The shop is nearly complete and moving day is this week. But let’s step back a bit and continue where we left off last time.
Stucco
The stucco was completed in three days. The guys were able to match the existing house pattern perfectly. After a week of dry time, the stucco was painted to match the house. Somehow, in all of the craziness, I lost a bunch of pictures of this part of the build. So all I have is a picture of the finished product with a fresh coat of paint.
Painting
There isn’t too much to say about the drywall (sheetrock, tape, mud, done!) so let’s skip to the paint. I don’t know about you guys, but I’m not a fan of picking paint colors. All I know is that I don’t want the shop white and I definitely don’t want it too dark. Additionally, at some point in the future, we are looking to re-paint our house interior. So I figured we could kill two birds with one stone by simply picking out the house colors now, and using some of those in the shop. To save time and effort, I picked up a few of those color brochures and simply picked out a complimentary color family that met Nicole’s approval.
The primary color I selected has a fancy name, but I prefer to call it “light-tannish.” I also had a 12″ border painted with an accent color around the perimeter. The origin of the border is actually kinda funny. While the painters were spraying the ceiling, they used rolls of masking paper to protect the walls. My step-dad walked in and said, “That border looks great!” I laughed and told him it was just for masking purposes, but then realized it actually did look pretty cool. So I asked the painters to include an actual painted border around the entre shop. It certainly isn’t something I’d do in my house but I think it works well in a shop space.
Epoxy
After a long mental struggle, I decided on an epoxy coating for the floor. I laid out my reasons for this in this article in case you’re interested. The material itself is a cycloaliphatic resin epoxy, or so I’m told.
Much like wood finishing, it’s all about preparation. Even a brand new slab needs to be prepped for the best possible adhesion. In many cases, an acid wash does the trick. But that really only works if you have a place for all the liquid to drain. Not to mention, my drywall goes right to the floor. So the alternative is a dry diamond grinding technique. Large grinding machines abrade the surface, which I can only imagine gives the concrete a nice mechanical tooth for the epoxy to bind to. With as much dust as these things must produce, I was glad to see they brought their own dust collection. Otherwise I would have had to hook up a few Festool CT Vacs. Ha!
The epoxy went down over the course of two days. The smell was unbearably strong during the application and after the final coat. Even with a respirator, the guys who do this work must be losing brain cells by the truckload! Amazingly, after 24 hrs, the harsh smell was all but gone. One week later, all I can smell is latex paint.
The color of the floor is called “sand” and is a pretty good match for the walls. Since straight epoxy can be quite slippery in a dusty wood shop, we had a mixture of grit particles and 1/8″ flakes embedded in the final coat.
The Rest
After the majority of the work inside the shop was complete, there were a few loose ends to tie up outside. The area in front of the shop still needed concrete and the torn up driveway needed to be fixed. The concrete pour was uneventful. But I am stoked to finally have an HOA-approved place to store my cargo trailer!
As for the driveway, we were quite lucky to have pavers instead of concrete. While we may have lost a few pavers here and there, the vast majority were saved and re-incorporated into the driveway. Now that the pieces are all in place, the driveway looks seamless again.
The plumber came back to finish the toilet and sink installations. I can’t tell you how excited I am to have plumbing in the shop. Just having a place to wash my hands is going to be a very nice treat! You can also see the final view from the yard. I am very happy with the results and the shop ties into the house quite nicely.
As far as the construction phase goes, that’s really about all there is to show. I have plenty of video footage that I need to assemble into a coherent production and you can expect that sometime soon. Tomorrow is the big tool move and as you can imagine, it will take me quite some time to get everything up and running.
I hope you enjoyed going through this process with me and I truly appreciate all of the well-wishes and “you suck” comments. haha! You folks are great! I know I am very fortunate to have an opportunity like this and I am even more fortunate to have thousands of friends out there cheering me on. I just can’t wait to start producing awesome content for you from this new space. Onward and upward!
Looking good Marc, you’ll be well settled in by this stage but it’s been a while since I’ve dropped in on you guys (tut tut!). It looks great and best of luck with everything.
