TOPIC: Winter Workshops...

In an effort to get a little more work done during the cold months, I gave up some of my studio space to my 'glassic hobby, err, obsession...



I've got a couple of the boats down there, so they can stay nice & dry... And all my motors are down there now. It's relatively warm, and it's nice and bright. The area in back, behind the curtain, has shelving for all the various marine hardware I've stockpiled in the past, most of which is awaiting rechroming.




That's the Tiger Ray in the foreground... My house is built on a sloped lot, so the basement is a walkout, and it has a 7 x 9 Garage door, which allows me to get boats in and out. I'll be able to open that door to wheel the motors outside to test run them, etc. too.

I built a clear 'solar door' that closes over the garage door for the winter- It faces south, and as you can see it lets a LOT of light in. This also means it lets a LOT of heat in during the winter months, when the leaves are off the trees. It heats the basement to a good 60 or so on a sunny day, without opening the heater vents in the room.


There's already a spot cleared out for the Volksboat when it arrives!

The basement and garage are my 'lair', and what happens here is MY business- If I can hide it away here, the wife doesn't care if I own it

I still use the upstairs garage/shop area for dirty work, since it's easier to keep the dust out of the house. Plus, I don't want to use anything that creates fumes that are TOO obnoxious down here- They make their way into the house pretty fast...

I'm lucky to have a space like this to get work done during the winter months- Especially when we get snowed in like we have the past few days. I'm working on the 'fat 50' at the moment- As well as my '47 Goodyear Sea Bee... Keeps me out of the wife's hair

-Andrew

Super-nice boat workshop Andrew! I love the natural light you get in there, and plenty of room too. I'm proud to have our two car garage to use as mine, don't get me wrong. (Still trying to figure out how to keep the V-178 in there and squeeze the "new" Custom Craft in beside it. LOL)

Andrew
That looks great.
I like the clean floor and the idea of the solar door. Natural sunlight is the cheapest kind of lighting, and the heat also. Looks to have plenty of room.
Neil

Mark- I've got a 2 car garage upstairs, too- That's where my workshop (for wood, glass, and metal) is located... I even SOMETIMES park a car in there during the winter months, too...

Neil- That floor is the slab, I just used a color stain on it to lighten it up... We did a solid color, then a 'spatter' effect in color, which hides a lot of the dirt. It gets nice and warm on sunny days, too- and radiates the heat well into the night.

Andgott wrote:

I built a clear 'solar door' that closes over the garage door for the winter- It faces south, and as you can see it lets a LOT of light in. This also means it lets a LOT of heat in during the winter months, when the leaves are off the trees. It heats the basement to a good 60 or so on a sunny day, without opening the heater vents in the room.

-Andrew

A little more info please on the solar door you built Andrew. I have a crazy unheated garage under out house that the doors face almost directly south. I'm very interested!

Frank

Frank- I based my design on this-

www.builditsolar.com/Projects/SpaceHeating/SolarGarageCollector/garcol.htm

For the panels, I used Tuftex clear panels from Lowes-

www.lowes.com/pd_77559-1115-1413A_0__?productId=3043880&Ntt=roof+panel&pl=1¤tURL=/pl__0__s%3FNtt%3Droof%2Bpanel

It cost roughly $60.00, since I had some of the lumber on hand.

I hinged it at the top, so I can lift it open and prop it up... It would be BETTER to hinge it from the sides, as in the article, if you plan to open and close it a lot, but I don't, so this was easier. I used a couple of heavy duty hinges along the top, with removable pins, so I can take the whole door down if I need to.

I used garage door weather seal all around it, so when it's closed it's as close to air tight as I can hope for.

When I'm using it to heat, I open the garage door (which is behind it), and the sun comes in... Even on COLD days, it's amazing how much it heats up down there, as long as there is sun. There are various things that you can do- like using a dark slab, or dark barrels filled with water, to trap more of the heat.

The other nice thing that it does is it acts as a 'storm door' for my garage door, which is a little old and leaks a LOT. With this in front of it, the drafts are far less noticeable.

Larry (Split) saw the door in action when he delivered the Tiger Ray here- He may recall it...

Andrew,
Very mice setup! I'm jealous. Alas my two car garage is a woodshop and must have my daughters car in it, so it makes it challenging sometimes. The shed for the Clipper is full of, well, the Clipper and other gardening stuff, lawnmower etc. If I get any other boats they'll either have to be worked on outside or the Clipper will have to reside outside while the other gets worked on. Unfortunately the wife says only one boat at a time. We'll see how ling that lasts.

Bob

God bless your wife for not storing a bunch of junk in the garage/basement. I can barely walk through our garage because of all the treasure/junk "we" own.