Help

So I have been looking around in the basement and seeing how/where will I start to frame.  Since I have never done any sort of framing before, it seems like a daunting task.  I've been watching videos on YouTube and reading up about framing on various DIY WEB sites and it seems so simply and easy.  I then go down to the basement and look at the area where I need to build my shop wall and all that research does not help me how to go around a drain stack.

At our last woodworking meet, Gord and others offered to help with the this project.  They mentioned that it would be a  half day project to get wall erected with drywall and door hung.  This sounds like so easy, just the the YouTube video.  However, I am thinking that this would be a easy way out of learning something which would come handy in future.  Sure I can use the excuse that if they showed me how to do it properly then I would know for future.  However, we all know that doing something yourself has a complete different learning lesson.  Sure it will take longer, sure I will make mistakes, sure the end product wont look as nice professionally done, but....I DID IT...can't be beat.

As I write this, I have decided to tackle this on my own.  As I progress (or maybe not), I can always ask for help.

Next step to sketch out the wall with 2x4 and see how much lumber I will need along with drywall and tap cons.

Shop Door Decision

Initially when I was thinking about the shop, I had wanted a double french door (48") with glass panel.  The idea was that with 48" wide doorway into the shop would allow easy access in and out for tools and lumber. Also the glass panel would serve as an easy look into the shop for wife and kids without inhaling the dust.  As a safety feature, Aleck had mentioned that you don't want to be caught by 'Daddyyyy.../Honeyyy...." while in the middle of cut on the table saw.  This glass panel would help with this.

So I did some search for prehung door on various online sources along with Home Depot and Lowes and what I found was that french doors are not sold as pre-hung, well at least at my local BROG.  I really want to use a prehung door, as this would make the installation much easier. So the double french door 48" idea has to go as this would require installing doors on the frame.... I am not ready for that just yet.

The second option was to go with a pre-hung 36" door.  This is as wide as they get for pre-hung doors.  The issue I had (again at my local BORG) was that they don't come with glass panels, only solid (well, hollow) doors.  So, that is what I have decided to go with in the end.  A SIMPLE 36" pre-hung door.

As for glass panel for safety measure, well, I have to device up some shop rules for this:

Rule #1:
If you hear a machine running, don't knock on the door or coming into the shop

Cleanup

The first step to building a shop for me is to clean up the cleaned/somewhat finished basement.  Basically, move out all the furniture out of the future shop space and rip out wall coverings and carpets.  This seemed like a daunting task as some of the stuff is very heavy and I could use another set of hands and back.  However, I had to do with one pair.

Here are some pictures of the progress on clean up:

Now that the basement is cleaned up, the next step will be to decide on the door I will use in the shop.  This door size will be critical in figuring out how much lumber and drywall needs to be ordered.  So a trip to Home Depot along with CraigsList and Kijiji is in order.

Basement Shop Decision

The more wood working I do the more I find myself interested in the hobby.  As winter approached, I had put all my tools up on the garage shelf and call it quits for the season, as far as the wood working was concerned.

Since then I have been thinking about setting up a shop in the basement.  There are several issues with setting up a shop in the basement:

Dust
Take up valuable play space from kids
Re-sale value of the house by RUINING the open basement

After giving some thought to each of the above issue, I've decided that I will build a shop in the basement.  There are pros and cons to working from the basement and garage and I feel the pros out weight the cons.  I met with my wood working group last night and they helped solidify the plan for the shop.

As I get started on this venture, I will be posting on here with pictures of the progress of the shop.

Here are some pictures of the basement where the shop will be:

Door to the shop will be next to the post

Tool resting area, while shop is being built