# Turning a tool shed into a shop



## PHPaul

As posted in the "Questions" forum, I've embarked on a project to turn a 20x24 shed into a heated shop.






I built this _ca._ 2010 as a combination tool shed and chicken coop.   The 8x10 area partitioned off on the left side is the coop.




I insulated the daylights out of it.  1" blue foamboard between the rafters both for insulation and to direct any condensation out to the eave vents, hung 2x6 ceiling joists with R19 between them, rock wool (R15?) between the wall studs and 1/2" sheet rock over everything.  I replaced the sliding barn-style doors with a double entry door.  Don't have a picture of that.  Do still have heart palpitations when I look at the bill for it!




My electrician installed a 100 amp service entrance and I ran 20 amp circuits around 3 walls with a double duplex about every 6 feet.  I have breakers installed for a 50 amp 220 circuit for the welders and a 30 amp 220 circuit for the air compressor.  At the moment, I'm waiting on the utility folks to hook me up.




I decided to go with daisy-chained LED shop lights.  Need to order a couple more to finish up.

The air compressor, hot air furnace and oil tank will go in the "chicken coop" once the birds are moved into their new quarters.

The only issue I can foresee is that the floor was just broom finished (hey, it was a tool shed...) and leveling the lathe might take some doing, plus sweeping will be a pain.


----------



## jwmay

I guess you could pour self leveling epoxy. That'd solve your broom finish problem.  What you've done so far looks great!


----------



## PHPaul

jwmay said:


> I guess you could pour self leveling epoxy. That'd solve your broom finish problem.  What you've done so far looks great!



That's a great idea.  Only place it would really be critical is under the lathe so one or two buckets would do it.  That's pretty economical.

Thanks!


----------



## PHPaul

A little progress and some promising developments.

I moved the chickens into their new home last night after several days of preparing their new digs and fencing their yard.  Predators...four legged and winged...are a huge problem here.  I lost 14 birds in two days before I built a covered pen for them.

Then I started on the cleanup of their old coop which is the back corner of my shed.  Getting several years worth of used chicken feed scraped off the floor is a non-trivial task.

My furnace guy stopped in today for our annual cleaning and I picked his brain about heating the shop.  We came up with a plan that will work with the space I wanted to use and laid out a much more cost-effective way to deal with the exhaust.

Finally, I got in touch with the line construction guy and he's supposed to be here Saturday to install my power pole.  That's the last roadblock to getting power hooked up to my shop.

Once power is hooked up and I finish up a bit of indoor trim, I can move on to leveling a spot on the floor for the lathe and building benches.


----------



## PHPaul

A little more progress.  I started the process of cleaning the coop floor by soaking it in a strong detergent solution and scrubbing it with a broom.  That worked reasonably well for the bulk of it, but there was still "stuff" embedded in the grain of the concrete.

A pressure washer was the obvious choice for the next step, but I don't have running water down there.  I got to wondering (which often leads to some very strange places...) if I could get away with gravity feeding water to my pressure washer.  A few inquiries indicated that it had been done successfully without damaging the pressure washer, so I decided to give it a shot.




I have a 30-ish gallon plastic barrel with a bulkhead hose bib that I use for watering the garden when needed.  I filled that and put it on a pallet and hoisted it up about 6 feet with the forklift on my tractor.




I successfully cleaned the 8x10 coop with 8 foot ceilings.  Two passes, one with soapy water to clean, one with plain water to rinse.




I used about 1/4 of that barrel of water.  Methinks this technique is going to come in handy on a regular basis!

*WOOHOO!!!  *While I was creating this entry, my pole guy called and said he'd be here in 30 minutes!!!!


----------



## PHPaul

That didn't take long.  I may have the only property on the Maine coast where you can drive a post hole digger out of sight without hitting ledge/bedrock.

I'll call the utility folks Monday and see if I can schedule a hookup.


----------



## PHPaul

Still waiting on the power (hopefully before the end of the week) but did make some progress on the shop:







Finished hanging drywall, got most of the ceiling trim up and built the main bench along the South and West walls.  Topped the bench with Melamine clad particle board which may turn out to have been a mistake.  That decision was driven by the breath-taking price of plywood.  There's a layer of 5/8 CDX over the framing and then 3/4 Melamine over that.  Thinking I'll look into covering the whole thing with some black iron sheet if that's not too insane, price-wise.  My big toolbox will live at the end of the short leg of the bench.  Initial plan (subject to change as plans on paper sometimes don't live up to expectations...) is for the alcove to be mostly storage for hardware and various supplies.

