Glenn Kotnik
02-27-2013, 1:13 PM
The building contractor finished his part of the job at the end of November and I took over the beautiful shell of my workshop. Since it was winter, heat was the first concern and I had a propane tank installed outside and put a Mr. Heater 75,000 BTU unit on the ceiling. After the power company energized my meter and load center, the outlet to Mr. Heater was the first to be installed. Finally I could work in a warm enviornment with temporary light strings.
Ceiling light was the next priority. I used the formula from this forum to calculate the fluorescent tubage needed to give me a little over 100 foot-candles at workbench height. For the main floor this came out to 64 T-8 bulbs. I used the 8' 4-bulb fixtures because they seemed most economical. I don't like cold blue light so I used a combination of 3600K and 4100K bulbs. These are available at Lowe's in bulk for about a buck and a quarter each. Althougt their CR index is low, I am extermely pleased with the quality of the light. It looks very much like daylight to me, although in this part of the country, daylight is a little dingy anyway.
I needed to put up ceiling board before the lights. I did some experimenting with various paints and boards and found a combination that's hard to beat for the money. I started with 1/2" OSB that had one fairly smooth good quality surface. This is about 10 bucks delivered for 4x8 sheets. I needed 120 sheets. I applied a heavy coat of a high quality oil based primer and when it was good and dry applied a heavy coat of a high quality latex wall paint with a warmish tint. This gives a smooth but nicely textured surface which reminds me of adobe stucco. I spacled the joints and sanded some of them. The board is much sturdier than drywall and much cheaper than plywood veneer paneling. I found that not all OSB has a smooth enough surface to use for this. Since I was working alone I bought a drywall lift which I used for 2 months then sold on Craig's List in 4 hours.
The T-8 fixtures were mounted directly to the board on the ceiling with the wires coming through a hole in the ceiling board directly into a knock-out in the fixture, so that there was no exposed wire. After the lights were working I put in recepticles, lots of them. I figure you can never have too many outlets. Between upper and lower levels, I installed 24 120v outlets and 9 240v. This includes 120/240v floor outlets which we had run conduit for in the slab. I still can't believe I used 1200 feet of wire! I'm sure there must be some software which would give me the most efficient way to run wire for lights and recepticles.
With the ceiling lights all working, insulation was the next step, R13 fiberglass for 2x4 studs and R30 for the 2x8s upstairs. Since the whole building is wraped in Hardi Wrap I did not need more vapor barrier and drafts were nonexistant. After the insulation, I put primered OSB on the walls, spackled the joints and then put on the wall paint. The ceiling board got 2 coats of white primer and the wallboard one coat of primer and one of tinted wall paint. I'm extermely pleased with the smooth stone-like texture of the walls, even the building inspector commented about how nice it looks.
After the walls were done, I needed floor coating. I really wanted wood on the floors but that would have cost me $3-4 per SF, and with about 1500 SF that looked too expensive considering what I had already spent on the shop. The upper level had 3/4" T&G OSB on the floor and I found a 2-part epoxy coating that could be used on wood substrate. It turned out well but the floor boards really suck up the epoxy. I used epoxy on the slab as well. It was easy to prep since it had never been coated or sealed. I used our carpet scrubber to apply and rinse the etching solution. The light tan epoxy with light flakes and anti-slip material looks good and really brightens things up, not that it was dark with 100foot-candles. With the money I saved by using epoxy, I can buy a lot of heavy wool socks. The slab is well insulated and maintains about the same temperature as the air inside.
With some help from my daughter's boyfriend we were able to move the cyclone from its old perch in the garage to its new home in the shop. I also moved the metal ducts to the new place and ran a 6" branch through the ceiling to the area behind the knee wall upatairs. That allowed me to run the upstairs ducts out of sight behind the knee walls and have 4" ports come out through the wall board.
Next step- moving day.
Ceiling light was the next priority. I used the formula from this forum to calculate the fluorescent tubage needed to give me a little over 100 foot-candles at workbench height. For the main floor this came out to 64 T-8 bulbs. I used the 8' 4-bulb fixtures because they seemed most economical. I don't like cold blue light so I used a combination of 3600K and 4100K bulbs. These are available at Lowe's in bulk for about a buck and a quarter each. Althougt their CR index is low, I am extermely pleased with the quality of the light. It looks very much like daylight to me, although in this part of the country, daylight is a little dingy anyway.
I needed to put up ceiling board before the lights. I did some experimenting with various paints and boards and found a combination that's hard to beat for the money. I started with 1/2" OSB that had one fairly smooth good quality surface. This is about 10 bucks delivered for 4x8 sheets. I needed 120 sheets. I applied a heavy coat of a high quality oil based primer and when it was good and dry applied a heavy coat of a high quality latex wall paint with a warmish tint. This gives a smooth but nicely textured surface which reminds me of adobe stucco. I spacled the joints and sanded some of them. The board is much sturdier than drywall and much cheaper than plywood veneer paneling. I found that not all OSB has a smooth enough surface to use for this. Since I was working alone I bought a drywall lift which I used for 2 months then sold on Craig's List in 4 hours.
The T-8 fixtures were mounted directly to the board on the ceiling with the wires coming through a hole in the ceiling board directly into a knock-out in the fixture, so that there was no exposed wire. After the lights were working I put in recepticles, lots of them. I figure you can never have too many outlets. Between upper and lower levels, I installed 24 120v outlets and 9 240v. This includes 120/240v floor outlets which we had run conduit for in the slab. I still can't believe I used 1200 feet of wire! I'm sure there must be some software which would give me the most efficient way to run wire for lights and recepticles.
With the ceiling lights all working, insulation was the next step, R13 fiberglass for 2x4 studs and R30 for the 2x8s upstairs. Since the whole building is wraped in Hardi Wrap I did not need more vapor barrier and drafts were nonexistant. After the insulation, I put primered OSB on the walls, spackled the joints and then put on the wall paint. The ceiling board got 2 coats of white primer and the wallboard one coat of primer and one of tinted wall paint. I'm extermely pleased with the smooth stone-like texture of the walls, even the building inspector commented about how nice it looks.
After the walls were done, I needed floor coating. I really wanted wood on the floors but that would have cost me $3-4 per SF, and with about 1500 SF that looked too expensive considering what I had already spent on the shop. The upper level had 3/4" T&G OSB on the floor and I found a 2-part epoxy coating that could be used on wood substrate. It turned out well but the floor boards really suck up the epoxy. I used epoxy on the slab as well. It was easy to prep since it had never been coated or sealed. I used our carpet scrubber to apply and rinse the etching solution. The light tan epoxy with light flakes and anti-slip material looks good and really brightens things up, not that it was dark with 100foot-candles. With the money I saved by using epoxy, I can buy a lot of heavy wool socks. The slab is well insulated and maintains about the same temperature as the air inside.
With some help from my daughter's boyfriend we were able to move the cyclone from its old perch in the garage to its new home in the shop. I also moved the metal ducts to the new place and ran a 6" branch through the ceiling to the area behind the knee wall upatairs. That allowed me to run the upstairs ducts out of sight behind the knee walls and have 4" ports come out through the wall board.
Next step- moving day.