New Workshop, Finally!

[David2011]

When we left SE New Mexico we left behind a good workshop of almost 1300 sq feet. It had plenty of electrical service, natural gas, a half bath and three nice rooms that were air conditioned and heavily insulated. Settling in Texas we bought a place where we could build a small shop. After a year of living in the new house it looks like the groundbreaking of the new shop will be Wednesday, Aug 19. The slab is only 20x21 but I'll have some space upstairs for a loading and casting area. I may have to use the Dillons sitting down because the headspace isn't there to put them on my old 42" tall bench. I've only used the Dillons while standing since I got my first one in 1991. At least I'll be back in the reloading bidness.

The design has been under refinement since last fall. I've spent countless hours learning a new CAD program and redrawing the shop until I think it's the best it can be for the space. The lower floor will be for building RC airplanes and other woodworking. I've built and flown model airplanes since I was 10 and now I'm retired. I hope to replace the mill and lathe I sold when we moved eventually.

One detail I still haven't decided is whether to put OSB or sheet rock on the walls. No doubt, sheet rock will look nicer but the utility of being able to hang items of moderate weight anywhere on OSB has a lot of appeal. What do you think?

[dangitgriff]

I personally don’t care for the look of bare OSB, but it can be painted.
Saw a video of a guy who made a whole-wall hanging system using strips of wood run across the entire length of the wall, enabling him to customize every shelf and bin, and to swap locations and rearrange it easily. I bet this method would be perfect for your smaller woodworking shop. I will come back and add the video when I find it.
R/Griff

[dangitgriff]

Okay, after a quick search I learned the correct terminology for that style of shelving, it’s called the French cleat system. Here’s a YouTube video on building them:

https://youtu.be/lzd0dxziyIs

[MrWolf]

I went the route of sheetrock then pegboard in the garage. Every wall is covered in pegboard.

[David2011]

The appeal of French cleats on a wall is growing on me. Lots of woodworkers utilize them either as individual strips or as entire walls like the one in the video. Unfortunately that would cost about $150 for every 12 feet of wall that's covered that way. In the first shop I built the walls were covered in 1/4" pegboard. I've tried to use it in other shops as well in smaller quantities but almost every time I take something off of a hook the hook comes out of the pegboard. I saw an area that had been covered in OSB and then had 3 coats of Kilz rolled onto it. That much Kilz was thick enough that the walls looked like textured drywall. It looked good but rolling on that much Kilz would take a lot of time and money. Probably 20 gallons for the shop but it's a way to make OSB look decent. My last shop had textured drywall for the gunsmithing room and the reloading room. No issues with drywall there but all of my woodworking machines were in the open area of the metal building so there wasn't anything on the walls.

[nun2kute]

Okay, after a quick search I learned the correct terminology for that style of shelving, it’s called the French cleat system. Here’s a YouTube video on building them:

https://youtu.be/lzd0dxziyIs

my great father liked pegboard, me not so much. made mine all from re-claimed wood with dados and used BLO for finish. if your building your shop new, the French cleat system has the added benefit of being highly customizable to the way you work. that video was very interesting, and the ones after it gave some good pointers about how NOT to do it.

[glaciers]

In my loading room I used plywood and then hung rock on it. No need to make something to span from stud to stud just screw right in anywhere. In my shop it's painted plywood, OSB gets rough over time especially if you're in a high humidity area. My shop will get Sheetrock at some point if I live that long.

Peg board sucks except in small area for a specific use.

[country gent]

Having been thru what you are starting for the last year with new building and shop inside heres my thoughts increase size to 40 x 42 they gill up way to fast when machines are involved. I put Plywood up on the walls my new building is 40 X 50 X 10 the shop is 17 x 30 x 10. Shop is insulated air and heat.

