I want to say that first and foremost, I have no idea what I'm doing. I am not a contractor. I have no construction skills. I have never read a single book on the subject. That being said, I'm sure that I will do things wrong, or not as efficient as I could have.

I have read through some of the "pics of your garage" thread. Wow. There are some amazing spaces out there. The area that I have to work with is nothing compared to some of you guys. Although, I am excited because this will be the first time that I have a covered space to work in. Prior to this, I've done every upgrade/change in a driveway.

Where I live there is an old unfinished pole building. Unfortunately, it's full of stuff, most of which actually belongs in the finished shop.

http://i751.photobucket.com/albums/xx158/cindyschamber/013.jpg

The goal for this building is to construct it as cheap as possible. So far I have managed to purchase everything for the project second hand with the exception of some of the lumber. I paid for everything with things that I sold on craigslist.

The first thing I bought was an air compressor. When considering air compressors its all about CFM. What's the CFM at 40psi? At 90psi? Is it a single stage or dual stage? The better compressors are dual stage compressors meaning that there are two different sized pistons. One bigger one that pumps the tank full of compressed air, and another smaller one that keeps it topped off. These are better because they don't produce as much water as the single stage and are typically quieter because they tend to run at a lower RPM.

Now, that being said I didn't buy a two stage compressor. Why? Simple. Cost. Even buying one second hand, you should still expect to spend about 500.00. I bought a nice 60 gallon upright single stage compressor. It cost me 200.00 and will perform most of my needs nicely.

The first thing I want to do is frame out the space so I can run electrical, insulate, and drywall. I have to remove all the old Ceder siding. It's kind of a pain because the building was built on top of it. So I have to score the siding and snap it off. I am trying to salvage as much as possible so I can re use it outside.

http://i751.photobucket.com/albums/xx158/cindyschamber/011.jpg

After that, I framed in one wall.
http://i751.photobucket.com/albums/xx158/cindyschamber/014.jpg

Well, the weather turned nice so I decided to work outside for a bit. I want to build a lean-to to put the compressor in. That way it will be a tiny bit quieter in the shop and I can utilize the space.

The first thing I did was build a floor. I had to buy the pressure treated lumber but the OSB I got as scrap from the ReStore. (ReStore is stuff that is donated to Habitat for Humanity)

http://i751.photobucket.com/albums/xx158/cindyschamber/012.jpg

I ended up making the floor 4' by 3'. Mostly because that's the widest my scrap piece was.

So I went around to the side where the lean-to is going to be. I raked and shoveled away the dirt and did my best to make the ground level. I plan on placing bricks where all the joints meet.

Next, I extended the roofline. I basically copied the existing roof. I cut some 2 by 6's and nailed them to the side of the existing 2 by 6's. Then I measured and cut some scrap plywood and nailed it to the new roof.

http://i751.photobucket.com/albums/xx158/cindyschamber/016.jpg

http://i751.photobucket.com/albums/xx158/cindyschamber/015.jpg

http://i751.photobucket.com/albums/xx158/cindyschamber/017.jpg

Tomorrow I'm going to shingle it with the scraps that are left over from when the roof was re-shingled. Also, I am going to connect the floor piece to the roof piece. Plus I have a bit of craigslist shopping I want to take care of. I have an oven I want to look at. (For powder-coating) and possibly some cabinets.

Looking good, if you can do car stuff this is pretty easy, just take your time.

Looks and sounds to me like you are doing a great job. If you can get this all done on the cheap and end up with a dry warm place to work you will have something there you can be proud of. Keep up the good work.

Looks and sounds to me like you are doing a great job. If you can get this all done on the cheap and end up with a dry warm place to work you will have something there you can be proud of. Keep up the good work.


Couldnt have said it better myself. looks like a good place to me. :)

Thanks for all the encouragement fellas.

Here's a pic of my compressor.
http://i751.photobucket.com/albums/xx158/cindyschamber/018.jpg

Here's a pic of my latest craigslist score.
http://i751.photobucket.com/albums/xx158/cindyschamber/020.jpg

Check out this sweet 1980's technology!
http://i751.photobucket.com/albums/xx158/cindyschamber/021.jpg

Now I have an oven for my future powder-coating plans. It's even an in wall oven. That'll be nice on my back.

