My Workshop
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I’m building a workshop in my back garden (all council approved). Thought it might be of interest to some.
More pics
More again
That’s where we had to stop due to winter coming in. The lad in the pic is my eldest son.
The shed’s dimensions are 19′ long x 16′ wide and will be 8’2″ high (max height allowed if I don’t want to spend more cash on planning permission; right now it’s a ‘permitted dwelling’).
The space is soon eaten up though when you start adding things like a 7’x3′ workbench, table saw, lathe, tools cabinet etc.
Thanks for sharing. Yes I am (and I’m sure others are) interested to see this progressing.
It looks like it will be really nice when completed.
I guess you are right that the space will soon be eaten up. Equipment and projects always seem to expand to fill the space available. That said, you will have a lot more space than many people and even more importantly you will be able to dedicate it to purpose.
I “make do” with a single garage that is shared with all sorts of other things. It can get quite interesting/annoying trying to rearrange everything constantly, but in other ways it demonstrates how much more efficient hand tools are with space usage than machines.
Thank you
I guess if you have enough room for a workbench and room to comfortably move around it or even the one side of it, you have enough room for woodworking.
I’ve never done anything like this before and being 49 this year I thought it’s now or never. Just wish I’d done this 30 years ago.
Great project, and it looks like you know, what you are doing!
I hope you didn’t forget to reserve space for an oven, so you don’t need to stop woodworking in winter 😉
Dieter
I think it is the Years living in high seismic zone, but I cringe every time I see unreinforced masonry
It’s taken way longer than I anticipated. I won’t bore you with the details, but I’m looking to render and have the patio doors in within the next four weeks.
You’re doing a grand job. One question though. You only have single skin walls, how are you going to insulate it so you don’t freeze in the winter, are you going to use insulated plasterboard and what about the roof?
My meager 9.5 x 6.5 work space is a reinforced concrete shed and it is no joke trying to work in it in the winter months. I was going to line it but I need every inch of space I can get so I have bought an oil filled heater with a timer for this coming winter and I’m replacing the window with a double glazed unit. It’s not ideal but sometimes you have to work with what you have and I don’t have the luxury of space in my small garden to build a more substantial workshop.Best of luck.
Thanks Paul
To be honest, I’ve not given it much thought. Kingspan in the roof and very probably some insulated plasterboard on the walls. I’d also like to have a wood-burner in there but that’s going to be expensive and it’ll mean cutting a hole in the fibreglass roof – something I really don’t want to do. Some type of heater is an essential purchase whatever I do.
How do you keep the workshop floor clean, do you use the trusty sweeping brush and elbow grease or a vacuum cleaner? If the latter, is there a recommended one?
I use a brush/broom for the larger shavings and an old vacuum for the sawdust and smaller bits.
If you’re going to vacuum the lot, a semi-industrial machine; a Henry or a Kirby type works best – easily found secondhand quite cheaply.
Avoid using corrugated hoses, they’ll clog. Just use the straight tube with the shortest length of smooth hose. A vacuum with an exhaust connection is great for unblocking.
Brilliant
Thank you Alan.
I’ve taken to using a garden rake to gather debris from the floor. This leaves behind only the dust which is then easily vacuumed with a shop vac or pretty much any vacuum cleaner, but I make sure to use something with a HEPA filter. I do not use a broom. I did some experiments with a particle counter and convinced myself that dust is more of a problem than I realized even in a hand tools shop and that sweeping produced extraordinarily high dust levels throughout the space, which then settles everywhere and perpetuates the problem. The rake is quite effective.
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