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View Full Version : Building a home for my CarveWright



DurhamDev
03-01-2011, 09:53 AM
I'm getting tired of walking around my poor little Carvewright, buried deep inside her original box, and even more tired of dreaming of all the projects that she can carve out... ...so much so, that I've designed (more importantly, gotten my Wife's approval for) a 12' x 16' workshop, that begins construction in April.

<...insert picture of very happy me, right here...>

I've spent the last few nights designing everything in Sketchup, and believe I have my completed draft ready to go.

http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/9222/12x16workshopisoview.png

Of course, it wouldn't be complete without the cutaway view, where I've placed some helpful Google 3D images as placeholders! (Note the nice enclosure I'd designed as well, which was 'step one' so that I could use my CarveWright outside on my deck until my shed is complete!)

http://img543.imageshack.us/img543/1126/12x16workshopcutaway.png

Also note the storage system, developed to store all of my tools and what-have-you. This was actually a major requirement, as our house has no basement and limited storage. I figure 24 storage bins should do the trick! All-in-all, I've designed the workshop to accommodate my 'future requirements', which include building my own 4' x 4' capable CNC machine to complement the CarveWright system...

My Wife and I (who work together for the same company, by the way) are going to Home Depot at lunch to do some cost analysis. With my terrible math skills, I've already guesstimated that this project will cost in the area of $1500 - $3000. I know, that's a horrible estimate. But, if companies like Home Depot, Lowes and others would just post their lumber costs online, this would be a whole heck of a lot easier.

What I DO know is this. My Project includes seventeen 12' 2x4's, ONE HUNDRED AND ONE 8' 2x4's, fourteen 12' 2x6's, four 8' 2x6's, FORTY-FIVE sheets of 4'x8' plywood (*) and twelve Dek-Block concrete blocks.

* This is where I'm doing some investigation. Technically, I have four 'sections' whereby different materials could be used - the deck, the exterior walls, the roof, and the interior. The forty-five sheets of 4'x8' could technically be one of several different types of materials: pressure treated plywood, regular plywood, OSB and/or possibly drywall for the interior. I am going to be painting the exterior, so the wood will need to stand up to the regular Canadian winter. I'll also be putting shingles on the roof, so that's another consideration.

Overall, I'm excited to get started. Once we have our plans in place, and our lumber sourced, I'll be really excited to see everything delivered!

Rick // The DurhamDev

cnsranch
03-01-2011, 11:10 AM
Atta boy!!

When I asked my brother for some advice as I was planning my outbuilding (he had built one about 25 years ago), and asked him if he would change anything, he said that he wished he's made his bigger (it's 30x40).

So, make 'em as big as you can afford - they're hard to add on to.

Make sure you have plenty of power - believe it or not, I have 12 four gang outlet boxes in my 30x40 shop (that's half of my outbuilding), and use them all (well, not all at once, but it sure eliminates extension cords, and plugging and un-plugging tools).

Also, put a couple overhead - keeps you from tripping over those damm cords.

Ventilate, and insulate!!!

And, show some pics!!

gregsolano
03-01-2011, 11:10 AM
Looks like it will be real nice. I am green with envy!

DurhamDev
03-01-2011, 01:06 PM
Thanks, guys! I've just returned from Home Depot, and everything has been calculated out. It looks like I'll be in for just under $2000 when all is said and done, which is a much lower number than I had originally estimated... ...and better yet, budgeted for! That includes everything I need to get it functional, even the electrical! I'll definitely keep everybody updated over the build, and will post pics of the 'delivery' when it happens!

Digitalwoodshop
03-01-2011, 01:45 PM
Same here.... BIGGER......

Don't forget the Building Permit.... The Fines will kill you.... Setbacks.... The location of the building in ref to the property line, driveway, roads.... I ALMOST built my shops next to the driveway.... If I HAD.... I would have had to MOVE THEM.... It that would be foolish to do it without a permit.... If you did and 2 years from now the Assessors show up to look at your property and see no permit.... OR you try to sell the house with NO Permit.... Your TOAST....

