Shop construction

Much like when Mylene was pregnant, the shop seems to progress very slowly.  The anticipation of the final result and all the good times that will follow is almost too much but yet I must wait.  I still am not feeling it kick, but at least the morning sickness has subsided for now.

Here's where it's at:

The stairs down to the level that will be the shop.

I'm being as diligent as I can be with regards to containing the sometimes unpleasant woodworking sounds.  I decided to separate the furnace room from the shop with a "party" wall.  The idea being that there is far less solid material to transfer the sound as no stud touches the drywall on both sides of the wall.  Basically 2x6 plates with staggered 2x4 studs.  Insulation to come and hopefully I'll be ok to thickness things at whatever hour I desire.  Fingers crossed.

Another soundproofing measure has been to insulate the ceiling with Roxul Safe and Sound.  I've also put strips of 1/2" styrofoam insulation on the bottoms of the joists to further dampen what could go through to the upstairs living space.  As you can see the pot-lights are also in.

I decided that from a re-sale perspective, should that day come, that very few people would want their basement wired with 220V all over the place and bench height plugs etc.  Therefore I decided to first finish the space as a rec-room with all the appropriate plugs and lights for that.  Once it is drywalled I'm going to run the shop power off of a sub-panel with the wires in conduit on the outside of the walls.  This way I can tear it all down, patch the walls and no one will be the wiser.  Plus, I can take all my expensive wire and breakers, etc with me to the next shop.  Who knows if this will ever matter but it seems sensible, plus I can always move plugs if I want to re organize the shop for whatever reason.

Ah yes, furniture quality sawhorses as a reminder of what all of this effort is for.  As I said, it seems so far off that this will result in woodworking but I'm plugging away as fast as this whole working thing will allow and before I know it, it'll be done!