You didnt mention doors If no garage doors then use the biggest entry doors you can. My front entry door is a double 6' in line with the 8' pocket door to the shop. The back door is a 4' single door. the big doors make moving machinery and stock in or finished projects out much easier. Also consider windows and placement. Anther is air supply a manifold placed in the floor ceiling supply both with compressed air thru connectors in the walls, this makes it so only short air hoses are needed and no hoses on the floor to walk over, Electrical outlets figure what you need and add 1/3 more or double them. 110 and 220. My machines are hard wired in 2 from drops in the ceiling Lights outlets are in the ceiling also. I highly recommend knowing what and where you want it before starting.
Mine has been nick named the BOAT ( Bust Out Another Thousand)

[shell70634]

Electrical outlets figure what you need and add 1/3 more or double them. 110 and 220.

I made that mistake in the first shop. Remembered the lesson when I built the second one. Living in Baytown, you may want to look at de-humidifiers especially if you have areas without a/c.

I used osb bottom 4 feet and white 1/4 pegboard for the upper walls. They make small plastic clips to keep the pegs in. The white pegboard and shiny white ceiling panels help reflect light.

Shelly

[rancher1913]

if osb gets hard to find you could use the metal wainscot panels, they have a more commercial look but are tough and easy to replace when damaged. like country gent said, if you can make it bigger at the get go, its cheaper than add ons later, even if it means doing less refinements on the inside right away.

[Mal Paso]

I won't use OSB or particle board for any projects. They are heavier than plywood and won't stand humidity.

I used plasterboard in my shop. No spotting screws, it's a one coat process with plaster that sets rather than mud that dries. So glad I insulated it.

[jsizemore]

Drywall is fine if you keep the space air conditioned. Living in a place called Baytown I imagine your humidity is on the high side. Exterior grade OSB will stand up just fine in a garage. If you like standing when you load, try building 4'x4'x3.5' high box on rollers for your bench so you can turn it to get the high spot for stand up loading. I like standing to reload.

[country gent]

My dislike with plasterboard or drywall in a shop setting it moving stock and heavy items a mis move and bump youve got a hole your walls

[David2011]

my great father liked pegboard, me not so much. made mine all from re-claimed wood with dados and used BLO for finish. if your building your shop new, the French cleat system has the added benefit of being highly customizable to the way you work. that video was very interesting, and the ones after it gave some good pointers about how NOT to do it.

The video showed a great way to set up French cleats. I've seen it done in many videos; that was the best layout method so far. I agree, lots of bad examples on YouTube, too.


In my loading room I used plywood and then hung rock on it. No need to make something to span from stud to stud just screw right in anywhere. In my shop it's painted plywood, OSB gets rough over time especially if you're in a high humidity area. My shop will get Sheetrock at some point if I live that long.

Peg board sucks except in small area for a specific use.

I did sheetrock over OSB in some areas of my last shop. Don't think I need it here.


Having been thru what you are starting for the last year with new building and shop inside heres my thoughts increase size to 40 x 42 they gill up way to fast when machines are involved. I put Plywood up on the walls my new building is 40 X 50 X 10 the shop is 17 x 30 x 10. Shop is insulated air and heat.

You didnt mention doors If no garage doors then use the biggest entry doors you can. My front entry door is a double 6' in line with the 8' pocket door to the shop. The back door is a 4' single door. the big doors make moving machinery and stock in or finished projects out much easier. Also consider windows and placement. Anther is air supply a manifold placed in the floor ceiling supply both with compressed air thru connectors in the walls, this makes it so only short air hoses are needed and no hoses on the floor to walk over, Electrical outlets figure what you need and add 1/3 more or double them. 110 and 220. My machines are hard wired in 2 from drops in the ceiling Lights outlets are in the ceiling also. I highly recommend knowing what and where you want it before starting.
Mine has been nick named the BOAT ( Bust Out Another Thousand)

The shop would be bigger if I could. There's no space to make it bigger. The location of utilities coming into the existing garage are one limiting factor; easements are another. Last shop was 36'x36' so I have to live with what I can do. That's just a price of moving close to my aging parents that I'm happy to pay. This shop is attached to the back of my 3 car garage which has an 8'x8' door in the back of the garage that will separate the shop from the garage. It will remain functional for ease of moving machinery and materials in and out. The air supply will be PEX set on the surface just in case it needs changes or maintenance. The compressor will be in a store room in the garage on its own circuit. There will be a 110VAC duplex outlet on every other stud (16" centers) and outlets in the ceiling for LED lighting and the air filtration. There will be two separate lighting circuits controlled from wall switches. For 220 service I'll have a dedicated circuit for the welding machine, one for the air conditioner and two outlets for the table saw and dust collector. Planning has been ongoing for many months so I have a pretty good idea of what will go where.


