Shop Project
Since moving to Vermont in the beginning of October, I have not been doing any turning as I am in the midst of building my dream shop. The project has taken a while to get rolling, and is proceeding slower than I would like, but that seems to be the nature of any renovation. Pictured here is the barn that will house my shop on the first floor. We actually started the project 2 years ago when we had a "barn guy" contractor come in and jack up the whole barn to replace the failing stone foundation with concrete. This past summer we followed this with pouring a slab in the basement. I didn't get a picture of the new basement before we filled it (quite literally), with our household belongings from Alaska. Quoting a relative who recently visited, "you guys have way too much stuff". We actually poured the slab with the intention of storing our belongings there for a while. We will start a complete renovation of the house come May, and the house was already filled with furniture and belongings of Susan's mother who passed away 4 years ago.
These show various views of my current plan for the shop to be. I have a nice cad program (Vectorworks) which allows me to not only build a 2d plan, but also view it in 3d from any angle I want. I can also "walk through" the 3d construct, but can't capture it as a mpeg. The plan has much of the equipment I either have, or plan on obtaining for the shop. I have a General cabinet saw coming which I'll use to help build the shop. Some of my plans are not evident here. The long boards in the corner will be where I plan to have vertical storage of wood with an opening into the hay loft which will be enclosed and insulated. I also plan to make an enclosed space in the basement by the stairs which will house the dust collector and compressor. All the related ducting etc. will be in the rafter spaces in the basement. The door in the main shop will eventually lead onto a cantilevered small deck overlooking our pond. This should be an excellent place to contemplate my next project or enjoy a cup of coffee.
This sequence shows before, after and during views of the barn foundation project. The first picture shows a noticable sag in the longer wall. This same side of the barn was about 8-12" lower than the opposite side with a consequent very troubling slope to the floor. The contractors also wound up digging out a full basement for us. The floor of the basement used to slope up toward the near side in the pics till it had only about 4' of headroom. Last summer we had a slab poured in the basement, but I was unable to get a pic of it before we filled it with our possessions from Sitka. I am putting in new (and more) windows now to increase the natural light in the shop. Come spring I will redo all of the clapboards on the long (south facing) wall which are in pretty tough shape.
Different views of the main part of the shop just prior to starting on demolition.
Existing Stairway
Stalls
One-holer (partially obscured by a cool old stone grinder)
These pics show the south side of the barn. The clapboards were in pretty rough shape here, so I decided to replace most of them. The first pic shows installation of the new windows. I decided to have the painters who are painting our housed do the painting on the barn. Last pic shows the finished south wall.
These photos show what I did to level, insulate and seal the floor from drafts from the basement. I shimmed sleepers to level, added polystyrene insulation between them and sealed the edges with polyurethane foam. I then sheathed it all in Advantec. Shimming and leveling took a long time and was not my idea of fun, but the result is worth it. Eventually (after walls an ceiling are painted) the floor will be finished in hardwood.
These photos next row shows the reconstruction of the doors. I wanted to retain the original look of the barn, so decided to reuse wood from the original the sliding doors. I wanted to be able to seal them, and insulate from our cold New England winters. So I made a mortise and tenon frame from 2" poplar, glued 1/4" plywood to the inside, insulated with polystyrene then added the original beadboard on the outside. I had some nice period hardware made which will handle these big doors (7.5 feet by 4 feet, 3 in thick), and allow me to lock them. The doors weigh about 200 lbs each. I am really happy with the results.
These pics show the painters at work on the east side of the barn, and the final result. I am going to eventually add a small deck and stairway to the door. Painting on the north side of the barn (with the doors, and exposure to the street and house is yet to be done.
These pics show the walls getting completed. I furred out the existing studs (4") with 2x6's . I then added 2" foil faced foam and sealed the edges and gaps with the spray foam showed above. I then completed the shop wiring rough-in. Notice the raceway for the wiring along the ceiling. I did this to make adding or changing wiring easier in the future. The walls then got another 3 1/2" fiberglass insulation. I did the same in the ceiling with 2" of foam, then 5 1/2" of fiberglass. This will give me a R value of about 27 in the walls and 36 in the ceiling. Of more importance is the sealing against wind driven drafts. I plan on heating the shop in the cold Vermont winters with a small, efficient Monitor (kerosene) heater that worked well for me in my shop in Alaska. I installed vapor barrier because I was worried that all of the moisture from drying rough-outs may cause a problem in the fiberglass insulation (the foil backed insulation is great for blocking air infiltration, but also acts as a vapor barrier and I was worried that the fiberglass inside of it would trap moisture from the shop, causing problems down the line.)
These pictures show my birch floor just installed. I found some finger jointed hardwood flooring at a nearby warehouse distributor for a good price. It is just like regular 2 1/2" flooring except they come in 8' lengths and the finger jointed lengths average about a foot in length. OK for a shop, but not really for a finished floor in a house. The right picture shows my office/showroom to be. It got the same floor, but for the finished walls I decided to reuse some of the original tongue and groove hemlock that defined the stalls and interior walls of the barn. I planed them all since there was a lot of dirt/grime and what not from being a barn for a hundred years. It took 3 sets of planer blades (I'm getting them resharpened now) but I think the final result is worth it. Should have invested in a metal detector.