My new “Gara-shop”

[Jack Frederick]

I keep stealing these terms from Jim. “Big Orange Power Tool” and now “Gara-shop.” I was over at the new house for a couple days getting ready for Mondays move. I had hoped to get more done, but it is what it is. I firred out the walls ripping 2x4’s and gluing and screwing them to the studs. It is the south wall and I want a bit more insulation in there. We came off the main to a 70 amp sub-panel. From there an assortment of 220/110V outlets and car charger. Lights circuits are roughed in but lights need to be to be hung which will of course be a piece of cake with everything in there. there are a couple 220 ceiling drops for the SS, jointer, BS and G-700. As well 220 and 110 on the opposite wall. This is a major down-sizing for us and we have really thinned the herd both in the house and shop in preparation. I am curious how much I will have to get rid of once we unload. Imagine taking a 2400 sq ft house and 1000 sq ft shop down to 1400 sq ft and a 400 sq ft garage. It is our choice quite happily, but Holy Smokes! That last pic is Lassiter nights sunset from the house. So long, it’s been swell!0EC57D2D-369C-47DF-A53E-77E65D446671.jpg6AE746CA-620B-42C7-8CE2-DBE8128553D9.jpg6D069401-F197-42E6-A0C9-CED5A302CD3B.jpg

[Frederick Skelly]

Looks good Jack. Good luck on your move!

[Dan Rude]

I still have to do the North wall of my garage for insulation, and have to fir out the 2x4s as well. I have the Fiberglass for 2x4 walls, but am planning 1" ridgid foam on the outside wall. What kind of Insulation are you using, Fiberglass or Rock wool? I have my main shop in my Basement. Also, putting in Electric Heat for winter here in the upper Midwest. Deciding either Electric, because I hve Solar which helps with bills in the Summer Months. Good Luck on the move.

[Jim Becker]

Beautiful sunset!!!

Looks like you're making progress. I can attest that downsizing the shop can be a challenge, but you'll figure out what choices are best to do the kind of work you want to do and enjoy doing in the space you have. If you have alternative places for storing materials, even better! We went from 4200 sq ft in the house to 1850 sq ft with our downsize move...the ReStore got a LOT of stuff!!! And although I've resolved the shop space thing with the new building, I did go from about 750 sq ft plus upstairs storage at the old property to 450 sq ft in the temporary gara-shop for more than a year and a half. It was not pretty because I didn't/couldn't get rid of most of the tools and had to store material in an on-site shed and in an on-site tent structure.

If the garage door opener isn't new, consider replacing it with a jack-shaft type opening. More money, but that gets rid of all that stuff in the middle of your ceiling. I did that in the temporary gara-shop and it made a big difference relative to usability for both flipping around long material as well as freeing space and pathways for necessary overhead infrastructure, such as electric and DC.

[Bill Carey]

............ This is a major down-sizing for us and we have really thinned the herd both in the house and shop in preparation. I am curious how much I will have to get rid of once we unload. Imagine taking a 2400 sq ft house and 1000 sq ft shop down to 1400 sq ft and a 400 sq ft garage..........

Sorry to say, Jack, but I don't have to imagine it. We just moved from a 3400 sf house and 800 sf shop to a 1300 sf house and a 420 sf shop, known currently as the storage room. LOL.
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And we purged a lot of stuff before we moved. Fortunately, the garage has a 200 amp service, and the panel is in the garage so distribution will be easy. My entire shop is in a storage unit until I can empty the garage and build some walls, add insulation and drywall. Hopefully in another couple of months I'll be making sawdust again. Can't wait.

At least your shop is empty, so you are far ahead of me.

[derek labian]

What a wonderful view. I hope you have some great vista's out of that window in the new gara-shop

[Jack Frederick]

Quite a couple days. The house/shop were loaded yesterday. We were on the road at 4:30am to beat the trucks. Unloaded by 1:30 pm. They were a good crew and it was a positive move. Our daughter, SIL and the Grands came over after school to help and it is much appreciated. My wife is still going but I kinda feel like I’ve been pulled backwards through the knothole. The house is coming together as is the shop, sorta. I was so bound up with moving things but a bit ago as I looked at the mess, took a breath and surveyed the place I realized how very fortunate I am. You can get so bound up in detail that you miss what is important. This is a great challenging opportunity! Well, right now at least…

[Jim Becker]