Awesome, keep at it!
I'm about to build a "room" for one of my compressors also shortly.

looks good.

Plus the oven is self cleaning. Nice touch. :D

Well the weather was hit and miss today. I didn't get to enclose the lean-to. Also, I'm going to have to wait for nicer weather for the roof to dry out before I put the shingles on it.

So I worked inside a bit. I got the rest of the Ceder siding removed. It ended up taking quite a bit longer than I thought it would. Underneath there was some interesting drawings. All drawn in crayon, LOL.

http://i751.photobucket.com/albums/xx158/cindyschamber/008.jpg

Then I framed in one section of the opposing wall.

http://i751.photobucket.com/albums/xx158/cindyschamber/009.jpg

After that I moved my new oven into the garage. It had to spend the night in the truck bed under a trap.

http://i751.photobucket.com/albums/xx158/cindyschamber/011-1.jpg

The first thing I did on this project was build that bench that the oven is sitting on. (I actually built two.)

I found the plans here:
http://www.hammerzone.com/archives/workshop/bench/below20xl.html

I modified the plans a tiny bit to use the wood more efficiently. It is nice to actually have a couple of benches that you don't really care about.

Well I got back out it a bit today. I had a few extra hours to kill.

So I laid down the foundation for my little lean to.

First thing I did was lay down some gravel.

http://i751.photobucket.com/albums/xx158/cindyschamber/030.jpg

The first thing I did was tamp the gravel down. Next I placed 8 bricks at all of the intersections in the floor. We had them laying around anyway. I made sure the bricks were level. After that I filled in all around the bricks and placed the floor on it's new foundation.

http://i751.photobucket.com/albums/xx158/cindyschamber/031.jpg

Now it's level and solid.

Next, I moved the air compressor (temporarily) to it's new home. Sorry for the crappy pic. The sun was setting.

http://i751.photobucket.com/albums/xx158/cindyschamber/033.jpg

Also, I've been considering what to do about the electrical for the shop...

It looks like the house has a 200smp service.

http://i751.photobucket.com/albums/xx158/cindyschamber/026.jpg

Looks like I have one spot for the shop. I plan on adding a sub panel.

http://i751.photobucket.com/albums/xx158/cindyschamber/029.jpg

Maybe tomorrow I can get the walls framed up. It just depends on the weather.

Throw a 100 breaker and a sub panel on there, good to go!

Liking the whole project. Keep up the good work.

Throw a 100 breaker and a sub panel on there, good to go!

Liking the whole project. Keep up the good work.

Thanks man.

Today I started framing the lean to. I ran out of wood though so I'll have to finish it later.

http://i751.photobucket.com/albums/xx158/cindyschamber/001.jpg

Today I finished framing out my little air compressor room.
http://i751.photobucket.com/albums/xx158/cindyschamber/012-1.jpg

http://i751.photobucket.com/albums/xx158/cindyschamber/014-1.jpg

http://i751.photobucket.com/albums/xx158/cindyschamber/017-1.jpg

I almost got it finished but it started hailing!!:eek: Next weekend I'll start the siding and build the door. Then I'll be done!!

Looks great. That is what I should do with my noisy oil-less compressor!

Well it stopped raining long enough for me to finish up the trim and siding.

First I finished putting up the felt paper. Then I installed the trim.

http://i751.photobucket.com/albums/xx158/cindyschamber/012-2.jpg

After that I installed the ceder siding. I just reused the stuff I took off earlier.

http://i751.photobucket.com/albums/xx158/cindyschamber/014-2.jpg

The siding looks a little goofy because it's weathered already when the side of the house was exposed to the elements. Eventually it will weather the same in it's new pattern.

If the rain would hold out for a couple of days (it won't) I could throw on the roof real quick. I have that to do, plus install the flashing and make a door. Then I'm done!

