My new shop after we close April 30th!

[Mac Jackson]

Needless to say, making this a workable space will be the greatest project of all. But I have a vision, and I'm committed to seeing it through. My wife and I (after looking at 100s of houses) finally found one that checks every box, including a stand alone space for a future workshop. Check out the photos, and I'm open to ANY AND ALL advice on how to plan and convert this into a functional space. If anyone is near Cape Cod, I'd love to get you out to take a look.

[Dave Zellers]

Very cool- an old horse barn. Save that horse shoe and for heavens sake, turn it up so your luck doesn't run out!

[Bruce Page]

Lots of potential there! Step #1, insulate!

[Mac Jackson]

Damn, I missed that! I'll make sure that happens before closing date.

[Mac Jackson]

Thanks, Bruce. Spray in?

[Dave Zellers]

BTW, I'm in Brewster. What town are you in? New to the Cape?

[Jebediah Eckert]

Insulation, new flooring, going to be a great space. It looks like it comes with plenty of hammers to complete the project!

[Thomas Canfield]

Looks like an interesting BIG project ahead for you. Good luck.

[Patrick Walsh]

Idk it would almost kill me to alter that barn at all its so perfect the way it is. Insulation and electrical work a bunch of 2x4 and plywood idk i wouldn't be able to do it.

Id probably be inclined to get get a horse. Well i guess is go for a pig and a miniature donkey over a horse but still.

Im in Mass but just west of Boston. Regardless that will be a nice shop. I would be very very excited!

[Mike Heidrick]

How many rooms is it? Could you pick the biggest most accessible one and convert it first with insulation, floor, heat, doors, lights so you have a place to work? Isolate it from the others enough to keep heat in? Looks like an AWESOME elephant to chew one bite at a time. Congrats!

[Dave Zellers]

Looks like you'll have the luxury of having a dedicated clean room for finishing. That makes life so much easier.

[Mike Henderson]

Just make sure it's structurally sound before you get too far into it. But assuming it is, it looks like it could make a great shop.

Good luck.

Mike

[julian abram]

Nice space, will be a fun project.

[Lee Reep]

Congratulations Mac! Living with a basement shop with only a single window (although it is an escape window) I long for an above ground shop with lots of natural light. I think I'd try to find a way to add a couple windows or maybe a skylight to bring in some sunshine.

Enjoy!

[Mac Jackson]

Thanks for all the replies, everyone. Yes, it's a big project indeed. There's a lot of excess planking that can be repurposed. My hope is that if I can spray in some insulation, I can take a lot of the existing barnwood to panel over the insulation, reducing the need for, say, sheetrock. For my purposes (as a hobbyist), I don't need a gigantic floorspace, so I think I could use one of the stall areas and convert that into a finishing room. I don't want to completely ruin the barn feel, by any stretch.

It was a horse barn, because back in the early 1800's the town doc rode out from here to make house calls. Once I make sure I have structurally sound walls and a level(ish) floor, I'll have to look into getting a subpanel for 220. I'll need some lighting upgrades, too, naturally and fixtures. I'll keep the progress reports coming, though it'll take quite some time!

[Mac Jackson]

Could you pick the biggest most accessible one and convert it first with insulation, floor, heat, doors, lights so you have a place to work?

I think that's the move. That'll make any additional adjustments much easier since I'll actually have a working space. I'm in the market for a new thickness planer; I can't wait to see what some of the repurposed barn wood looks like cleaned up.

[Larry Edgerton]

That is so very cool! What a creative space you can make out of that building!

As you make plans I would be very careful to conserve that awesome character of that building. Look up Jack Forsbergs shop on here, it has that same kind of character.

I'm jealous.

Larry

[Aleks Hunter]

Nice looking barn, lots of potential. I am a couple of years into a hobby woodshop in an old Yankee (English) barn here in Vermont.310294
1.Clean it out, lay the insides bare.
2.get a building inspector or someone with some building experience to assess the structure. Fix any structural issues first.
3. Seal up to deny access to birds bats chipmunks --chipmunks in your shop will unleash your inner Donald Duck.
4. Insulate, as economically as you can. but be sure to insulate the whole shell.
5. Run preliminary wiring. Believe me you do not know how the space is going to end up being used in a couple of years. Put in circuits as you need them.
5.310295 Sheathe the inside, If you see piles of weathered rough cut outside a building that has been there for years, with a smile and deferential attitude you can often get it amazingly cheaply.
3102966. Build things for YOUR height. I'm 6'3" and the riser under the bench is made out of 6x6's lap jointed and bolted to the concrete floor, Best hour I ever spent!
7. it looks like a spacious barn for a hobby shop, be generous to yourself with the space!

[Peter Aeschliman]

Make sure the basics are in good order first.

-Don't insulate a thing until you're sure you don't have any water leaks in the building.
-Make sure the siding, roofing, and foundation are in good shape.
-Have the structure assessed by an engineer and shore up as needed.

If you start right away building a shop inside that building, it may cost you a fortune to undo later if you don't deal with the basics first.

T-hen I'd move on to flooring. If it's a dirt floor, you'll have some work to do.
-Then electrical. I recommend running your lighting and a few circuits of basic 110v outlets inside the walls, and run the wiring for bigger machinery in conduit after you've finished off the walls- this way you can reconfigure your shop more easily later.
-Then insulation. With a building like that, which was not designed to be perfectly weather tight, you will have lots of air infiltration. Easiest way to solve that is with some closed cell spray foam insulation. This is why I recommended running conduit for bigger machinery- redoing in-wall wiring when you have spray foam will be a big PITA.