Just break it up and work on little pieces each day. Some days you'll do more and some days you'll read a book. I had to handle a "yuge" part of our move because of Professor Dr. SWMBO's teaching schedule and some health issues, so I just had to take a day sometimes and "not do much". And that was without the shop to worry about as I had the luxury of moving that separately to the temporary gara-shop. Oh, and in full disclosure...there are still about a dozen boxes of "decorative" items in the enclosed back porch and a lot of art work that needs dealt with a year and a half plus later. In my copious free time, of course. LOL

[Jack Frederick]

Well, we have been in for a week today. It has rained about every day. I got all my gear out of boxes and on shelves, but for the most part I’ve been helping set up the house. Amazing how many pictures have to be hung. I got rid of 3/4 of my books which hurt, but I think I’ll have to get rid of much of the rest. We joked about how much we would have to get rid of once we moved, but it is turning out to be no joke. The G-700 arrived today. I agree with Jim’s assessment of how slick the packaging is. It is not running yet, but just as it sits it is an impressive piece of equipment. A couple more days and my electrician friend will be back in. I will then insulate and sheath the wall. I’d prefer plywood, but need to run some numbers first.

[Aaron Inami]

It's raining like crazy down here in central California as well. Getting lots of snow in the Sierra's and Lake Tahoe region.

[Jim Becker]

Jack, I predict that a year from now you'll still be "getting rid of stuff". LOL Speaking from direct experience. I got rid of a "yuge" number of books years ago and most of the few that were left prior to our move also got donated or recycled. The only books we have now are a small number of text books and related in Professor Dr SWMBO's home office, a collection of cookbooks in a small shelf in the family room and a few woodworking books I choose to keep on the bottom shelf in my home office. All my reading is on Kindle and has been for nearly a decade. I gotta start going through the dozen boxes on the three season porch to further cull our decorative items in my copious free time...it will be...two years...end of April since we moved. LOL

[Jack Frederick]

I am certain that you are correct, Jim. I think that no matter how supposedly well you prepare for downsizing you still end up with the 5 lbs in a 4lb bag. Our house with the lovely view, which has not closed yet, is sitting under 4’ of new snow. In the 12 yrs we had the place we never saw over 8” and usually just dusting. Being only a mile outside of town there are about a dozen trees across the road interlaced with the power lines and said 4’ of snow. I turned the water off at the well in anticipation of this freeze and the property being un-attended. The generator ran flawlessly for three days, but is now out of propane which has been on order for over a week. A tree which PG&E destroyed a few years ago and agreed to take down over a year ago has fallen onto the well house but a neighbor thinks it was a soft landing. The weather has cleared up there, but the next storm comes in tomorrow. I can’t wade through 4’ of snow, so I will sit tight until probably Wednesday when this next storm passes and get back up there. Expectation for the upcoming storm is 1-4’. While writing this I have received a notice from PG&E that power is expected to be on about March 10. My daughter, who is in town has a date of 3/17. Times like these you reach back into your fine American literature collection finding Alfred E Neumann, of Mad Magazine with palms at the ceiling and a smile saying, “What, Me Worry?” It’s beautiful here in Petaluma. I think I’ll go sort the shop a bit and help my honey get the guest room set to day

[Jim Becker]

I was introduced to Alfred long ago...the father of a childhood friend was involved with that particular publication. But yea...worrying isn't going to change anything. I had to take that approach when it took over 9 months to sell our old property because of its uniqueness. That's been balanced by the fact that the younger couple that bought it just had a baby boy (their first) and their MIL is also living there in that "yuge" house, too.

[Jack Frederick]

I just fired up the G700 yesterday. At this point I am using the 6x4x4 wye supplied with the unit and Rocklers blue plastic flex pipe. I understand that performance/static pressure will vary by machine and ducting lay-out so calibration will be a matter of trial and error, but for those with this very cool machine, do you have any hints about settings. I’m running the SSPCS, 735, GO490 and BX14.
Jim, I understand your comment about the sound being “different” on this machine. My Grizzly cyclone was a screamer out of the blocks. This is kinda….whooosh.

[Aaron Inami]

Hi Jack. The speed control is a balancing act depending on what kind of dust you are generation. Be careful of stuff that generates super fine dust (such as sanding machines). If the speed is too high, it will pull the fine dust all the way through and start clogging up the filters. The weight of the dust is so low that it just sucks it all the way through (i.e. it doesn't fall down into the bins).