Workshop Anniversary

June 2 is the 5th anniversary of my workshop being built and I've been busy getting the place spiffied up for an open house.

This prompted me to retrieve some of the progress shots I took during construction—the longest 8 weeks of my life.

My contractor and one other guy worked as quickly as possible, which was in no way in response to my constant hovering and anticipatory—rather, pleading—looks I gave them.

The year prior to ground breaking I spent researching heating and building supplies, designing the workshop, and building a scale model in preparation for the 17.5' x 36' structure.

The heating unit is linked to the oil furnace in our house. That, combined with the R-30 insulation in the floor and ceiling, and R-13 in the walls, keeps the shop toasty in winter. We added a sink, a designated breaker box, a 220 outlet in the floor beneath my table saw, south and east-facing windows, double outlets (chest and shin high) every few feet along the walls, and a door leading to the bedroom in case I need to do some handplaning at 3:00 in the morning.

I photographed the studded walls before the drywall was hung so when I need to hang something, I know where to drive a nail or screw.

I only made two mistakes in planning. We should have put 120 outlets next to the 220 in the floor so when I use the outfeed table on the table saw for assembly work, I wouldn't have to run a cord to the wall (potential tripping hazard). And, I should have run a water line under the floorboards to the back of the house to make watering plants in the yard easier.

The last three photos were taken today: the shop front, back porch, and back yard. There is another window to the left of the shop front, but you can see our messy deck in the photo, so I cropped it out.

The only bummer with building the shop was having to cut down our beautiful 90' tall tulip poplar. But in the last photo, you can see two little guys—a red bud and a Japanese snowbell, both planted within the last four years—trying hard to make up for the loss.

Here are some photos of the inside of my shop taken a year and a half ago.