It really does take a village sometimes…. last Saturday we gathered a crew of seven folks – one a framer, carpenter, and home builder by trade with 40+ years of experience, three college graduates, and three tradespersons with specialties not in building but large on the muscle side. We managed to get the trusses up and set in four hours, had lunch and got all of the 24″ eaves done and everything cleaned up by 4pm. It was quite amazing!
hallelujah I can get a roof on!
It was a good thing, because we got several deluges on Sunday, amongst some fairly decent downpours. A roof will be soon in coming as I should have a few quotes by the end of the week. Now, if only the electrician would follow up I’d be good….
So there’s been a lot of change at the Robieman Funny Farm and Menagerie(TM pending) in the past eight months. We decided summer of 2021 it was time to sell our house (first home) and move to ‘greener pastures’ – i.e. out of the west side of Columbus where we’d called home for the past 16 years. With housing demand at an all time high and the areas we wanted to move to that made sense for our work and family commutes, it was going to be a stressful time. We put on our big girl pants and started packing, getting rid of things where it made sense, and found ourselves a great realtor. When we got to the ‘what is it you want in a house?’ part of the realtor questionnaire, my only response was – it needs to have a shop that is heated and cooled or has the possibility of it, or land and ability to build a shop (with money in the budget for that to happen). Everything else is my wife’s department.
We sold our house in September with a move out date of December 31st. We placed bids, we lost bids. We looked at homes we thought would be perfect from the pictures, but in person… not so perfect (photoshop and angles hide a LOT of sins). We saw homes that were too big, too much acreage, too many things to change to make it us, at the top of our budget with three offers on it already, previous owners are selling it with whuuut in the world did they do to that electrical panel? In reality, we were starting to panic, wondering if we were asking too much to find our ‘forever’ home in this crazy market. During one of these moments on the way to a showing, I said to my wife, “I think we just need to look for our ‘for now’ home. It only has to be somewhere we can move and live for five years and then we can decide to sell or stay. There’s too much going on in the market for us to get everything we want at a price we can afford. So let’s look at these places like they are ‘for now’ homes.” She agreed. We looked at three houses that day, and our current home was the last one on the list. I never really believed in that feeling people said you get when you know you’re home. I don’t remember if I felt that with the last place. Getting out of the car in the driveway and looking across the roof of the car at my wife, I knew we both felt it. This felt like home. Thankfully, we were able to get a bid in with only one other bid and they accepted ours. We moved in middle of December and my first question was, “How much is the shop budget?”
Once my wife gave me the princely sum, I set to work figuring out how large of a shop I could afford and if I was going to end up building it myself or be able to afford to hire it out and actually get to use it before the snow started to fly in 2022. I also started the process of figuring out if permits were required, from whom, and how much that would eat into my budget. That was a confusing rabbit hole as we live close to a city but are in a township, not the city so the township does the zoning permit and the county does the building permit. Where we lived previously it all went through the county. I’ll leave that story for another time. We’ll leave it at – I started that process in February and didn’t have it all worked out until June. Even with the county having an online system.
The top of my budget was 30k and that had to include HVAC and insulation. With material costs and labor shortages weighing heavily on my mind, I got three quotes from post and frame builders for a 24 x 24′ garage/shop building. The quotes all covered site prep w/ 4″ concrete slab, building structure with frame and metal exterior, metal roof, one pedestrian door, a single garage door, and all OSB/lumber that goes along with it. All three quotes came in 32-35k for just the building. Mulling it over, I wasn’t willing to downsize to a smaller building. I could get one of the ‘local’ amish shed builders to build a 16 or 18′ wide building, but they don’t do anything 20′ or wider. I went looking at Menards as I’d seen or heard somewhere they build buildings. I was able to create several different versions of the building I wanted to build and decide what the most cost effective option was for me. I was able to come out with an $18k building, including fiberglass insulation. It would be tight, but I figured that should leave me just enough to hire out the truss/roof work and the electrical….or at least I hoped. Thus, SheShop2022 was born!
