White House Workshop
Established Member
I actually cleaned up and tidied my workshop so it's time to brag a bit! I am extremely lucky to have some large buildings on our property that were easily converted. The main building was the old garage and the previous owner had built another similar-sized building on it's side. When we moved in these buildings were derelict - roofs caved in, windows smashed etc. My son and I re-roofed them, I put a window in the right hand extension, replaced the glass in the other windows and knocked them through into one L-shaped building. I also added power - 240V and 110V, because I have a lot of tools I brought back from the US. A 3KVA transformer is mounted on the wall and it provides enough for any of my tools - but I couldn't run the table saw and the mitre saw at the same time!
Here's a view of the outside:
The old garage is my main cutting and wood storage area. I sealed the floor with bitumen, laid 2x4's on it and screwed down chipboard. Makes a comfortable working surface - and it's not cold! The yellow spray can is wasp killer - they seem to like my workshop for their nests...
This is the same cutting area looking back towards the main door.
Inside and turn right and you get to the main tool storage area and my workbench. The workbench is simple and home made from 2 lengths of 2x12 on a sturdy base. It's placed under the window for maximum light. There's also a glass door to the right of the window, which you can see in the next picture. Under the workbench I have a shelf for routers, planes, power saws and chisels. There are also a couple of crates - 1 for nails and 1 for screws - and a box of bits of wood that I use as clamp protectors etc. The rest of the shop is 'organised' in that I know where everything should be...
Here's a view from inside the main area looking back. The floor is covered with some laminate that we ripped out of the house (where we installed decent solid maple strip flooring). It's not the best, but it insulates and it was free! The table to the right was free, too - picked it up off the street where someone had thrown it out.
The roof is insulated with 2" thick styrene sheets and it doesn't take long to warm up in winter with just a 1500Watt fan heater. The cast iron tools take a lot longer though! There is also a lot of storage in the roof for wood. The smaller pieces all live on a rack in the cutting area, although there are bits stored all over the place - under benches, leaned against the walls, on shelves, in boxes etc. There is even a significant amount of wood in my garage as to put it all in here would clutter the place up far too much. That means my garage is only just big enough to hold my motorbike, and the cars live outside...
That's it in a nutshell. No doubt it won't stay this neat for long! Took me a whole day just to get it like this... :roll:
Here's a view of the outside:
The old garage is my main cutting and wood storage area. I sealed the floor with bitumen, laid 2x4's on it and screwed down chipboard. Makes a comfortable working surface - and it's not cold! The yellow spray can is wasp killer - they seem to like my workshop for their nests...
This is the same cutting area looking back towards the main door.
Inside and turn right and you get to the main tool storage area and my workbench. The workbench is simple and home made from 2 lengths of 2x12 on a sturdy base. It's placed under the window for maximum light. There's also a glass door to the right of the window, which you can see in the next picture. Under the workbench I have a shelf for routers, planes, power saws and chisels. There are also a couple of crates - 1 for nails and 1 for screws - and a box of bits of wood that I use as clamp protectors etc. The rest of the shop is 'organised' in that I know where everything should be...
Here's a view from inside the main area looking back. The floor is covered with some laminate that we ripped out of the house (where we installed decent solid maple strip flooring). It's not the best, but it insulates and it was free! The table to the right was free, too - picked it up off the street where someone had thrown it out.
The roof is insulated with 2" thick styrene sheets and it doesn't take long to warm up in winter with just a 1500Watt fan heater. The cast iron tools take a lot longer though! There is also a lot of storage in the roof for wood. The smaller pieces all live on a rack in the cutting area, although there are bits stored all over the place - under benches, leaned against the walls, on shelves, in boxes etc. There is even a significant amount of wood in my garage as to put it all in here would clutter the place up far too much. That means my garage is only just big enough to hold my motorbike, and the cars live outside...
That's it in a nutshell. No doubt it won't stay this neat for long! Took me a whole day just to get it like this... :roll:
