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Introducing… trusses!
It really does take a village sometimes…. last Saturday we gathered a crew of seven folks – one a framer, carpenter, and home builder by trade with 40+ years of experience, three college graduates, and three tradespersons with specialties not in building but large on the muscle side. We managed to get the trusses up and set in four hours, had lunch and got all of the 24″ eaves done and everything cleaned up by 4pm. It was quite amazing! It was a good thing, because we got several deluges on Sunday, amongst some fairly decent downpours. A roof will be soon in coming as I should have a few…
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It’s been a while…
So there’s been a lot of change at the Robieman Funny Farm and Menagerie(TM pending) in the past eight months. We decided summer of 2021 it was time to sell our house (first home) and move to ‘greener pastures’ – i.e. out of the west side of Columbus where we’d called home for the past 16 years. With housing demand at an all time high and the areas we wanted to move to that made sense for our work and family commutes, it was going to be a stressful time. We put on our big girl pants and started packing, getting rid of things where it made sense, and found…
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Starting over
Back in June 2021, my wife turned and said, “We need to move.” Without any backstory of what had transpired in the past two years of our journey, this would seem absurd. I nodded my head, and said “Ok. When?” We had our home (along with my not quite settled in shop) sold by November. We were lucky and graced with finding a new home in this crazy market and moved in the middle of December. Unfortunately, there is no shop. The garage only has one circuit and is currently housing our two deep freezers. I was given a budget and the go ahead to build another shop, but sadly…
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My {shop} build
Once my other half had agreed to allow me to build a shop…MY shop, the research game was afoot! Do I build? Do I buy? Concrete foundation? Wood foundation? So many questions! The big part of the job came first. We decided to add on to our patio at the same time, and an upgrade to our 100w electrical panel was already going to be necessary as it was maxed out. The concrete crew was efficient and had it all done in a day. That small 12 x 16 patch with a bump out for future improvements was all mine! Our pups (Jack and Lily) weren’t so keen about not…
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My {shoplife} background
A few months ago, I was chatting over ZOOM with a few coworkers about life outside of work. I mentioned that I am an aspiring woodworker that dabbles in other mediums. I hesitate to use the term maker, but whatever label fits, I’ll wear it with pride. The other ladies in the group wanted to hear about my shop as there aren’t many women with “She Shops”. I chuckled and shook my head. I’d been thinking about and kicking around a space for women to gather and chat about projects for years, and just not gotten around to trying to bring it to fruition. Growing up, I was the youngest…
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Let’s talk {my} shop
Back in 2019, I told my wife I wanted a dedicated shop space. I didn’t mind the garage so much, but the lighting sucked, and every time I would turn the table saw on the power would brown out. I sweated horribly in the summer and froze in the winter. In Ohio that means you only got about 3 months give or take of decent working weather. I told her I wanted somewhere I could leave a project up and out without her complaining about the mess or the clamps strewn everywhere, etc. We discussed the options, and determined a shed would fit the bill. Something small (under 200 sq…