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My car projects have been stalled for a while, but I'm itching to get wrenching again. I bought a little house last spring with a kind of rough 20x24 shop, so I'm fixing it up to finally have a decent heated space. The structure is nearly as old as the house we figured from stuff we found in the walls, somewhere around 70 years old. The concrete was cracked and heaved terribly, and there was an old cold room inside. First the cold room came out. It was insulated with sawdust - what a mess...
The moisture that was trapped in the sawdust did rot out the framing in that corner, the bottom 3rd of those 2x4s just turned to powder. Luckily the siding is some beefy 3/4" T&G or shiplap and it was carrying that corner.
A new floor was a must, I hired that out, I wanted it done right. Tore out the old floor and had a new slab put in. Let it cure completely, then we epoxied it.
My friend and wrenching buddy is an ex-carpenter, so he helped me sturdy things up with a new PT sill and fresh studs. It's solid now!
Finally did all the other prep work and I've started to insulate. R19 in the ceiling - the way the place was built I didn't see much sense in going higher than that. It'll make a world of difference. The PO had leftover R-15 from the house that I was about to do about 1/4rd of the walls with. I'll get some R13 to finish the rest this week. I'll probably have a sheetrocker friend come in and do his magic in the next week or two.
I rewired everything, put a new sub panel in, 12-ga/20a wiring for all the plugs with each wall on it's own circuit. Added a 50a 240v plug for my welder, and I had enough 6/3 cable left over to put in another high amp 120/240v plug for future use in case I get a bigger air compressor or plasma cutter or something. I already had a 240v shop heater, so wired that up and put a thermostat in-line so I don't have to fiddle with the one on the back if it.
I'm pretty excited. I have some car projects queued up that I can't wait to get started on, it will be so nice to have a heated space to work on them through the winter.
The moisture that was trapped in the sawdust did rot out the framing in that corner, the bottom 3rd of those 2x4s just turned to powder. Luckily the siding is some beefy 3/4" T&G or shiplap and it was carrying that corner.
A new floor was a must, I hired that out, I wanted it done right. Tore out the old floor and had a new slab put in. Let it cure completely, then we epoxied it.
My friend and wrenching buddy is an ex-carpenter, so he helped me sturdy things up with a new PT sill and fresh studs. It's solid now!
Finally did all the other prep work and I've started to insulate. R19 in the ceiling - the way the place was built I didn't see much sense in going higher than that. It'll make a world of difference. The PO had leftover R-15 from the house that I was about to do about 1/4rd of the walls with. I'll get some R13 to finish the rest this week. I'll probably have a sheetrocker friend come in and do his magic in the next week or two.
I rewired everything, put a new sub panel in, 12-ga/20a wiring for all the plugs with each wall on it's own circuit. Added a 50a 240v plug for my welder, and I had enough 6/3 cable left over to put in another high amp 120/240v plug for future use in case I get a bigger air compressor or plasma cutter or something. I already had a 240v shop heater, so wired that up and put a thermostat in-line so I don't have to fiddle with the one on the back if it.
I'm pretty excited. I have some car projects queued up that I can't wait to get started on, it will be so nice to have a heated space to work on them through the winter.
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