Sweet Carolina Shop
In 2013, Michael Hinson built a 15×15' shop. It didn't take long for him to outgrow that space, so after a couple of years he added another 54' in length, increasing the shop footprint to 705 square feet, and adding a 16'-deep storage area behind the shop and a 6'-deep porch on the front. Why so long and narrow? Because running the building along, rather than down, the slope of his South Carolina lot eliminated the need for tall walls.
Michael's shop features a ceiling that vaults to 12' high at the peaks. Painted oriented strand board (OSB) walls reflect light and make the narrow space feel wider. Michael says the laminate flooring over the OSB subfloor is "easy to sweep and resists glue spills well."
An 18,000-BTU window air conditioner installed in one of the walls cools the shop. A kerosene torpedo heater takes the chill off during the mild winters.
By locating most of his major tools along one wall, one run of dust-collection piping serves them all. A 2-hp single-stage collector with an Oneida Dust Deputy separator stands by the shop doors. Michael connected a shop vacuum to the mitersaw because the saw sits on the opposite wall from the dust-collection system.
Michael relies heavily on his Festool MFT worktable, and even duplicated its hole pattern in one of his rolling workbenches so he could use his Festool accessories there. Systainers store below.
Michael positioned his tablesaw in front of the door to facilitate feeding long stock. He built a height-adjustable mobile cart for his benchtop planer so his workbenches can serve as additional support when he planes boards. Michael's future plans include purchasing an 8" jointer and upgrading the dust collector and tablesaw.
