My shop pictures: A Before and After

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  • RDavidP
    Forum Newbie
    • Jan 2011
    • 60
    • Maryland

    My shop pictures: A Before and After

    As mentioned earlier, I bought a house in Sept. of 2009 and it came with a 15'x9' shop. Here is what it looked like during the first year I lived here, and what I started off with. The pictures are as if you walked in, looked left, and then turned your head to the right.

    My workbench was probably the old kitchen cabinets, as the current ones look pretty new.


    A cabinet on the other side of the shop. Yup, my first set of tools were a boxed set of Ryobi battery powered tools, plus a battery powered chaulker. There were no more drafty windows in my house after buying that thing.


    From the next two pictures, you can see I do have plenty of storage cabinets on the wall. You can also see that the insulation was not quite completed when I got the shop. The walls were almost done, but no insulation in the ceiling. The people who we bought the house from mainly used the shop for storage. The person they bought the house from built the shop.



    One thing that you can't see here is how electricity was coming into the shop. After moving in, I figured it out. There were wires running underground from the corner of the shop to the corner of the house. From there an extension cord was tied into the wires, and then plugged into an outdoor electrical socket. My wife's cousin is an electrician, so I got him to rip all the old wiring out and run new wiring into the panel box on a new circuit like it supposed to be. Right now I have one 15amp circuit running into the shop with the wires in place for another circuit, and enough room to run wire for a third circuit. Those will be setup after we upgrade the house from 100amp service to 200amp service.

    The after pictures are to come shortly.
  • RDavidP
    Forum Newbie
    • Jan 2011
    • 60
    • Maryland

    #2
    Now for the after. This past October after living here for a year and finally getting the shop wired up like a sane person would, no more extension cord to power the shop, I started to do work on the inside. I first started moving around the workbench and floor cabinets I already had, finish insulating the walls and ceiling, bought tools, put up peg board and plywood walls. This past weekend, I took the old counter top shown below:


    And turned it into this:


    I now have my new shop setup. Again from left to right as you walk in the door. Thinking I might should send this picture to Ryobi and Home Depot customer relations. Maybe get a free tool out of it.




    I most likely will be getting rid of the white cabinet. I am putting a shelf on my new work bench and will be enclosing it.


    Ok, I still need to straighten up this corner.




    My table saw with cross cut sled on the new workbench.


    The top of my table saw and workbench are even, so the work bench can also act as a feed table for the table saw when ripping.


    Miter saw cabinet I built. The very top shelf is supposed to have an aluminum pan on it for catching the saw dust. Also this is not the permanent place for it. The cabinet is on wheels and I typically store it when not in use next to the bench grinder cabinet shown below.


    Another cabinet I built that should hold three small bench tools like a bench grinder with movable shelves. This cabinet is also on wheels.



    Of course, my insulated ceiling.

    Comment

    • LCHIEN
      Internet Fact Checker
      • Dec 2002
      • 20913
      • Katy, TX, USA.
      • BT3000 vintage 1999

      #3
      some "light-hearted" comments not mean to be critical:
      Hanging lights make 2x4 in process into great baseball bats.
      Door on front of roll-around tool cabinets look like trouble in tight shop space
      you'll wish for more than three circuits.
      You did a lot of good work.
      Loring in Katy, TX USA
      If your only tool is a hammer, you tend to treat all problems as if they were nails.
      BT3 FAQ - https://www.sawdustzone.org/forum/di...sked-questions

      Comment

      • Shep
        Senior Member
        • Nov 2008
        • 710
        • Columbus, OH
        • Hitachi C10FL

        #4
        Looks good. Reminds me of my shop with all the Ryobi stuff.
        -Justin


        shepardwoodworking.webs.com


        ...you can thank me later.

        Comment

        • dbhost
          Slow and steady
          • Apr 2008
          • 9209
          • League City, Texas
          • Ryobi BT3100

          #5
          Looks really good for the amount of space you have. You might want to try to figure out how to get the lawn and garden stuff out of your shop though. Then again, so do I...
          Please like and subscribe to my YouTube channel. Please check out and subscribe to my Workshop Blog.

          Comment

          • RDavidP
            Forum Newbie
            • Jan 2011
            • 60
            • Maryland

            #6
            Only thing lawn and garden is just the weed eater. The snow blower is about to go back into a metal shed on the other side of the yard now that our snow season is mostly over. When the snow season comes, the snow blower goes into my shop as that is easiest to get it out of should I unexpectedly need it.