The press won't be living where it is now obviously, just waiting until I move some other equipment in to see where I want to put it.

The "chicken coop" has been wired for the furnace and compressor and the oil tank installed and plumbed.  Waiting on my furnace guy to find me a decent used "trailer" or "cottage base" furnace.  He assures me they're out there.


----------



## hman

Very well planned!


----------



## PHPaul

STILL waiting on electrical hookup.      Hopefully this week sometime, but I thought that last week too.

Anyway, while I'm waiting, I'm thinking about my options for plumb air around the shop.  I'm thinking 3/4 PEX and a RapidAir kit for about $200 that has 100' of line and enough components for 3 drops.

I priced copper and black iron individual components and the RapidAir kit is cheaper.   The downside is that it won't cool the air as well.  I may do a DIY air cooler/dryer in the compressor room.

Any suggestions/pointers appreciated.


----------



## hman

Here's what I did in my shop.  Post #7:








						Anyone Getting Much Shop Time Lately?
					

Now that the weather has broken, and many of the pandemic restrictions have been lifted shop time seems a thing of the past.  Since early March I can count the number of minutes spent in the shop on one hand.  Most days it's just a pass through to pick up some tool needed for an outdoor project...




					www.hobby-machinist.com
				



You could do nearly all your air plumbing with PEX, and just a short section like this of copper.  Depends a bit on how high your ceiling is.


----------



## PHPaul

Built myself an "air dryer" out of 3/4 copper.  Air will enter upper left, exit upper right through the wall of the tank room and out to the loop around the shop.

Oil tank for furnace installed and plumbed.

STILL waiting on the (expletive deleted) power company.  I'm thinking another call to the Public Utilities Commission may be in order.


----------



## PHPaul

Got this from the power company today:

_"I wanted to let you know that your service planner, Josh, has order the Dig Safe. The Dig Safe clears on 8/23/21. Shiella, your coordinator, will release this order on 8/24/21 after the Dig Safe clears so your order can be scheduled with our line crews. Our timeframe for these types of orders are 15 business days. So for your order, it will be energized anytime from 8/25/21 – 9/14/21 as long as weather and emergencies allow."_

Good thing I'm not in a hurry...


----------



## PHPaul

Ran a loop of 3/4" RapidAir Maxline today. A kit with all the fittings (less the chuck) for three drops and 100' of tubing was $200-ish.

VERY nice stuff, the air blocks are nicely machined out of billet aluminum, all the fittings are either stainless or brass, and includes drain valves at each drop.

I was a little worried about bending the tubing without kinking it, but it turns out the 3/4" conduit bender I bought for the electrical work is perfect for that.

If I was going to run a LOT of that tubing, I'd make or buy the straightener for it (it comes coiled up) but I managed with a 3 foot piece of appropriately-sized PVC and the trusty Beer Belly Clamp.

Still waiting on the electrons, hoping for this week coming. Pretty much everything else is done, less the furnace. Keeping an eye on Craigslist for that and if it doesn't happen by cold weather, I'm pretty sure my propane salamander will git 'er done as well insulated as the building is.


----------



## PHPaul

Spotted a down-draft mobile home furnace on Craigslist for what seemed like a fair price and only 100 miles away.

Been seeing all sorts of furnaces, but they're either priced into the stratosphere, located way-the-hell down around Portland or Kittery, complete junk or all of the above.  A lot of "The heat exchanger is cracked but it works okay" stuff.

This one was $250, just removed from the shop and works fine, solid heat exchanger, just needs a thermostat.  Sounded too good to be true but had to go look at it.  Amazingly, it was just as advertised and included the tank valve and filter canister along with a bunch of chimney and ductwork tin.

I'll build a base/plenum to set it on and connect the ductwork to and have my furnace guy whip a tune up on it and I should be good for heat.


----------



## PHPaul

WOOHOO!!!  I _*finally*_ have power!  Talking to the crew, they have 14 guys to cover the entire county (and Hancock is a BIG county) which explains some of the delays.  Bureaucratic BS covers the rest.

Now I can start moving in!  

Once I start getting set up, I'll post some more pictures.


----------



## PHPaul

There are sparks coming off the rivets on my back pockets!

Hit it at 5:30 this morning. Wired up the welder outlet, moved two welders and plasma cutter into their new home.

