Shop improvement project

[Steve Krumanaker]

I normally hang out in the turning forum but this isn't really about turning so I'll post it here and hope my friends from down there will see it. I built my shop several years ago over a two week vacation with help from my brothers and nephews. When I built the shop I put a drop ceiling in it but knew almost immediately that was a mistake. It wasn't very  long before I ripped that ceiling out, but then I never put a new ceiling up. Over the years, I've known I needed to as the insulation was exposed and didn't have any support. I've had put it back up a few times and the shop was also pretty dark as there was no reflected light from the ceiling. Well, this year I finally decided to address the ceiling issue. Here are a few pics of my shop as it looked in March.

 

You can see what I mean, the insulation is sagging. I've known I should do something but that it was going to be a chore since my shop is so full.

 

 

 

Finally, I had enough and decided to go with a metal ceiling, it's basically pole barn siding and the nice thing is, it goes up finished, it doesn't need mudded and painted like drywall. It's also very durable. Here are the after pics.

 

 

The hole is for access to the attic area.

 

 

 

The lights are LED and are very bright. The pictures don't really show what a dramatic difference there is. Not going to lie, I am very happy with myself over this improvement. Did all of the labor myself with LOTS of help from my brother. For a 24X30 shop material cost for ceiling panels and lighting was right at $1500.00. For my money that is a heckuva of an improvement for that amount. Now, my shop is basically a train wreck at this point, I figure I'll be another month before I have any kind of order but I'm still really happy with this project.

[lew]

Wow, Steve, that certainly did make a huge difference!

[FlGatorwood]

That is one nice and upscale shop.  Would you come and do mine?    Just kidding about doing mine.  Just as soon as I can get the wood out and sold, I hope to have it wired and do minimal stock and work.  Getting too old for this even though I truly love and enjoy it.  Congratulations on a new shop.  

[Gunny]

AWESOME improvement.   I used vinyl siding soffit on my carport and go similar results.  Huge improvement in lighting and appearance.  

[Danl]

Great improvement!  What lights did you install?

Danl

[Fred W. Hargis Jr]

That had to be a PITA to do what with moving everything around, but man, did it ever turn out nice.

[Steve Krumanaker]

9 hours ago, Danl said:

Great improvement!  What lights did you install?

Danl

 Thanks. They are generic from a local guy who imports them directly. He has three intensities available and I got the middle one. The lights are a easy, peasy to hang. They come with little clips that are screwed onto the ceiling, then the lights just snap into those clips. The included screws however will cause a person to lose their religion and are worthless. Fortunately, lath screws work great. The lights are also designed to connect end to end with an included adapter. I have 2 eight foot and 1 four foot unit in each row.

 

 

https://www.bbrimportsonline.com/

 

 

[Steve Krumanaker]

33 minutes ago, Fred W. Hargis Jr said:

That had to be a PITA to do what with moving everything around, but man, did it ever turn out nice.

 

Thanks Fred. That's one of the reasons I put it off for so long, it was a pain. The only piece of machinery I didn't move was my lathe. It's nearly 1000lbs so I decided to work around it. I moved everything I could from the shop to the garage and all that I left in the shop is on mobile bases so that helped. Still, would've been so much easier if I'd done it before.

[Cal]

That is one heck of an improvement Steve!  Great bang for the buck.

Did you do any trim work along the edges at the wall?

Edited April 19, 2021 by Cal

[JimM]

Beautiful!  Is there an icon for envy?

[Steve Krumanaker]

1 hour ago, Cal said:

That is one heck of an improvement Steve!  Great bang for the buck.

Did you do any trim work along the edges at the wall?

 

Cal, there is a J-channel that goes in the wall/ceiling corner and the panels nest into that around the perimeter. I actually put that up a few years and you can see it clearly in the before pictures around the fluorescent light fixtures as I had originally planned to keep those. With the availability of these high intensity LED lights I decided to switch the lighting out as well, really glad I did.

[HandyDan]

Perfect!  Install and done.  Best case scenario and the result looks great.

 

[DuckSoup]

Great idea Steve & it looks great too!

[HARO50]

2 hours ago, JimM said:

Beautiful!  Is there an icon for envy?

Here ya go, Jim.

[Gerald]

That is one heck of a job well done. I have moved so much in my sheet rock ceiling it looks like swiss cheese. If I had yours I would be afraid to move anything. Oh but what we could have if we could just decide what is the best way the first time.

[Ron Altier]

Wow Steve, great use of lights and reflective material!! I know you'll love the diff