Designing a 10x12 Woodshop
When we moved from our old house to the new one, I knew I needed a wood shop. We downsized from a 2 car garage to a 1 car garage and that meant my former side of the garage was gone. It was either buy a prefab shed or build one and I decided to build one. It would cost less and be much higher quality.
After picking a location in the back yard, I settled for a pier and beam foundation. My backyard dropped s2 feet from the back left corner to the front right and I had no desire to move that much earth by hand. Raising my shop off the ground has also given me the ability to store totes and lumber beneath my shop as needed.
Walls were next. I wanted something that was going to last a while. Having the ability to build my own walls out of 2x4s spaced every 16 inches instead of 2x3s spaced every 24 inches in a prefab shed and having the ability to to place my door and windows wherever I wanted was a big plus in designing this shop. I bought the windows and door from Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore. The windows were amazingly cheap at $5 a piece while the door and side window (which I turned into a hinged side door) were $95. I wanted as much natural light as possible for my shop.
Up next was my roof. I wanted it to be open because I had cut the walls down to 7 feet to save on the height of the building. It was already 2 feet off the ground in the front and I didn’t want the shed any higher than it had to be.
I didn’t know it at the time, but this would also become my wood loft and how I would come to dub my shop the Woodloft. You can see how I created a shelf to store different lengths of wood in the open roof itself. I ended up adding a second shelf so I could store larger pieces of wood on the first shelf and smaller pieces of wood on the second shelf. A 10x12 shop is pretty small so having a place to store wood overhead made it much easier to move around my workbench.
I invested in SmartSide Treated Wood Siding for the walls. It comes primed ready to paint and went up pretty easily. It has a shiplap edge which created a pretty nice seal all around the shed. I also opted for a metal roof. They last so much longer than shingles and it makes for a pretty fantastic place to hang out when it’s raining outside. I also hinged mounted the top of the windows and simply prop them open with sticks so that I can have windows open even when it’s raining. The water runs off to the end of the window when they’re open and keeps the rain out.
The last thing I did to the outside of the shed minus adding a small porch was cutting a large triangular window out of plexiglass to let even more light in during the day. It was this special touch that really makes this shed stand out. I scored the glass a few times and then carefully bent it until the score line snapped.
Inside the shop I opted for a french cleat system to organize my tools. I ran french cleats on the two walls free of windows and the door from top to bottom. I can create as many tool holders and cabinets as I want and place them on the cleat system. The great thing about french cleats is that you don’t have to fix your cabinets or tool holders into place. You can move them around and they’ll stay on the wall without falling off.
