New Shop building! #4: Ramping up the efforts. (more pic's again)

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Well, Georgia Power came out this week for their “site inspection”. Wow, looks like it might cost me a small arm (and possibly a leg) to get the power hooked up. I mentioned in the last part that back when we lived over on the other side of the state, Georgia Power Company came and dropped a pole in my yard about six feet from my shop. They didn’t charge me a thing for doing that and they also put a dedicated meter there for the shop. We always got two bills, one of which was addressed as “Durning Barn”. THAT bill only ran me about $15 or $20 a month. (As a reference point, this was back in 1994)

Fast forward to now and the guys that came to the house said they no longer put power poles in at no charge. The now have some convoluted way of figuring out how much power I might “potentially use” over the next 3 years, then they figure out what it’s going to COST THEM to bring the power to my shop. I have to cover the difference IN ADVANCE before they’ll come and drop the pole in my yard. Based on what I told them I have in equipment, they figure I’ll probably use between $40 and $50 a month. I couldn’t pin the guy down to a figure because he said he has to go back and get with the engineers to figure it all out. He did tell me that he’s been doing this for almost 15 years and “Off the record” he said it could POSSIBLY cost me somewhere between $1200 and $3000 out of pocket UP FRONT to get the power hooked up.

YIKES! That’s gonna take a BIG BITE outta the ol shop budget! So I’m guessing a table saw and a lathe will NOT be new additions to my tools any time soon. But I’m in this now, so I GOTTA move forward best I can!
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So as to progress… I got the cruddy looking doors painted dark gray. Found a can of Rustoleum marked down half off at Wally World because it was dented. THAT was a great bargain!

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and I got the rest of the pressure treated 1” X 6” boards put up all around the outside. They’ll also be painted the same dark gray as the doors. Their MAIN FUNCTION will be to hold the skirting on (that’s why they almost touch the ground), but by doing it this way, they’ll blend in as trim pieces. And if I ever need to get under the building, all I’ll have to do is unscrew one 12′ piece of skirt to gain access. I’ll probably re-paint the rest of the building light gray (if I have any budget dollars left).

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I got the carpeting pulled out. A guy I work with was thrilled to take it. He also hauled away the 2 trailer tongues to sell as scrap. I dont plan on having to move this thing ever in MY lifetime!

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My big success this week was getting the ramp built. It’s almost 11′ long and it’s 4′ wide. I used 1 X 10 pressure treated lumber and at the bottom end I put solid cap-blocks below ground level for the stringers to sit on. I could drive a truck up this thing, it’s that strong!
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I also noticed how much the stairs/landing has yellowed in just 2 weeks as compared to the new pressure treated ramp wood being so green.
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Once I get the gap closed up that runs the center of the floor, I can start moving my STUFF in. You can see where I used expanding foam to fill in between the floor joists, but the way it was built the top boards still have a gap. The flooring (yes, REAL plywood, not that particle board crap) is 3/4” thick, and the gap is just under 3”. So I’m just gonna slice off any excess foam with a steak knife and use 1” X 3”’s which will work nicely. Then I’ll put the aluminum runner back down that covered the carpet seam.
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Well that’s about it for this update. Stay tuned kids! Same Bat time, same Bat channel

Source: LumberJocks.com

New Shop building! #4: Ramping up the efforts. (more pic's again)