Shop build; Path to freedom
My quest for meaning and freedom. This juvenile eagle frequently flies over my home and shop. He be game my inspiration on this quest. This build is my race against time. As the IT industry slows down and jobs move overseas, i felt that my days of IT consulting were ending, I needed a new path, one that I controlled.
renting space is an option, but $2k/month in rent is lost revenue paid to someone else, that's 24K/year, gone. Decided to buy land and pay myself every month instead. Found this amazing property with an existing car port. It gave me the dream to build it out into my own shop.
the log cabin style support beams and roofing were all in good shape, just needed the framing, weather proofing, and electric to be installed. I hired an electrician to handle upgrading the breaker box to my power requirements. I did all the rest.
cement board makes up the bottom 1-1/2 feet of the wall to provide a water barrier, then standard OSB for the rest of the walls.
I read a lot of literature on the best water shed membrane, and after hours of reading and 10s of youtube vids, decided old fashion tarpaper would do the job. Most tarpaper installations, if done right have at least a 100 year life expectancy. I think that will do me.
on to the "feature wall. Its a feature, but it has windows! New skills to learn. headers, footers, cripple studs, and the list goes on.
cement board and OSB mount
Second window installed
Tarpaper hung over the entire wall, and then cut out the window spaces. It wastes some tar paper, but saves a huge amount of time, and I was racing time at this point....winter was coming.
window seal and water membranes installed.
now for the last wall. This became a race against time because winter in Washington state can be quite nasty and at 1000 ft above sea level, its not only wet, but very cold. The electrician said they could not work in the winter if the building wasn't weather proof.
Loading doors complete! At this point, I was very relieved. The electricians would work to finish the upgrade and bring the shop to life!
turns out, my days in the IT industry were numbered. I finished the build and moved my equipment in, just in time to get laid off...My plan worked. My escape route was complete and now, I'm a fulltime professional carpenter and handyman.