# Building my (little) shop in a National Park - Part2



## graham-xrf (Jul 22, 2021)

OK - so onward with Graham's Folly. This will likely be somewhat heavy on the pictures
This set continues an approximately chronological series. All is to be as is, warts 'n all, and may include mistakes, maybe stuff to regret later. What was happening did kind of force some project creep. The present configuration was totally re-worked to put the door(s) on the West side, and make them top-half windowed. The big window was moved to the south side, and the small window next to it increased so that we now have two big view windows. The smaller windows, now on the north side, are not the opening kind. If that proves to be a mistake, then I may have to change them someday.




A first imagining of the design desk position and view. I may have to add external  sun shade canopy things outside over the the windows. The glass will be insulation (air gaps) glazed UPVC.




*The windows go in (all except one)*
I was persuaded by a French aviator friend to do this. He said it would be a crime to leave the view to three non-opening windows. I will have to wait the lead time for the bigger window. Here we see the moisture barrier before the insulation. Here also, I discover what a red radon gas barrier looks like. No matter, I will probably be carrying my own radioactive junk bits inside anyway.  







That colour set looks almost Italian. Some real thick insulation to go between the 8 x 2(s) Has anyone noticed that despite the industry ability to produce construction lumber to something better than about +/- 1mm, the two inches is something well short of a real two inches. More like about 1.8 inches. The 8 inches looks more like 7"+3/4".   The floor insulation is 50mm of polyurethane with the aluminium foil sides. So anyway, here is insulation.







*And then it's the walls - and first fix electrics*
Not mentioned so far, but before the floor was poured, I installed a 110mm (4.3 inches) re-purposed plastic soil pipe all the way back to the main house garage. We used the hire digger to make a trench at the same time it was here to dig foundations.  I think that amounts to about 4-inch internal diameter. I needed about 70m of polypropylene rope to pull through a 10mm^2 SWA steel armoured power cable + a 25mm diameter blue HDPE water pipe + 3 x GigaBit Network cables, and a couple of 50 ohm coaxials. This way, there is a 35m pull-through rope kept at one end, or the other, just in case of need to pull stuff through, or fix something gone wrong. They can be seen emerging in the East corner.




OK -  OK ! I get it that nobody needs so many power sockets! It may be that some don't get used much.
The idea here is that whatever bench or machine stuff might end up there, there is a low level run 44cm above the floor, and a high level run at 1.2m, handy to have them above any benchy stuff. There are two separate RCD protected 32A ring mains, arranged North side and South side, and split upper and lower. I plan to use LED strip lightings on the ceiling mixing some 3100K "warm" with 5800K "daylight" to get good colour rendering anything it illuminates. The crazy red gadget helps hold boards up to the ceiling - sort of. It has parts that had to be reinforced between two bits of ply to resist the tendency to buckle 

*There are flowers!*
It's that time of year. Right now, some sort of crazy humid heat wave. I never thought that 51°N latitude could so madly get up past 30C before 10am.



	

		
			
		

		
	
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*Plywood everywhere.*
So we get to more 12mm and 18mm ply. I am overwhelmed by plywood! When the other window arrives, the external render can begin. It will be the stuff that is white all the way through, with a slight glint sparkle here and there. This is to match the stuff on the main house. You never have to paint it 

It will be a completely different story for the inside. Matt white ceiling, and some kind of off-white or pastel colour like boring magnolia for the walls. Sure, one can go mad with arty primary colours, but I am not sure I need such excitement!

I plan to use sets of French cleats here and there, but again - not fully thought through! This time, the arrival of the power cable, the first fix to where the power distribution box will be, and the still-to-be-figured-out blue water supply is more obvious. The folding loft hatch ladder is back there, as is the view of missing window frame.





Let's end up with the doors. The good lady takes more of an interest than I thought. The concrete surround is a slightly sloped thing to take patio slabs. Apparently the plain concrete look "lowers the tone of the place". Just to the left of the door will be put my almost first milling project. A stainless steel plaque with my business name and logo carved into it. That is the final touch that makes this whole thing a tax deduction working business facility!