Electrical outlets figure what you need and add 1/3 more or double them. 110 and 220.

I made that mistake in the first shop. Remembered the lesson when I built the second one. Living in Baytown, you may want to look at de-humidifiers especially if you have areas without a/c.

I used osb bottom 4 feet and white 1/4 pegboard for the upper walls. They make small plastic clips to keep the pegs in. The white pegboard and shiny white ceiling panels help reflect light.

Shelly

No chance of going without air conditioning. It was dry here today; the humidity was only 55% at the heat of the day and it was 94°. Heat index was 103°. I just don't like pegboard. I have the small plastic clips. Still don't like it for myself but can't say I'll never use any.

[David2011]

Drywall is fine if you keep the space air conditioned. Living in a place called Baytown I imagine your humidity is on the high side. Exterior grade OSB will stand up just fine in a garage. If you like standing when you load, try building 4'x4'x3.5' high box on rollers for your bench so you can turn it to get the high spot for stand up loading. I like standing to reload.

I like standing to reload on progressives but there's no headroom for a 650 on a bench where I'll be reloading. To stay within the height of my existing garage I can only manage to get 72" in the upstairs "storage" loft. Guess I should have designed in a cupola and widow's walk for more headroom. You're right; I'm 6 miles from Galveston Bay. I have friends not too far away that live in Beach City. You guessed it!

[country gent]

To gain a little cushion in the electrical my mini split comes of the house circuit taking that 20-30 amps off the 100 amp garage circuit. With the rotary converter for the big lathe and lathe running an air compressor and possibly the furnace air kicking in I may be close to the 100 amps at times.

Something to consider on the electrical equipment and supply. Check the equipment for peak amperage and add up any combinations that may be running together at the same time to make sure your under the supply.

[Ozark mike]

Id put efis or stucco over ply since i can't bring myself to recommend osb

[redneck1]

You could use the steel interior duro liner , its a good bit cheaper then what the exterior steel siding /roofing is .
Its durable , already painted and no more difficult to put up then anything else .


I have a 21x21 shop .. You can be surprised by how much stuff you can cram in with some thought on how you wanna use everything .
Putting some things on wheels so you can move it around helps to .

[bedbugbilly]

Congrats on your plans for a new shop finally coming together! You'll enjoy it greatly I'm sure.

Over the years, I have had a number of "shops" to work in. I started out with a 20 X 40 shop at my house when I started my custom woodworking/millwork shop and luckily, had a 20 X 40 shop at my folk's house 1/2 mile away that I could use as well. Both were lined with OSB - painted a basic white. Like you say, it's convenient to be able to put up hangers, hooks, etc. anywhere you want to to hang things on. When I built my shop in town - about 2,500 square feet - I decided to line the shop with rough sawn ship-lap - it was a woodworking shop after all and I wanted the "aesthetics" look of an old time shop - and I design the building on the outside to look the same way.

I was on the fire department at the time and those things always stick int he back your mind - "what if". When I built the shop in town, I was on village water system and I plumbed a 1" water line to both ends of the shop with a valve and a heavy duty hose/nozzle coiled on a hanger where it could quickly be turned on if needed and each hose was long enough to go the length of the building.

I eventuallyy closed my business and rented the building out. Unfortunately, I had a tenant who leased the building and couldn't "make it" so he torched the building and as a result, considerable damage was done - but fortunately, the FD got the fire knocked down and I was able to have the building repaired.

