Buying a house - building a shop.

I have 5/8" sanded plywood on my walls. I applied clear stain and two coats of lacquer to give the wood some depth and sheen. I also highly recommend screwing it on in case you need to access the wall cavities.
Here's a picture of my very messy shop.
 

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7milesup said:
I have 5/8" sanded plywood on my walls. I applied clear stain and two coats of lacquer to give the wood some depth and sheen. I also highly recommend screwing it on in case you need to access the wall cavities.
Here's a picture of my very messy shop.
Click to expand...
If that is your definition of 'messy' we need to get you a better dictionary. :grin:
 
Just wait until you go look at the price of that nice real plywood. I bet it is close to $50 a sheet now. I was told 1/2" OSB is almost $25.

Joe
 
Liljoebrshooter said:
Just wait until you go look at the price of that nice real plywood. I bet it is close to $50 a sheet now. I was told 1/2" OSB is almost $25.

Joe
Click to expand...

The price of plywood has about stayed the same. OSB has shot through the roof although prices have come back down some. 7?16 OSB is about $22 a sheet now, up from $7.50 a sheet when I built my house last year.
1/2" CDX ply is also about $22 a sheet. 1/2" BCX sanded ply is currently $34 a sheet.
My plywood is 5/8" and I happened to find CDX sanded. It was actually supposed to be premium sanded but it did not quite make the grade so they downgraded it to CDX. I paid $15 a sheet for it.
 
Congrats for moving to your own home.

Strongly consider using a realtor local to where you are moving. The seller pays them so it costs you nothing. Tell them what you are looking for and they can find places for you to look at. The realtor also has access to listings not available to non-realtors often times. Consider living 15-20 minutes outside the city and maybe get something with a pole barn. Ask the realtor what is available in the radius you need. Doesn't hurt to check it out.
 
@Cadillac STS is right. Once a realtor sees that you have documented money available, they should be jumping to get their hands on their cut. I've had good experiences buying my properties and relied heavily on the networking abilities of "realty advocates" to make things move in my direction. I think that a buyer saying "I have money and this is what I want" is the siren's call for realtors. Take advantage of that.
 
Cadillac STS said:
Congrats for moving to your own home.

Strongly consider using a realtor local to where you are moving. The seller pays them so it costs you nothing. Tell them what you are looking for and they can find places for you to look at. The realtor also has access to listings not available to non-realtors often times. Consider living 15-20 minutes outside the city and maybe get something with a pole barn. Ask the realtor what is available in the radius you need. Doesn't hurt to check it out.
Click to expand...
pontiac428 said:
@Cadillac STS is right. Once a realtor sees that you have documented money available, they should be jumping to get their hands on their cut. I've had good experiences buying my properties and relied heavily on the networking abilities of "realty advocates" to make things move in my direction. I think that a buyer saying "I have money and this is what I want" is the siren's call for realtors. Take advantage of that.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice guys! We have got all out pre-approvals filled out for the mortgage and are working with a realtor who was tremendously helpful during our first round of showings. We are pretty clos to knowing what we want now and need to wait for the right property to come up. I can't believe how fast everything is selling. Anything really good is gone within 2-3 days of being listed. Certainly no time to give it a long thought through analysis.

My wife will be working in a metropolitan city just outside of Detroit so we are limited in how far out we can go based on her commute. Other things like the type of city, neighborhood, schools, etc. will understandably need to take precedence over how nice of a shop I get to build. Honestly though, anything will be better than what I am doing right now!
 
7milesup said:
The price of plywood has about stayed the same. OSB has shot through the roof although prices have come back down some. 7?16 OSB is about $22 a sheet now, up from $7.50 a sheet when I built my house last year.
1/2" CDX ply is also about $22 a sheet. 1/2" BCX sanded ply is currently $34 a sheet.
My plywood is 5/8" and I happened to find CDX sanded. It was actually supposed to be premium sanded but it did not quite make the grade so they downgraded it to CDX. I paid $15 a sheet for it.
Click to expand...
Those prices are spot on. I just finished my shop walls, paid $21.5/sheet. Lumber came down nicely the end of October but I saw very little price change in the stores. Lumber just shot up again and is currently at $652/1000 board ft.
 
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Look for a basement with some ceiling height. You may think just tall enough so you don't hit your head is fine, but even more than floor space, ceiling height will impact your choice of milling machines. Taller walls also add up to more storage space, more space to decorate etc. An 8 foot tall shelf is 25% more storage than a 6 foot shelf.

You don't want to know how many 2x4 foot pieces of sheet rock I have due to 6 foot walls... :grin:

An outside door is one saving grace of my shop, only one step to deal with, and I don't have to bring stuff through the house. It is a small door though, very tight for some of the larger machines. Also nice because walking around the house to go inside provides time for chips to fall off and I have immediate access outside for ventilation (just open the door) and dirtier work. I have a workbench set up just outside the door for grinding, as well as an area for welding.
By square footage I am about equal to a single car garage, but I do envy the ceiling height and large access door of the guys with small garage shops. Then again I think I have basement shop in my genes. Something very comfortable to me about a cramped space in a basement. I had a model bench under the basement stairs as a kid, loved that.

Electrical service is something else to look at particularly if an older home. I'm in an old house which could have been a problem, but it was used as an office for many years so they updated all the electrical in the house including a 175 amp panel.

I'm a fan of sheet rock for walls, although I can appreciate the screw stuff anywhere ability of plywood. Sheet rock is cheaper and more fire resistant, both of which were considerations for me.

As far as floor coverings, I went with vinyl flooring. It comes in strips that fit together like Pergo, is cheap and very resilient. It is used in many commercial buildings because it is tough, cheap and looks decent. I think I paid around $1 sq/ft, it was easy to install too. I did mine about 2 years ago, and it looks about the same as when I first put it in, so it is either holding up, or I don't spend enough time in the shop (the second is true so maybe some of both).
 
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