            As for the big black case and thing in the blue bag, that is my telescope, and I hope to have a small shelter built for it soon.

            Comment

            • pelligrini
              Veteran Member
              • Apr 2007
              • 4217
              • Fort Worth, TX
              • Craftsman 21829

              #7
              Looking good. Lots of decent storage space, which is essential in small shops. My shop is a 10x12 shed. I added another 5x12 to it down one side for material storage. I know what a challenge it is to have a small space. Having efficient storage, and putting everything back into its proper place helps make small spaces more productive.

              I like using pegboard because of the flexibility of it. With my small space I find that I'll adjust my pegboard storage with new tool acquisitions; like adding another plane or more chisels. I used to have a couple large pegboard panels on one wall. A better solution was doing some pegboard door cabinets. I tripled the available surface space by doing some shallow cabinets and making use of the stud space. http://www.bt3central.com/showthread.php?t=39255 You can't use your stud space now, but you could really increase your available storage area doing some shallow pegboard door cabinets.
              Pappy's upper cabinet doors are pegboard too. http://www.bt3central.com/showthread.php?t=39236

              Too bad your shed doesn't have a gambrel roof. Mine makes up a lot of my storage space. There's quite a bit of stuff I put overhead. Especially long clamps & infrequently used items.

              You might consider putting in a sub panel out at your shed instead of running individual circuits back to your main. Just a 30 amp 220 feed off of your main box should give you plenty of power out there. I used to backfeed mine with a couple extension cords. I finally put in a subpanel. No longer had to choose between DC or AC (not talking about current types either).

              If you haven't done it yet, and if you can. Get rid of anything out there that's not related to your shop work. Yard tools, electrical materials, painting equipment etc. can take up a lot of valuable space.
              Erik

              Comment

              • JR
                The Full Monte
                • Feb 2004
                • 5633
                • Eugene, OR
                • BT3000

                #8
                Looking good! You're really getting a nice shop built there.

                Since we're offering advice...

                You might want to consider building drawers rather than shelves whenever the opportunity presents itself. You'll be collecting loads of drilling, cutting, marking, shaving, forming, sanding, smoking tools. They will be more efficiently stored, and easier to find, in drawers.

                Have fun!

                JR
                JR

                Comment

                • dbhost
                  Slow and steady
                  • Apr 2008
                  • 9209
                  • League City, Texas
                  • Ryobi BT3100

                  #9
                  I suspect you will eventually want to grow your shop tool selection to be able to do things like plane and joint rough lumber, drill straight repeatable holes, keep your lungs safe etc... I would suggest when you eventually do add a dust collector, that you run a port through the wall, and maybe build an enclosure for a dust collector and air compressor outside of the main shop area. OR at least port through the wall so that you can roll the DC outside while you are working.

                  I am not a huge fan of them due to quality issues, but if you check carefully, the Jet 10" jointer / planer combo machine can go an awfully long way in a small shop.

                  Another option is to build and use a "tool stacker", I have one in my shop...
                  , and I got the idea from a fellow BT3Central member a few years ago, named DonHo. I'm not sure, but I think he is in a 10x12 shed.


                  Peg board, although lots of guys hate it, is great for organizing things. You also are miles ahead of me organization wise with those cabinets. If you can add separators to make compartments for various tools to keep it all nice and tidy you won't have to dig around endlessly for this or that tool. I have added a few shelves for that purpose, but nothing as fancy as cabinets yet. (key word there!).

                  I absolutely LOVE seeing these smaller shed based shops. With all the lawn and garden stuff going on, I fear I will eventually, especially after I buy LOML a new car in a few years, get relegated to a shed in the back yard...
                  Please like and subscribe to my YouTube channel. Please check out and subscribe to my Workshop Blog.

                  Comment

                  • RDavidP
                    Forum Newbie
                    • Jan 2011
                    • 60
                    • Maryland

                    #10
                    Originally posted by dbhost
                    Another option is to build and use a "tool stacker", I have one in my shop...
                    , and I got the idea from a fellow BT3Central member a few years ago, named DonHo. I'm not sure, but I think he is in a 10x12 shed.


                    Peg board, although lots of guys hate it, is great for organizing things. You also are miles ahead of me organization wise with those cabinets. If you can add separators to make compartments for various tools to keep it all nice and tidy you won't have to dig around endlessly for this or that tool. I have added a few shelves for that purpose, but nothing as fancy as cabinets yet. (key word there!).
                    I can't see your picture of your tool stacker since I am at work, but the cabinet that my bench grinder is on is made to hold up to three small bench tools such as the bench grinder, a scroll saw, and a bench top belt sander, as examples. The boards that the tools are mounted on are movable, and then of course the cabinet can be rolled out to any open space in the shop, so the door is not really a problem.

