It is finished! Sort of. I passed my final inspection last month, almost exactly 6 months after the first shovel was put in the ground to pour the foundation. So, as far as the county is concerned, I have met all the building permit requirements, the building is complete, and I removed my construction box from the front yard. I must tell you that it was a big day for me, one that I’m both proud of and humbled by.
To back up a little, there were a few things I had to complete prior to getting that CO… certificate of occupancy. I caulked everything on the outside. Because there was so much caulking that needed to be done, I bought a power caulk gun, one that works with my Dewalt battery platform. It worked so well that I had to get used to it and find just the right touch to get it to lay down a good bead, but it sure does beat hand-pumping a traditional caulk gun!
Accompanying photos can be found in the Gallery IV here on the website.
I finished the inside by putting in batt insulation in the walls and using OSB sheets to cover the walls, giving it a more completed look. The final item was the installation of the steps up to the front door. Code requires several strict requirements for those steps and, using all that higher math and geometry (!) I built not only a compliant set of steps, but ones that I think are attractive as well. Code requires: if over 2 steps (mine was 3) must have a landing of a minimum of 3’ by 3’; the risers cannot be over 7 3/4” (mine were 6 7/8”); and the step treads must extend over the risers between 3/4” and 1 1/4” (mine were 1”).
I must say that I failed my first Final Inspection because I had to switch out every 240v breaker with GFCI breakers. Additionally, I had to make every 120v receptacle GFCI protected. The final thing I had to do was to switch out the 15 amp breaker for the lights to one with arc fault protection! After a trip to Lowe’s, and $550 later, everything was changed and up to snuff. Lessons learned.
So with all those things completed… after 6 months, it was mine and I was free of the county!
As of this final blog post on my workshop construction, it still isn’t totally finished.
I’m fervently trying to get it ‘complete’. I’m about to finish the interior painting so that I can move in the big tools. Until the painting is finished, they would just be in the way. I Used the truck, pulled the empty trailer to the farm in Athens, and returned with a HEAVY load of my cabinet saw, band saw, and jointer. (The truck made it there and back in style with only negative being its gas mileage. Yep, she’s a heavy drinker, getting only 11 mpg!) Next, I must paint the outside. I have painted one of the gable ends with the reddish-brown paint color which, I think, will coordinate well with the house brick. The trim will then be painted the same yellow-cream color that’s on the house. It’s my hope that those planned colors will tie everything together and give it a cohesive look.
Everything is pre-primed, so it hasn’t been extremely urgent, but I have purchased a mini-spit HVAC unit, and because the compressor mounts outside on the back wall of the workshop, the painting needs to be done first so that it doesn’t interfere with painting, and the painting doesn’t damage the compressor. I don’t need to tell everyone that now that it’s late April, the heat will only get more brutal, so I’m look forward to getting a little AC!
I also will be adding a reflective insulation to the to underneath sides of the roof rafters and then permanently mounting the lights on that insulation, moving them from their temporary position just sitting on top of the collar ties which tie the rafters together.
The last thing that will be required will actually be one of the first big projects to be done in the shop, and that’s building the permanent sliding barn door. For sure, there will be many things to do in terms of window and door trim, shelves, cabinets, work benches, etc. But that will be just as exciting as I work to ‘make it my own’.
I must conclude this post with a confession… a testimony, actually. This experience has been extremely rewarding for me, and it has caused me to realize just how blessed I have been. I mentioned above that it has also been humbling. It hasn’t been lost on me that I didn’t get here just by my own efforts. You may not understand this, but I definitely feel that I got here through God’s providence and provision. I feel that I have been blessed with the opportunity of my lot being the only one in my HOA neighborhood of 48 homes that could accommodate a workshop; I’ve been blessed that I had the finances to build it; that I have been blessed with the skills and ability to build it; and finally with the assistance and expertise of family and friends.
This sense of blessings is so strong that I’m forever retiring the name Taj Mashop. That name just sounds so braggadocios, so pretentious and ‘look what I built’, and that’s the last impression I want to make! From now on, it will be referred to simply as my workshop, or the shop, or from time to time (as a reminder to me), the Carpenter’s shop.
Thank you for reading and following along on this journey. This might be the final blog post, but stand by for updates on these little things as I complete them. Until then…
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