Back in June 2021, my wife turned and said, “We need to move.”
Without any backstory of what had transpired in the past two years of our journey, this would seem absurd. I nodded my head, and said “Ok. When?”
We had our home (along with my not quite settled in shop) sold by November. We were lucky and graced with finding a new home in this crazy market and moved in the middle of December. Unfortunately, there is no shop. The garage only has one circuit and is currently housing our two deep freezers. I was given a budget and the go ahead to build another shop, but sadly it is winter in the midwest. I’ve got some feelers out for quotes to get a solid idea of how large I can go and still have a space that is fully insulated and has a mini split so I can work comfortably all year long. All I can say is….here we go again!
Once my other half had agreed to allow me to build a shop…MY shop, the research game was afoot! Do I build? Do I buy? Concrete foundation? Wood foundation? So many questions!
The big part of the job came first. We decided to add on to our patio at the same time, and an upgrade to our 100w electrical panel was already going to be necessary as it was maxed out.
Forms day! I was so excited! The start of something magical!
The concrete crew was efficient and had it all done in a day. That small 12 x 16 patch with a bump out for future improvements was all mine!
From the back corner of the shopThe whoooooole new patio and shop area
Our pups (Jack and Lily) weren’t so keen about not being allowed out into their own back yard. Lily however, loves her walks. She loves it so much, she skips! I have yet to be able to get a video of it though. Maybe some day!
Fast forward a few weeks to allow for concrete drying time, it was finally time for electrical and to get my shop built! To make a very long story somewhat shorter, I ended up going with a manufactured, 12×16 shed From a local Amish company. I told them I wanted two lofts, and I wanted to side it myself. They trucked it in as pieces, and by the middle of the afternoon, my space was starting to take shape.
Not even 7am….Better them than me! Only picture I got of the in between! Tada! Looks huge!…for now!
I had this wild hair of wanting to try fiber cement siding. I’ve had bad luck with T-111, and I know we’ll be replacing the siding on our house in a few years and really liked the durability and color options. Through a friend of a family member I was able to get a good deal on enough to do practically my whole shop. I only had to buy a few more pieces from a local siding shop to get it done. More than a few sweaty weekends spent with my dad, uncle, and cousin all running nail guns, ladders, etc. to get this job done.
Just the start – but looking fabulous!
While we worked through the summer getting the siding on, the electricians came and went, wiring up two 20 amp circuits for my shop. For those of you who may be embarking on this journey as well, make certain you take everything into account you’ll be running – from the ceiling fan/heater/AC, to the largest tool you’ll be running, and if you will or will not be adding dust collection.
Once the siding and electrical were up, it was time to start on the inside. It was still August/September and the days were warm still. I wanted to make sure I could make this small space comfortable for working all year round. I installed several rows of LED strip lights on the joists above, and got to work.
Here goes nothing!
One issue I discovered early in the insulation process, is that my shop was taking on water when it rained. We’d made the decision to run the patio/workshop slab up to the back of our garage instead of making them separate. It appeared that was a mistake. I was able to call the concrete guy and have him come over and cut a 4” channel in the concrete next to my shop that could act as a French drain. If you scroll up and check out the last siding picture, you’ll see it there. 🙂 Other than that, I caulked all the way around the plate with elastomeric caulk for concrete on the inside and outside. Lesson learned, and so far so good!
Uh oh!
Once that work was complete, there was enough time to paint the doors, install the plywood sheathing on the interior walls, paint, and get all of my tools and accessories moved in from the garage before we were at risk for rainy/snowy/all over icky weather here in central Ohio.
It’s been almost two years since I moved in, and I’ve just reorganized for the second time. I’m still in the process of building French cleat storage and figuring things out. It’s easy to get frustrated that it’s just not coming together all at once, but it’s all about the journey. I’ve learned a lot so much and looking forward to all the other lessons I’ll learn as I build!