                    As for the miter saw cabinet, that is not quite complete. I plan to make drawers that will fit the spaces between the shelves and use the shelves to hold the drawers.

                    As for those over head wall cabinets, to be truthfull they hold other non-shop stuff only because I couldn't find anywhere else to fit the stuff. One holds gun cleaning stuff, as the shop is where I clean my guns too. Another holds black powder accoutrements, other than black powder itself. Another cabinet has my collection of antlers and horns I am working on.

                    I will be getting rid of the white sliding door cabinet as I need this room for more tools on rolling carts. I want a bench press and may have to go with a bench top model on a short rolling cart. Also would like to be able to work rough lumber. A local lumber specialty shop will do that for you, but for a low price that adds up quickly. I have been reading stuff on how to do that with just a bench top planer, and a router or table saw. I have a router, just need to put it in a router table, again one that can easily be moved out of the way.

                    As for expanding on to the shop, or just adding a seperate building, I have to be careful right now. As long as the building is under 100sq. ft., you can do whatever you want for a out building. Once you get over 100sq. ft. building permits come into play. Also the other ordinance is that you can have as many out buildings as you want, but the total combined space they take up can not be anymore than 1/3 of your back yard. My main issue is it won't take too much to hit that 1/3 of the back yard because I also have not a huge back yard and another smaller aluminum garden shed, which is an eye sore. I am hoping to replace that nasty looking thing with something a little more durable soon. I also need to replace the outside walls of my shop. The bottom near the ground is rotting. I painted it to just cover it up, but you can only put some many layers of lipstick on a pig.

                    Comment

                    • dbhost
                      Slow and steady
                      • Apr 2008
                      • 9209
                      • League City, Texas
                      • Ryobi BT3100

                      #11
                      Sorry about that, the pics are hosted on Webshots...

                      I see what you are doing with the cabinets, and that makes sense... Like I said, if you can't but an extension on, just port through the wall so the dust collector isn't something you are tripping over while you work... See Pappy's shop for more ideas there...

                      I am officially limited to 120 sq / ft shop if I do an outbuilding. So if that happens, I am going to cut down to half rails, with that folding extension wing that was posted here a while back... Not an issue with your saw, but my saw right now will literally rip 72". VERY long saw...

                      The big part for me would be to get permission from the HOA, and a permit from the city for the larger shed. I would really want to go 12x16 to get enough space to squeeze it all in...
                      Please like and subscribe to my YouTube channel. Please check out and subscribe to my Workshop Blog.

                      Comment

                      • pelligrini
                        Veteran Member
                        • Apr 2007
                        • 4217
                        • Fort Worth, TX
                        • Craftsman 21829

                        #12
                        Originally posted by RDavidP
                        I also need to replace the outside walls of my shop. The bottom near the ground is rotting. I painted it to just cover it up, but you can only put some many layers of lipstick on a pig.
                        I replaced the lower 2' or so on one wall of my shop last summer. I made a wood pile outside that wall when I moved in to the house. A few years later when I went to remove the rotten pile of wood (you can't put wood directly on the ground for very long) I found a lot of rotten siding. The paint was the only thing left in places.

                        Tacked a guide strip to the wall, set my skillsaw for a 5/8" deep cut, removed siding that didn't just fall off, vacuumed behind my cabinets, found my lost holesaw & tack hammer, installed new siding with a few lengths of Z flashing and caulking at the joint.
                        Erik

                        Comment

                        • RDavidP
                          Forum Newbie
                          • Jan 2011
                          • 60
                          • Maryland

                          #13
                          Originally posted by dbhost
                          Sorry about that, the pics are hosted on Webshots...
                          I see the pictures now. How do you like the Ryobi planer you have?

                          Comment

                          • dbhost
                            Slow and steady
                            • Apr 2008
                            • 9209
                            • League City, Texas
                            • Ryobi BT3100

                            #14
                            It's been very reliable. I've had it now for 3 years, haven't had to flip knives yet. The missing extension tables is a pain, and can cause snipe to be fairly deep. But just support the stock when it goes in and when it comes off the feed rollers and the snipe is negligible / almost non existent... Shy of a DW735 which is out of my price league, I think this is the best bang for the buck...
                            Please like and subscribe to my YouTube channel. Please check out and subscribe to my Workshop Blog.

                            Comment

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