My workshop

The Smit Skunkworks. (I wish!)

Where it all began

My workshop started out as a nice garden shed. The plan is to enclose the lean-to patio for garden equipment, and when I've finished working on the engine, use the lean to components to complete an enclosed addition on the far side for garden equipment. The pad will then be enclosed with a pitched roof like the existing shed, which will make it long enough to build the 750 wings and also long enough for the fuselage and engine. Along the way, I'd also like to add a green house on this near side of the workshop, but don't expect that to happen till 2012.

Other improvements:

• I have built a workbench
• Added a ceiling fan
• Put a corkboard on one wall
• Added a hoist. See how it was put to use moving the Corvair engine into the shop.

Purchased wood for workshop extension

My wife and I found a place in Wendell, NC that sell builders' supplies at really good prices by comparison to places like Lowe's or Home Depot. We purchased most of the lumber for the framing of the extension, sealer for the concrete slab already there and the hardware to bolt the sillplate down onto the concrete at the Builder's Discount Center. The plan is to start work on the extension as soon as the temperatures are high enough overnight to be above the minimum recommended for the concrete sealant. It shouldn't drop below a certain level for 24 hours after application. Since this is one of the coldest winters in recorded history in North Carolina, I'm hoping we won't have to wait too long - and there's snow in the longer term forecast.

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Sealing the concrete slab

31 December 2010 - Weather improved and temperatures climbed sufficiently to apply the concrete sealer. A series of images of the sealing paintjob is HERE. .

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Started work on the sillplates

01 January 2011 - The next day my wife and I kicked off 2011 with work on the sillplates. A series of images of the first day's work is HERE. We got all the sillplates cut and drilled for the carriage bolts to pass through easily. The concrete was a tougher proposition. Even stepping up through a series of larger and larger drillbits with the hammerdrill setting on, it took several hours to get nearly half the sillplates in and bolted down. .

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Sillplates - Day 2

02 January 2011 - A new, more powerful drill has allowed much more rapid progress. That said, though, the weather hasn't helped particularly. Since the previous work, temperatures have been consistently below freezing. I put down the sillplate that will form the base for the pillar that will support one side of the garden shed double door, then unbolted the other sill plate and added in the missing washers. I gave the same treatment to the other sillplate I put in in the previous session. Before my arse froze completely, I drilled one more sillplate and bolted it down. I suspect the cold weather played a role, but one of the concrete anchors shattered while bolting down the short sillplate and it took a little while extracting the pieces from the hole.

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Sillplates - Day 3

Sunday 09 January 2011 - completed the second side of the shop's sillplates. Cold drove me inside.

Framing

16,17 January 2011 - Finished drilling the last side of the workshop extension and bolting down the sillplates. Additionally, Cynthia came along behind, loosened the sillplates, sealed underneath them with caulk and then rebolted them down. Once that was done, framing could begin. By the end of the day, we'd framed one section of the extension, done part of the door section, and started some of the prep for the sillplates along the sides where the roof sloped. By the end of the weekend, we'd framed the entire workshop and headers. Next steps are framing for panels.

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Panel Framing

23, 31 January, 6 February 2011 - Began building frames to fit inside the upright columns. The wallboard will be attached to the frames so that when we move the 'lean to' part of the workshop around the corner to the side of the workshop in about a year or two, the panels can be removed in their entirety with minimal loss of materials. Framing proceeded steadily with some weather breaks until all frames were completed on the weekend of 6 February 2011. The frames looking out across the yard have space for windows. Cynthia has been coating the raw wood with primer each week to protect it from the rain we've been getting.

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Framing in the cripples

Above the panels we finished the cripples making up the triangular space between the sloping roof and the top of the framing. On the section above the windows, the cripples made up the gap between the rafters and above the framing.

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Panelling

We began putting up the wallboard, starting at the back. Two methods of changing the dimensions of the cement fibreboard had been suggested - scoring and breaking, and cutting. We tried scoring and breaking the first time, and ended up with a rather ragged break. The second time we tried it, we improved our results, but the edge remained compromised. After that, we've used a circular saw with a diamond edge to cut the cement board. It creates a lot of dust (we wear masks), but the results are far better. The edges are clean and breaks don't occur. Each weekend, we've steadily added to the panels and are making our way around. We had something of a learning curve trying to establish exactly the right pressure in the coil nailer and we have a test piece of wallboard and wood we use as our 'test strip'. Before close of work each day, Cynthia caulks the nails, edges and gaps and has been priming the external surfaces of the wallboard during the week.

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Final panels and building and hanging doors

Progress has been detailed in the Build Blog of work done on the workshop extension. Since March, a lengthy roadtrip to Oklahoma for Ro's graduation impacted finances and then everything was put on hold. None the less, when possible, work has proceeded steadily.

In early October, the final large panels were added to the sides of the workshop, enclosing it in its entirety, with the exception of the doors.

In late October and November 2011, the plywood door panels were measured and cut and the cedar edge panels measured and glued and nailed. The doors were primed. Later that month, over Thanksgiving weekend, the doors were strengthened further with screws holding the panelling and cedar edges together in addition to the nails and glue. Then the doors were hung and a first coat of red paint applied to them.

In December, handles were added to the doors, latches on the inside, and locks and hasps to secure it closed.

Just before year-end, we built panels to close up the window frame holes, a temporary solution until windows are actually built, and added a hasp for lock to the outside of the door, adding a keyed lock to the combination lock below, which is less heavy duty. We also insulated the top section of the south facing wall, which would be difficult to insulate from the inside and foamed the roof cavities to seal off the underside of the wavy roof where it rests on the beams.

January 2012

Moved into the workshop.