Reloading Room Design

[David2011]

Guardian,

I bought a house that had an existing 36x36 wood framed metal skinned pole barn. I ended up building rooms with conventional household walls and ceilings inside the existing walls to make my reloading room and gunsmith shop. They're well insulated and very tight. They walls are sheetrocked and textured so it feels like I'm in the house. The reloading room is heated with an electric oil filled radiator heater. The gunsmith shop is getting a small wall mount gas heater soon since I already have natural gas in the shop.

You just about can't have too much insulation, too much lighting or too many electric outlets.

David

[Guardian]

David,

That's one of the alternative options. I've got a 30x40 pole barn that just needs a concrete floor and electricity run to it. The other option is building onto the barn in the OP. I think they'll cost about the same, but the latter is in view of the house and a shorter walk.

[djw]

David,

That's one of the alternative options. I've got a 30x40 pole barn that just needs a concrete floor and electricity run to it. The other option is building onto the barn in the OP. I think they'll cost about the same, but the latter is in view of the house and a shorter walk.

I built my office in my pole barn just as David2011 describes. Depending on your climate, even if you put in a concrete floor, you might not want to leave it bare. I framed a wood floor (just 2x6s) that sets on the concrete and insulated it with 2" foam board between the joists. I then insulated the 2x6 walls and ceiling of the "box" that sits inside my barn with fiberglass batts. The barn has nominal insulation (to keep it from freezing hard), but the office stays toasty with equipment and bodies putting off a little heat, and a small space heater to make up the little bit extra that's needed here for Michigan winters.

[Guardian]

Alright, I'm putting the reloading room in half the bottom section of the barn pictured in the OP. We've moved a bunch of stuff around. The welder is staying in that barn for now, I'll just have to be careful with grinding. Wood working will be outside, I guess. I'm a "must do" carpenter anyway, it's a means to an end.

The space is about the same as previously stated 13x25. I lost a long wall, though. That will allow me multiple islands that may spill into the other half a bit, but as long as I can keep the other doorway open, I'm ok.

I bought a bunch of stuff for electrical today. I'm running two dedicated outlets, each on its own 20A breaker, for the Magma pot and the muffle furnace.

I'm also rewiring the existing outlets to get them off the same circuit as the lights. I'd prefer not to be in the dark if I overload an outlet bank. The existing outlets are on 12/2 wire.

I'm adding about 8 more 15A duplex outlets. All those, and the two dedicated 20A circuits, will be on 10/2 wire. My plan is to have each wall of 15A outlets on its own circuit, further split by new and old. New outlets will all be above the planned bench height.

I'm putting an outlet in for the welder and prewiring for a 230V air compressor with 6/3 wire. Welder only has about a 6-ft run, air compressor is about 25-ft. The air compressor will end up behind the barn in its own shed, so I don't have to listen to it run. Supply line for air will be surface mounted on the wall so it's easy to repair.

I didnt realize how how expensive insulation is! That will likely be the slow part of the project. I'm planning to do R13 on the walls and R30 in the ceiling. All that will get covered with 7/16 OSB. I'm thinking the welding area will get corrugated metal over the lower half of the OSB to keep sparks off the wood.

I love Akro-bins and I'm thinking about getting the louvered sheets to go on the wall above the bench, at least in a segment of the long wall.

If I can get all this done by summer, I'll be doing good. Any suggestions/corrections to the above?

[W.R.Buchanan]

Since you have all that land, why don't you buy a Prefab 12x16 Shed from Lowes or Home Depot or whomever has a big box near you and put that up.

You could go ape and pour a Concrete slab for it or just elevate it off the ground with Pilasters and you'd have a dedicated building that has none of the downsides of the Barn or it's mods.

I bet you could get a first rate set up for less than $4K which is less than you would have spent on the barn's 2nd floor.

Just and Idea to mull over.

If I ever move to a tract house I will be doing this and it will have a Slab with indents formed in for the Pilasters and thus the building will not be permanently affixed to the ground and thus will not require permits.

Randy

[Guardian]

Randy,

Thanks for bringing that up. I've considered the pre-fab building idea. There are several local vendors for such that have nice examples. The biggest holdup on the idea is getting it on the property (there ain't a level spot on this place) in a spot I'd want it (and one the wife approves of). As the wife put it, she is not enamored with the idea.

[GONRA]

GONRA sez - one way or another, get electric out here (as has been suggested).
Use it for AC, Dehumidifier
(get the Real Thing to remove water from air and drain it outside,
not a "rod" that just ups the dew point)
and one way or another, get a Heater.
You WILL want the "comforts of home" and your equipment will appreciate it!

[W.R.Buchanan]

Guardian: What you would do is put posts into the ground and then shoot the tops in to the same elevation. Then construct the floor on those.

I would also suggest having a False Floor with Foam insulation sealing it completely. That way Varmints couldn't get in.

When you construct the walls they can easily be insulated with the Bubble Wrap style of insulation which with the addition of a small woodstove will make your little shed nice and cozy in the winter. Add a small 110V A/C unit for the summer,,, when needed and you are good to go. I use fans a lot too.