Also moved and set up the 2x72 belt grinder, the porta-band with it's stand, the drill press with cross-feed table and vise, and adapted a HEAVY metal table for the buffer/grinder.

Moved the big tool box and the shelf/drawer unit and all contents.

Also moved a couple of pallet loads of little stuff. The forks on the Cabota got a workout!

Younger Grandson is scheduled to be here tomorrow and we'll heave the furnace up on the stand/plenum and move the air compressor and lathe.

Then there's just a couple of days worth of wiring and plumbing the air compressor, running the ductwork for the furnace and moving all the little schtuff  down from the garage. Prolly wind up putting up a sheet's worth of pegboard too.

Ordered $500 worth of welded metal 18 drawer parts cabinets from ULine so I can organize all my hardware and get rid of the raggedy old cabinet it's in now. If it weren't screwed to the wall, it'd collapse. After I move the left-over construction materials and clear up another 8 feet of wall, I have another parts bin to get down there too. I _should_ go through it and throw about half that crap away.


----------



## PHPaul

Grandson showed up on schedule and we moved the heavy stuff. The lathe was ALL the Kubota wanted to pick up. I didn't have room to hang anything off the back for a counterweight while maneuvering in the garage and as I transitioned from the garage floor to the driveway, I got daylight under the left rear. Once I got it outside and unclenched my cheeks enough to get out of the cab, I went down and put the mower on the back. MUCH happier that way.

The compressor was a bit of a beast to work with once we got it in it's space, but there's JUST enough clearance to close the door.

Picking the furnace up and setting on it's pedestal/plenum turned out to be pretty anti-climatic in comparison.

Now I just have to finish plumbing the air, wire up the motor starter for the compressor, wire the safeties for the furnace and run the duct work. Shop is usable as is except for the lack of air.


----------



## PHPaul

Shop is about 95% finished.  Waiting on a flexible isolator to hook the air compressor up and need to finish the duct work for the furnace.

Got most of my "stuff" moved in today, tho I'm sure I'll think of things I missed off and on for a while.


----------



## hman

Looks nicely organized (at the moment).  I can think of only one suggestion right now ... add some kind of "grit barrier" between the belt grinder and the lathe.  Possibly something easily moved, for when you have long stock that hangs out of the spindle.


----------



## PHPaul

hman said:


> Looks nicely organized (at the moment).  I can think of only one suggestion right now ... add some kind of "grit barrier" between the belt grinder and the lathe.  Possibly something easily moved, for when you have long stock that hangs out of the spindle.



Thanks for the compliment (and prediction...)  I'm really looking forward to actually working in it and messing it up!

The shield is a good idea and I'll probably extend it to cover the wall behind the belt grinder AND the wheel grinder.  Perhaps I can scrounge some old plexiglass or something like that.


----------



## Al 1

PH,   Very nice job.  It's a home away from home.  Enjoy.   Al


----------



## PHPaul

A side effect (that I knew without doubt was coming...) of moving all my tools into the shop 75 yards from the house:

I knew I would quickly tire of walking down there every time I needed a screwdriver and planned ahead for that by buying a tool box full of tools off Craigslist with most of the common "household chore" needs.  What I didn't think about ahead of time was how often I grab my Milwaukee cordless drill/driver and 1/4" impact.  

It took about 3 days for that to get REAL old, so yesterday I went to Deep Homo and bought a pair of Ryobi tools to keep in the garage.  Should be plenty good enough for said "household chores".  With my military discount, not horribly expensive either.


----------



## PHPaul

This has been my "welding table" since I bought my first welder 30-ish years ago.  About 18" square.  It fit the available space and could be rolled into a corner when not needed.  Top heavy, and had a nasty tendency to move when least expected, but better than nothing...usually...




Spotted this on Craigslist,  1/4 plate top, a tad over 40" square, reasonably flat, adjustable leveling feet, vise included.  $100

When I was contemplating building my own for my new shop, a 4x4 piece of 1/4 hot-rolled plate priced out at $303.xx and probably close to double that by the time I added legs and bracing and such.

Even with driving halfway across the state to get it and dropping $70 on gas, it didn't take long to do THAT math!


----------



## brino

That sucker would be hard to move intentionally, let alone accidentally!

-brino


----------



## PHPaul

brino said:


> That sucker would be hard to move intentionally, let alone accidentally!
> 
> -brino



That's for sure!  I got it into rough position with the forks on the Kubota.  Moving it that last foot or so resulted in Ibuprofen for supper.


----------

