Brains needed!!! Hands on Katie HQ design time!!
Added 2024-10-25 16:00:09 +0000 UTCHey you awesome folks!
I’m soooooooo excited to share that I’ve finally finished the concrete pour on my new workshop foundation! 🏗️ I didn't want to confirm anything until I'd left it a good few days to cure!! I was dodging the Scottish weather which was flipping between rain and sun every few hours. Plus it's now hovering 'just' above the minimum temperature for concrete pouring - if I'd missed this, then it would have been next April before I could have done it!!!!
This was one of the trickiest parts of the entire build. I really didn’t want to get it wrong—after all, the foundation is literally the base for everything that’s going to happen in the workshop. If it's slightly off level, then the whole thing becomes a mess...! But pleased to see my laser level skimming the top of the concrete all the way along in every direction, so I'm calling it done!! (excuse my silly jigs in these photos, but I was delighted!! And I noticed my dress was sooooo matching the concrete, I'm such a style icon - so I was testing the camouflage in case you wonder why I was lying on the ground!!)
Now comes the fun part—planning out the interior layout. I’ve been furiously brainstorming ideas for the ultimate workshop space, but I need your help!
Hop into my Discord channel where I've started a thread on this or just comment below - I want to know every tip, idea, concept, mad plan you've got and I'm going to build the ultimate Hands on Katie Workshop HQ!!
Even if you've screwed up something or have regrets from your own workshop builds (goodness knows I do!) Any gotchas I might miss? Maybe some clever storage solutions or tech integrations? Let's make this workshop epic!
Looking forward to hearing from you all!
Katie 😊😊😊
Discord link: https://discord.com/channels/1206972437879726090/1298589911376466013
Comments
Ah yes, I've never actually used these in a workshop, I can't quite imagine how they'd work. I guess my main question would be how tough are they to scratches, scrapes and other things? I could see myself dropping paint on them and not being able to find replacements or something silly! Are they pretty tough?
Hands on Katie
2024-10-28 12:51:25 +0000 UTCHey Sean, yes great points! Agree if I was less against the clock, then I'd probably have had a stab at smoothing just for the fun of it like you did! But Winter is coming here, so no time for such fun.......!!
Hands on Katie
2024-10-28 12:46:47 +0000 UTCOne of the key things i found was the flooring as it needs to cushioned of your standing for a while, easy to clean, has some bounce when you drop something critical - in the end I chose the garage tiles - like these https://images.app.goo.gl/ZKdm3BkA6z3jExm77 although I found somewhere that did multiple colours to liven it up a bit.
TopCat
2024-10-28 12:34:15 +0000 UTCI got a bull float off ebay, new, for $140US-ish. It was a bit tricky but ended up coming out nicely. Mine is for just a shed, but I wanted to see how nice I could make it, just as practice for future jobs. I then broomed the surface, and cut a crack relief at the mid point (8'x15', 5" thick). I did notice the top looked a bit wet. If you later decided you wanted it smoother, you could probably use some self-leveling compound. I'm thinking more for ease of rolling things around. Don't get me wrong, looks like you did a great job of it!
Sean Reifschneider
2024-10-26 19:00:54 +0000 UTCVery rough screeded! Definitely didn't float it (it's going to be under the workshop, so doesn't need to be pretty!). I got the concrete delivery guys to help with dragging a 5m wide 6x2 across to screed and level the surface. Asked for the top layer to be pretty runny, so it self-levelled pretty easily! Scotland is lovely, beautiful place (just not quite as beautiful as Wales, but I may be biased!!)
Hands on Katie
2024-10-26 15:11:26 +0000 UTCJust trying to understand what I'm seeing here, how did you finish the concrete? It looks a little wavy, like maybe you screeded it but didn't float it? Just wondering. I just did my first slab pour a last month, so still learning. You live in a beautiful place, my wife and I are planning to visit Scotland next year for her cousin's wedding, can't wait to see the country.
