Setting up shop in the shed

Dougf

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My wife was never too keen on having all my woodworking equipment on the back porch, so she was quite pleased when I floated the idea of running power out to the backyard storage shed to convert it to a shop. I had to find new homes for the mower, chipper-shredder, and generator, and also cleaned out some other junk. After digging a 50 foot trench, I had the electrician run the conduit and hook up the breaker box. Then I moved in, connected my equipment, and I'm in business. Here are a few shots.

shed.jpg


breakerbox.jpg


equip.jpg


I'll probably use an electric space heater, but eventually I want to hook up this old wood burner.
shed-stove.jpg
 
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Not sure where you live but I built a shop and the most important was missing in yours. INSULATION. I also added two cadet wall heaters for winter. Mine was just temporary till a proper shop could be built. After the new house and cleaning off all the acres I was not in the mood to build the shop. So I expanded a shed to a 16'x20' size to get me by. Looks great and I am sure you will spend lots of happy hours in it.
 
So that machine in the last picture ... is that for the projects that don't work out?

Enjoy your cozy new shop!
 
::sigh::

. . . and now another reason to be jealous of you :)
 
Hey I like it.
Got the 4 most important machines in there.

Just don't bring home any long boards.
 
To do a safe minimum clearance install on the stove, first use concrete board in the corner there instead of sheetrock, then "float" a second wall of concrete board with tiles on it on spacers with a nice gap at the bottom. You'll be able to install the stove quite close, and you'll set up a great convection draft with cold air coming in at the bottom of the panels and out the top. 100% to code, too. I did this in my old house, and once that tile/concrete board paneling warmed up, it was amazing. Also get one of those Enviro fans that are powered by electricity generated by the difference in heat between the bottom which sits on the stove and the top fins.

I heated with wood in several houses...
 
I can see it now. This summer one of those walls is coming down and you will add an additional 20 feet of working room.
 
Insulation is definitely on the agenda, here in Northern Cal it's pretty cold right now.

So Rick, when you say concrete board, do you mean like that PermaBoard stuff at Home Depot? They also have a HardiBacker board that's thinner.
 
I can see it now. This summer one of those walls is coming down and you will add an additional 20 feet of working room.

Exactly! Haha. At the very least, bust out the wall on the right hand side of the shop and install a sliding door and a deck. That way you can roll out your saws and sanders and do your dirty work on nice days. (Works for me.)
 
Doug, it's the stuff that they nail up when doing high quality tile work...not green board...the real concrete stuff that's about 1/2" thick and very heavy. It's fireproof, too, and unless you get the nails so hot that they set the studs on fire, you're great with that behind a stove expecially with the extra heat sink convection barrier. The only other place I've seen this done is at my friend Paul Hostetter's house, and it works like a champ there, too. The nice thing is that it absorbs a lot of the heat and releases it slower into the room moderating the temperature swings.

There should be a hell of a lot of oak available for burning here in Northern California. All the trees are dying, and I'm not exaggerating one bit. Sudden Oak Death... You should see West Marin right now...tens of thousands of dead or dying oaks...
 
Looks beautiful. (Assuming with the wood burning away, you won't be spraying finishes [or igniting wood dust]) Sorry, 24 years as a fire fighter has made me a real kill-joy.
 
Thanks, Rick, I'm pretty sure that's the stuff my Dad had for the woodstove in his shop.

Yeah, real drag about the SODS. My brother in law works for the Marin watershed district, and it's devastated out there.
 
Looks beautiful. (Assuming with the wood burning away, you won't be spraying finishes [or igniting wood dust]) Sorry, 24 years as a fire fighter has made me a real kill-joy.

Good advice, I've never done any spray finishes. What conditions would cause a dust fire (or explosion)?
 
I also live in Northern CA. I don't use a woodstove in my shop. I use a space heater by my bench just to keep me warm if it's cold. My shop is insulated though. You need a dehumidifier and insulation more than a stove. I still do my spraying outside on nice days in kind of a tent with the ends cut out.
 
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