New Garage Woodworking Shop

I have been planning a woodworking shop inside my 3-car garage for the longest time, and with my son's help I finally put the plans into action. The end result will be an insulated, climate controlled (AC and heating) shop, with additional electrical connectors. I already added five new 20-amp GFCI outlets to the existing walls, and the new walls will get at least five more.

We will install compressed air inlets, using 480-PSI PVC 3/4" tubing, which will be fed by my air compressor that's located near the garage entry doors. Additional lighting and exhaust fans will also be installed. I ordered a new 125-amp sub panel, which I will install right next to the main panel. The main panel is located on one of the garage walls, so running wire to the new shop will be a cinch. A couple of 220-volt lines will be added for good measure. One will be for the ceiling-mounted heater, and the other will be a 220v outlet.

The work will continue tomorrow once the weather warms up a bit. Note that the backdoor seen in the photo is to replace the current backdoor to our home, which is in need of replacement. The shop will get a solid pine door and an extra window along the new wall (next to be built). The finished shop dimensions will be 10.25-ft x 15.4-ft.

Last September 2020:




A few days ago:




Current state of affairs:

Looking good so far.

Edit: I couldn't help but notice on second viewing, you seem to own a lot of bikes!

Moving right along:

How are you anchoring the base plate?

The base plates are nailed directly into the concrete slabs with 6" spikes, and the walls above float.

I think I'm done for today. I'm in need of a break, but the work will continue tomorrow. This is how things are looking for now:


Outside view:




By the entry door:




Peering into the shop:




Inside the shop, looking to the left:




Looking straight on (old window temporarily covered with drywall):




From inside, looking toward the entry side:

A small recommendation, don't skimp on drywall tape. Untapped joints, like over a doorway, never lay flat, even if it's only 2" long. The people that did the dry wall here skimped over doors.

Thanks for the advice. I bought 1,000-ft of FibaTape, along with 4.5 gallons of mud. We're planning on minimum of 3 passes. Our original builder did horrible in taping the garage, and all of it will have to be redone before it can be properly finished. I'm pretty determined to get this right on the first attempt.

That's the right idea, don't rush to get it done, right is more important.  Patience is hard to come by.......

I didn't work on the shop today, instead choosing to clean out and reorganize the garage. This allowed for new perspectives:


View from the garage door:

Is there still room for a car where the shop is located? Picture you poasted looks like there is.

I took that into consideration in advance. With the new wall there remains 20 feet to park in the 1-car bay. That's plenty of room for my Harley. Lol. In the first two photos of the last group I poasted, you can make out the garage door opener motor/light. The opener is at exactly the 1/2 way point. The opener in the third photo is for the 2-car bay, which remains 30 feet deep.

I accomplished little yesterday, but I managed to replace the old lighting with a new, flush-mount LED panel. The photo below shows the newly installed light, and the insert shows what it previously looked like. Once I install the electrical sub-panel and rewire, I'll add additional LED lighting. Most likely I'm going to take a day or two off before continuing.

Here's two new photos. I finally finished getting the drywall up. I did the last half by myself, so it was a bit time consuming and challenging at times. With upcoming bad weather and cold temps, it will be a few days before moving on to taping, mudding, hanging the door, etc. I can use the break, so no complaints.





My clock finally has a home. It was difficult to hang as it's big, clumsy and quite heavy. And dumb ol' me... it just dawned on me that I will have to take it down tomorrow night to readjust it for DST. Idiot. Lol.

Weather folks are talking about a big storm out your way. Stay safe.......

I just got home after topping off the car, minutes before the snowfall started. It's suppose to be a rough weekend, but thankfully I have no place to go in the next two or three days.

How vulnerable is your electrical power? Underground?  We infrequently get such storms but regularly lose power, sometimes even in a heavy rain storm.

Our power lines are exposed, yet blackouts are on the rare side. Even more rare is for a blackout to last more than a minute or two.

You're very lucky........

I have no new photos yet, but we spent the day yesterday taping and laying the first coat of mud. My son should be back today and we'll continue the work, to include (hopefully) hanging the door. I likely won't add new photos until the mudding is complete. Once the texture is done, the next big event will be installing the electrical sub-panel and running the new wiring.

We only did some light work today, as the heavier sections of mud were obviously still damp. The door was hung, and I put up some insulation and a couple more sheets of drywall along the unfinished garage wall.

We're not expecting the weather to warm up enough until the weekend, so it's not likely that much (if anything) will get done between now and then. At most, I'll finish the top section of drywall that I started.

Believe it or not, finishing the walls in the garage just increased your potential selling price.   Good idea even if you're just using up unneeded materials.
But it looks nice, your craftsmanship skills show.  Nicely done.

Thanks for your kind words, Bill, although it's not like I know what the hell I'm doing. This is my first time doing a project like this and I'm learning as I go. Obviously with my son's help and guidance, although I probably won't see him again for a couple weeks or more. Once I finish all three coats, the texture will go up followed by a paint job. Last will be installing the sub-panel and new wiring, which I will figure out by myself. Rest assured that it will be done perfectly, safely, and to code. The cherry on top will be when I install the compressed air lines.