I bought my house in Philly and when I went to sell it 3 years later I was having a Chimney inspection and the guy saw I did not have a Stainless Ring around the Flue Liner that had been put in 3 years earlier and offered to place one for $50.00.... I said Sure.... As the guy walks the ridge line with the ring in hand a Township Inspector just happens to drive by... He calls the Office to see if I had a permit to Re line the Chimeny... NO... But I did have one for a replacement Service Panel..... He charged into the house and was yelling that I did not have a permit.... Yelling at the Contractor.... When I finally got him calmed down... and told him that it was a selling of the house Chimney Inspection.... and a ring to replace what was just cement up top..... They thought they had me..... Then he focused on my Power Panel and I was in the process of installing Ground Fault outlets in the kitchen and bathroom to bring it up to code to sell.... He liked what he saw and left happy..... But had I not had a permit.... I would have been TOAST.....


AL

SharonB
03-01-2011, 01:54 PM
Rick...like your design. My only question is...where's your wood storage? You will need another building at least that big for your wood supply. You know you'll need lots and lots of wood on hand once you get that machine up and running. Also make sure you have enough lighting at your different work stations. We have 3-8' and 2-3' banks of lights and still have to have a portable light just to make sure our working area is bright enough.

PCW
03-01-2011, 02:41 PM
I went big and glad I did. 64X80 with 960 sf finished for a play room.
Pictures (http://s361.photobucket.com/albums/oo54/pcwholesale/Shop%20Pictures/?albumview=slideshow)

lynnfrwd
03-01-2011, 03:12 PM
I went big and glad I did. 64X80 with 960 sf finished for a play room.
Pictures (http://s361.photobucket.com/albums/oo54/pcwholesale/Shop%20Pictures/?albumview=slideshow)

It says I need a password :( frown!

PCW
03-01-2011, 03:17 PM
It says I need a password :( frown!

Try it again. I had it set to private. Sorry

Capt Bruce
03-01-2011, 04:09 PM
Did the Big Box Store offer any shed kits and how did the prices stack up against your design and bill of materials? I've priced out one in my market and I cannot beat their kit price built on site.

mca
03-01-2011, 04:38 PM
Wow, 64*80=5120 sf. That is about 6.5 times the size of my apt. I did a quick survey in Google Earth and most of the back yards around here (SE Houston) clock in at ~2-3000 sf. I take it you don't live in the suburbs PCW?

chebytrk
03-01-2011, 04:39 PM
I bought a "kit" at HD (16x20) and they came out and put it up for me. Took them a few hours. It has a small loft in it and is presently my Utility shed. I'm getting a quote to have someone run power out to it and I'm moving all my CW stuff out there. Garage just don't quite do it for me any more. The shed is basically the same as the design picture except I just have 1 window on each side. No paneling or insulation. I'll be making my move out there real soon. I really don't have much in "sheenery" so I still don't know what to run out there. Just have my CC, DC and small power tools (dremel, jig saw, coping saw, sander) that I use, but no all at once. You think maybe just 1 30amp circuit breaker would be enough? Oh yeah... needs lights too. Just wondering.... The shed was about 1300 including install.

PCW
03-01-2011, 05:04 PM
Wow, 64*80=5120 sf. That is about 6.5 times the size of my apt. I did a quick survey in Google Earth and most of the back yards around here (SE Houston) clock in at ~2-3000 sf. I take it you don't live in the suburbs PCW?

Mark,

I live in no man's land. Not one red light in the county of Montmorency where I'm at in MI.. One fast food restaurant (subway) in a BP gas station. It nice till you need something. (smile)

Ducky63
03-01-2011, 08:37 PM
I would ask about heat for the winter? I also agree with Al-Who make it as big as you can afford because you always need the room. I know that I wish my shop was bigger but it is as big as I can make it. Good luck on your new shop.

DurhamDev
03-02-2011, 07:58 AM
Did the Big Box Store offer any shed kits and how did the prices stack up against your design and bill of materials? I've priced out one in my market and I cannot beat their kit price built on site.

I know that there are some that are around the same size, which I believe come out about $500 - $1000 more, and usually don't include a ground kit. As it is, I've designed it with a full floor, so I'm sure that makes it even more economical. I believe most of the kits they sell are also that plastic stuff, and I'm not too excited about that.


I would ask about heat for the winter? I also agree with Al-Who make it as big as you can afford because you always need the room. I know that I wish my shop was bigger but it is as big as I can make it. Good luck on your new shop.

Heat is a big question for winter months. I haven't incorporated anything into the plan as yet, but I do hope to have something for the space. When I was younger, I remember working with my Dad in the garage, with nothing more than a 12" space heater blowing... ...but I think I'm going to upgrade that a little bit. If anyone has recommendations of heating the area, I'm all for it.