Chris
Another comment regarding your shop build… You being young may or may not have an issue with standing on concrete all day. For me my legs and back can’t handle it. So I’m planning to put over the concrete a 2′ x 2′ tongue and groove OSB flooring system with a foam backing to add some insulation. The product is made by Barricade Systems at http://www.ovrx.com. Do you have any thoughts about using or comments about a system like this?
Thanks, Michael in NC
I have lots of thoughts on it. :) We actually discussed the many options available in an old post here: http://www.thewoodwhisperer.co.....g-choices/
Depending on your climate and needs, those subfloor tiles can be an excellent option.
I just found your video on your shop build. Very helpful to me right now. I’m just getting ready to break ground on my shop in NC. Unfortunately its a hobby shop with attached garage, so it won’t be quite as big. But, it will be dedicated to woodworking, woodcarving, and other miscellaneous DIY projects.
One thing I didn’t see on your video is dust collection pipe. Since there wasn’t any shown during the excavation or pour, I assume you went overhead with the piping. Why did you choose this route over running it embedded?
Thanks for all the videos and great site!
Michael in NC
Running pipe under the floor is just too much commitment for me. Running it inside the shop gives me options for future expansion and tool rearrangement.
Marc,
If I recall correctly you have used drywall in your previous shops as well. Did you ever run into durability issues with the drywall such as putting dents in it while moving wood around your shop?
David
Not really. I probably have dented my shop walls in the past but since it’s a shop, I don’t really worry about it too much. Fortunately drywall is super easy to repair.
That is sooo cool! I am really happy for you. Now your hard work begins!! Can’t wait to see you all set up! Thanks for sharing!
Awesome place you built there.Can’t wait to see it with all the gear in place.
Congratz
Marv would be soooo jealous of your shop, Marc!!! I’m so happy for you! It’s beautiful (from a woman’s perspective ;-) ).
Thanks so much! I only wish Marv could have seen it. :)
My wife brings up a good question. Why didn’t you make the shop attached to the house instead of a separate building. She feels it would have added to the square footage of the house and made the house more sell-able. The next buyer could have then converted it to living space. I told her it could be made into a guest/pool house in the future.
Alan
Technically, as far as the city is concerned, it is attached. It just doesn’t share an internal wall, which is fine by me. When I look at the property and floor plan of our house, I don’t really think there is a good way to make the direct attachment that wouldn’t look forced and awkward. But ultimately, the real reason for having it not share an internal wall is because I didn’t want it to. :)
Not sure how things go there in Az, but here in So. Cal if you build an addition and it is attached to the main house the taxes ,permits and school fees are much higher. If it’s detached and built as a hobby shop, with no plumbing, there are no school fees, and the property taxes and permits are much less. When I built my 600 sq ft detached shop a few years back my building and electrical permits were under $500.00 . My taxes only went up $400.00 per year. Contrast that with the house across town( brother in law) . He added an extra 1000 Sq ft or so to his house and the permits and fees were in excess of ten thousand dollars, not counting what this did to his property tax bill. So to all the would be dedicated shop builders, a visit to your city or county offices would be highly recommended before you plan to build.
Good enough for me.
Looks great, Marc.
One minor minor question… what is that silver thing sticking up on the back/left corner of the sink? I do like the tall faucet. I think you’ll like it!
In your previous shop the DC vented outside, as I recall. This place looks like you have closer neighbours. So is the cyclone going to stay inside?
It’s really interesting how your filming requirement affects things. I would want more windows, and I’d probably go with brighter wall colours… but for filming I can see exactly why that would not be good. Fascinating.
best wishes
…art
That’s just a soap dispenser. And yes, the cyclone will have filters attached for now. I can always vent outside if I want to but I’m going to try this out first to see how I like it.
Brilliant, so exciting for you guys. Great to see someone take a grasp of their destiny instead of moaning about the state of the world economy!
Exciting- wonderful shop to make all the ideas come to life.
Missed the I want to kill the contractor comments …
I think what everyone over looks is that fact that Nicole is possibly the World’s Best Wife to agree to this…
And now I know how big of a shop I’ll need when I get a house…screw the house, a shop like yours, a mini-fridge and air-mattress and I am set!