That's what i recommend for your order of priorities. :)

[jack forsberg]

Thanks for all the replies, everyone. Yes, it's a big project indeed. There's a lot of excess planking that can be repurposed. My hope is that if I can spray in some insulation, I can take a lot of the existing barnwood to panel over the insulation, reducing the need for, say, sheetrock. For my purposes (as a hobbyist), I don't need a gigantic floorspace, so I think I could use one of the stall areas and convert that into a finishing room. I don't want to completely ruin the barn feel, by any stretch.

It was a horse barn, because back in the early 1800's the town doc rode out from here to make house calls. Once I make sure I have structurally sound walls and a level(ish) floor, I'll have to look into getting a subpanel for 220. I'll need some lighting upgrades, too, naturally and fixtures. I'll keep the progress reports coming, though it'll take quite some time!


if you would like to learn more of that era in terms of detail than i would get "the book" by Vincent Scully Jr.. The Shingle Style and the Stick Style


You must love these old structures. they are never done IMO




http://www.amazon.com/The-Shingle-Style-Stick-Architectural/dp/0300015194

a helpful book in structure would be Eric Slones "An Age Of Barns"

.http://10engines.blogspot.ca/2010/07/late-to-party-eric-sloane.html

[Robert LaPlaca]

Wow pretty cool looking old barn, kind of looks like Normy aught to be walking out of it. I love old homes and we just restored a 100 year old, just make sure you get a good architect, Structural Engineer and GC..

[Malcolm Schweizer]

I'm drooling. We are trying to buy the house next door and turn it into a workshop. It is an early 1800's granite stone house with massive floor joists and an open floorplan 34x22. It needs to be gutted and redone, which is all part of the fun.

Good luck with the closing. Keep us posted.

[John Sanford]

I'm going to take this in a completely different direction.

You've got a LOT of old growth reclaimable lumber in that barn. A LOT. I would consider taking it down for the materials, selling 'em, and building a nice, modern, well insulated, well lit "designed as a shop" shop. Yes, it won't have the heritage, but it will be a much better shop. I wouldn't be surprised if the net cost ends up being less. Of course, rehabbing may not involve very much in the way of permits, whereas rebuilding may....


Either way, good for you, enjoy, and stay safe.

Just keep the horseshoe.

[Mac Jackson]

I'm going to take this in a completely different direction.

You've got a LOT of old growth reclaimable lumber in that barn. A LOT. I would consider taking it down for the materials, selling 'em, and building a nice, modern, well insulated, well lit "designed as a shop" shop. Yes, it won't have the heritage, but it will be a much better shop. I wouldn't be surprised if the net cost ends up being less. Of course, rehabbing may not involve very much in the way of permits, whereas rebuilding may....


Either way, good for you, enjoy, and stay safe.

Just keep the horseshoe.

Love that you took it in that direction. I'd consider if, and probably only if, the structure/foundation is in such dire need of repair that it becomes too cost prohibitive.

[Mac Jackson]

http://www.amazon.com/The-Shingle-Style-Stick-Architectural/dp/0300015194

a helpful book in structure would be Eric Slones "An Age Of Barns"

.http://10engines.blogspot.ca/2010/07/late-to-party-eric-sloane.html[/QUOTE]

Jack, these look like gems. I'm on it.

[Jim Andrew]

A new shop building is nice, but I'd prefer to do some work on this old barn. I'd probably look at removing the stalls and such to make more room, use beams to support the structure, and open it up. And I would fir it out with 2x4 or 2x6 to make it able to be insulated. The main thing is does the old building have a foundation that will support it into the future? With a bad foundation, not much you can do, unless you want to jack it up and add one, or move it onto a new foundation.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Love the building! On thing that concerns me today is the "rampant" use of spray foam. It's pretty much irreversible, and an old building like this has been changed a lot on it's journey to become your shop. Spray foam will certainly work, but you are permanently covering up some of the character. Just my opinion, but I like to build something in a reversible manner.

[Brian Tymchak]

Congrats Mac! I'm green with envy. What kind of square footage do you have there?

[Larry Edgerton]

Love the building! On thing that concerns me today is the "rampant" use of spray foam. It's pretty much irreversible, and an old building like this has been changed a lot on it's journey to become your shop. Spray foam will certainly work, but you are permanently covering up some of the character. Just my opinion, but I like to build something in a reversible manner.

Agreed! Spray foam can create some very serious moisture problems, it is certainly not a universal answer. I recommend buying a copy of Building Sciences "Building in Cold Climates" to better understand how to best insulate a structure without causing moisture problems. A lot of what is being done today will be a rotten mess in a very short number of years. I am already seeing failures due to improper moisture control.

I built a Geo dome 30 years ago that was foamed. It was torn down last year. By the time the problem was recognized it was too late, the structure was a total loss. It was sold at the time as the ultimate answer. I'm not buying it.

By the way, I am just assuming it is in a cold climate by the pictures, a location in your signature would help us know exactly what you are dealing with on the temp/humidity front.

[Chris Padilla]

Love that you took it in that direction. I'd consider if, and probably only if, the structure/foundation is in such dire need of repair that it becomes too cost prohibitive.

John said that a lot more eloquently that I was thinking as I was simply going to say: bulldozer! :p Sometimes one gets too far into an old structure to back out so be sure to do yourself a favor and explore it very carefully to ensure it is worth saving and the kind of space that you really want. Sometimes we compromise too much lost in the nostalgia of an old structure. Best of luck to you!! :)

[David Ewing]

SO totally jealous. Just closed on a house in S. NH. Wanted a barn or building for shop. But I got a good house with a good temp shop and OK from the boss to build another building for shop and maybe man space.

Ill be interested in your progress.

Good Luck!

Dave

[Nick Coffelt]

I'm in the middle of a long barn reno and conversion into a wood shop, enjoy the trip, its a blast.