My Workshop

slab poured 1986, $1600.

Here's the basic framing up, with some of the sheathing and a few of the trusses. The walls are ten feet tall and the trusses are 24 feet. I designed them myself. They're mitered together +/- 1/32", glued and screwed to 1/2" plywood doublers. They're not your usual gang-nailed garbage. My buddy "Man Mountain Felix" lifted the trusses in place.

My Dad put up 1000 square feet of 1/2" plywood and then tacked the tarpaper underlayment down. I lifted the sheets up to him and he did the rest; one eight hour day to sheath the roof. The next day I carried handfuls of shingles up the ladder while he nailed them down in perfect alignment. Not bad for a 65 year old! Note heavy duty 2x6 ladder.

Roof is finished, sheathing and doors are on, starting with the tarpaper on the sides. I framed the doors up from spruce 2x4s and 1/4" birch ply; they fold up horizontally.

Dad's nailing up the cedar trim boards. He did most of the high work. The siding is Masonite; it's not really great stuff, but it was all that was available at the time.

Building workbenches inside. All the sheathing isn't even nailed up yet. Due to dramatic price increases in plywood ($6 to $16 in a couple of weeks) I wound up using it only on the corners and filling in the gaps with blackboard.

Yes, the walls are framed with 2x6s. The difference in cost between 2x4s and 2x4s was under $100.

Wiring and air lines are in. I used 400 PSI rated PVC for the air lines. R19 fiberglass insulation in the walls. The sheet rock is screwed on for easy removal and replacement; I painted it white and didn't worry about mudding it in.

My wife had fun painting the floor. It's ordinary floor paint, not fancy epoxy. The high traffic areas lasted about five years. Not bad, I figure. It's "battleship gray", the lightest color I could find.

Two shots of the wiring trench. The city said the wires had to be 24" down. It's about 30 feet from the house to the shop. It took most of a week to dig the trench; the ground was hard as stone, and it was over 100F even at night. I'd keep the trench flooded with water during the day, then get up before dawn to dig the few inches of mud out before I hit hardpack again. There were plenty of things that were more difficult to do, but this was the only one that was downright miserable.

This photo is a source of particular pride for me. Other than the neighbor's house, I made almost everything you see here. My Dad helped with the shed and put the shingles on the shop.

I built the shop, the shed, the ladder, the fence, the walkway, the little porch/step in front of the shop, and AB's V8 Capri (we removed the side windows when we painted it). I even built the sawhorses and the chassis that's sitting on top.

Where the front of the shed is was a low spot; I hauled enough fill to build it up almost a foot. Then I planted the grass.

For a long time, every time I went out the back door I'd stop and admire the view.