When planning to leave California in 2017, we initially were going to move to Idaho where the small local airport would have been very convenient for a hangar and workshop. That all fell through and after some travel and various considerations we ended up 55 minutes south of Nashville in Tennessee on a 24 acre lot. Somehow, having enough space for a workshop / hangar and runway became a priority.
We were initially going to build 2 large pole barns, 36 x 48, towards the back of the property but ultimately, because there was no electricity or water nearby, and we were already building a pool, installing new fencing and other improvements, we decided to just go with building one an installing underground power, water and an additional septic. The idea was that I would use the back half, North end, of the barn as the workshop and the South end would be for my wife’s animals.
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After building the barn I discovered that, with the prevailing wind, the barn and workshop were likely to be extremely dusty so building a dividing wall became essential.
With some help from a local friend (EJ Smith), I formed the 7″ concrete floor and arranged for it to be poured leveled. The septic, power and water were already installed and I had set lines for water and septic in the workshop area. EJ, who also happens to be my peach orchard advisor, helped epoxy the floor, which you can see in the photos.
Well, next was the wall. The roof is 18′ at the peak and neither EJ nor I likes heights. Given that it was my project, I had the responsibility of coping with anything that needed to be done up a ladder. A ladder was all we had until, having erected the wall, built the bathroom and sheet rocked most of one side of the wall, a friend in the renovations business offered to lend me his scaffold. That was a big improvement, but I didn’t like wobbling around on the top of the scaffold any more than I enjoyed trying to push drywall sheets up the ladder ahead of me.
In any event. We got the wall built and I then taped, mudded and painted it on both sides and did the same thing for the bathroom.
As of this date and time I am in the process of hanging some additional workshop lighting. 6 x 4ft 5,000 lumen LED lights. That’s in addition to the 2 x 20,000 lumen high bay lights already in place. The beer fridge and music have been in place for a while but I upgraded the sound, with a band PA I own, the day before yesterday.
I have acquired pretty much all the tools I need. I have 2′ x 12′ benches that run along the wall in the North East corner, a rolling 4′ x 2′ bench onto which I will install the DRDT-2 dimpler, and a rolling 8′ x 4′ bench I acquired from someone whose project fell out.
Still To Do (Among Others)
- Finishing the lighting and taping the roof insulation seams
- Installing a laundry tub
- Installing the pegboard I have already purchased and hanging up the tools
- Putting away the tools I will not be using (I built a recording studio before leaving CA so have a lot of those tools and supplies lying around)
- Installing a 36k BTU mini-split A/C (this won’t happen until Spring 2023)
- Build portable spray booth (for priming, I intend to have the final paint job done professionally)
- General workshop Cleanup and prep.
- Put some power outlets on the West side wall as there aren’t any near the benches.
I don’t count the hours or cost associated with the workshop as part of my build as I would have built the workshop anyway because there are farm implements and mowers etc. to maintain and I like a nice work area as an unpleasant work environment does not encourage one to get the things done that need to be done.
If there are no pictures here, they are still to come.