So today I spent most of the day cleaning the shop and working on my drudgingly long shop improvements. As I have been trying to make the move from hobbyist woodworker to full-time woodworker I’ve felt the need to prepare the shop for turning out work as efficiently as possible. I’ve also tried to make it so I can work all year rather than just spring, summer and fall. In Utah the cold winters really try to make you hang up your saw and wait till the flowers bloom.

So today I started by sweeping out as many planer shavings and garbage as I could get too and then finished removing the base for my old built-in bench. My shop is about 80 years old and time has taken its toll so before adding insulation I reinforced what was left of the wall bottom plates with lengths of pressure treated 2×4’s sized to fit between the wall studs and then I added some regular 2×4 to the top of that. I also added some 2×4’s about midway up the wall to help stiffen everything.

With the reinforcing done I started adding strips of R-13 insulation between the studs were the new wiring is complete. Because of the small size of my shop I have to do this one wall at a time. With that insulation in place I started installing the drywall along the bottom of the wall.

It’s already looking better. I thought about doing some before pictures but I decided against that. Also, I don’t think I’m going to show any progress pictures until I at least get some shelving in place.

I’ve been under the weather a little bit today so once I got the first piece of drywall in place I decided that was enough for today. Tomorrow I’m going to stay in the house and see if I can kick this bug and then Monday I’ll and get the rest of the installed insulation covered in drywall. I hate working drywall but man it’s looking good. Stay tuned, once I get this done I’ll do a shop tour video.