Yeah! Every good shop needs to be built to the sounds of a Makita charger radio (or DeWalt, Bosch, Ryobi, whatever), and the scream of the lumber circular chop-saw, and coffee, and power extension reels to trip over 




*The floor?*
Its very solid, but I can put fixings down to substrate if I need to. The need would seem unlikely. Here is where, once again, I fall short on thinking it through. Should it be something like vinyl tiles? I could use some suggestions. Whatever it is, I think it should be possible to wipe up spills without permanent blotch. With many shed shops, the total loss of new oil and escaped coolant eventually sinks downward, giving the whole place a shop patina and aroma. That may have some nostalgia mileage, but I am not sure I want that, and I suspect the good lady may disapprove. Things will begin to look a bit more Hobby Machinist _décorer style artistique_ when a few machiny thingys finally get to settle in there.

That's it so far. I will post again when the next stuff happens.


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## FOMOGO (Jul 22, 2021)

That's going to be a great space, really nice. Cheers, Mike


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## hman (Jul 22, 2021)

graham-xrf said:


> View attachment 373027
> 
> 
> OK -  OK ! I get it that nobody needs so many power sockets.


No such thing!!!!


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## Nutfarmer (Jul 22, 2021)

What a beautiful view. A great project to be proud of. You can never have too many electric outlets. Thanks for the pictures. A nice write up.


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## homebrewed (Jul 24, 2021)

Very nice!  And the backdrop is, too .

Regarding the floor, what about epoxy with the colored filler chips?  It's used in tough environments like garage floors, and, once cured, shouldn't absorb oils.


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## graham-xrf (Jul 24, 2021)

homebrewed said:


> Very nice!  And the backdrop is, too .
> 
> Regarding the floor, what about epoxy with the colored filler chips?  It's used in tough environments like garage floors, and, once cured, shouldn't absorb oils.


The floor is (so far) 22mm pressure treated chipboard, which is held together by epoxy (I think), and apparently somewhat fire retardant. It is over 50mm polyurethane insulation, the kind with aluminium sides. This over a thick plastic radon/helium gas block, itself on 150mm concrete. I was surprised how rigid the top floor turns out when on what I thought would be relatively "soft" insulation. Apparently when the pressure is distributed uniformly like that, the boards just do not flex. The boards will not take up moisture as is, though a oil or liquid spill could leave a blotch. I am thinking a final top surface of tough vinyl tile or similar, to make cleanup of chips and mess easier, might be a good idea to put in now, while I still can.

Nothing in there yet. It will be CAD design desk, mill, lathe, various electronics, bench, etc. Much the kind of stuff I have been playing with.

I also have some input from the lady of the house, who has said that workshop/man cave or not, it has to be kept reasonably looked after. It's my place, and already I am looking over my shoulder!


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## sycle1 (Jul 26, 2021)

Have you worked out where the bed goes?
Looks like you might not be leaving that space very often LOL!
Great workspace cheers


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## graham-xrf (Jul 27, 2021)

I have a quantity of engineered oak flooring left over from doing rooms in the main house. It's precision milled hardwood, a bit over 4mm thick, on a cross support of Scandinavian white to total 11mm. They lock together, the joins having tiny chamfers, and are normally installed with a slight gap around the periphery as a "floating floor", often on a 3mm under foam to take up slight deviations from flat. The hardwood layer could probably stand 4 or 5 re-sandings if damaged.

It's almost sacrilege, even bad taste, to put a quality Osma oiled hardwood floor into a shop to face a future of chips and sweepings, but the boards have been stored for years, and do not have a present defined purpose. I am tempted to install it in the shop on top of the 22mm floorboards, except I would probably leave out the underlay. I need the floor rigity. The result would be a shop inappropriately posh - as you imply. One could use it as "like another living room", except it's over-festooned with double power sockets, and will have a mill in the corner.

This whole thing is not just project creep getting away from me because of unfocused planning. It's a runaway construction out of control !
The construction processes still have to play out. I thought I would get "shed doors". What ended up there are quite posh dual white UPVC double-insulated patio doors that kind of spoil the theme of a machine shop/hideout spot to do "sciencey stuff". The South side is all views. Nobody would pack that side with racks of junk. So far, it's under budget, but that sitiuation might change if I take any more advice from you folk at HM.


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## hman (Jul 27, 2021)

Well, after all ... what we're here for is to help others spend money, eh wot?


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## StevSmar (Sep 27, 2021)

Beautiful shop, hope you ended up using the wood for the floor. I’ve got dreams of having an oiled parquet floor in my workshop one day!!!


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