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Building The Shop & Layout...
Sunday, November 15th, 2009
Since I don't yet
have a stand-alone shop in the back yard I converted
my 20’ x 22’ two car garage into my workshop. The
first obstacle was power as our home only had a 100A
load center. Rather than installing a new 200A load
center, I used the 2 open breaker locations to feed
a 60A sub-panel which would provide me with
additional breaker space for the required circuits
(Figure 1). I now have six (6) 240V, 20A receptacles
on 2 circuits and fourteen (14) 120V, 15A duplex
receptacles on 3 circuits. The lighting was also
upgraded to include three (3) 8-foot long high
output fluorescent ceiling mounted lights.
Figure
1
After wiring was
completed the walls were insulated and sheetrock was
hung and finished. The ceilings are pure white and I
chose a light beige color for the walls. I would
have preferred to use 3/4" tongue and groove pine on
the walls (and will use that when I build my dream
shop) but for now chose the more economical drywall
(Figures 2-5).
Figure
2
Figure 3
Figure
4
Figure 5
The last thing I
wanted to do was epoxy the floor. I've seen floors
finished with epoxy and they look sensational. Plus,
oil spills clean up easily and a finished floor
doesn't seem to hold the fine sawdust like a porous
unfinished floor. I rented a floor scrubber and
spent a Saturday evening going over it with a
variety of cleaners, degreasers and the garden hose
but the many stains proved too stubborn. Fearing
that, in time, the epoxy would peel and leave me
with a bigger mess I elected to forego the floor
finish.
My shop is small
and loaded with tools and accessories but at the
same time remains quite functional. Accessibility
and layout are based on a simple philosophy of
frequently used items being within arm’s reach and
infrequently used items being placed higher (while
still being readily available). With the exception
of my drill press and band saw, all my tools are
mounted on home-made stands with heavy duty casters
so I can wheel them around easily when they are
needed (Figure 6). Given the size constraints of my
shop I try to plan projects carefully so as to
accomplish similar tasks when a certain tool is
setup for operation. I do not have a central dust
collection system but my 2HP system works well when
connected to my major tools and a good ‘ole
fashioned broom and dustpan handles the rest.
Figure
6
If you have any
questions or comments about this blog entry please
do not hesitate to
send me an e-mail. Thanks and be
safe when working with tools!!!
Burgie
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Robert Burgoyne, also known as "Burgie",
has been doing woodworking for nearly 30
years. He started learning at an early
age in his grandfather's garage and
continued while working with his father
in construction. The hobby has now
become a business with Creative
Landscape Accents. Burgie builds
high quality woodworking projects for
the outdoors and also enjoys making
decorative accent pieces for inside the
house. While not working in his shop
doing woodworking Burgie enjoys
computers, restoring his old
1964
Chevy C60 2-ton dump truck and
riding his Harley-Davidson Road King
throughout beautiful Colorado.
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