So far so good for never having built anything. LOL

Is that doorway large enough to remove the air compressor if you ever need to?
As for the 100 amp sub panel, I don't know as I'd go that big. The panel does have a 200 amp main, but code says you need to keep your loads at 80% of the main, so that's 160 amps. The total of the breakers can be greater than the main, but you don't want to go so large that you have problems with the main tripping. A one man shop really can't use more than a few items at one time, so the need for a 100 a. main in your shop is small.
I'd go with a 70a. main with #4 copper or #2 aluminum for that size breaker. It will be more than adequate to feed the various sub loads. If your shop building is attached to the house then you don't need a second main in the sub panel. If it's not attached you not only need a main in the sub panel, you also need two ground rods 6' apart.

Thanks for the info man. I was thinking about the 100 amp main just because it would have bigger gauge wire. I know I'll never need anything that big. An electrician friend of mine actually told me to go with a 125amp breaker. The 220 outlets are for the oven, air compressor and welder. I doubt I'll ever run all of them at once.

I haven't gotten to the wiring yet. I need to just sit down and draw it out.

Here is the breaker box (load center) that I decided to go with.
http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?jspStoreDir=hdus&catalogId=10053&productId=100183311&navFlow=3&keyword=g2020b1100cp&langId=-1&searchRedirect=g2020b1100cp&storeId=10051&endecaDataBean=com.homedepot.sa.el.wc.integration.endeca.EndecaDataBean%405efab61e&ddkey=Search

http://www.homedepot.com/catalog/productImages/400/9e/9e38deb8-c323-4825-b6d9-54a5f33883fd_400.jpg

I decided on this one because of a few things.

First it came with a 100 amp breaker and 5 20 amp breakers. That's enough breakers for my entire install. All I need to get is 3 30 amp double pole breakers for my 220 stuff.

I can actually move the 100 amp breaker to my other box. (You are not required to have a main breaker in the sub panel.) I had to go with this brand because my old box was Westinghouse, and they no longer make breaker boxes. Fortunately, the breaker design was never changed.

Second, it was one of the only boxes that included the grounding bar. This really isn't a deal breaker though. You can add a grounding bar for around 10.00.

Lastly, this was the only box that had a copper buss bar. Meaning, the bar that the breakers snap into is made of copper. This probably isn't a huge deal either, but copper is a better conductor.

After doing some research, it seems that I need to go with 2-2-2-4 wire. From what I've read its good for a 100 amp sub panel, under 100 feet away. Also, since the wire is made out of aluminum, you need to be sure to use dielectric grease to prevent corrosion.

All in all though, for 50 bucks it seems like a great deal.

I still need to decide where my sub panel is going and how to route the wires...

Is that doorway large enough to remove the air compressor if you ever need to?
As for the 100 amp sub panel, I don't know as I'd go that big. The panel does have a 200 amp main, but code says you need to keep your loads at 80% of the main, so that's 160 amps. The total of the breakers can be greater than the main, but you don't want to go so large that you have problems with the main tripping. A one man shop really can't use more than a few items at one time, so the need for a 100 a. main in your shop is small.
I'd go with a 70a. main with #4 copper or #2 aluminum for that size breaker. It will be more than adequate to feed the various sub loads. If your shop building is attached to the house then you don't need a second main in the sub panel. If it's not attached you not only need a main in the sub panel, you also need two ground rods 6' apart.

Interesting

My house has a 200 in the basement - 100 in the basement - 100 in one garage - 100 in the other. Dont mean to thread steal just found this interesting


Keep up the good work

The sub panel really doesn't need a main breaker and the length of the run is the determining factor of the wire size needed to supply the panel.

I built a stand alone garage 5 years ago and it is powered with a 50 amp breaker in the main panel feeding this sub panel. I have never had a breaker trip in the garage or in the main panel.

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j199/64elcamino/garage%20decorations/subpanel.jpg

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j199/64elcamino/garage%20decorations/subpanel1.jpg
The key is as mentioned before not all of these things are running at the same time.

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j199/64elcamino/garage%20decorations/toybox1.jpg

The 76 nova is cool.:happy:

The 76 nova is cool.:happy:


His siggy say 77 Nova :crazy: .

Good werk on the building..