[mgalusha]

For as long as I can remember, I've wanted a dedicated wood and metal shop space. Last year I received a notice from the guvment that I could opt to take my pension from the many years I spent working as a guvment contractor, it was a one time offer or I could wait until retirement and take the money. That took about 10 seconds of thought given my faith that the politicians would still have my money in 15 or so years. Since the amount was not enough to actually retire on, my wife readily agreed that I could invest it in the house and have a detached building constructed.

The main construction was finished about a week ago and the final inspection is supposed to happen today. Of course it needs paint, electrical and interior work but it's getting close.

A photo timeline.

4/10/2013 - The first of 12 loads of fill dirt arrives.




4/11/2013 - All the dirt has arrived and they have the forms ready for the concrete pour. Yes, this is Colorado, the snow from the previous day is all gone.




4/12/2013 - We have a slab!



5/15/2013 - A month goes by, the concrete is nicely cured, the inspector has had a look and presto, we have most of a building.




5/16/2013 - We have a building, at least mostly.





5/17/2013 - We have a roof! They installed the gutters the next day on 5/18 and the roll up door on 5/20.



The building is 24' x 36' and the main ceiling is about 10'. I have some epoxy coating ordered for the floor and plan on putting in a couple of partition walls. This will keep dust away from the metal working gear and put the noisy stuff like the compressor and dust collector in their own space.

mike

[Peter J]

Looking good! You'll love it, I'm sure. Funny thing about shops though, they shrink once you get 'em built...

Interesting  to see how things are built in different parts of the country. No thickened edge slabs on residential buildings here and more than likely you'd see trusses instead of a hand stacked roof. The slab would be one piece with saw cuts for control joints. Looks well constructed.

Where do you call home?

[mcgsxr]

Love it.  Love even more that it is on top of the 3 car garage you already have!  I could park all 3 of my cars inside, and have that huge workspace!

Looking forward to seeing the goodies that go inside that workspace.

[mgalusha]

Looking good! You'll love it, I'm sure. Funny thing about shops though, they shrink once you get 'em built...

Interesting  to see how things are built in different parts of the country. No thickened edge slabs on residential buildings here and more than likely you'd see trusses instead of a hand stacked roof. The slab would be one piece with saw cuts for control joints. Looks well constructed.

Where do you call home?

I'm south east of Denver, CO. No question the local codes come into play. I was surprised by the built in place roof, the existing house and garage uses prefab trusses from 2x4. The upside of the way they built it is they are 2x10, so should be plenty strong, at least I hope so. It was going to be a standard 20 x 30 three car garage size but I really wanted to separate the lathe and mill from the dust and it was about 15% more money to add 4ft to the width and 6ft to the length which increased the floor space by about 30% and I think that will help keep it from shrinking for a little while. I have a electronics space in the basement, so at least that won't migrate into the new space.

[Bob in St. Louis]

Awww Mike....that's what dreams are made of right there.
Yea, you've seen my shop, so you can imagine how envious I am of your space.
Thank you very much for the pictures, and please keep 'em coming.

My shop has a 25 year old receiver feeding open baffle speakers.
What's your system going to be? 

Neat stuff! 

Bob

[rif]

 very nice.  tell us about the electrical systems and what kind if heating did you opt for?

[mgalusha]

My shop has a 25 year old receiver feeding open baffle speakers.
What's your system going to be? 

Not sure yet. In the existing garage I have a Grace Digital streamer feeding an ancient set of Pioneer bookshelves, it's better than expected and I can access my music collection over wifi in addition to the zillion internet radio stations. I may need more power for the larger space but time will tell.

very nice.  tell us about the electrical systems and what kind if heating did you opt for?

The plan is to put a 100A sub panel in. I want at least 4 240V circuits and lots of 120V 4-plex outlets along the walls. The dust collector, table saw, band saw and compressor all need 240V. If funds ever allow I'd like a bigger lathe and mill, so those too would need 240V, so having a panel with enough capacity is mandatory.

