Updated as of 3/2007

Jump to page 2, which shows more of the woodworking shop by clicking here.

This is a photopage of my new shop, which my employees have dubbed the "Monster Garage".  I know the name is already taken, but it fits this space so well.  This is just GUY SPACE!   Fast cars, loud rock and roll music, all kinds of tools, and eventually a stocked bar and a pool table!  Yeah, that's what I'm talking about!

Here's a picture through the overhead door into the auto shop area, where I keep my 1993 Porsche 928 GTS.  The outside of this building is mostly brick, which is in fine shape, but the rest needs work.  I'll get to it eventually.

Here's the Porsche parked over the pit.  The building was built in 1933 for use as a service/gas station, so the pit has been there all along.

I can fit 3 cars in here comfortably.  This space is 25' x 40'.

Lots of storage in built-in cabinets and in the loft space above.   The floor system of the loft is suspended from the steel truss by cables, so no posts are needed in the space below.

In one quarter of this space, I've installed cabinets and a work table.   This is also the main entry.  I'll also eventually have a large cabinet there with a desk and lots of shelves for manuals and files.

I've got a sink here for washing stuff.

Evantually I'll build a ladder staircase for the pit, and I'll also paint it with the same epoxy paint as is on the floor.

I've got really good lighting in the shop.  The old eyes are getting older.  The loft is open on both sides.  I've got to build a ladder staircase up to the loft.

Over the battery charger you'll notice the red metal boxes.  They were the old electrical service boxes which I didn't want to take out, but my electrician finally talked me into a new panel.  So I took the guts out of them and I'll use them as first aid and safety equipment cabinets.   I've got a wall-mount shop vac and a water hose reel with hot and cold water.   The big fan was in the shop originally and I decided to keep it.

I made 3 covers for the pit and painted them with epoxy paint.

When the pit is in use, the covers hang on the wall out of the way.

There's a smaller pit that acts as a floor drain and is where the main water service enters the building.  I painted the steel trusses and the steel grate with an industrial red primer.

I had urethane foam insulation sprayed inside the whole building, including the old concrete floors, then I poured a new radiant heated concrete floor in the whole place.  I'll keep the radiant set at about 50 degrees, and when I come into the shop to use it, I'll kick up the temperature with a hot water Modine heater.  Should be very efficient to heat.

This is the woodworking shop, which is about 24' x 32'.  All doors have automatic closers to keep the dust from getting out of the woodshop.  There is a living/kitchen room that is unfinished at the end, and a "dirty room" where I will do the dirtiest sanding and painting projects.  There's also a full bath and a storage room.   The wood shop is where I'll do my work refinishing and re-veneering old Klipsch speakers, among other projects.  Note the loft space for storage, built-in cabinets, hi-bay T-5 flourescent lighting, and the curved overhang of the loft into the main space.  All the walls are finished with 7/8" thick pine boards that are stained with an exterior stain.  The insulated ceilings have a gray cement fireproof material sprayed over the urethane.

I decided not to do anything with the old single-pane windows for now.   That will be an expensive project for later.

I designed this main space with two big corners for my little shop audio system.  This is one of two stacks.

Any real guy space needs a guys bathroom complete with urinal.

The wife informed me right away that she WAS NOT cleaning the bathroom at the Monster Garage, so I tiled all the walls and made them waterproof so I could just spray the space down with disinfectant and then rinse it down with a hose.   There are two floor drains.  The walk-in shower is maybe a little overkill, but it was pretty easy to do since we were already tiling everything.

The heating system is starting to take shape.  I gutted a L.P. gas fired boiler that was a beta test model that we put through the paces a few years ago.  95% efficient and so quiet that you have to look at the flame through the viewfinder to see if it's burning.  I like seeing all the workings of the unit and the wiring and piping and stuff right out in the open.   ARRGHHHG!

How about a couple of "before" pictures?

Well that's it for now.  I've got a lot of money soaked into this place, and plans for a lot more to be spent.  I've still got to finish the living room, where we'll be able to audition audio equipment and I'll also be building some kitchen cabinets in there and have a refrigerator.  The freight elevator is still on my list of things to do so I can more easily access the storage area above and move heavy speakers up and down alone.

When it's all done, I suspect that I will have had more fun actually building it than I will have from doing any work in it.  If you're ever in Benton Maine and you see a vehicle parked out in front of the brick building at 21 Neck Rd., stop in and say "HI".

More photos of my 1993 Porsche 928 GTS

Go to page 2 by clicking here.