My Shop and Layout: Future projects done in the shop will be added here as they progress.

The Beginning:

 The start of a long anticipated project. My shop size will be 20x20 leaving plenty of room to use the back yard.

Digging begins. It wasn't easy getting the backhoe into the backyard area. A fence had to be removed.

Steve and his son were very quick and efficient with the use of a Laser level.

Just about ready to pour the footers.

The concrete truck had to come across the front yard and just made it under the Sweet Gum Tree.

Loading concrete into the bucket of the backhoe. It had rained the day before and after all the back and forth with the backhoe, I now have 2 foot deep trenches all over my back yard. The weight of the concrete truck left a few impressions also in the front yard. I think re-landscaping will take a fair amount of time.

Hand pouring the upper most step of the footers. Steve on the left, me on the right.

Footers poured and ready to lay block.

Block finished.

Back filling begins with sand.

A heavy mil vapor barrier was laid down before the pour.

About 7 hours after the pour, I began rolling out the Seal and Cure. Two coats of this really helps the curing process become very even and also protects the concrete from stain when the construction begins.

Second coat of Seal and Cure. This stuff really stinks!

End of the pour day. You can see how tight it is getting to the back yard without driving over the neighbor's property.

Two coats finished and dry enough to walk on. After the construction is complete inside and out, I'll roll another coat on the floor for the best protection and it should look good also. It is a non-slip finish.

The next day I came out to see how the finish was doing and noticed some water pooling along the foundation. This couldn't be good so I started digging and removing water.

I asked my wife to please go in the guest house and run the bathroom sink. What do you know, more water started pooling. I then asked her (hesitantly) to flush the toilet. Yeah, well now I now where the water was coming from. Luckily, the guest house has its own sewer line so the main house was not affected. Now the sewer line had to be re-routed. Not too big of a deal, but on the last backhoe scoop to trench for the new sewer line, the bucket hit the underground power line (yeah, that's scary) telephone line and Internet cable, severing all of them. That power line flash that occurred burned two holes in the backhoe's bucket. Now I have to say, none of this was the fault of Steve and his son, I was there the whole time and they were never near the underground location markings. These lines were grouped together and never marked (located) correctly. After the power company arrived to replace the line and the cable company did their thing, all was well and remains so.

Framing begins. 16 inch on center is a must.

After house wrap, the outside will be finished with vinyl siding to match the house.

Roofing was done with dimensional shingles to match the house and only took several hours.

Two Pella duel pane windows, one metal exterior door and one 6 ft. wide insulated roll up door were installed. A powered gable vent will be added to the rear in conjunction with vented eaves.

The shop has been wrapped in a moisture barrier and then  the siding. The eaves are done first then the corner lock channels. The siding gets locked into the corner channel and is nailed every couple of feet loosely  at the top of each section to allow for expansion. Each row (section) is actually two slats tall. Next step is to install gutters, window shutters and paint the door trim. Then on to the interior and start with electrical.

Exterior is completed. Next step is all the electrical.

I had to take a break from finishing the interior of the shop and get the yard ready for seeding. The Bobcat comes in real handy for moving a lot of soil. During construction, the yard got pretty well torn up with lots of deep ruts.

(Front view) The new lawn has been seeded and with a little luck, the grass should start appearing in a week or so.

Grass is in with enough time to grow some before winter sets in.