A few months ago, I was chatting over ZOOM with a few coworkers about life outside of work. I mentioned that I am an aspiring woodworker that dabbles in other mediums. I hesitate to use the term maker, but whatever label fits, I’ll wear it with pride. The other ladies in the group wanted to hear about my shop as there aren’t many women with “She Shops”. I chuckled and shook my head. I’d been thinking about and kicking around a space for women to gather and chat about projects for years, and just not gotten around to trying to bring it to fruition.
Growing up, I was the youngest of two girls. Rough and tumble tomboy, wanted to do everything for myself. I loved following my dad around on weekends and some of my fondest childhood memories were when I received my first hammer and saw (dad of course confiscated the saw which he actually bought to help cut down tree branches). I loved working with my hands. I took shop class when I was able to in high school, coming home with a shelf for my mom’s kitchen, and several other smaller projects. I was the only girl out of eight people in the class. It didn’t bother me much since I was there to learn, and the shop teacher was very kind, and saw I was there to work and not just pass the time.
I put down woodcraft for a few years after high school, some college and joining the workforce. I was so excited when I moved into an apartment with a garage I could use battery powered tools (still a new concept in the early 2000’s). It was a frustrating experience in all honesty so I didn’t spend much time in the garage. We moved into a house with a two car garage and again I started setting up a small shop. Every home requires some kind of work and tools, right? I cut my teeth on installing tile floors in basement bathrooms, painting every room, demoing carpet to put laminate flooring in, even some plumbing as none of the fixtures in our 1954 ranch had shutoffs.
It didn’t take me long into homeownership to realize houses are a lot of work! That and the gender stereotypes that had lasted so long about men being in charge of the household responsibilities was at minimum – outdated. No one told me how many times the filter on my furnace should be replaced, or to set a reminder about doing certain tasks every winter or spring to prep for the oncoming season changes (water heaters need descaling?HVAC maintenance?). Usually we found out when something broke or went wrong there were things that needed done we hadn’t been doing, because we didn’t know. Like this huge book of tribal knowledge should have been passed to me at some point and all I had was a Reader’s Digest How-To book and thankfully – the internet had begun to sprout. Just like woodworking, there wasn’t a guide available, I just had to navigate the path on my own.
In the times would mention to other women my love for building things, working with my hands, and see her eyes light up with kindred spark of creativity and interest, the hours of conversation would fly by about what we were working on, interested in, had planned, etc. The challenges we had going into woodworking stores and getting help, or not being talked down to, and possibly even better ways to use some tools that were geared for men (or in my case, right-handers). It was a balm to my soul to have this space with someone who understood what I was going through, and faced some of the same herself. More than a few women I spoke with wanted to try their hand at these same things, but just couldn’t get there for one reason or another. Mostly, there wasn’t a safe space they could come ask what they felt were ‘stupid’ questions for fear of retribution, of being misunderstood, belittled, possibly bullied. I’m hoping, that now, in 2021, especially after a global pandemic the tide has started to shift these past few years to a kinder way of treating each other.
In the meantime, I’m going to use this platform to share my journey, and all of the craziness that comes along. I’ll also be noting a lot of my favorite Youtubers, woodworkers, craftsman/ladies alike as a one stop shop for resources. If you have a project you are stuck on and just need a sounding board, feel free to drop me a line at any of the resources attached (FB, IG, email, etc). I’d be happy to help. For now, let’s talk about my shop….
Back in 2019, I told my wife I wanted a dedicated shop space. I didn’t mind the garage so much, but the lighting sucked, and every time I would turn the table saw on the power would brown out. I sweated horribly in the summer and froze in the winter. In Ohio that means you only got about 3 months give or take of decent working weather. I told her I wanted somewhere I could leave a project up and out without her complaining about the mess or the clamps strewn everywhere, etc. We discussed the options, and determined a shed would fit the bill. Something small (under 200 sq feet) did not require a permit in my city, and that would give me the space I needed to build the majority of my projects in peace.
Let's Talk {wood} Shop 