Here is my little man cave story with pictures. I have some (or a lot) of this posted in a build thread but it seems more appropriate here.
First up, I rent, can't afford to buy a house in the county where I live. I been living at the same place for about 8yrs, known the landlord for nearly 16yrs. The property is for sale but has been for sale for 10yrs or more, doubt it is selling anytime soon especially with the crappy economy! The house I live in is a converted horse stall
yeah I know, pretty trashy. But it was converted pretty well, stays warm anyways and isn't to shabby inside. Any ways, on one side of the house there has always been this garage (not usable as a garage), more just like a storage area. All these years I have just had my junk stuffed in there. It was a filthy space, very ugly, very drafty and no use to me other than to put my junk. The space is about 20ftx18ft so right around 400sqft.
A few years ago I built a bunch of shelves in this storage area so I could put more of my junk in here! The shelves came out well and we built some of them to hold heavy stuff like axles or transmissions. Had I known I was going to make this space into a shop I would have done the shelves different so I had a bit more wall space. But whatever, they work.
I wish I had a before picture, I don't but now would be the time to post it! A few months back I decided this space was being wasted and at the same time I was in dire need of a work area. I have three projects in the works right now, one for a customer. So we tore into the space to convert it into a workshop.
First up we scrapped 6" off the floor. It was dirt, old decomposing hay, horse s***, some rocks and just plain nasty! This was probably the worst part of the project. Pick axing seriously compacted soil full of horse s*** sucks. Any ways we got that done, leveled a bit and started bringing in crush. We laid the crush about 5-6" deep and wet it down plus compacted it every 1/2-1". I didn't even try hard to level it other than by eye, it actually came out very level though! The walls in the space were so drafty you could literally see light outside. The ceiling was also open to the rafters. Heating this in winter was not going to work! One end of the space has two big bay doors, the hanging kind that slide. So I have good room to move a truck in and out even if the workshop is only big enough for one truck. Any ways, I am blah'ing on so to make it short....
I insulated and sealed up the ceiling with some Celotex and taped off all the seams. I decided to heat it a wood stove would do. A friend gave me an old school Fisher wood stove. So I bought some new stove pipe for it. After the floor was done we built basically a hearth. Just a small concrete slab for the stove to sit on and than we put Durarock on the walls around the stove area. Since I needed to save space I wanted to mount the stove sideways along the wall. So I got a sheet of stainless steel and made some 1 1/2" spacers. I then mounted that to the wall behind the stove for a heat shield. The rest of the walls we drywalled with 5/8's. I also insulated the bay doors and the side access door. I hung a large sheet of construction plastic over the bay doors too to cut down any drafts, it works well. I siliconed and spray foamed all the walls and ceiling to eliminate drafts. I got my electrician buddy to come over and run me some power for a new compressor, plasma cutter and welder. I bought some new tools for the shop too. I installed some lights which are all on a switch inside the house. I made some racks for my wrenches and a few small shelves for things like iPod stereo and air tool stuff. I used some old "quick fists" I had around to mount my fire extinguisher and my flash light. The fire extinguisher is obvious but I need the flashlight close to the outside doors to get firewood at night. Blah blah blah....
All up it is working well. It is very nice to finally have a works pace, no idea why I didn't do this sooner! I still need to do some things like, make some axle stands, buy a tool chest, clean up and finish off the wiring and get rid of more of my junk! It is a one truck shop and just big enough to fit an 80-series chassis I have in here. I used a lot of scrap material I had around and or that I bummed from friends to build this. I am also no carpenter! it is not a "pro" built shop but it suits me.
Enough blah'ing on, here are some pictures!
Here we are working the floor and I had just moved in the new compressor.
A picture of the "hearth" and the bay doors.
After drywall and some lights it was starting to come around.
And the more completed workshop...
My work bench, I know it is a total mess. I am in the middle of working on a project! I clean it up every few days...
And the finished shop with a project I am working on....
All in all I am pretty stoked. I turned a totally wasted junk space into a very usable space! So far I have had the shop up to 90 degrees while it was 15 degrees outside. Not bad but to hot! I try to keep it around 75 when I am working in there. I got four cords of wood so that should last me the winter. An added bonus is the stove helps heat my house. I have barely even turned the heat on in my house this winter! A few days ago I installed one of those "garage-in-a-box" right outside the bay doors. It is pretty big, 12ftx20ft and gives me a lot of covered space outside to store my junk. Organizing is key with such a small shop. I am still pretty disorganized but it is coming around. I have been tossing out junk I don't need for weeks! I simply love to fire up the stove, crank up the stereo, crack a cold beer and get to work, it truly is bliss! Any ways, there is my man cave, it is so useful and nice to have I been out in it working nearly everyday for the last three weeks.
