Let’s talk shop, people!
It’s Josh again. Growing up, I spent a lot of time with my dad in his woodshop. Dad is a self-taught “amateur” woodworker, who puts most people’s skills to shame. He and I built a poker table for some family friends for Christmas one year, and to this day they claim it’s the nicest piece of furniture in their house. Dad spent 20+ years perfecting his craft, in his self-built shop, which was housed in the unfinished basement of my childhood home in central Illinois. Mom loved it when he went from the shop up two flights of stairs to their bedroom bathroom to clean up, tracking sawdust through the house the whole way. He loved that shop, and I learned most of my love for woodworking and all things “handy” down in that basement.
Since becoming a homeowner, I’ve dreamed of having my own workspace—something suitable, with the amenities needed for such a hobby. When I moved to Georgia I finally got that! I was able to add a 24’ x 24’ detached garage to my current house construction with future plans for a world class woodshop. Fast forward 2 years and I still hadn’t finished the space (I blame starting to date a certain someone who took priority over my free time activities… which I am by no means complaining about). 2020 hit and COVID put a halt to our social activities and travel plans. I took full advantage of the free weekends and went to work. I ran all the electrical, built an enclosed wood storage, installed (and painted) cabinetry, floored in usable attic space and walled in the whole room.
*Photos below are progress pics from my current shop. We were unable to get a good picture of it completed. It is currently completely FULL of trim boards, doors, and projects from the house.
About 2 months after I put the last board on the wall, we bought the new place. It took a little convincing to walk away from my newly constructed shop, but my mind quickly started turning to what my next shop would be!
As you saw in our post about the future courtyard, when we bought the property it came with the original carriage house and a poorly constructed carport attached.
Kathryn is utilizing the Carriage House for her she-shed, so I needed an additional structure for the shop. The carport wasn’t worth salvaging (not to mention the bays were too small to even fit our vehicles), so the plan was to rip that down and rebuild it with a bit more space. At that point we needed to decide where the shop would fit. We played with a few different options, but the best for aesthetics and functionality was to continue the shop right after the carport, toward the back lot. This would allow for a continuous roof line on the structure, the option to utilize part of the shop as an enclosed garage, and plenty of room to maneuver vehicles while keeping the backyard open from the driveway.
I quickly went to work on the space we had to work with. Accounting for the trees we wanted to keep, the carport could be a depth of 20 feet. So to ensure I had enough space for creativity, I decided a 20’ x 30’ addition on the 36’ car port was minimalistic. 😉
I compiled my list of wants and needs for my new and improved shop. A full bathroom was at the top of the list. Being about 100 feet from the closest one in the house, this was not only essential, but also allowed a convenience to guests if we are having an outdoor gathering and didn’t want people tracking dirt into the house. The second item on the list was storage space. At the time we didn’t realize how big our attic space in the house was, but this space was originally intended to make up for lack of attic space in the house and selfishly for storage of my LEGO obsession….I mean, collection.
Those who know me can understand my concern for where to fit my collection. For those less informed, I’m currently sitting on over 600 sets, spanning around a half a million bricks (and growing). Collection? Hobby? Way of life? You decide…but my love for LEGO has been burning for over 30 years now. I like to contribute most of my creativity side, love for engineering and all this manufacturing to its teachings (God bless standardized work).
With the carport and shop sharing a roof line, I determined that a full staircase up to the attic from the shop was needed. This would allow easy access to the space and a safe way to transport material up there. (Kathryn’s coordination does not mix well with ladders or heights.) Working with the great minds at Bankston Lumber (shameless shout-out to our neighbor Chad Bankston!), they came up with a truss design that allows for maximum livable space in the structure. Say hello to my 66-foot future bowling lane! (Just kidding, but as you can see, it could accommodate one!)
The last item on my list—after finishing my old shop in the heat of Georgia summer—was the comfort of air conditioning in my space. I plan to have a ductless AC unit installed to make summer projects a bit more enjoyable.
When planning, I primarily wanted another blank canvas to paint myself my next dream shop. Within a few conversations with Laney Construction, we had a game plan and Justin and Eric hit the ground running.
First, the carport came down. I saved the galvanized metal roof for use in the shop, which I’ll go over in a bit. That came down within a day, then a few loads of dirt were dumped and some grading completed. Within days, the pad for both structures was ready to be poured. The structure construction began the week of Thanksgiving. Oberg Roofing & Construction will install the metal roof this week. After that, all that is left is framing for the bathroom and siding to install before I’ll be ready to start my finishing work.
I plan to keep the space in front of the garage door open for use, as needed. The back wall will house cabinetry and more than likely a built-in miter saw. Across from the bathroom will be where the wood rack will be framed in. Outside of that, I’ll construct a movable island that has my built in routing table. The wood lathe will be housed outside the bathroom wall, and the toolbox and contractor table saw stored against the wall by the carport.
I plan to start right away on the electrical, since that took me most of the time in the shop in Jackson. Learning from that experience, I have all the plans in place and should be able to knock it out quickly and easily. As for the finishing work, I’m going to utilize the galvanized metal from the old carport roof as a wainscoting along the walls, framed out with some of the old beams pulled out from the house. The top two thirds of the wall will be bead board, similar to what I had in Jackson. This will be a nice way to make the space durable (drywall does not hold up in a shop) while incorporating some history of the property.
I’m excited to get started and hope to make a lot of headway on finishing this part off over the next few months. My excuse to Kathryn is that I have to have that shop space functional, if she wants me to tackle all these projects with the house once the contractors get through with their portions of the work!
Dad always said the best part of starting a new project is figuring out what new tools you have to buy to complete it. I’m pretty excited about what I may “need” to finish the new shop up in time and start on all the projects for the new house.