Tag: workshop

How to build a rocket workshop (part 4: painting)

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I added a new step to my project that wasn’t in the original plan: painting. Gotta improvise sometimes.

Front and side view of shed, prior to painting
before

With the old plywood doors removed and the new door and frame installed, the shed was looking much classier. But that part of the project required framing the new door properly, filling in new gaps with plywood, and caulking between the plywood sheets to seal it up. Basically, this left a bit of a mess, as you can see above.

In addition, the new door frame was just bare wood, without any paint or stain to cover and protect it. This would need to be painted not just for cosmetic reasons, but for longer term protection.

Newly painted blue shed, front and side view
after – newly painted

As for the rest of the shed, a new coat of paint will always clean things up. Besides, it had been a few years and was probably due for a new coat anyway. With nearly constant rainfall in the Seattle area all year round, exterior surfaces really take a beating from the weather.

The most difficult part of this phase wasn’t the painting at all – that was simple enough, and fun. It was trying to come as close as possible to matching the exact shade of blue here. To be fair, it didn’t need to match precisely, especially if I were going to re-paint the entire shed anyway. But our house was painted with the same color blue as well, and ideally the shed should continue to match the house.

Front view of shed, prior to painting
pre-paint job

So after half a dozen trips back and forth to Home Depot and a ridiculous number of paint chips, I was finally able to match the color. Much to my surprise, it’s not blue at all, but actually called “Sheffield Gray,” at least according to the paint’s official label.

The white paint for the door frame/ trim was a lot easier, and it didn’t matter quite as much whether it matched. I’m actually still torn about this color even after painting the frame because the house uses more of a gray color for the trim around all of the doors and windows. But hey, white looks nice too.

Newly painted blue shed, front view
post paint job

As mentioned above, the painting work itself is straightforward and actually fairly enjoyable. The exterior of the shed is not a particularly large surface area, and it’s not difficult to reach any area, so I didn’t even need a ladder or any tools other than a simple brush (and a screwdriver to pry open the paint can lid, and a hammer to shut it again).

If only the entire shed-to-workshop transformation project were this easy.

How to build a rocket workshop (part 3: the emergency exit)

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You know what they say: when god closes one door, he opens another. Right?

I was googling to find the exact phrase (and its original source) and apparently one of the most popular google searches along these lines is “when god closes all doors.” If that happens, you should be very concerned. It’s definitely a bad sign.

For example, the room can suddenly erupt in a fiery inferno, and if god has closed all doors, how are you going to escape? You need an emergency exit. And if one doesn’t exist, you may need to build it yourself.

This, then, is the story of me building my own emergency exit to escape the inevitable fire and billowing black smoke that is sure to occur in the near future: aka, installing a door.

Double doors on shed, made of plywood, with padlock
plywood doors + padlock. not super inviting

Our mundane garden shed came with what might generously be described as French doors. Generously would be the key word, here, because the doors are cheap, made of nothing other than thin plywood, and completely windowless. There’s no handle per se, but a nice metal padlock secures the structure from unwanted intrusion.

This phase of the shed-to-workshop project calls for the complete removal of these doors, and replacing them with a real door.

As with the windows, a lot of this is just measuring and planning. I considered putting in double doors (real non-plywood ones), but this is actually kind of a narrow space for that – the opening is only about 48 inches wide. On the other hand, that’s too wide for a single standard door, whose width is generally 36 inches. I decided to go with a single door and just put in a new wooden frame to accommodate it.

The height is also unusual here. A standard door would be approximately 78 to 80 inches in height, but the opening here with the plywood doors removed is only about 60 inches. Yes, that’s only five feet, meaning I have to duck to enter or exit, no matter what kind of door I use. It is a shed, after all.

In the end, I decided to get a fiberglass door, cut to a custom shorter height, with a large glass window to let in more natural light.

With the decisions made and planning complete, I placed an order for the door at a local shop, which includes the door jamb (i.e., the wooden part around the sides and top of the door). It arrived about a week later; in the meantime, I also picked up a heavy duty external locking door handle from Home Depot. As with the windows, I enlisted some help in removing the old plywood doors, framing and installing this new door.

Front view of shed, with a new white door with glass window panel
a legit door. much classier!

But it’s finally done! You can see where the old plywood doors had been, and where their hinges had been attached. We were able to repurpose some of the plywood from the old doors to fill in the gap (since the new door is narrower), caulking to fill in the spaces.

Of course, this still needs some additional work to finish and clean it up. I’ll need to paint the entire front wall blue again, which will first require matching the exact shade of blue and buying the paint. And I’ll also need to paint the wood trim around the door, something like white or grey.

View of shed from outside, with new front door and side windows
workshop starting to take shape, at least externally

But cleaning up and painting is no big deal. The hard part is over, and the place has a nice new door! A proper emergency exit, which you can be sure I’ll use during an upcoming welding mishap or rocket engine explosion.

The workshop is coming along nicely. I think the next step will be to get a butcher block countertop and install that inside so I have a nice large workbench for rocket projects.

How to build a rocket workshop (part 2: the defenestration)

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Defenestration (n). The act of throwing someone or something out of a window.

Artwork of the Defenestration of Prague, circa 1618
a classic and memorable defenestration

In particular, the Defenestration of Prague in 1618 involved some angry folks tossing several government officials out of a window from Prague Castle. Generally, when you have unwanted guests and you’d like them to leave, the preferred approach is to drop subtle hints that you need to wake up early the next morning, or start cleaning up. Maybe turn on a vacuum if they don’t get the hint. A forcible ejection through the window can have the immediate desired effect but may ultimately lead to a long and terrible war (in that case, the Thirty Years’ War).