I will eventually finish out the entire garage, as there's not that much bare wall left. Increasing the sales value is a nice thought, but the house will almost certainly stay in the family. Yet again, who knows?

Electrical stuff is pretty straight forward until you try some shortcuts to feed just one more outlet that really deserves its own circuit.  I've done a fair amount of new wiring and repair, isn't difficult, just requires your attention. I've even done some 220v stuff for A/C  units in wall outlets and circuit breakers in the panel.  220v bites a little harder, not particularly pleasant, but not fatal unless you have a pacemaker!
Good luck! I wish I was there.......

I'm comfortable doing short electrical runs and repairs, but I have never messed with a panel. I have the new wall wired between the studs, but I still need to tie it all together in the attic using junction boxes, as well as from the eventual sub-panel. All the new wiring is 12-2 Romex.

The window AC unit will get it's own 20-amp circuit, the five new wall outlets will share a 20-amp circuit, and the exhaust fan(s) and two new LED ceiling lights will share a 15-amp circuit. I will also run a 220-volt line for the (eventual) ceiling-mounted heater, as well as a separate 220-volt outlet on the new wall, which I'll install via conduit.

I wish you were here too. I need someone to point out all my mistakes. Lol

No new photos, as things are moving slowly at the moment. Temps dropped again, with snow today.

We did have one really nice day, so I took advantage to work on more insulation and drywall on the bare garage wall. I'm down to one 8' x 10' section, which will have to wait until after the shop is completed. More than anything is having to take things down from the wall, and I already have enough clutter in the garage.

I also installed two new ceiling boxes for future LED lights, and spent a few hours in the attic installing new 12-2 Romex wire and an FM antenna. Working in the attic is challenging, due to limited space where the rafters angle down. Light is limited, I have to be very careful to not scalp myself on the roofing nails, and balancing on the joists is tiring. Dealing with 17+ years of dust and crap doesn't help. Even getting into (and then down) from the attic is an upper-body workout.

Enough whining... I'll be in the attic once more today stapling the wire I laid yesterday, along with installing two new junction boxes. At least the cooler weather makes working in the attic tolerable. Eventually, I'll insulate the garage attic with loose fiber.

You get into the attic via a hole in the ceiling? Have you considered a fold down ladder?  And some minor lighting?

The only reason I'm in the garage attic is because of the workshop and the new wiring. Otherwise there's no reason to be there. In 17+ years, this is my first time up there.

I'm using my LEO flashlight as an area light, with a smaller flashlight for wherever I'm working. It's inconvenient at times, but it works.

Update to getting into the attic. The biggest problem I face is where the current access hole is. Getting into the attic is some effort, but it's not too bad. The biggest problem is that once I'm in the attic, I'm on the house side. I then have to seriously contort and low crawl (twice) to get into the attic over the garage.

As much of pain that it is, I've reasoned that once this project is done I won't have to be in the garage attic anymore. However, I do plan to insulate the attic in time. Short story is that I'm going to create a new access hole near the shop entrance. This will make it far easier to get into the attic and do whatever future work needs to be done.

I'm really sorry I didn't think of this sooner, but I'll be creating a new access point today. It's too cold to do anything else anyway.

Now that is a good idea, maybe even serve as storage space?

While that would be nice, it's not conducive for storage. There's nothing over the joists to prevent items coming down through the drywall, plus it will eventually be insulated with up to a couple feet of loose fiber fill.

Sounds like you're not moving back to Texas!  But good for the heating and cooling bills.

I have a new garage attic access hole right by the shop entrance. This is making life so much easier by saving time and effort. Finishing the wiring and junction boxes will now be a snap. This will also be a tremendous help for the future insulation.

The new hole is approx 22.5" x 37". I cross-braced the joists with 2x4s on each end of the hole, and I'll make a frame for it soon so that I can properly cover it when I'm done.

It seems we keep getting hit with snowstorms. We have another on the radar for next Tuesday morning after a nice weekend. At least I'll have two or three days to get some work done. I need to service my Harley as well.

Now that I have a new access hole in the ceiling, I'll easily be able to wire the junction boxes today.

Big step forward....

I finally got the new sub-panel installed and complete. I considered leaving trash and other garbage inside the new panel just like my old builder did. That way it would look like a "professional" did it, just to help it pass inspection.

The main panel is 200 amps, and the circuit breaker feeding the new panel is 100 amps. The feeder cable is 2 gauge aluminum.

Nicely done. you generally can tell when such a box has been done by a pro. The wires are all the same length and the bends all look alike. Yours looks fine.

Thanks for the compliment, Bill. I do not claim to know what I'm doing, and this was my first attempt. I'll admit that it was challenging and I learned a lot in the process. The inspector was pleased with the new panel, and with the attic wire runs. The final inspection will hopefully be within the next couple weeks or so.

All steps in the right direction.  Lots of inspectors don't like DIY projects, sounds like you got a good one.