During the fall of 2014, my neighbor and good friend mentioned, in passing, that I could be more efficient in my shop, if it was remodeled. He continued to say that the overall layout should change and the placement of the cabinets, work benches, lumber storage, sheet-good storage, and larger power tools should move. I was opened to the suggestions, so we started discussing details of the specific location of the lumber rack storage, and the placement of the larger power tools. Since I was in the middle of three different projects, the remodeling project would have to wait for the New Year.
At the beginning of 2015, I completed the remaining projects and the shop was ready for the remodel. We started by unloading the entire shop into the adjoining garage space and kicking my wife’s min-van out into the cold. She was not very happy. I did not realize how much stuff I had collected over the years and the little pieces of wood scrapes I had saved for a ‘rainy day’.
The next step was to move three very large and heavy cabinets from the east wall to the west wall. These cabinets are 48” (H) x48” (W) x 24” (D) and are built from ¾ plywood with four doors and shelves. The moving of these cabinets required the assistance from my neighbor and a couple different friends. The cabinets were also raised 20” higher than the original location, to allow for more working area under the cabinets. The process of hanging the cabinets caused us to use two different ladders to get to the top of the cabinets to secure them to the wall. Once the cabinets were attached to the wall, I was able to sort the necessary items from the garage and place them in the corresponding cabinets.
The next step was to move the lumber rack storage from the south wall to another wall. Since, the lumber rack was full of red oak, white oak, maple, cherry, walnut, alder, and pine; we needed to unload it first. Again, with the help from my neighbor and a couple different friends, we were able to unload the lumber rack into the adjoin garage space. This was strike two from the wife. Originally the lumber rack had four large shelves to hold the lumber, but we wanted to move two shelves to the east wall and the other two shelves to a different location of the south wall. This meant that I had to cut the original lumber rack in half and re-install them on the new walls, with the help from another friend.
The next step was to re-locate the ‘cut-off’ lumber rack storage from the north wall to the east wall. Again, we had to unload the large amount of small ‘cut-off’ pieces of lumber, which were meant to be used on some rainy day. This cut-off rack is 48”x48”x48” and made from 2”x4” pine lumber. It is not very heavy, but awkward to move and re-attach on the wall. I had another friend help me with the moving of this rack. Once the lumber racks were re-installed, we were able to load and organize the current lumber inventory on the new rack locations.
The work bench was then moved down the west wall to be centered under the three cabinets. This allows me to place the scroll saw and router table on the left side of the work bench and the drill press and air compressor on the right side of the work bench. The 36” band saw was migrated to the north-east corner of the shop. The hand-tool cabinet and rolling toolbox were placed on the east wall, along with the sheet-goods storage. The Shopsmith and accessories were placed along the south wall. The walls were covered with a French cleat system or slot-wall system for the rest of the tools and accessories.
In addition to re-arranging the tools and storage, the shop lighting was upgraded to LED lights. This makes the shop very bright when compared to the older lights. We also installed air line for the air compressor, so the air attachment points are much closer to the project or task. We also added air filtration unit to keep the air clean from dust particles.
It is amazing how the shop looks and feels with the remodeling done. It feels like the shop is huge and the work flow is much more efficient. I want to say a big ‘thank you’ to all my friends and neighbors that helped throughout the project. I could not have done this project without you.
In celebration of the shop remodeling project, we are doing an open house/shop on Saturday, March 7 from 4 PM – 6 PM. We will be doing shop tours and demonstrations. Please come by and see the new shop and the new projects that are occurring at Zeh’s Custom Design.