My point is this - when I built the building I was "young" and looking back, "very foolish" when I lined the interior with the shiplap - yea - it looked great - but certainly not fireproof. When the shop in town was rebuilt, I opted to have the entire interior lined - walls and ceilings - with 5/8 firecode drywall.

If you are going to be doing woodworking and plane building - I'm sure you will not only have the sawdust issues but also be working with different adhesives - some of which are flammable as well as a variety of finishes. You might want to consider and compare the costs on OSB versus firecode drywall as far as lining the walls and for your ceiling in you shop. If, heaven forbid, a fire ever got started in your shop - the firecode drywall might make the difference between keeping the fire contained until your local FD can get there to knock it down as opposed to losing the entire structure and contents. Your studs will still be behind your drywall and a commercial type shelving/hanging system, installed over it or you can run horizontal boards such as 1 X 4, 1 X 6, etc. on a wall to which you can attach hooks, hangers, etc. to hold tools, patterns, fixtures, etc.

A lot of things to consider and it sounds like you have spent a lot of time in planning it all out. The nice thing is that you are starting from scratch and design it for you and what you want to do. Good luck with your build and I hope you'll post some photos as it moves along - always nice to see what others do. Enoy your retirement and new home - you'll get a lot of enjoyment out of your new shoo!

[David2011]

BedBugBilly makes lots of sense. I have decided that OSB is not a good choice. I can make French cleat panels and hang them where necessary. My first choice of wall material would be birch plywood finished with satin polyurethane but that would cost more than I'm willing to spend and would take a week to finish. A week isn't much on the grand scheme but I'm ready to get my tools out of storage and start making things like shop cabinets.

Lots of the YouTube woodworking people have shiplap, pallet wood or other wood coverings behind them but for the most part those are just sets for the videography.

I rarely use adhesives that are flammable. My favorite glues are the Titebond series for both big stuff and the airplanes. I use epoxy when necessary; very little of anything else. I do miss the Ambroid that many of us used as kids, especially peeling it off of my fingers.

[David2011]

The floor will be garage finished concrete. I'm looking for suggestions from people with experience in clear, slick sealers/finishes like some of the big box stores use. I don't want to paint the floor with epoxy or other paint products; just looking for something to keep the concrete from making its own dust and to make it easier to clean. My last shop is New Mexico had some insulated, air conditioned finished rooms within it but 2/3 of the space was just a metal building that let the dirt and dust in every time the wind blew hard. We had about 10 calm days a year. The floor was always gritty and everything in the shop that wasn't in the rooms had a layer of dirt and dust on it when we moved out. I'm done with that and just want a reasonably clean shop environment.

[Mal Paso]

The back panel will be 50% covered by the fixed cleats, the rest will be covered by movable cleats and shelves. The back panel could be 3/8 sheer with better wood in front.



I rarely use adhesives that are flammable. My favorite glues are the Titebond series for both big stuff and the airplanes. I use epoxy when necessary; very little of anything else.

Dad got me into Titebond and Epoxy but he was using a lot of Zap in later years. I've still got the lacquer thinner jar for rescuing sticky fingers.

[David2011]

The location of the shop behind the existing garage

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Removing the brick veneer where the shop will attach

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Big pile of concrete from the old concrete slab that had to come out

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[David2011]

Weather delays! First, an unexpected thunder storm dumped 1.1" of rain in about 45 minutes last Saturday while the concrete guys were trenching for the beams. The rain came so fast that the trenches started slumping. As of Monday morning Marco was a concern but looks like it will be nothing for us. Now Laura is threatening but looks like it will probably go in closer to Cameron/Lake Charles, about 95 miles to the east. I hope wherever it hits the damage is minimal. I've experienced hurricanes since Carla in 1961 and don't wish them on anyone. We'll start again after Laura has left the area.

[winelover]

Seal the new concrete with a clear sealer. My basement shop has held up well when house was built, nine years ago. Built a detached garage, two years ago, everyone comments on how nice the floor is. Same concrete contractor, did both.

