A Shop is Born

[Jeff Holoboski]

How exciting...Looking forward to more pics.
Jeff

[Charlie Barnes]

Good Evening Everyone,

It's been quite a while since I last posted an update. Part of the reason is that now the progress is up to me vs. contractors, so it's going much more slowly. Anyway, here are some pictures to give you an idea of the progress.

The first is an exterior shot now that the grass has started to come in. Actually this was about a month ago, so it's pretty well filled in now. The second is some of the rough electrical that I've run to the breaker box. I've only wired in 2 circuits so far for some of the lighting. I'll get the rest once I get the interior wall panels up. The third shot is of the drywall for the ceiling in process. It's done now, primed and painted. But you can see that in some of the following posts.

I'll try to post more frequently. I hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving.

Charlie

[Charlie Barnes]

Here are a few more photos of the progress. The first shows the finished ceiling and lighting. I've got 12 8' T8s (each has four 4' tubes) and I'm pretty pleased with the amount of light and lack of shadows. The second shows my current activity on the floor over the last couple of days as seen from the front doors. I'm using an H&C concrete stain and will top coat this with a couple of coats of clear to give it a little more durability. I went with a light tan color to help camouflage the sawdust. The third is just looking from the back towards the front. The fourth shot is my color experiment. I thought the golden red color would be "warm" but it looks pretty bad with the floor. The light brown above the switches is what I used on the bathroom walls. It looks much darker there, but I don't like it under the fluorescents. I'm going with the dark tan in the lower right corner. I think it goes well with the floor, but isn't too dark.

Take care everyone.

Charlie

[Trevor Howard]

Looking good Charlie, in picture one, why is the lights in the 3rd row down not in the same position as the others?

[Don Bullock]

Wow! Charlie, your shop is looking great. Having gone through all the same steps I know how excited you are. Now comes the work that has been the most difficult for me, getting the shop organized. Take your time positioning tools and putting in all the shelves, drawers, work benches and other things that are necessary for a well functioning workshop. Enjoy!!!

[Bruce Page]

I am green with envy!

[Charlie Barnes]

Looking good Charlie, in picture one, why is the lights in the 3rd row down not in the same position as the others?

Good question. I have 6 lights on each side of the ceiling and they are evenly spaced from end to end and from the side walls to the ceiling peak. Unfortunately, this meant that the 3rd row lights are aligned with an HVAC vent on each side. Therefore, they needed to be positioned 24" from the side walls instead of 12" like the others in order to clear it.

By the way, I've got some old T12s in my garage (a.k.a. old shop) and there's just no comparison from a light and noise perspective.