My Rocket Palace is Complete

OK, so it is really a climate controlled garage and place to run our side business out of...but we all know (including my wife) what this renovation was all about.

As you can imagine a TX garage will swing between 20-140 deg F throughout the year, and spend about 5 months >100 deg F. Not really a good place to be; for humans, rockets, and race timing equipment. Therefore, she who must be obeyed approved the conversion of her van's bedroom into a fully climate controlled workshop. For permitting reasons (I don't want to deal with any) and cost reasons (>50% increase in budget) we decided not to go full on finished living space. This is perfect because I don't want people living in my workshop.

The build started in mid-Dec, and was truly finished last night with the final paint.

The build summary:
- Removed 75% of old dry wall, including ceiling under "attic" space.
- Massive rewiring to correct many, many sub-par and downright unsafe things.
- Installed new 20 amp circuit dedicated to garage plugs.
- Relocated sub-breaker panel
- New Garage door opener (condition from wife)
- New Dusk till Dawn light (other condition of wife)
- Insulated all walls
- Ran cable line into garage (currently unused, but why not, the wall was open already and I stumbled upon a splitter in there).
- Built workbench (4'x8' with two shelves, locking casters, 4 stools for family projects)
- Installed 14k lumens of LED lighting (day time, any time)
- Bought flammable cabinet for paint (craigslist steal for $200)
- New metal wall cabinets (x3)
- Replaced Drywall
- Ceiling Insulation Installation: 1) Ridge Vent, 2) Soffit Vents, 3) Cathedral Vents, 4) Layer of R19, 5) 1" think spacers, 6) Radiant Barrier, 7) Sealed Barrier with Aluminum Tape
- Installed 12k BTU Mitsubishi Ductless Heat Pump (Did everything myself except final connection of line set and charging, took an AC guy 45 min to finish job, after which he offered me a job as an installer.)
- Brackets for overhead storage of Composite materials
- Turned trusses into rack for large rocket storage
- Replaced all garage door seals, and added one on the pavement.

I know I forgot stuff, but that sounds like more than enough. Pics to follow...

Outside lookin in:


Right: Paint Cabinet, Wall Cabinet (Epoxy, bp, e-match, and bp motor storage), launch tower, bike parking, saws, misc tools cabinet. The door is to the water heater closet.


Center: Freezer (holding place for fridge), Workbench for active projects, Cabinets (Pesticides, Chargers, Composite Motors, Rocketry Electronics)


Left: The unpainted wall is because that has the "how tall am I" marks for each kid...I ain't painting that for nothing. Shelf for household stuff, Shelf containing race timing equipment, Rocket junk shelf, workbench/rolling toolbox. Also have a retractable extension cord on the wall.

Congrats on your project completion. I know you will love your mini-split. They work fantastic for exactly what you have done and you will never regret it. I am an AC guy and put them in all the time but we do the Fujitsu brand. They are also very efficient.

Brackets for Composite Material (and pole saw) Storage:


The Hangar:


Workbench: On double locking casters so it can be moved if hail is in the forecast and the van brought in...already used that feature on Wednesday. Two shelves holding normal building stuff...adhesives caddy, small wood scraps, shop clothes, etc. Also, has 6 drawers (3 on each end). The top is a full plywood sheet with a piece of PolyWall on it as a sacrificial top.


Heatpump: Indoor head and outdoor condenser unit. Just set desired temp and walk away. It was 42 on Thursday morning, but the garage was 70...we'll see how it goes when the blast furnace cranks up, but the HVAC guy who commissioned the unit said I will have no problems.

ozwald said:

Congrats on your project completion. I know you will love your mini-split. They work fantastic for exactly what you have done and you will never regret it. I am an AC guy and put them in all the time but we do the Fujitsu brand. They are also very efficient.

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That is good to hear. They do seem really suited to this niche.

I hate to say this, but there is something wrong with your rocket palace...oh, yes, it is not cluttered! :wink:

And it's not attached to my house.

I need to do as you have done and clean my shop.

That looks really nice. If you live in a really humid place you may want to look for a dehumidifer, it cuts drying time in half and keeps your rockets with paint in better shape. I keep mine at 35-50 percent RH and it cuts curing time for paint and possibly adhesives in half.

danielsadjadi said:

That looks really nice. If you live in a really humid place you may want to look for a dehumidifer, it cuts drying time in half and keeps your rockets with paint in better shape. I keep mine at 35-50 percent RH and it cuts curing time for paint and possibly adhesives in half.