Winelover

[David2011]

Winelover,

Do you have a recommendation for a sealer? That has been my plan from the beginning but I have no idea which ones are good. I would like to have a shiny floor that’s easy to clean and easy to repair if the finish is damaged.

[rancher1913]

talk to your concrete supplier, not the contractor but the actual batch plant, they will have all kinds of choices for a sealer and will be better quality than hd or lowes.

[lightman]

Congratulations on getting closer to building a new shop! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do mine.

My shop is a steel building and I framed up 2X4's between the pearlings and then mounted 1/4in pegboard on them. Yeah, the pegs come out sometime but I can live with that. They make a plastic keeper for them that works marginally well. With a little patience you can work a ZipTie or wire through the holes to hold it in. Well, maybe more than a "little" patience but it can be done.

I have wired a lot of farm shops in my career. Most of them are steel buildings and anywhere from 40X60 to 120X180 ft, and some bigger. A lot of them use the same steel siding on the inside thats on the outside, up to the first pearling. That works well for them and you can mount your heavy stuff to the pearlings.

I wired one shop where the owner painted the floor with a gritty like epoxy and while it looks and wears nicely its hard to sweep or blow off.

Overall, you plan sounds like it will make a nice shop. I know you are excited.I have enjoyed following CountryGents build.

[David2011]

Thanks, Lightman. This is the toughest shop build of the four I’ve done. Between creating the design to have just barely enough headroom in the “storage loft” to getting the building permit as an amateur to finding a suitable contractor it was a lot of work just to get to signing a contract. The exterior has to be compatible with the architecture of the house. I have the skills to do most of the work; just don’t want to spend a year doing it. I enjoy wiring but the crew will get it done in a day or two. We’ll see in the morning how the sand for the foundation fares. Laura is making landfall about 70 miles east of us and its west side is small so there may not be much impact. We have several days of thunderstorms unrelated to the hurricane forecast after the storm passes. Once the earthwork is covered with concrete the situation should stabilize.

[Three44s]

To the OP,

I hope you all are safe and that your project is not damaged!

Prayers sent to all about to be affected!

Thre44s

[winelover]

Winelover,

Do you have a recommendation for a sealer? That has been my plan from the beginning but I have no idea which ones are good. I would like to have a shiny floor that’s easy to clean and easy to repair if the finish is damaged.

Sorry, I don't know the name of the sealer. Came in a black five gallon pail. Stunk to high heavens, for a few days. Take rancher's recommendation.

Winelover

[David2011]

We had a big surprise when we looked outside this morning. The contractor hadn't been called, the framer hadn't been called and we didn't hear the doorbell or any noise. What kind of stupid would make someone thing this is OK? Two cars inside. SWMBO has trouble getting into the pickup.

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[Mal Paso]

Brilliant! Lumberyard needs to send the forklift back. The plywood couldn't have been rolled off.

[David2011]

To the OP,

I hope you all are safe and that your project is not damaged!

Prayers sent to all about to be affected!

Thre44s

Thank you! The storm went in, as we all know now, in the Lake Charles area. We got a 20 mph breeze and not a drop of rain. Prayers to the people affected for a fast recovery.

I've been busy and worn out from watching over the project. It's surprising how tiring it is just to keep up with other people working. More progress and decisions have been made. The structure is up and the roof is on. The framers/roofers did a great job of tying the new structure into the existing garage and the shingles matched the existing roof perfectly as it was only 10 months old. The ceilings on both floors will be sheet rock and the walls will be birch plywood finished with clear water based polyurethane. Electrical rough-in starts tomorrow. The upstairs area will be a mix of storage and another work area. Headroom in the center is about 6'4" and I'm 5'8" so I'll have good space available. I'll set the reloading bench even with where my head meets the sloping ceiling. That will give room for all of my single stage presses, the Dillon 550 and the casting bench. I'm going to have to figure out how to use the 650 sitting down. I've never done that before. There's just no headroom for the case feeder at a standing bench. I had the roofers set a vent in the roof so I can hook up a bathroom vent fan. I'll set it into a home built vent hood. That should help with fluxing smoke.