I'm hoping to use a pellet stove for heat for a couple of reasons. One is we have one in the house and typically buy two tons of pellets every year, so that makes for an easy install and fuel delivery. Two is related to one in regards to fuel. We're rural and have propane, the cost of running propane to the new building would likely be pretty steep and electric heat would also likely be quite costly. I can get a used pellet stove for around $1K and on high that will heat the space up easily.

mike

[Rclark]

Wow Mike that's just beautiful. Looking forward to whatever emerges from those doors.

[Bob in St. Louis]

Sounds good Mike.  I had to put the bug in your ear and razz you a bit about a sound system. 

Bob

[mgalusha]

Sounds good Mike.  I had to put the bug in your ear and razz you a bit about a sound system. 

Like a nut like me won't be thinking about it... I have a pair of EV SP12C drivers I bought new in about 1980 or so, they are around 98dB/M/W and are begging for shop use.

I could build some angled baffles from the ceiling down and use the enclosed space of the ceiling as an infinite baffle. 

[Bob in St. Louis]

Now you're talkin'.... An I.B. rig in a workshop.... That would be cool. 

[Don_S]

Great workshop Mike.

In my part of CA at least the attached garages have poured, raised foundations around the perimeter. Raised part is 3.5" on my garage.

Mike, are the ceiling joists 32" on center?  On spans as wide as your shop we always built "hog's troughs". That would be a 2x6 nailed flat across the center of the joists and then another 2x6 placed on edge and nailed to the flat one ("L" shape in cross section). That tied all of the joists together and prevented sag. Might not matter if you are not finishing off the ceiling.  I see a board in the pictures but I can't tell if it is nailed to the joists or rafters.

Looking good! You'll love it, I'm sure. Funny thing about shops though, they shrink once you get 'em built...

Interesting  to see how things are built in different parts of the country. No thickened edge slabs on residential buildings here and more than likely you'd see trusses instead of a hand stacked roof. The slab would be one piece with saw cuts for control joints. Looks well constructed.

Where do you call home?

[Scott F.]

Like a nut like me won't be thinking about it... I have a pair of EV SP12C drivers I bought new in about 1980 or so, they are around 98dB/M/W and are begging for shop use.

I could build some angled baffles from the ceiling down and use the enclosed space of the ceiling as an infinite baffle. 

Nice shop Mike 


Hey, I've got some Altec 511 horns you could mate to the EVs. Add an old Pioneer SX receiver and they'll be able to hear you at Wayne's house

[mgalusha]

The structural inspection was signed off on Friday, so with any luck the electrical will happen this week, at least that is what the electrical dudes are predicting, we shall see. Dragged the trailer out today and picked up a pile of 2x4's to build the partition walls to create a room for the compressor and dust collector and one for the metal working tools. Grabbed some doors as well, hoping my plan to use two pocket doors into the machine room will work, I want a large opening that can be closed easily, I think this will work OK and if not, orange depot will take them back.
 
UPS shows the epoxy paint kit for the floor being delivered tomorrow, so I need to get that applied around the schedule of the electricians but it only takes a day to cure, so that shouldn't be too bad.

[TomS]

So now how do you pick the first project to come forth from your sweet new hovel 

[mgalusha]

So now how do you pick the first project to come forth from your sweet new hovel 

Not sure just yet but something will no doubt present itself.

[PeteG]

A dream audio room now a dream work shop, awesome Mike 

[Bob in St. Louis]

Not sure just yet but something will no doubt present itself.

That's what I was thinking too.
"Fate" always finds something that needs fixed, built, repaired, moddified. etc...etc... 

[SteveFord]

Do you have some sort of a vent for the roof? 
I can't tell from the pictures but you'll end up with shingle problems if you don't have a way to let the heat out up there. 

[mgalusha]

Do you have some sort of a vent for the roof? 
I can't tell from the pictures but you'll end up with shingle problems if you don't have a way to let the heat out up there.

Not yet but it will. Local code doesn't require them on detached garages but I plan on adding a couple.