Shop with detached house

[Thom Sturgill]

We closed monday on a short sale that the LOML described as a shop, with detached house. the shop is a 10x20 shed that had a 20x30 pole barn built sharing a wall. the pole barn has 12' walls. Here are some pictures starting with the doors after a friend played with a new pressure washer
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Inside the pole barn, my electrician friend had started pulling wires for some receptacles in the main room
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On the left will be two doors added and cabinets with possibly a sink. Along the back will be some deep shelves to hold many storage boxes.
Along the right will be the small lathe and a workbench, router table, and jointer
The door to the right looking out will be fixed shut and the Bandsaw and drill press will live there. In the center facing the door will be the tablesaw and behind that in the very center will be the main lathe and a work table. The cable and hook hanging down go to a winch mounted on a cross beam which will aid in mounting big blanks on the lathe.

[Thom Sturgill]

In the original shed my wife will do wood carving, lapidary and I will have a small spray booth
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A lot of work to do here, there is a sub-panel on the opposite side of the sheetmetal wall seen to the left of the first picture. The 'work-benches' (except the one to the left) will be torn out and rebuilt so that she can work from her rocker rather than a stool, cabinets will cover the bare wall in the last picture.
We have already started insulating the walls in the main room and will cover them with OSB. A friend bought a 5 gal can of light yellow paint that had been returned to her store. She used about 1 1 /2 gal and gave me the rest so I will have a yellow shop when done.

[Jim Andrew]

Too bad you have to share. Looks like a nice work space. Do you hunt for treasure in your spare time?

[Jim Neeley]

Nice setup, Jim... My wife and I have been talking about getting a new home in a year or so and she describes what interests me as a "shop, with attached house" rather than house with attached shop! <g>

[David Roberts,Fitchburg,Ma]

Looks like the makings for a nice shop. I also have a 12' ceiling, it is handy for swinging boards around. You mentioned insulation, are you going to install A/C?
I added a vent below my peak this past year, built a 20"x20" opening, added a nice computer room fan, and put it on a thermostat, set at 75. I didn't expect just that one vent/fan would make such a difference, but thermometers proved the upstairs and downstairs temps were equal this summer. It is an easy add while things are open and exposed, just one wire and an hour of labor. Now that the temp is below 30 every night, it is closed off with a piece of 3" polyiso insulation.
Good luck with setting up your shop, stay flexible, I have moved my tools several times in the 6 years since I built my shop.

[Thom Sturgill]

David, I would be making better use of the 12' ceilings if I still planned on doing flatwork, but I do almost entirely turning now. I live in Florida, and heat bouncing on a metal roof could make a building unbearable half the year. I will probably install A/C, but for now I have B-I-G (2 @ 6x12) doors and a large fan.

[David Roberts,Fitchburg,Ma]

David, I would be making better use of the 12' ceilings if I still planned on doing flatwork, but I do almost entirely turning now. I live in Florida, and heat bouncing on a metal roof could make a building unbearable half the year. I will probably install A/C, but for now I have B-I-G (2 @ 6x12) doors and a large fan.


If you don't need the space above, when you run out of storage room, and you know you will, then you might consider building a loft. In my mill building rented shop, I had 16' ceilings, so at the back I built an 8' high loft for wood storage. I hadn't planned to build it, but was driving in an area of older buildings, and noticed that a pile of 2x6 x 16' boards were still not used after several months of being tossed when they tore down a building. I felt guilty, but absconded with a half dozen, and built a loft. I noticed the pile was still there a year later, so don't feel guilty repeating the story. So I would suggest keeping an eye on the material section of CraigsList, who knows what will come along to use, maybe wood or metal. If the right item at the right price comes along, grab it, you have the storage room, and you can always build it later when needed.
Have you thought about what type of insulation you'll use? The last few years have found a lot of used PolyIso from flat commercial roofs available. When I renovated my bathroom, I was upset to discover a 20 year old addition was 2x4 construction, but I grabbed some 3" polyIso sheets and cut them up to give me R22, better than the R14 in place.

[Van Huskey]

Looks like a lot of fun...and work!

[Thom Sturgill]

It's darn sure a lot of work! But fun and more will be had once tools are in place. I have a 4' loft across the back and am building storage under it to better support the beam. I expect to do lofts along each side as well, but that's on the schedule as <future>. Working on house network and moving bedrooms today, but will try to post pictures tomorrow after we finish sheathing the walls.