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The first area of progress I want to share with you is the mezzanine on the assembly side of the shop. The mezzanine will locate the shops office, a full bathroom, and a small lounge area with a TV, couch, and meeting table. The half wall will feature drywall on both sides and a decorative bar along the top of the wall. The lighting will be recessed and feature track lighting over the table and office area. A counter top furthest from this view will have a sink, cabinets, microwave, and coffee maker. I’ll incorporate a small refrigerator too. Under the mezzanine is the shops break area and first floor bathroom. The first photo shows the location of the full bathroom at the rear center of the photo and the stairs on the right leading to the second floor storage. The second photo shows the area under the mezzanine and the stairs leading up. I have a 12′ table that I will place here. Photos 3 & 4 show some of the progress with photo 4 showing the bathroom framing in the lower right. The last photo is from the end of the shop looking back to the mezzanine.
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The next area is the electrical wiring. I’ll call this the unseen giant. I asked the electrical crew how much wiring they are using and they said they have used over 3000 feet of metal clad cable and nearly 3000 feet of conduit. I admit I made the wiring more complicated than an ordinary “auto shop” would require but I selected a plethora of different lighting for all of the different areas of the shop and added further complexity by how I wanted an army of switches to control all of the lights. I added plenty of 120 and 240 volt outlets but went further with provisions for future garage door openers and neon signage that will be high up along the walls. I am making changes on the fly and the electrical crew has been very accommodating to the changes. The first two photos show the electrical panels to give you an idea of the complexity. The two large panels are 200 amps each. The panel to the right of the largest panel is the generator transfer switch. I will be able to continue operations when the power is out. Photos 3 & 4 show the tip of the iceberg in the amount of wiring throughout. The last photo shows the electrical meter box which has passed the electrical inspection. Hopefully the power company hooks the building up soon.
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This group of photos shows a smidgen of the interior framing. The lead photo shows the fabrication side stairs leading to the 2nd floor storage. Under this landing is a small room where the water well equipment and on demand water heater will be located. I will likely locate the air compressor under the stairs. The 2nd photo shows the walls separating the fabrication rooms while the 3rd photo shows the pockets for the lights in the wall for the paint room. There will be 5 lights on each side wall, 3 in the rear wall, and 6 in the ceiling. This should be enough light to give us a nice suntan in February. The 4th photo shows the ground floor bathroom and the crew installed numerous exterior doors.
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Moving outside the crew is working on the soffit and siding. It’s not as glamorous as some of the other things but necessary nonetheless. Unfortunately it’s tedious and time consuming to keep the lines straight.
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This last group of photos shows several areas of progress. Painting the floors has started, those are bottles of muriatic acid used to etch the concrete. The paint is a 2 part epoxy and I have used this in the past and it holds up very well. The key to excellent adhesion is in the preparation and cleanliness of the concrete. The plumbing installation continues and the HVAC contractor is working on installing furnaces and air conditioners. Two large furnaces are located on each end of the 2nd floor and isolated in small rooms. These furnaces discharge down and spiral pipe will run along the ceiling of the first floor.
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Here’s the rendering of the assembly side next to the most current photo. The addition of the mezzanine starts to show how close the rendering is to the actual design and the ultimate look of this side of the shop.
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