Speaking of forcible ejections through the window, many things can go wrong when building or using a workshop, and I named each phase of my shed-to-workshop project after a small sample of them. In this “defenestration” phase, I’ll add windows to the shed.

Shed with window added on side
taking this shed to the next level

First, I had to plan a bit: how many windows? And how large should they be? Of course, I want to maximize light, and my initial answers were more windows and bigger windows, respectively. But more windows cost more money and are significantly more work to install. And most importantly, there’s only so much room inside to actually use or store tools and equipment, and windows eat up some otherwise useful wall space.

Two windows seemed sufficient to really open up the space and provide ample natural light. I thought one on the side and one on the back wall made the most sense.

A shed would typically have pretty small windows, too, something like 12×24 inches or maybe 12×36. Larger would always be better, but then again, I didn’t want the windows to look ridiculously oversized on such a small structure. I ended up going with two windows that are each 24×48 inches.

The walls here are just simple plywood, so after the initial planning was done, this project required:

  • measuring and cutting away the plywood rectangles where windows would go;
  • cutting some wood and framing the window; and
  • installing the window itself, along with some flashing.

Overall nothing too crazy, but a decent amount of work. I did have someone help me with this project; I’m ambitious but only mildly handy, and certainly not an expert.

View of shed interior with new window in rear wall
let there be light!

And this is the finished product! It’s amazing how much a window or two can transform a room. It looks like a completely different space, flooded with light. It even feels bigger, and is the type of place I wouldn’t mind spending an afternoon working on a rocket build or some other project, especially in the spring and summer once the weather gets nicer.

On to the next step: replacing the plywood shed doors with a real door. Something to help class it up, maybe with some glass to add even more natural light. And a handle, ideally, to open and close this door. Maybe I’m going too far? One can always dream.

How to build a rocket workshop (part 1: the purging)

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As I’ve mentioned before, I have an uninspiring simple garden shed in the back yard, and one of my goals for 2020 is to convert it into a workshop, primarily for rocket construction and related projects.

Simple blue garden shed
the eponymous shed

The shed is in good condition, though it’s only a small space, with an area of approximately 10×10 feet. It currently has crude plywood doors and a padlock, no windows or source of light, and it’s full of old junk, ranging from bulky A/C window units to a variety of leftover materials from the previous homeowners and contractors. Extra brooms, lumber, carpet, pipes, empty beer cans – you name it. There is also a layer of dust covering everything, seemingly several inches thick and whose only explanation can be a recent volcanic eruption nearby.

Inside view of shed with plenty of junk
partial progress

This is kind of a big project, so I’ve broken it down into a few major steps. Each of these has its own sub-steps, but I’ll spare you that level of excruciating detail and just leave it in my own personal to-do list. The major steps basically include:

  1. The Purging. Remove and haul away junk inside the shed, and clean it up.
  2. The Defenestration. Remove portions of walls, frame new windows, and install windows.
  3. The Emergency Exit. Remove old plywood doors, frame new door, and install door.
  4. The Butchering. Buy new butcher block countertop for a work surface, stain and seal it, and install.
  5. The Electrocution. Add electrical panel and wiring (running a line from the house) for light fixtures and outlets.

I’ll probably write a separate post for each of these steps, as I complete it. Starting with #1 here.

Long story short: I took some junk out of the shed and cleaned it up a bit. That’s it.

Interior view of the shed, featuring more junk
what is all of this?

This is not particularly fascinating, but it’s kind of fundamental to completing the rest of the process, and to properly document this, I needed to start at the beginning. The previous owners of our house had hired some contractors to do quite a bit of renovation, and as mentioned above, they seem to have left a virtual treasure trove of useless junk in the shed. I got rid of as much as I could, though there’s still a bit left that I need to remove in order to complete the purge. Perhaps I’ll come across a rare antique, or a box full of cash.

But if nothing else, an empty clean shed is a blank canvas. It’s structurally sound, and it was built fairly recently and even has a new roof. Next I’ll add some natural light and really open it up.

5 simple ways to turn a garden shed into a workshop

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As I get more into building larger rockets, I’ve been increasingly aware of the limitations of my work area. Specifically, I don’t have one. We have a fairly small house and there’s no dedicated space for gluing or drilling or doing anything with large parts. I’ve had to temporarily co-opt our dining table.

We do, however, have a mundane shed in the backyard. It’s in good shape, but it’s dark and dirty, with no windows or any natural light, no electricity, and is generally just full of old junk that came with the house. But it has potential.

Blue shed
Run of the mill shed

I decided one of my goals for 2020 is to convert this shed into a useful workshop, primarily for rocket-related projects. This is just the first of a series of posts documenting the process of transformation and the resulting workshop.

This is kind of a big project, so I’m breaking it down into a few major concepts or steps:

  1. Remove junk & clean.
  2. Install windows.
  3. Replace door.
  4. Install new countertop work surface.
  5. Add electrical wiring for light fixtures and outlets.

This isn’t necessarily a comprehensive list, but I think that once I complete each of these parts of the project, it’ll go a long way towards making this a practical (and really cool) workshop. And then I’ll give it a name to class it up, like the Rocketshop.

Okay, still working on the name.