As for the size issue... ...my Wife turned to me in the car - about 20 minutes ago - and asked, "Since we're already building the workshop 12' x 16', do you see any benefit of going any bigger?"

WHHHHHAAAAATTTTTTTT???????!!!!!! Yes, folks. She asked if I wanted to build my workshop BIGGER!!!

Let me give you an overview of my property. If you were looking down from above, my property is about 40' wide by 120' deep. There are two sheds existing now, (which I claim NO responsibility for their construction - they came with the house) one in each corner. The one in the left corner is about 9' x 10', is made of wood and is rotten and falling over. The one in the right corner is about 8' x 6', made of steel, and filled to the brim with all of my tools, as well as most of my Dad's tools that I inherited when he passed away just over a year ago. (Lung cancer - it sucks.) In between each of these sheds are four trees. Old trees. Old trees that have been cut about 10' high, and are entangled in the electrical wires at the back of the house. Damn.

So, the revised plan now, is to make a bigger workshop - which I will likely stretch to 16' x 20'... I have a call in to Ontario Hydro, who offer a free service to trim your trees out of their wires. I hope to be there when they come by, so that I can ask them to simply "cut the trees as low as you want". I do own a chainsaw, so yes, as soon as they are away from the wires, those trees are coming down.

Question to you tree experts: If I cut a tree down to 'as close to ground level as I can', and I build a deck immediately above it, is there any chance that the tree will continue to grow up through my deck? I can't see why, if I'm depriving it of light, why it would, but I figure I'd ask the question anyway. (Of course, if there's a quick 'down and dirty' solution, I'd love to hear it. We recently got a quote to remove the trees and stumps, which was up over $3K. That's where my 'workshop' money came from, as my Wife deemed the tree removal a bit expensive.)

cnsranch
03-02-2011, 08:44 AM
Regarding heat -

It gets pretty cold here, but not as bad as where you're at.....

I had my shop wrapped (insulated) when it was biult, then had a ceiling put in with 6" of insulation blown in on top of that. Had to put in the ceiling - the walls are 11.5' high, and the rafter area was large enough that all the heat I generated went straight up.

I don't think you'll have that problem, and the rafters will give you some wood storage.

Can't remember what it's called, but you can wrap your building with the thin insulation - about 3/8" thick, before the outer walls are put up.

Although I've got a pellet stove in the shop, it takes way too long for it to bring the shop from 20 degrees to 60. So, I use a 55,000 BTU diesel powered torpedo heater to get it up to temp. That bad boy can take the shop from 20 to 70 in about 45 minutes, then the pellet stove keeps it there.

You can find them all day long on Craigslist for cheap. You can get away with less than half of what I use, but, bigger is always better. For less than $100, you're off to the races.

Just make sure you give the shop fresh air - open the door a crack, etc.

My shop's drafty enough that I don't even do that.

cestout
03-02-2011, 01:20 PM
I don't see room for other tools. We designed and built our own house just 10 years ago. I built a 3 car size garage with 2 10' x 8' doors and wall with a window dividing my wife's car from my shop. The shop is 2 cars wide and was the first part of the house completed. We needed it to finish the house, I built all the cabinets there. My shop is almost as complete as Norm's from necessity. now I have added the CarveWright as an additional tool in my arsenal. If you only have the CarveWright, you are limiting your possibilities. You should have a table saw, miter saw (or if space is limited, a radial saw instead of those 2), jointer planer, router table, and various sanders - stationary and hand held. This is a minimum to open you possibilities. I still have my Montgomery Ward radial arm saw (a classic) that I got in about 1968.
Clint

cnsranch
03-02-2011, 01:30 PM
I don't see room for other tools.Clint

I know some of you will cringe when I say this - but for the first 20 years of my hobby I used a Shopsmith - didn't have the space for anything else.

I love the thing, and even though I've got lots of tools now to replace most of the SS's versatility, I still use it all the time for it's bandsaw, planer, jointer and lathe.

bjbethke
03-02-2011, 05:05 PM
I have a PDF for a Storage shed, It looks like an old country school house.I might try to build one of these this summer to have a place for the GrandKids to stay in when they come to visit.

It would also work for my Scroll Saw and paint shop.

Capt Bruce
03-02-2011, 09:26 PM
Thanks for the price comparison and types of materials used in your area.