Getting my first shop / man cave

Moving into a new house in a couple weeks, and as part of the agreement wife and I made, I wanted to have some sort of shop or man shed....

Welp, its happening. Brand freaking new ToughShed with a roll up garage door... I dont have exact measurements but I think it's about a 15'x25' shed shop?
Already has elec and heat running to it, shop lights hung... just need to sheetrock it and paint...
previous owner had a makeshift bar top and hung some lights...
Plywood floor for now, but am super stoked at essentially a blank canvas to work from.

Going from a shared mancave/xbox/kids playroom to a dedicated space.

Anway, im stoked.

 

Excited for your new cave.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/garage-shop-tools.589784/

 

going from no space to some space is a life changing moment, I went from no space to a single garage space, to a 30x40 shop space, that im still trying to complete but having room to be dry and work on things or close a door and be a bit warmer is amazing! good luck on the space. im trying to carve out a smaller hangout area in my own shop i think i want a wood stove and some couches for my kids or wife to hang out. or even my friends when i dont want to be in the house... like holidays when everyone is over.

 

Very awesome. Definitely get a wood stove for it. The heat and fire from a wood stove in your man cave/ shop is soooooo pleasant as is just sitting in front of it on cold days. Being in Idaho you’ll get a lot of use from it.

 

Agreed... its about to turn here in a week or so.

 

Be sure to carefully measure anything you plan to build for inside the house. I used much space in my basement for a bookshelf/desk (picture attached) that I thought was sized/sectioned to get out of the basement when finally necessary.

Well ... eh ... not quite ...

 

Just a heads up wood stoves in anywhere where you could park a vehicle is against fire code in the US. Home insurance doesnt like it.

in a few years I am going to put one in anyways.

 

why is that? i can't think of anything that a wood stove does that a car wont also do in terms of heat/fumes within a given space.

 

It’s a stupid rule, I don’t fully understand why they are fine with open flame propane but no solid fuel.

It is against code though, in the future I’ll probably put one in anyways. I’ll take the risk.

 

i see
https://wett-inspection.com/install... solid,have to meet Installation Requirements.

they're worried about sparks jumping out and igniting oily rags or gasoline vapors present in a garage. whereas propane/kerosene/oil heaters have no sparks. under normal operation

 

Eh, a stretch at best. Thanks for finding that though. I thought it was just flame around gas vapors.

 

It's pretty easy math to justify gas or electric heat for your shop.

Cost of fire place+chainsaw+CS fuel+CS maintenance+ time to cut wood+ time to haul/stack wood+ time to start a fire and get to a comfortable temp.

Gas/electric wins.

Gas/electric. Flip the switch to turn the furnace on. Come back in 30 minutes to a comfortable temp.

You want to leave unexpectedly? Switch them off.

With a solid fuel burner, are you going to be comfortable having to leave the shop in an emergency just at the point the fire is burning it's hottest?

I love a good wood burner, but they are just not "feed and forget".

 

For an uninsulated shop, wood is the only way to go. When I do get one I’ll probably just mostly burn the uglies that don’t fit well in the house wood stove.

and a properly installed and maintained stove I would consider as safe as electric or gas. Once you learn it of course

 

it's like speed limits... the rules are there for the biggest idiot, even when it applies to only a few.