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[David2011]

Nothing much to show but progress is good. The Hardi-Plank is up, wiring is roughed in and passed the inspection. Most of the insulation went in today, to be finished and inspected tomorrow afternoon. Maybe paint on the exterior tomorrow. Pictures again after paint.

[David2011]

No joy on paint today but the insulation got finished and the inspector signed off on it. The skies look sketchy to be painting. The forecast for tomorrow is encouraging. The drywall should go on the ceilings tomorrow.

[bedbugbilly]

Really looking nice! Bet you're getting excited to get in and start enjoying it!

[David2011]

It's been busy around here. Lots of progress has been made. Hurricane Delta is passing to the east today. Prayers for the poor people that are getting hit for the second time this year. Work is slow today because even though it only got to 74° today the humidity was 90%. That is not good working conditions. It should be ready for the floor finish sometime next week. The birch plywood walls are in. No issue with the building code since they are over 1/4" thick. Final electrical is scheduled for tomorrow. Two rows of lights are in and two more in the middle will be installed. I bought a 10 pack of 8' Barrina LED lights from Amazon. The output is tremendous. Electrical consumption is 72 watts each. I'm sure the windows will glow at night like a garage in a science fiction movie. The reloading room is upstairs and I ended up with about 4" more headroom than expected. Someone 6' tall can walk around easily. The walls are finished in water based polyurethane. With 2x6 studs the structure is really solid feeling. I hope the R-19 insulation and plywood will help contain the sounds of saws and routers. The torsion box door is for access to the attic in the garage to which the shop is attached. That will eliminate having to use the marginal pull-down attic ladder as I get older. It got insulation in the cavities before I closed it up. It's an incredibly stiff and strong structure for a door. It's made of the same plywood as the walls so while it's not invisible, it does blend in well. It's pretty exciting to see the end of the build nearing.

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[bedbugbilly]

Very nice! Looks like you are on the homeward stretch and it won't be long and you'll be organizing everything in it. Those light ought to really be nice when you're working in it. Good lighting is one of the most important features of any shop/

[David2011]

Thanks, BBB. Got the 110V electrical completed today. Last night I added the third of four rows of LEDs for the first floor. Might need sunscreen. Love it! Will add some trim tomorrow and in the coming days the floor will be etched and coated with Eagle solvent based acrylic finish for easy cleaning. The 240V outlets will be installed in their boxes in a few days and the AC mini-split heads are all here so I should be finished shortly. That means I get to start all over again by building cabinets and workbenches. I've noticed that the plywood vendors on Facebook Marketplace have not raised their prices like the big box stores have on lumber and plywood so I may substitute 2 layers of ply for 2x4s where I can. Sure, the techniques are a little different but I can build what I want without breaking into my 401K. At Lowe's yesterday a 2x4x8' was $5.88. Sorry; I don't want to pay that for a cheap board. I can get 3/4" ply for $32-$35/sheet with a birch veneer and 1/2" Baltic birch is $18.50 for a 5x5 sheet. No need to pay big box store prices.

[monkey wrangler]

Congratulations on the new shop any size shop is better than no shop. I put a louvered steel over plywood behind my reloading bench it holds bins really well and will use the Securite gun wall system if you are willing to spend that much. I work with metal a lot and plan to make my own brackets to hold tools and what not on the louvered panels in the hopefully near future. There are 4 panels in that picture and it was about 260 for the panels.

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[David2011]

Yes, any shop is better than no shop. I like the steel wall panel. Unfortunately, I don't have much in the way of walls upstairs where the reloading equipment will go. The ceiling slopes to within 22" of the floor on the reloading bench side and all the way to the floor on the opposite side. The slope is around 30° and the ceiling is only about 14 inches x 19 feet. I'll post pictures pretty soon. It will be an unusual and unique setup but I'm comfortable that it will be fully functional. One of the benefits of the ceiling slope is that two of the 8' LED lights absolutely flood the upstairs area with illumination.