You would run Electricity in PVC Conduit underground using Romex for the wiring. You won't need more than 15 amps for lights and various small tools, tumbler etc.

The only consideration left is where your wife will allow it. I would suggest,,,"out of sight."

Randy

[Messy bear]

Neat ideas OS OK ! I like the pipe for scale shelf to isolate it.
Messy

[daboone]

I have 2 benches dedicated to reloading. One bench just for jobs requiring a drill press, sanding and moto tooling. One bench just for gun cleaning with a good bench vice. And another bench just for odd jobs and gun smithing with a other excellent vice. Outside is a bench just for castings.
Dedicated benches helps me keep organized and focused.

[Guardian]

Spent some time working on the electrical over the weekend.

• I got the original lights and outlets downstairs broken into separate circuits.
• Had to modify the entrance from the exterior electrical panel into the building. When I removed the OSB interior wall panel there were wasp nests and carpenter bee carcasses within the wall. The electrical panel didn't have a conduit off the back of it into the building and there was a gap between the electrical panel and exterior wall with a 2-in diameter hole cut through the exterior wall for two 12/2 cables.
• I added boxes and 12/2 wiring for 6 more ceiling fixtures around the perimeter of the interior. I won't actually connect all of this until I get the ceiling hung.
• I added boxes for duplex outlets 48-in off the floor on every other stud (48-in between outlets) on the main wall the benches will be located. Still have to run the 10/2 wire for those.
• Added two dedicated 20A duplex outlets in the center of the building for the Magma Master Pot and muffle furnace. Those circuits use 10/3 for the majority of the run with 10/2 split to each duplex outlet from a junction box.
• Added a 240V outlet for the welder using 6/3.

Thank God I abandoned the upstairs thought. The up close and personal look at the framing this weekend revealed some items I hadn't seen before. It was all fixable, but would be a major PITA to accomplish.

The board and batten siding has a lot of cracks in it. Most of them aren't big, but enough to see daylight through. It seems like it would take forever to seal those up and nothing says more won't develop, so I'm considering using steel panels over the exterior after removal of the battens. At least then I won't have to paint the exterior in my lifetime.

It's always something......

[grumman581]

If you don't want your dies rusting during the summer, remember to air-condition it.

[Guardian]

If you don't want your dies rusting during the summer, remember to air-condition it.

Yep, got a LONG way to go before I'm chilling in the AC, but I'll be wiring for that when I get to the back. I'm having to move stuff as I work, so I started on the relatively open areas. The west wall (right in the original photo) will be complete with wiring, insulation, and OSB interior before I move to the back wall. The back wall is already covered with OSB, so I've got to take it down for several purposes.

Some of the OSB is nailed, some of it is screwed. Based on the weekend's experience, all that's nailed will be shreds when I get it out.

[Geezer in NH]

Move into house, get rid of wife when she objects. Just my thought.

[Guardian]

Move into house, get rid of wife when she objects. Just my thought.

Wife buys as many guns as I do, has bought a fair amount of our reloading/casting/swaging equipment, is half the reason we have this property in the first place.....getting rid of her would be a pretty boneheaded move on my part.

She's got sisters, but I swear either she or they were adopted.

[grumman581]

She's got sisters, but I swear either she or they were adopted.

I know the feeling... I just tell my wife that there must have been a mix-up at the hospital and someone didn't maintain a proper chain of custody record.

Then again, I also claim that when talking about our daughter...

Or as I say when the daughter does something especially stupid, *her* daughter.

[j4570]

Having done a few garages, i would run two circuits to each wall. I did that on my long wall in my garage. I alternated circuits every 3 feet. I used ivory receptacles for one and brown for tbe other. That way i know whats plugged in what circuit. The back wall has only 1 circuit. That was a mistake! But it is grey colored. I like color coding them. Add plenty of light. And i used solid core doors for bench tops. See if u can get a damaged one discounted. You might could get junk ones at good will

[djw]

...used solid core doors for bench tops. See if u can get a damaged one discounted. You might could get junk ones at good will

Try the "ReStore", if they have them in your area. Full of building supplies and hardware, cabinets, furniture, donated for Habitat for Humanity.

[Guardian]

djw, Thanks for that tidbit. Turns out there are several around me. Never would have thought to look there.

j4570, That's an excellent point. I have done that, though not intentional. The existing receptacles are on a separate circuit from the new ones. The downside is that all the above bench are on the same circuit and the old ones are below the bench, but it works out since my tumblers will sit on the floor and they are one of the things constantly running. The big consumers of amps (muffle furnace and melting pot) have their own circuits. Again, I really appreciate that input.

Anyone see an issue with putting the AC and the air compressor on the same 60A 240V circuit? My thought is that the likelihood of both running at the same time is pretty low. I could put a sub panel in to lower the amperage rating for the breaker going to the AC unit.

[MikeInOr]

I would highly recommend isolating your case cleaning area from your reloading area. Case cleaning is messy and creates a lot of dust. I am moving my case cleaning down stairs so all my reloading equipment doesn't get covered with the dust.