the gable vent in place.

Looks a bit lopsided with no window on the back half.

The tiny air conditioner hole in this shot makes me realize that I need a larger AC unit.

The gable vent doesn't quite match the pitch of the roof but some creative carpentry has it looking okay.  When the grass grows back and I wash the dirt off of the siding it should look like it has always been here.

I snapped this picture while my dad and I were taking a break.  This little guy landed on the sawhorse about three feet in front of where we were sitting and just hung out there inspecting our work.

7-8-06

Now that the exterior is complete, it's time to get the inside ready.  I need to install a 100-amp breaker box and run new wiring throughout.  I plan to put outlets about every three to four feet along all of the walls at a four foot height.  This should make them accessible over the top of benches and stationary tools and I should never need an extension cord.  The dust collector, air conditioner, and table saw will all have 220 volt outlets running to their locations.  I may put an additional 220 volt circuit near the service panel in case I should need it for a welder.

9-24-06

It has been a hot summer and I haven't felt like spending my days off working in the 100 degree weather so the last half of July was pretty uneventful.  August was still hot and I was spending a lot of hours at work trying to get ready for the start of school.  It has finally cooled off in September and things have begun to slow down at work.  I can spend evenings and weekends back in the shop.

100-amp breaker box mounted.

The shop partially cleaned out.  Here you can see the exposed joists and studs in the new addition.

A row of outlets down the west wall.

West wall wired and insulated.

The first part of September was spent emptying out the shop and consequently, filling up the garage.  Dad came up two weekends to help with insulation. wiring, and hanging pegboard and osb.  After the first weekend, I realized that I still had too much stuff in the shop.  Trying to work around it really slowed our progress. 

Progress at the end of weekend one includes; West wall finished, insulation and wiring in the ceiling, and the first row of osb on the ceiling.

During the week, I finished filling the garage to the point that it resembles something from a cartoon, where you open the overhead door and find yourself buried under all the stuff that falls out.

With newfound room to work, weekend two went pretty well. We finished pulling wire, hung all the ceiling panels, and finished covering the walls.  I ran short on pegboard so one corner is still unfinished.

During the week I spent a couple of nights wiring outlets and switches.  I finished the last of them yesterday.  I now have 30 120-volt outlets in all.  Eight of those are on the ceiling for use with florescent shop lights.  The rest are spaced every four-feet around the walls.  I doubled them up over the bench and on the North wall.  I also have the two 220-volt outlets on the East wall for the dust collector and the tablesaw.

10-14-06

The interior walls are back together.  Now it's time to figure out where the major equipment will be placed. I have to consider how I will run my dust collection efficiently and maximize floor space at the same time.

I am in the process of moving tools and equipment from the garage back into the shop. 

The workbench and a few tools back on the wall.

Since my trim saw  is heavy and takes up a large amount of space.  No matter where I store it, it is almost always in the way.  When I want to use it, I  have to drag it out and set it up somewhere.  I decided to try mounting it on a shelf on the East wall to get it out of the way and always set up for use.  I think this will work well since it puts the saw at a good working height and allows another machine to be stored below it.  The shelf brackets are about eight or nine inches above the tablesaw so it shouldn't interfere with any operations there.

Trim saw mounted above the jointer.

I used a scrap of OSB for the shelf but will build something more permanent later.  The finished shelf will be 32-inches wide and about 24-inches deep.  The jointer is on a mobile base so it can be rolled out from the wall when in use.

A wider shot of the East wall.

I plan to put the dust collector in the far corner and plumb it down the East wall with 4" duct.  I will have a separate blast gate for the bandsaw, jointer, planer, and tablesaw.  Since the sander and the trim saw both use two-inch dust ports, I will put them on the same blast gate.  I hope to put in a couple of floor sweep gates somewhere in the system .

A wider shot of the shop.

There are four 4-foot shop lights in place right now.  It looks like I will need four to six more for adequate lighting.  I have an adjustable arm desk light that I will mount near the workbench as a task light.