Sean Reifschneider
2024-10-26 14:56:04 +0000 UTCNooooo!
john gallagher
2024-10-26 12:37:41 +0000 UTCJOHN!!! Can't believe I forgot the gin cabinet! Great suggestion, I'll have to find a spot! Your vision sounds inspiring to me!! Yes, the building warrant took a fair old amount of time, but that's done, so the bureaucratic bit is out the way at least!
Hands on Katie
2024-10-26 07:35:44 +0000 UTCI'll camo my legs next time then!!
Hands on Katie
2024-10-26 07:34:08 +0000 UTCAnd, yes, the dress vanishes but the legs give you away.
john gallagher
2024-10-26 02:06:43 +0000 UTCI’m imagining a hub set up where you have a larger version of your projector enhanced craft table in the middle for brainstorming and prototyping and gin sipping with all of your production and finishing equipment surrounding you for easy access and venting to the exterior as Bazza outlined. Will you have built in fire suppression? What is permitting like in your neck of the woods? Here in CA USA it would probably take 2-3 years to get a structure like this approved and built.
john gallagher
2024-10-26 02:05:48 +0000 UTCIf you are thinking about metal work you probably want to dusty places. Sparks and sawdust are not a good combination
Simon
2024-10-25 19:22:24 +0000 UTCMaking it fly is easy The safe landing is the tricky part
Simon
2024-10-25 19:19:54 +0000 UTCThey've definitely inherited it!! They might be even worse than me - in the games room I was designing the chair bed your saw based on their specs with loads of smart features. My son looks wistfully at it as I'm building and asks 'but can't you make it really fly??' 🤣🤣🤣
Hands on Katie
2024-10-25 18:40:44 +0000 UTCExactly my thinking - garage for dust, this workshop for clean stuff (lasers, 3d printers, sewing and more!)
Hands on Katie
2024-10-25 18:38:52 +0000 UTCLoads of brilliant points Bazza!! On the ducting, yes I'm thinking along these lines - I'm thinking of maybe even putting it all in a long acrylic enclosure, so it's super easy to swap devices. I've also got an AMAZING filter from xTool that's got to be one of the best devices I've seen this year, so that's going to play a big role. On the woodworking side, this is going to be a 'clean' workshop and I'll keep the garage for the dusty and dirty stuff (CNC, table saw and so on). This will hopefully keep the dust and cleaning and stuff completely separate. My craft room will stay indoors, but I'll design this to cater if required for big things (like making curtains, upholstery and the like!)
Hands on Katie
2024-10-25 18:38:10 +0000 UTCThat sounds like a challenge!!! Katie does manure digging coming up!!! 🤣🤣🤣
Hands on Katie
2024-10-25 18:33:58 +0000 UTCHow do you make everything look so sexy?
Jay
2024-10-25 17:29:00 +0000 UTCI'd add in provision for ducting to pass smells/VOCs from the various printers and cutters outside. If you line things up along 1 wall, you could then pass all the printers and cutters output pipes into one main duct, and then have only 1 egress point for "bad" air. You might also want to include filtered ingress for good air from outside to make sure you have a constant recirculation. If you're going to have enough height in the building to do it, you could have the air ingress ducted around into the various rooms If you have the room, I'd consider separating the wood shop area from the 3d printing area, to minimise the amount of sawdust and other detritus getting at the printers. Speaking of dust, you could also add a hopper to any dust extraction gear you have, with an outside access to the hopper bin, for easy removal? Motorised poopy bins for the printers, to push all the poops into a single collection point? Maybe also a separate fabrication room for soldering and construction of final gear? Again, if you have the room. Is the craft room staying in the house, or is it migrating to the workshop too? You'd definitely want that separate from the wood shop area! Hope this helps?
Bazza McSpleen
2024-10-25 16:54:58 +0000 UTCAnd smelly work ie resin. Man that gear stinks!!!
Sporticus52
2024-10-25 16:19:27 +0000 UTCA separate room for cutting, sanding, fabricating. Keep all the dust in one place?
Sporticus52
2024-10-25 16:18:42 +0000 UTCI'm curious do your kids share your enthusiasm for everything Or is it "Oh no mum's at it again "?
Simon
2024-10-25 16:06:44 +0000 UTC