I’m jealous. The shop is looking awesome.
The shop is looking great Marc. I like the colors you chose for the interior. I tried to choose the interior colors for my house, but my wife said no way. I wonder if it has anything to do with me being color blind. ha ha.
Congratulations on the shop. You’ll be building a new bed in the shop in no time.
In the previous article, you explained the re-sale as an important factor for your floor choice but are you afraid that the electrical outlets in the floor could play against that for someone who is just looking for a really big garage?
Not sure why it would. The outlet box is just about flush with the concrete and comes with a cover. If anything, I think it would be a selling point.
Marc,
Congrats – looks awesome! I had that nice epoxy floor in my old shop and it was great. For anyone else considering it, another benefit is that my concrete floor was 40 years old, and before doing the epoxy coating they were able to skim coat the small cracks and the epoxy topcoat made everything look perfect. So a good option for an old concrete floor as well.
Sorry if I missed it, but what was the total time of construction? Not including the planning and permits, but from the first hammer thrown until the tool move in.
I understand that you have used mini-split HVAC systems in your shop. I have used the same system in my new shop as well. My concern is with the fine dust clogging the transfer vanes in the air handler. Cleaning these vanes is difficult and troublesome. In my system, a 24,000 BTU Daikin, the filters are very flimsy and thin. They do not seem to be designed to intercept fine dust particles. While I have a 2,100 CFM dust extractor, inevitably my shop is covered with a layer of fine dust after several months of use. My HVAC contractor suggested building a pre-filter, which will be very difficult due to the configuration of the airhandler and the location of the access panels. Have you thought about this issue in your shop? If so, what are you doing to minimize the problem other than cleaning the filters often?
Ken
Primarily, my goal is to keep the air as clean as possible via dust collection and air cleaners. Whatever gets to the AC units will then be cleaned manually. That’s really about all I plan on doing at this juncture. I’m really banking on the primary dust collector to do all of the heavy lifting.
Hey Marc, how’d the tool move go? Did you use the same moving company as one of your other shop moves? (I hope not the one that almost let your TS fall over!)
The move was uneventful. Everything was done in just under 4 hours. And yes, I did actually use the same company. Despite that one hiccup, the rest of that move went well. I have used them for every move so far and they are always quick, professional, and inexpensive. Not to mention, they remember every time we move so they know exactly what to expect, lol.
A brand…..new….. freakin’ gorgeous………beautiful……SHOP!
WOW!!!!
Can I come over and play? :)
I cannot wait to see your first video from this slice of heaven.
Congrats!
Well, it kind of looks okay, but I’m not so sure. I think you should move again and start over. Just kidding. Hey I’m actually in Yuma, AZ right now for some training and I am starting to realize what you mean about the AZ heat. It’s almost October and it’s hot and dry all day and all night! When does it start to cool off around here? The temperature has still been in the 100′s at least once in the last week. I guess you can get used to it, but man! It is beautiful terrain though. I like looking at it…..from inside the air conditioned car as I’m driving through! Shop looks great, congrats, can’t wait to see the new product coming out of it. All kinds of new material can be taped from just sprucing up the shop with some fancy homemade trim and whatever else you can think of. Start doing cabinet work or something. Well, time to hit the rack. Congrats again.
Just looked at the move-in and “tools in place” photos on FB. Wow! Now I have to go out and buy a new keyboard for the computer because I drooled all over this one!
A lot of woodworkers will be dreaming of palatial shops tonight.
“WoodWhisperer boot camp” this is how you pay for this. For a couple thousand dollars each a handfull of students spend a week hands on in your shop with personel training. Since this is a “green” shop attendee’s will sleep on piles of sawdust beside the tools. Where do I sign up?
New buildings always look great, but this looks exceptional!!!
Can’t wait to see it full of tools. I do worry about the flaming table saw. I am sure you have a plan in place to contain the flames. :)
Congratulations!!!
Tiny workshop!!, really I have to say that and I dress rooms of dance that to envy to your workshop, and as workshop we do not say am expectant of seeing the machines placed in his place, enjoy it, you you deserve it friend.
A greeting of your friend
J.L.Varela