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The heat pump has a dehumidify cycle if I need it.

Cl(VII) said:

The heat pump has a dehumidify cycle if I need it.

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I see, that's sounds great. Don't be like me and let the shop clutter up again!

Nice job Chris. Nice looking stack of rockets too!

:eyepop: + :horse: = ?

Very nice Chris! Well done!

Amazing.

You do good work.... very nice. I have a question about the workbench. I am planning a 4x8 on rollers and have seen the 2X4basics legs on the net and they look interesting. How do you like them?

Thanks.

Titan II said:

You do good work.... very nice. I have a question about the workbench. I am planning a 4x8 on rollers and have seen the 2X4basics legs on the net and they look interesting. How do you like them?

Thanks.

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I'm pretty impressed. I cut some off to make up for the caster height, but the product is plenty strong. I stood on the bench to install the garage door opener, and it was quite stable. For the money, and the versatility it provides they are a great solution.

Thanks for the kind words (and whatever that equation was Robert). It was A LOT of work, but I am now sitting here building a PSII Nike Smoke, and I can say it was totally worth the effort.

That's awesome. Very jealous!
When I move, my next house has to have a separate building that can be turned into a rocket factory.

Niiiiccceee!

:drool:... Still, needs more rockets... Posters of rockets, rockets mounted on the wall, you know, fast pointy objects.

K'Tesh said:

:drool:... Still, needs more rockets... Posters of rockets, rockets mounted on the wall, you know, fast pointy objects.

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I concur .

Good enabling gentlemen. I will indead build more rockets. In fact, I just finished the Nike Smoke a few hours ago. It is taped and ready for primer tomorrow.

Very nice! Love the shop and the Mits unit. I'm in the planning / saving stages for a another shop as well, one part is going real fast,,the later not so much

Wow! In my dreams! Very nicely done

Nice workshop :drool:

Mini Splits Rock.

Thanks again for the kind words all. With the Nike Smoke in primer now the bench is going to spend the week doing responsible work getting ready for a couple of 5Ks we're timing in April, so I have a week to decide what hits the bench next. I think I'm gonna let the L3 project hang out on the in progress bench for another short build or two. I have a deficiency in E-H fleet that I want to sure up.

Very Nice Chris. This is giving me some good idea's to finish out our detached garage that I added 12' to a few years back to make it 20 x 36. Been toying with the idea of adding heating and cooling, the mini split looks like the ticket! I've seen these in use in the Caribbean and Australia, but not seen many in the states. I've also been wanting to insulated and sheetrock, but didn't want to loose the overhead storage. What's the rating on the silver bubble stuff you used? Where did you get it? Is there anything above it other than the roof decking?

Jack

jpoehlman said:

Very Nice Chris. This is giving me some good idea's to finish out our detached garage that I added 12' to a few years back to make it 20 x 36. Been toying with the idea of adding heating and cooling, the mini split looks like the ticket! I've seen these in use in the Caribbean and Australia, but not seen many in the states. I've also been wanting to insulated and sheetrock, but didn't want to loose the overhead storage. What's the rating on the silver bubble stuff you used? Where did you get it? Is there anything above it other than the roof decking?

Jack

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The ceiling was no trivial amount of work. To do it as a cathedral ceiling requires cathedral vents connecting soffit vents and a ridge vent. Basically you have to have air exchange to keep from rotting the roof sheething. So there are cathedral vents which staple directly to the sheething, then a layer of 6" fiberglass (R19), then 1x2 batting strips to create an air layer between the R19 and the final layer, which is the radiant barrier you see. The seams of the radiant barrier is then sealed with aluminum tape. All in all, a crap ton of work, but the only way to keep the storage.

I bought the radiant barrier from home depot. They have it in 25' rolls, but I needed so much I ordered 100' rolls through their website to save money and got free shipping to boot. The radiant only has R1 in winter and R7 in summer, but that R7 is probably ambitious and definately requires a air layer between the fiberglass and itself for much of an effect. In the end I hedged my insulation bet by buying a system with some excess capacity (~30%) based on sq footage. Also, the ductless is so energy efficient (SEER 22) that it could blast away all day and not dramatically effect my electric bill.