Fecn's Tiny Workshop Tour

[Gary H]

Excellent job there mate. It's pretty much the same size as mine is now after the extension (started 7x7 and now it's 7x18), only yours is near to finished. (I'm still using an extension lead from the house I actually feel quite ashamed that 6 months on and it still looks like a pigsty inside )

Hmm, there's something missing though...what is it....I can't quite put my finger on...Oh yes. That's it. Dust and shavings!!!! Time to get down to some serious wood butchery. No excuses now :lol:

Great job and very entertaining, thanks for sharing :wink:

Gary

 

[Fecn]

Thanks to everyone for the kind words and compliments - I notice nobody's seething with envy for the space - makes a change from most workshop tours. I'm glad my tiny workshop gave some of your ideas and inspiration.

Oh which reminds me do you have a tap? :shock:

Alas, no tap. Nearest mains water supply is unfortunately 150ft away at the back of the house. I'm forever having to nip back and forth for somethign or other - I guess the exercise keeps me healthy.

How do you find that little perform bandsaw?

Erm.. variable would be the best description. For some jobs it seems to be unexcpectedly good, and for others it's unexpectedly pathetic. I havne't really used it a huge amount, and some of my problems might be from forgetting about things like belt tension. I was lucky enough to get 5 different blades with it (all for free). For sawing 20mm softwood planks, it was great. It sliced through 4mm aluminium sheets like a hot knife through butter, but utterly failed to saw through a nail which took me 2 secs with a hacksaw. I tried resawing some 75mm beams into thin strips, and although it had-a-go, it couldn't cut very far in - Not enough power. I alternate between 'how did I ever live without it' and 'what an underpowered piece of junk'. I'd been planning on getting something bigger, but the perform one came for free.

thanks for the tour! I have to say that I think I prefered the original rustic look to the workshop but each to his own :wink:

I was planning on matching the original look, but Jewsons didn't have any shiplap and I didn't have any patience.

Good workshop - thanks for the guided tour and the words - what sort of stuff and you gonna build in there? - Rob

Well.. this weekend, I've got a friend visiting and we'll be finishing off some picture frames for him. Other projects in the pipeline include a toybox for my baby daugheter, some bedside tables for the wife & I, and some sideways-drawers to sit inside a built-in wardrobe which has a lot of wasted space inside.

I bet your pleased to have somewhere to play at last.

Nice job. I hope to have something this year.

I've been hankering after my own workshop for years, but SWMBO wouldn't let me have one in our old house (tiny tiny garden). I don't think there's a smiley big enough to describe how pleased I am that I've got somewhere now.

I liked that --well done very good-full of humour,---now heres what else you need to do widen the door way so you can fit in a big reclining chair/& put up a strong tv shelf for those times that you are in the doghouse.

oh and a mini fridge as well.

I run a small IT company from home too, so I have an little 4-man office attached to the house, complete with reclining seats, large screens, kettle, fridge, microwave and ice-maker - I'm well covered for dog-house situations.

One thing though, I am afraid if I had a double garage the workshop would be there not the shed. A bit of rain won't hurt the cars.

The garage is still full of 'junk' from the last house which we're slowly in the process of selling - Once I get rid of the big american-style fridge, I've got a bit of space in there for a workbench... but I do like having somewhere for the 'good' car to live. Getting into the longer-term (cash-permitting) plan... The bit of the garden beyond the shed/workshop is pretty-much dead space. I'm planning on extending the shed to about 7 times it's existing size (making it L-Shaped at the same time) which would leave the current setup as a finishing area.. or possibly electronics area - I'm design/make the odd PCB here and there - I designed/installed a home automation for my last house. ( http://home.org.uk/PICBoard.php )

Hmm, there's something missing though...what is it....I can't quite put my finger on...Oh yes. That's it. Dust and shavings!!!! Time to get down to some serious wood butchery. No excuses now :lol:
Gary

I shall be out there promptly at 8PM - Right after baby-bed-time.

 

[Dave S]

Excellent! I agree with Lord Nibbo - a great demonstration of what can be achieved in such a small space.

My first workshop was approx 2/3 the size of yours so the patio was pressed into use when the weather allowed. Despite the shortage of space I managed to produce a double bed, wardrobe, bedside tables and a desk. And whenever I hankered after something bigger I used to think of all those photos in Good Woodworking of Steve Maskery doing glue-ups on his patio. If it was good enough for him it was certainly good enough for me.

Thanks for the tour!

Dave (off to browse the home-automation link)

 

[greggy]

hi fecn, nice job you done there mate, looks a bit like mine 13x7 but when i can figure how to post piccis i will. a real insperation. :wink:

 

[martlewis]

HI Fecn,

As an in-progress builder myself it's geat to see what you achieved with the space availabe, and it gets me thinking of idea's for the interior of my own and also wondering if I should insulate my floor - thanks for taking the time to post, excellent job!

Byron, if it helps I'm almost finished re-vamping my shop. Have insulated walls and ceiling. The floor is joists, waterproof membrane, and then t&g chipboard loft flooring. Plenty of air circulation under the floor but it's plents warm enough. The DPM and additional layer of flooring seems to have helped, insulation in my case isn't necessary.

Fecn, very nice. Excellent use of space.

Martin.

p.s. Will post my tour also in the next week or so.

 

[ByronBlack]

Martin,

Thanks for the advice ref: floor insulation. Like yours, mine is floor joists, membrane, then ply - I then intend to have a layer of underlay foam and then laminate wood - so I was hoping that would be enough, and you have confirmed that for me

 

[martlewis]

Make sure the laminate floor is good and solid if you have any heavy machines. The only reason I originally put the chipboard flooring over the original was that I have most machines on wheels and the wheels were damaging the shed floor. Having said that, it was a "shed floor", made with the same t&g they used for the walls!

 

[Escudo]

nice one fecn. my worksop is a little smaller than yours...10 x 8. I will have to do some pictures for all the gang on here to.

Esc.

 

[bobgoldson]

Hi fecn
Excellent thread and a good job
I am currently trying to convert a building that has been used for 30 years to house goats into a workshop - one snag is that we still have one aged goat and a few bantams inhabiting it !!. So until the fateful day arrives when we are goat-free I am beginning building from the other end.
I am digging out the floor at present to gain some height with the intention of putting in joists and an 18mm ply floor, insulating the walls and cladding with 7mm ply, installing a consumer unit ,sockets and lights.
Plenty to be getting on with but a definite benefit of redundancy and earlier than expected retirement.

 

[Fecn]

I thought I might as well add a couple more pics to this thread.. even though it's very old now...

I did get around to sorting out the lift-up flap in the end.

It was quite heavy and inconvenient so I added some gas-lift struts that a friend of mine got from a scrap yard for me.

Old hard drives contain some really strong magnets - They're great for tool storage...

Here's my rather pathetic wall-of-tools - Not a patch on some of the forum members, but it's slowly improving.

 

[Digit]

No workshop is ever large enough Fecn and no workshop is ever too small.
It's amazing what you can build with the shed door open! :lol:

Roy.

 

[wizer]

the flip up shelter is genius

 

[OPJ]

Yes, that shelter does show very smart thinking indeed.

Plenty of fresh air and plenty of natural daylight.