[dangitgriff]

Love that setup you have, Monkey Wrangler. I will be wanting that work bench, very similar to the one I had at my last work location, we had chairs on the right and a couple drawers on the left where your shelves are.
—Griff

[David2011]

We're getting close to completion.

Sorta wide shot looking from the garage into the shop. I’m standing in an 8’x8’ garage door that leads from the garage to the shop. One more string of lights still to come.

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This wall faces the newly poured patio. I wanted a steel door that opened outward. It had to be ordered; still waiting. I put a piece of OSB up every evening in the mean time.

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Upstairs facing the existing garage. The opening will allow access to the attic of the garage. Its entire 3 car area in the attic is floored in plywood and has shelving that was installed by the original owner. This will sure beat climbing up the pull-down stairs. The torsion box door I built is in the floor.

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The other end of the attic. The outlets on the right will be at the back edge of the reloading bench. Power and a roof vent are installed for a fan to clear the smoke from fluxing. My head just brushes the ceiling when I walk to the location of the front edge of the bench. I have a decent amount of room for walking around. It helps that I’m only 5’8”.

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[David2011]

Not much to show but work is still moving along. All four rows of lights are installed on the main floor and they are really bright. There are only very slight shadows on the floor as I move around. It’s also very even light. I cleaned and acid etched the floor today so tomorrow the shiny finish goes down. The electrical gets finished Tuesday and final inspections are on Wednesday. The electrician has caused numerous delays and has been warned to expect significant penalties if he gets failed on another inspection. He installed two arc fault breakers where GFCI or combination AFCI/GFCI were required and then wanted me to wait 5 days before he could come back and correct the problem. Once the final inspections are signed off I can start moving the big tool in and start making cabinets and workbenches. That is, after my brother, our cousin and I go to the much delayed NHRA Spring Nationals. Houston Raceway Park is only about 5 miles from my house.

[David2011]

Finally, something more to see. I acid etched the floor yesterday and rolled on the first coat of Eagle solvent based glossy concrete sealer this afternoon. A second coat will be needed because the first one soaked in pretty well in places. The uneven color of the concrete was the result of the concrete guys not ordering enough concrete on the first order and then working it for 2-1/2 to 3 hours to keep it moving while they waited on 4 more yards to arrive. I don't like it but by the time tools and benches are on it I hope it will look like it was deliberately acid stained. Yeah, that's it. Acid stained.

The sealer is based on the xylene/toluene/lacquer thinner family of solvents so there is some strong odor. One benefit to that solvent family is that the cured finish is resolvent; additional application will melt into the existing layer so if it has to be repaired the repairs will bond well. I had two floor fans blowing fresh air in and it was tolerable. Really, it wasn't nearly as strong as I expected compared to having covered and painted airplanes with nitrate and butyrate dopes. The sealer was a little thicker than I expected which I consider a benefit. It's roughly the consistency of natural spar varnish so there is the ability to smooth out minor roughness with a couple of coats.

All of the work, as is usually the case, was in the prep. I washed the floor with soapy water and then acid etched it with Klean Strip Concrete and Metal Prep per the instructions. This product is not nearly as bad to use as muriatic acid. After scrubbing with a stiff broom it was rinsed and allowed to dry overnight.

I expect that the gloss finish will make cleaning the floor much easier.

The white lines are reflections of the LED lights.
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Before and after contrast.
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[David2011]

A few pieces of trim need to go up but beyond that the shop construction is complete. Now it's time to go to work. A few tools have been moved in but the bulk are still in either the garage or the storage unit. I was fortunate to get a nice table saw that I had seen for sale about a year ago. The seller was the original owner and had spent a ton on upgrades. It's a hybrid cabinet saw with a 1.75 hp motor and a micro adjustable fence system. The old contractor's saw back by the stairs will be put up for sale in a few days. The first job is to move the other stationary tools in and see how my SketchUp plans work out. I'm sure there will be changes. Once I figure out where the bigger tools will stay I can start building cabinets and workbenches.

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