Office / Shop: Floor

The existing base boards around the perimeter wall of the shop were totally rotted.

I ripped those 2x4s out...

There are lots of 2x4 cross braces along the perimeter wall. I went with treated 2x6s for the bottom plates so I could build a 2x4 wall along the perimeter without interfering with the existing cross boards. And the new wall will be flush across the 6x6 columns as opposed to having a bump from the middle and corners columns.

The existing concrete floor was also in rough shape. A few major cracks...

I had never used self-leveling concrete, but this seemed like the perfect situation for it. I first applied Home Depot's SikaLevel Primer.

Then the next day I poured SikaLevel self-leveling concrete.

I'm experienced with concrete, but this was my first go with the self-leveling variety. I had no idea how much I would need for my shop space. No one seems to want to give a good rule of thumb - likely because it's a huge "it depends" situation. I could have (and probably should have) gone with quite a few more bags. If anyone else is looking to use the self-leveling concrete, you'd probably want to budget -minimum- one 50 pound bag per 20 sq ft - regardless of how level and smooth it currently is. Unfortunately the stuff is not cheap!

When pouring concrete, there is a small range between "minimum sufficient" water and "too much" water. If you see dry powder (after mixing), you've got too little water. If you see a pool of water floating at the top (after mixing), you've got too much water. The directions said to use 1 gallon of water per 50 pound bag; I did that with the first batch and it was very thick and hard to spread. For the additional bags I ended up exceeding the 1 gallon of water recommendation (but still under "too much") so future bags spread out much better.

From reading up on self-leveling concrete, it sounded like the wet concrete would seep through every tiny gap in the wall and leak out. That was a non-issue; there was no problem keeping it contained even when I mixed extra water.

I don't know how SikaLevel compares to other brands. My first "thicker" pour is a bit uneven (from me trying to spread it), but overall I'm happy with the results. Cracks are gone!

Next up is the epoxy paint for a shiny uniform finish. Unfortunately my weather window to get that done has closed. Per Rustoleum's instructions:

Apply when air (ambient) temperature is 60-85°F and relative humidity is below 80%. Concrete floors take a long time to warm up; make sure the previous day has also been at least 60°F prior to painting. Minimum floor temperature for painting is 55°F. Painting in mid-afternoon ensures the best cure. Do not apply coating if night time temperature is expected to drop below a low of 65°F (18.3°C). For best results, temperatures should not drop below 65°F for 24-48 hours after applying the coating.

None of that is happening until summer or until I can get the room insulated and heated.

Office / Shop: Reinforcement

Progress continues on the shop building - an additional beam keeps the new wall stable, the new wall has gotten plywood on one side, and the roof purlins have been doubled-up for more strength.

Support Beam

I was originally going to put in a ceiling at 9', but I've now decided to open the room up all the way to the existing roof structure. That necessitated a few changes, but ultimately it will be better.

The new wall has many bolts tying it into the concrete floor at the base, and it's securely attached to columns on either end, but it's spanning 24 feet so I wanted something to brace it in the middle.

The new bracing beam is a double 2x8.

On one end it's attached to the center column of the exterior wall (not going anywhere).

I do have blocking in the middle to keep it from twisting. In addition to the structural support, this will be a great mount for lights.

Plywood Wall

Next up was to get plywood on at least one side of the wall. I'm trying to get everything organized and having 24' of finished wall makes a huge difference.

Already started putting up shelves on the finished side...

Roof Reinforcement

Now that I'm opening my room up to the existing roof, I want to reinforce its structure so it doesn't sag with weight of insulation, plywood, and solar panels. This is definitely overkill, but I doubled up every 2x6 purlin.

Also cleaned out the room; get it ready for some floor work!

Wow, I just noticed how well you can see the light rays coming from the window to the floor. I had just finished sweeping so there was plenty of dust in the air. :-)

Future

I'll have to add a cat door at some point.

I'm narrowing down my solar panel system purchase. The goal will be to have a small system in place by this winter for emergency power. (And it will be a good test to see how well the panels perform with the short winter days.)

Office / Shop: Exterior Wall

The exterior wall is complete! I'm not a fan of toothpaste blue, so I'll eventually repaint the entire building. In the mean time though it is water tight and secure!

Frame...

Plywood...

Wrap...

Door...

Siding (metal roofing)...

Office / Shop: Intro

The family has finished moving! (Well, I guess? We're still far from being fully unpacked.) Whereas our last house was deep in suburbia, the new place is on a nice piece of property perfect for projects! Including a 24'x36' shop!

It's essentially three 12'x24' bays with two large sliding doors (no idea what happened to the third). I'm going to wall off the left-most bay, add windows and a door, and make that my office. The middle and right bays will be for the wood working tools, Spitfire, and ping-pong table.

The building once had power, but someone has snipped the main cable going to it. I got an estimate for running new lines from the house to the shop but attempting all solar will be far more interesting. Especially considering panels are under $1/Watt now! We're in Washington state (on the west side), so I think publishing stats on how much solar panels differ from their rated values in cloudy weather will be very beneficial to others. (I know I was looking for that data!) The goal will be to have a large enough solar array to supply all the needs of the office, shop, and electric cars!

But first I need to get an office walled up!

The wall consists of a treated 2x4 base plate, 2x4 studs, and 2- 2x4 upper plates. For those not familiar with lumber, a 2x4 is actually 1 1/2" x 3 1/2".

The treated wood for the base is necessary as it will be in direct contact with concrete (and thus ground moisture).

I wanted as high of ceilings as possible. The studs are 10' boards cut back 1'-4 1/2" = 8'-7 1/2"

Why 8'-7 1/2"?

8'-7 1/2" + 1 1/2" bottom plate + 1 1/2" first top plate + 1 1/2" second top plate = 9'-0" wall height

The double upper plate helps distribute the load from the (future) ceiling joists.

The 9'-0" height still gives me enough room above the new wall for ceiling joists.

Look closely and you can see the Spitfire under the pile of trash (er, important household goods).

I haven't completed tying in the new wall to the existing structure, but it is at least standing up on its own. Some portions of the existing exterior walls have rotted, so repairs are needed in addition to this new construction.

By the way, I'm not a professional structural engineer. Do what your local codes require, not what a guy on the Internet did. :-)